Good Bye 2009!

Here are some of the highlights from 2009. It was a good year and we look forward to 2010 being even better!

This year we did a lot of traveling, starting the year off in Portland. In April we went to Virginia to see Bridget's Uncle Scott and Aunt Christine get married. We also made two trips to Reno, once for the 4th of July and again for Thanksgiving.

We spent our first full night away from Bridget in April, when we went to LA for the wedding of one of Nathan's friends. Bridget handled it so well that we decided to get away again in December for my 30th birthday.

Here is a picture of us at the wedding of Brian and Erin in LA (yes, I wore the same dress to both April weddings!):


I also took the plunge and became a red head right before my birthday, and got braces too. The red hair will probably stay a while but the braces should be off by the end of 2010.


Some of Bridget's milestones this year included her first hair cut, her first trips to the zoo and a pumpkin patch, a pony ride, her fist pair of cowboy boots, and potty training (she now only wears diapers at night!).

We also moved this year to a much bigger and quieter place, and Bridget decorated her first Christmas Tree. She is now a huge fan of Christmas!

And in 2010 we plan to...

• Scale back on the traveling. But we are considering making our first family trip to Disney Land.

• Transition Bridget from a crib to a big-girl bed sometime in the first part of the year.

• Enroll Bridget at least part time in a pre-school, in the fall. We also plan to keep up with Gymnastics and swimming (Bridget just loves "lessons"). Ballet and music are also being considered, but not all at once, we'll see how her interests develop and switch out.

• Take Bridget on new and fun outings. Some ideas so far are to ride the ferry, go to the Bay Area Discovery Museum, go to story time at the library, and take a train ride.

Zoolights

One of the last stops we made during our visit in Portland was to the Oregon Zoo for Zoolights.

They describe it as "a winter wonderland, aglow with a million lights." It was COLD, but it was fun and we are glad to have had the experience, but let's just say Bridget was not on her best behavior that night.

We rented a stroller for her, and we padded it with blankets and bundled her up as best we could.






She liked riding in the stroller and honking the horn for about 10 minutes.






Then all she wanted to do was take off her gloves and run free.

Tea Time

Bridget got a new tea set to go with her table and chairs. It is quite a fancy tea set, perfect for a girly-girl like Bridget.



She had to test it out while Grandma was helping her unpack it.


Then she sat down with Papa and Grandma to have a little tea party.


Bridget knew just what to do.


She even shared!


We even managed to make it through the week and all the way back to California with only one casualty (we lost one of the cups due to the combination of a ceramic cup, hardwood floors, and an excited two year old).

Hot Chocolate

One of Bridget's favorite gifts this year came from her Uncle Scott and Aunt Christine. It's a cute Giraffe mug and some fancy hot chocolate mix. The mug has a little giraffe head inside, meant to poke out of the top of the milk as you drink it down.



Maybe I just like it because it reminds me of a duck mug I had as a little girl. Either way it is lots of fun and Bridget would never turn down a chance to have a hot beverage.


Ever the girly-girl, note in this next picture that she has (remnants of) pink nail polish on her fingers. She rarely ever goes a day without pink nails.

Christmas Morning

Sorry this is a little late...it has been a crazy week. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. Needless to say, Bridget had a fabulous holiday.
This post in no way captures all of the wonderful and generous gifts she got this year - but here is a sneak peak at what our Christmas Day looked like.

First thing in the morning (6am, ugh!) she sat down with Papa at her new table and chairs. Perfect for coloring and drinking tea.


Us adults opened all our gifts on Christmas Eve, so it was ALL about Bridget on Christmas morning. Here she is in front of all her gifts, trying to decide where to start.


She got several great new books but she insisted on reading this one with daddy right away.


This green and pink outfit from her Mommom in Pennsylvania was so perfect that she insisted on changing her outfit right then.


A little coloring with Papa...



By the time we got around to opening the stockings Bridget was a little tired and needed daddy to hold her "like a baby." She insisted, however, on keeping her new Disney light up boots from Mameo and Grandpa on her feet.


Later in the day she donned her new rain jacket and looked like a model out of a fishing or hunting catalog.

Santa is Coming!

This is the first Christmas where Bridget really understands what is going on. She can't wait to open presents and see what Santa got her. Before bed we made sure to set out some cookies and milk for Santa, and some carrots for the Reindeer.


Bridget decided to help out with the carrots but she didn't think Rudolph would mind.

Cat Drama

We had some drama today in Portland, when Dorothy the dog chased a local cat up a tree. The whole scenario could have passed off as a Caillou epispde -- there was debate as to whether to call the fire department, and all the neighbors came out to help solve the problem.

Bridget was very concerned and posted herself at the front window to keep an eye on the "kooshka."


The cat was pretty high and it stayed still for a while before attempting to get down.


There was a dramatic hang before it fell to the ground and scurried away. The cat seemed to be escape unharmed but Bridget has been reminding us all day about what happened.

WhipperSnipper

We took Bridget to a local kids hair salon, WhipperSnippers, to tackle the mess on the top of her head. Her bangs have really been getting in her eyes lately and I'm too nervous to do it myself (or maybe I'm still scarred from my own childhood hair memories ;).

Bridget had a great time driving her red car while the stylist got to work.


The stylist added some gel at the end which really brought out Bridget's curl.


The salon also had a great play area and Bridget had fun climbing before we had to head back to Grandma's house.

A Pistochini Christmas

We had a chance to get together with our California family before leaving for our trip up to Portland. Nana, Uncle Pete, and Uncle Brian came over for Chili, Coconut Eggnog, and, of course, presents.

The Coconut Eggnog was another recipe out of the December issue of Sunset magazine. It was every bit as delicious as it sounds.



Bridget had a great time opening her presents and playing with all her new loot.





We had a nice easy dinner with chili from the slow cooker.


Bridget wasn't too into the chili but she LOVED her candy cane.


By the end of the night Bridget was as exhausted as the rest of us!

DJ Bridget

We are getting ready to make the drive up to Portland for Christmas. In anticipation of the long drive with an antsy two-year-old, we borrowed a portable DVD player from some friends (thanks, Whitney and Dennis!). The thought of 10 hours of Caillou, Elmo, and Dora is a little daunting, so we went out and got Bridget some kids headphones.

I think she likes them! And they are PINK!!!


And this marks 200 posts for Foleytime!

The Cookie Project

This season I decided it sounded like a good idea to bake some holiday cookies.
I found a delicious sounding recipe in my Sunset magazine for Chocolate Peppermint Patty Cookies. Around the same time, two holiday potlucks got scheduled at work, one for my whole office, and one just for my department.

First, the ingredients. I don't have a well stocked pantry when it comes to baking so I had to get A LOT...$45 worth of A LOT. Do you have any idea how much 24 oz. of chocolate costs!? And that doesn't include the new hand-held mixer I had to get (luckily I had a gift card from my birthday, thanks Kelly!).

The recipe looked pretty intense so I decided to divide it up into phases. The first night I made the dough. Bridget helped, and we wore our new aprons from Maimeo and Grandpa.


The second night I baked both batches of cookies. The recipe said they would keep for two days, which was perfect because I had one party the following day and one the day after that. I also crushed all the candy canes, made the first batch of icing, and assembled the first batch of cookies (for my department party).



The third night I made the second batch of icing and assembled the second set of cookies (for my office party).


All in all I'd say they were a hit. I ended up photocopying the recipe for four of my coworkers.

Mani/Pedi

Bridget loves doing anything GIRLY and that includes getting her nails painted as often as possible. She was treated to a manicure and pedicure by her Aunt Sara when we were up in Reno for Thanksgiving.



She got another manicure this weekend - because it was pretty much the only thing I could get her to sit still for!

Birthday Sans Bridget

Last week was a milestone birthday - the big 3-0. For a few months I had been toying with the idea of having a party. The last time I really celebrated was for my 25th, and Nathan wasn't even with me to celebrate back then (we had JUST met). In the end I decided not to have a big party, but instead have a small dinner celebration followed by some after-partying for those who were up for it.

For dinner we headed into the city to Maya, one of my favorite restaurants.





We even made it to a few local bars after dinner. I'd say that I was quite a trooper for a 30 year-old. But I didn't feel like such a trooper when I woke up the next day with a hangover!

It was a great birthday but I am glad it's over. Now I can concentrate on enjoying the rest of my 30s. From what I hear, it only gets better!

A special thanks to Bridget's grandmother, Lyn, and Uncle Ryan, who came up for the night to stay with her so Nathan and I could party without our 2 year-old distraction!