Recap

Seriously...where has this fall gone? I can't believe it's only a few weeks until Christmas (gasp!) and several weeks since I've posted. Where shall I begin??
Thanksgiving this year was extra special because Nana (Courtney's grandma) is in town for several weeks leading up to Christmas. We spent the afternoon at Mim and Poppa's enjoying a delicious meal and fun playtime with the cousins. While Thanksgiving may be one of our favorite holidays, it's not necessarily important to Jacob since it centers around food. He enjoyed playing on the piano, having tea and basically just enjoying family!

The tradition in our little family of three is to spend the day after Thanksgiving not in stores, but at home decorating for Christmas. This year was particularly fun because Jacob is older and loooves the Christmas decorations! He was so helpful decorating the tree in the upstairs playroom and loves having is very own little tree in his room (I'll have to post pictures of that later).

Cousin Brady has been coming over a few times a week to play and Jacob has had such a grand time with him! We usually do some sort of craft, spend time playing with trains and all things "boy", and even get to eat lunch together. It's definitely a highlight of Jacob's week and is so much fun, in fact, that he gets worn out and takes a fantastic nap in the afternoon!

On Thursday, December 2nd we met up with the Pascuzzi family at church for a Miss PattyCake concert. The concert was performed to benefit Three Trees, an event our church puts on each year to bless local families. Each year, families are bussed to our church where they receive gift cards to Walmart or Target, Payless and then toys for their children. It's incredible to see the toys stack up in the worship center throughout the weeks and know that we are a part of such an amazing body of believers!

Instead of purchasing tickets to see Miss PattyCake, each family that attending was asked to bring a toy to donate. What a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season!

Jacob has such a great time sitting with his friends, PJ and Katelyn. After the concert, he wanted to meet Miss PattyCake but promptly changed his mind when it was his turn! Ahhhh...life with an indecisive three year old (almost!).

Kisses!

The one and only picture we got of Jacob and Miss PattyCake!

New York Day 1

Nathan and I just returned from an amazing trip celebrating my 30th birthday with some dear friends. A weekend in New York was just what we needed!!
We arrived in New York around 1pm and after a posh ride to the hotel (the story of how it happened deserves a post of it's own!), we headed out to explore the town.


Our first stop was The Empire State Building. Luckily, we purchased our tickets online before our trip, so we bypassed much of the line and it only took about 30 minutes to make it to the observation deck. It was a beautiful, clear afternoon and a great way to begin our trip!

Afterwards, we walked around quite a bit and were able to see Times Square (the pictures didn't turn out all that well) and Rockefeller Center. We popped into several shops, one of which was Dylan's Candy Bar. It was seriously like walking into a fantasyland, complete with sugar highs just from walking in the doors!

We headed back to the hotel to get all cleaned up and refreshed and headed out to dinner at Osteria al Doge on 44th street. It was the perfect place for our first dinner in the city. Cozy, warm, and comfortable with delicious food! Unfortunately, the girls were in high heals that were killing our feet and we ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel. We decided to get to bed early (not too early, we had dinner at 8:30!) to get a good night's sleep and be ready for the big day ahead!

New York Day 2

We woke up Saturday morning to absolutely beautiful, clear, crisp weather. We caught a cab to drive us to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and couldn't have been more happy that we purchased our Reserve tickets online before we left on our trip!
After a 15 minute ferry ride (and about 30 minutes in line for security) we arrived at the Statue of Liberty. We enjoyed some time on land and learning about the Statue and enjoying the views of the city.

Next, we took another 15 minute ferry ride to Ellis Island. I was so excited about this portion of our tour because my great grandfather actually came through Ellis Island from Russia in 1904. The museum was extremely interesting and we learned a little about the process the immigrants went through when they arrived as well as saw examples of how they lived if they were detained on the island.

We arrived back in Manhattan and headed to Central Park for lunch at The Boathouse. It was a breathtaking sight, with all the leaves in shades of red, orange, and yellow! We laugh that in Texas, leaves are either green or brown! Unfortunately, we had to wait far too long to be seated for lunch, but still enjoyed the views across the lake and some delicious food.

After a brief stop at our hotel, we loaded into another taxi and headed to meet Nathan's little brother and his wife in SoHo for dinner. We had pizza at Lombardi's and after a brief stop at Duane Reade (I was suffering from motion sickness from the ferry all day!) we settled at a little Irish Pub in the neighborhood called Gatsby's. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy trying not to be sick!
When I finally recovered and we landed back in our "neck of the woods"-ie Midtown, we headed back to Dylan's Candy Bar to enjoy amazingly decadent ice cream treats from the cafe. It was the perfect way to cap off the day!

New York Day 3

Sunday morning began with a brisk walk to the NBC studios for a tour. It was really interesting to see where Dr. Oz, Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live are filmed and learn tidbits about behind-the-scenes. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious brunch at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. It was a beautiful, cozy, and comfortable atmosphere where we could all enjoy a laid back meal.
The remainder of the morning and early afternoon was spent wandering around the city, popping in to The Plaza (and Eloise shop), FAO Schwarz, and various other stores in the area. We loved watching the people ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza and seeing the Christmas tree being trimmed (it arrived Friday and was unfortunately covered up for trimming).

At three o'clock, Kelly and I attended a matinee performance of Promises, Promises starring Sean Hayes (from Will and Grace) and Kristin Chenowith. It was located in a beautiful jewel box of a theatre and was so entertaining that the nearly three hours was over far too soon! Afterwards, we met up with the boys and took a loooong walk to our dinner at 5 Napkin Burger, which was absolutely delicious! On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Crumbs Bakery for yummy cupcakes to end our wonderful day in the city.

Wordless Wednesday-Self Portrait

Banana Bread

We had some overripe bananas and decided it was the perfect day to do a little baking! Jacob loved helping mash the bananas, measure the ingredients, and stir. He was so excited to see all of the ingredients come together and watch it go in and out of the oven. Maybe we'll have banana bread for a snack this afternoon!

Mommy's helper!

We added a little brown sugar and cinnamon on top of the batter before we put it in the oven. Yum!

Out of the oven, baked to perfection!

Big Boy Room!!

This weekend we put the finishing touches on Jacob's big boy room. He absolutely loves sleeping in his big boy bed and now enjoys playing and reading in his room as well!!