Our sweet new ride.

Ben's new job prompted the purchase of a second car. We couldn't deny the practicality of the minivan so we are now living the life of luxury with our new Honda Odyssey. We found a great deal on one, so great that I'm hoping we didn't just buy The Money Pit.

Look how clean it is...



Oh wait...is that...

BIRD POOP!!

After only a few hours in the driveway, the birds went crazy. It's even worse now.

But we are loving the extra space. And you can't deny the awesomeness of automatic sliding doors. Parking lots are much happier places now.

The kids have quickly picked up on the voice activation system and start shouting "display audio" when the car starts. Amelia even tried to quiet Elsa once by yelling "display ELSA OFF!" Hmmm...that would be a nice feature at times.

Amelia really wanted to sit in the front with Elsa and Oliver for our first family outing. We have since moved her to the back, although it was nice to have her on Oliver pacifier duty:

Toothless.

Amelia lost her first tooth last Sunday. We were expecting a lot of drama, but she just woke up and yelled out "MOM! DAD! My tooth just came out!"

She had first pointed out that it was loose a few days before it came out. It was a little shocking and sad. I kind of had forgotten that she was going to start losing teeth. Just another reminder that she's growing up way too fast. (And yes, she now has a bit of a lisp.)

Amelia could hardly believe she finally had a loose tooth and was so excited. The discovery spawned an impromptu family dance party in the living room:






She was also excited about the dollar bill that the tooth fairy left. Kristilyn had given her this fantastic "official" tooth fairy deposit certificate and bag to leave under her pillow:

Congratulations January...

...you are officially the lamest month of the year.

We tried to spice things up around here last weekend by having our second annual winter camping trip in the living room. The kids were so excited. Ben even built us a crackling campfire this year, courtesy of YouTube (yes, you CAN find anything on YouTube).

We made tinfoil dinners, set up the kids' tent, broke out the sleeping bags, roasted s'mores, played with flashlights, and watched "Despicable Me" (movies are allowed for indoor camping). Amazingly, everyone slept in and we enjoyed a big breakfast of Swedish pancakes (my family calls them roll-ups, Elsa calls them pull-ups...you might know them as crepes).


Amelia was in charge of her class pet "Flounder" all weekend.


Getting warm by the fire.






Amelia wonders if this is really going to work. It does, kind of.

Dear Kristilyn, please come back and entertain my kids.

Last weekend we got a visit from my dear friend Kristilyn who was in Philadelphia for work and braved the Chinatown bus to come down and see us for a few days. It was a pretty low-key visit (no kayaking in the rain like last time) but it was nice to just hang out and chat and bake and eat. And my kids LOVED having her around. She probably spent the majority of her time entertaining them...

...with things like this:




We did make a trip to 2 Amys for some of the best pizza in the District. I have never seen so many families with small children at a restaurant in D.C. We were there on a Saturday so we were able to try out their famous "weekend only" donuts. They were good but not worth a special trip. The pizza, however, was oh so good. Definitely recommend it. I went with the classic margherita and was very pleased. I would love to try their sfogliatelle some time, but it's only available on Friday evenings.









Their cannoli was also delicious:




We were near the National Cathedral so we stopped by for a quick visit:

Testing America's Test Kitchen

There is something about January that makes me want to eat chocolate chip cookies nonstop. Last January I tried several recipe variations and posted the results.

I love watching America's Test Kitchen. The other night they were testing chocolate chip cookie recipes. I decided to try out their recipe and it was delicious. I love hearing the explanations of why ingredients and methods do what they do. And I love that my cookies turned out exactly like the ones they made on the show. They still flattened out quite a bit, but that's the sacrifice you make for butter. Their winning recipe and method took a little extra time. They browned their butter (always a good thing) and then waited 10 minutes to really let the sugars dissolve. They turned out just slightly crispy on the edges and extra chewy on the inside. I also used their recommended chocolate chip, Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips.




(These photos were taken right out of the oven. They flattened a little more.)

Go here to see the full recipe with explanations.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces) (see note)
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (see note)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
• 2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
• 3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
• 4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)
• 5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Math Challenge

Amelia's school does a "math challenge" for all of the grades. There are two parts and when you pass each part, you get to be on the school news. You also receive a special math challenge shirt for the first part and a medal after you pass the second part. It's a really great incentive for the kids.

For the first challenge, Amelia had to count from 1 to 100 and then backwards from 20 to 1. I came to the school to see her on the school news after she passed that part and she got to be interviewed briefly by the principal. Ben and I both came to the school after she passed the second part (a written exam where they have to complete patterns and fill in missing numbers in a sequence) and she really wanted us to videotape the school news in her classroom so she could watch herself on TV. Unfortunately, the second appearance was much shorter and she only got to wave, but she thought it was pretty cool.



The first part of the video you can see her classmates singing along to their school song which they sing each morning, then Amelia's appearance with the vice principal on the school news, followed by Amelia returning to the classroom:

Going Gray

We finished redecorating the nursery right before Oliver was born. It had been yellow and green since Amelia was born and we were ready for a change. We are really happy with the gray wall color we ended up with and now I'm wanting it in my living room. But it's exhausting just to think about that so I'm pretty sure we'll stick with what we have. I really wanted to do gray (do you prefer gray or grey?) and orange and wasn't sure how it was going to come together, but I'm happy with the result.

I bought an extra set of orange curtains and my mom made a crib skirt out of one panel (the other one makes an excellent table cloth). The fabulous vinyl wall art is from blik. We used blik for the girls' room as well.

The pictures don't quite do the colors justice, but you get the idea.

BEFORE:


AFTER:




BEFORE:


AFTER:




BEFORE:


AFTER:




Oliver LOVES laying on his changing table. Whenever he's really fussy we can usually just lay him down there and he immediately calms down and starts staring at the pictures on the wall. Sometimes he even smiles at them.

For your viewing pleasure...

We can't get enough of the sweet smiles from Oliver. He is 8 weeks old now and sleeping like a champ at night. I've only been getting up with him once during the night to feed him and I'm back to sleep within about 15 minutes. Definitely tolerable. Let's hope he keeps it up.





I wanted to get some video of Oliver smiling, but didn't want my annoying "talking to a baby" voice as the background. So instead I got video of Amelia trying to get him to smile. Apparently she uses the same voice.

I caught her reading to Oliver (followed by the attempts at smiling):



The video where he started smiling and wouldn't stop:

Conversation with mom.

How endoscopy changed our lives.

In November we unexpectedly found ourselves rearranging our miniature house to accommodate a new baby AND a home office for Ben. After six years at the World Bank, Ben decided to take a new job. He had plans to start looking for something new this year, but as luck would have it, someone called him about a job in September and he decided to look into it. Before we knew it, he was flying out to Houston for an interview and putting in his notice with the World Bank. The company had found his profile and resume on an industry website from when Ben presented a class at a conference last year.

Ben enjoyed a really good job at the World Bank with lots of nice benefits that will be missed (like oodles of vacation time, every other Friday off, a deluxe cafeteria, and celebrity sightings). Ben will also miss out on a trip to Egypt for the next annual meetings (but I won't miss his long absence). They weren't even sure of some of the exit procedures when Ben left because so few people ever leave the World Bank.

BUT, it was time for a change and an advancement in his career.

So, here's the scoop:

Ben is working for a German company called Karl Storz Endoskope which has US headquarters in Texas and California. He is a project manager and was hired to manage the design and installation of integrated operating rooms at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He discovered on his first day of training that he is managing their largest project in the world to date (55 operating rooms). Go Ben!

So he is working from home and will eventually start commuting to Baltimore up to 3 times per week. Luckily the company has given him a monthly car allowance and will pay for his gas. The major commuting probably won't start until the summer. This of course means we are now in the market for a second car. We have loved surviving on only one car and taking advantage of the metro so this will be a change.

The first 3 weeks of his job he was traveling to Texas and California for training which was not very fun with Oliver only being a week old. But now he's home all the time and it is AWESOME! No hour-long commute into D.C. each morning and night. We get to eat lunch together and have dinner as early as we want! Ben even makes dinner a lot of the time. We can do Costco runs together and I can run errands while kids are napping. Ben is also able to go running* during the day. It helps that he is not super busy yet but I'm sure that will change eventually. It has made the difficult transition to three kids much easier. He had a lot of stresses at his old job so it's nice to take a break from that, for a little while anyway.

We managed to squeeze a little office space into our bedroom. It's not ideal, but it works for now. My organizational skills are definitely being put to the test, which I actually love.

Ben is also enjoying his new iphone. Some photos of him in action:




(When Amelia and Elsa saw this photo, they got it in their heads that Ben had become a doctor. The other day I was explaining to Amelia that kindergarten was only the beginning of many years of school–after she was complaining how tiring it was–and I mentioned that if she was like Uncle Dan, she would have to go even LONGER to become a doctor. She said "Well, dad didn't have to go to school to become a doctor. He just watched some videos on his computer and then he became a doctor." Don't worry Dan, we cleared that up.)

*Perhaps running in the middle of the day will be safer. Ben just now informed me that he was hit by a car during a morning run about 4 months ago. (He didn't want to freak me out at the time since I was very pregnant and have always been worried about the very NOT pedestrian/biker friendly roads around here. I always figured it would be his walk to the metro that would take him out.) A woman coming out of a side street and turning onto the main road didn't see Ben running down the main road and hit him. He actually flew up onto her hood (and dented it) and his face was smashed against the windshield. The woman was completely freaked out and extremely apologetic. Ben was okay and was just concerned about keeping his running pace.

Dinner with my dad.

On Monday my dad flew into BWI for some official cheese business in Pennsylvania (actually I think it was yogurt this time) and he went out of his way to make a quick stop at our house before heading up to Pennsylvania. The kids were so excited to see Grandpa Bob again and wanted to show him all of their new toys. He even got to participate in Amelia's favorite game, the "draw a silly monster game." Thanks for the visit dad!






Showing off our monster/crazy creature drawings. (We played this game when I was a kid. Amelia LOVES it. If you want to join in on the fun, fold a paper into thirds and draw a head in the top section then fold it down and pass it to the next person. Then everyone draws the body and arms, pass it again, then finish off with the legs and feet. And reveal!)

Off to a Good Start

We had the best weather for our annual New Year's Day hike. Nearly 60 degrees! We went to Scott's Run in McLean. The hike takes you out to a small waterfall that runs into the Potomac. We were feeling ambitious and decided to do the whole loop which ended up being close to 3 miles. Not a particularly long hike, unless you're a small child. Amelia and Elsa did really well for the first half but struggled towards the end. But they survived (Amelia claims she is NOT doing that hike again) and had a lot of fun throwing rocks into the river. It was a bit scary along part of the hike that took us along a cliff. The path was very narrow and muddy so we were happy when the trail headed back into the woods. There were quite a few people doing the shorter walk from the parking lot to the waterfall so one benefit of doing the whole loop was that we had the rest of the trail all to ourselves (especially helpful when certain members of our group had to go to the bathroom).

I was happy to have our new Canon PowerShot on the hike. We finally replaced our old one that died and as much as I love my DSLR, it's nice to have something I can throw in my pocket again.

Oliver all dressed up for the hike (he slept through the whole thing):







(Amelia picked out this gigantic walking stick which was more trouble than it was useful. We finally managed to ditch it.)























Ben rang in the New Year with pink eye. Luckily it has cleared up now and he managed to not spread it to any of us.