New Years Eve

Hey friends! I had planned on posting many times during this holiday season, but keep getting pulled away enjoying playing with my kids, cooking, and climbing. Yup. Can't complain. Although Lily has a throw up bug and I'm just praying we don't all get it for the New Year!

As for the New Year, what are your plans? Anyone have some fun traditions you can share? Growing up, we always had big parties at home because today is my twin sisters birthday. They are turning 40 today! Unreal. Happy Birthday you two! We'd play all kinds of funny games, eat fondue and cold cuts rolled up, and drink champagne. Then at midnight, we'd run outside and bang pots and pans as loud as we could up and down the street yelling Happy New Year!  Tonight I'm going to make fondue for sure. Since the kiddos will be in bed, we'll skip the pot banging this year and instead try to keep Maya (our Labrador retriever) from digging holes in our rug (the noises freak her out). I did get some small fireworks to set off with the kids early tonight as well, and will interview Cooper again.

Once the kids are asleep, Frank and I will sit down and makes some lists. One list will be a list of toleration (read her post for this to make more sense). Tolerations are things that mildly to moderately annoy you. For me, the list starts with 3 closets and drawers that have basically become junk drawers and in total disorder. Shades for Cooper's bedroom. Curtains that need to go up, curtains that need to be taken down. Little things that drive me crazy and are always in the back of my mind.  

Another list will be my goals for the coming year. Last year, we made a list of places we want to see still in Europe (tackling quite a few), climbing goals, health goals, and even blogging goals. I'm proud of myself for actually taking a photography class this year and putting my camera to use again! Here are my goals for this year.

1. Take 1 photo of each of my children once a week, every week of the year. 52 Photos.
2. Take one family photo a month. I could only find 2 photos of our whole family for the whole year!
3. Try a new recipe from my new cookbooks once a month.
4. Continue to tackle last years long term goals for travel, blogging, health, and climbing.

Happy New Year all! Goodbye 2013 and Hello 2014! 

Merry Christmas!

Only two more days til Christmas and alas, my cards have just arrived. Guess they will just be very late to everyone, but oh well. Shipping problems for the third year in row. I went with tiny prints this year because I love the chalkboard design, and wanted to see if I could avoid the shipping issues. Didn't happen. Oh well. I'm off to the post office...

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

 

Interview of the Year

While sorting through my folders on my computer, I came across some answers to a little interview I did last year with Cooper just before the new year. So glad I did this! I forgot I had, and this reminds me I need to do it again this year! He gave me all one word answers. I wonder if this year he'll add a little more insight... I might even add a few questions this year. If only Lily could say more than thirty words right now ;)

Year - 2012
Age - 3

What is your favorite color? Red
What was your favorite vacation this year? Sicily
What are your favorite places to go to in Germany? Frankische Wunderland, Mega Play, and Playmobil
Who is your best friend? Eli
What was your favorite gift this year for Christmas? Candy
What is your favorite food? Pizza
What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots
What is your favorite number? Three
What is your favorite book? Where the Wild Things Are
What was the hardest thing for you this year? Playing
What did you learn how to do well this year? Climbing
What do you want to learn how to do better next year? Speak German
What do you want to get better at next year? Playing

Oh man I love this boy.

Thanksgiving in Berlin

 

Over the Thanksgiving break, we finally made a trip to Berlin, capital of Germany and 5th largest city in Europe. It was about time! We've lived in Germany now for two years this stretch, and we lived here over four years two years before that. Frank was psyched to drive the whole trip, even in the city, because we had a five series BMW that was pretty amazing (I won a free rental in a contest). Frank had it on cruise control going 125 miles per hour on the way up. I took a picture as evidence below.

We stayed at the SANA Berlin hotel mainly because it has apartments (two rooms, kitchen, and living room) which works best for our family, and was in a convenient part of town (close to the zoo and shopping district), and wasn't too expensive. It was pretty nice, with an organic breakfast buffet we tried one morning that was quite good but pricey. For the rest of our breakfasts and lunches, we used groceries we brought from  home and from the Edeka market across the street.

Checking in at the SANA Berlin Hotel

Lily and her crazy morning hair!

 If you ask the kids, their favorite part was a playground we found in the huge Grosser Tiergarten park. The Tiergarten is 520 acres, with beautiful walking paths, ponds, and houses the zoo and aquarium. Gorgeous. I can only imagine it in the summer. The place to hang out for families with little kids. If we return, I'd love to walk the whole park and eat at one of the beer gardens scattered throughout the forest.

Cooper building a "bonfire" with his digger.

Being winter, the weather did not always cooperate with us over the long weekend. Cold and wet Friday morning, we decided we'd check out the Aquarium vs. the zoo, and it was well worth the visit. Cooper and Lily loved it! The aquarium is not very big, and isn't all jazzed up like the ones in the states we've been to, but the variety of fish, reptiles, and amphibians they have is unreal! Really unique creatures that were fascinating to read about, and fascinating to watch.

Being winter has its advantages in Germany. Christmas markets in every popular neighborhood center in Berlin! Ice skating rinks were being smoothed out, and fake snow was blowing down a large sledding ramp in Potsdamer Platz. Life size whirly gigs, gluhwein, chocolate almonds, and plenty of rides for kids. Frank took Cooper and Lily on a huge ferris wheel ride at the Berliner Dom while I purchased Christmas gifts from the plethora of craft booths.

Taken using my 50mm lens on my DSLR. Couldn't capture the whole thing!

Taken with the iPhone while walking past. Handy to have both while touring the city.

Frank and I wanted to make sure we saw at least a few of the historical monuments/sights of the city, so we walked with the kids (Lily on our backs and Cooper in the stroller) for a few miles starting at the Brandenburg Gate, down the boulevard of linden trees, to the Berlin Wall, and then to Museum Island. Literally every block of the city has amazing monuments or historical placards. You could easily spend a month exploring.

Touching the Berlin Wall

The Berliner Dom, located on Museum Island.

Hoping we can visit Berlin again in warmer weather, but it's hard for us to return any place we've been since there are so many more places I want to visit in my life at least once! How about you all? Do you like to return to places you know are wonderful, or do you tend to try new places out each vacation you take?

Christmas Traditions

We're already halfway to Christmas! This year, it will just be our family again. Third in a row. Really missing family. I wanted to fly home, but the prices and days off just didn't work out. I'm saving my time off for summer where I can take a long stretch with the kids back home. I think other than really missing my family, I am also really missing our family traditions this time of year. I want to try and keep doing all my family Christmas traditions with my family, and there are now quite a few I want to add as well.

Lily in her Christmas dress last year

Every Christmas Eve, our family gets together with the extended enormous family (as many aunts, uncles, and cousins that live within a 1 hour radius of northern Ky)  gather at a rotating family members house for a party. Think lots of food and laughter, and of course, singing jolly Christmas songs around the piano. Santa Claus makes an appearance, and even each aunt and uncle sits on his lap to receive a present. After the party, our family heads to a Christmas Eve service at the church. Christmas Eve music at night with candlelight makes me feel so amazingly peaceful and so happy I could cry. We leave exhausted and happy and excited as puppies to watch each other open gifts the next day.

My mom sneaks in during the night and places big stuffed stockings on our beds, a ploy I think to keep us in bed longer before waking her up when we were little. But, she still does this and we're now all in our thirties! My sister Missy wakes us all up first (she has always been the morning type) and I grudgingly sit up to open our stockings together. Dad gets up and makes goetta and bacon and bakes these delicious orange rolls my mom makes the night before. Once we're all up, we gather in the living room to open gifts together all at the same time. My sister and I used to hide presents so we could be the "last" one to open a gift.

Once all the hoopla is over, we started going to the movies when we were older. Yes, theaters are open on Christmas Day and they are usually playing a good family movie. My favorite Christmas movie of all time is Little Women. I still have to watch it this month. And then, the season is over, and a  wave of sadness creeps over me for I know I won't see my whole family for another year and that all the fun and excitement is totally over. Sigh.

Thinking about it all makes me want to have a Christmas Eve party. With lots of food, singing and Santa arriving with jingling bells. I too will start sneaking in the stocking for my kids. I too will make a special breakfast, and think I will bust out the orange roll recipe. I too will take my kids to a nice Christmas service with lots of singing and hopefully a pageant where they can see the real meaning of Christmas. I too will read all the Christmas stories and about Jesus being born in a manger.

Some new traditions are starting now as well, and there are a few others I want to adopt. For one, I only do three gifts for the kids, something they want, something they need, and a surprise, plus stockings. We also do an advent calendar. This year I just did the chocolate calendar, but next year I want to do this advent calendar concept with activities, treats, and goodies and keep this as our new tradition. I also want to camp out under the tree a weekend in December with my kids like Ashley Ann, and I really want to start letting the kids pick a gift they want to give to someone or some organization that really needs it. Plus, time to start hunting for a perfect Christmas tree every year. Right now we have a fake one, but I plan on getting a small real one with the kids this year as well. They just smell so good and I remember that being one of my favorite parts about the season as a kid. Picking out the perfect tree.

How about you all? What are your favorite Christmas traditions? Have you seen any others out there you would like to adopt as well? 

Flashback Friday

Wow! Can the week already be over! Been flying by this week because of so much to do at work, home, and a sick boy home for the day. I haven't had a chance to post about Berlin, but the first picture above is one I took of Frank playing with Lily in the park in Berlin. Total flashback to 2009, when Cooper was just about one, and my photographer friend Tina, owner of Vrai Photo, met up with us in Red River Gorge, Kentucky to take some awesome family shots. Makes me want to try and replicate some more photos and hang them side by side. So cute. Don't they look a lot alike?

My handsome husband Frank while checking out the Berlin wall remnants

Looking forward to this weekend. I'm headed to a crafting party with friends and kids tomorrow as well as a Christmas party in the evening and lots of climbing planned for Sunday.  Love this time of year for the social aspect, not so much the dark/cold aspect.

As always, some fun links for you to check out:

• This is the craft I'm bringing the supplies to make for tomorrow. I printed lots of holiday quotes for our version.
• I love the gift ideas being posted on A Cup of Jo this month!
•  I made this slow roast chicken dinner last night and boy was it good!
• Can't wait to make these Homemade Marshmallows as gifts with Hot Cocoa that don't contain corn syrup or sugar!
• A cute Shift Dress I plan on sewing from this pattern for Lily.
• I seriously love this "chalkboard" packaging! I want to wrap all my gifts like this!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and stay warm!

Handmade Christmas Ornaments

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with lots of family and good food!
Berlin was awesome. I will post some pictures once I have a chance to download them all off our cameras. The kids enjoyed it as well and we found Berlin to be super kid friendly with a zillion options to check out. I think we'll have to return again in the summer.

Shortly before taking our trip, Cooper and I quickly made some handmade clay ornaments to sell at his school's craft fair. I think they are pretty cute and wanted to keep a few they turned out so well! They'd also make cute gift tags, so I think we'll be making some more this week as we prepare to send our packages back home to the states. 

 

Here's how you make these easy ornaments:

1. First, grab some Crayola Air Dry Clay from the store the next time you are out. It comes in a plastic clear tub in the kids craft aisle (with crayons/markers/etc). For 2.5lbs, it costs $4.50 or so, and you can make a dozen ornaments or more easily.
2. Then, grab your Christmas cookie cutters, and get to work! We rolled out the clay on wax paper for easier clean up, and Cooper did the cutting out. 

 

3. Make sure you remember to poke a hole in the top of each ornament to hang your twine through. Let the ornaments air dry 1-2 days, or if you are inpatient like me, put them in the oven for 40 minutes at 200 degrees or less.

4. Time to paint! We used acrylic paints vs washable paints to make sure the paint lasts.

5. To seal the paint, once it dried, we painted Mod Podge over the entire ornament. It dries fast and leaves a nice shiny, smooth finish.

6. Pick out some twine, thread it through carefully (I broke a candle and reindeer forcing the twine through too hard), and ta da! Lovely ornaments handmade and finished all in an hour.

PS - Be sure to play Christmas music while you work and sip on hot cocoa...