Look How Much Can Change in One Year!

December 23, 2010

Birthday Girl!

December 23, 2011

Birthday Girl!

 

More from 2010

Two Days Old!

 

One Day Old!

 

 

More from today

1 Year Old

 

One Year Old

 

One Year Old!

Look What I Taught Charlie to Do

Our Family Vacation – Part 2

On the second day at Walt Disney World, we spent the day at Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  We did another character breakfast (we actually chose to do these most of the week since we didn’t want to have to wait in line to see the characters), this time at the Tusker House. 

All of us with Daisy

Mickey and Me

Charlie did not like it when Donald touched her!

It was a really, really great atmosphere for the kids.  They have a “wake-up” ceremony where the kids get shakers and march around after the characters.  Obviously, Charlie was too little to do this, but she really wanted to be a part of it!

After breakfast, we rode on the Kilimanjaro Safari, which, if you haven’t been on it, is a big open-air van type vehicle that you load a ton of people in and it drives out into “Africa” for a “Safari.”  It’s really well done and Charlie had a great time. 

Laughing during an acceleration

Looking cute

When you leave the safari, there is a path that you can walk through to see a ton of different animals.  It’s a very, very well done zoo.  Charlie slept through this part, but John got some great pictures, especially this one of a gorilla:

While Charlie napped, we very quickly traded off and rode Everest.  Of course, that meant riding individually while the other watched the baby, but that was ok.  It was still fun.

In the afternoon, we slipped out of Animal Kingdom and drove over to Hollywood Studios, where we had dinner reservations.  It was pouring by the time we got there (it had been drizzling most of the morning) and many of the rides were closed.  However, we did get to see Disney Junior Live on Stage, which is exactly what we wanted to allow Charlie to experience.  She had the best time seeing the puppets.  (If you want to see exactly what this is all about, there’s a great youtube video here.)  I even had her standing through a good chunk of the show without complaining because she was mesmerized by the stage!

On day 3, we went to Epcot for the International Food and Wine Festival, which, in reality, was our main reason for going to Disney!  We started off the day with the Princess Breakfast in Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway.  At breakfast, Charlie was able to meet Belle, Cinderella, Snow White (her favorite), Aurora, and Ariel.  Snow White and Ariel even gave her big kisses!  She was entranced by the princesses.

I can eat my eggs all by myself and still look super cute!

Meeting Snow White

Meeting Ariel

Wearing her kisses from the princesses (Snow White is the bright red one, Ariel is the faint pink one)

The food and wine festival was just as good as we remembered it from 2009, but, because we were there on a Saturday, it was packed!  We ate a ton, sampling from each of the countries.  Even Charlie got in on the act.  She especially liked my pierogies and stuffed cabbage from the Polish booth. 

Loving the pierogies

My favorite food item had to be either the Kefta Pocket or Harissa Chicken Roll from the Moroccan booth (John’s in agreement here).

Waving from a "British" phone booth

We took Charlie into the Living Seas, and she was amazed at all of the fish in the aquarium.  She even had a scuba diver blow bubbles to her through the glass!

Looking at fish

"Touching" the scuba diver

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year..

Except when it’s not.  Anybody else feeling stressed out yet?  Every year I seem to have a holiday meltdown.  Last year, technically, it was a baby meltdown (“OMG, we haven’t ordered her cloth diapers or her crib mattress yet!” – which were used at 1 mo and 11.5 mo, respectively.  Hmmm, could’ve ordered those ones a little later), but since it happened during the holidays, it still counts.

This year, it happened on Sunday.  Coincidentally, right after getting back from Christmas shopping.  And it wasn’t even a bad shopping trip. I’d finished all of my Christmas shopping, sans my FIL.   I had hit up JoAnn’s, Kohl’s, Barnes and Nobles, and Pottery Barn Kids, starting at 8:30 AM, and I was back home before 11 AM – with donuts and coffee from Dunkin Donuts.

What set me off?  Who knows?  But, it’s over, it’s done with, and I should now be good to go through the remainder of the holidays.  Charlie’s birthday party is set for this coming Sunday (my parents get into town on Friday evening) and we’re now hosting Christmas Eve dinner (a halved Feast of the Seven Fishes – with some Slovak touches thrown in) so I’ve got a lot of things to do in the next two weeks.  But, it’ll be ok.

All I have to do it take a deep breath and look at Charlie playing under the Christmas Tree.  We put her Little People Nativity Set under there.  She keeps trying to eat Baby Jesus and she throws the Wise Men.  I wonder if we should be concerned.

Our First Family Vacation – Part 1

At the end of October, John, Charlie, and I took our first vacation as a family of three.  Many people told us that were crazy to take a 10 month old on vacation, but we were not to be discouraged.  Where did we go?  To one of our favorite destinations (we’ve been together eight years and been here 4 times!)

Walt Disney World

It was awesome.  One of the best vacations we have ever had.  There are parts of that vacation that I will remember forever.  And Charlie grew up so much while we were away.  She started using a sippy cup!  She switched to one nap a day!  She started saying the word duck (she’d already been saying cat (for both cats and Mickey Mouse), dog, ah dat (what’s that), and uh-oh).  We found out that she’s a little daredevil (we had our suspicions, but this confirmed it).  She refused to eat ANY baby food and was trying everything off of our plates.

Would we do it again with a 10 month old?  Yes indeedy!  Disney is perfect for little ones.  They cater to you so much and nobody is going to complain when you have to leave a show because your child is exhausted and has started crying since they desperately need a nap.

The recap of this vacation is definitely going to have to be in multiple parts.  It was a six day trip, that makes for a ton of stuff to talk about and show pictures of (we have over a thousand!  Don’t worry, I’m not going to post them all).

This was also Charlie’s first plane ride, and I have to say, it went really smoothly.  I don’t think we bothered any other passengers (which was a huge concern of mine).  Traveling at night, when she’d normally be sleeping, really was the essential key in making this part of the vacation easy. 

We left on a Wednesday evening and had late breakfast reservations the next day at The Crystal Palace for breakfast with Pooh and friends.  This was Charlie’s first experience with the characters and although she loved seeing them from afar, she wasn’t too keen on them being close to her (at least the animal characters (Human characters were a different story). 

After breakfast we took her on her very first ride, the Jungle Cruise.  She didn’t seem too interested in the ride, but was far more interested in the older woman that was making faces for her.

During her nap, we purchased her personalized mouse ears and when she woke up, we promptly put her ears on her and went to visit her BFF in the entire world.  Any guesses on whom that would be?

She was sooooooooooo excited to see him!  Her face lit up so brightly.  I would have paid any amount of money to have seen that look on her face.  It was awesome.

Later in the day we took Charlie on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, which she loved.  She liked the slight free fall feeling that you can achieve on this ride.  We also took her on It’s A Small World, which she thought was the best thing ever.

That evening, Charlie got to meet her first princess, Cinderella, as well as Prince Charming, and her stepsisters Anastasia and Drusilla. 

11 Favorite Christmas Songs

Yesterday morning, my favorite morning show (Preston and Steve on WMMR) discussed this article from Philadelphia Magazine entitled “The 11 Most Annoying Christmas Songs.”  I actually LOVE a few of the songs on that list, though I do agree with some as well.

So instead of doing annoying Christmas Songs, I thought I’d present my list of “Shannon’s 11 Favorite Christmas Songs.”  But, a quick warning, I’m a sucker for the traditional church/religious Christmas carols.

(All videos are the first or second on the list from youtube searches)

1. O Holy Night

Is there any more beautiful Christmas carol?  I don’t think so.  It’s amazing, especially when sung by the right person [but can be oh so bad by someone that can’t carry a tune but thinks they are awesome (you know the type)].  I often tear up when I hear this song.  Fall on your knees!  Hear the Angel Voices!  That’s powerful stuff here.

2. Adeste Fidelis

This song always brings back memories of midnight mass when I lived with my parents (first verse in Latin, followed by the English counterpart).  My mother’s side of the family (the Catholic side) would join together in church and those are some of my best holiday memories (especially the time where my cousin Bob lit his sister’s hair on fire with a candle before mass started one year!).  It traditionally opens up Catholic Christmas Masses and it’s just beautiful.  Oh Come All Ye Faithful!  Joyful and Triumphant!  Is this not what this holiday is truly about?

3. O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Not sung at Christmas, but during Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas in the Catholic church calendar).  I love it!  Rejoice!

4. All I Want For Christmas is You

Come on.  Mariah Carey, a catchy tune, great lyrics!  What else needs to be said.  It gets stuck in your head and you find yourself bouncing around to it for a long time after hearing it (but in a good way!).  Also, Love Actually!

5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I actually really like the version from The Chipmunks album.  It’s just a nice peaceful little song.  Reminds me that no matter what problems we’re having, we can at least set them aside for a little while during the holiday.

6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the BareNaked Ladies

This version is so awesome.  They did a great job reworking this into an upbeat song.  Plus, it doesn’t hurt that they are my favorite band.

7. There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I like this because the word Pennsylvania (no matter how long I live in Jersey, I’ll always be a Pennsylvanian at heart) is in it! 

8. Our World

This song is from Emmit Otter’s Jugband Christmas.  If you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it.  The lyrics remind us of what this world should be like, instead of how it is.

9.  Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Immediately makes me think of Rudolph!  It’s a classic!  It’s bouncy and bubbly and makes me happy!

10. What Child is This

I love the melody of this song.  Yes, yes, I know it’s Greensleeves, but it’s still beautiful with the Christmas lyrics. 

11. Away in a Manger

Innocent and beautiful.  It was my favorite song when I was a child and I can’t wait until Charlie can hear it.  Every time I hear little kids sing this it makes me cry.

And one more since I just can’t stop:

12. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I have no reasons to justify this song, I just love it.  I’ll even sing it during the summer (not to mention every time I see a hippo – which oddly enough doesn’t happen too often)

 

So, Readers.  What are some of your favorites?  There’s hundreds of them out there so I know there must be a great mix of favorites.  I’d love to hear some.

Divergent and Matched/Crossed (Book Review)

I’ve been reading some Young Adult Dystopian fiction lately.  It all started with the Hunger Games (I wrote a review of these back here).  But then, I saw Crossed at Barnes and Noble, so picked it up for the Kindle, but I had to read the first book in the series before I could read it, so I picked up Matched as well.  I think one of the bloggers that I read (maybe Miss Zoot?) talked about Divergent somewhere in the past because the title rang a bell when I saw it, but I can’t remember who or when to give them any type of credit.

Divergent – Veronica Roth

This wasn’t a bad book.  I found it similar to the Hunger Games.  Some of it felt very contrived, especially the major plot twist/climax of the book.  But, it was a very easy read.  It was just captivating enough to keep my interest over the day to day in a half that it took to read.

In the book, Tris makes a life changing decision that completely changes her, and her family’s future.  It was an interesting book, with an interesting premise (the society is split into 5 groups based on personalities/virtues).  It was very good, up until the climax.  It was that darn climax that really annoyed me.  I almost put the book down, but I wanted to see what would happen.  I’m not sure if I’d buy the sequel when it is eventually published.

Matched and Crossed – Ally Condie

These books were also similar to the Hunger Games.  In the first book, Matched, Cassie is “matched” to her future husband by the government.  But something goes wrong and turmoil ensues.  I won’t give the plot of the second book, Crossed, because it would give away the plot twists in Matched. 

I really liked the first book a lot, but the second book, not so much, although I really wanted to lke it.  It felt rushed with no real character development or growth (these are the reasons that I disliked Catching Fire, too!).  The first book was interesting and gave a very quirky take on what could happen when you allow the choices in your life to be made for you by your government.  You saw a lot of personal growth in the teenage protagonist, Cassie.

My take on all of the YA Dystopian novels that I’ve read recently :

(including Hunger Games – which by the way, I am super excited to see in the movies – and – SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT HERE  – John is reading the first book and really likes it too!)

To me, and I may be way off base here, it seems like with the YA Dystopian novels, that the authors spent a while writing a really good first book.  However, once they are under the deadlines for the second book, a lot of what made the first book good was lost in order to finish the second book on time. None of the second books live up to the first one.  They just seem to be place holders for the third book.  In the Hunger Games, the third book was just okay.  I’m waiting to see the last book in the Matched series, because I do want to know what finally happens to Cassie.  But, I’m not holding out much hope of it being an awesome book.  I hope that Ms. Condie proves me wrong!

Thanksgiving 2011

We went to my parents’ house in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving this year.  It’s the first time in many, many years that we’ve been in the Burgh for Thanksgiving.  I think the last time I was there was in 2003 and I don’t think John has ever been there for this holiday.

Normally, my family celebrates at my Aunt and Uncle’s home, but this year, I volunteered to cook the dinner at my parents’ home instead.

15 of our family members were able to make it to dinner, which made for a nice crowd around the table.

Dinner was wonderful.  We purchased two fresh turkeys from McGinnis Sisters, a Pgh area specialty grocery chain.  It was my first time cooking fresh turkey, but they turned out beautifully. 

We also had two types of greenbeans, two types of corn, Brussels sprouts, peas, broccoli (I was trying for a lot of veggies instead of carbs!), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, homemade turkey gravy (why I used to be afraid to make gravy, I don’t know!), sausage stuffing, regular stuffing, and cranberry sauce. 

The only dish that failed was the regular stuffing.  I’m still not sure why.  Only difference between it and the sausage stuffing was the presence of the sausage.

For desert, we had pecan pie bars, pumpkin pie, chocolate cream pie, and a pumpkin roll (provided by my cousin).

This was Charlie’s first Thanksgiving, and her first taste of chocolate pie as well.  As you can see, she really enjoyed it!

Charlie eating Chocolate Cream Pie

How (Not) to Deal with Stress

I can’t believe that it’s December already.  I also can’t believe that I haven’t blogged in a few months.  But, let’s put that behind us, shall we?

Life’s been busy.  We’ve been on two trips recently (to be blogged about soon) and are now full swing into Christmas planning mode and Birthday planning mode.  Sometimes it feels like I don’t really have a life of my own anymore.  Heck, who are we kidding?  I don’t have a life of my own anymore.  I’ve been super stressed out lately, so that’s led to one thing – my (not so) secret way to deal with stress. 

Ignore it and read a good book.

 In the past month or so I’ve read between 10 and 15 new (or at least new-to-me) books.  So, in the coming days, you may see a book review or two.  Some were awesome.  Some were okay.  Some I didn’t even bother finishing.

I’ve had a Kindle for four years now (maybe five, who’s counting).  It’s the first generation model and yes, it does have issues. 

[But, rumor has it that I’m getting a Kindle Fire for Christmas (rumor may or may not happen to go by the name of John)] 

Recently though I’ve taken up reading on the Kindle app on my phone, which is always with me.  And, I’ve also developed a bad habit of downloading a trial of any book that looks like it may or may not be interesting.  Let me emphasize the ANY part of that sentence.  Many of those books that I’ve read trials of (usually the first few chapters) have then morphed into me purchasing the whole book. 

Oh, and several of the books that I’ve read have come from Pixel of Ink, a website that lets you know which books are free or low cost on the Kindle (and the Nook too, I think).  However, often these aren’t the greatest books.  In reality, there’s probably a surplus of romance novels listed. 

Yay, Books!  One of my favorite things in the whole world!

Oops, gotta go.  Charlie is trying to finger paint with applesauce.