2009 Wrap-up

This Christmas break has been the best I can remember. We've had lots of time to sit and do nothing, but we've also spent some quality time together. 2009 went out quietly for us, but the last few days of the year were wonderful. Here's a great picture I captured on the sly - it's a rare moment of the boys snuggling on the couch playing Andrew's DS:On Wednesday morning, Aidan woke up and decided that it was the birthday of two of his stuffed animals. Much to Tony's consternation, I promised Aidan that we could make a cake to celebrate. Unfortunately, I was down to one egg, so Aidan and his "friends" had to settle for Ghiradelli brownies. We even had to blow out candles.

Wednesday evening, we headed to the movies to see the new Disney flick, "The Princess and the Frog". When we were in Disney World in October, we received some free kids passes that expired on the 31st, so we set out to use them. We decided to try our luck at taking Sophie with us. She did very well - much better than the boys at their first movies, and they were much older. She danced, talked, and laughed through the whole thing. She also decided that throwing handfuls of baby puff snacks would be fun.

I would highly recommend the movie - it reminded me a lot of the classic Disney princess moives, but it still was a lot of fun and had great music. The boys give it two thumbs up.

It started getting cooler on New Year's eve - and Sophie wanted me to go get "her" dog from the dog run. She took the leash, crawled to the French doors and started hollering for me.

Tony had to work on New Year's eve until about eight, so we decided to stay home this year. I bought the boys sparkling grape juice and they toasted 2010 at about 8:30. I put a little in Sophie's bottle as well - you have to check out the next two pictures! In the first, she's toasting along with the boys. But in the second, she's discovered that it's not formula in that bottle!

After the boys went to bed, I finished up dinner. I used my brand new crock pot (LOVE it!) to make beef tips, which we ate with buttered noodles and red wine. Then we ate chocolate covered strawberries and toasted the new year with champagne and headed to bed right after the ball dropped.

We had a great start to 2010! My best Christmas gift was a set of tickets to see White Christmas in the Broadway tour in Louisville. White Christmas is my all time favorite movie - I watch it in July when I need a lift. What made this even better was that a former actor from the children's theatre that my cousin and I directed/produced for five years was in it. He has been living in New York and was in the touring cast of the production. I was SO proud to see him tapping away up on the stage!

After the performance, we went to celebrate Christmas one last time. Here's Sophie and Aunt Lynne:

Andrew and Uncle Stephan:

Sophie is quite a loving little girl. If you remember the pictures from Lynne's wedding, Sophie made good friends with her "cousin" (by marriage), Sean. Tonight, she couldn't get enough of him!

We've had a wonderful 2009 - starting in January with Sophie's birth, several different sports seasons, a trip to Disney World, and of course the best Christmas break I can remember. However, as a friend said, may the best of 2009 be the worst of 2010. Happy New Year~