2014 in Review

Christmas has passed and I'm usually sad about it but we have so much to look forward to in 2015 that I'm excited for a fresh, new start. Thus, one last post in 2014 to finish of our year. This year held many big and small happenings for us and it was definitely a memorable and fun one. We've watched Elliot go from a newborn to a walking and adventurous toddler in a years time. His big sister became very independent and acts more and more like a little lady/ wannabe teenager than a toddler lately.  We had big plans, took some trips and decided to make a change this year. But unfortunately it didn't work out the first time around but we keep on dreaming and planning and continue to pursue our happiness. Be forewarned that there will be plenty of pictures as I didn't start blogging till July.  

Here is what our 2014 looked like month-by-month:

January

We were still adjusting from a family of 3 to a family of 4 and enjoyed loving on our newest addition. Luckily, we had some help this month as Oma (my mom) and Kati, Elliot's godmother, visited us from Germany. Amelia had her first dental visit.

February

We cuddled, took long walks, and I enjoyed Valentines' Day with the 3 loves of my life. Daddy went fishing and we took our first family trip to Miami Seaquarium.

March 

Derrick's parents and his brother and wife came to visit us and to meet Mr. Elliot. We also celebrated Grandma's birthday together. We had our professional family pictures taken too.

April 

We had fun meeting the Easter bunny and preparing for Easter by coloring eggs and having an egg hunt with our little friends. Elliot also enjoyed being in the pool for the very first time and Amelia tried out Kung Fu (let's just say she is more of a supervisor-type). Daddy celebrated his 48th birthday.

May

Elliot and I completed a whole year of teaching German at the German School of Ft. Lauderdale. He was with me every Saturday, in utero and as an infant. In the end of May we took a trip to DC for some sightseeing and a heartfelt goodbye to a great man, father, grandfather, teacher, business leader and good friend. I'm so fortunate that Wendell and his entire family took me in as one of their own when I came to the States in 2001.

June

Amelia, Elliot and I traveled to Germany for 3 weeks to see my family and friends. Elliot was introduced to everyone and he was baptized there too. He ate his first bites of solids, and didn't like it much. Amelia had fun playing with her cousins and riding an elephant. Elliot and his best buddy Elias had fun hanging out together. The kids also had some professional photos taken - look who is standing up:

July

 

Summer had us busy as we had lots of fun in the pool, attended birthday parties, dentist visits and shopping trips. Also Elliot started crawling and got a taste for eating solid food. We decided to make a change and move away from Florida. 

August

We celebrated Amelia's 3rd birthday, at home, at school and with her friends. Elliot celebrated the completion of his first baby gymnastics class (it was very tiring). Elliot was sick for the first time and said Ma-Ma for the very first time. Amelia started with her reading lessons. We planned our vacation to Costa Rica in October.

September

The fall season started off with Amelia completing her swim lessons and ended with a visit to the harvest festival. The girls went to see the Wiggles Live and Elliot learned to help out around the house by standing up on his own and getting in too everything.

October

This was a very busy month filled with lots of adventures, new ideas and events to attend. We took our 2 week vacation to Costa Rica, but decided that it is not for us to move there. I celebrated my 33rd birthday with my loved ones and enjoyed my birthday gift: horseback riding. We celebrated Halloween by going trick-or treating and having a pre-Halloween party with our friends in the park.

November

November was another packed month for us: I became a U.S. citizen; Elliot took his first trip to the beach; we enjoyed a great Thanksgiving at home; celebrated Lantern fest with our friends from the German School and had fun at Jeb's first birthday party.

December

For sure, our December is always full of celebrations: Elliot turned 1 and he enjoyed his smash cake a lot. We celebrated St. Nikolaus, baked cookies, sat on Santa's lap, played in the "snow" and attended the City's Snowfest. We had a ornament party at our house with our friends and on Christmas Eve we saw a nativity play at church. We had a magical Christmas Day at home and celebrated New Year's Eve with friends.

 

2014 was a great and exciting year for us but we are looking forward to 2015. There will be lots of new adventures and lots of changes. Can't wait to get started. Thank you all for sharing our pursuit with us. Be happy and healthy!

 

Happy New Years!!!

Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning is magical, especially when you have young children. All month long, I was looking forward to see their happy faces and bright shiny eyes on Christmas morning. True that Elliot is still a bit young to really get Christmas but Amelia is just the right age this year and so it felt very magical.

Usually my kids wake up around 5:30am every day, but on Christmas morning they slept till past 6am. Then we hung out in bed till 7:30am before they even showed any interest in opening their stockings.

They were excited about their little stocking stuffers and didn't even notice that Santa has left more gifts under the Christmas tree. Thanks to family, neighbors and friends, we had plenty of gifts to open. (From us, the kids only got 3 or 4 gifts each. Just enough to not overload them - just as Jesus received 3 gifts from the Wise Men.)

Amelia had the most fun unwrapping gifts and was assisting everyone. Elliot was happy about his new cars and started playing with them right away.

But after the first two gifts, she disappeared in her room: she had received more Little Pony's and needed to line her entire collection up and count them.

Of course there were kisses and cuddles and thank you's. This is what Christmas is all about: Celebrating Jesus' birth and love!



Then we had breakfast and unwrapped some more gifts. It took us all morning till the last gift was unwrapped as we took it slow and enjoyed this special time.

Amelia loves her new princess dress. She looks so cute and happy here.

While Elliot took his morning nap, Amelia, Daddy and I played a game of Surprise (and many more since then). Oh what fun it was!



We had our Christmas dinner at lunch time so that we all can eat together as a family. We made it a tradition to have a traditional German Christmas meal: duck, roasted Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, potato dumplings and potatoes. It was delicious!

The afternoon we spent playing with the new toys and running around in the backyard.

We had a relaxing Christmas Day and I was able to spent all day in my pajamas - indeed a magical Christmas and just right for our family of 4. We hope your holiday was as merry as ours!

Twas the Night before Christmas...

...when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

It is Christmas eve and the kids are finally asleep. They were pretty excited and hard to calm down. But I can understand the excitement from the eyes of a child. And we did had a pretty exciting afternoon. After baking and preparing some yummy treats for the neighbors all morning (I made cream cheese mints, chocolate covered almonds, cinnamon sugar pretzels, reindeer cacao mix and another load of cookies), we were happy that Daddy came home early from work to join us to Christmas Eve Mass.

It was a Children's Mass from children for children and pretty nice, just very crowded. Here is a picture of us all dressed up for church:

After Mass we distributed our treats to the neighbors and then made sure to sprinkle some reindeer food in the yard so that Santa will find his way to us. We also put the milk and cookies out for him and a carrot for his reindeers.

Of course, today was Eli's last day with us but he left us a goodbye letter saying that he'll be back next year for sure. 

Now, the gifts are all wrapped and stacked under the tree and me and the husband are enjoying a glass of wine before heading early to bed.  For sure, it will be an early morning for us.

Merry Christmas and Frohe Weihnachten to all of you!

 

Fran and Family

Family Traditions - Advent

I love traditions and they are important to me.  It makes me feel good and I know what to expect. Also, traditions make me keep memories. And I love for my kids to experience and live those traditions. Especially around Christmas time there are lots of things to do and traditions to be created. I was very excited to celebrate Advent this year and to institute new, hopefully life long, traditions in our family. Amelia is finally old enough now to start enjoying our family activities and she can more actively participate. She had fun last year but this year, she truly enjoyed the different activities and got in to the holiday spirit big time.  

 

Each year our family celebrates the Advent season by trying to do a  different daily family activity. But to be honest, some days we just don't get to them because life happens but then on other days, we do a couple of activities instead. Since Daddy has to work, most of the activities the kids and I do by ourselves. He joins in on the fun on the weekend. Mostly we do some simple and easy activities and then some that take more effort. The point is for us to enjoy this special time together and to make memories.

Beginning December 1st, the kids open every day a little door on their chocolate advent calendars, which helps them to count down the days till Christmas. Also that same time, our helpful Elf on the Shelf, Eli, reappears and watches the kids during the day while at night he flies to the North Pole to tell Santa about all of the day's adventures. Each morning, Eli returns to us and perches in a different place to watch the fun. And every morning the kids wake up and race around the house looking for him. Fun, fun, fun.

Here is a list, in no specific order, with most of our advent activities we have done this year:

• Buy and decorate the Christmas tree
• Picking out a name from the Angel Tree and buying a gift for a needy child
• A visit to Santa at the Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shop
• Play in the snow at the Frozen Ice Palace
• Bake and decorate Christmas cookies (twice)
• Make homemade Christmas ornaments (twice)
• Put up our outdoor decorations
• Go to the City's Snowfest
• Read Christmas stories
• See a traditional Christmas Movie together: Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer and The Year Without A Santa Claus (the original versions)
• Drive around the Neighborhood and look at all the Holiday displays
• Mail our Christmas cards (the kids help by putting stamps and stickers on them)
• See a Christmas Play: "When it Snows in Miami" at a local church
• Attend Christmas Mass/ Nativity Play at Church
• Kids pick out a small Christmas Gift for Mommy and Daddy
• Attend Santa's Workshop at a local church
• Celebrate Nikolaus
• Making holiday arts and crafts
• Donate some toys for Toys for Tots
• Building our Gingerbread Houses
• Handing out little homemade gifts to our neighbors and the mailman
• Choose a new ornament for our tree 

We really had a great time making all those memories together and I can't wait for many more advent seasons to come.

Christmas Preparations

In only a few short days Christmas will be here. Our Christmas preparations have been in full swing and we are enjoying this time of year. The kids, especially Amelia, are excited for Baby Jesus to be born and for Santa to come and visit her. Even though she really doesn't know want she wants for Christmas. Every time Santa or we ask her, she says: "a gift" or "a straw" (which means a candy cane). I guess Santa has it very easy this year in our house. :) By the way, both kids received a letter from Santa this week. It was sent from Santa's Helper in Himmelspfort, Germany and was definitely a nice surprise for all of us.

This year, I'm really enjoying the holiday season. Advent and of course Christmas through the eyes of a child has to be one of the best things. There is so much wonder and excitement. I just smile the whole time while watching their sweet faces light up during this season. It is so incredibly special. I'm really looking forward to Christmas morning as this is the first year that Amelia really grasps the concept of gifts and opening them and all the excitement surrounding Christmas.

On Tuesday I hosted a little Ornament party at our house. The kids created some nice ornaments (made out of a mixture of baking soda and cornstarch), had some snacks and played while the Mommies had a chance to chat a bit. It was an easy going and fun afternoon and a perfect activity for the kids.

For the kids I filled some little goody bags with chocolate, candy cane and stickers and for the Moms I had purchased those cool wine glasses in a sippy cup. No more spilled wine for us, ladies.

Because the ornaments bake for more than an hour at a low temperature in the oven, the kids were not able to paint  them that afternoon. So the next morning, Amelia got busy and painted and decorated the ornaments with glitter. They looked really good. We will have to do some more this week as we gave all hers away as little gifts.  

Saturday and Sunday Amelia and I baked Christmas cookies. Elliot had fun watching us and choosing the right cookie cutters for us. Amelia loved using her own little rolling pin and pastry brush. She helped every step of the way and I must say, the cookies are delicious (I used an easy German recipe with almonds/ hazelnuts). Santa will definitely enjoy his cookie when he comes to visit our house.

The rest of the weekend we spent doing some chores around the house and playing outside. Elliot is such a boy- he loves the dirt, sand and everything messy. Derrick even threw some wings and ribs on the BBQ and we all enjoyed a delicious meal.

Of course a bath was more than necessary after a fun afternoon in the backyard.

 

And to finish off the weekend, tonight we drove around the neighborhood and looked at all the different Christmas decorations. Some people really did a great job with their decorations.

Even though there are still a few things left to do before Christmas- wrapping Christmas gifts is the most important one, also building a gingerbread house and making some more ornaments- we are ready and excited for Santa to come. The countdown is definitely on.

Always Busy .... No More!

This is the busiest season of the year. Right before the holidays, there is so much to do and things to get done that we are constantly running from one thing to a next. There are holiday parties to attend or to hosts, Christmas events to go to, children performances, Santa visits, hectic work schedules to be completed before the year ends, shopping, baking, cooking, decorating, and etc. Even though this is the time of year where we should reflect and prepare for the birth of our Lord, we often forget about the reason for this special season and get caught up in everything else that comes with the holiday preparations. And I'm so guilty of all of the above.

 

Right now, I should be working on my in-laws Christmas gift as it needed to be shipped already yesterday, the gingerbread house is still sitting in its box, none of the Christmas gifts are wrapped yet and there is tons of paperwork to go thru that is cluttering up my desk. But you know what, I don't care. It all can wait. I'm slowly realizing that trying to keep up and having constantly a full schedule makes me miss out on the most important things in life: spending quality time with my children.

Extra cuddles were needed today as she didn't feel quite right.

So instead of working on one of the many projects while the kids nap, I went ahead and laid in bed with my little girl until she fell asleep. She is feeling off today and I think she needed some extra cuddles and love. It felt good to forget about time and just to enjoy the moment. Because I fear that somewhere in the midst of this busy life I’ve been trying to keep up, my 2 babies are busy growing up and I will miss it.

 

My husband reminded me the other day that the kids and I are constantly on the go, running errands and doing things even during the non-holiday season. It seems that I am constantly running from one thing to another. There is always something to do or to keep up with:

Keeping up with playdates and birthday parties.

Keeping up with others on social media.

Keeping up with household chores and work.
Keeping up with emails, phone calls and appointments.
Literally, keeping up with anything and everything but the here and now.

Thus, I decided for myself that it is time to slow down, to take a deep breath and to focus on what is truly important in life: being with my kids before they grow up too quickly. This will go hand in hand with our year of taking off, moving, and enjoying a simpler lifestyle. Starting now and definitely making it a New Year's resolution, 2015 will be the year we stayed home more, the year we learned that saying no is sometimes the best answer for our family, the year we slowed down and enjoyed our time together. It will be the year I stopped trying to keep up busy schedules so I could really watch my children grow up. 

Birthday Weekend

This weekend was all about celebrating birthdays. On Saturday we took a break from the holiday season and had some birthday fun since my little guy turned one. Even though his birthday his only a few days before Christmas, I want to make sure Elliot's birthday doesn't get lost in all the holiday preparations. His birthday is as important as any other birthday and we will always celebrate his special day like we would if it wouldn't be in December.  This year, we decided that we won't do a big party for him so only the 4 of us celebrated his birthday at home (also Daddy wasn't feeling too well). And it was just right. I don't think Elliot mind at all that he didn't had a party. He still enjoyed himself because BEING 1 IS FUN!

He went to bed as an 11 month old and woke up as a one year old. Crazy how fast the past 12 months have passed.

His birthday gifts were set up in the living room and he was very fascinated with the balloons. Even though Elliot only got 4 small gifts from us (we think less is more at that age- and he really didn't need anything else), he didn't care much about the gifts but loved playing with the balloons.

Eventually, with help from his eager sister, Elliot unwrapped the gifts and they had fun playing together. He received the Little People School bus, a Duplo book, the Duplo Number Train and from his Oma a Duplo garbage truck. As you can tell, we are very much into Lego Duplo stuff around here.  He also received some cute clothes and toys from his friends. Thank you. So far, he didn't show much interest in the tent but I hope he will get used to it, especially since it is now in his room.

Of course no birthday is complete without a birthday cake. I made one little smash cake for the birthday boy and another cake for all of us to eat. It was a simple yet delicious cake with buttercream frosting. In the beginning Elliot wasn't too sure about the cake on his tray but once he tasted it, he ate most of the cake. This kid loves to eat and he truly enjoyed this sweet treat.

My favorite picture of all:

Elliot's birthday was perfect for this little man and we all had a good time hanging out at home, playing with the new toys, going for a walk and getting extra cuddles in. Happy Birthday, Elliot!

On Sunday morning, we went to St. Bonaventure Catholic Church and attended their Santa's Workshop. Every year, the church celebrates the Magic of Christmas by offering a morning of fun with games, crafts, refreshments and photos with Santa for the children. We all had fun, but especially Amelia enjoyed all the different arts and crafts activities. She made a bracelet, a birthday cupcake for Jesus, colored a gift bag, got Christmas tattoos on her hand, made a foam Christmas tree and another tree ornament.

We also visited Santa and the kids had yet again a chance to sit on his lap. Elliot wasn't really liking it but Amelia enjoyed it. I must say the church did a fabulous job with decorating the room.

In the afternoon, our neighbors had invited us to their daughter's 2nd birthday party. While Daddy still rested at home, I and the kids went and we met a lot of new people and Amelia and Elliot had lots of fun playing with all the other children. I think there were around 15 kids, ranging from 3 weeks old to 3.5 years. The weather was perfect and the crowd and food was great. The birthday girl, Hadley, enjoyed herself and so did we.  

As you can see, we had a fun-filled weekend with lots of celebrating. Now my little boy is no longer a baby but we are happy that he is toddling off to new adventures and achievements. But for me, he will always be my baby boy.