Josie turns 5!

Bronx Zoo

Today we checked out the new dinosaur safari at the Bronx zoo! Leona and her buddy Ben had an awesome time. Here they are riding the bug carousel!

Night before Christmas

When we got home from Grandma and Grandpa's house last night we picked out the best cookies to leave out for Santa. Then I asked Leona what she wanted to say in our note to him. She said "ho ho ho, drink your milk." We signed it from Josie, too.

Then Santa came....but Josie was the only one who saw him.

Christmas Eve

Last night we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Mastropietro side of the family. We had a really wonderful time! Leona was in a great mood...at dinner she walked around the dining room table tickling everyone and sometimes breaking into her USA chant. (I taught her that when we were wrapping presents.) Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of LB with her Grandma Peggy.

And this is the moment when she realized the biggest present in the room was for her.

Christmas Tree

Every year I try to get a few pictures of Leona in front of the tree. (You can see the previous years here and here.) The first year was easy because I had her undivided attention (she couldn't run away from me yet!) But the past two years I had to find ways to keep her interested. I tried a lollipop last year and that was a mess,  so this year I let her help Josie open one of her presents. Here are my favorites of the bunch.

Santa

Leona met Santa a couple times this year, once at the firehouse and then again last Sunday at the local nursery. The first time at the firehouse she was so in tune to all the other kids that she didn't really focus on Santa, but the second time she was able to actually talk to him one-on-one. We waited in a pretty short line (with lots of fun stuff to look at and some other nice kids to play with) then she sat on his lap and actually smiled for a picture. I was seriously shocked, I think this is the best picture we have of her! Before she could walk away he bent down and asked her to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She was a little shy at first but eventually she told him she wanted a bone for Josie. I told him Josie was our dog and he winked. Then when we were leaving one of the people who work there handed her a little candy cane. She reached up into the box to grab a second one (I was a little embarrassed but he laughed and said it was fine.) Then she handed the second one to me. I thought my heart was going to explode.

Leona's 3rd Halloween

This year we bought Leona a little cheeseburger costume because it made me laugh and she doesn't seem to care about these things yet. Anthony tried to get her to try it on before Halloween and she wouldn't, so we thought she might refuse to wear it. But once we started answering the door to other little kids in costumes she changed her mind. Halloween had actually been officially cancelled because of the storm, a cop drove around at 3:00 with a bullhorn telling kids that they weren't supposed to go trick-or-treating because it was unsafe with the power lines down. Mind you there were kids in costumes walking around the cop's car, just staring at the guy. They probably should have cancelled it a little sooner, by that point it was too late. We only went to a handful of houses on the same street as Grandma's house but it was worth it.  Just to walk down the street with LB and see her walk up to the doors then get so shy was priceless. She was saying trick or treat in the driveways, but when we got to the door she just stood and stared blankly.