You better Believe it!

Yes, it's true....The Alsop's now own a MINI VAN!

Yes, it's true....we are heading to Florida AGAIN!

Yes, it's true....we are actually going to drive there as a family!

Ok, brother's, brother in-law, certain friends, etc. give me all the heck you want over the dreaded mini van purchase. They are just too practical to pass up and even Sky is raving about it. (wow, scary) My Jetta from college is on its last leg. It has been good to us but it is time to say good-bye. How times change. I'm now driving around a mini van with my two girls in the back seat just loving my automatic doors and enjoying watching them climb in on there own. We purchased a Toyota Sienna just a couple days ago and are loading it up and heading to Florida. You all know how terrible my girls are in the car and we are actually going to attempt a 17 hour drive together. All I need to do is just battle it out and will be welcomed by paradise as we get away from this absolutely freezing weather. Tomorrow it is onlygoing to be about 15 degrees but on Saturday I should experience 70 degrees. Ky, has been asking non-stop to go to Florida where it's warm and no coats are needed. We've trained her well or should I say spoiled her well. Skylar pulled off another rotation in Florida...man I love the perks of the PATHOLOGY Residency. Chat with you all in a few weeks if I make it through the drive. Don't worry I'm flying home with the girls.

Raise the Kiss!

It is only suiting that on New Year's Eve in Hershey they raise the KISS and then follow it with a fun firework show. I know I've said it over and over but I just love the little things they do in this town and am going to miss them when we leave. Well, it was freezing FREEZING cold new year's eve with the horrible PA wind on top of that and we almost wimped out. We had about 15 minutes to spare until 12 and I insisted on going. We made it to the square in time for the celebration thanks to our perfect illegal parking spot and my parents staying home with the girls! With more effort than you would think we finally pulled off a group shot. I first apparently asked a person who was hard of hearing or just didn't want to bail us out and then an older gentleman was willing but it wasn't till about 6 tries that he finally remembered the right button to push. I think he did a pretty good job and I guess the message is...cherish this picture! We were sure glad that Laura and Tay made it to Hershey for a few days as well. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

X-mas came and went

Sometimes I feel like there is so much preparation, planning, excitement, work and then snap the day is over. Thank goodness all that time leading up to Christmas is fun and well worth it. We finally just finished putting all the decorations away after Kylee gave many of them a kiss good-bye. When we told her it was time to take stuff down she replied, "oh dang, why does christmas have to be such a short holiday?" (ha ha) We had a great one and before I move on I have to go back and recap.

As I mentioned before Kylee was just so much fun this year as she got into everything! It was just a riot watching her sprinkle food out on the lawn for the reindeer, assuring her that Santa knew she was at Grandma's house, and watching her write her own letter to him with the cookies.

These were our darling girls christmas morning. As always Grandma (oops santa) did an amazing job arranging all the gifts. Kylee was very excited to have gotten a new chair and quickly passed the old pink one onto Lexi. You all know how much Kylee uses her chair and Lexi is the same way. They now each have one and they continue to get used daily.
We began with stockings on G'pa & G'ma's bed following our childhood tradition. Lexi was more concerned with any kind of food she could find in hers and once discovered gave up on searching for anything else. Here she is with her mouth full as she often is. Ky, was just amazed at how much could fit in there and just kept pulling out.
Both girls were spoiled rotten as always between all their grandparents and Santa but don't worry there was no complaining going on. Kylee's highlights were her Barbie's, her own Barbie laptop (way to go Mom), Magformers from Nana which Ky and G-pa had a blast with (very clever Linda) and her own copy of Pinkalicious. I could go on and on......
Lexi luckily made it through the day as she got pretty sick the day after but she is always a trooper. She couldn't get enough of her OWN TALKING baby doll and her horsey! (thank you) She actually still has a gift or two to still open which I guess we will keep on reserve.
We are SO glad my sister Laura and her husband Taylor made it out for Christmas. They of course added to the party! Ky, loves the energy Uncle Tay brings and has become Laura's little shadow. They had a great time baking together and talking about the little girl in Laura's tummy. Kylee's wish is to be a Mom already and took great care of Laura's belly. She was a little worried about me giving some of her baby clothes to her and wanted to make sure we were keeping some for her baby one day.
Nothing better than the holidays with family!

Ky has been obsessed with her Christmas jammie's and still wearing them every night. At this rate we may still be celebrating x-mas in the spring!

Oh, and x-mas morning is even more complete when you accomplishing getting an expression like this from parents who in my opinion are hard to shop for. We got um with a perfect family collage from our reunion this past summer.