Other Christmas Projects

Parmesan - developing it's rind after brining. We'll get to taste it in only 11 months!
Lacto-fermented beets. Mmmm...fizzy veggies...

The Tree

Ornaments
Lily made an angel for the top
Erich and Wolfie with the tree right before we took it back outside. In the spring, it'll join the others in the yard.

Christmas Morning

Craft Interlude (courtesy of Aunt Pam)
TAPE! Thanks, Uncle Doug and Aunt Tara!
Choo-choo
Have yourselves a naked little Christmas...

Ever get the feeling that your kid's not all there?

Me too. Spooky.

Scarves

Lily hand-dyed silk scarves (with Kool-aid, mostly) for the women on our Christmas list. She did a great job!

Sledding Party!

After the first big snow of the year, we threw a sledding party. Nobody last all that long, so we all came inside to play. It was crowded!

Lily, Julia, and Brian made about a million gingerbread men. Julia was a pretty good sport about it.
























Lily asked Erich is she could roast marshmallows (because, really, it's not a party if there's no fire). Like any normal father, he started a bonfire in the driveway.













Brr! I think it was about 15 degrees out during the marshmallow roast.

Black Toddler Undies

Did you know that the stores don't sell black toddler undies? Good thing I have black dye at the house! (these were part of Greta's birthday present)

Niagara Falls

Due to some, uh, technical problems, Lucy, Chaw, and Greta met us in Niagara Falls. Greta says "water LOADING"












Lily watching from the top of the falls. It was COLD. Seriously. Apparently we were there, on the American side (which is a little sad anyway) on the last day of the season. Pretty well everything was closed. I left everyone and drove to Forestville, an hour west of Buffalo, in pursuit of 250 pounds of frozen berries for the CSA. While I was gone, it was hailing, sleeting, and altogether unpleasant. They spent to day at the Niagara Falls visitor center, playing arcade games. Which may or may not have been better than driving to Forestville in that weather (it was an exciting drive. The top of the semi in front of me sheared off on an overpass). But we got the berries and made it home in only 7 hours! (it should take 3). In other words, we owe them a LOT of free babysitting. Or something.

Bye Bye Oma!

On Sunday, we headed back home.










Wolfie with Oma. He really liked to snuggle with her. For he past month, every time I call someone, he yells "Hi Oma!" at the phone for the whole conversation. She really made an impression!

Dinner with Anneliese and "Big Wolfgang"

While we were in Ontario, we visited with Auntie Anneliese and Uncle Wolfgang (who managed to avoid the camera). Lily and Wolfie went to Ikea and got their pod chairs - a Christmas gift from Oma. Of course, we set them up *right away*












Anneliese and Wolfie, playing "pull up Wolfie's pants and give him a wedgie" - at his request.













Yummy - Chocolate Ice Cream Bars! (you can see that he did a good job of cleaning his plate)

Visiting Oma

For American Thanksgiving, we went to visit Oma in Saint Catharines, Ontario. We had Chinese takeout for our Thanksgiving dinner - much easier than a turkey! Here is Lily with Oma - they're working on Lily's new sticker book.


Oma with Wolfie. He's showing her a puzzle.













What a big boy, carrying his cocoa all by himself!

Ball Pit!

The kids at Eastlake. Lily seems to regret her wardrobe choices (she went and got her sweater a few minutes later)

Watching the Snow Fall

November 19, 2008

Cute Little Apron

This cute apron was made almost entirely out of an old pillowcase that I got at a rummage sale. The only non-pillowcase part is the rick-rack on the pockets. Cute, and t only took about 20 minutes!

Artemis' Birthday Party

Lily's friend Artemis had her birthday party right after Halloween. Here's Erich whittling the kids marshmallow roasting sticks.










Roast Marshmallows - What a treat!

Aaaand..we're back!

We bought a new camera, and I promptly lost the cord that you use to download photos. At long last, I bothered to go to the store and buy a card reader. So now the blog is back online.

And...Monster, Monster, Monster

Lily's ballet class learned a special dance to the "Monster Mash" this week. Here, the teacher is encouraging them to "Monster! Monster!" It was pretty darn cute.

Halloween Party

Lily's friend Avery and her family invited us to the Halloween Party at their country club. Wolfgang's favorite part was the cupcake decorating.



Avery's dad has a much stronger back than I do. I could never fend off spiderman and Darth Vader at the same time!













The girls are hard at work, gluing feathers to their pumpkins. That *is* the traditional way to make a jack-o-lantern, right?


Practicing his "innocent" look. Don't believe him. (Wolfgang, incidentally, went as a fireman stripper. he has already stripped by this photo)

One of these things is Not like the others.

This is Wolfgang's "Creative Movement" class. Notice how all of the kids are wearing turtlenecks, sweaters, and cords? It was about 40 degrees and pouring rain that day. We're working on getting Wolfgang to wear more clothes, but aren't having all that much progress.He's a man with his own plan.
Whee!

Wolfgang Help!

Wolfie doesn't like to sleep alone. While Erich was out of town, I would have to run out of bed to do a chore or two, and then hop back in bed to get him back to sleep every 15 minutes or so. One night, I just couldn't take it anymore, so I got him up while I finished the dishes and laundry. I put him in charge of stirring the apple butter in the slow cooker. He looks pleased, no? That white stuff all down his shirt is sugar. mmmmmm.....sugar....

ZooBoo!

"Holy Crap, it's Tom Knight!"

We just hadn't had enough excitement after the Scarecrow Jubilee, so we got in the care and drove to Syracuse to go to the Zoo Boo. It was really cold, so I didn't let the kids dress up in costume. I think they were happy to be warm.

Lily's not so sure about that dude in the penguin suit.

This "ride" cracked me up. They loaded the kids onto a wooden "pirate ship" and then the "pirates" rocked it back and forth while yelling "Yo Ho!" Lily seemed a little stunned by the experience.

Wolfgang at Platform 9 3/4
Expelliarmus!

Lily finally stood still long enough for a photo.

The kids insisted on staying until the very end (we had planned to leave at 7:30), so we didn't leave Syracuse until about 9 pm. The kids all fell asleep on the ride back, and I delivered Greta to her parents at about 10:30 pm. They were surprisingly gracious about my having kept their one year old out until 10 on a Saturday night!

Now I just have to figure out how to occupy them for the rest of the time that Erich is in China...

Scarecrow Jubilee

Yesterday afternoon ,the Children's Garden held the Scarecrow Jubilee. Being suckers for a free event, we went and made ourselves a scarecrow.



Lily and her friend Julia show off their scarecrows. Ours now lives next to the deck, and creeps me out when I see it out of the corner of my eye.

Pumpkin Jam

The Ithaca Children's Garden held their annual Pumpkin Jam on Friday night (it makes me so hungry to type pumpkin jam). We took the kids to carve pumpkins, drink cider, and listen to music.



Lily and her friend Zachary show off their jack o'lanterns

Can she lift it? hmmm...

Greta was a big fan of the pumpkin - Deeelicious!