Saturday, January 5, 2013

Ringing in the New Year

The day after Christmas we got hit with the first big snowstorm of the year. We went out to breakfast with my parents and then they headed home to beat the weather. I went with Ryan to his office to cancel his patients for the next day and then we headed home, and not long after we got back the snow started to fall and didnt stop until the next morning. It was honestly nice to have a day to just relax. Since we didn't have much food in the house (except approximately four pounds of leftover prime rib), we bundled up and went over to Courtney's house to have dinner with everyone.



Checking out cousin Evie's new rocking horse.

We ended up getting at least 8 inches of snow. I was very jealous on Thursday morning as I was getting ready for work that Ryan & Connor got to have a snow day together! Ryan texted me this picture while he was having lunch with everyone the next day:

 
I would have stayed in my jammies all day too if I didn't have to work!
 
 
Things cleared up by Friday, so after work we loaded up the dogs and dropped them off at the kennel before heading home to Wyomissing for the weekend. I hadn't seen Lisa since she'd been back, so we were excited to check out their new place and catch up. On Saturday morning Ryan, Connor, & I went to Tom Cat Cafe - a place I had been dying to try for a few years - for breakfast. Their menu is online http://tomcatcafe.com/Breakfast_Menu.html - I, of course, had a list of about 19 possibilities and Ryan chose the very first thing on the menu. It was very good and we were stuffed. I would definitely like to go back to try some other things. After lunch we went home and dropped Connor off for free babysitting my parents to spend some quality time with him and Ryan and I braved the snow to go out and pick up some dessert for that night and return some Christmas presents. We ended up at Haute Chocolate and it's a good thing we got a dozen cupcakes because we found out that Sarah's family and Becky were also joining us for dinner. So excited to see all my friends. We had a blast -Lisa did a good job cooking for all of us (Ryan was a little bit nervous, knowing how/what we used to cook when we lived at Summit Park) and Connor will have some very entertaining buddies in a few years when he is able to keep up with them!
 
 
Some of my oldest and dearest friends. We couldn't get a picture of all of the kids together because they were too hyped up on all the sugar they had to sit still long enough!
 
 
We left Wyomissing early afternoon on Sunday and made stops at 5 Guys and Cabelas on the way home. Hopefully now that Lisa is back, we'll make more frequent trips home (finding a dog-sitter to come to our house would be a HUGE help). I told Ryan we could stop at Cabelas every time if he comes with us! I was glad to be back home in Williamsport on Sunday night though. It seemed like we had been constantly going, going, going for the past two weeks and I was thrilled to have the next two days off to relax.
 
We had no big plans on New Year's Eve. It's not my favorite holiday and I'm not really a fan of going out and spending a ton of money, worrying about crazy drivers, etc. Most years, IF I make it until the ball drops, I'm in bed by 12:02. This year we decided to stay home. Ryan made a delicious dinner of filet and twice baked potatoes and we opened our best bottle of wine (it was a wedding present and obviously we couldn't drink it last Christmas/New Years or on our Anniversary).
 
 
Saved the best for last!
 
We actually watched the ball drop and had a champagne toast at midnight. We had so much to be thankful for in 2012 and I think 2013 is going to be even better!
 
We had the traditional pork & sauerkraut on New Years Day and after that it was back to reality. I went back to work on Wednesday and Ryan went back on Thursday. They were very excited to see Connor at Bostleys...they missed him!
 
Connor's still not crawling, but he's getting close. You can tell he wants to move, and he has no problem covering a lot of ground by rolling all over the place. It won't be long now. I am loving him at this stage - he is just so sweet and interested in everything. He's definitely become a much better eater - I think he just might not have been quite ready when we first tried. Now that he's seven months old, he's loving sitting in his high chair and eating, and even though it is sometimes messy and I have to get up much earlier to give him breakfast, I love that time to "chat" in the morning.
 
 
 
 So far we've tried rice cereal, oatmeal, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green peas, bananas, avocados, and pears. The only thing he's not a huge fan of is the peas, but I'm going to keep trying with those. Not sure what will be next on the menu, any suggestions?
 
Well, 2013 seems to be off to a good start. Can't wait to get the ball rolling on the big move to our new house. We have lots to look forward to this year!
 
 
Happy New Year everyone!
 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

It seems like ages since I've posted. Between a unbelievably busy end of the year at work and an even crazier social calendar over the holidays, it probably HAS been ages since my last post. I would have preferred to break the holiday posts up in to a couple separate ones, but I just haven't had much free time to sit down and do it. So, I guess I'll have to knock it all out in one post. Better get comfortable...

The two weeks before Christmas I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. Ryan would get Connor from day care so I could stay late at work, I would come home and eat dinner and put Connor to bed, and then work 2-3 hours from home. I was afraid the rest of my Christmas shopping was going to have to be done at Wegman's or I was going to be forced to pay twice the amount of the gift for rushed shipping. Somehow, we managed to get everything done at work but by that Friday, I was ready for a few days off to relax. I definitely had a few days off, but I don't know how relaxing they were!

That Friday night, Ryan had his staff Christmas party at Haywoods. His dad's staff was also included, so there were a lot of people packed into the small private room. They have the most amazing cheeseburger with onion rings and champagne mustard - I get it every time I go there and I always eat the entire thing and leave feeling stuffed. Connor was a big hit - it was his first time actually sitting IN a high chair in a restaurant as opposed to being confined to his carrier ON a high chair, and I think he enjoyed the view.

 
 
We spent most of the day on Saturday grocery shopping and cleaning since we were hosting Christmas at our house. On Saturday night, we had dinner at DiSalvos with Ryan's friends from dental school, Pat and John, and their families. They are from Selinsgrove but live in Philly and New Jersey and were in Williamsport for a family Christmas party and asked if we wanted to get together afterwards. We had the best time - hopefully we'll be able to get together again before another 5 years pass! Our reservations with our friends were early but we knew that Ryan's mom, sister Allison, and brother-in-law Acey had dinner reservations later, so we stuck around and waited for them (we saw plenty of people we knew there to help us kill the time). We ended up staying with them through their dinner...sorry I don't have any pictures but I believe my hands were always full with a wine glass so I was a little preoccupied. Connor held up amazingly well until around 10pm, at which point he let us know we had overstayed our welcome. We headed home and after he went to bed Ryan got to work on the prime rib. Yes, Christmas was still 3 full days away, but he wanted to get it prepped. He called it "aging," I called it "making everything in the fridge smell like meat."
 
 
 
On Sunday we had a lazy morning. In the afternoon Ryan smoked some of the Alaskan salmon and took some up to his dad's while I wrapped presents. I've never been a fan of wrapping presents, but I have to say that this year was particularly painful - children's toys have the worst, most oddly shaped packaging! On Sunday night Ryan's mom had her Christmas open house. Connor looked very dapper in the outfit Pat & Ashley brought for him.
 


Debbie had lots of delicious food and Connor got passed around to all the party guests. This was the third night in a row that he was up way past his normal bedtime, and he held up remarkably well, probably better than me. I think at that point I was exhausted and getting tired of partying, and Christmas was still two days away!

On Monday morning (Christmas Eve) we went up to Ryan's dad's house for brunch to celebrate Christmas with him since he was leaving (or so he though!) early Christmas morning for Colorado to spend Christmas & New Years with Collin & Emily. We had quite a spread of food - beef tenderloin, oysters, shrimp, brie, rum cake, and cookies - but more importantly, we had almost 10 bottles of champagne for 8 adults! After we ate, we opened presents, and then Connor went for a ride on some of the many exotic (stuffed) animals at Grandpa's house.

 
 
 
After all that fun we all needed some serious naps! We got a little bit of snow that evening so we had a bit of a white Christmas!

On Christmas morning we actually had to wake Connor up at 8am! This is probably the last year we will be able to "sleep in" on Christmas. We didn't even get to open Connor's gifts because we had to be over at Debbie's by 9 for breakfast. She made an egg and sausage casserole, an amazing fruit salad, and, best of all, monkey bread! I was stuffed. We opened gifts before heading back home to wait for my parents and Aunt Kate to show up.




Shortly after we got back to our house my aunt arrived, and my parents weren't far behind. My aunt's first comment when she saw the presents for Connor under the tree was "that's it?"


I wasn't worried - I knew she and Nana and Pop Pop would be bringing plenty of presents to pick up our slack! Ryan HATES how we open presents in our house - one at a time. This year seemed to take twice as long! Connor is a lucky little boy! He cleaned house and now has plenty of toys to play with. Weve been introducing them slowly - he, of course, likes the noisest ones the best! He also LOVES his chair - he was hamming it up for all the cameras.



While we were waiting for dinner, the adults played a fun white elephant game. The theme was cooking/entertaining. Ryan ended up with a breadmaking kit and I ended up with a Honey Badger themed gift - honey vodka and an etched glass, in a package that said "Merry Christmas, Stupid." It is an inside joke in our family and actually I was probably the perfect person to end up with that gift. Our dinner was incredible - Ryan cooked the prime rib on our Big Green Egg and it was delicious. We had lots of food and wine and I was exhausted by the time everyone went home. Overall, we had a great first Christmas as a family of three!