Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from The Taylors!

Our Christmas 2010 began with another haircut for Aidan at Doodle Doos with Lisa. (Haircuts: 3/Teeth: 3 by the way!) We are calling this one his Christmas/Big Brother haircut since T2 is expected in a little over a month! Which is so exciting but also a bit hard to believe.

On Christmas Eve we started the day Skyping and opening presents with my parents. It wasn't the same as being there in person, but it was great to open gifts with each other.

After Christmas Eve Mass at St. Agnes we had a delicious dinner at Dario's in Rockville Centre. Here is Aidan with his Aunt Beth.

Christmas morning Bob treated us to his famous pancakes! Aidan LOVED them! I think he had about 3 of his own and 2 of his cousin Ryan's.

Aidan got his Boppy a new pancake pen and it was a hit!

After breakfast it was present-mania! Aidan ended up needing a nap and missing most of it, but the rest of us must have been very good this year because the gifts never seemed to stop!

Chris and Alex had 19 of us over Christmas night and it was so much fun and the food was delicious. In this picture we have Bob on the keyboard with Aidan treating us to a little Christmas dance.

Sadie looked absolutely adorable on her First Christmas. You have to give her a lot of credit for trying to keep up fashion-wise with her Mom!

It was a great weekend and truly a Merry Christmas!

Catch-Up!

We have been busy! First we headed to Chicago and had an amazing (and tasty!) Thanksgiving. My Mom cooked up quite a fest and we were all sufficiently stuffed! Unfortunately Aidan caught a cold while we were there and then passed it along to most of the rest of us just in time for our arrival to Orlando.

Here is a little photo round up of our two week trip:

A big first for Aidan on this trip to Chicago was his first trip to Snackville Junction! This is one of my Dad's favorite spots on the Southside and the two of them had a great time. I was so thankful to my cousin Megan who invited us to go along with her and her girls.

All the food is delivered via train that is on a track all along the counter. Aidan LOVED it!

Clare, Aunt Maun, Megan, Nora, Uncle Bob and Aidan after a tasty meal at Snackville Junction!

Speaking of tasty meals...my Mom out-did herself this year! Our Thanksgiving meal was so delicious and so fun. Aidan liked the turkey and was a good sport despite having a cold.

Me and Grandma!

One of my favorite pictures of the trip of my three favorite guys!

We were lucky to have great weather in Florida which allowed the boys to test out the water rides. Poor Mark tended to get the most soaked!

Aidan quickly got into the Disney spirit.

My Aunt Maureen was happy to have a Mickey Bar Wingman this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by how many rides were Aidan and pregnancy friendly.

A huge thank you to my Mom for sharing her Birthday gift with all of us and to my Dad for providing it all!

For more pictures from November, Click Here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor/100195

For more pictures from our Disney trip, Click Here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100204

Hide Your Daughters!

That's right! A warning to any 15-month old girls out there...this blog posting may get a little too steamy for you. You all know that one of Aidan's most favorite things is his Raceway. Everything gets put into it. Well, the other night Aidan was enjoying his second favorite thing right before bath time and decided to combine the two. So we have the naked Raceway photo shoot...

He looks so crazy in this picture. I thought about deleting it but it's just too funny. It looks like he could be Quasimodo's fill in to ring the bells at Notre Dame!

Tomorrow Aidan and I are off to Chicago and Al will meet us on Thanksgiving morning. It will be my first Chicago Thanksgiving since 2005 and Al and Aidan's first EVER! We are all very excited. And then even more exciting is that the whole Ryan, Taylor, Mogensen families and Aunt Maureen will be off to Disney World for a week in a belated celebration for my Mom's Birthday! It'll be a great time and I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back in December. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Happy Birthday Uncle Steve!

On Monday we were lucky enough to be invited over for Steve's 34th birthday pizza night! He and Judie cooked up quite a pizza feast! Their pizza nights have become famous and after my first one, I can see why. We had Stromboli, a buffalo pizza, a Bolognese pizza and (I can't believe I'm going to say this) a really delicious salad!

Aidan started out in a party mood but turned into a bit of a party-pooper after face planting in the bathroom and then spilling a glass of wine on Steve and Judie's carpet. I'm not sure we'll be invited back.

On Sunday we were invited to attend Nolan O'Toole's Christening. He is such a cute little guy and was so good at his ceremony. Hopefully T2 was paying attention!

It was so cold here on Monday but on the positive side, Aidan looks pretty cute in his winter gear. Al doesn't look too bad either. :)

Haircuts: 2/Teeth: 0

Aidan had his second haircut in 14 months today at a place in the West Village called Doodle Doos. The place was super cute and Lisa, his "stylist" was very nice and did a great job. My Grandma will be shocked to know that Aidan's haircut cost about double what they charge her at the Bridgeport Hairport for her wash, cut & perm...but I think the kid looks good!

Aidan was trying to help Lisa but getting his ear out of the way.

You can't blame the kid for watching out for his ear after getting nicked at the place in London.

A very happy customer!

And the kid looks good...although I think he looks way too grown up now!

One heck of an October 30th!

In one day we were lucky enough to be invited to a Christening, a Bridal Shower and a Wedding! Thankfully all of the events were in the vicinity of Rockville Centre so we were able to attend them all (well, we caught the Christening "after-party") and still save some energy for Trick-Or-Treating on Sunday.

First up was Brian and Chrissy's wedding ceremony. It was lovely and in a beautiful church in Garden City, NY. Chrissy looked beautiful and Brian never stopping talking for the whole ceremony...just as we expected!

Next I was off to Suzie's Bridal Shower. Chris did an amazing job, her house looked beautiful and the food was super tasty. I was so happy to be able to be able to make an event like this for a change...a huge plus of living local versus living in London. Matt was not at the shower the whole time, but made quite an entrance at the end with beautiful roses for his bride-to-be.

Then Al and I reunited and were off to Brian and Chrissy's reception. I thought this was a nice picture of us and so I thought I'd include it. Thanks to Bob for taking it!

The reception was great and I have to admit that my favorite part was the pie! Such a great idea and SO delicious! Here is Al with most of his freshman year roommates: Brian, Ryan and John.

We finally made it to the Durnans to celebrate Cassidy Durnan's Christening...both the guest of honor and her Mom were asleep but her Dad and some of her Aunts and Uncles kept the party rockin', so we were able to stop by for a bit. No pictures though...sorry!

The next day Aidan was in his Mini-Burger suit (thanks to Auntie Erin for finding it!) and watching in awe of his cousin Ryan and his expert trick-or-treating skills. It's so fun to see Aidan watch Ryan and try to keep up with him.

Meals on Wheels! Aidan with some of his loot. A benefit of not having teeth at 14-months...no cavities!

My two Burgers! I'm a lucky girl!

If you haven't had enough Taylor family photos...here are some links:

October Photos:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100184

Halloween Photos:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100186

Suzie's Shower Photos:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100192

Super Fun Weekend!

This weekend my best friend Erin came to visit me and our friend Stephanie and it was great! It was so nice to have her in NYC and for me to have some girly time. I've known Erin and Stephanie since we were in 5th...so we go waaaaaay back. We spent Saturday eating and shopping and then Saturday night celebrating my friend Sharon's birthday at a Japanese Ramen restaurant called Ippudo and then to a really cool bar called the Back Room.

Luckiest guy in NYC!

On Sunday after Erin left, Al, Aidan and I headed to Queens to visit Sean! We got to see his apartment which is great and Al got to have a good pint of Guinness and we were treated to a delicious dinner at an Astoria local tex-mex placed called MexiQ.

Aidan loves his Uncle Sean so much!

Thanks again Sean for the great visit to Queens!

ps...check me out with the new blog post so soon after the last one!

What Have We Been Doing for the Last Two Months?!

Besides not posting any blogs of course? Well...we have moved to New York City and have been in our new apartment for about 2 weeks and are slowly but surely getting settled in. I'm learning new ways to get around although I am missing London buses and especially missing London Taxis! But the subway is treating us well so far (see above photo!) and Aidan likes to find the weirdest person in the car and make friends. Here is a little round up of where we've been and what we've been doing:

Here is Aidan on our first morning in our corporate housing. I had to put this in because the kid has some of the best bed-head I've ever seen!

Aidan started walking while we were in London but is not slowing down any time soon. Here he is with Al at the Bronx Zoo where we went to celebrate Stephanie's 30th Birthday.

Speaking of Stephanie...Aidan is becoming very good friends with Stephanie's daughter Gracen who is the most lady-like baby I've ever met. She is adorable and Aidan is smitten!

We've been able to see my brother Sean a ton which is awesome! Sean even flew with us to Chicago and was a gigantic help! Here are Godfather and Godson at the cafe in Sean's office building.

Aidan has had enough of flying for a while.

Stephanie has also been so kind to invite me and Aidan out with some of her friends. Here were are at the Natural History Museum. It was an ambitious effort and we had a good time and were rewarded for our efforts with Shake Shack at the end of the visit.

Our friends Sean and Michelle who just moved to London as we were leaving came back to New York for a visit and Sean threw Michelle a 30th surprise party at a Rockville Centre favorite, El Mariachi.

This is a picture Al took of Aidan at the park near our apartment. Note the Chrysler Building in the background!

Here is Aidan with his favorite toy. The Lil' Spinners Raceway! However everything goes into this thing...

Even himself!!

Gracen and Stephanie accompanied us to Hoboken today because T2 was craving Panera and I have become a bit of a fan of The Cake Boss on TLC so we also went to Carlo's Bakery and came away with a few treats!

Of course these went into the raceway too!

Other than that we've been keeping busy. Aidan make a triumphant return to swimming and Al is settling into his new job really well. We have a busy couple of weeks coming up but I'm determined to get back on the blogging bandwagon!