Favorite (Baby) Things -- Snack Trap

I am back in baby mode, thinking of favorite things, since I have a baby shower to attend this weekend. It made me realize that I haven't put up any baby/toddler favorites lately. So, here is my little review on the Snack Trap.

When Eleanor was just starting solid foods, a friend told me that I would definitely need a Snack Trap. She showed me the one her daugher used and I thought it looked fine, nothing out of the ordinary. But, the seed had been planted and when I saw it at Buy Buy Baby, I bought it. Thank goodness I did, it has saved thousands of Cheerios from being lost to the depths of our car, the couch or any other dark and deep place that children's food might be lost.

The Snack Trap is basically a little cup with handles and a lid that allows toddler hands in and out without too much spilling. It really works amazingly well. We got a knockoff at Target and I have to say that the one actually called the Snack Trap works the best. We happen to have the pink one with the butterfly on it.

Here are a few of Leah's amazing shots from the spring, which happen to feature the snack trap that we couldn't get out of Eleanor's hand:

In Just Three Years...

So much has happened in just three years. I always like to think of the day we got married as the birth of our little family. And how that little family has grown! I love all of the memories from these recent happy years; the birth of Eleanor and Henry, celebrations with extended family and friends, outdoor adventures and all of the quiet moments around the house. Our family brings me so much joy. I love you Vince and look forward to many more years together.

Thanksgiving and the Tree

We had a truly fabulous holiday with a full spread and a nice large gathering of family. The only downfall of the weekend was the cold that had Eleanor coughing and Vince and I complaining about our sore throats! I hope everyone else doesn't come down with the bug. At any rate, we owe a huge thanks to everyone who helped make it possible -- especially to Mu and Tada who came a few days early to help ready the house and prepare the food, not to mention the playing and reading with Eleanor and Henry. It most certainly would not have been possible without them.

We did manage to get a tree as well, though the farm that we have cut trees at for the past couple of years had sold the property and had no more trees for do-it-yourselfers. We were all cold and tired so we decided to just get a pre-cut tree rather than driving to another farm. We did have a nice lunch at a cute little place in Clifton, VA on the way home, complete with peanut soup and a caboose in the parking lot.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend, the rest are up in the Thanksgiving Week set.

Eleanor helped with food prep:


The table(s) was dressed with leaves (from adventure walks), wooden acorns, Lake Superior basalt, and gourds:


Everyone ate:


The camera's timer worked it's magic for a family portrait:


We had fun with the caboose in Clifton, VA after picking out the tree:


We had a few minor hangups with the tree:


But eventually managed to get it up and decorated:

River of Leaves and Museums

The majestic sycamore in our backyard certainly is beautiful. However, it produces more leaves than we were able to believe when we started our raking. Vince made a comment about our backyard wanting to be the woods, and I think he was right on. At any rate, we eventually got the lawn cleaned up, only to find it covered again this morning. Ah, fall. Despite all the complaining about hard labor and blisters, it really was a beautiful day and Eleanor and Henry enjoyed watching us rake. Eleanor even helped out a bit.





We also enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa here over the weekend. We visited the Udvar-Hazy Center (the new part of Air and Space) and the National Portrait Gallery on Saturday and Sunday respectively. The airplanes definitely made an impression on Eleanor because she is still talking about them. All in all a wonderful weekend.

Dark and Light

There was a beautiful moment today, after the rain, when the sun was illuminating the fall colors and the sky behind was still dark. If it hadn't been for the power lines and me being embarrassed that I was in my pajamas trying to capture the moment, I think I would have had some nice shots!

Neglecting my Job

This is how I see the responsibilities of my current job:

1. Take care of Eleanor and Henry. This includes day to day stuff: feeding, playing, reading, going for adventure walks, bathing, etc., as well as once-in-a-while stuff: doctors appointments, playdates, music classes, etc. This, thankfully, is not the part of the job I have been neglecting!

(Here is where the recent neglect starts...)

2. Managing the house. This includes: keeping the kitchen and living areas somewhat clean, making sure that everyone has enough clean clothes, yard work, etc. After having my wonderful father-in-law help out with kitchen maintenance for a few days, I have gotten very lazy. My least favorite chore (unloading the dishwasher) has caused a major backup in the (extremely small) counter area. So, today while my little angels are sleeping I decided to turn around my delinquent ways and got things spic and span. Feels good.

3. Updating the family via blog, Flickr, web cam, phone, etc. about the babes. I haven't been writing much lately and I realized last night that it had been two whole weeks since I put any new pictures up. Sorry, grandparents! I really do mean to do this more often but the past couple of weeks Henry has decided to go on sleep strike and I haven't felt much like sitting in front of the computer. Well, last night Henry got back on track with a solid 9 hour performance, so I was able to post some pictures and am (as you can tell) back at the blog.

4. Other duties as assigned.

Anyway, I am lucky to have the job and I hope that I can be more attentive to the responsibilities laid out in the description. And on that note, a funny picture of Henry in his old man pants:

Thanksgiving This Year

I am so excited to have our first major holiday here with our little family. It started out that we were not going to travel but my sister was going come into town to spend the weekend with us. She has done this before, most recently when I was pregnant with Eleanor. (Vince's comment about a turkey under my shirt was pretty funny and true.) Now this year's party includes grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins -- we are going to have a huge houseful of family -- the perfect way to celebrate our thankfulness.


As the gathering has grown, I have decided that I need to be at least a little bit organized in order to have enough food on the table to feed everyone. I've been thinking that I'll just put together the menu here on the blog and any of you who are coming can tell me what I've missed or if there is something you can't live without on Turkey Day.


These are my thoughts:

** Turkey (of course)

** Mashed potatoes, my favorite

** Green bean casserole, for Vince

** Broccoli casserole, a family tradition on our side (with Cheese Whiz - yum!)

** Cranberries, gotta have 'em

** Stuffing, another "must have"

** Pies: cherry, berry and pumpkin -- with real whipped cream - double yum!!


What else? Maybe a squash? Bread? Wine?

Library Books - week of November 5, 2007

Last week we checked out a bunch of books from the library that were not very exciting to Eleanor. If they are not of interest to her, they do not get reviewed. Now, however, we have a fabulous stack of books, which she finds much more appealing, so I figured it was time to do another library book roundup.

1. Peek! A Thai Hide-and-Seek by Minfong Ho, illustrated by Holly Meade
Eleanor is just starting to get into hiding and seeking so this book is perfect. The daddy in the book is looking for his little girl all around the yard, which happens to be filled with all sorts of exotic creatures making interesting noises. The rhyme is nice and I've even learned that "Jut-Ay" is the Thai equivalent of peek-a-boo. An added bonus -- the little girl is semi hidden on each page and Eleanor takes great pleasure in pointing her out.

2. Construction Zone by Tana Hoban
Tana Hoban created the Black on White book that I wrote about here. This book is equally as captivating but for an older (toddler-ish) audience. Actually, Henry enjoys it too. Anyway, Construction Zone features full color photos of heavy machinery, perfect for the truck/train/digger obsessed crowd. Each page simply has the name of the machine featured and the last page showcases thumbnails of each machine with a brief description of what it is doing. Eleanor enjoys pointing at the machines on the last page and having me read the descriptions in the order of her choosing. This usually involves reading the garbage truck and the dump truck much more frequently than any of the others.

3. The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper, illustrated by Loren Long
This is the classic Little Engine that Could with fantastic new artwork. This wonderful story is complimented so very nicely by the exquisite paintings. I love reading this book to Eleanor and giving the different engines that come along different voices. And, the images make you really believe that the dolls and toys are really about to cry -- slumped shoulders, sullen faces. If you haven't read the book, or can't remember how things turn out, don't worry, it ends well with the help of the sweet little blue engine.

Family Portrait

Every year, I want to have a picture of our family taken professionally. This is my anniversary present from Vince, weather he likes it or not. Every year so far -- this includes last year and this year -- I have made an appointment for the photos, planned our outfits, and corralled the family into the car to make it on time for the shoot. Vince thinks I am a bit crazy about planning the outfit, but, hey, without a bit of planning there could be complete color and pattern discord. At any rate, we were fairly successful this year, despite having a tired Henry and a zoned out Eleanor. Here are a couple of the shots from our session:

Memory

Eleanor grows daily -- every moment she learns and develops new skills. This is no surprise, at a young age humans are often compared to sponges, soaking in everything around them. I imagine that soon she will begin forming permanent memories, which lead me to think about my own earliest recollections. I was trying to think of my very first memory, one remembered from my own mind and not from a picture I may have seen. I think it must have been at nursery school. I remember playing at the side of the church where our nursery school was housed, on a grassy hill surrounded by bushes that seemed quite large at the time. The bushes, evergreens of some sort, had little red berries with holes on one side, which I am fairly certain were poisonous. My classmates and I would also play Wonder Woman, ride big wheels around the blacktop, and play in the snow. I remember indoors we hammered bottle caps on pieces of wood with real hammers and nails -- would this even be allowed in a nursery school now?! It certainly was fun though.

Thinking about these things for myself made me wonder what Nana, now into her nineties, would remember about the early years of her life. I asked her the other day, and I think I must have caught her off guard with such an unusual question. She told me that she remembered the birth of her youngest brother, I imagine the birth was quite different now than it would have been back then. This also made me think that I should ask the rest of you (family, and friends too if you like) what your earliest or most vivid memories are. If you feel like you want to share you can post a comment at the end of this. I can put them together in a future post and keep them for our future generations.


And, speaking of future generations, I went to an open house on Sunday for a nursery school for Eleanor. Can she really be at an age where I need to be putting in applications to preschools? I guess so. I think this place would be a perfect match for our girl -- and frankly it reminded me of my own nursery school. It is convenient, the parents and teachers were extremely nice and it seems that they have a caring, laid back atmosphere with outdoor time every day. So, next year my little baby may be making her way up the hill to her first school!

Photos of One and the Other

I took this picture of Eleanor the other day because I thought it was hilarious and adorable that she had fallen asleep with her book. Then, to be fair to Henry, I took a boatload of pictures of him being cute too. Here are a few: