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: