First Time Ice Skating!

We took Alex ice skating for the first time November 27 (the day after we celebrated Thanksgiving). At first he was a bit skeptical about his strap-on skates, but he decided to make the best of it, and try them out on the ice. He first found his balance, then attempted walking, with chunks of ice flying from his skates each time he took a step. He then realized that Daddy is a good skater and can easily glide him around on the ice.

We enjoyed skating around a tall Christmas tree placed in the middle of the rink

Alex enjoyed taking a short break to eat a snack and to give his little legs a break. (He seems to have mastered a fake smile)

On his second attempt, Alex used a wooden polar bear to help him on the ice. For the first 10 minutes he thought it was a real animal and wouldn’t touch it. He finally warmed up to the bear after seeing me skate around with it. I think this was Alex’s favorite part since it gave him a bit of independence. He did a great job holding on, but his focus was on everything but where he was going!

It was a great day for ice skating!

We came home with a very proud (and tired) little ice skater =)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. The meaning of the holiday, the delicious food, and the time spent with family/friends is something I always cherish. This year, we celebrated with an American family that we met through church. I had the duty of making a pumpkin pie and green bean casserole, while my friend Katie made the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes (all from scratch). We went over to their apartment for an early dinner, followed by a walk through the town’s Christmas market and upon our return we each had a slice of pumpkin pie. Katie has a 2 and a half year old son (also named Alex), so the two boys had a great time playing together, while we enjoyed one another’s company.

Here is a prayer we read that I thought was so perfect for this day:

Lord, so often times, as any other day
When we sit down to our meal and pray

We hurry along and make fast the blessing
Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing

We’re slaves to the olfactory overload
We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold

But Lord, I’d like to take a few minutes more
To really give thanks to what I’m thankful for

For my family, my health, a nice soft bed
My friends, my freedom, a roof over my head

I’m thankful right now to be surrounded by those
Whose lives touch me more than they’ll ever possibly know

Thankful Lord, that You’ve blessed me beyond measure
Thankful that in my heart lives life’s greatest treasure

That You, dear Jesus, reside in that place
And I’m ever so grateful for Your unending grace

So please, heavenly Father, bless this food You’ve provided
And bless each and every person invited

Amen!

Crafts

A few projects Alex and I have been working on lately:

Fall trees –

I started by cutting the outline of 2 tree trunks out of old magazines (I have to laugh over one of the trunks previously being an ad for a brown Ikea sofa). I then browsed through an old newspaper for nicely colored sections to cut leaves. After cutting about 50 leaves, I one-by-one put glue on them and let Alex put it wherever he wanted. I love that he scattered the leaves all over the page, with some close to the ground, as if he wanted to show that the leaves were falling.

The second craft we worked on was for Thanksgiving. I dragged back out an old newspaper to make cut-outs for the Turkey’s body. Afterwards Alex dipped his fingers in paint to create feathers for the Turkey.

Here’s what we ended up with:

Gobble Gobble!

Last (but not least) we made an Advent Calendar – which actually looks more like a house with many windows – in a community room at one of our local parks (GZ Heuried). The windows were already cut out of a rectangular black piece of construction paper. Our job was to select colored transparent sheets to place behind each window. Afterwards, we decorated the windows with beads, sequins, stickers and other cut-out creations.

Here’s a picture of it hanging in Alex’s room:

While I put the finishing touches on the Advent Calendar, Alex made this –

He first colored his creation, then cut it with scissors (with my help), and for a dramatic effect, he tore random parts of it off.

Autumn

We passed this beautiful tree with crisp golden-yellow leaves on the bus one afternoon this past week. I immediately thought it would be the perfect place for a photo shoot with Alex. The very next day after spotting this gem, we packed our two little pumpkins to use as props, a diaper bag chock full of snacks to use as incentives, and went on our way to take pictures.

I managed to capture a few good shots of Alex. It’s difficult nearly impossible to get that boy to sit/stand still and look at the camera. As soon as the camera makes an appearance, it’s a rarity to get even the slightest smile. The only way I could lighten his mood was by throwing leaves up in the air. Every time a leaf landed on the top of my head, he gave the biggest sweetest smile. We even heard a few giggles from people passing by.

Here are a few of my favorites

superman!

What a difference a year makes!

I hope you’re enjoying the Autumn season!

11/11/11

Otherwise known as the date Alex celebrated his birthday for the third time – talk about being spoiled! 😉

It was a Halloween themed party (despite being 2 weeks past the holiday) and it was great fun to see his little friends dressed up like a ghost, garden gnome, tigger, princess and monkey. At first glance, Alex barely recognized them.

We made a pumpkin craft, danced & sang songs, played pin the tail on the donkey and opened presents.

For dessert we had vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting, topped with candy corn (thanks to my Mom for the expedited package!).

Alex somehow managed to blow out the candle before we even finished singing to him – I guess you could say he’s really gotten the hang of celebrating his birthday!

A big thanks to everyone that made Alex’s birthday so special – both here and in the U.S.!

Pumpkin Pickin’

The season of autumn wouldn’t be the same without bringing home a pumpkin. We took our annual trip last weekend to the Jucker farm to see the pumpkin exhibitions, enjoy a yummy lunch and find the perfect pumpkin. Last year the farm had exhibitions of dinosaurs, but this year they had a more traditional display with exhibitions of the Matterhorn, Wilhelm Tell, characters from Swiss children’s stories, and a Swiss chalet.

The exhibitions were all made from real tree wood!

We then came upon a huge pumpkin. From a distance you couldn’t even tell something was different about this particular pumpkin, but close-up you could see the amount of detail put into carving faces on each side.

Chalet filled with two familiar faces in the window

Alex wanted to try out his hiking skills, so with the help of Daddy he climbed to the tippy top of the haystack tower.

He eventually worked up the courage to go through the tunnel at the bottom of the haystack and was very proud of himself afterwards.

We loved taking in the scenery

And hunting for a pumpkin!

Found one! (I love his hands in this picture)

And for our journey back, we were glad we brought the stroller.

Two days later we carved the pumpkin into a friendly jack-o-lantern. :O)