lebenslauf

Travelings

2013-03-17T00:01:00.002-04:00

We have traveled more since we moved up here than we did in the entire 5 years we lived in Atlanta. Now, its not earthshattering trips, but the kids and I have enjoyed them. We've been to Boston 3 times (I think! maybe 4?), Vermont for 3 days, Connecticut a bunch of times, and Massachusetts a handful of times. A few of these trips have dovetailed with each other, like when we went to VT, we spent time in MA on our way up and and on our way back.

I've posted several Boston pictures here, and I'm sorry I haven't blogged about Vermont yet. It was really great, because I have only ever been to Vermont just over the border from MA. But I had never been to the Burlington area. The kids and I had so much fun. We went to the Ben and Jerry's factory tour, we watched apple cider be made, we even took a ski lift to the top of the mountain so Evie could see what the top looked like. It was -20 degrees up there!

warm baths were a must after playing in the cold temps!

eating a sandwich made with apple cider jelly, home made Vermont peanut butter, home made bread.

bundled!

going up!

at the top (-20 degrees F)

going back down

We also went to Greenwich for a few days with Nico when he had to work a few weeks ago. The kids and I went to the Bruce Museum and checked out the dinosaurs. They liked it, but were a little afraid of the dinosaur bones. They enjoyed the rest of the exhibits, and we were in and out of there quickly. Then we went to our favorite playground in the whole world, the Bruce Park playground, across the street. We also stopped by Tod's Point beach on our way home. We love greenwich!

Evie things I love

2013-03-16T23:45:00.000-04:00

I love these lashes

I love this freckle on her neck

I love how she loves doing puzzles

I love how grown up she looks when she listens to music

I love how she's still our baby who wants to hold our hands

I love how she loves "writing" in her diary. I love how many words she already writes

I love how pretty she looks here

I love how careful she is with her playdoh

I love how sassy she is

I love how she loves big jewels

Norwalk aquarium

2013-03-16T23:36:00.001-04:00

Nico is in Hawaii this week and since we have the weekend to ourselves, I decided to take the kids on a little day trip. We drove up to Norwalk, Ct and went to the maritime aquarium. The kids loved it. Much smaller than the Ga aquarium, but still a lot to see! There were touch pools for sharks and stingrays. In another exhibit the had an exhibit to touch a horseshoe crab, a regular crab, a clam and something else. Of all of that, they only touched the clam. And wigged out.

It was a really great day, only dampened by daddy not being with us. The kids are excited to take him next time.

Funnies

2013-03-14T22:43:00.000-04:00

Nico has been away this week for work, and last night the kids asked me to sleep with them in Evie's bed. It's very sweet that they've been sleeping together. I hate seeing how much they miss Nico when he travels and this is a particularly long trip. Anyhow, last night in the middle of the night, I heard Liam say, "A chicken say 'bok, bok, BAWK!" then nothing. I don't know if he woke up or if he was talking in his sleep, it was hilarious.

Tonight at dinner, I kept telling Evie she had to eat her vegetables, and even though broccoli and cauliflower are her favorite, she was all but refusing. I asked her again to eat her vegetables, and she said, "I feel like I could just run away". Umm, yeah, I laughed. So did she. We talked a long time about where she would go and who would cook for her. (In a house that no one wants, and she would.)

Tonight, Evie dressed Liam in one of her dresses and headbands. He was a good sport. He kept running in my room saying, "look at me, mama!"

Last night, when I was putting the kids to bed, Liam started out in his crib. He said to me, "I want to go sleep in Evie's bed" and I said, "will you actually sleep?" and he said, "no". "What will you do then", I asked. "Play", he said. He's honest at least!

Evie's birthday

2013-03-04T17:45:00.003-05:00

Evie's birthday felt like it went on forever. It started on the 4th, when she had her birthday party at school. I made chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream. I was glad to get the practice round, because I was going to use this buttercream for her birthday cake, but it was terrible. So I knew better than to use it the next day.

She got to sit in the rocking chair at school and chose the songs they sang in class.

Here's a shot of everyone in the class.

Liam spent the entire time there playing cars. Every day now, he asks if we can play cars at sissy's school. Sorry, buddy! Next year.

Of course, on the 5th, at midnight, I took her yearly midnight picture. She's getting so big and so grown up looking! :(

The next morning she came downstairs to find the dining room decorated and presents waiting.

We let her open them after her traditional birthday pancake cake.

She loved all her gifts. She asked for the bouncy ball and roller skates, but Liam wanted to get her the Peppa Pig playset because he knows she likes to play with tiny doll houses. Now, we have all fallen in love with the show Peppa Pig.

At lunchtime, we had her cake. I was planning to bring it out to dinner with us, but rather than have the hassle, I decided to just have it at lunch.

This year for the first time, Evie wanted to make the first cut. Big knife... I was nervous. She did fine though.

After lunch, we left to go to West Hartford with Nico. We didn't want Evie to miss having dinner on her birthday with her daddy, so we went on a work trip with him. It was fun. We had dinner at the Elbow Room and slept at the hotel. The next day, while Nico went to his meetings, the kids and I went to the mall! How fun!

I love this family picture. This pretty much sums us up. The three of them, and me behind the camera.

Next door to the hotel, there was construction going on. Whose birthday is this? Liams? He was so happy to watch a digger and dump truck at work.

We took the hotel shuttle to the mall and the kids were completely tickled by the idea of not being in carseats. Thank God it was only a 5 minute drive. I was a nervous wreck the whole way!

Finally, not from her birthday, but just after, a couple of pictures of me and my girl. She's getting so big so fast. I hope she always loves me this much.

A few days after her birthday, she got a package from Uncle John and Auntie Marrianne. They sent her a planetarium night light and a cool book about the universe.

They also sent Liam a Christmas present, which has been a huge hit here. More construction trucks!

They both love it.

And since Evie got so many books for her birthday, we moved a book shelf into her bedroom so she can read when she wakes up early, or when she can't fall asleep right away at bedtime.

Good night, sweet princess.

Evie's Wedding Birthday

2013-02-17T22:05:00.001-05:00

Evie's wedding birthday has finally happened! It was such a bummer to have to postpone it, but in the end, I think it was good because Jenny and Jeff got to come down Massachusetts. Even though we didn't get much snow in PA, they had tons in Mass.

When Evie's friends started to arrive, she went upstairs to get her wedding dress on.

Then we started The Wedding March and she came down to party!

This is where the party got away from me. I thought the kids would dance and pretend they were at a wedding and have fun. But I went into the kitchen for 1 second to get the last item for brunch out of the oven, and the kids went nuts tearing apart the playrooms.

We had a nice little brunch set up. We decorated the dining room in pink and gray. There were balloons and tissue poms. While Evie wanted a wedding, I really took cues from wedding showers I found on Pinterest.

One of my favorite details was stacks of mini pancakes with diamond rings.

We had mini fruit and yogurt parfaits, and strawberry milk in glass jars. I made the strawberry syrup because that powdered stuff in the grocery store is nasty!

In keeping with the pink foods theme, I made strawberry sandwiches. Sliced strawberries, whipped cream cheese, mint, and honey on thin sliced bread.

And donut hole skewers. The kids seemed to love these. Go figure!

Evie had fun brunching with her school friends. She and Violet share a laugh.

Talking with Chloe, Brielle, and Violet.

Evie really wanted a two tier wedding cake. She wanted a vanilla tier and a chocolate tier. I practiced frosting cakes for a month. I am the worst cake froster. The day before her party, we had to run to the store to buy more eggs for cakes and icing and while there I decided to just pick up two premade cakes and stack them up at home. Worked out well, in my opinion. They were delicious too. Can you believe that Evie did not have a piece of cake? She just wasn't in the mood. I was SO GLAD I didn't spend all the time making it!

Violet gave Evie a picnic backpack, so the kids set up a picnic in the living room and ate cookies.

Jenny and Jeff got to the house a little later in the day, just as Evie's school friends were leaving. But it was fun anyhow. It was like round two. Jenny made these tuxedo shirts for the boys. So cute!

The kids had fun releasing the balloons up to the vaulted ceiling then we'd lift them up and they'd catch the ribbons and pull them back down. It was so much fun for them.

The party was a success, in my opinion. I was honestly happy to have it over with, though. She's five. She's had a wedding. It's all happening too fast!

"Snow" day

2013-02-09T19:19:00.001-05:00

Today was supposed to be Evie's birthday party. But a huge storm came and hit the northeast and we in Pa were told that we'd get hit with several feet. After a few people said they wouldn't come, then finally Party City called and asked us to come pick up out order a day early (balloons don't last more than 12 hours!) we decided to postpone for a week.

Guess how much snow we got? None. Maybe 3 inches. Boo! The kids could t even build a snowman. But we had a nice lazy snow day. We played outside while Nico shoveled. Evie made a few snow angles. Liam enjoyed helping to shovel.

The timer is how long it takes to get 1 kid into snow attire. This does not include how long I spend chasing them to get their underclothes on. All I ask is that we spend more time outside than I spent dressing them!

Overall it was a lovely day and I'm glad we postponed when we did. Now I have another 7 days to plan a perfect party for my girl.

Happy fifth birthday, Evie!

2013-02-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy 5th Birthday Evelyn! from mkaler on Vimeo.

Here is your birthday video, sweet girl.

Love, Mommy & Daddy

On the Eve of Your Fifth Birthday

2013-02-04T18:25:00.000-05:00

Sweet Little girl,

You will always be my little girl. I know you are such a big girl. You want every one to see you that you are a big girl. What you really want is to do all the things I do.

Case in point, you have requested a wedding for your birthday party. You want to be married, and have babies. You like to help me cook and help me clean. I love this phase you are in. Even if its hard to let go of my need for things to be done neatly and efficiently, for the sake of spending time with you and watching your face light up as you spill flour into the bowl and all over the counter.

I found some audio clips today in my iTunes. They must be voice memos that you took with my iPhone. One is from when you were three and when asked what you wanted to be when you grow up, you said, "a chef". You've been consistent with that one. If I ask you today what you want to be when you grow up, you tell me you're going to be a chef, a pop star who sings on the radio, a princess, a mommy and a ballerina. Whatever you do, I hope it brings you as much joy as you have playing all those roles at home with me.

I am sure I've said this before, but I am struggling with emotions this birthday. You're turning FIVE! Five! I cannot believe it. I keep repeating it to myself, because if I keep saying it, maybe it'll make sense. How are you five? Five isn't a baby, for sure. Five year olds go to school! And that's what you'll do this fall. You'll head off to kindergarten, and then I'll close my eyes for a second and you'll be graduating. I am not ready for this.

I've asked you for the last few weeks if we can skip your birthday and have a "reverseday" and turn you three instead. Of course, I want you to turn five, but I feel like I need to slow things down. Maybe I need to slow me down and enjoy you and your brother more. I've already given up a lot of blogging time to play with you guys. But once you're in school, that's just more time I'm going to miss with you.

Evelyn Helene, you never fail to surprise me. You are so smart. You say things that I am usually amazed a five year old would know, let alone a four year old! Today you told me that storms are really big, but in the center they have an eye and that's where the storm is the strongest. Where did you learn that? I asked. From Dinosaur Train, you said. You are my little scientist. You ask so many questions, you want to know how everything works. You asked me how the ice cream maker works when we push the button. I don't have the answers for some of your questions, so we look them up. You will keep me on my toes as you get older and maybe I'll grow and learn with you.

You are fascinated with space right now. At night, when we go to bed, you like to look at your iPad at the star viewer app. You like to find the sun, the moon, the Hubbell telescope, and the International Space Station before you go to bed. You like looking at constellations. Today, you were playing with a plastic scorpion at your school and told me it was a scorpion, just like Scorpio the constellation. I am so proud of you. Keep your love of learning and books. It will take you far in life. I promise.

Speaking of surprising, today at school they celebrated your special day. I got to come in with Liam and share cupcakes with your class. In the last few minutes of class, you got to pick between singing songs and playing with your mommy. You, of course, chose playing with your mommy. So you went to get your favorite school toy to share with me and we sat down at one of the tables. I was amazed when you came to the table with a bucket full of plastic bugs. Spiders, scorpions, ants, worms, and even some butterflies. I thought you were trying to scare me because I hate spiders so much! But your teachers told me its your favorite thing to play with. I wonder what else is going on in your little brain that I don't know! I think you are wonderful and amazing.

This year, you've grown in your interests, too. Instead of listening to kid music, you like pop music. You love Katie Perry, Alicia Keys, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Justin Bieber. You still like to listen to Disney songs and classical ballet music on your iPad, but you prefer to listen to grown up music.

It bears repeating that you are an amazing sister. You are so sweet to your brother. Of course you guys bicker and fight over the same toy every single day. But you look out for him, you kiss when he's hurt, you make him smile when he's crying. Liam is a very lucky boy.

I love you so much, my baby girl. You are my treasure. Happy, happy birthday.

Love,
Mommy

365 Project

2013-01-31T07:56:00.002-05:00

This year, I decided to embark on a project. You might say its ambitious, although so far, on day 31, its been pretty easy. The jist is, every day of this year, I'll take a picture of Evie and Liam together. I am not specific about anything (time of day, what they wear, how close I stand, framing of the photo) except one thing, Evie is on the right and Liam is on the left. Evie has been great about it. Every day, she says, "Oh mom! Daily picture!" Liam on the other hand has days where he does not really want to cooperate. He'll cry, he won't look at the camera, etc. But I am nothing if not persistent. I am not going to share the pictures on here until the project is over. I've been sharing them on facebook. I know, if you're not on facebook, no fair. Well, I am curious if its more fun to see the pictures every day or see them all at once on December 31. I'm planning to set them to music and make a slideshow.

Family walks

2013-01-19T07:52:00.001-05:00

A few weekends ago, we had warm temps and on Saturday and Sunday we wen out for long walks in the trails near our house.

Sunday was longer than Saturday because on Saturday, Evie brought her bike with her.

We were able to find some animal tracks. Deer, raccoon and most likely a dog.

The kids loved the walks, we did about 3 miles on Sunday.

I'm testing out the blogger mobile app for this post, so I'm not sure how the formatting will be.

Wedding

2013-01-09T11:13:00.004-05:00

We are in the midst of planning Evie's 5th birthday. She wants a wedding. I am so excited about how its coming along, I cannot wait to share pictures when its over.

Today I got the invitations ordered.

Baby

2013-01-04T20:34:00.001-05:00

Tonight I put my baby to bed for the last time. Tomorrow he will be a big boy. It is finally time to take the crib rail off. Today he did this:

At first I had a good chuckle about it, then spent the rest of the day freaking out about how hard its going to be to teach him to stay in his bed, and how much he's going to hate it if we have to put a gate on his door to keep him in his room at night. But tonight, when I went to put him to bed, I got a little sad at this milestone.

I read once that for all the "firsts" we celebrate, we don't often get to celebrate "lasts" because we never know when they will be. For example, I have no idea when I last nursed Liam. I know how old he was when he stopped, but I didn't realize it was the last time until after the fact. I wasn't able to enjoy it as "the last time we nursed". So tonight, i took some extra time with him while he fell asleep and enjoyed our last night of babyhood.

Tomorrow, Nico will convert his crib and the real fun will begin. It won't be his first time in a big boy bed, because we've tried before. But the crib rail will not be going back on. It's too dangerous.

(For the record, Evie NEVER climbed out of her crib.)

December activities and Christmas 2012

2013-01-02T14:07:00.000-05:00

Prepare for a doozy. I should have been blogging regularly throughout December, with so much going on, but I didn't and now I am going to pay the price with this ginormous post.

Christmas in this house started just after Thanksgiving. When we got home from Massachusetts, we had our first snow. The same day, we went to Wegmans and got the kids a small tree of their own. The idea was to decorate it in the tradition from Nonna Tell Me a Story with candy, cookies, fruits and nuts. It was pretty hilarious to see how many ornaments were half eaten by Christmas day.

Evie drew this Santa picture, I was pretty impressed.

One afternoon to get some things done, I gave Evie some wrapping paper and tape and let her wrap up things in her play room. She wrapped up all her small princesses.

She was beyond excited and I got about an hour of work done.

Once their tree was decorated, they loved sitting by it, reading by it, playing near it. It was such a great idea and I think I will continue to do this every year.

In early December, we took the kids into the city to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. I had hoped that I could get our Xmas card picture by it, but Evie was in no mood.

She was, however, very impressed with the size of the tree.

seeing the rock center tree for the first time.

A few days later, we went to get our big tree for the front living room. We went to the same place we did pumpkin picking. The trees they had were so pretty and so big! When we found "our tree"we just knew we wanted it. It was absolutely perfect. Once we got it home we thought it was priced wrong. It was like 4 feet taller than we remembered it being at the farm. But I knew it was the one we picked because of a label on it. The thing was HUGE!

Liam checks out the tree waiting to go up.

Once we got the tree up and decorated (which took a few days. The thing was so big, we had to go out and buy more lights!) the kids found a gift underneath the tree. Christmas pajamas!

As for Christmas traditions, we don't do the Elf on the Shelf. Evie was talking about it this year because they have one at her school and her friends do this tradition. I put her high up on a window ledge one day and told her she was my elf on the shelf. She thought that was hilarious.

One of my (early) Christmas presents was a night in the city with my friend Kate. We went to see Kevin Griffin, lead singer of Better Than Ezra, do a solo show at a small venue in the city.

It was amazing. He have a great show and it was so awesome to see a show with Kate again, after all these years!

After, since we were staying in the city with Kate's sister Carina, the three of us did a little cocktailing at a few Upper West Side restaurants and stayed out until 2 am. It felt good to have a night out like the old days, and even better to sleep until 9:30 the next morning!

Mid-December, Evie had her Christmas concert at school. Nico could not make it because he was out of town for work. I did take lots of pictures and a few videos for him though. It was really cute and Evie did a great job.

The next morning, the kids and I went down to downtown Easton to see America's First Christmas Tree. Not overly impressive, but the kids got to play at the playground and check out the waterfall.

On December 15, Omi and Opa flew into town to celebrate Christmas with us. On our way back to Easton from Philly, we stopped at the Bethlehem Christkindlmarkt. It was really cute and fun, but everyone was tired and ready to be done with the car, so we just had a quick lunch and then left.

It's really a beautiful setting, though. It's held at the old Bethlehem Steel mill and while it looks so run down and falling apart, there is a beauty to the area. I'd love to have a family photo shoot there in the warmer weather.

On Sunday, the 16th, Evie, Omi, and I went to Lincoln Center to see The Nutcracker. We started this tradition last year, when we saw the Nutcracker in West Palm Beach with Christa. This year, we decided to go big and see it at Lincoln Center and Christa and I both agreed, we are now spoiled and can never see it anywhere else.

In the middle of their visit, Liam and I came down with the flu. After coming back from the city, I was feeling pretty awful. But we had guests, so I pushed through. And when they had to leave to go back to West Palm on Tuesday, I gave myself one day of rest, a trip to the doctor to get medicated, then got ready for my family to come to town.

John, Marrianne and Michaela came into town on Thursday. It was great having them here. I hope next time they visit we can do things like go into the city or something. But we spent Friday getting ready for our family Christmas celebration on Saturday. Marie and my mom drove down together from Western Mass and Jim and Arthur drove up from their new home in D.C. It was really nice to spend Christmas with my mom and siblings again. It's been 6 years.

Evie is taken with her uncles. They crack her up. And they are in a battle to win her affection as "favorite uncle".

Liam is very fond of Michaela. For two days after they left, he walked around asking, "where's Michaela?"It's very cute.

Uncle John and Auntie Marrianne got the kids this lego table. Super cool. One side is a lego board and the other side is set up for the mini train set. The tracks and trains that came with it fit perfectly with their existing train set. The have played hours of legos since getting this table. And there is storage under the table for all the legos. (the legos don't spend much time in storage.)

Christmas itself was pretty low key, since it was just the four of us. On Christmas Eve, we tried to go to Mass. But Liam fell asleep on the way there and when we got to the church, it was standing room only, in the vestibule of the church. We decided it wasn't meant to be.

Evie played on Nico's ipad by her tree and Liam napped on the couch.

After a while, Evie helped me make Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner, we packed up some Christmas cookies and hot cocoa, got the kids in their jammies and went on a drive around to see the Christmas lights. When we got home, we read the kids a few books, then it was off to bed.

After the kids were asleep, we moved Liam to Evie's bed. I was worried that Evie would wake up and run downstairs by herself and Liam would be trapped in his crib. I thought it would be nice if the kids woke up together. I opened Evie's blinds so when they woke up they'd see the freshly fallen snow.

They were of course very excited in the morning (6:15 am) and when they went to the stairs and saw that Santa had come it was time to get up. They really took their time, they'd open a present and play with it a bit. It was after 10 before they were done. Evie got a couple of movies and we watched them both in our present opening intermissions. The kids got a little motorized car and they sat in that while they watched Brave.

I never picked up my big camera on Christmas day. I took a few videos and a couple pictures with my phone. But I decided to just enjoy the day in the moment and not through the view finder. I don't think I'll ever regret that decision. And I did get quite a few pictures, but I'm not posting them here. It's just us in our jammies opening gifts. It was another lovely Christmas, another holiday to give me pause and realize how lucky the four of us are.

Snowy Day

2012-12-03T22:48:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, the kids woke up to snow! They were so excited. I had snuck into Evie's room to raise her blinds. While I was opening them, she woke up, sat up, and had the biggest smile on her face.

After a few hours, it had started to accumulate, so we played outside before realizing we really needed boots. We headed off to Target because sneakers are not the best shoes for playing in the snow.

Evie loved being able to finally make a snow angel. Both kids enjoyed making "snow balls" and throwing them at me. At first I thought of telling them not to throw snowballs at me. But the smiles on their faces were priceless. And it was better they hit me in the legs with their snow balls than hit each other in their faces with them.

The snow is gone now, and temps have warmed back up. But both kids are eager for it to snow again. I think its going to be a very fun winter. They can't wait to build a snowman. I hope there is more snow this year than there was last year!

Haircut

2012-12-03T22:35:00.001-05:00

The day before Thanksgiving, we took Liam to get his hair cut. It's been hanging over his ears and looking straggly the last few weeks.

He did such a great job. He sat still for the hairdresser and didn't make any sudden moves. He looks so grown up now.

While we were there, Evie asked if she could get a hair cut, too. She likes to get her hair cut, but we've only ever taken a few inches off the bottom, to clean up the ends. I asked her how much she wanted it cut and she motioned to her shoulders.

When I look at the before pictures now, I can't get over how long it was. But the new cut is so adorable on her. She wears it very well. And she's been very good about letting me blow dry her hair after her baths. She really loves it. Talk about looking grown up!

Haircut Nov '12, a set on Flickr.

"When I was Mommy Belle..."

2012-12-03T19:53:00.001-05:00

Evie likes to weave these fantastic stories for me about when she was a mommy named Belle. The stories vary. Sometimes she's telling me about something she has done before, when she was Mommy Belle.

Some elements of her stories never change. For example, when she was Mommy Belle, she had 10 kids. 5 girls and 5 boys. That never changes. The names of these 10 kids do change. To whatever she dreams up that day. One thing I've learned from these stories is that Evie is a terrible baby namer. Her 10 kids have names like Shawna, Caida, Jonna, etc.

Today we were talking about going into the city to see the Christmas decorations. She said she wanted to go ice skating (at Rockefeller Plaza). I asked her if she knows how to ice skate. Yes, she said without missing a beat. "I used to take my kids, when I was Mommy Belle."

The Mommy Belle stories crack me up because they are very matter of fact. But one night, the stories were making me so mad! I wouldn't let the kids have a snack before dinner. She went on and on all through dinner about when she was Mommy Belle, she let her kids eat whatever they wanted. How she didn't make them take baths or wash their hair. How they could watch tv whenever they wanted. I said, "Well, I'll bet they got pretty bored of tv and just wanted to run around and play." No, she replied. They really liked to watch movies. After an hour of hearing how as Mommy Belle, she let her kids do all the things that I don't let them do, I got a little tired of the stories. But for the most part, they are hilarious.

Meow

2012-11-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

Lately, when Liam does something he knows is wrong, he says, "meow". For example, the other day he wrote all over his hands in marker. When I saw him, he looked at me and said, "meow". While in Boston last week, he pooped in the tub. I saw it and shrieked and pulled him out of the tub, as he said, "meow". The other day, he got a little too excited and slapped my face while I was holding him. I told him, "that's not nice, Liam" and he said, "meow".

I don't know where he got it from, but it works every time. Every time he should get in trouble, I end up laughing at this cute little face. He cocks his head from side to side with each syllable. With a cute little smile.

Love this kid.

Halloween

2012-11-17T22:05:00.001-05:00

Halloween lasted forever this year. It started the Sunday before Halloween when the MOMs group had their yearly costume party. Evie wore her witch costume. This year, witch was the new princess. Every where we looked there were witches. Liam wore his Max costume.

The next day, Sandy hit the north east. Halloween in Forks Township was postponed until Saturday. So the kids and I decided to head to Boston with Nico. Along the way, we stopped in Springfield and went trick or treating with our friends. Kate was gracious enough to have us over for dinner. Then Evie, Liam, Malcolm and Claudia went out trick or treating. This night, Evie decided to dress as Ariel. Liam was still Max.

Liam was really cute, this being the first year he was able to go up to houses and say trick or treat. He said thank you most of the time. He'd come back to us after visiting the house and say, "another house!"

After a long trip down Gillette Street, the kids got a TON of candy, we went to Gus and Pauls for a snack and to get a peek at the kids' loot.

Believe it or not, I didn't take any pictures on the Halloween we had in our town. Evie was a witch again and Liam wore his Max suit. (I was surprised and disappointed in how few people recognized Liam's costume. Really, people?) Anyhow, we weren't out long. Maybe 1/2 hour. When we got back, we found that the bigger kids in the neighborhood "stole" all the candy. So by 6:30, we had to shut out our lights and call it a day.

Last but not least, Evie's school had their Halloween parade the following Friday. She decided to dress as Merida from Brave. She needed to have red hair, so she wore her Ariel wig. We counted 7 Batmans. Witches and Batman. This years "it" costume. Who knew? I was really glad Liam wasn't Batman.

So now, Halloween is over and Evie has already decided she wants to be a Firewoman for next Halloween. Or Alice in Wonderland. Fun!

Pumpkin picking

2012-11-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

Like with the apple picking, we had to find a new place this year to go pick pumpkins. I really loved Berry Patch Farms in Woodstock, GA. But I was really excited to go actually pumpkin picking this year. As in, picking the pumpkin off the vine. In GA, you don't "pick your own" pumpkin. You pick OUT your own pumpkin.

So the quickest way to find a pumpkin patch was to go on Living Social or some such deal site and find a deal. I found one for Donaldson Farms for 4 people to each get a pumpkin, take the hayride, pony rides for the kids and have lunch. It was a good deal. We probably could have gone to something more local, but this deal was too good to pass up.

And I was glad we did it. The farm was so pretty. And active. There was a live band playing, there were bouncy houses for the kids and lots of games. First thing the kids wanted to do was ride ponies.

Liam loved it! Not scared at all. He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. Just like during his pony ride in Hilton Head.

Evie didn't want to ride a pony, so she chose a big horse. She was very comfortable with it. She's come a long way, because a few years ago, she would have been afraid.

Next up the kids wanted to play on the big tractor.

Then it was time to get on the hayride and head out to the patch. The kids love hayrides.

Evie was so excited to see how pumpkins grow. And that they have flowers on their stems, too. She wanted to pick the biggest pumpkins she could find.

Liam was just along for the ride. He didn't really want to touch the pumpkins or get dirty.

At the last minute, Evie decided we should get two orange pumpkins and two white pumpkins.

Liam picked out a baby pumpkin. "Look at mine", he said.

At Donaldson Farms, they have this measuring stick where you can measure the kids each year. We had Evie hold up 4 fingers so we remember she was 4,

But when Liam says he's two, he holds up five fingers. Hilarious.

The kids were nice enough to pose for a picture by the mums while Daddy stood in line to pay for our goodies.

At the last minute, before leaving, we decided to go through the corn maze. It was pretty fun. Evie enjoyed using the map to find her way through.

I hope we will go back to Donaldson. They have a good system set up. And I saw that in one area of the farm, they had long tables set up for a farmside birthday party. How cool would that be!?

Apple picking

2012-11-03T16:09:00.001-04:00

Like every year, we went apple picking this year. We had to find a new orchard this year because of the move. The place we went this year was called Peaceful Orchard and its a full farm. It was nice that the kids got to see corn, tomatoes, squashes, pumpkins etc in the field.

In addition to apples, they had pear trees. The kids picked half apples and half pears.

We had fun, had lots of fruit. We made an apple pie and some apple pie bars.

We also stopped by the farm stand and got some fresh veggies for dinner that night.

BOOM! Photo bomb

2012-11-02T21:48:00.001-04:00

Evie colors ALL THE TIME. She will color for hours a day. Last month, she set her 3D glasses from the movies in front of her and drew them. Then drew a face in them.

She also likes to dress up her little brother. He is very tolerant. Poor kid.

There is a little diner near our new house with a counter and some pretty good ice cream. We took the kids one night after dinner for ice cream cones. Big hit.

I took Evie took a trial ballet class at a local studio. I wasn't very impressed and I'm still looking for the right studio for her. But it was great to see her dance in a studio. Her last ballet class was in the church gym. She's been dancing at home with a DVD I bought her since May. I didn't like the format of this class, though.

Running to the playground in our subdivision.

Evie's school had a fall festival the night before she started. We went and she got to play some games,

take a hayride, and meet some new friends from her class.

Liam was a little nervous about the hayride, but in the end had fun.

Evie really didn't want to sit with us. I was glad to get a picture of the three of us. Nico was on a trip.

Milk mustache.

In October, as we passed through Massachusetts, we got to take Nana to lunch for her birthday. Liam was very sweet and lovey on Nana. She loved it.

We stayed at my friend Jenny's house and the kids got to ride in Jake's Lightning McQueen car. Both kids loooooooved it. Evie said, "I can't believe I'm driving a car, I'm not even old enough!"

Mommy and Liam "napping".

Evie loves "reading" to Liam. They love the book The Fire Cat and Evie has most of it memorized.

Evie's new dress up station.

All her dresses are at her level. She can take them down from the hangers, but even better, she can hang them back up! Still have to figure out the baskets underneath, but it looks so much better than any dress up station she's ever had. And there's room to grow!

Evie really wanted to paint her room herself. Obviously that was not going to happen. But I did buy her a paint sample at Home Depot and a tiny roller and let her paint inside her closet. Its not done and probably never will be, but she loves it and loves the color.

Even Liam got in on the action!

Things have been crazy here. I have so many things we have done that I want to blog. I haven't had time to sit with my computer in ages. I don't do much besides check facebook from my phone. But things are starting to settle down. Hopefully this and my other blog will stop getting neglected.

Goodbye, friends

2012-10-25T14:48:00.001-04:00

By far, the hardest thing we did before leaving Atlanta was say good bye to Lisa, Phil, Ella and Lucy. We left on Saturday morning, but on Friday night, they went on a trip for Memorial day to Virginia. We were staying at their house since the movers had taken everything already. So we had to say goodbye on Friday afternoon, then go back in their house and try not to be sad.

I cried. I started crying after Ella got home from school at 2 and the girls were playing. I was watching them play and thinking of how hard it was going to be to not have them down the street, in the same town, a car ride away. Ella has been in Evie's life since she was 12 hours old.

I cried saying goodbye. I went back inside and I cried some more. I would cry in the playroom, looking at the toys Evie wouldn't play with any more. I cried through dinner. I cried through bedtime. That night, I couldn't sleep. I'd wake up and cry. I let Evie sleep in Ella's bed and I'd go to Ella's room and sit with Evie while she slept and look around the room that had been the place for countless sleep overs. Where I'd nursed Evie at times.

Before bed, I was sitting talking to Nico about all the things our two families had done together over 5 years and we looked at pictures. I pulled a few aside and put some music with it. It made me feel better to have a project to do. I left a copy of the slideshow for Lisa and co. I half wondered if it was a good idea. I didn't want to upset any one. But I wanted to pay homage to our time together.

The next day, getting on the road to Hilton Head definitely helped get my mind off things. My headache went away and we focused on the road ahead. I still think my last night in Atlanta would have been easier if we'd been in OUR house. Lisa and Phils house was our one constant in our five years in Atlanta. To spend our last night in that house was too hard.

I am so grateful to still be able to see them when they come up for holidays. We'll see them in 30 days, when they are here for Thanksgiving. And thank God for Facetime, Evie and Ella get to chat about once a week. It's not the same. But it keeps their connection.

We love you Lisa, Phil, Ella and Lucy! Can't wait to see you next month!

Way Back Wendesday - A Well Traveled Cake

2012-10-17T09:28:00.001-04:00

Like many brides and grooms, we saved the top of our cake to eat on our 1st anniversary. We had the club wrap it up and I brought it home to our condo in Greenwich after the wedding. At that point, I removed a lot of the extraneous things, like ribbons and flowers and just wrapped up the cake itself and tossed it in the freezer.

(Let's talk about my cake for a second. This is not really what I ordered. No pearly things. Just ribbon. I had given the baker a ribbon to use around the cake that matched the invites and bouquets. He couldn't use it because the buttercream made it look oil stained. So he used his. I'm not sure why he used the beads. As for the flowers - that don't match my wedding - well, apparently, while the cake was in transit, the icing slipped a little. He piped as much icing on it as he could at the club, but to cover some areas, he used flowers he found around the club to hide some things. I did not see the cake until after the ceremony. C'est la vie. It may not have been what I ordered, but it was delicious.)

I did worry about how to handle transporting the cake when we moved to Vienna. I mean, we had two suitcases each, a laptop bag each, and we each had a cat in a carrier to carry on board. How on earth I was supposed to worry about a cooler with a frozen cake in it was beyond me. We even looked into shipping it with FedEx, but it would have been over $200 to do that. I decided that instead, I would hold it in someone else's freezer until I could figure out what to do.

So Nico's cousin, Andrea, who was living in NYC at the time put it in her freezer. When I came home for Lisa's baby shower in May, I flew into JFK so I stayed a night with Andrea and picked up my cake. The next day, the cake and I traveled on the Metro North up to Greenwich, where Lisa's parents were picking me up. I got there a few hours ahead of them, and my cake had already been out of the freezer for a few hours. I went to the florist who had done our wedding flowers and asked if I could stash it in their cooler until I left.

When I got to Pam and John's house, I put the cake in their freezer. Over the next few days I tried to figure out a way to get the cake home. I had one tiny suitcase with me. I thought I'd get one of those styrofoam coolers and some dry ice. I wasn't sure if I could check something with dry ice in it. I got to thinking about the fact that if I check something, under the plane is not temperature controlled. And probably freezing. So I wrapped the cake up some more and threw it in my suitcase. We flew from JFK to Madrid, Madrid to Vienna. When I got home, Nico was at work, so I took the train from the airport to the U-bahn, then walked home from the U-bahn. It seemed to work. When I got back to our apartment, the cake was still intact. I put it in the freezer.

Next obstacle... for our 1st anniversary we were going to go to France and Italy. Nico suggested we just eat the cake before or after our trip. But I'd been through so much with the cake already, I was not going to give up. Flying with the cake had worked from NY to Vienna. I'd fly with it again. I wrapped it up and it flew to Nice with us. Upon our arrival in Nice, we drove to Villefranche-sur-mer and stayed one night at a hotel we'd stayed at on our honeymoon. Franck and Joelle, the owners, let us stash the cake in their freezer.

The next morning, we drove to La Spezia, Italy. This would be the cake's final resting place. We got into our villa and there was no freezer. We gave up. When the cake was defrosted the next day, we ate it, about 4 days shy of our anniversary.

For a cake that had been to more countries than most of my family members, in and out of freezers, it was surprisingly....amazing! The cake was super moist, the buttercream didn't taste like anything but buttercream and the raspberry filling was delicious.

The final tally:
5 countries (including our lay over in Spain)
6 freezers
3 flights

Our cake top needs a passport.

Goodbye, Atlanta

2012-10-16T15:40:00.001-04:00

In the last few weeks leading up to our move, we ran around checking a bunch of things off our list that we wanted to do one more time before we left. I had hoped to dedicate a post to each one, but this blog is not faring so well lately. So while I have the time, I'll post it all.

Evie and her best friend from pre-school, Elyse had one last play date. Elyse came over and later in the day, we went to pick up cupcakes at Gigi's and have a picnic in the park. (Really Evie had ONE MORE playdate with Elyse, but it was at Elyse's house and I wasn't there.)

Omi and Opa visited one more time two weeks before the move. We took them to Stone Mountain. It had been a year since we first visited and it was one of the things we had said they'd like. We had great weather that day and the kids loved playing at the top of the mountain. It made me completely nervous.

I wish we would have stayed longer and let the kids play in the park and ride the train. But they did love riding the gondola to the top of the mountain.

The next morning we went to the Botanical Garden. I love the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Love it. I wish we would have gone more often when we lived there. We only went twice. It did rain a little bit while we were there, but just a light sprinkling.

Liam soaked himself completely at the entrance to the Children's Garden.

At the entrance to Mr. McGreggors Garden. The kids can scoot under a white picket fence...

... and hide in a watering can. Ah-choo!

On this visit, we saw much more of the garden than we saw the last time. We saw the rose gardens and the lily pond. And we explored the orchid house. I highly recommend the Botanical Garden to anyone who may visit Atlanta.

There is a restaurant near our house in Marietta called Bella Italia. It is your typical family restaurant, except they cleared out like 4 tables in the back of the restaurant to put in a play house. Big hit. Evie always asked to go there. The kids would play while we waited for our food, then run back and forth to the table to take bites while playing. Normally, I'd go here when Nico was out of town. But we all went as a family once. We went one last time for the kids, because I didn't love the place. But the kids sure did. Evie ran into the house and said, "Liam, lets play 'The Trip To Look At Houses', and I can be the realtor!"

One last trip to the zoo was made more special when Liam got a bird to eat off his seed stick. That was a first. He was so proud.

We took one last trip to the Roswell Spray Park. We met friends there, but we arrived a half hour early. We were the only ones there at first, so the kids had it to themselves.

We finally made it to the High Museum. Omi had always wanted us to go there, but I was not interested in taking a squealing toddler or a shrieking baby to a fine arts museum. Lucky for me, they have Toddler Thursdays with story time and a craft. We had a lot of fun, I was sorry we hadn't done it sooner.

The kids made a snake out of paper plates. We had lunch in the cafe and then played a little bit in one of the sensory rooms.

The kids got to volunteer one last time for Click Workshops as models. They all came out great, but I particularly love this one with Nico and Liam because usually I take one kid or the other, and Nico is never in the pictures.

We had a yard sale the weekend before we left. Evie had a lemonade stand and Ella helped her. Evie also sold a few toys. Between her toys and her lemonade stand, she made just under $20, which she used to buy herself a toy in Hilton Head.

Before Liam turned 1, we never took Publix up on their free cookies for the kids. I knew they offered it. (They will also give the kids a free chicken finger from the hot deli, but the kids were never interested.) Anyway, we never did it, but one day in our Marietta Publix, the kids were offered a cookie and we said yes. And right there, a precedence was set. For the next year, whenever we went there, they had to have a cookie. Miss Evleyn worked at the deli and loved to come out from behind the counter and talk to the kids. She would tell us about her grandkids in Florida and sometimes speak a little German to the kids. On Thursday before we left, we went to pick up Liam's birthday cake and we said goodbye to Miss Evelyn.

Saying goodye to Dr. Ani made me most sad. I probably cried 5 times while at her office on Liam's birthday. I wanted to get Liam's 2 year check up out of the way before we moved, and I knew it would be the last time we saw Dr. Ani. We moved a few times while we lived in Atlanta. I know. But I always said, "no matter where we move to, I have to be close enough to still go to Dr. Ani's office." But with this move, we didn't have the same option. I have personally been going to Dr. Ani's office since I was 8 months pregnant, to meet her before Evie was born. And apart from her maternity leave earlier this year, she has always been the kids' doctor. She has a great manner with the kids and I only hope that their new doctor will be as great.

We did a bunch of other things too that we didn't take pictures of. Trips to Morgan Falls park (love!), lunch and dinner at the Fickle Pickle, and other things that I can't remember right now. I guess they weren't that memorable! LOL!