Thanksgiving in the city

We had a really special Thanksgiving this year. We often go to Dallas but for a variety of reasons Dallas came here this year. And I couldn't cook Thanksgiving for half of our family and not invite the other half so it ends up being 15 for a sit down dinner. We brought in Oma's dining room set from storage which we had been meaning to do for a while anyway. We brought in lots of wedding presents which made the table beautiful. And of course we had to have the family heirloom candles - the little Gurley Pilgrim candles which always decorated Oma's Thanksgiving table (they say 15 cents on the label and they completely priceless in our family).

I think what made it really special for me was to have all of Katie's grandparents in one place sharing the holiday; they don't get to do that often. And of course the fact that we had a very special guest - Oma. Oma hadn't been to our apartment, she fell not that long after we moved in. She was very excited to see Katie's room. In this picture, Katie is leading her in a tour of our aparment (as if you need a tour, it's all visible from one spot!). It was very cute to see Katie share Oma's walker, but we made sure this was very brief. I think Oma loved to see all the things we have that were hers and now grace our apartment, and a great variety of things from paintings to lamps. And of course Oma loved the food.

The food was great! I'm very lucky to have a family full of talented cooks and I couldn't have done the meal without them. Rachel, Debbie, Ann, Lesley, and my mom all brought things. In fact, all I did was the turkey, 2 cranberry sauces, roasted cauliflower, and an apple crisp. Okay, all that and innumerable hours cleaning up our apartment. Ann was such a huge help. I always describe her as a gracious host and her veteran hosting skills help keep things organized and on track, otherwise I never would have remembered to heat things up on time. And Ann's attack of the dishes was most impressive. One thing I loved is that she brought me a family heirloom to put on our Thanksgiving table, a silver laddle that had been in her family and is so beautiful that I had often admired it.

The table was cozy but beautiful with the inauguration of our wedding china and silver. The turkey cooked in a record 3 hours for an unstuffed 18 pounder. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and of course there was too much food. But not enough turkey leftovers according to Peter so I'll be cooking a turkey breast sometime soon. At one point all 4 kids were on our bed watching a movie - I wish I had gotten a picture of that. Ann loved seeing Katie with her cousins and Pete was very careful to make sure Katie stayed on the bed. Here are some picture highlights.

Ania stops by to meet my grandmother and to join us for hors d'oeuvres.
Katie dances with Aunt Lesley
Katie gets a hug from Aunt Rachel

Robin wants to play in the crib. Katie, with her thumb in her mouth, wants to go to sleep

More about Thanksgiving

Katie was so busy this Thanksgiving. Grandma Nana came in early to spend extra time with her. Here they are on Tuesday evening reading one of Katie's new favorite books. Notice the Elmo theme, of course, which turned out to be the leitmotif of the holiday. Katie loves listenting to her "meshy, " specifically the Sesame Street CD. Elmo's song is her favorite. If you sing "La la la la" to her, she'll finish with "Elmo's Song" (though not quite yet on key). Her grandparents had a great time singing along with her. Grandpa Papa really liked C is for Cookie, a memory of Peter and Lesley's childhoods. Nana and Papa had a great time playing with Katie and Katie loved being with them. Just like she knows that Elmo or Ernie is singing a certain song, she's learned to recognize Nana's voice on the phone. So cute that she said "Nana" when Ann called yesterday.

On Wednesday, our friends Bea and Nathan from Boston came over in the morning. The kids had a good time playing, but they didn't always share. The skills toddler have to learn, "no Katie, Nathan has the toy now, then it will be your turn..." Here they are with the same book. Again, Elmo is popular. I love catching up with Bea and it's so fun to see Nathan grow.


We spent Wednesday preparing for the feast. I ordered a fresh killed turkey from the butcher and at 18.5 pounds, I had to take the stroller (empty) to pick it up. Papa came in and he and Katie got to spend more time together. Unfortunately the weather was cold and wet so we didn't get to see the balloons get blown up (my absolutely favorite part of Thanksgiving in NYC). But Ann and Alan did because their hotel was right in front.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been so busy that I haven't had time to blog the Thanksgiving weekend pictures yet. And there are lots of them. In the meantime, here's Katie (aka piglet) enjoying her Thanksgiving meal. In my quest for Thanksgiving kitsch, I found these turkey plates and cups for Katie and Robin to use. This is a typical Katie eating style, one hand in the food and the other using the fork, then alternating hands into her mouth. Katie won't let you feed her, she will only eat if she feeds herself. But she's gotten pretty skilled at using utensils and whatever she drops, we have a wonderful 4-legged cleaning crew. In fact, Katie will occasionally call "Me-oh" when she's done - that is if Meadow isn't already waiting impatiently at her side. PS - notice the Ania French braids.

Meeting Oncle Gwendal

After Oma's birthday lunch, Katie went to meet Aunt Elizabeth's husband. Gwendal is a great guy and Elizabeth says that all little kids like him, especially the girls. Kaite loved him immediately and he joined her in her new favorite game in houses - "let's go up and down the steps." They were so cute together. And I'm so glad that they had the chance to meet each other. 

Happy Birthday Oma!

On Saturday we celebrated Oma's 91st birthday. For the occasion, we went to Oma's favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. Oma loves Chinese food and we enjoyed celebrating this milestone with her.

Katie and cousin Robin loved the cake. Katie kept asking for more. Katie's become quite the pig in restuarants - but at least she's quiet... Here's a picture.

A visitor from Paris...

Aunt Elizabeth is visiting from Paris. Elizabeth and I have been friends since we were Katie's age. And since she's an only child and my sisters are older, we did so many things together when were little, pre-school, summer playgroups, dance lessons, day camp, etc. In this picture, you can see Elizabeth pointing out all the pictures of me to Katie in EB's photo album, with grandma watching.

A highlight of the day for all of us was that Katie got a chance to spend time with Elizabeth's parents and grandma while we went shopping. They all had such a great time and Katie loved them and I think the feeling was mutual. She learned a new word - CAT. Being a dedicated dog family, Katie hasn't had much experience with cats, but she loved trying to pet Foucault and Fouey responded appropriately by running away from the happy toddler. 

Brunch with Daddies

We went to our friend Kevin's house for brunch today. Jill and I usually get together on Wednesday mornings and a Sunday gathering allowed the daddies to see the baby action. I think the babes understood the difference, there was a little more competition for toys than usual. As I mentioned before, Katie says "Share" a lot if someone wants something she has, or vice versa. But share to Katie really means more like "Mine." But for the most part, Kevin and Katie played nicely. Katie made herself at home with Kevin's toys. It was amusing that Kevin had a variety of stuffed puppies, none of which looked like her "puppy," but nevertheless, she felt a connection to it and carried it around the apartment. We all had a nice time together. 

A toddler's imagination

We're cleaning the house for Thanksgiving and we put a small chest of drawers in Katie's room that holds her accessories. It's perfect Katie-height to play dress-up. Katie loves accessories, as you can see she decorated herself after she got into her pajamas tonight. I put an old calculator in the drawer and here she uses it as a phone (copying Mommy).

And then the calculator becomes a Blackberry (copying Daddy).

Playing with the Girls

Last Monday we went to Annabel's house and Katie played with her and Emma and Erika. They had a great time, just the girls while their mommies looked in cookbooks for Thanksgiving ideas. The funny thing was that we took the bus to Annabel's - she lives on the East Side - and we had to take the folding stroller. Katie has a city stroller (maroon) and car stroller (red, the folding one) and she knows that going in the red stroller means we're going in the car. So I got out the red stroller so we could go take the bus and she said "Oma!" In Katie-world going in the red stroller means we're going in the car means we're going to see Oma... very cute.

Katie goes to the Marathon

We had another NYC day today. We walked across the park to see the marathon. What fun! We got there in time to see the top finishers (pictures below). We all had a great time cheering the runners on. I have to say that the wheelchair competitors were particularly impressive. There was a great feeling among the spectators, everyone cheered loudly, call out names if names were on their shirts or bibs. We picked a good spot that wasn't too crowded (96th & 5th) and everyone was standing out there with their dogs and their strollers.

Jelena Prokopcuka, the women's winner, whizzes past us.

It got cold after a while, Katie cheers the runners on with her little mittens on. Meadow gets bored and lays down.

Going Trick-or-Treating

I wasn't planning to take Katie trick-or-treating at all. She's young and she doesn't eat candy. We were having so much fun handing out candy to people and then we saw our neighbor Sophia, who is Katie's age, was going trick-or-treating with her mom so I figured why not. Unlike the older kids, for Katie it was about the experience, not the candy. She had so much fun going up and down the big hallways in our building and searching through the bowls of candy. Katie's preference was for candy that made noise - you can see her here with a bag of m&m's (they shake). Once she had some candy, she enjoyed taking it in and out of the bag.

Everyone loved the hula girl costume, especially with the little flip flops. We did quite a few floors before we went back home to Daddy and Me-oh. Me-oh was dressed up for the occasion with her Halloween bandana (or "B" as Katie called it, her word for bib). But I can't say that she was too happy with all the trick-or-treaters coming to the door. I put a gate up in the hallway so she wouldn't go near the door (she hates gates) and she stayed in Katie's room the whole time.
Katie and Sophie in the hallway