Maultaschen Making Event

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, my family gets together to make the dinner we will eat together on Christmas.  Maultaschen are german ravioli made with homemade dough and filled with a beef, spinach, & onion/parsley. Yummy!  Not only do we make enough for Christmas dinner, but also enough for everyone to eat at home once or twice. We use 10lbs of meat!

This was at least the third year that we got together to make the meal and everyone has their assigned jobs.  (It is actually written down the receipe what each of our roles are!).  This year, we were missing two key helpers, Adam & my cousin Amy and we had more non-helpers than participants.  The weather was perfect for letting the kids run around outside and my uncle gave tractor rides, which were a big hit!

Making Maultaschen on the back porch

Mom cooks them

The non-helpers enjoying the tractor

two generations of cousins... and Jana!

Amy & I (2008 edge-pressers)

Thanksgiving Outing

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving - we had my mom, sister, 1 yr old nephew, brother/sister-in-law & 4yr old niece, and our former au pair over for Thanksgiving. What a nice group of people to spend the holidays with! Everyone was fun to be around, and everyone pitched in keeping tabs on the kids, getting dinner on the tables, and cleaning up afterwards - it is so much easier to host when it isn't all on you. Yum, yum, yum!

One of the highlights for me was a stroll to St. Albaan's, just around the corner, a unique block of Philly (which you may recognize from the Sixth Sense).  The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed stretching their legs.  Unfortunately, Adam was keeping an eye on the turkey, so he wasn't able to join us.

ring around the rosey

19 Month Milestones

I don't have too much to share about Oliver's developments this time around, but the one I do have is a biggie...... It seems Oliver's seperation/stranger anxiety magically disappeared on the day of his 19mo birthday.  Yippee!!!!  He was a charmer at two birthday parties last weekend and yesterday at a playdate/busy bag swap I went to at a very crowded playgym. 

He also continues to amazes us with his verbal skills, which have definitely benefitted from daycare, where he is learning the words of oodles & oodles of songs. 

Jana has Arrived!

We picked Jana up at the airport this afternoon.  We had been telling Oliver over & over again today that she was coming to visit and we were picking her up, and we are pretty sure that by the time we were in the airport that he understood.  The greeting wasn't quite as we were hoping, as Oliver was more interested in telling Jana about his new (hand-me down) shoes that he was wearing for the first time today.  (So the video isn't really memorable). 

Looking forward to a great two week visit!

POTD: Like Mother Like Son

In addition to my love of tea, Oliver has picked up my love of veggies.  Of course, that is partly because he is a vegetarian, so when the daycare lunch is chicken and veggies, he either eats the veggies or starves.

Tonight, on the way home from daycare, Oliver and I had to stop for groceries.  He was in need of entertainment, so I gave him a red pepper to hold while I got the couple of things we needed.  When we got to the register and I went to grab the pepper from him, I found it in his mouth!  Look how much he ate in the couple of minutes it took for me to walk through the store!  Pretty funny.



Birthday Party Madness

This weekend we went to birthday parties for Oliver's 4 year cousin Remi (Adam's side) and 1 year old cousin Devon (Heike's side).  Remi had a dance-party theme, which didn't lend itself to good photography (blinds drawn and lights off), but I did get a couple of good shots and some adorable video on Sunday in New Jersey.

Awesome video after the break!

POTD: Thomas Galoshes

We got Oliver the cutest rain galoshes from Zappos, and for the last two days, he will not take them off.  It is SO cute to hear him stomping around in them.  This morning, I came down to find him wearing them with his PJs and tonight after we got back from Jersey he was walking around in them minus pants.  Adam said he looked like he was modeling for a firefighter calendar! 

We've Turned a Corner!!!

Here is yesterday's report from daycare.  HAPPY is circled!  Very Happy & Very Friendly are written on top!  YEAH!!!   The teachers wer s happy and proud to share with Adam when he did pick-up, and they were actually bummed that Oliver wasn't coming to school today (Adam has off for Veteran's day). 

There's only one more week of daycare ahead of us and then Jana comes to visit!  (Not that we aren't all, Jana included) counting down the days until her arrival!!! 

POTD: Olivers latest hobby

For some reason, Oliver loves to put on adams shoes and stumble around in them today - it has been going on for about a month now.   Tonight, he was in a pair of mine and Adam sent me a photo.  The caption was "'Mommy, heels don't hurt so much"..... Funny.  Funnier because he is an a pair of loafers Adam called heels!

Oliver in Mommy's heels

this is an older photo

POTD: Arts & Crafty

On Sunday, we started using the travel highchair on our dining room table.  We're still feeding Oliver in his normal highchair, but this way he can hang out with us better when we are eating.  Yesterday, I plopped him in it so we could do a craft project for daycare.  Then, while Adam & I were eating and he went to town with some stickers.  Today, he was getting into so much trouble that we used it to contain him!  I had gotten the Ed Emberley Great Thumbprint Drawing Book out of the library and Oliver & Daddy had fun making animals out of their thumbprints.  I like the idea of a quiet family activity we can do together in the evenings - I will have to see what else I can come up with that won't require too much effort or make much of a mess. 

Sunday Funday

We had a much needed lazy weekend as we all recovered from the past hectic week and were all fighting off colds.  Yesterday, Oliver and I went to the farmers market, but otherwise, we never left the house.  Unfortunately, today I had to go to work for a few hours - ugh!

This morning, Adam and I were treated to a pleasant flashback from our pre-baby life - Reading the Sunday NYTimes together!  Oliver was "reading" the Fisher Price holiday catalog, sitting between us, which was pretty cute.  Oliver was drinking his morning tea using the duck mug that was mine when I was a kid. 

 Adam made Rouladen for dinner - yum yum! His gravy was phenomenal and we have plenty leftover to eat a second time!



We were on a "shoe kick" tonight and wouldn't take them off!



POTD - Happy to be Home

Oliver is still having a hard time adjusting to daycare - It is breaking our heart!!!  He's having extreme seperation anxiety and has reverted back to needing his pacifier and his "Kermie" constantly, which we are indulging.  The poor lil' guy isn't sleeping well, is crying hysterically when we drop him off, and is red-eyed when we pick him up.  Jana can't come soon enough!!!  We are going to figure out a way to juggle the week in between Jana leaving and our new au pair arriving so he doesn't have to go back for a full week after two weeks of being spoiled rotten.  (Have I mentioned that we have picked a new au pair???)  She joins us on December 8th and we are very excited to have her join our family!!!!

Took this photo after Oliver, "Froggie" and I got home from daycare this afternoon.