Here Comes Santa Claus...

Today Santa came to visit David's office and spread some Christmas cheer! Every year, the Coldwell Banker office in Gahanna invites all of their clients, family and friends to come and enjoy an afternoon with Santa and eat lots of yummy treats. It is free to those who come and they collect food and clothing items to donate to a local shelter. I love that his office does this...I think it is a great way to say thank you to family, friends and clients and it is a wonderful day.

Ally was fine with Santa from afar, smiling and waving to him, but when we tried to sit her on his lap, it was a no go. Mommy ended up in a couple picture (oh, joy), which she happily smiled in,

but then Daddy had to bribe Ally with a candy cane to sit by herself on his lap. She held on tight to the candy cane and sat on his lap, but no one said she needed to be happy about it (as you will see in the pictures below). Oh, well...there is always next year. Ho-Ho-Ho!!

Carry the Flag!!

Tonight, David and I went to a Bluejacket's Game. He got free tickets from his Office Manager and they were great seats! We were within 10-15 rows from the glass and literally right under the infamous Cannon! The BJ's won 2-1 against the Nashville Predators and it was a really great action-packed game. The BJ's are looking even better now for the playoffs!

Ally stayed with Grandma and Grandpa C. while we were at the game and she had a good time, depite the cold she has had for the past several days. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for watching her...she always has fun with you guys and Maddy!

It was a really nice time spending the evening with David and walking hand-in-hand through the Arena District on such a beautiful night! I always enjoy our time together, especially now when it doesn't happen near as often.

I only got one picture, with my phone, from this evening because I forgot my actual camera, but it is of David in front of the cannon. It's not a great shot, but the best I could do with limited resources. :-)

Snow Day!

Today we woke up to a major blast from Mother Nature! Ice had invaded Ohio and on top of the snow we had already received, caused a huge problem on the roadways. Because of all the ice, we lost our power around 7:00 am, which also happened to be the same time that my office decided to close for the day! Yea! I HATE driving in winter weather, so this was more than welcome music to my ears. David's office also was closed for the day, so we had ourselves a SNOW DAY! Woo-hoo! Our power did come back on around 11:00-just in time, because it was starting to get a little chilly. It has been extra nice having this bonus day off of work, because Ally is still not feeling super great and I am not 100% yet either. We have done a lot of cuddling and napping today and a little playing too. I even organized the kitchen pantry and got caught up on laundry! Hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow, but for today, it has been nice being snowed in. Happy Snow Day!

Even Riley enjoyed the snow day (ok, maybe it had something to do with the catnip mouse I let him indulge in today)...

David Drops The Puck

David was asked to represent Coldwell Banker King Thompson (Gahanna/New Albany office) and drop the puck at a recent Gahanna Hockey Game. CBKT is a sponsor of the Columbus Blue Jackets and they sponsor youth hockey teams in the area, so they ask a representative from the office to do the honors. Since David was a GLHS grad, they thought it appropriate that he be the one to drop the puck. It was fun to watch him and Ally is apparently a huge hockey fan...she couldn't take her eyes off the rink. I could barely get a picture of her where she was looking at the camera, because she wanted to watch all the action! Fun night and Daddy was a "star" for the evening...well, our star anyway!

A visit with Santa

Santa came to visit at Daddy's office today and Ally loved him! Every year David's office hosts a little party for family and clients and Santa makes an appearance. It is a really nice event, with cookies and hot chocolate and free photos with Santa. This year we took Ally and we invited Ryan, Alyssa and Jillian to come too. Grandma and Grandpa C. and Maw-maw and Paw-paw came to watch all the festivities and we got lots of compliments on our cute bunch of kiddies. Thank you to the Coldwell Banker King Thompson office for putting on such a nice event every year!

CBKT Family Night at the ZOO!!!

This evening we attended Family Night at the Columbus Zoo, hosted by David's company, Coldwell Banker King Thompson. It was such a nice event they put together and great for people with kids. We took Ally, although she slept the entire time and won't remember any of her first trip to the zoo (not that she would remember if she were awake). David's co-workers were excited to see her. Dinner was provided for us, under a large group of sheltered picnic areas. This was nice for getting out of the insane heat for a little bit. After dinner, everyone was able to venture out at their leisure and take in the zoo. It was fun, but SO hot and David and I were like mad men trying to flip Ally's shade cover on her stroller back and forth to keep her out of any smidgen of sun (people probably thought we were insane, but at least our baby doesn't have a sunburn at 6 weeks old). David and I have not been to the zoo in years and many things have been changed, so we had no clue were we were going, but we knew we at least wanted to make it to see the elephants. So, we headed off in the direction of the Pachyderm Building. We saw bobcats and birds and wolves and many more animals along the way and finally made it to see the elephants. This area was slightly crowded, as it offered an air conditioned retreat to many, but the elephants were there along with some hippos and rhinos, so we got to see it all. We spent about an hour or so wandering around one half of the zoo, but Ally started to get restless and needed to be fed, so we decided it was probably time to head home. We had a great evening and I would like to thank CBKT for hosting such a nice event for their employees and their families!

Happy 4th of July!!

Today was Ally's 1st Fourth of July and well, let's just say she was unimpressed. She was in a mood today for some reason and just wasn't herself, so we had a bit of a fussy 4th. With that being said, David and I actually enjoyed a fun, albeit rainy, party over at Laura and Johnny's house in Upper Arlington. They have a yearly party, starting early in the morning with the very popular UA parade and going most of the day with food, drinks, games and lots of laughs. We didn't make it to the parade (we barley made it to the party!), but we did enjoy some yummy food, a little cornhole and great people. We have gotten to know many of Laura and John's friends over the years and they are fantastic people and have always been very welcoming of us. It's always good to see you all!
Thanks, Laura and Johnny, for the invite to yet another great party! Maybe next year we will actually make it to see the parade (and there won't be any rain!!!)!
After we left UA, we headed to Pataskala to stop by a cookout that one of David's clients was having in their new house. It was nice to get to meet the people that David had been working with and so sweet of them to invite us over.
Here are some pictures from our day:

Aunt Laura holding Ally Ally says, "What's up?"

Great-aunt Pam and Ally
Ally's cute 4th of July shirt from "Aunt" Kim

Pretty much how Ally felt most of the day :-(