Breakfast with Santa and Seeing the Rockettes!

A couple of weeks ago, while Nana & Victoria were visiting, we went into NYC for a fun day of Christmas activities. We started the day at Rock Center Cafe for Breakfast with Santa. This was a wonderful time for everyone to enjoy a wonderful breakfast at Rockefeller Center and the girls got to visit with Santa Claus when he stopped by our table. Breakfast included tickets for the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink so Uncle Chuck took Victoria for a spin. Mary Pat LOVED watching all of the ice skaters, although Victoria only made it about a quarter of the way around before begging Uncle Chuck to pick her up.

After a wonderful breakfast, we made the rainy walk up to FAO Schwarz where we got to spend the afternoon looking around at all of the fun toys while Mary Pat took a much needed nap! We then headed down to Radio City Music Hall to watch the Christmas Spectacular. Mary Pat and Victoria both LOVED the Christmas Show and Mary Pat did not budge the entire time. She was mesmerized! We got a special treat after the show when we met up with Mommy's high school friend Jessica who is a Rockette! She took us all backstage where we got to see the props, dressing rooms and camels up close! Victoria had a blast dancing on the stage and Mary Pat loved meeting Jessica!

It was a wonderful day! Here are more pictures from the day. I hope to have pictures from our Spartanburg Christmas adventures posted by the end of the week!Victor enjoying her hot chocolate (with whip cream!) at breakfast. Mary Pat enjoying ALL of the food at breakfast!

Mary Pat was not so sure about Santa Claus.

Victoria loved meeting him though!

The cousins with Santa

Trying to get a smile out of Mary Pat with Santa!

Mommy and her precious girl!

Mommy, Mary Pat, Nana and Victoria at breakfast.

Family portrait.

Mary Pat watching Daddy and Victoria ice skate!

Do they look like they had fun?!?

Victoria was not a fan of ice skating.

Victoria, Nana, Jessica, Mary Pat and Mommy backstage at Radio City Music Hall.

Mary Pat meeting Jessica the Rockette!

The silly cousins playing after a long day.

Mary Pat's "excited" pose!

Silly girls!

Fun With Nana & Victoria

Mary Pat had a great time last week with Nana and big cousin Victoria visiting! She got to show off all of her walking skills and loved having a playmate to share her toys with. On Wednesday Nana decided to make a pound cake (Mom mom's recipe YUMMY!) as a special surprise for Mommy & Daddy when they got home from work. Well, Mary Pat and Victoria were the lucky girls who got to lick the beaters that afternoon when they woke up from their nap! As you can tell from the pictures below, Mary Pat could hardly contain her excitement!

Here are a few more pictures from the beginning of their visit. More to come!
Both girls enjoying their beaters. Victoria is an old pro at this, while Mary Pat's eyes tell you how excited she was to participate!
YUMMY!!!

The sweet cousins napping together.

Nana showed Mary Pat where the toilet paper was in our downstairs bathroom!

Mary Pat discovered Daddy's winter as we were decorating the Christmas tree hat and loved wearing it!

As we were hard at work decorating the tree, Mary Pat decided to run in circles with the toilet paper wrapped around her!

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful!

Nana gave Mary Pat an adorable "winter wear" set that included a hat, scarf, and mittens. Last week it was chilly one day so Mary Pat needed her scarf on the way to school. She LOVED wearing it and looked adorable!

Thanksgiving Fun!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Mary Pat kicked off the holiday by having a wonderful time celebrating at school on Wednesday with a lunchtime Thanksgiving feast. On Thanksgiving day we woke up to watch some of the Macy's parade before heading to NJ for Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Charlene's house. It was great to see Daddy's family and Mary Pat had a wonderful time playing with her cousins Emily and Patrice. However, her favorite part of the day was dinner where she gobbled up turkey, corn, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. She ate like a big girl!

After dinner we headed down to Washington DC to see Aunt Shay baby, Uncle Knox, Nana and Victoria who were all celebrating Thanksgiving at Aunt Shay baby's apartment. We had a great weekend in DC and loved getting to see Mommy's family. Nana and Victoria drove back to NY with us on Saturday night to kick off a fun week long visit. Both girls were a great help on Sunday when we decorated the house for Christmas. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving with more to come soon from Nana and Victoria's visit!

Showing off my pretty Turkey dress.
Confused by all of the commotion at Aunt Charlene's house.
Mary Pat's annual pictures with Aunt Charlene's pilgrims.

Enjoying a handful of mashed potatoes during Thanksgiving dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wonderful family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for this year and are happy to have so many wonderful people to share our lives with. We hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving today and eats lots of turkey! We know Mary Pat will.

It's a Boy!

On Monday, we had our Level II sonogram and are happy to announce that we have a Baby BOY on the way!!!! We are all beyond excited to meet the newest addition to the family and are preparing Mary Pat for a little brother. Everything looks great and Baby Boy Kolenik is still scheduled to arrive around April 13, 2010.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. We certainly have much to be thankful for this year! The baby was "showing off" according to the technician and there was no doubt that we have a boy on the way.

Profile picture

3-D photo of his face. The placenta was in the way, so it wasn't very clear.

More Halloween Pictures

Mary Pat had a great time at her Halloween party at school the Friday before Halloween. In the morning her class went trick or treating to the other classrooms where they got lots of stickers, cereal bars, and pretzels. Then, in the afternoon, there was a big party in her class complete with cookies, donut holes and fruit salad. It was a great day and Mary Pat had fun celebrating Halloween with her friends!

Here's a link to many more Halloween pictures!

(Sorry it has taken a while to get these posted but Mary Pat and Mommy have been under the weather and we had a pink eye scare last weekend!)

Mary Pat's class enjoying the party!
She couldn't decide between the cookie or the donut hole.
The cookie won!

Trying to steal Emily's cookie.

Being silly after the party.

Happy Halloween!!!!

We had a wonderful Halloween! Mary Pat had a very busy week full of fun Halloween activities at school, concluding with trick-or-treating around the classrooms and a party on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, we dressed out little Piglet up and went out to trick-or-treat. Mary Pat was not so sure about the process at first, but was loving picking out candy after a few houses!

Her candy of choice was snickers, which seemed strange, but was the one item she would pick out from various candy bowls. She also loved getting pretzels since this was one of the few things we would let her eat right away. She didn't quite understand putting the candy in her bag and would hold on (tight) to whatever she picked out until we got to the next house. We ended the day with a visit to Floral Park to see Aunt Amy and some of Daddy's aunts and cousins. It was a great weekend! Below are a few pictures from Saturday. More to come once they are uploaded!
Piglet has her bag and is ready to go! Giving a big smile before we leave to go trick-or-treating!
Mary Pat's first stop was our neighbor's house! This is fun! (Note the snickers in MP's tight grip)

Wiped out! However, see the snickers still tightly in her hand while she is sleeping.

With some cousins at the Raleigh house! Emma & Molly (standing in back), (sitting L-R) Emily, a neighbor, Daniel, Brenden, Kristie, Patrice, Kelly, Mary Pat, Richie, Samantha, (sitting in front) Mia & Jay.