Holidays

I don't know what happened to November. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I have lots of new pictures to share that I hope you'll enjoy. Alyssia is growing and learning and changing before our very eyes. She is such a gift. We enjoy her so much. Here are some pictures of her first experience with paints and an artpad. The art lesson ended when she put the blue tadoodle in her mouth. YUCK. She thought it was great.







Here she is hamming it up at home. She loves to wear hats while she plays. She also loves to smile at herself in the mirror and give herself kisses.

Here is my little ballerina at the Little Gym on Halloween. She was supposed to be a monkey, but she refused to put on the costume. What a cutie.








Hmmmmmm . . . . do I want to go try walking on the balance beam or should I do another forward roll?
















Here is Alyssia hanging out on the couch watching Elmo when she was sick. Aw. She's a good baby even when she's sick.
















Here is Alyssia at her FAVORITE place in the mall--Pottery Barn for Kids. She loves the play kitchen they have. It's ridiculously expensive, or I would try to buy her one. As it is, we just go there every couple of weeks so she can play with it. She also loves to sit at their table and color. They have story time and also bring in singers to entertain the kids. It's a fun place to meet other moms and babies.










We flew to Chicago to have Thanksgiving with my sisters and their families. The three little cousins had so much fun with each other. They learned how to play "ring around the rosey" on Thanksgiving day and now Alyssia regularly asks me to play by saying "ashes! ashes!" Our neices, Roma and Veronica, are such little cuties. Alyssia really enjoyed being with them and playing with all of their toys. My sister Deirdre made a beautiful dinner and had made the house look so nice. We missed our mom and dad who were in Hawaii with Grammy. Hopefully, all three grandbabies will make it out to Hawaii to visit them in the new year. Roma loves to dance and she really enjoyed dancing with both her mom and dad together. So sweet. Aren't they a beautiful family?







Here is Dr. Veronica examining Uncle Sebastian. And Dr. Roma examining Alyssia. Looks like they are taking an interest in medicine. The next photo is Veronica and Auntie Meg.




Here are the three little cousins and the son of a very dear friend of mine that I haven't seen since the night I graduated from high school. It was very nice of her and her family to come all the way to Chicago (from Michigan) just to see us.




Alyssia thought it was great to play with her cousin's toys. Here she is in Roma's cheerful playroom. And having a tea party with Roma. Roma loves to play "hot tea," as she calls it.






















Alyssia loves her aunties and uncles. Here she is with Uncle Jason who made her laugh so hard on our last night in Chicago.













Christmas is bearing down on us with frightening speed. We don't even have a Christmas tree up yet and it's December 5th! I should be fired. You would think I would have this stay-at-home mom thing down by now (it's been almost a year), but I don't. Slow learner or something.