Merry Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa

My parents were asking what to get Esme for Christmas this year.  She'll get toys for sure.  But she already has a ton of toys and really doesn't need anymore.  Besides, I don't know that even this year that she really "gets" what presents are about.  We have a few presents under the tree and I was nervous that she would try to open them.  Nope, not even once.  They are a little bit bigger presents and she just likes to go over and sit on them.  She just smiles and smiles!  Thank goodness they are sturdy gifts! :)

So anyway, back to my parents present for Esme.  She needed a bookshelf in her room.  There was one that I had been eyeing at Land of Nod.  We already had a credit there, so Grandma and Grandpa just paid the difference and Esme has a new bookshelf.

I guess it was no surprise that it was "some assembly required". 

Esme was a big help in putting the shelf together!

Finally it was finished and in place.  I think it looks great! 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Oh Tannenbaum!

We got a Christmas Tree!!!

We were going to do an artificial tree.  When my parents came out for Halloween, they brought us a very large tree that they have had for years and they haven't used for awhile because it's so big.  Our plan was to use that one.  So we got out the three boxes and got ready to put it together.  We had all the branches, but no base or center pole!  Turns out there was another box left in New England!!!  Oh no! 

So we decided to go get a real tree.  I was so excited because I haven't had a real tree since I was a little girl.  We went to the Catholic school in town and bought our tree there.

We definitely need a bigger tree skirt, but I think having a real tree is awesome and it smells divine!  Hopefully, this will be a tradition for us!

Cooking again...

I've been cooking again the last couple of days.

Still following Martha Stewart, I tried the Spaghetti Carbonara.  It was really easy and really pretty good!  I will definitely make it again. 

MS's

Mine

Also, my mom has been inspiring me to bake.  She's been baking bread and buns like crazy, looking for the perfect recipe.  I decided to try also.  So I made these buns.

I was really excited about them but they turned out not to be that great.

I made another recipe of buns and they turned out pretty good despite the fact that I started off on the wrong foot.  The recipe said to heat water and milk to 110 degrees.  I used a thermometer that I have had problems with in the past and I don't think it works. I think the liquid got too hot for the yeast, so the dough didn't really rise.  Then I tried to put them in a warm oven for a bit to see if I could get them to rise before I baked them and they ended up being a bit too done.  Despite all of that, they tasted great!  So I will definitely try the recipe again with the new $2.99 thermometer I bought at the grocery store.  I will take pictures then!  Thanks to The Brown Eyed Baker!

Kisses

Right now Esme loves giving kisses and hugs.

She will almost always give you a kiss if you ask.  She often goes up to Cricket and lays her head down on her body or puts her face up to Cricket's to try to kiss her. :)  She even gives her dolls kisses.

I love you Glow Worm!

Unfortunately, I think she tried to give Kaiser a kiss or a hug and it didn't go well. 

I always try to keep Kaiser and Esme away from each other.  If I'm home alone and Esme and I are on the main floor, Kaiser's upstairs.  If Esme and I go upstairs Kaiser gets sent downstairs.  But yesterday when Esme and I went upstairs, Kaiser was up with us.  I thought he was downstairs.  I even shut the gate so he couldn't come upstairs.  But he was upstairs on Aaron's and my bed. 

What we've learned about Kaiser is that when he's laying down, you don't touch him.  He's actually been pretty good around Esme - if she comes near him at all he gets up and walks away.  But he's particular about when he's laying on our bed.  Aaron doesn't even really touch him when he's there.

I was in Esme's room and I heard a big growl and Esme started crying.  I went into our room and there he was on our bed.  I was so surprised because I thought he was downstairs!  Then I looked at Esme and this is what I saw.

I was FURIOUS!!!  Needless to say, Kaiser was in trouble.  He got it from me.

I have no idea what to really do.  Aaron won't get rid of Kaiser.  We talked about it and it's just not going to happen.  I don't know that that's the best idea anyway, but I look at how close he came to Esme's eye and it just flips me out.  I have seen the kids come in to see our oculoplastics surgeon who have had dog bites, it's not pretty.  I hear on the news about how children get killed by their family dog.  It's so scary.  I just really hope that we never have to deal with that.

So for right now, we are being more vigilant than ever.  If Esme's running around, Kaiser is again on another floor.  We now do NOT allow Kaiser on our bed, EVER.  Even when we're out of the house, we put pillows and stuff on the bed so that he's won't jump up on it.

But as Esme gets older, my fear is that she's going to try to go after Kaiser more and more.  I've seen toddlers chase dogs.  Obviously, we can't let that happen.  So my question is this - how do we instill a respect for Kaiser in Esme without also making her scared of dogs permanently?

Animal Update

As most of you know, we are an animal friendly home.  Two dogs (Cricket and Kaiser),  two cats (Tschida and Cinder) and one vacuum that should really be used a lot more. 

We accidentally discovered a very warm and comforting place for the cats to hang out in the dining room.  Our dining room has a door out to the deck.  We always have a towel hanging near this door to wipe off dirty dog paws if it's muddy out.  At some point, the towel fell on the floor and landed right over one of the heat registers.  Instant feline magnet!!!  The cats love it.  There are two registers in the dining room, so now I put  towels on each of them for the kitties. :)  Usually there is one cat per register, but every once in awhile they like to hang out together.

Tshida has also been cozying up in front of the fireplace whenever the fire's going.

Meanwhile, the dogs are loving the snow!  Aaron took them out to Crow Hassan Park Reserve and they had a great time!

Winter is officially here in MN!

Pool Time!

We went to Grandpa Rex and Grandma Jackie's house for Thanksgiving.  Esme had a great time! 

First of all, she ended up being a great traveler!  We left at 4:30 am Thanksgiving Day thinking that she would sleep for the first several hours and we would miss the traffic out of town Wednesday night.  She was not interested in sleeping at all!!!  She was awake almost the whole drive to NE.  But she played with her etch-a-sketch and watched Baby Einstein videos, and sang songs.  She didn't really fuss at all.  It was great!  We did stop in Fargo to let the dogs out and grab Starbucks.  We actually went in for coffee so that Esme could be out of the car for awhile too.  She ran around and enjoyed stretching her legs a bit and I had a nice triple venti soy latte because I was sleepy.  Other than that one stop, Esme was in her car seat the whole time!  What a trooper!

I think Esme's favorite part of the weekend was going to the pool in Dickinson.  She was a little hesitant to be in the water at first.  But soon she was having a great time!

The slide was a HUGE hit with her.  I bet she went down about 20 times and she cried when we finally left the pool.  Can you believe this is the girl who was hating water just a few short weeks ago?  Now she loves it!

Grandpa was at the top of the slide helping Esme get started and Aaron and I took turns catching her at the bottom. 

I think the pool may be a new Thanksgiving tradition. 

On the drive home Esme did pretty well although she was a little more fussy.  It's a long drive when you're an adult, much less when you're 1!  The most interesting part of the trip happened just as we were nearing Fargo.  Esme was ready to get out of the car for awhile and was having no problem of letting us know it.  I was trying to distract her and pointed out a horse in the field along the side of the road.  As we got closer to it, I realized that it wasn't a horse.  It was a moose!  I've NEVER seen a moose in ND.  The only other time I saw a moose was when I was visiting my friend Lori in Alaska.  By the time I realized what it was it was too late to take a picture, so you'll just have to believe me.  It was crazy!

We stopped in Fargo to let Esme (and us) stretch again, this time at Scheels.  Then back on the road.  Whew!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great time!

False Advertising

Trail mix is a wonderful thing.  Everyone in our family loves it.  When we went to visit Grandma Gini and Uncle Len there was trail mix.  Esme likes the M & M's the best (really, who doesn't?). 

Melt in your mouth, not on your hands.  Yeah right. :)