Merry Christmas!

Oh, my, it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks! It has been so much fun experiencing the magic of Christmas with a toddler who is just beginning to understand the world around her. The anticipation of the holiday season alone is what I enjoy the most, with the lights and music everywhere. I love looking forward to the celebration with family and reuniting with old friends. Grandmas and aunts and uncles and cousins are eager to get their hands all over not-so-little-anymore Alessandra which allows me to sit back and relax a little...Just a little. Buuuutttt her daddy and I are the only ones who know how to read that look on her face...Yeah, that one. The one that says "I have got my eye on that expensive Swarovski crystal display case with all the pretty sparkly lights and shiny glass things...I'm going to go over and see what happens when I shake it." Let's just say we'll be on our highest alert around other people's things.

We've had an exciting couple of weeks chock full of friends, friends and more friends! The weekend before last we got to hang out with one of our favorite couples Desiree and Mike! We headed out east to a lakehouse in Wisconsin not far from the Wisconsin Dells. Needless to say, we had a great and relaxing time!

The Boys

The Girls

As you can tell in the picture, Ali has an extremely hard time adjusting to people. She's just so shy! Like take this last weekend's Christmas party, for instance. She just can't seem to enjoy herself around social events at all!

I mean, I'm just so concerned. What if she has trouble making friends when she's older?

She is just so darn uptight!

I think she gets her poor attitude from me.

Okay, so we've got a little social butterfly on our hands. We. Are. So. LUCKY! I can take the kid anywhere. Since she's so easy and fun, I usually have free babysitters everywhere we go. At this weekend's party thrown by Scott, Rachael, and Toto...Er...Ahem...Santa, there were 14 willing babysitters!


My favorite ones are my besties though. Hooray Triforce!

And did I mention it was an ugly sweater party? And that Yours Truly won for the ugliest girl sweater? I RULE! (I also had my hair done especially for the occasion, it was very Jerseyesque.)

And for the record, in case you were wondering, the above Ali/Santa photos were indeed the very first time she'd met the Man. I wasn't too concerned considering her easygoing personality, but you never know when it comes to the big, fluffy beard and red suit. I was happy it was Toto (shhh....) that she was able to have her first experience with instead of some germ-infested old dude on a throne at the mall. Needless to say, she did great as pictures will show.

Since Toto was wearing the Santa suit, someone needed to don the bear suit that you may recall from Ali's first birthday party. All 5 feet and 1 inch of Angie gave it a shot.

In other news, last week we visited the doctor for Alessandra's 15-month wellness checkup. We've got a Long Tall Sally on our hands! She weighs 23 pounds (50th percentile=average) and is 33 inches tall (97th percentile=TALL). Luckyeeeee!!!

Alessandra is also getting very dexterous on her feet. And her words (and even some phrases!) are all coming together very nicely. Her favorite book lately is But Not The Hippopotamus and she insists we read it to her over and over again. There is a page in the book that reads "But YES the hippopotamus!" and she turns to that page exactly (by picture recognition, I'm sure) and says YYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHH! She often says "Do it again" and "Give it to me". As much as I try though, I CANNOT get her to say "Please"! She does, however, say "Thank you" to which we reply "You're welcome" which has confused her a bit, so she'll often thank us by saying "You're welcome". Either way, she's learning her manners. :)

Cardo also wins Husband of the Week (again)!! He surprised me this past weekend with tickets to The Nutcracker downtown at the State Theater. It was BEAUTIFUL and I was impressed with how much HE actually enjoyed it too! He'd had possession of the tickets for several weeks and had been making arrangements complete with fake emails from his boss (in on it), and babysitter for our "date night" (daycare...in on it). The Nutcracker has always held a special place in my heart because I was in it for several years when I was younger and I believe my little dancer of a daughter might have potential to start off her career as a little Rat before too long. I had a wonderful time and it was an amazing way to kick off my Christmas week.

We are very much looking forward to the rest of the week. Our "break" officially begins tomorrow morning at 4am, when the taxi arrives to take us to the airport and begin our long commute back home to Saginaw. There we have many loved ones waiting for us and we are on pins and needles to savor each and every moment that we have with them.

We are lucky to have such wonderful friends and family to celebrate with, and extend our fondest holiday wishes to you, too. Merry Christmas!


Much love and blessings,

Ricardo, Danielle and Alessandra