The Big Apple

Disclaimer: My mom doesn't like slide shows on blogs because she feels she doesn't really get to look at the pictures because they are always moving; therefore, this will be a really long post filled with too many pictures. I love you, Mom! (PS - My mom, while we were gone for the week, managed to potty train Anna Claire!! Way to go, Gigi!!!)
Brad and I returned home yesterday from a purely delightful trip to NYC! We've never been to New York at Christmas, and wow! it was simply magical! We stayed the first night at the Marriott Marquis, and our room had a wonderful view of Time Square.

Since the last time I was there, M&M World has opened in Time Square. Love it.




While walking back to our hotel the first night, we passed the funniest place in Time Square. There is a facility sponsored by Charmin toilet paper, and well, this lady was more than happy to tell you all the wonderful things this place had to offer (20 restrooms that were cleaned after each use, a place to have your picture taken with the Charmin bears, etc)! Seriously?
Here we are at one of the many Christmas trees in the hotel:
The whole city was decorated....here's a sampling:




Macy's at Christmas:




Brad bought me a lovely new necklace from Tiffany's for my birthday! Here I am being a total geek with my little blue box in front of the store. I couldn't resist.

We also stayed with my friend, Chris, and his wife, Amanda. We had so much fun hanging out with them! We tried some incredible restaurants like Max Brenner's and Virgil's. If ever you are in NYC, you need to try these two places....yummmy! We also went to see the Rockefeller tree. Wow. Visit Chris and Amanda's blog where Amanda wrote up a wonderful recap of our time together!





Bloomingdales at Christmas:



Our last night in the city, we had tickets to see A Prairie Home Companion - Brad's favorite radio show, hosted by Garrison Keeler. Well, we had center balcony seats,
3rd row. We were early to the show and sitting in our seats, when the theater manager came to us, saying that some people had cancelled their tickets and he needed to fill the seats. We ended up sitting on the 6th row, center isle! Brad was elated!

Gigi is Here!

Gigi arrived on Saturday to take care of our girls while Brad and I head to NYC for the week! Needless to say, we haven't stopped since she arrived! She is on a mission this week to potty train Anna Claire. Talks of a 'potty party' are in the works. Oh my.
AC at her favorite "wah-wah" fountain at the mall:
AC received two BIG Christmas presents (a little early!) from Gigi and Papa Bear:

Gigi, Anna Claire, and Sophie all snuggled together on the couch:

Gobble! Gobble!

Well, our first Thanksgiving in our new home has come and gone! We had a wonderful holiday and we have so much to be thankful for! Brad's dad and sister traveled in from Oklahoma on Wednesday and left early this morning.
Aunt Roro (as Anna Claire calls her) brought several fun treats for AC, including this Ariel night gown.
Brad and I have always traveled on Thanksgiving, so this was our first time to host Thanksgiving in our home which means it was also our first time to prepare the Thanksgiving meal. Now, for those of you who know me well, you know I don't cook very often (ok, hardly ever!). I made it up for it on Thanksgiving, and I kept telling Brad, "This counts as my cooking for the YEAR!" Ha.



Our menu included an apple and spices brined turkey, smoky bacon and cream biscuit dressing, green bean bundles, wild rice and corn casserole, and a homemade cranberry mold. For dessert, I made a frosty pumpkin pie (think pumpkin ice cream pie) and an apple cranberry pie.
Robyn brought her dog, Skye, with her. Skye wanted nothing more than to play with Sophie, our miniature dachshund. Well, Sophie wasn't too sure about Skye. At one point, Sophie was sleeping on Kerstin's shoulder, and Skye jumped up on the couch to play! Here's the funny picture that was captured! As is evident by her facial expression, Kerstin was not too sure about this!

The Last Few Days.....

Here's a random collection of pictures from the last few days:

Hannah (on the right) is a year younger than Anna Claire (left) and is just learning to walk. The other night, Anna Claire helped her walk to the nursery. What I love about this picture is how Anna Claire has her hand in her pocket, like this is some casual little stroll. Cute.

Last night, we went to a local high school football playoff game. We had a cold front blow in, so we were all bundled up and had a blast!



When we got home, Brad built our first fire of the season. We made S'mores and enjoyed a nice time by the fire before going to bed.

For those of you who know my husband and who follow college football, you know that there's a little game tonight between OU and Texas Tech. This morning, when Anna Claire got up, she and Brad started running around the living room, shouting "Go OU!", "Boomer! Sooner!" and so on. Ridiculous. At one point, Anna Claire got so excited, she took off her pants and started waiving them in the air. Lord, help us!

Anna Claire's 2 year Portraits

I picked out our "favorites"....Enjoy!