Knitting Zeal

First little snowman

On day two of the snow storm of the century, we dug out the house and cars.  (Ok, Chris did most of the work, the toddler and I played!)  Andrew had a blast playing.  

  

We managed to build a tiny snowman, Andrew was proud! I think we got closer to 8-12 inches, unlike our neighbors close by (NE Philly, who got closer to 18-22 inches!)  

The snow does look pretty, but I really hate driving in it, so we won't venture out too much for a while.  It drives me nuts that parking lots are plowed so poorly and then cars are parked incorrectly.  At the Y today many spots were unavailable due to the bad plowing and people just parked where ever they felt like.  One driver even took up one and a half spaces (well plowed spaces) for his car--if it was a Ferrari, I might understand.  It wasn't anything exciting.  
 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

 
 

While my weekend plans of cookie baking and wine drinking with the girlfriends was canceled, I certainly had my share of fun staying home with Andrew and Chris during the "storm of the century!"  It snowed all day yesterday and probably into the night.  I don't know how much snow we received, but I'm guessing it was somewhere between 18 and 22 inches.  We took Andrew out in it last night to play.  He refused to wear a hat or mittens, again, but I managed to get him into snow pants and a parka with a hood.  After a few minutes in the snow he begged for the "mommy mittens" that I knit him, so thankfully he figured out on his own that he needed them!  It was really cold out!  The snow is so light and dry, not good packing snow at all, so no snowman to build here.  I couldn't even make a good snowball to throw at Chris.  Of course today will be dig out/clean up day, but thankfully the snowblower should to most of the work.  

 
 

Andrew  managed to squeeze in his last swim lesson of the session at the Y with daddy in the morning before the weather became treacherous and the Y was still open.  Apparently Chris was the only adventurous dad because Andrew was the only kid in the class.  At least he got to have some fun and burn some energy before being cooped up all day.  

Once Andrew was home, I set up a cookie decorating station for us in the kitchen.  I had spent Friday night making cut out sugar cookies.  I made a thick glaze icing out of 2 cups of powdered sugar, two teaspoons of meringue powder and some water to make a cookie "paint" for Andrew to use.  I gave him a small bowl of paint with a pastry brush and showed him how to paint the cookies and then stick the decorations on the paint.  We started with four separate bowls of sprinkles-snowflakes, candy canes, gingerbread men, and stars, but by the end every cookie had a jumble of sprinkles.  He had fun and did a great job.  About a third of the sprinkles ended up in his belly and only a few cookies, so we have plenty to share with family and friends!

   
 
 

angelic?

  Caught in a moment of looking sweet and innocent...if only for three seconds.  He managed to trash the first floor of our house today in less than 15 minutes before declaring that it was a mess.  (boots and candles were everywhere--all the toys remained in their boxes, though!)

I've been busy baking cookies.  So far I've made cranberry pistachio biscotti (a bit dry, might have to re-bake a batch) and chocolate mint cookies that came out terrific.  I have sugar cookie dough and chocolate crinkle dough in the fridge for the weekend.  I was supposed to go to a friend's house on Saturday for an afternoon of cookie baking and wine drinking, but there is a snow storm headed our way so I may have to bake here instead.  

Off to wrap more presents while the munchkin naps! 

 

Hershey park happy...or chocolate for dinner

On our second day in Hershey, we went to visit Chocolate World and rode the simulated chocolate factory tour ride.  For the rest of the trip Andrew referred to "going to the chocolate factory" constantly.  Apparently it made quite an impression.  I think more than the ride, he loved that he got to eat chocolate at the end of the ride.  He really likes chocolate.  Lucky for him we were in the right place, since there was chocolate for sale everywhere!  We bought many chocolate gifts as well as our own samples.  

  

There was a giant candy chalet on display...the Amish built it completely out of Hershey's candy products.  The roof is all Hershey bars!  Thankfully there was a fence around it, otherwise there would have been bite marks out of the house!

 
At night, we went back to the Hershey Park complex and went into the park.  Limited rides were open, but there were lots of holiday decorations (ok, 99.95% were Christmas decorations.  They had one lighted menorah and dreidel.  Not diverse at all!) It was very pretty and extremely cold.  Later I learned it was about 27 degrees out, but it was also windy.  Andrew REFUSED to wear mittens.  I brought his hand knit mittens and I bought him mittens to match the monster hat he is wearing but no.  He is part polar bear.  His hands looked awful and he also got angry when we tried to cover him with a blanket.  Crazy two year old...

Chris met his favorite thing--the walking Reece's cup.  There was a walking snowman too, but he was in front of a basketball game, so Andrew didn't care that a real live snowman dancing in front of him trying to get his attention.  He wanted to see the basketballs!  We also warmed up watching a half hour long musical that Andrew seemed to really enjoy.  The actors/singers thanked Andrew at the end for coming to their show.  The one young girl who was in the production tried to engage Andrew in a conversation before we left.  He just watched her for a few minutes and then said "I like chocolate!"  What a pick-up line!  We attempted to get some dinner after that, but all Andrew wanted was chocolate.  

 
On our way home from Hershey we stopped in East Earl at the Shady Maple complex.  We went shopping for cookie decorations at the grocery store there.  I love their selection of bulk foods.  We scored enough sprinkles and toppings that will last for a while.  We also picked up some soup mixes.  We went to lunch at the Smörgåsbord, but it wasn't all that fun with a toddler.  Plus, I found the other diners to be really rude.  I was really surprised at that.  All in all we had a great trip!!  
 

Christmastime at the sweetest place in PA

We are currently on a mini-vacation in Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of all things chocolate and cocoa related.  We are staying at a reasonably priced chain hotel that actually smells like chocolate.  The lobby must have chocolate infusers hidden because the place reaks of cocoa.  Not that it's a bad thing, but I would imagine one might get sick of smelling it all the time if one worked here. 

We decided to stay here because the events we want to go to are at night and with the toddler's need for sleep to prevent crankiness, we thought staying overnight would make it more pleasurable for all.  Plus, he is free for most things because he is under age three!

We arrived late this afternoon and got a quick dinner and then went to the Hershey Sweet Lights display, a two mile ride through a field and woods illuminated by lots and lots of lighted images related to the holidays.  They even gave out hologram glasses to wear, which made everything look like snowflake patterns.  Andrew enjoyed his back seat ride through it and even liked listening to the piped in Christmas music on the radio.  It was fun and very clever how they managed to power up so many lights in middle of the woods.

   

It is now a bit after 10 at night and my toddler, who is too excited to be in another place, is still wide awake and talking to the walls.  We are in a small suite that has a living room and a separate bedroom.  My thought was that we could get him to sleep in his pack and play while we stayed in the living room part to read, surf, etc. and then go to sleep later.  So far it doesn't seem like that is going to happen and I have a feeling I'm going to have a toddler kicking my kidneys in bed all night.  Hmm.  Let's hope we all get some sleep because tomorrow morning is our visit to Chocolate World!  Yum.
 

Reindeer in the city

Last night we had the fun opportunity to go to Chris's company holiday party.  It was held in his office building in Center City, Philadelphia, which meant the toddler and I had to take the train into town at rush hour.  I'm not sure what was more exciting, taking the "choo-choo to daddy's work" or talking to Santa Claus.  It was very odd for me to have Andrew sit next to me on the train and not strapped down in a five point harness of a car seat.  He loved that he could stand on the seat and look out the window as we traveled.  He was good and didn't try to run around the train car and even held my hand in the gigantic station in the city.  There was SO much to look at, it was stimulus overload for both of us. 

We got to spy on the city at twilight from high above.  Chris's office is on the 36th floor and the "cafeteria" where the dinner was located was on the 43rd floor.  I forgot how beautiful the city looks at night, especially with some of the buildings decorated in green, red and white lights for the holidays.  The Cira Centre was especially entertaining from across town. Chris's company's version of a cafeteria makes me laugh--it is actually beautiful and very modern, nothing like anyplace I've ever seen.  There was a great variety of food to choose from, including some entrees just for kids.  My favorite was the enormous bowls of cold shrimp cocktail.  Andrew was too excited to eat, even when he had his choice of pizza, mac and cheese gourmet style, fries, sweet potatoes, cheese, shrimp, pretzel rolls, chicken fingers, ham, and so on.  No, he just wanted to drink my bottled water and watch the carolers.  He later ate one small cookie, a blueberry fruit/cereal bar that I had brought and two candy canes.  Full size candy canes.  Great parenting!

The highlight for Andrew was the Santa village outside the building.  We got to ride on a mini-train and wave at daddy.  We met Chica, the chicken from the Sunny Side Up show on Sprout.  There was a real live reindeer too, complete with beautiful antlers, on loan from the North Pole.  We had a nice chat with Santa and his very much younger wife, Mrs. Claus.  Andrew was in awe that Santa told him that he didn't recognize him from last year because Andrew has grown so much this year.  Andrew sat on Santa's lap and was very serious, but was not upset at all.  Later he kept talking about Santa.  It was really cute. 

The train ride home was just as exciting for Andrew.  All in all it was a fun, albeit, exhausting night.  Photos are posted over on Flickr.

Please check out my review of Kate Jacobs' latest book, Knit the Season on my other blog!

getting ready to gobble

Busy, busy, busy with Thanksgiving preparations. We are hosting this year and still have lots to do. Have had a bit of a cold for a few days, so that hasn't helped. Am about to make some cranberries and cookies, now that the monkey is napping!  I also need to make a batch of cupcakes for Chris's mom's birthday, which we are celebrating on Thursday as well.  I found a recipe by Amy Sedaris for vanilla cupcakes.  Hope they turn out good and not silly.  

 I did make a few felted acorns over the weekend to use as decorations.  I started with needle felting, but in the end wet felting was much faster and easier with the same, if not better, results.  I hot glued the felt balls into the acorn caps, which we collected in the backyard.  

Last week Andrew was very agreeable and sat for a holiday portrait.  He can be a bit temperamental with photos, so I wasn't sure it would go well, but using the trick of explaining that it was a present for daddy worked.  We even bought wrapping paper and wrapped the pictures up in a box.

   

Off to bake now!
 
 

The Fiddle Class

This Friday will be our last class in this semester for music.  I've been taking the monkey-boy to Music Togetherclasses for over a year now.  It is ridiculously expensive and I was very close to not going back this past fall, but just when I decided to skip it he started singing the songs from the summer session.  Now, after nine more weeks of classes, he really sings the songs. For each session, there is a different set of songs and we receive a song book and two cds of the music.  I keep one cd in the car and the other I load onto my ipod/itunes.  To say Andrew likes it is an understatement.  He requests songs constantly.  All summer it was "Bitty Baum" that we had to play in the car and house repeatedly.  Thankfully with the current cd he likes a few more. 

To help him sleep at nap and nighttime, I plugged my ipod into a speaker for his room.  Andrew now listens to the entire cd, all 25 songs, when he is going to sleep.  It is a big production each time, as he likes to turn on the speaker and ipod himself.  He must hear the "hello" song.  He does little fishing motions for what he calls the line and the pole song.  On Sunday he sat down on the floor when playing and belted out "oh, my, no more pie..." and even did some of the hand clapping that goes with the song.  It is so stinking cute to see. (Except for last night when he sang the entire cd and stayed up until almost 10 pm singing and talking to the stuffed animals in his room.) 

I suppose a toddler singing isn't all that special, but when it just starts happening, I feel like I can almost see his brain in action, figuring out how this crazy world he is in is working around him.  The fact that he is actually paying attention and learning the songs amazes me, mostly because he does not always participate in the classes.   He is signed up for the holiday session and the winter session as well.  As long as he is having fun while learning, we'll continue it!

Toddler adventures

Yesterday we took a family trip to meet friends at the NJ Adventure Aquarium.  I had gone there last fall with Andrew when he wasn't quite one year old and not yet walking, so he really did not recall it.  This time he was very interested in running around and the decor and not all that into the fish.  He was excited to point out Nemo, Nemo's daddy, and Dory in many of the tanks, which was really cute.  The aquarium is on the small side and easy to do in a morning, especially with a two year old.  We went to the pet-a-shark tank as well as the ray tank.  Andrew didn't seem to want to touch the fish, but wanted to play in the water.  I did manage to get him to touch a starfish.  They had different kinds in the same tank--some with a hard, scratchy surface, and one orange one that was squishy to the touch.  I love starfish and seahorses; for some reason they fascinate me.  When traveling with a two year old, there is no time for reading the informational posts by the exhibits, though! 
rays

We got to walk though the shark tunnel to see them up-close.  I learned how to tell a male from a female shark--Thanks Julie-Ann! 

Tonight we went to our local mall for the official arrival of Santa.  It is way too early for all this holiday stuff, in my opinion, but I thought it might be fun for Andrew to see.  The mall elves gave out party elf hats and bubble necklaces to the kids.  Andrew loved his necklace and does not know that it actually opens to reveal a bubble wand and bubble fluid.  This shall remain a secret for as long as possible, otherwise I will be finding green bubble fluid everywhere!  There were lots of people there and it was a bit too crowded for the kids to see, but the mall orchestrated it right when they had Santa descend in the glass elevator to the first floor so that everyone got a view of him.  Andrew still doesn't quite get the whole Santa Claus thing, but I hope that he is less fearful of him this year.  It would be nice to have a photo of him where he isn't trying to escape from the jolly old elf. 

 Waiting for Santa

Santa in the elevator!

We have a busy weekend coming up, filled with swim lessons and a cousin's birthday party. Happy Friday!
 
  
 

Halloween Fan

So Andrew, at the ripe old age of 2, got to experience his first "real" Halloween, complete with begging strangers for sugary snacks.  After visiting one house, he figured out that if he opened his bag, he would get someone to put something in it, and while he didn't know exactly what this candy thing everyone spoke of, he was game to play along.  I say he didn't know what candy was because he has only had three organic lollipops, three m/ms candies, and one milky way mini bar in his lifespan.  He normally is bashful and fearful of strangers.  He let go of that fear quickly!  He learned to knock on doors and open his bag, which led to the "oh wow!!" exclamation every time.  I let him eat a mini bag of m/ms and Reece's pieces after we got home.  To say he enjoyed them is an understatement.  He is now asking to eat "n and m's" for breakfast.

The video is long, but it certainly captures his excitement, and ours!  He was not thrilled with going home, but it was raining off and on all night and it was getting close to bedtime.  (He took over two hours to finally fall asleep--too much excitement!!)

The time change yesterday has us all out of whack with our schedule.  Andrew woke up at his usual time, but that was now an hour earlier according to the clock.  He is getting his two year molars right now, so that complicates things more.  I imagine they are painful and he has been drooling and chewing on his fingers for a week now.  Over the weekend I was able to catch a glimpse of one half way in.  He has been extra grumpy/opinionated lately and is not pleased with his parents insisting that he go to bed.  He is actually making demands about what music he listens to at night!  Such fun!  Thankfully he will still nap, even if we have a struggle to get there.  

 Hope you had a fun Halloween!