Here Comes A New Shelmet

With the year coming to a close, we decided to squeeze one more first for Zoe in to 2013 with a trip to Adventure Aquarium in Camden. She has watched Finding Nemo about 40 bazillion times, so she was well acquainted with fish, sharks, rays and other aquatic sea life. Since it was the holiday season, the aquarium was also decorated with characters from the old Rankin and Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer show, which Zoe has also seen countless times. Without a flash it was a bit difficult to take a lot of good pictures, but we (mostly Cheryl) were able to get a few. She loved it, so I'm glad we got the annual membership. Hopefully she has the same reaction every time we go there. Take a look a Zoe's set on Flickr to see some other pictures from our first trip to the aquarium.

A visit from the Strouts meant that Zoe was going to get a second gander at Julia and Ben. They've grown a lot since the last time she saw them but they are still two of the chillest, friendliest babies I have ever met. Even when Zoe was standing the Green Lantern on her head, Julia didn't seem to mind. Just take a look at this crazy trio. Those three are a lot of fun, but the twins by themselves are super cute. Take a look. Everyone had a great time and it was a treat to see the Strouts. Hopefully we won't have to wait so long before their next visit.

Poor Zoe. Two years running now and she has only received a single, metric ton of toys. Such a deprived child. To start things off right, Nana bought a cute kitchen set and Cheryl and I got her the wares to stock it, complete with velcro, cut-apart food. This was fully stocked and set up for her to see after her nap on Christmas Eve. She really got in to it, as you can see. The holidays mean family and when there's a baby, that translates to presents. Of course, when Zoe opens presents, she does so in style. She is also getting very good with her "thank yous," which is great to see. Here she is opening and enjoying some presents, sometimes through the help of a small bribe (it's amazing what a tiny bag of M&Ms can do). And if you're wondering, the answer is yes, Zoe is literally jumping off the ground in the picture where I'm giving her the M&Ms. It would be impossible for me to recount all of the gifts she received. The generosity of ...

As she gets older, Zoe does more and more around the house. One of the things she enjoys doing is cooking while Cheryl cooks. This involves Cheryl getting a bowl, filling it with Cheerios and giving Zoe some kind of stirring implement, like a spoon or whisk. Zoe then stirs up what's in there and makes sure to give it a taste every now and again, like so. She has also become much more interested in her potty. This has gone hand in hand with a desire to either be fully naked or bottomless. Even though it may mean Zoe will never speak to me when she realizes that these pictures are on the Internet, I give you potty time. The Sunday before Christmas we made our way up to Sesame Place for their Very Furry Christmas experience. The 60-degree weather held out without a drop of rain the entire time we were there. We got to see all of the characters in the parade and Zoe was super excited to point them all out to us. Here are a few shots from that day. That last one is her...

I had mentioned that we went to get our family pictures taken for the holiday and that Zoe had not been incredibly cooperative. Well, we have the pictures, so I wanted to share some of them here. This is but a few of the gems that were captured that day. Seriously, if she wasn't so damn cute, she'd be a total pain in the ass. There are a few good ones in there, so you should take a look at Zoe's set on Flickr to see the rest. One of the things that they do for you once they have forced you and your family to suffer through such an ordeal is to make some nice collages. We insisted on this one, and it is probably my favorite. That really sums up the whole experience very nicely.

The plan today was to wake up early, pack up and get out the door to get our Christmas tree. While it took us a little longer to get moving this morning, we did eventually make our way to Indian Walk up in Newtown to cut our own tree. We wound up grabbing one of the pre-cut trees, because it looked the best, but while we were there both Cheryl and I took some pictures of Zoe in her super cute reindeer sweater and hat. Take a look. Zoe obviously has no problems with the cold and loves being out amongst the trees. She still not big on long car rides, even with movies from the iPad, but she's getting better. Since we were in the area, we figured we would swing by the Oxford Valley Mall for a quick meeting with Santa. Cheryl took her in and 30 minutes later we had these gems. So Santa is not her favorite, but at least she was on his lap. After that magical experience we started to head home. We were told it would snow, but didn't realize just how much would come down...

This year, as with every year that I can remember, we attended Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. Like last year, all three cousins were together and, just like last year, they barely sat next to one another long enough to take a picture. Here are a few that I was able to take that night. I'm thankful that we were all able to get together again for another year. It's amazing to see how much each of the kids has grown. The other interesting thing is to see what things they excel at. While Zoe is not the best eater, her cousins seem to have that down to a science. They're also much better at having hair that isn't crazy and not kissing the dogs on the mouth. Regardless, they're all amazing and it is a treat to see them interacting with one another. I hope they will always be close as they grow older.