Santa Clause

After a glimpse at the line at Bass Pro Shop, I'd almost decided that sitting on Santa's lap wasn't such a neccesity this holiday season. (Especially given the fact that infants and toddlers are probably terrified of the experience and moms are more stressed about the 30-40 kids screaming in line behind them as they try to coax a smile out of their nervous child.)

But then a co-worker friend of mine told me about a historical museum in downtown Sylvania that has a very nice, quiet set-up with Santa and Mrs. Clause. No lines ('cause not many people know about it) and they let you take as many pictures as you want. In fact, there isn't even the professional picture option. So there's isn't the usual pressured rush and Santa actually takes time to have a small conversation with the child.

It isn't a far drive from my work to the museum and my brother in law, Wes, is a an elementary school teacher in Sylvania. So my mom brought my kids out and Casey brought her girls, and we all met up for a brief evening with Santa. Thursday is normally my grocery shopping night so Craig volunteered to go for me while I took the kids.

The "museum" is actually an old home. The structure that now houses the Sylvania Heritage Center Museum was the home of Dr. Uriah A. Cooke. Originally purchased in 1897 and renovated in 1902, the residence also was Dr. Cooke’s medical office from 1897 – 1942. The entrance of the home has an ornate fire place and carved wood staircase.


There were several Christmas trees all over the house (including one in the bathroom, which Will thought was interesting).


Will was only a little bit hesitant, but mostly he was just interested in the candy cane from Mrs. Clause. He doesn't generally ask for things at home so I don't think he really understood how to respond when Santa asked what he would like for Christmas. But then Santa mentioned trucks and suddenly Will became much more interested in the jolly, big man in red. ;)






Mya & Stella sat with Santa too!


All the cousins. I love Will's face in this one.








Will with Godfather Dub and cousin Stella.






Soph standing and holding onto my arm.

What's For Dinner? Week 2

You know that obviously-single guy in the grocery store who's cart contains: a case of beer, 10 Hungry Man frozen dinners, a pack of beef jerkey, and a carton of orange juice ("to make it healthy")? Doesn't that just depress you to see? Seriously, what kind of quality of life is that? I know I'm a little on the opposite end of the extreme when it comes to the importance of nutrition and good food, but I always feel bad checking out in front of those guys with my eggplant, ginger root, and fresh herbs. (I'm the annoying customer with 50 plastic bags of various produce that the cashier has to look up codes for and weigh individually. Between items, she often looks up with a curious look like 'what in the world is she going to use this for?') So when Craig complains about my "fancy foods" and tops everything with barbeque sauce, I feel like reminding him that, without me, he would likely be "that guy" (except with Mountain Dew instead of beer).

Moving on...

Sophie loves yogurt! Stonyfield Farms makes a whole milk plain yogurt and I mashed in some avocado for her first taste. Gag if you must, but avocado is a fruit! And a creamy, rich texture at that. Plus Sophie loves avocado and introducing new foods always goes over better with a familiar one in the mix. We also tried it swirled with applesauce and she liked that too.
Oatmeal was another hit. It smells so good when it cooks on the stove top. I purchased and ground organic, steel-cut oats for this cereal and cooked it as I did the rice. Fork mashed banana or applesauce are perfect pairings.
Egg yolk was "okay"... best tolerated when out-flavored by sweet potato and squash. :)

New this week for Soph: chicken. I made up a batch plain and also concocted her first "dinners" in the 2oz food cubes with chicken, green beans and acorn squash together.

On the menu this week:
-Meatloaf (Will's fave, and the best way I can get him to eat meat), bacony green beans sauteed with tomato, onion and some broth, and another batch of those pumpkin walnut biscuits. This is Sunday supper, when I have more time to prepare.
-BLT's with the leftover bacon and tomato from the green beans
-Breakfast for dinner! Whole grain, blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs, sliced pears
-Lasagna and salads - haven't made lasagna in forever! Sounded so good and is an easy make-ahead for casserole night this week.

A few side notes: on the way home from Grandma's house this weekend, I asked Will what sounded good for lunch. His answer: waffles and tomatoes. Very interesting. He's creating his own, new style of cuisine. And at dinner (with the meatloaf and green beans), he plucked a sauteed onion out of the green beans, handed it to me with scrunched eyebrows and said: "that's not nice, mommy". LOL

A few pictures of my family being silly (and cute) at dinner:





Lovely, I know. (Sorry for the fuzziness)




I usually give Sophie the lid of her sippy cup to play with when she's finished while I finish eating my own dinner.


We were making silly faces for the camera and Will thought it was hilarious when we showed him the digital image on the camera.




I enjoy cooking for my own personal pleasure, but more importantly, I love knowing that the people around my table are well-nourished and happy.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day and he visited our house!

St. Nicholas is traditional winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Belgium and many parts of Europe. The tradition varies from place to place, but often children put their shoe or boot out on the eve of the 5th and wake in the morning to find them filled with treats of presents.

Will's too young to "get" the meaning of the different characters, so no real explanation was necessary. He just enjoyed the excitement I played into it.

St. Nick left a teething toy for Sophie, a mint chocolate candy cane for Will, and a message to the kids that they'd done so well with new teeth and potty training respectively and should go to the living room to find one special gift early for each of them.














Will got a new, hooded, fleece bathrobe and Sophie got a new, hooded, fleece jacket for 12-18 months (p.s. I love L.L.Bean for the kids outerwear!). Will put on his robe (which has a tractor, a cement truck, and a road sign on it) and exclaimed "I'm a fire chief, mommy!"

They both enjoyed opening and I'm really looking forward to Christmas morning this year!

Cookies & Lights

For as long as I can remember, we have gotten together every year at my grandma's house to make Christmas cookies. Using Great Grandma Wasserman's sugar cookie recipe, we cut-out, "paint" and bake our cookies in the shape of santas, reindeer, trees, bells, angels, stars, etc. And the scraps? Well, those are for eating raw... if you can beat my mom to it! I have pictures of myself in diapers hunched over the counter "painting" my cookies.

In recent years, our tradition has dwindled as the grandkids have grown up. But now there's a whole new generation arriving and I want to keep the tradition alive! The way I see it, my kids are so lucky to HAVE great-grandparents and I want to enjoy and appreciate our time with them as much as possible. My grandma is one heck of a role model and I am so proud of her. Family is her top priority and she does an amazing job of keeping us all together. She is so active and kind and beautiful. And I am so happy that my kids get to know her.

Grandma wasn't planning on doing cookies this year. But at my request, she whipped up a half batch of dough and Will got his first experience with the Wasserman Cookie Tradition.




The "paint" is an egg wash with food coloring.

My little Picasso


His masterpieces. What think you of "camo reindeer" or "bleeding dog"?

Mmm! Dough.




More cut-outs. Will kept trying to do it himself. He'd press down only half way, lift, press down again in a slightly different location until the dough was a sliced up mess, and then raise his hands in victory and announce: "I did it! It's a Christmas tree!" Poor grandma, couldn't help but laugh as she rolled out the destroyed dough for the umpteenth time.



Outside, it had begun to snow. Our first flakes of the season! Nothing stuck but they were large and pretty. So Will and I stepped out to feed Grandpa's horse, Nanner, and catch some snowflakes.


Here are some of the finished product. I've always been the grandkid that paints everyones' names on an individual cookie.


Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!


On the way home, we stopped at the pottery store to pick up a special custom plate to put our cookies on for Santa each year. Genoa's very own Jan Pugh is nationally (maybe world?) reknown for her work at Packer Creek Pottery (http://www.packercreekpottery.com/). She even has an ornament on the White House Christmas tree. So our plate has a fat penguin on it and says "Cookies for Santa from Will & Sophia". We had to special order it so I'll post a pic when it's finished. My mom also got the kids each an ornament for the tree and I made a special moment out of finding the perfect placement for each. After we hung Will's on the branch, he looked at the tree and said "It's beauuuuutiful!"

In the evening, when it got dark, we loaded up in the car with our thermos of hot chocolate and drove around to look at lights.


Will said "Look! it's a Christmas tree!" or "Look! it's a Christmas bush!" LOL Of course, the famous house in Oregon topped the charts again. Every inch of the house and lawn is covered - it's like a grid. The pictures don't do justice:



And here's our babysitter's house. Her husband has a mapped-out-plan for all his lights every year and he does a spectacular job. Again, the picture doesn't do justice.

Later at home, we came out to the living room to find this:

He does have pants on but they're shoved up to his crotch from the climb into the seat. Also, notice the (unlevel) stool on the ground beside it. Very resourceful, eh?

Do-do-do-do-do-Dora!

Dora!Boots!Come on Dora!
Do-do-do-do-Dora!Do-do-do-do-Dora!Do-do-do-do-Dora!Do-do-do-do-Dora!Let’s go!
Dora Dora Dora the Explorer!DORA!Boots and supercool exploradora!
We need your help!
Grab your backpack!Let’s go!Jump in!Vamonos!
You can lead the way!
Hey! hey!
Do-do-dora!Do-d-dora!
Swiper no swiping!Swiper no swiping! (oh man)
It’s Dora the Explorer!





Just ask him... Craig will sing the whole song for you! ;)

At 2 1/2, Will has very suddenly taken a huge interest in television characters. Max & Ruby, Wonder Pets, Go Diego Go! and most especially: Dora the Explorer (or "Dora-splora", as Will calls her). We literally did not even offer the option of television to him... like ever. (Unless you count the constant sound of ESPN when Craig is home.) But he I know he watches shows at the babysitters sometimes and now that he's learned those same shows are available at OUR house, he requests them ALL THE TIME. We are still making sure to limit his tube time, but I must confess that a quiet boy while Sophie catnaps and I make dinner makes for a more peaceful evening for everyone.

And, TV addict that he is, Craig often watches it with Will. Hence, the frequent humming/singing of the show's theme song - LOL. Ah well, the show is cute and educational. It's the commercials I worry more about. But that's the beauty of DVR - fast forwarding through the child-targeted marketing crap.

"I want Dora, daddy!!!"


Craig succumbs to the pressure...


And Will is left in a stupor of adventure: over the mountain! through the forest! to blueberry hill!

As a friend of mine said: It's like crack for toddlers. LOL

Pulling Up

Sophie's entered a new world of possibilities with her latest talent: pulling up! No longer content to see the world from her belly, she now wants to check everything out from her full stature of approximately 2'4". :) So she pulls up on whatever object she can reach, regardless of it's stability. LOL She is incredibly strong with an impressive determination to reach her goal. The look on her face during and after each attempt is priceless.

Curious about big brother while he eats his dinner:


Curious about big brother while he watches Dora: (You'll notice our new solution to Will stripping at bedtime... put a t-shirt over his jammies and he doesn't even try to unzip anymore! That was WAY too easy... but whatever works!)




Sweet, sweet big brother:




Sophia is a well-loved little girl:


We surround the couch with pillows in the evening to cushion her fall:

But usually she's able to fall pretty gracefully. And same with moving from a sitting position to her belly. She does so without bonking her head on the ground. The girl has an impressive control of her body! Unlike myself... Craig says I still don't know where my arms and legs are sometimes with my clumsiness. LOL

What's For Dinner? Dec Week 1

Confessional time: the cranberries were horrible. Blech! Cranberry juice, on the other hand, not so bad.

While home for holiday, I needed a bunch more lunch ideas for Will and I. His response to various foods are hit or miss depending on the day. So we did hummus and veggies (hit... sort of... he didn't actually consume all that much hummus), black bean and cheese quesadillas (hit), pasta with butternut squash and sage brown butter (miss), and peanut butter banana paninis (hit).

Here's the recipe for the pasta: http://wondertime.go.com/life-at-home/article/butternut-squash-with-pasta.html I thought it was wonderful - it had diced, roasted squash, toasted pecans, and parmesan cheese. Will got to pick his own pasta - he chose a spiral - and he slurped a couple noodles before pushing it aside. Stinker.

On the menu this week is:
-bbq beef sandwiches (crock pot meals are so nice on Sundays)
-sweet 'n sour pork stir-fry (peppers, cilantro, crushed pineapple... yum)
-same salad as last week with chicken strips (Will surprised me and totally devoured it and it's one of my faves.)
-oatmeal brownie cookie bars

New for Sophia this week: egg yolk on Sunday, oatmeal on Thursday, yogurt on Saturday. Oatmeal's not super risky so I'm not waiting four days to introduce another food after it. She's still adjusting to the new texture of proteins (turkey and egg yolk) but when mixed with sweet vegetable puree like squash or sweet potatoes, it goes down very nicely. I've also decided to limit her solid food intake to 2-3 oz per meal as I've noticed her milk intake declining a little too much and milk is still her most important food at this age.