Why Wood Floors Are Awesome

I like wood floors because they look good. They are easy to keep (relatively) clean and are allergy-suffers-friendly. Since everyone likes pretty things; neither of us like to clean; and the Mr. suffers from a wide range of allergies between March and September, we are a wood floor household. 

Yet, I only recently realized how awesome wood floors really are...and boy are they awesome. Wood floors make crawling chasing games fun, fast, and, with the right players, furiously loud. 

Proof point 1

Proof point 2 (which also shows just how awesome Aunt S-Squared is)

xo

Thanksgiving Day 2011

Thanksgiving is by far my most favorite holiday and being away from my extended family and my country has always been difficult. It just doesn't seem right that Germany keeps trucking on when there's Thanksgiving to celebrate. Each year I ensure we partake in turkey and stuffing and a round of thanks. In 2009 and 2010 we hosted a collection of guests. This year we were hosted by the lovely L family for a Thanksgiving lunch instead of dinner so that we could all enjoy a bedtime-friendly holiday together.

Dinner was yummy...

The fabulous turkey Professor cooked. It was even yummier than it looks.

We were all - even the little guys - mesmerized by the turkey carving.

 

The pumpkin pie came out really well this year (finally!).

 ...company pleasant...

 

We took time out to enjoy a good book.

The little guys getting comfortable with each other.

...and traditions were upheld. I have so much to be thankful for this year that I was a bit concerned they were going to cue the orchestra while I listed out my thanks a la Oscar night. They didn't. Good people.

Turns out we all had much to be thankful for, even PJ who after some excited shrieking and desperate grasping enjoyed his first morsel of adult food (he will still be waiting to make this a habit): 

With a child these traditions become even more important and it becomes even harder to be away from home. I want PJ to grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, knowing that it is a special day for him as a key aspect of one of his two cultures. I want him to look forward to the special day just like I did and to trust that it will come, that family and friends will come, that thanks will be shared. I want him not to believe in a fairy tale about Indians but to learn to stop for a moment - hopefully more often than just once a year - to give thanks because he is indeed a very lucky boy.

And, really, aren't we all?

xo

Pleasantly Slapped

Wow is this blog really overdue. 

A few weeks ago, like, before Halloween (cough cough), we got to meet a beautiful new addition to this world. At the time that little guy was only six or so weeks old and PJ was just under four months. It was like a pleasant slap in the face to compare the two little boys: 

• pleasant because I couldn't believe just how far little PJ had already grown, changed, and developed
• slap because it all flies by even faster than I could have ever, ever, ever imagined

In fact, I bet if we held our two bundles of joy next to each other again this week we'd all be pleasantly slapped again.

And, oh, how proud the papas!


xo

Guess Who's Playing

There is a football (soccer) game tonight. Guess who's playing.

One more guess:

Got it?

xo