Christmas with the Kaisers

We woke up early on Christmas morning and headed over to Alex's parents house to celebrate Christmas. Madison and Brooks ripped through their presents in no time! Madison went to her mom's house for the rest of the afternoon so Brooks was center of attention all day long :-) Alex's aunt and uncle were in town visiting as well so he got to spend some extra time with them too.



We had a wonderful lunch - enough to feed an army - and spent most of the day playing cards and hanging outside with the kiddo. He jumped on a trampoline for the first time ever and laughed the entire time.






It was a fun-filled Christmas Day with the family!

First Night of Hanukkah

We spent the first night of Hanukkah with my parents. It was the first Hanukkah that Brooks actually got to open his own presents; however, he opened about 3-4 and then decided that playing in the tupperware drawer in the kitchen was way more fun. So, mommy opened up most of his gifts and it was fun! He got lots of cool stuff from Nana & Poppy, Aunt Heather and of course mom and dad. He even got something from his Great Aunt Roberta. I guess they don't really care about this stuff until they hit about 2 or 3 years old?!?

Cuddle Bug

I just thought this was a sweet picture of Brooks cuddling with his Aunt Heather. It isn't often you get to snuggle with him because he is so busy; however, he will cuddle for a long time if you put in Nemo!

Pictures with Santa

There is a guy here in Coppell that dresses up as Santa every year, decorates the front of his house with a sleigh and reindeer and allows families to bring their children over to take pictures with him - for free! He is a great Santa and a super nice guy. We went last year when Brooks was almost 3 months old and he was great. This year, not so much. He did not want to go to Santa and held on as tightly as he could to Alex's neck. So, we decided to get a family picture with him instead - whatever works!

Brooks is obsessed with Christmas lights so we let him walk around Santa's yard and play with the decorations he had. He thought Rudolph's nose was pretty cool and bright. He also enjoyed the tree lit with big red bulbs. He had fun for sure!

Brooks' New Toy

My little boy loves to dig through the cabinets in our bathroom. He is mommy's little helper and enjoys 'reorganizing' everything under both of our sinks (he gets that from me) - especially mine! Well, for the past week or so, Brooks has been playing with one thing in particular and it has become his favorite toy under the sink ~ my First Response pregnancy tests!!! Ah yes, they are now swords - BOYS! He climbs all the way to the back of the cabinet to get them and he carries them around the house. I sing the Star Wars theme song and he holds 'the sword' over his head. It is so darn cute!

New York City

I surprised Alex with a trip to NYC for his birthday back in October. We hadn't been since 2006, and with the new baby coming in January, we felt that an adult only vacation was needed. What a better time to go to NYC than during the holidays! We rented an apartment in Midtown for 8 days and left the day after Thanksgiving. Brooks stayed with his Nana and Poppy McGee the first four days and his Grandma Kaiser stayed with him at our house the last four days.

We had an absolutely fabulous trip and thoroughly enjoyed the time with just the two of us. Our little studio apartment wasn't the Ritz but it was all we needed and was only a 10 minute walk to Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall and 15 minutes to Times Square.











The weather was very cold for most days with temperatures in the low 30's in the mornings and mid-40's in the afternoons. The wind blew pretty hard which made it a little worse. It did rain one day but that didn't stop us from spending the day outside and standing in the 1/2 price ticket line. I grew out of my coat in the first two days so we made a trip to Burlington Coat Factory to buy one that would fit over my belly!


We saw seven broadway shows during our stay - Phantom of the Opera, Spamalot, Forbidden Broadway, The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes, Avenue Q, Wicked and Hairspray. All were great and some were absolutely hilarious! We had front row center for Wicked and Hairspray after putting our name into the ticket lottery and being one of 14 people chosen. We got to meet the cast members of Hairspray after the show, including Harvey Fierstein, who was phenomenal in it!











We did LOTS of walking through Central Park, the Upper East and West sides of the park, Chinatown, Little Italy and Times Square. We visited The Guggenheim, The Met and Trump Tower. I had a bagel from H&H Bagels, rated the 'Best Bagels in NYC.' It was good but it didn't taste much different than the delicious bagels from Einstein Bros. - go figure! We visited Café Lalo, where Meg Ryan is waiting for Tom Hanks with her book and rose in 'You've Got Mail.' We also had coffee and a rest at the Life Café in the Lower East Village where the writer of the broadway show 'Rent' (one of our favorites) used to hang out and do his writing. Being 8 months pregnant, I used every Starbucks restroom in NYC - thanks Starbucks!!! Thank goodness you can find one on every corner or I would have been in trouble!!! We also had lots of pizza - at least once a day...YUMMY!















We spent two mornings in the Today Show audience where we saw Heidi Klum, Bob Harper (from Biggest Loser), Kevin Bacon and Harry Connick Jr. (one of Alex's all-time favorites). Alex even met Harry Connick Jr. and got his autograph on one of his kid's CDs for Brooks. We were even on TV a couple of times!











We also spent one morning in the Good Morning America studio audience. It was different than The Today Show because we had to write the show way in advance and get confirmed. The studio audience is inside as well. The guests included Oprah's best friend, Gail, race car driver Jimmy Johnson and the Dean Brother chefs.















We planned to attend the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center but you couldn't get within a 1/2 mile of it due to the crazy crowds. We ended up going to see Hairspray instead and walked by afterwards for pictures. It is HUGE and beautiful and always had a crowd around it day and night.















By the end of our trip, our bodies hurt from all the walking and standing (not to mention being 8 months pregnant) and we missed our little guy at home. It was a wonderfully fun trip but it is always nice to come home to family and sleep in your own bed.