BACK OF HOUSE (this little existing addition/balcony will be torn off in order for the new addition to go up)
On Tuesday of last week (1/22), Sophia lost her first tooth! About a week or so prior, she came into our bed early one morning telling me that there was something weird on her tooth. I tried to put her off until the sun came up by telling her that her tooth was probably loose, but that actually made it worse because then she was so excited and just kept poking me and asking me to look at it. So, I felt it and sure enough it was loose! She let her babysitter, Lisa, pull it out last Tuesday. I was kind of bummed out to miss the event because I was away at a work meeting overnight, so Jon had to play the role of tooth fairy. I had wanted to get her a special Barbie or something to commemorate the first time she lost a tooth, but when I called Jon late Tuesday night he said he would "just throw a dollar under her pillow" or something like that. He ended up doing a little more than that - he also wrote her a note from the tooth fairy and that is what she was most excited about. He used markers that were in her room and she kept saying, "the tooth fairy must have been writing that note right by my bed because she used my markers!" She also noticed that the tooth fairy spelled her own name wrong (Tooth Fiary - Jon says to give him a break, he was in a rush!). Nothing gets by this girl!
(We stood in line over an hour for these silly balloons!)
The other exciting thing going on in our lives right now is that we are about to start on a 2-story home addition project. We have been working towards this for a few years now and are finally ready to undertake this huge task. We are going to hire a contractor to do the bulk of the work, but Jon is probably going to do most of the finishing work. I will just play the role of decorator :-) I am excited to get to pick out paint, light fixtures, tile etc. We will be adding a family room and a 1/2 bath/laundry room downstairs and a master bedroom & bath upstairs. We were planning on starting this project this coming summer, but it's a good time for our contractor to get started, so we're going to go ahead and probably start in February or March. This will be good because Jon has off in the summer and will be able to work on the parts he is going to do. I'm sure as we go through this process I'll be posting lots of before/during/after pics!
(click on any of these pics to view them larger)
And here's a pic of Sosi and Lils in their matching Christmas outfits: 
Christmas morning was so much fun this year! Sophia & Anthony slept in until 9:00 a.m., but once they woke up, they were very excited to see if Santa had come. 
While on break, we had the opportunity to get together with several friends that we don't get to see often enough. My friend Kelly (my very first Pennsylvania friend!) and I reinstated an old tradition of getting together to bake Christmas cookies - we did this together several years pre-kids but have not been able to make it happen the last couple of years. We baked 5 kinds of cookies and made some nut brittle in under 6 hours (it helps that she has 2 ovens)! 
Jon and the kids came and joined us that evening when Orazio (her husband) got home and we had dinner together and spent the night there. Every time we go to their house for dinner, we always have to leave earlier than we're ready to part and always talk about spending the night some time and finally did it this time (we live about 1 hour apart). Baby Orazio was with us all day and cooperated beautifully by taking a very long nap and then sitting contentedly in his highchair while we finished up (it helped that we kept giving him cookies!). We also got to go back the next week and help celebrate Orazio's 1st birthday! I love one-year-olds! He is such a cutie and such a good baby!
Our New Year's Eve was nice and quiet. We had some plans with friends that fell through and although we were disappointed to not see them, we ended up having a great night at home just the 4 of us. We played games with the kids, made chocolate fondue and watched "The Princess Bride". They almost made it up 'til midnight, but were both asleep by 11:30. Earlier in the day, we went up to my Aunt Debbie's to celebrate Christmas with her and our cousins Carly, Austin & Andrew. Debbie's sisters girls were there for the 2nd year in a row and we had our second annual Mexican fiesta - we also got to celebrate Carly's birthday. It was a good time together! 
In lieu of sending out Christmas cards this year, we are wishing you a Merry Christmas via our blog! Now I know this will not win me any "Miss Manners" awards, but I hope you will read on and see the reason behind it.p.s. please leave us a comment to let us know you stopped by!
3 years ago, I got these great little Christmas trees for Sophia & Anthony. They love to decorate them each year and put them in their rooms. There are so many great little ornaments out there and I get them some each year. Sophia's tree is filled with Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, Dora etc. and Anthony's tree is filled with basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, Scooby Doo etc.
Two other special decorations are our Nativity set and our stockings, both given to us by Jon's mom (she knit the stockings which makes them really special). 
Traditions - usually we split our Christmas holiday between home and Wisconsin, where my family is. This year we will not be going to WI - we are sad to not see my family, but just needed a break from traveling this year. We are a pretty young family, so we are still developing some of our own traditions. Going to a tree farm to get our tree the weekend of Thanksgiving is becoming one of those. If we are home on Christmas Eve, that is the time we celebrate with Jon's family. Most years we have attended our Christmas Eve service but have missed a couple due to babies or being in WI. If we are home on Christmas Eve/Day, Santa comes Christmas Eve and we open gifts in the a.m. If we are in WI, we have to get creative and celebrate before or after - which hasn't been too hard yet since our kids haven't known dates - but they are starting to track things like that, so the next few years will be tricky! Oh, one more thing about Santa - our kids are only allowed to ask him for one thing each - we decided that we don't want Santa getting all the credit! :-) and we don't want to place too much emphasis on Santa - it is something fun to do, but we don't want that to detract from the real meaning of Christmas.
Well, sitting down and trying to write out our traditions is making me realize that we don't really have that many - we'll have to work on that over the next few years!
Recipes - Those of you that know us well, know that we love good food! Jon always makes a trip down to the Italian Market on Christmas eve to get some great Italian cheeses, sausage, pepper shooters etc. Pappy (Jon's dad) makes homemade ravioli for Christmas. When we are in WI, we all take turns making special meals for each other so that my sister Deann, who hosts, doesn't have to do all the cooking - Jon and I usually make our current favorite recipe for them. I always try to make Christmas cookies to share with co-workers, neighbors and family. I will post my all-time favorite Christmas cookie recipe - Ricotta cookies. I guess they are not officially a Christmas cookie, but this is the only time of year I make them, so that's what they are to me. Oh, and it's not "my" recipe, I got it out of a Better Homes and Garden cookbook (just want to give credit where credit is due!) Here it is:
Ricotta Cookies:
Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on med. to high speed until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until creamy. Add half of the flour, the baking soda and salt; beat until well blended. Stir in the remaining flour and the ricotta cheese. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 12 min. or until the bottoms of the cookies are browned. The cookie tops should not brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
Frosting:
Beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar; mix well. Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies. If desired, sprinkle with ground nutmeg. Store the frosted cookies, covered, in the refrigerator.
Well, there you have it - a peak into our Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it and for those of you in Megan's "tour", I'm looking forward to checking out your homes and traditions!
