Jessica & Jon Horey came to Lexi's little party and gave her a My Little Pony complete with necklace, hair clip and brush. She loves brushing the pony's hair.

There is a neighbor in our building who we have been friendly with since we moved in. He has a big black dog that Lexi has always liked. The other day we brought him some fudge (for Christmas) and he gave us a gift for Lexi and said it was for her birthday. Needless to say I was astounded that he remembered her birthday, since I don't even recall ever having that conversation with him. It was so nice of him to get something for her! So here she is playing the piano from Michael. I think it is one of her favorite toys now.

We didn't really get a good picture of Lexi blowing out the candles. She blew them out so quickly we hardly realized she had done it. Then she said, "More?!" and so we obliged, letting her ultimately blow the candles out 5 more times! Does that make her 10 years old?

Click here for more pictures from Lexi's birthday.

Ranks of Snowmen

Since Lexi's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, I made some cupcakes for her to take to nursery. Here they are, all lined up and ready to march! I can't take all the credit for these. I got the idea from Martha Stewart.

Mom & Dad visited nursery during snack time to sing to Lexi and watch her eat her cake.

Pop-pop and Lexi are pals. They play with soldiers and build together.

Another big pal of Lexi's is my cousin Steven.

BINGO

Bingo is a tradition in my family. We love to play for little prizes like breath mints or chapstick. Here Lexi is learning the ropes from Steve and Nanny Elliott.

Peter's been in the Phillipines for the past 2 Christmases, so he was the Bingo caller this year since he hasn't played in a while.

Lexi got very excited anytime someone called BINGO.

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at my grandparents home in Millwood, NY. Here are the Portlock girls holding our beautiful glass balls that Uncle Bruce sent us. They were handcrafted in New Orleans at the Rosetree Glass Studio and Gallery (and presumably purchased post-Hurricane Katrina). We all love them so much. Lexi was making everyone nervous while she walked around with it saying "Ball. Ball." We were afraid she was going to throw it! We were finally able to coax her into putting it away until we got back to NYC and hung it in our living room window.

Click here and here for all our Christmas pictures.

Pop-pop playing Santa in a Pepsi-blue Santa hat.

There was lots of snow in Elmira during our visit, although it was not too terribly cold. Here is Lexi coming home from church in the new sweater Grandma Cope made for her.

Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas morning with Grandma Susan, Aunt Allie and Uncle Topher. Lexi got a talking Yoda doll & light saber in her stocking. Nanny Susan gave her some Yankee pajamas to wear this year, too. Very appropriate since we live right across the river from Yankee Stadium!

Lexi also got a bunch of animals in her stocking.

Christmas Eve Morning

Since we were planning to go to Western NY to be with my family for Christmas Day, we had our own little family Christmas celebration on December 24th. Matt's family always had orange rolls on Christmas morning, but since I couldn't find any in the stores near us, I made some improvising on my cinnamon roll recipe. Grandma Cope made matching aprons for me & Lexi, and Lexi insisted that we put them on as soon as she saw them. It was perfect timing since we had some baking to do!

Transit Strike

There is always something interesting happening in New York City! This week it was a transit strike by the subway & bus employees. Their work contract ended and their union had not settled on a new contract yet, so all the employees walked off the job. It sure did a number on the New York economy and made getting around quite a trial. Here is a picture that you may never see again... the subway entrances closed off! This is the station we use the most as it is closet to our home.

This is the other station we use on occasion. Today, the strike officially ended, but it will take up to 18 hours to get everything running again. And most of the employees are having a hard time getting to work, since there are no trains or busses! Ironic?

Lexi with some of Dad's students. All the girls just swooned over Lexi! 

Ice Skating

Daddy got to take some of his students on a reward field trip to Lasker Rink in Central Park for a day of ice skating. Mom & Lexi came along. This was Lexi's first time ice skating and she loved it! At first she had a very hard time balancing herself and relied on mom and some of dad's students to pull her around. But by the end of the day, she was standing on the ice and even taking a few steps, although not quite gliding yet. When we took a break to sit down for awhile, she escaped from mommy's arms and walked on her little skates all the way over to the edge of the rink and attempted to get back on the ice. She is an adventurous & brave little girl. Lately, she has wanted her hat pulled almost over her eyes... here we are at the rink.