Christmas and Uncle Dan's Visit

Well, we finally decided that it was time to finish posting our pictures from Christmas and New Year's. This year, my brother Daniel was able to visit us for both holidays, and we had a fantastic time traveling into the City and seeing the sights. Andy loved having a constant companion who was willing to spoil him at the drop of a hat, and was very sorry to see him go. Just a reminder...only 4 more months until we leave New York, so if you're going to come and visit, get your tickets now (I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but it has been a month since the last one...sorry)!

Shortly after Thanksgiving, we changed Andrew's bed from a crib to a toddler bed. As you can see, he's pretty pleased with the arrangement.

Who says it's only designed for one?

Andy decorated the tree personally. Of course, he also spent a significant portion of the time throwing the ornaments across the room...thank goodness Julie bought plastic ornaments last year!

Andy also received his first "haircut" shortly after his birthday. This is the before picture. His rat tail was getting a little long.

The one and only cut. He only lost about an inch at the very end.

Andy pouting after his haircut. Not much of a change, but at least it was a little less like a mullet.

There's just nothing like playing with the Christmas tree in your underwear and rain boots!

Julie, Andy, and I went to Macy's to see Santa the day before Daniel arrived. All I can say is, someday my tree will look just like this!

Andy and Santa. Yes, son, the beard is real!

Santa's elves visited on Christmas Eve Eve. Everyone did well, although I apparently still have some room for improvement!

Andy and Uncle Dan had a great time with their new swords.

Dan, Andy, and I just couldn't resist a good old fashioned sword fight!

Dan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Who knew he was into fine art?

Yes, it's the Emporer's codpiece again. We just couldn't resist!

Dan and me at Times Square. Doesn't Dan just look thrilled to be there?

Wall Street station. Show me the money!

The Charging Bull near Wall Street. 'Nuff said!

We went ice skating with our church's youth group. Andy was very excited to have his very own skates.

We thought that he would get tired after one or two laps around the rink. He stayed on the ice for more than an hour, with Julie and me taking turns guiding him. We may just have a budding Olympic skater on our hands!

Dan tried his hand at ice skating as well. He spent 99.9% of his time holding on to the side railing for dear life.

The tree at Rockefeller Center. Very impressive!

Andy at Rockefeller Center. I think he had the right idea.

The ginger bread house at the Botanical Gardens. Andy had a great time!

The holiday model train show at the Botanical Gardens. Someday, I'll have a better setup!

Andy and Dan at the top of the Empire State Building. The wind was blowing a bit and Andy insisted on wearing his hood.

The origami Christmas tree at the American Museum of Natural History. Sounds like a project for next year!

The Intrepid Air and Space Museum. Definitely way cool, and we didn't spend nearly enough time there. Worth another visit.

Lady Liberty. A must see! On a side note, I deserve props for my planning on this day. We went to the Intrepid in the morning, where my previously purchased online tickets let us skip a huge line, and then we went to the Statue of Liberty, where my previously purchased online tickets let us skip a ginormous line and actually make it to Liberty Island. I was pretty proud of myself!

The luggage room on Ellis Island. An amazing testament to the draw that America has worldwide.

Well, if you made it all the way through this post, congratulations! Hopefully we can keep a little more up to date in the future. Stay tuned for our January post, coming soon!

Andy's Gifts!

Due to popular demand, we're posting some pictures of Andy and his gifts now, so our fans can see them right away. Additional pictures from Christmas will follow. For Christmas this year, Andy made out like a bandit. He received pretty much everything his little heart could desire, and then some! By far his favorite gift, however, is his new police car. As you can see from the pictures, it looks like Julie and I are now the BEST PARENTS EVER in Andy's mind (at least until next year...we may also have set ourselves up for failure. I mean, how can you top these gifts?).

The gifts last night right before going to bed. All of the big ones are Andy's.

As you can see, the police car was a big hit.

Andy refused to get out of the car for quite awhile. He ended up opening most of his presents inside.

Andy also got a knight's helmet and Nerf sword. He has combined his gifts to become Sir Andrew of the Bronx, defender of justice and issuer of tickets! Better make sure your registration is current.

Birthday Cake Excitement!

November Fun!

I recently got a comment on the blog..."Where were the Scarborough's in November?" So, Mom here is your November post. This time of year is a busy year especially when you include Birthdays and the holidays. We have already posted about Pat's Marathon and buying a "choo choo", So here is the rest. 

Andy making brownies for family home evening

Helping mom with dishes.

For my Birthday Patrick took me to a Korean restaurant in Manhattan. The food was excellent! Andy went to the Badger's for a few hours and then to the Hansen's. He enjoyed playing at both homes and I really appreciated them taking Andy so Pat and I could go out. Before we left I blew out my candle on a pumpkin Spice chocolate chip cookie, and opened presents from family. Thank you every one for giving me such a wonderful birthday.

The Holiday Train show at the New York Botanical Garden's opened, we attended the preview on the 19th. It is Pat's dream to have a set up like this.

We attended Donna's Thanksgiving Party. They always serve such yummy food! Andy stole one of Donn's roommate's hat.

 One of the things Pat and Andy like to do together is eat hummus while watching TV.

We spent Thanksgiving Eve with my friend Crystal Ross and her family. Her Parents were in town, it was so good to see them again, they are such wonderful people and feel like family. Andy liked playing with Crystal's kids and their toys!

GRRR... don't mess with me I am a knight.

Galloping through the apartment with Robert.

Thanksgiving morning we woke up at 4:30, we picked up Donna and we were out the door walking to the subway by 5:30. Our plan was to get to the parade early enough to get a good seat. We were also meeting our Crystal, her family and Lesley and Arianne there. Unfortunately, thanks to a mistake made on our subway route and waiting for the train while trying to correct our mistake, we didn't get quite the seat we were hoping for and we weren't able to get to Crystal's family, but we were able to find Lesley and Arianne. We had a wonderful time watching the balloon's even though we were tired.

Donna and Lesley finishing up breakfast.

Arianne with her free balloon.

Pat and Andy waiting for the Parade to start.

Arianne got a great seat and could see much more then the rest of us. 

Add Andy was jealous that he had to use a much shorter Mom for his seat, Although he was distracted by the giant balloons.

He especially liked seeing Mickey Mouse.

Donna loved the parade too.

My baby turned two on the 29th. We had a shared birthday party with Breyton on the 27th. It was a lot of fun. Andy understood the whole birthday party thing much more then I thought he would, he really had a great time and so did Breyton. Thank you to all who were able to come!

Playing with Breyton's shake car track. Way cool!!

Finding his sucker at the end of a string wearing his conductors cap.

Waiting for his sucker to be opened.

mmmm.....

I am not a cake decorator,  but I am quite proud for Andy's train cake.

Another shot of the cake.

Playing pin the face on Thomas the train.

Evie shared her sucker...

with everyone! She was doing her part to strengthen her friends Immunity systems.

Cheese!

Playing Don't Wake the Conductor. Andy was the conductor this round.

Hot dogs for lunch!

Andy getting ready to blow out his candle...unfortunately it fell before he could. See the video for his second attempt.

So excited for cake!

A combination of both Andy's and Breyton's Birthday gifts...We sure have generous friends! Thanks!

All the kids where involved in unwrapping the gifts. Connor helped Andy with his and Kelsie and Leneah helped Breyton open his. It was a mad house of gift wrap. 

Andy's gift from mom and dad...

His own wooden train set.

After the party he wanted to play with it as soon as we got home.