Ellie's Visit from Germany

This summer Ellie came to visit us for a month from Germany. Ellie became our au pair when Nastya left us unexpectedly. Ellie was already in country and was in transition from another host family with only 5 months left of her au pair year. We had to find someone quick since we needed help and Katelyn was barely two weeks old. We couldn’t be happier when Ellie arrived. She was a great help with new-born Katelyn on a heart monitor and a super jealous 2 ½ year old Ashley. Ellie returned back to Germany in December of 2009 after Indira got here. We loved the five months that Ellie spent with us and were very excited when Ellie asked if she could visit this summer. It’s been a year and a half since she saw everyone.

When Ellie arrived here, it was as if she never left (other than the kids being older). It was cool to watch her get to know the “big girl” Katelyn and our four year old going on 13 Ashley. When Ellie left Katelyn was a little baby, and now she’s a walking-talking toddler monkey girl! And Ashley’s changed quite a bit as well; she talks like she could be a teenager, she likes to have long conversations, and is very particular about her clothes. She can also write and draw real pictures of stuff.

Ellie came here with a suitcase full of food for us from Germany, everything from pounds of chocolate for me and beer for Mike, to German mulled wine, canned corn and even bread! It was like we got a taste of Germany right here in our house! Ellie had a long list of foods that she wanted to have while she stayed with us so she kept me busy cooking up her favorites, including cedar plank grilled salmon, Thai curry, chicken fajitas, chocolate chip pancakes, breakfast turkey sausage patties, just to name a few! Apparently, in Germany, they don’t have frozen yogurt, so that’s another thing that Ellie missed a lot.

We spent an awesome month with Ellie. We went to the beach, peach picking, birthday parties, swimming to neighbor's pool and to see my mom. We all enjoyed her company, and I especially appreciated all of the help Ellie provided with my house projects. Thanks to her, we now have a new powder room on the first floor! (More about that in another post) And I think Ellie enjoyed being here as well, besides having fun with us, she also got to do a lot of shopping! Also, another au pair, Geli, who watched kids one town away was also here during the time of Ellie’s visit. So, it was like an au pair reunion. Ellie and Geli were friends before, and now they got to see each other again!

Ellie left to go home right after Natalia arrived here. For a weekend, we had three au pairs in our house – Ellie, Indira and Natalia! When we went to drop off Ellie at the airport, Geli came along as well! Wow, four au pairs in one minivan! We definitely made some great memories!

Welcome Natalia!

On August 19th, our new au pair, Natalia, has finally arrived at our house from Germany! Here’s a picture of our first lunch together on the day she arrived with our three au pairs - past, present and future :)

She’s great, just like we thought she’d be when we chatted on Skype leading up to her arrival. Her family is originally from Kazakstan and they moved to Germany when Natalia was 2, so she speaks Russian, German and English. The plan is that she’ll continue to help me teach the kids Russian little by little.

I must say, she’s the tallest au pair we’ve ever had at 5’ 10” everyone in the house looks short! We’ve gone through the evolution of au pairs, with Nastya being the shortest, Ellie a bit taller, Indira being my height, and Natalia being a perfect model height! Check out a few fun pictures of how Natalia measures up:


Both Ashley and Katelyn liked Natalia from day one. She’s fun and energetic, and you can tell that she genuinely loves kids! So far, the transition has been very easy for us, besides Natalia’s great English, she’s familiar with everything that we have or do. I can’t seem to impress her with anything! She knows how to use a dishwasher, washer/drier, drive a car very well, use kitchen sink grinder, 3D TVs, etc. Her standard reply when I show her something is, ”Ahh yes, we have that in Germany too!”. It’s become a joke around the house. I told her to act surprised once in a while, and pretend like she doesn’t know how something works just to humor me  I think so far we’ve only discovered a few things that we have in America that she doesn’t have back home: DVR feature on the TV, full-service gas stations, and something else, I can’t recall at the moment.

I’m impressed with Natalia’s easy going attitude, I thought that for sure we would overwhelm her with our busy lives.. We constantly have a full house of people and it can get a bit crazy, but she seems to enjoy it, being that she comes from a big family (she has an older brother and a younger sister, and lives at home with parents and grandparents!). I think we’ve found another perfect match and will have a great year with Natalia!

Ashley's Swimming Lessons

Unlike Katelyn, who’s a fearless monkey, Ashley was afraid of the water, and would cling to us in the pool every time we went swimming. She was afraid to let go. But, at the beginning of this summer Ashley asked me to sign her up for swimming lessons. She told me she wants to learn to swim like our neighbors Emma and Liam (her two best friends), it was obvious that she was ready for it. I signed her up for a 10 week session at the Five Star Aquatic Center next to my office, to go once a week for 30 minute class.

The first class Ashley was terrified, she saw the other two kids putting their faces in the water with goggles on, and floating on their backs, and she took off and ran out of the pool. The instructor was very patient, and he helped her get over her fear and by the end the first class she was so excited that she could do what the other kids were doing that she didn’t want her lesson to end. That day we went out and bought Ashley her own pair of goggles.

The second week when we returned, she floated on her back by herself for 5 seconds!! And wasn’t afraid to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. The one week improvement was unbelievable! Ashley gained confidence in the water really quick, plus with some practice in our neighbor’s pool, she actually figured out that she can float and swim by herself with a bubble on. Here’s a video of the first day that she swam by herself with a bubble on:

Yesterday was Ashley’s last swimming lesson of this session. She’s mastered swimming short distances with her face in the water, and floating for 10 seconds. She’s not afraid to jump into the pool from standing position at the edge, and she can pull herself up and out of the pool by grabbing to the side!

Here are some videos from her swimming class two weeks ago:





Out of the four kids in her class she improved the most. She can swim on her back holding on to a board, she can float on her back for 10 seconds or more, and yesterday she was able to swim without any help all of the way across the short end of the pool! She was the only one in her class to be able to do it! We couldn’t be more proud of her! She’s ready to move up to the next level, and that session will start in September and go all the way through December. I can’t wait to see her do even more!

RIP Blue

When Nastya came over for Katelyn's birthday, she brought Ashley a blue fighting fish. It's called a fighting fish because they'll attack and kill other fish. Ashley was very excited to have her own pet, she named him Blue. We put the fish bowl in her room, and it was her job to feed him every morning and evening, and I'd change his water once a week.

He was doing alright for a couple of months, until he got more and more lethargic over a period of a week, and then one morning Ashley and I found him on his side on the bottom of the tank. Ashley thought he was sleeping, but it was obvious that he wasn’t. Once I told her that he was dead, she got very upset. It’s the first time that something she cared about was no longer living. She was crying so hard and I didn’t know what to say. We needed backup, so Nana came to the rescue. We called her up on the phone and she explained to Ashley that Blue went up to fish heaven, because God needed him to help him take care of the fish. Ashley had a lot of questions about everything, especially how does Blue get to heaven, so Nana explained that it’s God’s secret, and that when no one is around he takes him to heaven. Ashley felt much better knowing that Blue is ok and she talked about him a lot and how she missed him, but it was ok. So, while Ashley ate breakfast, I flushed Blue down the toilet and put the fish bowl with water back in Ashley’s room. When Ashley came up to brush her teeth she saw that Blue was gone and that he was now in heaven. We said a little prayer for him and that’s it. Ashley asked for another fish, but I don’t think we want to do this again right now, perhaps when she’s a bit bigger.

Tinton Falls Summer Rec Camp

This year, we signed Ashley up for the Tinton Falls Summer Recreation Camp to give her something to do in the summer other than hang around at home with her sister. It ran for five weeks from beginning of July, four days a week, from 8:30 – 1pm. Ashley had to bring snacks and lunch every day. Since we usually feed kids real food for lunch, finding food to bring for lunch wasn’t easy. We agreed on a cinnamon raisin toast with butter, along with some fruits. (Ashley can’t have peanut butter because it makes her itchy, and she’s not a fan of cold cuts.) She had the same toast EVERY day for 5 weeks and didn’t get tired of it!

They had to wear her green shirt every day (they gave us two, so we can wash them), which was interesting - the shirt was so large that it was like a dress on Ashley! Here’s a picture of her heading out the camp on the first day:

I can’t say enough good things about the program. Ashley, who’s not a morning person like her mommy and daddy, didn’t complain once about getting up early to go there! Every day they had a new theme and a new activities to do, they went to the Spray Ground, on a pirate ship, to gymnastics, on a Fun Bus, to the Movies, and other trips all in a five weeks time! Every day when we went to pick her up, she was happy to show off her hand-made crafts. It was an awesome program! When I asked her what her favorite theme was, she couldn’t decide on one, she loved them all! Can’t wait for her to do it again next year!

Kid’s Trip to the Dentist

Last month I went to Dr. Bilow to get my teeth cleaned, and since then Ashley has been asking me if I could take her to the dentist to get her teeth cleaned as well. So I made an appointment with Dr. Diane (Jen’s best friend from High School). She has her own pediatric dentistry practice in Point Pleasant.

I didn’t set any expectations for what I thought would happen when we went. Ashley tends to chicken out at the last minute, but this time she didn’t. We talked about it a lot before hand and once she got in the office she was pretty calm.

We’ve read the book “Dora goes to the dentist” more than 100 times, so she was pretty familiar with what will take place. Also, Ashley loves to brush her teeth and is very proud of how her teeth look. She let Diane examine her teeth, clean them, and take X-Rays. There was no fuss or crying, and her teeth are in good shape, no cavities! Ashley was very brave and I think she found the whole process to be rather interesting!

We took some nice pictures at the office, and then it was Katelyn’s turn… Katelyn is not very good at brushing her teeth, and she doesn’t like when we do it for her. We have to fight with her every time. So needless to say, her appointment wasn’t like Ashley’s. Nevertheless, Diane managed to check and clean her teeth while I held her on my lap and it was over before long. Diane didn’t do X-rays on Katelyn since she wouldn’t sit still. Katelyn has an extra tooth on the bottom, so her bottom teeth appear crowded. According to Diane, it’s no big deal, and it doesn’t mean that she’ll have an extra adult tooth. We’ll have to wait and see!

Since Diane’s office is not too far from Jen’s house. We stop by to visit Jen and baby Jack, took a stroll down the boardwalk, took the kids on a carousel ride and got some ice cream! Katelyn was grumpy since she didn’t nap well that day, but I think she looks cute with her grumpy face, so here is a picture from the carousel ride:

July 4th Celebrations

After my birthday weekend getaway, we still had the Independence Day to celebrate! On July 3rd we went to the Mayor Pat Menna’s Kaboom party in Red Bank to watch the fireworks. It was raining on and off all day, but that didn’t stop the show. Red Bank hosts New Jersey’s largest fireworks display every July 3rd and we got the best view in town from the balcony overlooking the Navesink! It was a fun night out! On July 4th, our friends Irina and Vadik came down for an afternoon and we all went to Long Branch in the evening to watch the fireworks at the beach. We picked up Joan and David on the way to the beach, it was another fun night!

My Awesome Birthday Weekend!

** Disclaimer: This post is going to be long! **

The last couple of years my birthday has been overshadowed by other significant events. Two years ago, on my 30th birthday, Mike was sworn in as Mayor. The people got together to celebrate at The Falls, but I couldn’t even really go, b/c Katelyn was only two weeks old and we just got home from the hospital after having Katelyn diagnosed with sleep apnea. She was on the monitor and no one yet knew how to take care of her with that thing attached to her 24/7. I went out for an hour to meet up with Mike while my mom watched Katelyn but that was it.

Last year was Katelyn’s first birthday party/our annual BBQ bash two weeks before my birthday. So again, my birthday celebration consisted of going to dinner at Rooney’s in Long Branch. The food was mediocre and coincidentally Long Branch mayor was there celebrating his reelection. So, again it turned out into a bit of a political event.

I’m definitely not complaining, but also so far none of my birthdays have been anything to brag about.
This year Mike planned a birthday weekend getaway for the two of us, and he went all out! He booked dinner reservations for us at Mediterra in Princeton and a room at the Lambertville Inn. We’ve always wanted to stay there but never did. We started out on Friday afternoon (my actual birthday) and stopped at Freehold Mall on the way to Princeton.I got to pick out a new purse, wallet and sunglasses from Coach store. It was a nice birthday surprise! After our quick shopping stop we headed to dinner. The weather was great, so we got a table outside (no line, since we had reservations!). We went for paella and white sangrias. It was a very nice and relxing dinner. It felt like we were on vacation!

We were too full for desert so we walked around and then got some cup cakes from The House of Cupcakes (they are a winner of the Food Network ‘Cupcake Wars’ show). They were pretty tasty, and the variety that they had in the store was quite impressive!

Across the street, there were people dancing in front of the library. It was the Princeton Salsa Club. We joined in for a few minutes, since after all of the sangria it seems like a great idea! After that we drove over to Lambertville just in time to see the fireworks over the Delaware River! We checked in at the hotel and got a bottle of wine from Unionville Vineyards and coupons for free wine tasting at the vineyard. The afternoon and evening alone were so nice that it exceeded any expectations that I may have had for the day. But wait, there’s more!
The next day, we had room service breakfast, and headed out to shop around town.

On the way out, Mike told me he had a surprise for me, but didn’t know if he should tell me what it was. I didn’t want to be left hanging, so he told me that he booked us a hot air balloon ride at sunset in Flemington!! I was very excited but at the same time a little scared. I didn’t expect to be going in a wicker basket high in the sky when I woke up in the morning and now the anticipation was starting to build! We walked across the bridge to New Hope, PA, and visited our favorite bookstore! It’s always a nice treat, they have a lot of gardening and cooking books that are always fun to look at. I bought Mike a new ‘Life is Good’ T-shirt. For life has been really good and for that we are grateful! We had lunch at another favorite place, the Triumph Brewery. It was another awesome meal. Mike had the beer sampler; we shared some calamari, a fresh salad and blue cheese burger.


We walked around some more after lunch and found a massage place, so to make the weekend getaway experience even more relaxing, we went for a 15 min neck, shoulders and feet massage! We still had a lot of time to kill so we decided to start heading to Flemington, and stop at the Unionville winery for a tasting. The wine we got at the hotel was just awful, it was a very dry white, and not to our liking, however once we got to the winery and tasted a few, we found that they did have a lot of decent wines, both white and red. We bought a bottle of each to bring home. After that still had a lot of time left before our hot air balloon ride, so we headed for the Flemington Outlets. We haven’t been there in years, and it changed a lot. More than 50% of stores were vacant, and businesses have moved out to strip malls along the highways in town! The kitchen store was still there, so I was happy. We browsed around and got a couple of small things. The time was nearing for our hot air balloon ride. We drove to the launch site, and we were there to watch them inflate the balloon. We had to sign a waver which was a little scary. The balloon was huge! I’ve never seen one this close. Mike looked tiny standing next to it.

We learned a lot about the hot air ballooning. Turns out you have to have an FAA commercial balloon pilots license and log at least 3 takeoffs and landings every 90 days to be able to fly people. Most people that do this do it for fun. They have regular jobs and the flying passengers just pays for the balloon and it’s upkeep. I never gave it any thought but after watching those guys blow up the balloon you realize how much effort goes into a single flight. There was four people (plus a teenager) on the ground helping to inflate the balloon. They helped us get in the basket and off we went - the two of us with the pilot.

The rest of the folks got into a chase vehicle and followed us as we drifted through air. There’s no way to control the direction in which the balloon will go. There was practically no wind, so we drifted very high up, the pilot was hoping to catch a wind current, and so we went one mile up in the air!! It was a clear evening so you could see very far! Here are some pictures from our ride:

It was a little scary at first, since you are just standing in a basket one mile up in the air! You don’t feel the breeze since you are moving with it, there was no turbulence and the temperature up there was the same as down on the ground. We descended lower and flew above the tree tops over some farm land. The scenery was very pretty! It was interesting to look down; it was if we were spying on the people below. The dogs were barking at the balloon, and a lot of people were coming out of the houses to wave to us and take pictures of the balloon. One family even offered us to come down for some pizza! It was really neat. The balloon ride lasted about an hour. The pilot kept in touch with the people in the chase vehicle via radio. They followed us the whole duration of the flight until a landing destination was selected. Turns out they just find a nice green backyard to land on, and if people are home they give them a bottle of champagne. The pilot said that most people don’t mind because it’s cool to have a balloon land in your yard, however he said that he’s encountered a few that were not so welcoming and tried to chase him off the property. If he had enough fuel, he said he just went back up in the air to the next person’s yard. If it was getting dark already or he didn’t have enough fuel, he had to just quickly pack up and call it an emergency landing. In our case, he picked a site to land; the chase team was waiting for us there when we started descending. The grass looked tall and it looked very wet, so he radioed that he’ll keep going. He pumped more air into balloon and we went up over the trees to land in a side yard next to a big house. Again, the chase people were already on the grass waiting for us to land, as soon as the basket was low enough for them to grab it, they held it down so that we can get out. They put the balloon and basket on the side, and disassembled it in pieces. We helped them fold up the balloon and load everything in the truck after which we drove back to the launch site for a glass of champagne and some appetizers. The people were very friendly and we had a great time hanging out with them before heading home. We were a little hungry, so we stopped at Outback for a quick appetizer and a drink before returning home.

Needless to say, this was a birthday to remember! I can’t believe all that we did in just one and a half day’s time! It felt like we were on vacation for at least 3 days! Mike really outdid himself, and I’m really appreciative of all of the effort he put into planning getaway for us. We really need to relax and this weekend accomplished just that!

Fresh Garlic from My Garden

Last fall I planted about 20 garlic cloves in my garden for fun, and to my surprise, they all grew into healthy heads of garlic! I dried them out and we’ve been using our home grown garlic for all of the cooking! Really cool, will definitely plant even more this fall!

Katelyn’s Kitten Birthday Party!

Katelyn loves to meow like Cinnamon, so this year’s birthday party theme was a no brainer - we had to do a Kitten Party! I found perfect decorations/serving ware with orange kittens on purple backgrounds, so here’s what we came up with. For snack, I served fish crackers from a “cat” dish, as well as made my own cat food by mixing rice crispy cereal with chocolate flavored crispy cereal. We bought headbands with cat ears for everyone and my mom made cat tails for the kids.

For entertainment, we can a cat food eating contest, we lined up the kids on the sidewalk on all fours, and they had to eat “cat food” from a plate without using their hands. It was so funny to watch!! And then we had the ‘Step on Kitty Tails’ game. The kids chased after each over in the back yard, trying to step on each other’s tails. We finished the party with fish-shaped sugar cookie decorating and some yummy cake. I wish I had the time to make the cake myself, but this time we had to by it. I wasn’t terrible impressed with the decorating that they did at Wegmans, but it tasted good :)