Christmas & New Years

We have enjoyed every minute of Gil's time off from work. Aubrie was such a joy to watch during all the holiday festivities. Not only was it fun for us but my parents got to join in on the holiday fun. They flew in on the 18th and Aubrie sure did love having back seat companions. It seemed like we spent a lot of time in the car driving from place to place so it was nice for her to have people entertain her.

Thanks to my parents I was able to surprise Gil for his birthday with a trip to Vegas. Since my parents were in town they watched Aubrie and we spent one night, seeing a show, having an amazing dinner and playing blackjack till the wee hours of the morning.

This was our first time leaving Aubrie over night. On Aubrie's side it went really well. She seemed to finally find her appetite while we were gone and she ate really well from Grandma and Grandpa. I feel like I did really well too. I definitely thought of her and wanted to check in but Gil kept me from calling. I was rewarded though when I arrived back at the hotel with an e-mail that consisted of this adorable photo and update from my mom.

The day we arrived home we made a village of gingerbread houses. It was really fun to watch the different 'creative' processes. We definitely have the right and the wrong side of the tracks in our little gingerbread village.

Christmas morning was so much fun. Aubrie was so involved this year. She loved ripping open the presents and pulling out the goodies. She got a lot of great clothes, toys and books from all of our family. I think I was just as excited, if not more excited than Aubrie was.

For New Years we kept it simple. We made a really nice dinner of beef braised short ribs with cherries, mashed potatoes, salad and smoked salmon and goat cheese crostinies as an appetizer.

Don't' ask how this happened!

(but I had to get a picture of it)

Happy New Year!

After we put Aubrie to bed we watched a movie and had double chocolate souffle's for dessert. They looked really good when they came out of the oven but then they fell. For my first attempt I think it was pretty good and either way they still tasted amazing.

Last but not least, Aubrie walking. She still isn't doing it totally on her own but each day she does it a little more on her own without us coaxing her. I know when she is ready she will do it. Here is a little sneak peak of our future walker.