Lights and a village, and Santa! Oh boy!

Yesterday our little family went to Macy's downtown for some Christmas fun. First, we checked out the beautiful light show. For anyone who hasn't seen this, it's a must. The show is truly amazing. Go read about it here: http://www.wannamakerorgan.com/xmas.php . After the show we went up to the third floor which they had turned into a Dicken's Village. You got to walk through the streets of London in the 1800s and read the story of Scrooge. It was adorable. At the end we got to see Santa! I was so impressed with the Santa! He was in his own private room and the staff let us take our own picture! I'm so happy that this will be a Christmas tradtion of ours!

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday isn't actually until December 26th, but we celebrated a bit early before the holidays took over. This year Jeremy asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told him a party. He made it happen. What a great guy. :) I was so happy that so many of my friends were able to make it. Our little one bedroom apartment was slam packed! A friend of mine from church made me the most amazing birthday cake I'd ever seen! I'm a huge Mario Bros. fan and I told her that I wanted a Mario themed cake. Man oh man, did she deliever! So far, this was my favorite birthday. Thanks to everyone who came!

Abby's Christmas Portraits

It's that time of year again! Here they are!

I took these in Drexel University's main building. She's sporting a hairbow made by my good friend Simmandi.

Rittenhouse Square Tree Lighting

This is the second year in a row that we went to the Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rittenhouse Square in downtown. It was fun and pretty but there were so.many.people! It was really hard to move. Last year when we went we actually missed the lighting of the tree, but that meant that we were able to enjoy the decorations without the crowds. :) Whatever the case, it was still a great way to put us in the Christmas spirit with a marching band, lots of lights, and free hot chocolate and Santa's hats! It'll probably be a yearly tradition, despite the crowds, just because Abby loves it so much.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Yay for Christmas decorations! Decorating the house has got to be my favorite part of Christmas. It's so nice to walk into my living room everyday and see a tree, stockings, and mistletoe. I'm going to miss it next month. We always put our decorations up the day after Thanksgiving and they will go down on New Year's day. Even Killer, our dog, gets into the Christmas spirit! I'd better enjoy them while they last!

Thanksgiving!

This year was my FIRST YEAR EVER preparing a Thanksgiving dinner. Well, that's if you don't count mine and Jeremy's first Thanksgiving together when I served pre-cooked turkey breast, instant mashed potatoes, and Kraft mac and cheese. I would say that everything turned out pretty good. I was grateful to have two helpers in the kitchen - Abigail and our friend from church, Ronda. Unfortunately, Abigail wasn't feeling good so she slept for a lot of the day, but she was able to help with the pumpkin pie before she crashed. We had several friends over for dinner. There were NO leftovers (except for pie). I hope that's a testament to my cooking! I made turkey, baked mac and cheese, homemade mashed potatoes, green beans that cooked alllllllll day long, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, just to name a few. Here are photos to prove that I can actually cook. It may not look pretty, but it was edible.

Trick or Treat!

We had an AWESOME Halloween! We went to Boo at the Zoo, the church Halloween party, and Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. Abigail really racked up on lots of candy. I was pretty happy! For Boo at the Zoo and the Halloween party Abigail dressed up as Minnie Mouse. Then, to go Trick or Treating she had a change of heart and decided to wear Mom's pirate accesories from the party. She was the cutest little pirate I've ever seen.