Santa Lucia Tea Party IV

Santa Lucia Day! The wonderful thing about having this tradition pretty well established (four years is established, right?) is that it pretty much plans itself. At 38 weeks pregnant, that's almost a necessity. Things were simple and small this year as we had three families who ended up staying home at the last minute due to illness. The three mamas who were there (including me) are all rounding the end of their pregnancies, so while we missed the other families, we were grateful their germs stayed home!

We had the quintessential white dress with red sash and candle crown for our eldest, and a white(ish) dress and sweet headband for her little handmaid.

I stuck with my stand by braided cinnamon bread and reshaped orange rolls from the refrigerated section as our "lussekatters". "Tea" was some yummy juice, and we were set to go. I love how easy it is to please a group of little girls and honor a wonderful Saint.  

St. Lucy, pray for us!

St. Nicholas Day

I'm grateful for a long line of traditions to make St. Nicholas Day easy. I always know what I need: oranges, chocolate coins, and maaaybe a few other chocolates. We added a sweet Saint doll for each of them this year as well (Our Lady of Fatima for Colette and St. Anthony of Padua for our Antonia).

Anni was so sweet and patient when her sister slept in quite a bit longer than her. She actually waited for her to open her stocking! When Colette did get up, she was really excited, buuuut not entirely sure as to how to get what was in her stocking. Some quick upside dumping action help and she was set.

I love how excited they each got about each and every thing... including the clementines!

Our cloth Advent calendar is holding on strong (well, I think we might be missing one figure... but otherwise), especially with Anni being old enough to remember each day... and look ahead to see which days she wants to do.

Happy Advent!

Thankful

Our thanksgiving celebration almost didn't happen due to a random stomach bug poor Anni picked up a couple of nights beforehand. Luckily, no one else picked it up and she recovered much quicker than she usually does from these kinds of things. We drove through a flurry of snow to my in-laws and spent a day filled with lots of stories, a nap for me, and a whole tableful of amazing food. It was lovely and happy, annnnnd now I'm ready to welcome this little one. 

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Remember how I mentioned we like our traditions over here? Well last year, we somehow missed this one. I'm not sure why, because we're far busier and life is far crazier this year. Maybe missing last year reminded us how much we like our little traditions. Either way, this year, we came, we saw, we pumpkin patched.

The girls got a big kick out of finding "sister pumpkins" just like them. They also searched long and hard for their own perfect pumpkins.

Cider Days III

 

We are all about tradtion here at the Volk house. Or maybe I am and I force these things on everyone else? Well, either way, we are all about tradition here. And traditions of the Autumnal variety? Some of the best kinds. It's my absolute favorite season, so I'm all about dragging my rather good-sized baby belly off to festivals, patches, and as many crisp evening walks as possible.

This was our third year trekking off to Cider Days in our town, and it was an extra special one with three out of four grandparents there and the departure of several family members on the horizon.

 

This was Anni's third year getting to ride a donkey, but Colette's first. True to her sturdy little nature (despite her tiny stature), she hunkered down and held on tight. I know she looks scared, but she really wasn't, she was just set on hanging-on (she was safe, there's a "seat belt" wrapped around her).

There was the ever-popular petting zoo where a goat tried to trim my hair a few inches with his teeth. The girls have a "pat whatever's closest and run!" method that is both adorable and hilarious. 

Despite living 8+ hours away, my mom always fits right into our family when she comes to visit. She reads to the littles, helps potty train, cooks (my deep freezer is almost full, it's amazing!), and is generally a petite whirlwind of love and efficiency. In fact, Colette called her "grandma mama" or often just "mom" the whole trip. It was pretty confusing, but, don't worry, Colette then just called me "my other mama" most of the time, so that clears that up.

Colette's favorite part of our outing? This awesome train. I really should have taken her back later for a second time around.

After some significant Cider drinking, we settled in to watch a cowboy/lasso tricks show during lunchtime. It was significantly better than the magician (think super cheesy, not quite good enough for a birthday party magician). Anni was pretty concerned for the first three quarters of the show, because he had said he was going to include the kids, and she didn't understand why she wasn't on stage being included yet.

After several failed hand-waving-in-the-air volunteering attempts, Daddy got her down there for the "roping of all the kids". Sweet success.

Happy Fall! Next up on our docket? Well, the pumpkin patch of course!