We visited the train show at the NY Botanical Gardens this weekend and Kate loved it! Paul and I were impressed as well. They had a big room full of trains and replicas of NYC landmarks. The buildings had windows made from tree sap and roofs made from leaves.
Radio City Music Hall
We met up with our friends, the Lloyd's, and Kate was so happy to see Peter. She kept asking to hold his hand and like a gentleman, he obliged.
New York Stock Exchange
The kids had a blast playing in the mini gingerbread house. For lunch we went to Arthur Avenue--the original "Little Italy" in the Bronx. It did feel like we had left the country! Our waitress only spoke Italian and the markets were amazing. Each shop was dedicated to a specific item. There was the bakery and butcher shop and pastry shop,etc. It's amazing to see the little communities that exist within our country, some just in the neighborhood over. We enjoyed the long weekend and are afraid these next few weeks before Christmas are going to by pass too quickly!
my beliefs. I have had a lot of fun posting about what I am grateful for. We really live a blessed life. Amidst all of our blessings, along with my family I am most grateful for my beliefs. I find much peace through prayer and knowing that I am loved by a Heavenly Father and his Son. As this Thanksgiving weekend ends and a new holiday season begins, I look forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior. I am very, very grateful for Him.
Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seed time and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. ~Ray Stannard Baker
family. Our little one I share a home with, as well as extended family that spans the country and globe. Paul and I are both blessed to come from great families and especially during this holiday season, we miss them! They have always been loving and supportive of us and our family relationships are our most treasured. Our little family here brings me so much joy each day. We are blessed.
good friends. Some old and some new, but this Thanksgiving, especially when we're far from family, it's great to be surrounded by good friends. Paul and I were both blessed with great friends before we were married. Since we've been married we have moved a few times and we are grateful for the good friends we have made in each place and grateful for friends that we've kept in touch with and wish we loved closer to. We hope you all, both family and friends, have a Happy Thanksgiving!
a well equipped kitchen that makes preparing our Thanksgiving feast much easier and much more efficient!
My top five kitchen gadgets I'm thankful for: this ceramic chef's knife brought home to me from Paul on his trip to Japan. It's lightweight and almost plastic feeling, yet it cuts better than any knife I've ever used. I use this everyday, usually multiple times a day.
And my favorite cutting board we got as a wedding gift. It doesn't slip on the counter and is the perfect size. Another wedding gift, and another item I use almost daily, our mixing bowls are an older version of these.
These last favorites make cooking and baking so much easier. I'm very grateful for our mixer and food processor.
Now let's just hope our oven pulls through and the turkey turns out! Happy Thanksgiving.
my knight-in-shining-armor who rescued me, his damsel in distress, while stranded with Kate in the rain and a flat tire. I like to tell myself that I could have changed it if I had to. But I didn't, so I gratefully watched him do it and carefully took note in case I should ever be in that situation again. (Yes Dad, you did show me once. I think it was about 10 years ago.) And this is only one of the reasons why I am so grateful for him. I'll tell him the rest myself. In person.
The dance party we had tonight. Nothing like rocking out to "Jingle Bells" on pandora to pass the time before dinner. Not sure what it is about that song but this girl loves it.
My new favorite book and cd "Mouse Cookies & More". My mom got it from the library and I've been listening to the cd and reading the book every day since then. The cd is my favorite, it tells lots of stories and sings songs. My current favorite is "If you give a moose a muffin". I'm sure my mom is going to have to buy the book now because I don't know how I will live without it! I request the cd about 5 times a day and even ask to bring it in the car with us. I am grateful that the library has let us renew it twice already.
my bed. I have never slept in a bed as comfortable as ours. When we are away I always look forward to coming home to my own bed. I am especially grateful that I got to sleep in it until 9 am this morning! What a treat!
our daily bread. We are so fortunate to be able to eat good food every day. Especially in this cold weather, a warm dinner on the table hits the spot. Lately I've been making bread using the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method. I'm converted. It really is easy and really does take just 5 minutes a day. Basically you make a big batch of really wet dough, store it in the fridge and take enough dough out to make a loaf each day you want to make bread. The dough lasts in the fridge for 2 weeks and the recipe variations are endless. When you think that an estimated 800 million people in the world are undernourished, we really are blessed to have good food to eat.
the fourth member of our household, the radiator that brings us warmth. Our house is 100 years old and if you've never lived in an old house with these old fashioned radiators, you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say "member of our household". When the radiator heats up it sounds like someone is taking a baseball bat to the radiator, it clanks, bubbles, hisses and steams. You kind of get used to it and now we hardly notice it, but it was quite alarming at first. Now, I am grateful that it makes our home so warm. Steam heat warms up the house fast and I think I like it better than forced air heat (like most of you westerners are probably used to). The low tonight is 27 and the high tomorrow is 39 and windy. It feels really cold. As I was rocking Kate to sleep tonight and listening to the heater bubble I felt really grateful to be warm and at home. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have a warm place to sleep at night. Definitely something to be grateful for.
Paul also wanted me to add that we are grateful to be able to afford heating oil. And extra grateful that we didn't lock in our rate this summer at $6 a gallon while people were speculating it would go up to $10 a gallon this winter. It's now $2.75. Our economy is crazy.
the "Christmas Tree" video. Or as my mom calls it "Mr. Kruger's Christmas". I don't watch too much TV but when my mom and I watched this last week I was so excited. It has all of my favorite things like cats, dancing, Christmas trees, baby Jesus, horses, sparkly lights, and Christmas songs. I've watched it a few times and I would watch it every day if my mom would let me. I love it. I think my mom likes it better than Barney and she says Mr Kruger is a nice old man. Did you know you can watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas too? They send out free copies. I am getting so excited for Christmas!
a relaxing weekend spent with two of my favorite people. Things have been pretty busy for us lately and we've missed spending time together, especially at home. Saturday was cold and rainy, perfect for staying inside, making french toast, getting some chores done and relaxing. Sunday was just as nice, complete with homemade chicken noodle soup and lots of story time on the couch. It's getting pretty cold here. I'm grateful I get to share my house with these two.
Two simple, yet very satisfying pleasures in my life at the moment! Paul brought me home some dark chocolate truffles from Austin. He found them at the holy Whole Foods that the hippies of Austin worship. Quite the place, I hear. I could probably write a separate blog post about the goodness found at Whole Foods, as expensive as it might be. Good thing we don't have one too close to us. These truffles could become quite the addiction. And tea. I started drinking herbal tea in college and it quickly became a daily routine for me. I usually drink it first thing in the morning while Kate eats her breakfast and I wait for our heater to warm up the house. As it is getting colder, I also find myself having a cup in the afternoon as well. Those English have got it right with their tea time in the afternoon. I like the idea to slow down a bit, if just for a moment, to enjoy a proper cup of tea. I stick to herbal and my favorite at the moment is celestial seasonings tangerine orange zinger.
And apparently I'm not the only one in the house with an affinity for chocolate. Somehow Kate managed to pull the box off the counter yesterday and I found her happily enjoying them on the kitchen floor, covered in chocolate. I could hardly scold her, as I walked in she held her hand up and offered one to me "choc-late, mommy, choc-late".
A wife who has such a great perspective on life and always reminds me what really matters. I've been traveling lately for a competition (we placed third out of 20) and her support has been invaluable, taking care of Kate alone and always encouraging me to take on projects even though they may mean lonely nights for her.
a child who sleeps 12 hours at night. It took us a long while to get here and I'm afraid we already take it for granted. Soon enough I will be meeting those wee hours again with our new babe.
laughter. This girl is so good at it. I need to be more like her.
"The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable." Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Our advent calendar project is finished! This calendar will help us count down the days until Christmas beginning December 1. Did you know that advent calendars began as a religious tradition in the early 19th century? I always thought those little cardboard calendars in the store were a product of the marketing consumption frenzy that Christmas can turn into. Hopefully for our family it will help us enjoy the Christmas season. Kate is still a little too young to get really excited about it this year, but I hope that this will be something the kids remember and look forward to each year as they get older. Each stocking will hold a slip of paper with an advent activity. Here is our tentative list of activities:
Watch Elf, make spiced cider
Decorate the Christmas tree
Find Mistletoe, hang it in our house and kiss under it
Address and mail Christmas Cards
Set out the nativity scene and read the Christmas Story in the Bible
Go to the store and pick out one new Christmas CD
Make Hot Chocolate and Homemade Marshmallows
Put up a ribbon sash for Christmas cards
Make a Gingerbread house
Sing (or listen) to favorite Christmas songs
Make wassail and read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Drive around to see neighborhood lights
Have a romantic candlelit dinner by the Christmas tree
Write out a Christ-centered goal to start early for the New Year
Go to a Christmas Concert
Make Christmas Cookies
Spend the day in NYC. Visit the big Christmas tree and window displays
Visit to Santa
Visit the nativity scene at the Knights of Columbus Museum
Watch Mr. Kruger’s Christmas and make popcorn
Host a Christmas dinner/dessert party
Bake pumpkin bread for friends
Celebrate our small family Christmas, exchange gifts, play games and eat good food
visit our family
Obviously we'll have to plan what activities are practical to do on what days. For more inspiration on advent calendar activities and ideas click here, here, here or here.
this girl is playing so well on her own. You know when the house suddenly turns silent there must be something wrong. Either something bad happened or your child is getting into something they shouldn't, thus being so quiet? I was sure that was the case as I folded laundry in the other room and hadn't heard Kate for a while. I expected to find her drawing on the walls or climbing up the bookshelf. But no, just reading. Quietly sitting in the corner completely enthralled in her "ABC" book I almost didn't take the picture for fear of disturbing her. She has her fair share of mischievous moments, but today I'm grateful she is playing so well by herself.
72 hour emergency kits. Finally complete, assembled and packed away neatly in the closet. I will be extra thankful if we don't ever have to use them. But it is comforting to know we are a little more prepared. We ended up buying this kit and a few extra items, then adding things to it. Go here for a list of what to include.
The beautiful flowers that arrived on my doorstep. My husband is sweet.
I read about a group of people who are taking pictures each day during the month of Thanksgiving of things they are grateful for. I loved the idea and hopefully will be able to keep up with it. You may even get to hear from Paul and Kate. Want to join me?
Radio City Music Hall
We met up with our friends, the Lloyd's, and Kate was so happy to see Peter. She kept asking to hold his hand and like a gentleman, he obliged.
New York Stock Exchange
The kids had a blast playing in the mini gingerbread house. For lunch we went to Arthur Avenue--the original "Little Italy" in the Bronx. It did feel like we had left the country! Our waitress only spoke Italian and the markets were amazing. Each shop was dedicated to a specific item. There was the bakery and butcher shop and pastry shop,etc. It's amazing to see the little communities that exist within our country, some just in the neighborhood over. We enjoyed the long weekend and are afraid these next few weeks before Christmas are going to by pass too quickly!
