Recent Pictures

The first snowman of the season. It was finally
not too cold to be outside for longer than 5 minutes.
Unfortunately our snowman only lasted a day.
We had a heat wave the next day and all the snow
melted.


Alexis wanted to see what Frosty tasted like.


Alexis spent some time at the science center. She
was deep in concentration at the time.


Emily has become such a ham. She
will seek out the camera and give her
best "cheese".


18 months already!!!! When did she
start looking like a little girl?

Poor Emily!!!

A few weeks back Emily decided to give us a little scare. As Dean and I were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, Emily decided to give her climbing skills a try and got up on the chair. Standing up backwards she tipped the chair over backwards and landed right on her face.....nothing to break her fall but her nose. It happened so fast that we only knew something was wrong with the scream. Now I am not one to worry about injuries too badly. I usually will try and brush it off not making a big deal about things. Dean is used to me being the calm collected one so when I said we probably should go to the hospital, he got a little more worried. Emily's poor face started to swell right away and her nose was bleeding......not a great amount luckily. Of course she wouldn't let us put ice on it so I wasn't sure what else to do. I really thought she had broken her nose so I thought we should get x-rays. I also didn't know about letting her go to sleep. The main thing that was on my mind was "concussion". So we all piled into the car for a trip to the ER. To make a long story short, we got in to see the doctor right away and proceeded to have x-rays taken. Boy was that fun!!!! (sarcasm) One popsicle and a $200 co-pay later we found out that Emily was going to be fine. No broken nose.....but a pretty significant bruise. The pictures show it a little better. Emily was a real trooper through all this and Alexis thought it was fun heading to the hospital and having a popsicle too. Needless to say Emily is no longer allowed to climb on chairs. A fairly expensive and painful lesson.


This picture was taken about 4 days after the initial
fall. She's such a trooper.....and still smiling!!!


I don't think we went out in public for 2 weeks.
I didn't want any "questions" !!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well Christmas and New Year's has come and gone so quickly again. It's always been my favorite time of year and one that always is gone before you know it. Dean, the girls and I spent a nice Christmas here in Cleveland with Dean's family. We spent the morning opening presents and then went over to his parents for a great dinner. The kids had a great Christmas and of course received too many gifts. The next day we started our trip down south to some WARMER weather. We ended up driving this year and actually it wasn't too bad. We left Sunday morning and got to Florida by Monday around 3pm. The 20 hour drive went well as the girls were little angels. I knew that Alexis would be fine with movies, books and other activities but what do you give a 1 year old to do to stay busy for 20 hours in a car seat? Emily was awesome though. She took nice long naps and watched a few movies with Alexis. She read some books and ate. As long as she has food she is fine. Anyway, we made it to Naples and had a great time. Nana and Papa enjoyed some quality time with the girls. They were able to go swimming, head to the beach, visit the manatees and even go to the zoo. Needless to say they stayed very busy.
Dean and I were even able to get a round of golf in too. The week went fast and we really weren't ready to head back to the cold. We hope to get back soon, especially since it has snowed more days than not since we've been back.


Emily and Nana after taking a bath.


Alexis was teaching Nana how to play Angry Birds
on the IPhone. Let's just say she's a tad bit addicted.
Is that bad?


Papa reading Emily a book before getting ready
for bed. Emily LOVES books!


Opening presents at Nana and Papa's house on
Monday. Emily got a new stuffed kitty that
purrs and even walks.


Alexis was all about Toy Story 3 and Legos this
year. I think I enjoyed putting the legos together
as much as she did.


Christmas morning at YiaYia's and Popou's house.
Alexis got a Unicorn pillow pet from MeeMee.


Emily got into opening presents a little more than
last year. Sometimes I think she liked the paper
more than the gifts.



They started the morning out with their stockings.


Alexis sitting on Santa's lap on Christmas Eve.


This was going to be our Christmas Card this year
but I was a little late so I just decided to try again
next year.


A week before Christmas we had Breakfast with
Santa. Alexis you can see was very excited but
Emily wasn't as big a fan. Maybe next year.


Alexis concentrating on making her Christmas
wreath.


"I Love Pancakes......No wait, I Love FOOD!"


The levy in North Olmsted finally passed about
a month ago and Alexis is now able to ride the
bus to school. 1/10 was her first bus ride to
school. It was a little colder than the typical first
day of school.


Emily all bundled and ready to go out and play in
the snow. She reminds me of the kid from The
Christmas Story. I'm sure she wouldn't be able
to get up if she fell.