Making Christmas Cookies w/ Aunt Patty

Last Sunday, Aunt Patty invited us over to make Christmas cookies.  We jumped at the opportunity!  Great times and better her kitchen getting covered in icing than mine! :) 

Tyler and Great Aunt Patty.

We put Daddy to work too!

Tyler was more interested in eating the cookies than decorating...surprise, surprise.  My kinda kid! :)

Cookie making fun...I know, I know, my eyes are closed.  Patty and Tyler look good though.

Daddy was the most artistic of us all at the icing process. 

Tyler with a guilty look on his face...he stole a cookie off the counter before it was iced.

Patty and Daddy hard at work. 

This was Patty's famous cookie of the day...we weren't sure what it was!  She said it was supposed to be Santa with a bag on his back.  Thoughts? 

Tyler got bored with cookie decorating and proceeded to dump all of the ornaments out of this basket and count them as he put them back in.  The only problem is he only counts to 20 and there were more than 20.  Once he got to 20 he would start back at 1 with the next ornament.  I guess we should work on counting higher soon. 

It was a great afternoon of cookie baking.  Thanks for having us over, Aunt Patty!  We will have to make it a yearly tradition!

New York, New York: Final Day

Our final day in New York City was a rainy one, but one we wouldn't have missed it. 

The photos don't accurately depict the feelings involved in our visit to the 9/11 Memorial. 

I wouldn't chalk this sightseeing visit up as something "fun," but very necessary to complete our trip to NYC. 

The pools seemed to flow downward infinitely.  It was very humbling and surreal.  

The view of the new towers going up was pretty neat. 

The 9/11 Memorial Plaza was simple but well done. 

The police presence at the Memorial was impressive and many of the officers there serve voluntarily out of respect for those who perished. 

After the 9/11 Memorial, we walked to Wall Street and viewed Federal Hall where George Washington was inaugurated, the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, etc.  We didn't get any photos because it was raining pretty hard. 

After a long lunch, it was time to head to the airport for our trip home.  We were ready!

Our flight was delayed. Ugh! 

Tyler was such a trooper and enjoyed watching the planes with Grandma.

With all the trucks and planes, etc. Tyler was in awe.

So tired, but such a great traveler!

Face pressed against the glass watching the action.

We had a great trip!  Thanks for bearing with me through all the posts.  I figured I had better wrap it up so I can prepare Christmas posts! 



New York, New York: Mizzou Game

The reason for the trip: to watch our Tigers defeat the Villanova Wildcats 81-71. 

The victory was icing on the cake to a great trip! 

The Garden!

The ESPN crew.

Before the game.  Tyler loved watching the team warm-up to the music.

My boys were into the pre-game!

   

Tyler was making friends/flirting with some girls behind us.  Uh oh! :)

Let's hope the Tigers continue their winning ways!  It has been a fun season to watch so far!

The Real Santa!

While in NYC, we thought it was a MUST to see what I believe is the real Santa at the flagship Macy's on 34th Street.  

They had a whole Santaland set up that you weaved your way through.  It was neat and I suppose you get to see a lot of it if you have to wait in line but since we went on a Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon, we zipped right up to see the Big Man.

Some of the elaborate decorations.

Prepping to see Santa!

Santa's list for the sleigh.

Batteries...no kidding Santa!  I buy those bad boys in bulk!

Our version of the photo.

Tyler was not scared of him at all.  He just kept looking at Santa...kind of in awe! 

Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Tyler just stared at him.  When Santa asked him if he wanted books...Tyler's response was "yep."  Trucks?..."okay."  "Trains?"..."alright."  Santa told us he was the most agreeable child he had seen all day. :)

We didn't exactly get a smile out of Tyler but a quality photo nonetheless.  I just had to purchase it (along with the rights to the photo so I could print/share as I wish)! 

New York, New York: Day 4

Day 4 in NYC we struck out on our own down to Rockefeller Center to see the famous Christmas tree in all it's glory. 

It is pretty stunning in person. 

Tyler and Daddy. 

Tyler, Mommy and some older ladies getting their photo taken too. :)

Just some cool decorations around the city...

I am not sure the boys were too impressed.

Radio City!

The rest of our group went to see the Radio City Rockettes.  We thought about it as Tyler could have seen the show and probably would have loved it, but the show was close to nap time and we didn't want to risk ruining it for people around us. 

More cool decorations.

This next stop was on my New York to do list - get a cupcake!   

My cousin, Anna, who interned in NYC last summer recommended Crumbs and so with the help of the iPhone - we found one close.  I was in awe!  Bad idea to put a pregnant lady in a cupcake shop. :)

Look at all the options!

Tyler and I decided on this one (poor quality due to phone picture).  I don't even remember what it was called...Cookie something - it had Twix on top and I love Twix!  Tyler and I could only eat half.  Since Daddy hates cake, he had no interest, but he was happy to take us. 

After returning to the apartment for a little rest and then a walk to Chelsea Market and some Ray's Pizza, we made a special stop (another blog post) and then to the Mizzou game (remember, that is the reason for the trip). 



12 Days of Christmas Books

Since Tyler loves books so much I decided to do something fun and do 12 days of Christmas books and have him open a book every night the 12 nights up to Christmas so it started tonight.  I also want to try to get Tyler excited for Christmas a bit as right now he is so ho-hum about the whole deal from the lights to the tree to Santa.  He did enjoy opening his book tonight though.  

Book #1: Frosty the Snowman

New York, New York: Day 3

We started out Day 3 by touring Grand Central Station after breakfast.    What a magnificent place!  Currently, Grand Central Station has an average of 700,000 people travel through it each day!

Family photo in front of the Grand Central clock. 

Tyler was pretty chill about the whole tour...as usual.

I think he might be mocking me...:)

Beautiful!

After Grand Central, we traveled to the Bronx to tour Yankee Stadium.  It was fun  telling the tour guide we are World Series Champion Cardinal fans!

Family photo in front of Yankee Stadium.

Babe Ruth Plaza

Babe Ruth signed baseball.  A ton of baseball history in this place!

After visiting Yankee Stadium, we thought it would be appropriate to have some New York pizza in Brooklyn and then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan. 

I love how this photo turned out!

The Statue of Liberty in the foggy distance.

A view of the city from the bridge.

Tyler looks thrilled, doesn't he?  He was thinking about napping across the bridge.

Once across our plan was to take the Staten Island Ferry around Liberty and Ellis Islands, but the fog was so thick we didn't think we would be able to see much.

Our next best option was to go to a bar...not my decision but I was along for the ride.  This bar/tavern was pretty cool though. 

It was Fraunces Tavern (they must have changed the family spelling over the years)! 

The building has been standing since 1719.  It is also where George Washington said good-bye to his troops in 1783. 

After several drinks (of water for me), we headed to the Heartland Brewery, the restaurant at the bottom of the Empire State Building, for dinner.  We ate a LOT on this trip!

  It was another action packed day!