Funny Faces

I'm just crazy about the faces Calvin makes. It brings joy to my soul especially when he makes them while he's being scolded.

My Little Chefs

As stated before - William and Calvin love to lick the bowl bake. We've done quite a bit of baking and cooking lately.  Here they are helping me make Pumpkin Semifreddo. This is a dessert I make almost every year.  Not usually for Thanksgiving, but it helps me get into the Thanksgiving mood.  It has quite a few ingredients that aren't readily accessible here in Vienna: brown sugar, vanilla, gingersnap cookie crumbs, corn syrup and pecans, but thanks to a recent Grampy visit I actually had all these things on hand or close substitutes.

And a couple weeks ago, Worthy had a special pajama day at school.  His teacher likes owls and I had recently come across a cute cupcake recipe and I offered to bake them for their special day.  

These were fun to throw together and I baked them early in the morning, so it was too early for the boys to help... ah shucks :)  However, the did enjoy eating them.

Christian - Meal time

Christian is now almost 7 months old and it seems like he's finally ready to start eating.  I chose to put it off as long as I could.  This isn't my first rodeo, so I realized that beginning solids is a no-turning-back decision.  This also means that from now on I need to make sure I have at least 3 more things packed in a diaper bag when I depart - food, bib and spoon.  It also means that it's less calories I burn through nursing and therefore less liberty I should take with yummy treats :).  

He now has been eating for a week and has definitely taken to it.

 He's already a big fan of bananas, avocado, carrots and vegetable risotto.

And so it begins

Halloween 2012

This Halloween we had a party at church to celebrate.  We ended up "recycling" some outfits.  We had a Plan B, but about a month ago the boys decided they wanted to be the Chipmunks again. 

We'd done this back in 2010 when we were in Florida.  It was so funny to see how much they've grown.  We had to do a new shirt for Theodore.  

We also used the same Baby Pumpkin costume for Christian.  

I loved it when we first got it for Worthy and still adore it.

Worthy, William & Christian 

(Calvin had to stand in as Theodore for his first Halloween)

Our little pumpkin bundled up for the stroll to church

Three of our NCW babies

The Great Pumpkin... still fantastic!

William wanted Dan to carve an "angry" pumpkin

Calvin hung with Grampy and ate candy the whole night... seriously

Grampy's Here

Grampy's come to visit for a few days and that is always a reason to celebrate and enjoy.  

On his first night here we dragged him to Worthy's Fall Festival at school.  There were fun carnival games and the choirs sang a couple numbers.  The room was PACKED!  Calvin decided to take advantage of this and  weave his way through the tight throng (the compact crowd made it impossible for me to keep close behind) and managed to dance in front of the conductor to the amusement of many of the kids performing.

To the huge delight to William the evening ended with a couple of teachers getting "Pie in the Face". A chant eagerly screamed by the kids... which my kids kept chanting the whole ride home on public.

 Of course Grampy came with gifts galore.  

 The boys have loved the Angry Birds shirts.

I love this picture of Worthy doing his best Angry Birds impression

 We even went out on a carriage ride in downtown.  It was the first time we've done one and it really was a lot of fun.  I guess I have to officially stop making fun of the tourists that partake in it.  Yum... Humble Pie. We ran into a friend from church, Andrea, and she joined us on the trip.

Christian has gotten all sorts of cuddle time... I hope he doesn't get too use to it.

Apfel-Hof 2012

Last weekend our church took a trip out of the city to go apple picking.  OK, the apple picking wasn't the main point, but it sure was a delightful side note.  

We had a fantastic afternoon of great fellowship in amazing weather and also a chance to meet some new people too.  This has been an annual event for our church family over the last few years and it was great to see familiar faces and new ones there.  

We began by gathering potatoes.  

The tractor dug them up from the ground and the kids successfully gathered them for our lunch.  

The O's had just won a playoff game the night before!

 Shortly afterwards, we enjoyed a tractor ride to the apple orchard and did some apple picking.  One of our friends is from Hong Kong and she had never ridden on a tractor before!  

After picking apples we had some of the fresh pressed cider.  

It was SO strong... the boys loved it!

One of the great perks of doing events with our church is that our teammate, Stacey, is an AMAZING photographer and she takes the best pictures. Most of this blog entry are pics from her. Here were some great/fun ones of the boys that she got.

 And finally after a long, wonderful day, we took the train home.  

Schnellbahn train rides are always a hit with us.

Watch out Emeril

William LOVES to interfere with help me in the kitchen.  Sometimes, I just need to cook or bake something quick and not have a 4 year old in the mix (pun intended...).  However, I most often try to remember how important teaching moments are and really incorporate him into the process.  And on more relaxed cooking ventures even explain things such as what baking powder or eggs do - a mini science lesson if you will. 

So, last week when I went grocery shopping at Aldi (Hofer auf Deutsch) I saw this adorable chef hat & apron.  After my third trip (in two days) I decided to pick one up for William.  

He loves it and insists on wearing it every time he helps me cook. 

Then Calvin began to wear the apron around the house and ask to help cook as well.  I couldn't resist suiting him up for the task too.  

I need to remember that right now cooking for our 4 boys is manageable, but someday (too soon) it will be a  gargantuan feat and I will need able-bodied sous chefs.  

I'm hoping this is our Uncle Jon in training!