CARDINAL'S GAME

Greg's boss passed along his season tickets to us for today's game. I have only been to the new stadium once when they were giving tours before they opened, but Greg on the other hand use to work security for the Cardinals games on the weekends and has seen it a bunch of times. We had seats in the Inside club along the 30 yard line...great seats!! It was nice to have an afternoon out while Grandma and Grandpa got to spend some time with Guiliana. His boss even threw in a VIP parking pass which allowed us to park right next to the stadium. It was a fun little afternoon for the adults!

Christmas Day 2009

Guiliana's 2nd Christmas was priceless!! I know that they will get better and better as she gets older but I have to say... for her not even being 2 yrs old, she really embraced the idea of Santa Clause. In the past month we watched a ton of Christmas movies, saw Santa in person 3 times, and enjoyed a holiday activity every weekend. She knows that Santa goes "HO HO HO" and that Rudolph pulls his sleigh.
Greg and I had been working with her for the last 2 months asking her what she wanted Santa to bring her and every time she would reply "Tinkerbell bike" Well, her persistence wore off and the lil gal got herself a Tinkerbell bike from Santa! She also got a Kitchen along with food and kitchen odds and ends, an easel, Princess table and chairs, lots of art supplies, books, and ELMO DVD's. She got supper spoiled later in the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
She is one loved little girl with a big heart and a fantastic personality! Last year on Christmas day she uttered her very first words of "Hi Daddy" and now she is chatting up a storm and repeating everything. She is the best Christmas gift anyone could ask for and brings so much joy to our family not only on Christmas, but throughout the whole year. We took a video of her reaction Christmas morning that literally brought tears to my eyes. To see the joy in my little girls eyes melted my heart. I love how animated and excited she gets about the little things in life. She makes everyday a special one for us.

Here is the video of Guiliana's reaction to what Santa brought her:



























MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL... AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT!

The start of a new tradition...

I think that family traditions are very important and I really want to start them with my daughter. I thought that baking and decorating cookies for Santa would be a fun one (along with the gingerbread house that we made last weekend). I spent a couple of nights last week making Gingerbread men and sugar cookie trees and stars. Then Christmas Eve Grandma, Mommy, and Guiliana and even Uncle Paulie had a cookie decorating party. We made 36 cookies total and then packaged them up and gave out as gifts to family. It was a fun tradition that I will continue for many years to come.









Here is the plate of cookies that we left for Santa:

Maybe next year she will like him in person!

So Guiliana LOVES the idea of Santa. She loves him in books, on TV, in songs, from about 25ft away, but up close... Not so much!! I took her along to my company Christmas party last Friday and they had Santa stop by to see the kids. I thought maybe if I sat with her she would start to like him but that didn't help either!
She is cute though... If you ask her what Santa is going to bring her she says "a bike" "a Tinkerbell bike" Maybe next year we can get her to sit on his lap, and if that works out then its off to the Polar Express the following year. Here it the picture of Guiliana who is clearly traumatized by Santa and me smiling hoping that her and I can get a good shot with Santa. It looks like I am laughing but I really felt awful for her!!

Guiliana and her 1st Gingerbread house!

One of the many traditions that I wanted to start with my daughter is the making of a gingerbread house together. It was a messy but fun adventure. I of course had to assemble the house (which is not very easy might I add! The roof kept wanting to slide off!) but she did most of the decorating by herself. Here are some pictures of our "creation"










We didn't even realize till after that we had made a gingerbread house very similar the ceramic one that plays music, that Uncle Paulie gave Guiliana last year for Christmas!