Modern Family// Christmas and Chanukah

Being the "modern family" that we are..(thats my attempt to be funny), we decided that this year it was time to embrace the goodness and really try to educate the kids about the differences between myself and my husband (besides the obvious..I'm Catholic and he's Jewish) and try to get them excited about them. So last week, he bought a Menorah, candles and started the first night of Chanukah off with some Potato Latkes and a prayer. Arielle was very interested and asked a lot of questions about it, coincidentally, we had been to a rather large Bar Mitzvah the weekend before so she had just been surrounded with hundreds of friends and family to celebrate her second cousin ( who was our ringbearer..)becoming a man!

Anyway, I was pleased with her level of dedication (and that of her dad) and very satisfied anytime the man cooks something..thats tasty. 

Anyway, we had our tree up early in December and as Christmas fast approaches, its filled with lovely wrapped silver presents delivered directly from the North Pole by the Elf who lives on our shelf and a lot of other places these days. I decided to jump on the elf bandwagon because I knew if I hadn't I would revert to just letting sleeping dogs lie and what fun is Christmas without a littlle anticipation, some terror over this elf watching your every move and some discipline on the side. So all in all, we're good with our modern traditions this year!

5 Months Old

So my little booboos is 5 months and funnier than ever. She's got a great sense of humor (and a temper..occasionally!). She laughs and plays like a kid not a baby anymore. She now more than ever expressing her preference for being upright, she only wants to sit up and is infact lunging forward as if she wants to crawl! AHHHHH..anyway, she just rolled over out of the blue yesterday..so thats awesome!

This month, Evalie is also faced with adjusting to a nanny who started with her last week for three days a week. Unfortunately, she is still protesting the bottle but has been making it through the day on a few spoons of solids ( we've done squash, carrots, sweet potato and now sweet peas..). She also detests her cereal which I find a bit strange because its rather bland and mixed with expressed milk. The nanny seems to be good so far except for Evalie not eating all day.

We've been to a few holiday functions and she's been absolutely excellent even through the "wedding-like" Bar mitzvah went to last weekend. We also drove to Virginia on Saturday morning and returned on Sunday night and she was great for the most part, not really phased by all that time in the car or sleeping in a new place! At this point, I am realizing that I love her more everyday and am conflicted because I am so anxious to see her older but at the same time want her to slow down! I love this little girl so much that I think the only person who ight love her more is her sister! I hope they remain best friends forever! I love you both Arielle and Evalie. Be safe.

Italy Series: Rome: Pantheon

 

The Pantheon is a building in Rome, Italy, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD

I still remember the moment I first saw this building..it was amazing. All we could say to each other was.."wow". Everything about it, its scale, materials, detailing and phenomenal effects is just fantastic. Once we settled into a routine in Roma, we actually walked through Piazza della Rotonda and by the Pantheon several times a week going to and from our Italian class (yes, ..we took Italian with the students!) Imagine that commute everyday, meandering through the tight cobblestone streets, watching the ever-so stylish Italian women walk gracefully while I try not to lose me heels, seeing amazing structures along the way.. I'll trade NYC any day for that walk to work.

From Trastevere, we approached the Pantheon from the back and it appears to be completely unassuming, I think we initially started taking pictures of this statue in a smaller Piazza just before you reach it and the husband then noticed the back of the building and says "I think that might be the Pantheon.."..imagine that! We walked up and sure enough, there it was..we gazed at it in amazement then realized we were about to be late for Italian class so we rushed off. For the next four months, we would visit the Pantheon on our own, with family when they visited and of course walked by it almost everyday. Good morning Pantheon..hah.

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).

It is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria della Rotonda." (..via)

On the inside, the Oculus provides an intense amount of natural light and the scale of the coffered dome becomes apparent. The ornate detail is beautiful and even though the space is filled with people at any given time, the acoustics of the Dome made it feel almost like we were alone. 

details on the columns

Underside of the exterior Portico

base of column

  

I love Beaba..

Just before Thanksgiving, Evalie's doctor suggested I start her on solids and so I thought this might be a great chance to get her used to others ways of getting nutrients besides her preferred method..which is...ME. Since I had already bought quite a few acorn squash for the holiday dinner, we started her with that. I had was steaming them in the oven so I just scooped one out for Evalie before I glazed the rest. Just as I was about to begin manually mushing it, I remembered I been given this Beaba Babycook as a shower gift. so I took it out and tried it! i loved it, in seconds I had perfectly mushed baby food!  

Now we're onto food number two ,carrots and I figured I should take advantage of all its capabilities so I steamed a few carrots in its cooking basket and then once it was done, poured the carrots right into the blending basket and immediately was able to puree them into this wonderfully fresh, smooth, bright orange baby food. It requires nothing else just a bit of water for a steaming. So I'm in love with it and am very excited to make more food. Apparently, you can make chicken, rice and more in it too...can't wait to make her something crazy like curry chicken in there..just kidding. Anyway, this may not be new to anyone but I remember trying this with a different food mill when Arielle was born and gave up very quickly because it was cumber some. 

Now, I take the pureed vegetable and put equal amounts in little baby storage cube and pop them in the fridge for dinner each night. tonight I'll be making sweet potatoes.

I am not being paid for this post..maybe I should be but I just really like the item!