Ridge 2010 Year in Review

Christmas Pageant

Eliza participated in our Church's Christmas Pageant this year. We thought that she would want to be an angel, but nope. Here she is. She was a wise woman. This is her "game face."

Our Last Santa Barbara Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had a great day. Eliza got up around 9 a.m. We took some pictures and skype'd my parents. She loved opening presents.

 Her favorite presents were her "Suzy" pets (Zhu Zhu pets), her "science" (a chemistry set), her book from Grandpa that reads to her in his voice and this horrible, obnoxious princess laptop.

She liked opening presents but definitely took her time.

She liked her stocking. It contained the Ridge stocking prescription.

A Ridge stocking contains:
-Something to Eat
-Something to Read
-Something to Play With (and)
-Something You Need

For dinner, we had our friends, the Argyles, over. They have a baby, Lydia, who is 4 months. We had salad, ham, funeral potatoes and green beans. We ate on my legacy china. (I can't believe I didn't take a picture!! I also didn't take any pictures of us in our Christmas wear.) After dinner, we talked to family and then went to the Argyles' home to play games. We played a great game about trains. It poured rain part of the day. It was a great day!

O Christmas Tree

I love our Christmas tree. I found a good one this year. Believe it or not, I bought it at the Home Despot. I know, classy. Claron told me last year that he was never shopping for trees with me again, and he held to it. He swears that I am "too picky." I blame this on my dad. I remember one year Dad and I went all over the state of Pennsylvania looking for just the right tree. I digress. So, Eliza and I went to the Home Despot. We arrived at 3:30 p.m. The tree was unwrapped on our back patio by 4 p.m. Claron was in a state of disbelief.

The reason I love our tree is the ornaments. They all have a story. They were either bought overseas, made by us or given to us by someone special. We have this color changing angel that Eliza HAD to have at an ornament exchange one year. People tried to "steal" and she would cry! She still loves that angel.

I'm debating whether I want a garland. Also, I cant decide whether I'm taking ornaments to Germany. And, if so, how do I decide?!

What?!

Last night, we went to Red Pepper for my birthday dinner (more pictures to follow). We ate an amazing dinner, and then came the fortune cookies. We received the following fortunes:

1. Failure is feedback. And feedback is the breakfast of champions.
2. Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top.
3. Mutual assistance in despair will make the ugly situation more fair.
4. Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind.
5. Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than to be able to decide.

Really!?! Either Debbie Downer got a job writing fortune cookies or the fortune cookie industry is trying to be responsive to the down turn in the economy.

All I can say is, "Wow!" Just wow!

A Boy in a Dog Suit

Thirteen years ago, my mom took my family to a farm outside of Warwick, Maryland for a "surprise." The house on the farm had dirt floors and was in poor condition to say the least. As we arrived, a large, black puppy greeted us. My mom had visited the farm to care for a hospice patient. The family told her that the puppy was left on the farm when the owner realized it was part Great Dane and could no longer afford to feed it. My mom was in love with the puppy, but wanted to consult with the family first.

The puppy was large for his age. He had wise yellow eyes. His ears were floppy. Looking at him, you could tell how amazingly smart he was and how he just knew that he belonged to us. We put the dog in the car with us and was later named Franque.

Franque grew very quickly. His ears stayed pretty floppy, but when he was excited they would stand up. Franque loved to fetch sticks, swim in the Bay, play with the kids, but most of all, Franque loved to work. Every day (that he could) he visited hospice patients and he absolutely loved it. Franque was fiercely loyal. He slept with my mother every night. Franque was the smartest dog that I have ever met. I am convinced that he understood almost all human language and was insulted when referred to as a dog. He was very tolerant. He dealt with tons of kids playing with him. Once, an unruly cousin injured his tail by pulling it. He merely yelped and ran away.

Recently, Franque has started to really show his age. For the past five years or so, he has been turning white. In the past year, he has had "dog dementia." At times, he is not sure where he is and needs constant reassurance. A few weeks ago, Franque suffered an inner ear infection. He was unable to stand on his own and was very much weakened. He stayed at the vet and was recovering until today. Today, Franque was unable to stand or take care of himself and had to be put to sleep.

Franque has been through so much with my family. He has been a comfort in times of stress. He has been a protector and definitely a necessary member of the family. Franque and my mother shared a bond stronger than I have ever seen between an animal and a person. They have never been separated for more than a week (for vacations, etc). To say that Franque will be missed does not come close to expressing our sentiments.

Franque Vitulli

1997 - 2010

The Fashionista

Eliza chose this outfit herself.

Cute, huh? My only complaint:

Look familiar? Let me help you out.

Megamind. She looks just like Megamind.

Krampustag

In preparation to move to Munich, I've subscribed to a daily Munich photo blog. Imagine my surprise when today I got this today:

Yup, those are demons. Apparently, the Krampus is a demon that accompanies St. Nick. He carries a birch branch and a basket. If you are bad, not only do you not get presents but you either get beaten with the switch or thrown in the basket and taken to the depth of hell.

Today (5 December) is Krampustag. The Muencheners dress up in elaborate masks and parade around as Krampuses. I'd better get started on Eliza's costume. Check out these kids:

Also, this completely expands the Christmas card options. Check this out:

Greetings from Krampus and Nicholas

Greetings from Krampus

Oh, Germany, what an interesting few years this is going to be!!

A Tale of Two Flower Girls - Part Two

Everyone in the Ridge family was delighted when Andrew proposed to Sarah. While the girls that Andrew had dated before where super nice, Sarah seemed to be the perfect fit. We were even further delighted when Sarah called and asked Eliza to be a flower girl. We knew that she was a little young, but Sam, one of Eliza's favorite cousins, was also a flower girl. And, in the past, Eliza followed Sam like a little duck; therefore, we hoped that it would also be the case with the flower girl job.

We began preparing Eliza by reading tons of flower girl books. We discussed what she would do. Eliza even helped pick out her flower girl dress. She was very, very excited.

The wedding was two parts. On Friday, Andrew and Sarah were married in the DC temple. Eliza didn't really have any responsibilities this day, but she was a bit surly.

On Saturday, Andrew and Sarah were having a ring ceremony and reception at the Union League of Philadelphia. The day started well. Eliza let her Mimi (my mom) do her hair. She was excited to put on her dress and carry her flowers, but this is where the fun came to a screeching halt. We had to be at the Union League early to prepare. Eliza laid in Sarah's bed, but only got about half of her nap. Picture time came around and this is what we got:

She refused to stand with the wedding party (of which her dad was a party). She refused EVERYTHING! Time comes for her to walk the aisle for the ring ceremony. Here is the picture:

Wait! That's not Eliza you say! Well here is what Eliza was doing:

Like mother, like daughter I guess. I may have had a shiner, but at least I made it down the aisle and in the pictures. Here is an example group shot:

Yup, no Eliza again. This is the closest that we got:

Fail, fail, fail.

The reception starts and someone gets excited. Here she is welcoming the bride and groom.

By the time dancing comes around:

Did she make up for it? Welllll... I still feel like I should regularly apologize to Sarah, but thankfully, Sam was there to take up the slack. What have I learned? If I have any more girls, we do not accept flower girl positions!

A Tale of Two Flower Girls - Part One

When I was little, I was in my Aunt Nancy's wedding. I was not a girly girl type. I did not enjoy dressing up and being fussed over. I did however enjoy rough housing with my brothers. The night before the wedding I was jumping on the bed with Tony. He pushed me off and I ended up with a big, shiny black eye. They tried to apply tons of makeup to hide this, but it was pretty futile and I was pretty resistant. To make matters worse, I refused to walk the aisle; and eventually, I think my mom went with me. Later, I refused to allow the photographer to take my picture telling him that my Daddy would take care of it (and that Daddy took better pictures anyway). Here is the evidence:

Funny thing is these are the "good pictures" from my Dad.

Coming up: Eliza's tale.

One Stop Shopping

I can't get over this idea. Hilarious. It is your entire Thanksgiving meal in cake form. The layers are: 1 - Turkey Meatloaf, 2 - Stuffing, 3 - Turkey Meatloaf. The "icing" is made from Mashed Potatoes. The top is yams. All it needs is some cranberry sauce! Here is the recipe at Chow.

Halloween 2010

More to come...

Cute Find: My Rocking Wardrobe

One of the blogs that I read referred me to this store, My Rocking Wardrobe. Check this out. It is irresistible!

They also have boys clothes. Claron needs to hurry up and get a job! :)

Eliza's 1st Field Trip: The Pumpkin Patch

Eliza had her first class field trip to the Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch. They went on a hay ride, talked to the scare crow, picked out a pumpkin and played in the hay. It was a foggy, overcast day, so it almost felt like real fall.

A Day in the Life

Subjects

Growing up, my dad always had a camera and was always taking pictures. His main subject was fire trucks. After that, there was motocross. And then, he'd obligingly take family pictures.

Me? I mainly take pictures of Eliza. After that in popularity is scenery. I've also noticed another trend though.

I love the detail that you can see with each insect. Things you could never normally see. In fact, the second butterfly was tiny. He appeared to be all white.

From Sea to Shining Sea

These images are from the last week.

Atlantic:

Pacific: