Friday, December 31, 2010

The Blizzard!

Well, we did not have a white Christmas, but boy, we had a doozy of a storm the day after! I drove Kel and Kota back up to NYC and the snow began to fall on my return trip. It picked up throughout the day, but the real monster of the storm was the wind. Snow is nice and pretty when it just falls sweetly to the ground. It is a completely other substance when it is blowing in your face. Titus, much like his parents, was not a big fan of the cold and the blowing snow. We got him outside, but he was not too pleased.

"Okay, I came, I saw, and I am finished."

He could barely move in it, and in many places, it was taller than he is.

Our backyard the next morning.

The grimace.

I took this during the storm. Luckily, the snow blew away from our car.
We could not get into our backyard.
The snow blew up against our neighbor's house.

Oh no, not again.


This was the only place the dogs could do their business.

Finally, some plowed roads!

Christmas 2010!

We had a wonderful Christmas and it was great to watch Titus take everything in this year. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I think that Titus believed that all of the great food and presents came because of Kelly. It was as if she arrived and so did a boatload of toys. After he opened up each gift, he would give her a hug. It was hilarious.

Our traditional Christmas Eve mini-bite spread.
Santa brought Titus a basketball hoop!
More Presents!!
Some more toys to add to our fridge collection.
Mom and Pa Casarez got Titus this wonderful toy, a click clack car track. We had to hide it from him so that we could continue opening presents.
Great Uncle Kelly got Titus this bulldozer which he could not open fast enough!
And, the hug....
Because he loves planes so much, he can now play with one all of the time.
My parents got Titus this cool toy, a Bilibo! He loves to sit in it and spin around.
A Train!

Preparing for Christmas!

We had a lot of fun in the days leading up to Christmas and it was especially nice because Joel had some half days from work!

We went to Shady Brook Farm in PA to visit with Santa (again) and to see some holiday lights.

Titus has been a good sport with Santa this year...no tears!

They have an amazing light display here and we were in awe the whole time. Next year we will have to try one of the hayrides through the lights!
Since all of our family is far away and I took advantage of Amazon Prime free two day shipping, we received a lot of packages. I probably could have saved some money and just given Titus some boxes and wrapping product for Christmas.
My sweet, best friend Kelly was set to spend Christmas in NYC with her dog, Kota. I figured that we lived close enough that if she couldn't go home to VA she had to come here. I braved the NYC traffic and drove our huge tank of a SUV into the city, picked them both up, and we had a great Christmas together!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Snow Day!

We had a nice snowfall this past week and I almost could not wait for Titus to get up from his nap to go outside and play in it! I said, almost.... Anyway, we got to get into some fun and break out the snow boots!




Some Christmas Visitors.

We had the chance to visit with Mom and Pa Casarez when they visited a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time and Titus just loved all of the attention!

Sneaking a kiss from Gran.
Playing in a box with Paw Paw.
Okay, so these glasses came with some toys that a friend gave us. I think Titus really wanted to be like everyone else who was wearing glasses. He just would not take them off.

Cozy with Paw Paw

We headed to New Hope, PA to catch the North Pole Express to see Santa.


Titus had the chance to enjoy some cookies and hot chocolate on the trip.
He was pretty darn excited!
So happy to be behind the wheel of a tractor.
Gran got Titus an early Christmas present...tractors! He loves those things.

Decking the Halls!

We have had a blast getting ready for the Christmas season and this year is even more fun because Titus can really understand a lot more than he could last year at this time. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

We headed to a local tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. Although I had visions of the Griswolds dancing in my head, it was not bad at all, and we found a sweet little tree with little sap! Here Titus takes a ride in the tree wagon.

My parents got Titus this nativity last year and ever since we set it up this year, Titus has loved playing with it non-stop!
He likes to have the animals give baby Jesus a kiss. But to Titus, baby Jesus, is simply Jes.

Climbing the step ladder to get a better look at Christmas cookies.

Titus loves kisses, and now it is so precious to watch him make stuffed animals kiss each other as well.
Checking the lights.
Hanging the peppermint ornaments.
Helping Joel with the Angel.
"Helping" with the Christmas baking.

Artsy Fartsy!

As many of you know, I am not an arts and crafts kind of person. I do not think I ever have been and I have come to terms with the fact that I may never be! It is, however, getting really cold up here and I needed to come up with some projects for Titus to do when the weather keeps us inside. So, we broke out some paint and poster board and made him some place mats. He had a lot of fun and we got a cute little mat out of the deal.