A Christmas Wish

Christmas is full of shiny things
That sparkle, gleam and glow;

These holiday pleasures dazzle us,
And yet, deep down, we know...

That Christmas has its special gifts,

But our year-round joy depends
On the cherished people in our lives,

Our family and our friends.

 Wishing a very warm, happy holiday season from the Barrel!

Poem by Joanna Fuchs

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Today was the first big snowfall in the city where the barrel resides. Luckily, it is the weekend and we are able to take full advantage of the discovery of snow's treasures.

Sand box toys makes for great snow molders!

 As tradition, the day after Thanksgiving is spent decking the halls and trimming the tree. Now we have a little white stuff to help bring us into the full holiday season.

Now we are off to sipping hot chocolate and playing around the tree....or behind....

Gobble Gobble and Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to our faithful readers! Today we opened the barrel to our family in celebration of harvest and family in the annual American tradition of Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year including, but not in order of importance: 

1. Health--although the 2 week cold has plagued all of us, Elias is doing so well on profylaxis and has been bleed free. We were also able to kick his inhibitor out of the barrel in 3 months time. Elias is a very active boy who I think missed the memo he has hemophilia except for his every-other-day treat of watching TV while getting factor. (Well, he's allowed Sesame Street every evening as part of wind down...)

2. Family--we had the opportunity to spend the day with the Flora's and are reminded what a loving, thoughtful family we have. Many do not have this as Mama and Daddy experience each day at their prospective jobs. We are fully surrounded by their love and kindness.

3. Prosperity--we are able to finally live comfortably and have a larger barrel to open our arms for family gatherings as well as allow Elias to run and explore. 

4. Love--to be able to give endlessly to all those in and visiting the barrel.

Here's some highlights from our Thanksgiving Day:

Mama made her first turkey!

Although there was a small "incident" of missing giblets, it came out near-perfect (thanks to the guidance of Alton Brown and Gunthrop Farms for supplying a locally grown bird.)

Our table of Bounty

Too much turkey? Someone fell asleep right at the table...

Trick or Treat!

It's All Hallows Eve here in the barrel and we stepped out to sample the local sugar confections....

Elias discovered the joys of many different styles refined sugars present themselves in. Favorites of the eve: Tootsie Roll Pops, Sour Twizzlers, and Fun Dip. Consuming these items was followed by large bounds of energy. Halloween was certainly a well-enjoyed evening.

Pumpkin Time

We are getting ready for Halloween here in the barrel. Elias has his army of Drucolmo and Mr. Lantern to scare away the creepies and to delight the treaters.

Master of the Utensil!

This post goes out to all of Mama's therapy friends. Elias has been working very hard and for about 3 weeks has mastered both the spoon and fork with chunky purees. He was quite the natural and had no difficulty with this skill at 16 months. Please admire below:

A Little Fall Fun

This weekend we made our annual trek to the southern part of the state. The trees have all turned to their yellows, reds, and browns. The crispness has finally met mornings. Although we had an extremely dry and hot summer, Fall has shown some beauty in Indiana. So we celebrated with going to a pumpkin patch (strategically located on the Huber Farms) with Miss S. and for some wine tasting as well to stock out cellar in preparation for the holidays.

Deciding which pumpkins to bring home....Mama loved the lone white one.

Elias is SO big!

Barrel tasting anyone? These don't look like our barrel...

We got to ride the tractor to and from the patch with Miss S.

We stayed with Miss S in Louisville. Not only did we get to meet Sweet Adeline...sorry no pictures of the little lady who is the new daughter of Mr. J and Ms. A, but we got to play with Ringo!

We ended the weekend with a little light shopping at the outlet mall and then headed home. Needless to say we were all tuckered out by the end of Sunday. And will curl up in hopes of a Colts win this evening, sipping our new wine and playing with our new tractor.

O'zapft is! Wir geht nacht Deutschland!

This year marks a very special anniversary....the 200th year of the marriage celebration of Konig (King) Ludwig I and his bride Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, also known as the Oktoberfest. So we decided about 2 years ago that we would return to Germany to join in this very special occasion. We were also able to bring Elias to see his extended family and the beautiful sits of his Oma's home country. Needless to say a very good time was had by all and we were able to soak in the local celebrations. 

Sipping Starbucks in the airport like Daddy

Discovering the inner workings of the airplane

Although Elias has been on many flights (4-5 hours), this was our first attempt internationally with a raging toddler. We were fortunate that going over Elias slept most of the trip, however this was not the case coming home. Keeping a very active 16 month old entertained was quite the challenge for 10 hours.

Elias was VERY excited about FC Bayern  München gear!

Opa's castle

Dressed to celebrate! 

Elias drinking from his stein (of lemonade...) 

Give a boy a rock and a stick and he's happy!

All the new grandparents and their boys!

Enjoying time with his 2nd cousins

 Mama and Daddy were able to enjoy a FC Bayern  München game against Mainz. The seats were amazing, the playing was not. We lost 2:1.

Our new summer home ;)

Auf Wiedersehen! Tschuss!