Some holidayish activities

December 1st is declared officially as the beginning of all fun! This year, even more so.
Ami is 6 months old! A whole half a year!!! She an adorable baby, squishy and cuddly and so very fearless! She crawls quite well, in a matter of seconds she can go 5-6 feet to touch her target. Everything goes straight to her cute little mouth. She babble and is mostly a serious baby. If you play with her and look her in the eyes she'll smile a big, wide smile with her eyes all wrinkly. So darn cute!
The second celebration on December 1st is of course Romania's national day! We listen to patriotic songs and feel nostalgia for all the romanian good and bad that we left behind. Such is life...

Part of our Christmas traditions we used to go see A Christmas Carol play downtown Philadelphia. With Ami so little and Catalina (still!) scared of the ghost in the play we decided to skip it this year. Instead we just went to Macy's Dickens Village and to take pictures with Santa

 Downtown holds such a special place in mommy's heart! It's where she first lived when she came in America, where all the good and the bad first started

A week later we welcomed Saint Nicolas in our house. Saint Nicolas puts gifts and goodies in the kids' shoes and we did have some very nice kids in our house!

We are on a good track with all the holiday preparations. Such a lovely time of the year, especially when you have two lovely girls around you!

Thank you, world!

This was our first Thanksgiving as a family of four. There are really no words to describe how lucky I feel. To really have it all? Who does?? I do !

We had the house for ourselves. We had some invitations to Thanksgiving dinner that we did not take or did not materialize. So, the whole Thanksgiving day we lazed around the house and enjoyed ourselves. It could not have gone better. Marius made chicken wings, Catalina wanted pumpkin pie so we bought it. We made apple pie. We watched TV, ate, slept and breathed happily. An amazing Thanksgiving to remind us how unbelievable lucky we are!

We tried some shopping on Friday, but that did not turn out a good idea with a baby. So, after half an hour of strolling in a crowded mall we ended up at home, shopping online. Go figure, Amazon!! Truth be told we all excited about the next day. Saturday after Thanksgiving we always pick up our Christmas tree. It's a small market close to our house and it takes us less than 5 minutes to decide. This is also Ami's first tree, so the experience was extra special!

The tree is ready, the kids are happy. Christmas can come with all its joy. We are blessed.

Gearing up for winter

Weather turns colder each day and we get ready for winter. Some, more than others :)

There are some firsts in our house as well. For once, Ami tried her first solid food! We started with sweet potato (not shown here due to a BIG cleaning event after the meal :)  ). Ami seems to really love apples and tea. Other than that, she's more than happy to enjoy her milk. She also started sitting without support pretty well. If there is nothing to distract her she can sit for minutes. the problem is that this beautiful world is full of exciting toys so, in her efforts to put everything in her mouth she looses her balance and falls on her side. Cutest little falls !

And, the first scrunchy in Ami's hair!

 The sisters started playing together more and more. We're past the cuddly hugs and kisses, they're playing together with toys and Catalina could not be a better, more loving sister. She reads to Ami, she lets her play with her toys (even put them in her mouth!), she never complains when Ami pulls at her hair or scratches her. My heart melts when I see them!

Let love and happiness surround us as we get ready for Ami's first Thanksgiving!

Love messages

It took a lot to keep me going after the dark elections we had. I looked everywhere for signs of hope and love. I found several, I took comfort in the pain other felt besides me.
This, big on a wall at work:

And then, a letter from a teacher to her students. Something for all small kids to remember:

There is hope, and as long as we have our hearts open and our mind bright and not darken by hate, we can pull through!

US Presidential Election

2016 was the first year we voted in United States. I was excited. Hillary Clinton was projected to be the first female president. I liked her a lot and she ran against a monkey of a man. It was a clear, easy win. Catalina was excited too.

We were all ready!

We were excited. We made popcorn to watch the results coming in. And then it all turned dark. Nobody knows how exactly happened, but the orange monkey won. It was horrible. I had to explain to Catalina why the bad guy won. I was upset and our of shape for a week. It's starting to set in now, and nobody knows exactly what will happen. We have a shameless man for a president. We'll survive, so maybe this was a lesson for Catalina. Rise above everything and everyone. It will get better and you'll have another chance in 4 years.

May love and good prevail. Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. We need to surround ourselves with happiness and hope!

Halloween 2016

Halloween is a day a year, but the celebrations start early and this particular state of mind counts more to me than the evening of candy (I enjoy that enormously too!).

We started with Catalina's school "build a scarecrow" night. We had so much fun the year before! I knew a little something grows inside me, Catalina was extremely happy and we made a nice scarecrow. We were excited this year too, but a lot changes when a little baby is in tow! We tried to prepare, to come up with ideas on what to make, but came up with...nothing. One hour before the vent started we decided to make the head at home as we imagined that with Ami we won't be able to do much at school. We found a pink wig in the house and here it all started: Introducing Pinkalicious!

Plenty of pink receiving blankets for the head and body; swimming noodles for legs and arms; pink socks and gloves for feet and hands. And of course, Catalina's beautiful artwork for her make up. We declared it a total success!!

To be in line with all the celebrations, Catalina decorated our house with paintings. I have to say I was speechless! My girl is quite talented!!!

 And few Halloween parties followed. Party at Dana and Gabi:

Mom, what is this big, ugly thing?

The parade at Catalina's school was followed by a cute in class party. Ami came for the parade dressed in Catalina's old costume, a cute flower

 Wrap me in toilet paper as a mummy game:

Cutest mummy EVER!

And then it was time for the real Halloween! Catalina wanted to be a witch, she wore the costume for the school party so I was sure she'll want smth different. Nope! Witch all the way. Mommy was a witch too :). Amy had a bulky seahorse costume that she kept on for maybe 10 minutes.

Dressing up, candy and parties...I am really getting into the Halloween spirit. Just to think that years back when I first came to US I could not understand people getting excited about it. It's all about the chocolate, baby!!