Diving right into 2011

2011 has gotten off to a busy start. (So much so, in fact, that we're way behind on our blog posts.)

On New Year's Day, we made our first venture to the Adventure Aquarium in a while (thanks to Nanna and Grandpa, who renewed our membership for Christmas).

Morgan was excited to get reacquainted with her old friends the hippos. This was also her first attempt at wildlife photography with her new camera from Aunt Lindsay.

This was Gwen's first visit to the Aquarium. So, of course, she took a nap. Some day, we'll be able to show Gwen all these photos and say, "Look at all the fun things you slept through when you were a baby."

After checking out the Sting Ray Beach exhibit, we headed to the big tank to see Scuba Santa before he swims back to his vacation home in Aruba until next Christmas.

Gwen liked looking at the colorful fish in the "sunken ship" section of the aquarium. Her white shirt and polka dotted pants were the perfect outfit for the black lights. Whoa. Trippy.

While Gwen drank her bottle inside with Mom, Dad and Morgan headed outside to say hi to the penguins and seals. As always, Morgan posed for another sitting-on-the-turtle shot (the linked photo is from last March, FYI).

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

We've already had our fair share of snow this winter. But, thankfully, it hasn't been anything like the monster snowfalls we had last winter.

The first snowfall of the season came in mid-December. It was just a dusting, but Morgan was super excited to make snow angels.

Then came the Christmas storm. It cut our holiday party short (Aunt Lindsay, Mayie, and P-Pa all had to leave Christmas night) and ended up dumping 12-16 inches of fluffy snow.

This time, Morgan was just as excited to go out in the snow. It took 10 minutes to get Morgan into her snow suit (courtesy of the Katie Fricke Collection). But it only took her 3 minutes to remember that she hated the feeling of snow blowing in her face.

Even though we never actually played in the snow, the Christmas storm still ended up being lots of fun. Andy's office and the girls' daycare were both closed on Monday. So we spent the day playing in the attic with all the cool toys Morgan and Gwen got for Christmas.

Christmas Afternoon

While Morgan napped under her new quilt from Mayie, Aimee, Russ, Henry and Alex arrived for the Christmas afternoon festivities. Alex used the Morgan-free time to bond with Gwen by the Christmas tree.

Meanwhile, Morgan's nap time gave Andy a chance to try out his big Christmas present: a new camera. This, of course, meant experimenting by taking artsy photos of stuff like fruit.

Before long, though, Morgan was awake and ready to invite her guests into her ball pit. Come one, come all!

When it was time to open presents, Morgan was eager to play Santa and hand out gifts. She was also eager to see what Mayie, P-Pa, Aimee, Russ, and the boys had brought for she and Gwen.

As usual, everyone showered the girls with fun gifts: an interactive game for Gwen, a treasure chest of dress-up clothes for Morgan, books, bathtub toys, kitchen toys, art supplies, and plenty of little girl clothes that Mayie and Aimee are thrilled to finally have a chance to shop for.

During the present-opening frenzy, Morgan finally got around to opening the last few gifts from Santa left over from Christmas morning, including an ice cream play set and some finishing touches for her dollhouse.

For dinner, Ariella and Lindsay outdid themselves by cooking up an amazing holiday menu: rib eye roast with porcini mushroom and bacon gravy, potato gratin with mushroom and gruyere cheese, risotto, Caesar salad, and sweet potato souffle.

A full day of holiday festivities and a hearty Christmas dinner were more than enough to make us all want to settle our brains for a long winter's nap. But unfortunately, a winter storm was looming in New Jersey and New England. So Mayie, P-Pa, and Lindsay all decided to load up their sleighs and head home on Christmas night.

Even though Old Man Winter cut our Christmas party a little short, we're glad we were able to spend a great day with family. The girls are very thankful for all the wonderful gifts.

Before everyone could leave, Morgan snuck in a final bit of holiday fun: she invited Alex into her ball pit one last time to read her a good night story.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning finally arrived, and it didn't take Morgan long to notice her first present: a her own ball pit! In fact, she was still at the top of the stairs when she cried, "What is it?!? I see the ball pit!"

Morgan ended up spending most of the day in the ball pit -- with guest appearances by just about everyone in the family -- and took occasional breaks to open presents, of course.

The girls checked out their stockings first. Morgan's stocking was stuffed with a "Rex" flashlight (dinosaur gift #1), a coloring book, bracelets, markers, and a NY Subway "C" train (the one that goes to Aunt Mimi's apartment in Brooklyn.)

Gwen's stocking had stuffed Oscar the Grouch and Grover dolls, stacking cups, board books, and a bunch of fun bath toys.

After stockings, we headed to the dining room for breakfast. Keeping up with a Christmas tradition, Ariella cooked her delicious cinnamon rolls. Then it was back to the living room to continue opening presents.

We thought for sure that Morgan would tear through the pile of presents. But instead, she meticulously opened each gift, then wanted to play with each one before moving on to the next present. After opening up Ernie and Super Grover dolls, she made sure the entire Sesame Street gang reunited for Christmas. (She's so thoughtful.)

Morgan and Gwen each bought gifts for each other. Gwen got Morgan a cool set of dinosaur refrigerator magnets (dinosaur gift #2). Morgan got Gwen a fun ball popper, which she helped her open.

The girls each got gifts for Mom and Dad, too. Dad got tree ornaments with the girls' handprints on them. Mom got stuff that came in pretty blue boxes.

The girls ran out of steam about half way through the pile of presents. Morgan headed back to her ball pit for some down time. Gwen decided she was perfectly comfortable on Mom's lap, so she just took a nap there.

Morgan eventually mustered up the strength to open up some rubber dinosaurs (dinosaur gift #3). Then when we heard Mayie and P-Pa pulling into the driveway -- which seemed like a good time to give everyone a break.

Of course, this was hardly the end of the Christmas fun. Stay tuned.