thanksgiving

Did you have a nice long Thanksgiving weekend?

Normally we head back to Wisconsin, but given that we had just seen the fam a few weeks ago for my sister's wedding (more details next week!), we opted to stay put this year.  While we were very sad to miss out on lots of fun family traditions, I wasn't too disappointed to miss out on traveling around the holidays.  While Samantha is a pretty easy babe to fly with, I do not miss the looks I get from fellow passengers when I come down the aisle as they pray we don't have the seat adjacent. :)

Despite the lack of family and good wintery weather, we tried to make the holiday as festive as possible to show Theresa what this essential American day is all about!  
Thanksgiving morning, we dolled our little princess up in cableknit for a day on the town.

First up was taking Theresa to our fav breakfast spot: La Boulange.

They were featuring free samples of their pumpkin creme fraiche tart and decadent pecan pie.  We took the general "take one" rule very loosely preparing the palate for our eggs.

Since we were headed to a friend's house for dinner, we didn't need to do any cooking and instead needed to pick up a spread of cheese and some good wine.  After brunch, we walked to Cole Valley to get our Thanksgiving contribution.  While Stefan made his selections from Say Cheese!, Theresa and I hung out with the babe in a nearby outdoor cafe.

By the time we got home from our walk, it was nearly 75  degrees (a full 20 degree differential from that AM - completely normal for this bipolar climate of ours), so we needed to do a little outfit change...

...and then take Theresa to tip her toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time:

After a long walk on the beach, we headed home to get dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner.

In the hustle and bustle of the evening (and wanting to savor every bite), I didn't have a second to snap a shot until dessert.

Arzimendi Pumpkin Cheesecake with freshly whipped cream.  Amazing.

We left all thoroughly full.  All in all, a wonderful day.

xoxo

KK

another family addition...

So I mentioned before that we had some other big plans in the works: we decided to get an Au Pair!  And she arrives today!

Why an Au Pair you ask?

We decided long before Samantha came along that we wanted to try and raise our children bilingually.  In addition to wanting our babies to be able to speak fluently in their father's mother tongue, we thought it would be a shame to not take advantage of those sponge-like baby brains and their ability to absorb a second language uber-easily.  And while you wouldn't think this age is super important (they don't even talk!), it turns out to be one of the most crucial points for language development there is.

While we always imagined having an Au Pair later on (like when we had a bigger house!), finding a German-speaking childcare option in San Francisco proved to be impossible.  There are no German daycares, the German-speaking Nanny options were few and far between, and of those we did find, they just didn't feel right.

So we decided to move our Au Pair plans up a tad bit earlier.  We buckled down and interviewed (over skype!) close to 10 different young women.  We fell in love with our match and cannot wait to meet her.  

So as if having a baby weren't enough of a life change, we have another member of our family joining us as well!

(In our two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment mind you - more details on how we're making this work to come. :)

xoxo

KK