Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We have had a marathon holiday season this year. We made the trek up to PA for Christmas. Our holiday started with Christmas Eve dinner at mom and dad's house with the whole family.

Then all the grandkids opened stockings and gifts from Mammaw and Pappaw.

Christmas morning was a great time at mom and dad's. We did the whole Christmas morning thing - opened gifts and had breakfast (Emilia had two breakfasts)!


Mammaw and Pappaw got her a great new snowsuit


and a Sit & Spin...

...which Emilia has decided is a Stand & Spin.


On Christmas afternoon the WHOLE family got together. We drank (some more than others..Lauren), enjoyed each others' company, and celebrated!



One of the best parts of the holiday was that all Mammaw and Pappaw's grandkids got together for the first time (including Livia). Emilia wasn't too thrilled when I was holding her, but she loved her every other time.




Everyone found a place in the crazy house. Nanna with her newest great-granddaughter...


...and LJ under the food table!

On Saturday we had Christmas at Grami's house. Grami got her a beautiful cross necklace and a great outfit. She also got her a pony that connects to the TV. We have to hook it up and take it for a spin. We had a wonderful afternoon together!




After that we went to Grandpop and Jeanne's house to visit for a little while. Emilia had a great time meandering around their house and rocking on the magazine basket with Grandpop's help.

Finally, we came home and had Emilia's Christmas from Santa under her own tree. LuLu came over first thing in the morning to watch Emi open her gifts. She got new clothes, books, and some new toys. She, of course, walked around with clothing on a hanger (her favorite).



After all that we had New Year's Eve to look forward to (NYE post to follow)!

SNOW...yuck!

We got snow...17 inches.
No one is happy about this. We've been shoveling our way out of the snow since the town is not really capable of clearing snow. When we left on Christmas Eve there was a thick layer of ice on our road because they had only been down with the plow once and didn't really do much of anything. We are hoping that when we get home it's gone (or nearly gone) and we can go back to normal.
Emilia hasn't played in the snow except for picking up what was scraped in from the back deck when I closed the back door. I'm sure we would enjoy it but she was getting her snowsuit for Christmas. LJ hates the snow and only goes outside when it's absolutely necessary.

Livia Harley Rechtorovic

Emilia is a big cousin!! With the hullaballoo of the holidays I haven't gotten a chance to post that our newest niece was born on December 14, 2009! Jaime was in labor for about 20 minutes, and then there was Liv. She weighed 6 lb. 7 oz. and was 18 1/4" long. Everyone is doing great, and her big siblings LOVE her!

My "27th" birthday

I turned 27 again on the 16th. Lauren sent me a beautiful and delicious edible arrangement. Emilia really enjoyed it, too!!

Brian came home with sushi (my favorite dinner), a Carvel football cake (the one with the most chocolate crunchies), and a big package wrapped in print paper from work. When Emilia and I unwrapped the package we found a laptop case. (I have been complaining about my laptop for a while now, because it just can't keep up with me.) He said that he got it used from work but that one of the guys could fix it up and get it running well. Here's a couple of pictures...





Once I saw that it was literally falling apart I got a bit suspicious. When I flipped it over I found a gift card taped to the bottom so that I can pick out a new one!! I'm very excited to have a computer that I don't have to wait for!!


Thank you so much to everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts. It was a great birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILIA!!

Emilia celebrated her first birthday with lots of friends last Saturday. We had a wonderful party despite the snow. It was snowing when we woke up in the morning and continued until about 4 or 4:30. No one seemed to mind and everyone braved the snowy roads to celebrate with our little girl. (I was told to put palm trees on the invitations next year, though.) Everyone was so generous and the party was a success!



Emilia made us very proud with her cake. We told her that she had big cake-smashing shoes to fill and she certainly did! There was hardly any left when all was said and done.

On Friday Grami came down to help us celebrate her birthday. We had a quiet evening at home and shared an ice cream cake. As if she didn't get enough presents at her party she had another pile of gifts from Mommy and Daddy, Grami, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Lu.


There are even more birthday celebrations planned when we head up to PA over the holidays. Emilia has joined a not-so-exclusive club of December birthdays. Thanks so much to all our friends and family who have helped us celebrate so far!