A big year coming to an end

So 2014 is coming to an end, and what a year it's been! As BK and I sit here enjoying Baby K's nap time, and eagerly await cheering on the Frogs in the Peach Bowl, I figured I might as well try and squeeze one more post in. It will be quick, as I have at most 20 minutes before she wakes up.

So what have we been up to lately? Baby K and I have been in the US for almost three weeks now, and BK has been here for almost two. Sadly, this also means his time here is almost up and it's time for him to go back to Switzerland to work while Baby K and I enjoy one more week. Before we left Switzerland in December we did get one last weekend away in Davos. We didn't do much, just enjoyed the mountains and outdoors. The snow wasn't quite good enough to ski just yet.

The flight over with Baby K was good, fairly uneventful, which is always a positive thing when flying with a baby. It took her a couple of days to get used to the sheer number of people who were here and wanted to spend time with her. I always forget that she's really used to it being just me, her and BK at home in Switzerland, and underestimate how overwhelming seeing tons of new people is for her. It took her two days to warm up to my dad...needless to say, PopPop's feelings were a little hurt.

Since then, it's been a whirlwind; seeing people, getting ready for the holidays, and going from event to event together. Here are some of the highlights so far.

Nani came to visit our first weekend in town:

We got back to our "normal" routine of walking the dogs in the mornings:

We met Aunt K for dinner when she was in town:

Baby K has had lots of cousin time:

I've had lots of fun dressing Baby K in numerous holiday outifts:

BK and I had a date night and Baby K spent the night away from us for the first time! Aunt C, Abbs and LJ took great care of her. I think they all had a geat time too. Not to worry- I survived as well.

For the past week we've been in East Texas and Arkansas visitng BK's family. BK got me a new camera for Christmas, so since then I've been taking lots of pics with that instead of the iPhone. Unfortunately that means that I have lots of pictures that I haven't uploaded just yet to use. Hopefully I'll have more to come later.

We are back in East Texas to cheer on the Frogs and ring in the new year. The past few days have been spent relaxing and trying to catch up on some much-needed rest. We've been enjoying some good family time too. HG loves to help cook and bake with us when we're here.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas, spent with those you love! Here's to a great 2015!

Christmas craziness (Part II)

The second part of Christmas was just as packed as the first half. Our tradition at Christmas is to do Christmas Eve, until around 9, with my family, then drive to East Texas so that we can wake up there on Christmas morning with BK's family. Most people think the driving at night part seems really hard, but I just can't bring myself to trade off years or switch between Christmas and Thanksgiving or some other arrangement like that.

I have a lot of guilt about the fact that I don't have nearly as many pictures of the second half of Christmas as the first, and I literally have no evidence that we even went to Arkansas. Ugh! Usually I'm the family photographer; not sure what happened this year.

We spent Christmas day like most others do, seeing what Santa brought the kids, opening gifts from one another and eating. Luckily we got to spend lots of time with these guys!

BK and I were recruited to put some toys together too. BK put these doll bunk beds together for HG. He questioned how he ended up with the task. I told him he was getting to practice for future toys that needed to be put together for Baby K some day.

Somehow I was roped into helping Hud put together lego figures. BK and I gave him Ninja Turtle legos for Christmas, but before getting them I hadn't considered how hard they would be to put together. Hud and I were able to put together the tiny car in the picture below and in that same time BK came over and put the big car together. I seriously had to follow the directions step by step to get the thing done; it seemed to come much easier to BK- maybe from childhood experience with these things? Hud and I then put together one leg of a lego Samurai…and that's as far as we made it. We returned to that project a few days later.

After Christmas BK and I, along with his sister and her boyfriend, headed to Arkansas to see BK's extended family. We hit Camden and Magnolia; saw aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents; played Wait-A-Minute; and enjoyed catching up and spending time with family. After that whirlwind of a visit, we made our annual trip to/stop at Superior Bar and Grill in Shreveport to meet the rest of BK's family for dinner.

We caught a movie the next day before leaving East Texas and then headed back to Fort Worth in time to catch Robert Earl Keen's Merry Christmas from the Fam-O-Lee concert at Bass Hall. I would highly recommend the concert- it's a fun way to end the Christmas season.

BK joined UCC the next morning and he and I spent the day watching playoff games…he, more than I, as I took the iPad and my magazine to keep me occupied. I swear it seems like the next couple of days were spent getting some of the big stuff off the registry, washing baby clothes and bedding, and trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get all of the stuff back to Switzerland.

We spent New Year's with some great friends and enjoyed dinner at Michael's in Fort Worth, then met BK's sister downtown to ring in midnight. As much of a party animal as I am right now, BK and headed home not too long after that.

I know I've posted it on the blog before, but it still gets me. The next day was spent packing to come back to Switzerland, where somehow we got nearly everything baby-related back in approximately eight suitcases!

I'm here for quite a while now. No more air travel for me and Baby K until after she arrives, but BK and I will be embarking on some train travel before she makes her arrival. I'll keep you updated on where we're headed to next!

Christmas craziness (Part I)

Whew! I am finally feeling back to normal. Today was the first day that I have been able to get up at a normal time (7ish) and not totally crash and burn sometime in the late morning or early afternoon. Not to mention, the past few days I've been averaging around 22,000 steps per day (over 10 miles) which took some adjusting back to as well. BK pulled an all-nighter at work last night, so who knows what his sleep will be like now.

Now, on to the fun stuff…our Christmas trip to the US! BK went early for work and was there for three weeks and I joined him one week later for two weeks of festivities. Our schedule was packed full, and, as it should be, was full of family, family, family. In August I made the mistake of over-scheduling us with friends in Fort Worth, leaving my family no time; this time we pretty much just saw family the entire time. I've already told BK that when Baby K arrives and we venture back to the US for the first time with her, I'm going to have to stay for at least three weeks. There's just no other way to see everyone and have quality time together in two weeks. It's a stretch now- I can't imagine adding a baby into that, who at that time, no one but the parents will have met.

So here it goes…highlights from the trip!

This is what ensues when BK is left to his own devices for too long without me there to supervise, especially when it involves one Bobby P. This is one of the tamest pictures they sent me. Bobby P's wife (NP) is also pregnant, about two weeks behind us, and I let the party boys know that after the babies get here they would be on dad duty and NP and I would be out enjoying ourselves like they do!

One of the many texts that I received letting me know I was missed

A tamer BK joined my family for the dedication of Abbs and LJ at church the Sunday before I arrived.

The H family

When true order was restored, and I got into town (just kidding…sort of) we hit the ground running with KRM's 50th birthday that night. Somehow I have no pics of dinner or the fam visiting Sundance Square. I blame it on the fact that BK and I "share" his iPhone when we're both in the US and I don't always have it at my fingertips.

I initially was relieved that Thursday had arrived, as I had no plans, but somehow filled my day up quite well. The morning was consumed by baking for BK's Fort Worth team and hanging out with my sisters as they got ready for the baby shower coming on Saturday. I know you've seen them before, but just to reemphasize how good they are, here's another pic of what I made.

Cream cheese filled snicker doodles

Friday was a big day- Abbs' friend birthday at Van Grow Studios, Kilgore High School (BK's alma mater) played in the football state championships, and we had the M extended family Christmas.

My sister asked if I could help her out by making rice crispy treat "paint brush" party favors for Abbs' party. Of course, as one who bakes often, I thought no big deal. They were a complete pain- don't do it if someone asks. There's really not even any real baking involved. I'd do it again for them, but it was quite the process Thursday night and Friday morning. I told CMH that I hoped those two-year-olds enjoyed the crap out of these rice crispy treats!

The "paint" drying on rice crispies

Finished product

The birthday girl painting

We went to the football game at Cowboys stadium. Kilgore lost, so nothing exciting to report there, outside of some outstanding people watching. That night my dad's family came to our house for our yearly dinner and gift exchange.

Saturday was also a big day- Baby K's baby shower! The theme was Traveling Tot, which was really cute, and I was very thankful to have many family members and friends come to celebrate our upcoming addition. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as of yet. I did take my camera, but was too busy socializing and being the center of attention to take any of my own. More to report on that later.

It also happened to be this guy's (LJ) first birthday that day. Yes, he and Abbs are approximately 360 days apart from one another.

The next morning we lit the advent candle with my mom.

Then celebrated both Abbs and LJ's birthdays at home.

In the meantime, BK and I started celebrating our own Christmas together by starting to open presents. TR said that we seem to think that we celebrate Hanukah, as we open presents from one another for about five days before Christmas actually gets here. Here was one of BK's to me- he wraps his own and must have liked this one, as he took this picture of it before I opened it.

I had lunch with some great friends on Monday, and did some sewing with my mom on Baby K's bedding. When BK and I get done with her room I'll post pics of the bedding- it's black, cream and purple (surprise, surprise).

That brought us to Christmas Eve on Tuesday, when we celebrate Christmas with my family. Here's a good one of mom and the babies before Christmas lunch.

Wow! That's only the first week we were there. As this is starting to feel like my longest blog post ever, I'm going to break this one up and tell you about our second week in the next post.

Now you can see how our holidays were quite the whirlwind, but I wouldn't have done it any differently and loved every minute of it, as I hope you did with yours as well!

Christmas, Christmas everywhere

Today has been a bit of a long day, but I think it's mostly because I'm still not sleeping all that well. Jet lag is a killer to get over right now. Although, waking up in the middle of the night, I have discovered that Baby K likes to move around a lot during that time.

I continued with my Christmas baking, finishing my gingerbread dog cookies and also making cream cheese-filled snicker doodles. Everything seems to have turned out really well, and I'm excited to give these to BK's team. My only quandary now is: should I make something bigger for the entire group that works in the same proximity and with his team, or just stick with his team. They're used to me bringing something on workday five, but there's usually enough for way more than his team. Depends on how fast I'm moving in the morning.

Here's how my snicker doodle baking went down. I don't seem to choose very simple and tidy recipes, but like I said, they turned out well, so I'll happily clean up my mess for a good end product.

Snicker doodle dough, cream cheese filling and cinnamon to roll them in

Prebaking stage- they have to chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes

Cooling on the counter

Cream cheese filled middle

I have to say, I've made these a couple of times, and I really think these were the best result I've had yet. They are soft and chewy and have a quite a bit of the filling in the middle. Yum! I saved a couple for BK and I as well.

The other baking project I finished earlier tonight was icing my gingerbread dog shapes. I didn't get too crazy with the icing- it's just simple white icing, but it looks good and adds a little something to the plain cookies. Now I just have to decide how to festively package these together.

Icing on the dining room table

The other fun thing I did tonight was go explore the Christmas markets happening in Basel right now. In various squares around the city, small booths with crafts and handmade items have popped up, and everything is now decorated for Christmas. I met my friend EJ in one of the markets and we (she) enjoyed mulled wine and winter punch, then had a great dinner at one of the little restaurants that was set up. After dinner we walked around to some of the other areas to see what else was happening.

Here's what Basel looks like during the Christmas season:

Mulled wine stand

Barfusserplatz

Freistrasse

Munsterplatz

That's about it for today…I'm calling it a night. I was hoping to stay up until BK got home from work, but no such luck this month-end. It's always a relief when workday four comes and goes for another month :)

Let the Christmas baking begin!

Tonight I started on my Christmas baking. It might seem a little early for this, but BK is only in town this week, so I need to get these holiday treats to his team by Friday if they're going to see them before the new year when he returns to the Swiss office. 

Tonight I baked gingerbread cookies, and as usual had to make a few modifications/adjustments due to living here in Switzerland. I can't recall that I've ever made gingerbread cookies, but I wanted to do something "Christmas-y" for the packages I'm preparing. I also can't really recall making Christmas goodie bags with baked goods before either, but I figure I have the time now, so why not?

I started tonight so that my cookies would have ample time to cool, then tomorrow I will embark on icing them. I'm not sure where that will take place, as I have another cookie recipe I'll be working on tomorrow to include as well. I'm guessing I'll take over the dining room table? I can't really think of anywhere else that they will fit…

I mentioned that I had to make a few modifications. I seem to have stumbled upon another ingredient that we can't get here in Switzerland: molasses. Not that I bake with molasses a lot, but sometimes I wonder how people bake over here…no brown sugar, no baking soda and no molasses. At least I remembered to purchase a large box of baking soda when I was in the US recently, so I did have that.

After reading a number of forums online, I decided to try and mix my own concoction of items available to try and come up with what we consider American molasses. It consisted of melasse, the German word for molasses, which is essentially a very diluted form of molasses. It tasted kind of like liquid brown sugar, if that makes any sense, and is sold by the honey. From the label, it appears that people may put this on toast? Not sure what I think about that. 

The other ingredient is British dark treacle. This is basically super-concentrated molasses. I tasted it, and I have no idea what to relate it to, but it would be something that doesn't taste all that great. My homemade molasses turned out great though!

Creating molasses, and yes, it looks like some sort of tar

One of the other first steps is to soften the butter to blend with sugar. My only problem? No microwave, and I forgot to set the butter out ahead of time. My solution? Turn on the oven and just set the dish in there for a couple of minutes. The key here is not to forget about it and let it become melted butter. Also, just for the record, nothing I make is diet. You should let that expectation go.

225 grams of butter (1 cup)

After everything is mixed up, you have to let the dough sit in the fridge for one hour (giving me time to take the boys to pick up BK from work and do some ironing), then you can roll it out on a "lightly" floured surface. I never really know how much to put on the counter, but I figure better safe than sorry. 

Rolled out dough with cookie cutters

Since we've been in Switzerland the dogs have obviously been a big topic in our life, with many people hearing about our ups and downs with them. I thought it was fitting to make gingerbread cookies with various dog shapes, such as a dog, a bone, a paw print and a heart. Hopefully BK's team finds this amusing.

Just before heading into the oven

Another good thing about this recipe is that the cookies take virtually no time to cook in the oven- about 7 minutes total. I was worried about the small cookies cooking faster than the bigger ones, but it didn't seem to be a problem. I was hoping to find a weenie dog cookie cutter while in the US, but no such luck. That might be a good stocking stuffer for me (hint, hint).

Cooling on the dining room table

The last thing for tonight was to let these guys cool. Like I mentioned above, tomorrow I'll embark on icing the cookies. The recipe says to work fast with the icing, as it dries fast, so my guess is that I'll have to do a couple of trial runs, which I have a feeling may be a little frustrating for me. BK will be working late, so at least I can be alone when I go a little crazy because my icing is not working as perfectly as I want. 

Think positive thoughts! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow :)