December Eve

When to set up the Christmas Tree and decorations is a little bit of a sticking point around here. One of us is always a little bit eager to start the Christmas holidays. The other always wants to hold off just a "little bit longer", perhaps in hopes that some eggnog will magically appear for the decorating festivities (the alcohol free, full-of-fat stuff you buy in the grocery store in North America). Since we would be waiting around a long time for eggnog (and not for a lack of trying, unsuccessfully, to make our own) we decided to compromise this year of doing what we called 'December Eve'.

December Eve was to be celebrated on the last eve of November. We would put up the tree, decorate the apartment, eat special Christmas treats, maybe even sing a few carols, the kids would leave out their shoes (Sinterklaas style) and wake up to receive their advent calendars. And with that glorious First of December morning would come endless holiday cheer and music - lots and lots of music.

It was certainly a good goal, but it didn't quite work out that way. Schedules conflicted and despite December Eve being planned a month in advance, we needed to move the date ahead just a few days before its' arrival. Since the new date was sooner than we had planned that meant no time to bake special treats, some decorations were not yet purchased and advent calendars would have to wait. Despite a little bit of disappointment from the perfectionist in the family (any guesses who that may be?) we went full steam ahead and it was still a pretty special way to welcome the holiday season.

There was music. There was chocolate. There were decorations. There was laughter and storytelling. Most importantly, there was a whole lot of time together as a family. 

The boys fixed up our family advent calendar with crazy glue (it worked so well, we joked about how we should have used it in the first place).

Atticus snuck in for some cuddles with Mommy and Milayla.

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus were carefully unpacked.

The tree was trimmed as we recalled the stories behind our yearly Christmas ornaments.

Then it was time for hot chocolate, speculoos and games before heading to bed full of excitement and anticipation for the season ahead.

While the evening didn't play out as planned, and the pictures weren't perfectly crisp and clear it was still a wonderful evening full of the Christmas Spirit. 

Fall

Love the changing seasons...

Behind the scenes

I am pretty fortunate to have one very awesome Photographer's Assistant. On our latest photo shoot he read books to the subject and even demonstrated a couple poses. 

These two are priceless...love them so very much.

Siblings

These two are so happy to pose for pictures lately which means we are getting as many as we can.

Half Birthday - Milayla

Can you have a half birthday if you have not yet had a full birthday? Sure you can! 

This Little Lady of ours has changed and grown a lot in the last 6 months which certainly warrants a need to celebrate. From tiny toes to tasty toes. From flopping over to sitting up independently. From barely making a sound to telling us about everything. The signs that this girl of ours is growing up are all over the place. Her extra long lone eyelash has fallen out and her hair is filling out. Still hard to believe her little announcement pictures were taken 6 months ago...

Milayla is always on the move and has discovered that she can push herself around backwards if she rolls onto the laminate which means she has left her inchworm tactics behind her. Although, she loves using rolling to get around and can make her away across most of the living room. She has recently taken to singing with Mommy and will 'coo' along happily. Sleep is the last thing on her mind as she masters her new skills and carries on conversations with whomever the lucky person may be that is keeping her company. That lucky person also gets to enjoy plenty of cuddles though as she will hold on tightly and snuggle away.

She is very expressive; which makes narrowing down pictures nearly impossible.
(get ready for picture overload...)

 It is so much fun seeing how interactive she is becoming with other children. Her and the other children will be laughing within seconds or chatting like they really understand each other.

 And boy, oh, boy, is she becoming a little bookworm. It helps that she has a big brother who jumps at any opportunity to "read" books to her.

This little bookworm still needs to be supervised with her books though, as she has quite an appetite....

There is definitely a love for music that is starting to shine through, especially for the Christmas music that is increasing in playing rotation these days. She will tap her foot, smile and sing along.

We thank our lucky stars every day for this little girl of ours. She is so joyful, genuine, loving, determined, patient and mischievous...definitely mischievous...

And all that patience of hers definitely pays off when Momma pulls out the camera!

"no more pictures, please!"

Now that she has hit the 6 Month benchmark solid foods will soon make an appearance!

Phone upload

Had a chance to upload photos from my phone - here are a few of the kids (with Mommy sneaking into a frame).

Milayla drifting off for bed time

Atticus "smiling" and Milayla trying to figure out what exactly the big orange thing in front of her is while Mommy and Daddy try to figure out the auto-timer on the camera.

That's more like it- smiles!

Stealing some cuddles with Mommy

Smiling at herself in the iPhone - the 'high-tech-baby-mirror'

laughing at the funny baby on the iPhone (herself)

Freimarkt

As promised, here are some photos from our afternoon at Freimarkt.

When we arrived home from the Freimarktumzug it should have been nap time, but the kids were just too excited to sleep. So we bundled them up and off we went.

Freimarkt was close enough to our apartment that we were able to walk there, which was great. 
(That also meant that we got to watch the fireworks from the warmth of our living room.)

Atticus was immediately interested in the large Ferris Wheel.

There was no shortage of sugary food, meat and bread...

We steered clear of the 1/2 metre wurst and Hawaiian Pizza Kebap, but did indulge in a little ice cream and pretzels. 

Milayla didn't know what to make of all the sights and sounds - so she became the target of a cheesy photo opportunity. She looks pretty happy about it too ;). Really though, she was all smiles (or sleeping) for the whole outing.

That's a Lebkuckenherzen (gingerbread heart). A staple at German fairs.  They will have different things written on them, depending on the particular celebration. 

Can't say the same for Atticus though (about being all smiles or sleeping). The lack of sleep kicked in part way through our trip and we got some pretty high notes from him. Taking pictures probably didn't help matters, but we are just trying to capture the full essence of the day ;). 

We even managed to fit in a ride before we headed home. It was Atticus' choosing, and the boys enjoyed it so much they went on it twice. 

A few days later, a couple of Jason's coworkers (the same ones that rescued Laura and Milayla during the move. We're pretty fortunate to have them around) gifted us with a Bremen specialty that is popular during Freimarkt - Bremer Kluten - a peppermint fondant dipped in dark chocolate. Definitely the best treat of Freimarkt.

Freimarkt was a fun afternoon outing to check out. Not sure if we'll head down next year, but you never know...