Christmas Prep

We had a nice relaxing night tonight getting ready for Christmas.  It felt good after a few busy weeks in a row to just be at home together.  

Hans baked delicious, sweet things:while I cleaned...
And Sorin slept soundly in front of the tree...

Christkindlmarket - Chicago

Sorin is becoming quite the traveler - and quite the adventurer at the same time. Earlier this fall he went to Minnesota with Katie and her parents. Last weekend we took Sorin to Chicago for our annual trip to Christkindlmarket. We've been going to this festival for 3 years now with our cousins Matt and Amanda Cranney and Justin and Kelly Olson.

It's a German festival at Daley plaza where they serve brats, potato pancakes, and Glühwein (a traditional hot spiced wine). Chicago: It's certainly called the Windy City for a reason. The elements are nothing to take lightly. I was decked out in my Mountain Hardwear coat and I had three wool sweaters on. This year the snow was in that semi-frozen state on the top of some of the vendors' tents. But when the wind gusted, it ripped the snow off and blew it right over the top of the market.

So some concerned parents might be thinking: "You had your 3-month old baby out in that?!?" Well here's the deal - we've tested out Sorin's Wisconsin weather gear. We put him in two onsies and then into a snowsuit of fleece an inch thick. If you saw this thing, you'd ask if you could get in. He comes out warm when we open him up. But when I first stepped out of that parking garage and onto Randolph Drive, I was worried about that Chicago wind. We quickly made a wind shelter for his face out of the blanket and wrapped it into the shoulder straps on his Snugli. And the rest was history. Sorin slept a lot of the trip. I wish I could have taken a picture of his eyes peeking through the blanket and under the hood of his snowsuit.

Katie took this picture of us - I have Sorin in the back middle. Matt and Amanda on the left, Justin and Kelly on the right (not quite ready for the picture).

Christmas fun with Sorin

We are slowly but surely getting into the Christmas spirit. We got our tree all set up last week. Sorin watched with awe as we hung the lights and the ornaments and he even got to hang his first ornament from his aunt Dawny. He loves to look at the lights on the tree, and we love to look at him loving the lights on the tree so it seems new and exciting to all of us.

And we've been singing some christmas carols to him, though it would help if I knew the words:

I figure I've got time to learn them by the time he is able to learn them himself : )

Thanksgiving Weekend

For his first holiday weekend, Sorin continued to travel the state and meet new people. To start off Thanksgiving Day (check out that turkey shirt), he was with my mom and dad - outside - as Katie and I ran the Berbee Derby with my family; Tim, Amy and Megan. It was a cold morning, but we had him all bundled up and we were told he was very well behaved. I'm proud to see his spirit for adventure developing.

The rest of the day he met other relatives from my mom's side for the first time including Kayla, my cousin's daughter who is a little over one year.










The next day it was off to Cedarburg for Katie's side. Sorin got some time with his Grandpa and is Grandma Susie. The his great aunt and uncle and his cousins were there, too, and they enjoyed Sorin for the first time. Sorin even got his first experience on Skype as the Carrs were talking to cousin Megan in Israel!!









Sorin is excited for next year when he can actually eat the turkey. But his first Thanksgiving was a joy for us and all those he met.