Decorating for Christmas

Here are a few shots of us getting our house decorated for Christmas. I didn't pull out ALL the decorations - not enough space & not enough time to enjoy them. I considered not doing it at all, but Art convinced me that I should - knowing that I'd be happy if I did. So here we are (most of these were taken on Dec 9):

1. Art and Zach putting together the Christmas train. "Legend" (meaning Oma Sweet said so) has it that Oma Sweet bought this train over 20 years ago for Art's future children. Here is one of them enjoying it. Why does Art only have one shoe on?





















2. Our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree. The best we could get for $26.





















3. The living room




















4. Zach testing the lights for his little tree




















5. Zach one morning playing with the car ornament we got from Hawaii (it's a woddy station wagon). Check out the snow on the cars in the background.



















6. Zachary sitting next to the little decorated tree in his room. He now knows what a trumpet, a violin, a harp, and a french horn are thanks to the little plastic ornaments on the tree. A small tidbit of trivia. This tree, its lights and ornaments, is the same one we used 3 years ago when the "Sklar" family spent Christmas in Taos. I brought this little tree so we'd have something festive. It's appropriate that Zach now has it since I was pregnant w/ him that Christmas and he was the reason we couldn't fly to GA and had everyone fly to us instead.

December 14: Celebrating Sinterklaas

Though Sinterklaas was officially on December 5th, we were unable to get our act together until Dec. 14th to celebrate it. The festivities began weeks ago as songs and shoes filled w/ food for the horse were enjoyed every few nights (see earlier blog). After a long week where Art and I barely talked to each other b/c we were both so busy getting our rhymes ready for each other and for the kids, we were able to celebrate. I drew the short straw of having to run around the house in the snow to knock on the door and run back to the back door. Zach was pretty overwhelmed. Wyatt was pretty underwhelmed. It was difficult for Zach to get the concept of there being a letter to read BEFORE ripping into the present. However, he loved loved loved the around the house chase for a present (where he opens a paper that says "look under your bed" and finds a papers that says "look in the dishwasher", etc). He wanted to do that again and again. Wyatt was less than thrilled with the presents I picked out for him which I thought he would really love. Then again, it was getting very close to nap time for them both. After they did all their presents (Wyatt got some soft plastic blocks that squeak and a little mirror toy for his bed/carseat. Zach got bristle blocks, a Cars themed plate/bowl/cup set and 2 homemade presents - a song book of his favorite made up songs like Rabbit plays Bob Ball and Rabbit eats dinner and the Sausa song, and "Zachary's Things that Go" photo album w/ pictures of him w/ various cars/boats/trains, etc. Thankfully, it was then naptime for the two boys, which gave Art and I a chance to really enjoy the things that we had written and made for each other. It was a very nice day, complete with the chocolate letters and papernotes sent to us from Art's Mom.

Pics below.

December: Zach and Wyatt hanging out

The boys have been hanging out a bit more recently. Here are some pictures that capture it.

Funny story: For the past two days, Zach has been regressing a bit. He likes to pretend that he is a baby. He says stuff like "Baby Zachy coming" when he is crawling down the hall, and "I big boy no, I baby", and wanting to play with baby toys and do things that Wyatt is doing. Pretty normal behavior, but it is funny to be a part of. The icing was today though. I said "Uh oh, Wy baby spit up", really more to myself than to Zach, but then he said "I spit up too", and sure enough, he had a bit of spittle on his chin that I had to go clean up. THEN, I watched him as he spit out a bit more and said "I spit up again, I baby". Hilarious really.

SNOW!!! And more snow, and more snow....

We finally got some snow that stuck. It had snowed twice before but nothing stayed on the ground. That was very pretty to see. But then winter moved in and started dumping snow our way. The first snowfall was a bit crazy. I knew it was coming, but was still surprised to see it all. I thought it was quite a bit, until the second wave of snow hit. Our first sticking snow was on Nov. 16th. It came in the night and was to pretty to watch. Everything had snow the next day, but it melted by late afternoon and the next day.
Pictures of Round 1 with snow



Then we had quite awhile with no real snow to speak of - flurries here and there. Then, the day that everyone left us after Thanksgiving, Nov. 30, we got about 3 inches. It just kept snowing and snowing. It was really pretty...if I could get over the fact that it was JUST THE BEGINNING. Here are some pictures of our winter wonderland. The red car on the far corner is ours. We did not own an ice scraper and I had to walk to Walgreens to get one just so we could use the car to go somewhere! I really felt like I was at some ski resort - walking through the snow to the store with my big snow boots on.



This time the snow did not melt the first day, or the second...still has not melted today, 9 days after the first snowfall. In fact, on Dec. 6, we got even more snow - another 3 inches. Art and Zach braved the snowfall to go out and play a bit. Here they are:




Today, Dec 9, is the first day the snow started to melt. The high for today was 42 degrees F, and it rained like crazy. All the rain melted most of the snow. At first. Later in the day the rain turned into snow again. I should be trying harder to love all this snow...it does look like a winter wonderland, and our cute downtown looks like a small city from the movies or something. Last night, after we bought our Christmas tree, we drove around the neighborhood a bit looking at all the massive houses and their extensive decorations. It was quite lovely with the backdrop of snow!

Wyatt has graduated

Wyatt has graduated - out of the moses basket. We have decided that Wyatt is big enough and strong enough to sit in the stroller w/out the moses basket. It will have to be reclined some, just to be safe, but he is ready to be able to look around, we think. I, being nostalgic, almost put it back in, b/c Wyatt looks "too big" in the stroller without it. Don't worry though, the moses basket has gotten plenty of use, by big brother Zachary, who like to "pay baby". He gets in it, covers himself up and makes the dolphin sounds Wyatt is a fan of making. We have got two seriously silly boys.

Preparing for Sinterklaas

Yesterday was officially Sinterklaas, but our family is not going to celebrate it until next Saturday, so we can have more time to get ready.

However, to prepare for it, and to get into the spirit, every few nights we have been playing Sinterklaas music and letting Zach put food for Sint's horse in his shoe. Zach then checks in the morning to see if Sint left him some candy for remembering the horse. Mostly the evening consists of a few songs, with Zach dancing up a storm, then the shoe business. However, this evening, Zach realized that MOMMY has a horse, and it should be part of the festivities. The horse I have was a gift from Joanna and Jethro Trees (from the youth group, InsideOut, that we led in Duesseldorf) as an inside joke about a pony that wasn't pretty enough. I have kept it in its box since receiving it for my birthday last March, to protect it, but the day finally came when Zach decided that the horse MUST come out. So out she came, and Zach brought the horse over to the Sinterklaas festivities and trotted her around and danced with her. Then the horse goes back in the box (where she sleeps) until the next night. I'm not sure what will happen to the horse after Sinterklaas celebrating is over. Still, it's all pretty cute and fun. When we sing, Art has a lyrics book so he can get all the words right, which is a first for him with any song.

Wyatt's sitting skilZ

Wyatt is getting quite good at "independent sitting" as the books call it, or 'sititng w/out falling over' as Art says. He still topples over quite a bit, but he is getting better at holding the position for longer and longer periods. I remember 6 months being a great great age for Zachary. We could plop him down in front of his toy box and he would gladly entertain himself for about 20-30 minutes without needing mom at all! I could often get the dishes or sweeping down while he just sat there. So great. Now our Wy-baby is doing that as well...except he is content for longer periods.
As shown here:

Happy Thanksgiving! Chicago-Counts Style

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

We had a full full full house for Thanksgiving. We had, in addition to Art, Shayna, Zachary, Wyatt and Dexter, Memaw, Poppi, An Doy (Aunt Joy), and An Juicenana (Aunt Joanna) here with us.

It all started with the arrival of Poppi and Memaw on Sunday, Nov. 23rd. They drove their minivan here so they could bring us all our stuff that we had left at their house over the past 2 years we were in Dusseldorf. I could not believe how much stuff we had. Plus, a kids table and a crib, from Art's parents. It took less than 15 minutes to unload it all, but it was a disaster in our office area! With only 2 days to work on it before the arrival of Joy and Joanna. Alas, we did not 'process' it all, and some of it got stuck in the basement to deal with (Art's favorite) LATER.



The visit started off with a bang - off to Chuck E. Cheese on Monday morning. Zach was pretty overwhelmed by everything for awhile, but he finally relaxed and enjoyed himself. There were tons of ride-on toys that he enjoyed. They no longer have ball pits and the climbing/tunnel area was a bit old for him. After a mediocre lunch, he found his love - AIR HOCKEY. He and Poppi and Memaw spent at least 30 minutes at the mini air hockey table. At one point Zach, tired of waiting for his puck to score, figured out that he could walk the puck down to the opposite goal and then hit it in from there. Then for awhile he enjoyed hitting it into his own goal just so he could get it out of the return slot. Many tokens were spent there. Wyatt took 2 short naps while there, but enjoyed everything while he was there. He was intrigued by all the kids and flashing lights. Lots of squeals of pleasure. Monday night was eventful for Poppi and Art. They left the kids with the ladies and headed off to a harmonica class by some famous guy. Dad enjoyed it for the harmonica part and Art enjoyed for the live music (they had a band to accompany the harp players) and of course his night away from the boys.

Tuesday. This was Zach's last story time at the library for the fall session. I have to sign him up again in January for the winter session. This time was the most interactive Zach has been at story time. He did all the dancing, shouted out words when asked, "whispered" his concerns about some of the stories, shook his shaker like a maniac, and had an all-around good time. Usually, Wyatt goes with us to the library, but a generous MeMa said she would stay home with Wyatt while he took his morning nap. Art also enjoyed the quiet by working from home. Both boys got baths that evening to prepare for the arrival of "An Doy" and "An Juicenana". Art and I worked furiously trying to put away the rest of the stuff that was brought to us, but by 10:30pm, we gave up and put it all down in the basement.



Wednesday. Joy and Joanna arrive. I get to be the one to go pick them up! A long morning w/out the boys. Memaw again stayed home w/ Wyatt while he napped, and Poppi took Zachary on a much-awaited ride on the El. Zach has wanted to ride the trains since we moved here, but we had not yet really had the desire or the time. They stayed gone for hours. Joys flight was delayed so Joanna and I just sat around chatting. We got home a little after 12 and Poppi and Zach arrived just after. The afternoon was for napping - for everyone nearly. Zach, Wyatt, Joanna, and Joy all napped. Art went with me to the grocery store to get everything we would need for Thursday's Thanksgiving meal as well as any food for Friday. Armed with Dad's credit card (I feel slightly bad about doing that since I'm 33 after all!), Art and I took our time (like a grocery store date) and perused every aisle. After an hour or so, the place started getting packed out, and we concentrated more on getting everything we needed. Zach watched Cars (check him out with his Cars blanket, and Cars Dinoco Lightning McQueen) with Poppi, Joy and Joanna after his nap while Faye and I prepared dinner of Hackball Toscana, one of our favorite foods in Germany. After the boys went to bed, we settled in for a cut-throat game of Settlers of Catan. Perhaps cut-throat for everyone but me that is. I was doing terribly, getting bored, and finally left to go blow up the air mattress. I discovered I needed batteries, so off I was to walk to Walgreens. Sadly, they kept playing for me, or at least having me collect cards so I could trade w/ others. AND I DID BETTER. Apparently, I needed to quit playing to start doing well in the game. Sigh. In the wee hours, poor Joy realized that she was sleeping not on a cushion of air, but on the hard wooden floor. She had to get up and make a bed from the circle chair.






Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving! A full day. After Wyatt went down for a morning nap, Joy and Zach set off to make a holiday craft: Oreo Turkeys. Joanna, Memaw and I followed along as well. I was quite surprised that Zach not only really enjoyed the craft, but was able to put it all together and stayed interested the whole time. It was only after his second turkey that he discovered that the turkeys TASTE GOOD. Then he started licking the icing and eating the candy corn. Still, I was impressed it lasted that long! A full day of cooking. Turkey breasts in at 2pm (after an artful slathering by Art), followed by sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, dressing, dinner rolls, cranberry (from the can to honor Staci)and a key lime pie for dessert. While the boys were napping (and me too), we all took a walk to Starbucks, just a few blocks away. Dad was heroic and agreed to stay home so the rest of us to go. We all dressed up a bit and ate off of our "fancy" plates for Thanksgiving. After going around to give thanks for a few things from the past year (Wyatt being healthy and our safe return from Germany topping my list), we tucked into massive amounts of food. After dinner. Another rousing game of Settlers. I had a major attack on Dad which landed me in the hot seat until Faye came along and did an even bigger attack. I don't know who won, not me, b/c I finally went to bed after never getting any ore to go with my ore port which I brutally stole from Dad. Sigh.

Friday. Shopping! It takes us a few hours to get ready and out of the house, but we finally make it. Dad is out-voted and we all agree to walk the mile and 1/2 to the antique store they wanted to go to. It was a glorious day out - sun shining, mild-ish weather, kids happy. Everyone Oooed and Ahhhed at the magnificent houses all around our neighborhood while we made our way. I thought the trip to the antique store would be about 30 minutes or so and we'd keep shopping around our cute little town. The sojourn in the antique store was extensive. Someone had to stay outside the entire time b/c Wyatt was asleep in the stroller and if we brought him in, the temp difference would wake him. Art volunteered for this for the most part, seeing as how he was bored after about 15 minutes (ok, more like 4 minutes). But a huge success it was. Lots of Christmas and birthday presents were purchased there. After a quick nursing/drink/snack break at a little cafe we were off again shopping. They all found a great used kids stuff store while I was in the pet store. More walking. Then they found a store they really liked, but it was getting pretty late for our boys, so Art and I went home while they explored this store that had items from all over the world. Poor Zach. He was desperate for a nap, but hadn't eaten lunch yet. I had to basically sit him on top of the dishwasher and shovel some oatmeal and oranges into him b/c he was too tired to eat. He kept saying "I go bed. I go bed now". Cute. Once the rest of the clan got home we all settled in to watch Kung Fu Panda, courtesy of Joy. Very cute movie! By then it's getting late and I have to hustle to get things ready for Poppi and Memaw who were going to babysit Wyatt and Zachary so us "kids" could go out (Joy, Joanna, Art and I). It was really nice to see downtown all lit up w/ Christmas decorations. Joanna said Evanston and it's downtown seem like one of those 'movie towns'. I do like it. We ate at an Irish Pub called the Celtic Knot. Art got fish in chips in honor of our friends in Duesseldorf, Jake and Maddy. We had a bit of a laugh remembering the time that Maddy brought a tiny bottle of vinegar in her purse for her 'chips' when we went out once. The food was excellent, the pub was super cute. And very family friendly. We saw tons of people there with their kids and it was not at all smokey. The four of us opted to grab a movie and head back to the house instead of going out some more after dinner. We got Ironman. The 4 of us plus Dad watched it...staying up TOO LATE for me.

Saturday. Off to Chicago! Again, it takes us all about 2 hours (there ARE 6 adults and 2 kids after all) to get ready and out the door. We walk the block and 1/2 to the El stop and head into downtown Chicago. We walk to the Navy Pier and hang around there for awhile, having lunch and everyone but me and the kids (by my choice!) going on the Ferris Wheel. We walked around downtown some and headed over to the city hall which is supposed to be a famous square. What should be there but a GERMAN CHRISTMAS MARKET!! So strange. It was the same as the Christmas markets in Dusseldorf! I said to Art "it's like home", and of course got in a bit of trouble w/ Dad. :) Joy and Joanna tried, and hated, Gluwein. They ended up pouring it out, much to Art's chagrin, who would have gladly drank it. The place was wall-to-wall people, so we didn't stay long, but it was quite surreal for there to be a German Christmas market, complete with booths from Germany, run by people speaking German, there in downtown Chicago. Then the long El ride home. What is wonderful is that the platforms have heaters on them so you can stand under the heaters and not have to wait in the cold for the train. SO WONDERFUL! When we got back it was TIME FOR DINNER. What we'd been waiting all week for: Carmen's Chicago-style pizza. YUM! It took some persuading, but we got Joanna to accompany Art to get the pizza. We needed her gone so we could put up some impromptu decorations to celebrate Joanna's birthday. A nice little family party, complete with family drama, and we were all off to bed - pooped from a long day. Dad left around 4am, then Faye, Joy, and Joanna all left the next morning around 10am, with the winter's second snowfall coming down...and coming and coming. I was pretty sad they were gone, but by evening, it was just nice to have the place back to it's normal level of chaos.

I know we (Chicago-Counts) all had a great time, and I really hope that the others did too. Of course we missed the rest of the family not being there, but it sure was nice to be with the ones that were. And just a few short weeks until Christmas!

Sorry there are so few pictures. I'll have to ask Dad, Joy and Joanna very nicely if they will send me their pictures of the week.