pre-Christmas joy

We were moving around for most of December, but still tried to preserve a sense of Christmas fun for the children and ourselves. Our advent calendar traveled with us from Grandma's house to the rental apartment to our new home, the advent elf faithfully filling the daily pocket with some sort of treat. Our stockings too have been hung by various bookshelves and mantels, traveling in our suitcases rather than being relegated to the storage unit. The children had great fun making a gingerbread house with Grandma Raab, who also took us to a luncheon at a decorated little Christmas village and gave the children some early presents.  

 

As soon as we possibly could, we bought a big tree and decorated it together. Both the kids were very enthusiastic and participated in hanging up all the ornaments.

And finally, we have been baking for the holiday. My mom made cranberry bread with pecans and a chocolate turtle cheesecake for Christmas dinner, she made gingerbread men (and stars and trees) with the kids, and together we baked four lovely fig breads for Christmas morning. Steve and I have been menu planning for our first ever holiday dinner in our own home: roasted leg of lamb, kale salad with fennel, apple, and cranberries, farro with mushrooms, walnuts, and cherries, butternut squash and chickpeas, cauliflower with raisins and pine nuts. And of course, cranberry bread and chocolate cheesecake. Yum.

Merry Christmas to all!

PORTLAND!

We made the big move across country in December. We spent the last week of November packing our things and putting them into cubes/pods to be shipped. We left our Irvington apartment on November 30th (we worked like mad until late on Friday night to finish up) and spent five days at the Raab house in Greenlawn on Long Island.

Our car was picked up by a shipper on Monday and we flew out on Thursday morning. The flight passed easily - Seb entertained himself with books and my new iPad, and Liesl napped for nearly three hours. We landed in Portland, rented a minivan to transport all our luggage, and moved in to a temporary vacation apartment in the Nob Hill neighborhood. The neighborhood has so many fun restaurants and cafes and we loved exploring it with the kids.

We started looking for a home the next day. We've decided to rent a house for a year or so and get to know our new city and its various neighborhoods before buying a more permanent home. We looked at a variety of houses and condos in Forest Heights, the Southwest neighborhoods of Bridlemile and Hillsdale, the Bethany area of Beaverton, and some places in random neighborhoods.  My parents arrived on Sunday, thankfully, and were able to entertain and take care of the children while Steve and I figured things out.

Happily, we found a townhouse that we like in Forest Heights. It's a three bedroom, three bath, three floor house in a really quiet neighborhood with an excellent school district. It's in a newer development and lacks character, but it makes up for it with excellent preserved green space and tons of nearby trails. Steve will be able to ride a free shuttle bus to his office - a ten minute ride away. We are already very much enjoying our expanded space and the noise protection it offers.

We got our keys on Friday, December 14th, had our pods delivered that noon, and worked like crazy to unpack them entirely by the end of the day. And then it was a perfect frenzy of cleaning, laundering, washing, and rebuilding furniture. And buying new furniture and other supplies, of course.  We were all moved in and slept our first night here on Sunday.  We still have things to buy and boxes to unpack, but the home is comfortable and livable.

We are so happy to be here. I have to pinch myself occasionally that we finally made it to Portland, a city we have loved and dreamed of living in for so many years. We're on the west coast! My mom and dad are within a morning's drive! We have a house!

And so, on to Christmas!!!!

the Rockettes at Radio City

Mom and Dad treated the whole family to the Rockettes Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and then dinner afterwards. It was fun to see the famous legs, kicking indeed in perfect unison. Seb enjoyed it, and Liesl was enraptured. Cousin Hana narrated the entire first half ("teddy! teddy bear! stars! Oooh! Santa! bus!"), which was hysterical.  

packing packing packing

We are in the throes of packing - sorting, culling, wrapping, boxing, labeling, stacking. Discovering that, like all good Americans, we have too much stuff. The kitchen is packed with things we rarely use, the clothes closets are stuffed with ill-fitting and no-longer fashionable items, the toy shelves overflow. I have too many clothes, too many photo albums.  Steve is better on quantity, but worse on the organization.  Packing has made our imminent move to Portland feel much more real.

The children stayed on at Grandma and Grandpa's on Long Island after Thanksgiving dinner, while we came home to tackle our to-do list. We'll see them later today for a Rockettes show at Radio City. I've been in this city 13 years and I've never seen the famous Christmas dancing show or been to Radio City.

Thanksgiving was great - turkey and all the usual trappings, and good company all around. It was great to see everyone and the children had a terrific time playing with cousin Rio and their aunts and uncles.

Annual checkups

Sebastian and Liesl both were at the 50th percentile for height and weight. They are healthy and developmentally on track.

At 5, Seb is now 37.5 lbs and 42.5 inches tall.

Liesl at 2 weighs 26.5 lbs and is 33 3/4 inches tall.