Uncle Goose Wooden Blocks

Uncle Goose French blocks

One of my novels is Anna Karenina, and of course I love the 2012 movie version. My favorite scene is where Kitty and Levin are communicating by using only the first letter of the words with alphabet blocks. It is at once beautiful and sweet as well as nostalgic. With that I feel there is something wonderful and magical about alphabet blocks.

Monday of this week, Family Fun magazine came in and as always I flip through it mainly to see if there are any quick easy snacks I can feed my daughter. In this particular issue, Family Fun was showcasing their toy hall of fame list. Uncle Goose language blocks made the list. I, of course knew about Melissa and Doug blocks, but Uncle Goose, not so much. While my little one was taking her nap, I decided to google Uncle Goose and found that these were the blocks of my dreams. Russian, German, French, oh my blocks. Like a greedy child in a candy store I wanted them all. A few minutes later I went on Amazon and ordered the first set of language blocks I came across which were the French blocks. For two days I waited for the arrival of these blocks and when they came it was like a tiny Christmas. I tore open the box and dumped the blocks on the floor. First I wrote my daughter's name and then I built a tower. My little girl saw how fun I was having that she she too wanted in on the fun. Our strategy, I build, she destroys. As a treat for my daughter, before I go to bed I write a message with the blocks and with any leftovers I build a tower. I am happy to report that this is the first toy she goes to in the morning.

Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up and my husband and I both want a block set. I am a Russophile, with a desire to learn Cyrillic, so I simply must have the Russian language block set. My husband loves patterns, so it's the Antic Ants for him. 

St. Patrick's Day at Avalon

my husband and our daughter at Avalon

In the past, my husband and I have always enjoyed St. Patrick's day celebrations in Virginia Highlands, but we thought we would do something different this year. October 2014, Avalon, an eat, live, play, shop community opened up providing a new type of shopping experience, and lucky me it is one mile from my parent's house. While picking up a few things at Pottery Barn Kids for my daughter, I read a sign promoting a family St Patrick's day celebration out on the lawn. I told my husband about it that night and we decided to check it out.
Celebrations began at 2pm, so naturally we got there at 2:20. The grassy field was packed with 
 little kids. The Avalon staff put out balls and hula hoops on the grass for the kids. The first thing we did when we got there was park our stroller and let our little girl run. And run she did. My husband chased from one end of the field to the other for almost two hours. Carter proved that she had a bit of fighting Irish in her as she went after every ball she saw. For Mom and Dad, there was Marlowe's Tavern offering to go cups of green beer and spirits to be taken out on the green field. My husband had a beer while I enjoyed a gimlet. At 4pm, a students from an Irish dancing school performed for everyone on the stage. We carried Carter to the stage so that she could see the little girls dance, she laughed and smiled. I wonder if I have a future Irish dancer in my midst.
This was a wonderful low key way to spend St Patrick's day especially if you have small children. Will we come here next year? Definitely.

Chick Days

Right now in my neck of the woods it is chick season. Where is my neck of the woods? I live in beautiful northern Forsyth county, only a few miles south of  Dawsonville, GA. Starting in March,  local pet stores as well as farm equipment stores have baby chicks and baby ducks for sell. I love chick days, there is nothing cuter that a little fluffy chick, or better yet a fluffy yellow duck. This year was special because my daughter is 13 months old and loves animals.  Coming back from the library my husband saw a sign for baby chicks and of course we had to stop and show Carter these little darlings. She loved them. Personally, I would never consider taking one of these little cuties home with me, and I am very happy that my daughter is too young to beg for a pet chick. Baby chicks turn into chickens that smell really bad. Everyone hates the smell of a chicken coup. You are probably wondering if the chicks actually sell with the smell associated with them and my answer is yes. People have the fantasy of going out in their backyard and picking eggs that Sally the chick laid the other day. With all the concern over where our food is coming from, it is nice to know that the eggs for your omelet came right out of your backyard.

Carter with her daddy looking at baby chicks

baby chicks

baby ducks

Party Favors- Are they really necessary?

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter turned one, and to celebrate this event we had a big party. My husband and I invited friends anf family, both close and distant. I planned this party for two weeks with my mother. The party was held at my parent's neighborhood clubhouse- spacious room for the kids to run around. The cake was gorgeous and had boutique-not Publix written all over it. The food was delicious and healthy for the health conscience moms out there. There were age appropriate toys from babies to first graders. We had pink and white polk-a-dot balloons. It seemed I had thought of everything, until my friend mentioned party favors to me. Seriously? So what did after I got off the phone with her? I spent two hours on amazon searching for a party favor idea. At about midnight, I decided on honey bear bottles and neon straws. Simple and cheap. When I told my mother about it she put her two cents in and aggressively suggested that I put candy in the bottles for the older kids. Not just any candy mind you, but the expensive sorbet flavored Jelly Bellies. So on the day of the party, I went to Fresh Market and spent $20.00 on this candy. I filled the honey bears up for the big kids and for the little ones, I tied pink tulle ribbon around the bears' neck. I strategically placed honey bear jars in a basket and placed it by the door. No one will be able to miss these, right? I made twelve of these little suckers and only five made it home with someone. What a complete waste of time and money. Why are people still doing this ridiculous party ritual. News flash- nobody wants the party favors. As a kid I never did. Most of the time it's cheap and tacky trinkets one buys at the dollar store. Who is with me when I say just say no to party favors?

My Husband and Hero

Today is the feast of the Holy Family and like every Sunday, the three of us were at mass this morning. Due to our furnace breaking down on Christmas day we are staying at my parent's house until it can be fixed, so instead of going to our church, we decided to go to mass at St. Thomas Aquinas in Alpharetta, GA. It was a thin crowd this morning, and amazingly we were able to get a seat inside the sanctuary. Having an unpredictable 11 month old makes us always seek a seat in the back. We found the perfect seat and during the greeting a kind old lady turned around and whispered, "hello" to us. The mass started and as predicted, our little one started to fuss, so my husband Klaus took out in the narthex. They were out there for only five minutes when the kind lady that spoke to me earlier asked a man near by to help her with her husband who had passed out. Within thirty seconds all those around were trying to look in on what had happened and crowding the poor man. I quickly left and got my husband whom I believed knew how to handle this type of situation.  He cleared the crowd. Told a women on the phone with the police what to say. Organized the ushers on what he needed. He made the man smile when he commented on his Navy ring. Calmed the wife by telling her about our little daughter. Helped the EMS team get him to the hospital. Our daughter sat in her stroller the whole time quietly watching her daddy. When it was all over , and the man thankfully breathing on his own was on his way to the hospital, I said a prayer and thanked God for being married to a real life hero.

Gingerbread Coffee

I love coffee. The smell and the richness is intoxicating. And yes, I am one of those people addicted to Starbucks. When I left my job in order to have my daughter, my husband and I decided that we would make our Starbucks coffee at home using our espresso maker. Our favorite espresso bar drink is the Americano, which is simply espresso and water. For all of you iced coffee fans out there if you have never tried an Americano I encourage you to do so. It has a much smoother taste than iced coffee. This holiday season I found a great way to put jolly in my coffee. In my iced Americano I put a dash of cinnamon, a sprinkle of nutmeg and a dash of ginger. It was like sipping a gingerbread coffee, but without the sin.

Trick-or-treating in Dahlonega

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well and are looking forward to Thanksgiving. I know I am a couple of weeks late, but I thought I would do a little review on my family's trick-or-treating experience on the Dahlonega square. Trick-or-treating on the square was from 4:30-6:00 pm. To make things safe for everyone the city of Dahlonega blocked off the square. Families gathered in lines all over the square to get candy from the stores that were handing them out. Clearly, the two most popular stores for candy lovers were Paul Thomas Chocolates and the Fudge Factory. I unfortunately did not get to try their candy partly due to the crowds and the fact that my little munchkin was only 9 months old. Thirty minutes before the end of trick-or-treating there was a costume contest. Scarecrows, superheros, princesses, fairies and ghosts made their way to the gold museum so that their costume could be judged.  We were able to make the tale end of the event and saw that a butterfly princess won first prize. Congratulations to her.

Trick-or-treating in Dahlonega was a fun and crowded experience. Although the lines were long to get candy everyone was in a good and patient mood. The adults handing out candy were all dressed up and probably having more fun than the kids. Unless you just can not handle crowds, I recommend trying it one Halloween if you live close by. Please check out the pictures below.

Dahlonega trick-or-treating crowd

skeleton lanterns

Carter and Daddy ready for treats

Purple witch handing out candy