Christmas Morning & Grandma & Pop Pop's House!

Christmas morning we opened all our gifts from Santa - it was SO much fun seeing AJ rip open all her gifts. Besides our new addition Dylan, Alex gave me the best gift of all - he made my blog into a book! It's awesome - I can't wait to give them to the kids one day - they will have all mom's recipes and all the highlights of growing up Matrale!

In the afternoon we made our way to Grandma & Pop Pop's house! Uncle Peter and Great Grandpa were there and Liz & Banana joined us a little later on. AJ loved opening more gifts and the rest of us enjoyed all the delicious food and wine. Dylan was a good boy and slept the day away!

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve was spent at my moms house and as usual everyone had a really great time! Here are a few pics from the evening! The kids all got tons and tons of gifts and AJ LOVES her new bike from Mimi!

Then we went home to put the key out for Santa and get his cookies and milk ready. Then it was off to sleep for everyone so he could come deliver the presents!

This is what we woke to on Christmas morning!

Dylan 1 Month Old!

It is really hard to believe a month has gone by already! Our little boy is such a pleasure and brings us so much joy! He has just started giving us the biggest smiles and he makes some cute little coos & grunts & gurgles! He eats like a champ and is really starting to pack on the pounds - he has even outgrown his newborn diapers, his newborn white undershirt onesies and a few all in one outfits! AJ adores him and is always willing to pitch in to help feed, burp or change him - she tells us always that he is her "best friend" - SO cute! He loves his bouncy seat and seems to enjoy tummy time on his mat (AJ HATED IT)! He is even giving us some pretty good sleep at night - usually about one 4 hr stretch and then a 3 hr stretch - he wakes us then he eats fairly fast, has a quick diaper change and then we lay him back in his bassinet and then he falls off to sleep again by himself! We really seem to have a really good boy on our hands!

SNOW!

Here are some shots from the first storm of the season! We got quiet a bit - about 10 inches! Uncle Mark even stopped by and got to enjoy some playtime in the snow with AJ & Marley! Dylan slept the day away warmly inside!

Santa!

We took AJ and Dylan to see Santa at the Livingston Mall today. Even though AJ said she wanted to go, I thought she would be scared of him and would change her mind at the last minute and wouldn't sit on his lap - boy was I wrong! She was so eager to run over to him and get up on his lap - he even gave her her first candy cane that she loved as well! Dylan slept happily the whole time! It is so fun to see AJ really getting things these days and seeing how much fun she is having during the Christmas season!

Alex's 32nd!

So even though the power went out for 5 hours, I wasn't going to let it ruin our plans to celebrate Daddy's birthday! We were having a pizza party and the cake AJ and I made him earlier that day! Even Dylan was awake to enjoy it!

Play Mat!

Dylan loves laying and looking around on his play mat & AJ loves laying and playing with him!! They are very cute together!!

All Done Up!

Here it is all decorated!!! I love everything about it - the lights, all our ornaments from all the different vacations we have been on, the smell of it in the house, the presents under it when Santa comes - everything!

Oh Christmas Tree!

This year we went back to Dixiedale Farm in Chatham to pick our tree with my brother, my sister & law and my niece. We bundled baby Dylan and he had his first experience in the bjorn - it was great - he was warm and I had two hands!