Christmas Season Stuff

And now I can concentrate on nesting for the rest of the month.
Here are the things left that I would like to do:

Make pecan cookies.
Decorate the house.
Leave out shoes for St. Nicolas Day, Dec. 5
Make front door wreath and Advent wreath.
Get a live tree (put on the front porch till we're ready to bring it in).

Make Mom's cheese balls.
Finish wrapping gifts.
Sing and listen to Christmas songs.
Mail out gifts to Germany, Vietnam, Colorado and Georgia.

Play the Christmas card game with Brendan.
Celebrate Advent with Konrad and Brendan;
eat Lebkuchen & Spekulatius and drink teas.
Address and mail Christmas cards.
Buy more Christmas cards for those who are left and send out.
Have friends over for mulled wine and desserts.
Decide what soup to make for Christmas day dinner.

We set up our first nativity scene. I have been looking for one for years and I finally found one that we all love. It's made by Habba and it's adorable.



Yum and these are the pecan cookies I want to make. I just need those delish Georgia pecans still!

The Kaiser's Portrait

I don't know if you are familiar with Photo.Stamps.com ? You can submit a photograph and have it put on a stamp. And that is what I did with the photo above. I used the stamps to send out thank yous for baby gifts last year.

I was surprised yesterday to of gotten an email from Photo Stamps saying that this photograph has been selected from thousands to be a finalist in their photo contest. I filled out the respective form and signed the agreement and today got a Congratulations that Konrad's photograph has made it to the final pick!! Brendan and I are so surprised and hope that his picture will be the one that gets chosen... if not, it is still so cool that they picked it as a finalist!!

If the photo gets selected as the winner, it will go on display at the Smithsonian's Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. (Ironically, the same museum where my poster is on display and where my last job at the Postal Service was).

This picture of Konrad was taken when he was just 2 weeks old. Brendan swaddled him and laid him on our bed to take pictures of him for his first passport photo. He got some great photos out of it, this one being the best and it has since gotten tons of compliments. My brother and some friends have told me that I needed to put it into a contest... funny how it's naturally found it's way to one!

So, keep your fingers crossed and thumbs tucked that the Kaiser's portrait makes it into the Smithsonian's Postal Museum! I'll keep you posted.....har-har.

Christmas & Advent will be here soon!

Well it's that time of year when I need to get my usual German food supplies from German Deli.com. But luckily this year, we were able to find most of our Advent and Christmas supplies from our local Aldi.
Here are the things on our list:

• Lebkuchen (puffy gingerbread cookies)


• Spekulatius with Almonds (yummy spicy cookies that are great for milk & tea dunking)


• Christmas Stollen


• Marzipan
  
• Gummi Bears (well....really,that's an all year thing)


• Advent Calendar (with chocolate)
  

Also St. Nicholas Day is fast approaching, December 6. So I need to get supplies to fill the boy's boots, big and little!

Pushing Ahead

Here you can see what Konrad did today. A day in the life, so to speak....! Note that he is officially walking now (as of today), so he is all over the place and into everything. He immediately crashed out after all this ruckus. This is the best entertainment ever!

Applesauce Part II

You can view the latest & cutest video featuring Konrad in Applesauce Part II at Brendanpendant.

Anniversary Get-a-Way

This past weekend was sooo wonderful. I had surprised Brendan and Konrad with a weekend get-a-way to Washington, D.C. We stayed at the Fairfax at Embassy Row, which was very luxurious. We were upgraded to a king suite, which was super sweet! I had thought that staying in the heart of all the embassy's would be nice and romantic, we could stroll the streets looking at all the different countries' buildings. We had stumbled upon an Irish pub, I had my Guinness and Bren tried a couple different beers, then we stumbled down embassy row. We later ate at the Old Europe Restaurant, the best German restaurant in D.C. I snarfed down a big juicy pepper steak, Brendan had the Schlachtplatte, and Konrad had Spatezel (his favorite). The next morning, we went to the Finnish Embassy for a children's event "I Kid You Not-Kids and Teens in Finland", which featured the Moomin and some of his friends (Finland's equivalent to Disney characters - but so much better than Disney (except that Little Mermaid, yes Brendan...), music and Finnish children's lifestyle exhibits, Marimekko pillows and play areas... oh it was such a great time. Here is a short slide show of our adventures!

Happy Aniversary to Us

Four years ago today was the best day of my life. Brendan and I were married in Betberg Germany in the sweetest little church (built in 789) on a hill in the sweetest little village. The surrounding vineyards were a patchwork of Fall colors, the weather was perfect. It was a very small wedding, just immediate families and some locals who wanted to watch. The morning was nice, I remember being so nervous while sitting at a table with Anna and Perry, they were encouraging me to eat a croissant, but I couldn't even stomach that. I drove myself, with Mother-in-law, my Mother, and Sister-in-law from Kandern to Betberg in the tiniest Mercedes. I'm still amazed that I managed to cram in my wedding gown into that thing.

Marrying Brendan was the best decision I have ever made. And every year our anniversary is a holiday for us to remember that day. I knew then that I didn't want it to ever end, and it hasn't. It really is a wonderful thing when you land the right person.

Farm Boy

We had a fabulous family photo shoot with Miriam at the NPS Murphy Farm on Sunday. Here is just a small preview of what is to come.

Dreamy Studio

Someday when we have more space (and I have more time...)

I want cool studio like this one. (Minus the cat!)

from Lovely Design

We Miss Miriam

We had Miriam over for tea this past Sunday, it was such a treat, I felt like I hadn't seen her in ages. I could of sworn she had new glasses, or her hair was different. Perhaps it was the sweater? I had remembered her in summer clothes... .oh it had seemed so long, but realistically she's been gone for only a couple months. We missed her.

It was a short and sweet time. Of course she came armed with her camera and as soon as her coat and shoes were off, so was her camera. Konrad flirted with her while eating his cheese (crack actually) and seemed to of picked up where he last left off. We showed Miriam how he can stand, push a cart, take a few steps on his own... it was exciting to see her reaction.

I managed to get a ~professional/legit appointment with her to take a family photo (not the one posted below) for our holiday cards this year.

Here are some of the images she took on Sunday, during an hours visit...amazing.