California Dreamin'

Well, it's a new year, and the Foster's are starting a new life, in a new state, with a new job (cue stress!).  Most everyone's heard by now - Mike has been offered a post-doc position at Sandia National Lab, in Livermore, California.  Livermore is about 40 minutes outside of San Francisco - check it out at www.cityoflivermore.net.  Mike took the below pictures while driving around the area after his interview in December.

We got the unofficial offer on Mike's birthday, December 21st, but there were a lot of details that still had to be ironed out. So, although I still spent the week after Christmas getting ready to put our house on the market, I was (in pure Melissa fashion) anticipating bad news. Fortunately, my worries were needless (as usual) and Mike got the official offer on January 6th and our house went on the market the same day.  Did I mention we have a wonderful realtor? 

We are leaving on January 18th to go house hunting.  It will be Andrew's first plane ride! Which of course, means that Mike and I are both pretty anxious about this trip - stay tuned for a report on how that goes!

Our goal in house hunting is to find a rental starting February 1st.  This is all moving very fast... did I mention it's slightly stressful?  ;)   We are looking for a McMansion with at least 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a pool... so, everyone start planning your trips to California - there will be plenty of room! 

I am posting some pictures of our first house - the house we brought Andrew home to - for posterity.  We bought our house unexpectedly in May of 2008.  The reason why I say this purchase was unexpeceted, is because we were not house hunting at all, and still had quite a few months left on our lease in Jenkintown.  But, our fabulous realtor is always on the look out, and she had just listed this cute Cape and thought we would love it... and she was right - thanks Mom!  We put our blood, sweat, and tears into this house (even though it didn't really need it... but we like projects).  To name a few of the projects Mike completed: he updated both the bathroom and kitchen, put in new insulation upstairs, installed ceiling fans and a gas fireplace, as well as dug numerous flower beds.  I'm sure that I'm missing several other projects, but I have been continuously impressed by Mike's natural talents and determination.

  

It didn't feel right not having at least one picture of Andrew in this blog, so here's the winner!  He's just shy of 5 months old in this one.

Christmas Traditions

At this time last year, Mike and I had just shared our secret with almost everyone... we were expecting! And, all I wanted for Christmas was the little being inside me to develop into a happy and healthy baby.  Now, I have the most gorgeous, healthy and happy (most of the time) baby that I could have ever imagined.

The month proved to be as busy and exhausting as usual.  There were trees to be cut and decorated, cookies to be baked and eaten, birthdays to be celebrated, and presents to be wrapped and opened.  Although Andrew definitely enjoyed the festivities, it was a dizzying pace for Mike and I (especially now that Andrew has reverted to his pre-3 month status of waking at least twice a night).  But, traditions are traditions, and it is important to Mike and I that we introduced Andrew to those traditions from the start, and even started a few new ones.

Tradition #1 - Choosing the "Perfect" tree for Grandma Foster's house.
Mike and Uncle Dave explore fields of trees, scrutinizing every tree for the perfect one.  I've learned that the perfect one is at least 10 feet tall, very full, but not too full, sturdy branches, but not-too-prickly, and definitely not one of the first 10 trees that fit that description.  Andrew got in on the action, blowing raspberries at every tree we considered, until the final choice, which he seemed to approve of by keeping his raspberry to himself.

Andrew and I all bundled up, you never know how long these boys will take!

Saving the tree while the boys make sure there's not a better one

Uncle Dave cutting down the tree

Tradition #2 - Decorating the Perfect Tree
Decorating the tree happens several days after it is cut, in order to allow the branches a chance to fall and settle into place. Then, the magic can begin. Uncle Dave puts on his stilts, the Yule Log DVD goes on, and Grandma Foster gets out her dazzling ornament collection.  For those who are not familiar, Linda works at Pine, Wreath & Candle in Peddler's Village - a year round Christmas store.  So, as you can imagine, she has accumulated an amazing array of ornaments and has the most beautiful trees every year. There is a method to the placement of ornaments.  You start with the big red balls (I'm talking larger than a grapefruit) and fill in any spaces deep in the tree.  Then the Reflectors (Mike's favorite) and all other Shiny Bright ornaments (which I believe there were no less than 10 boxes full).  Dave uses his elongated legs to hang smaller ornaments near the top, Linda and Mom-Mom hang their Memory Ornaments (pictures of the boys, places they've been, etc).  The tree is finished off with delicate icicles.  It is perfection.

Tradition #3 - Cookie Baking
Every year, Gram Elston, Aunt Amanda and I bake Christmas Cookies.  Every year, Gram makes Spritz and Cut-outs (with Amanda and my decorating help).  Every year, Amanda makes chocolate chip cookies.  And every year, I make peanut butter cookies with kisses.  Also every year, Gram and I try to experiment with other cookies, which are generally flops.  The flops this year were the Pepper Cookies (Yucko), and Macaroons (which weren't that bad, just not my fav). However, this year Gram did come up with chocolate truffles - very yummy.

Check out our hands - this cookie led to much joking about what they looked like prior to baking!

Andrew wished he could eat some cookies - next year buddy!!

Tradition #4 - Driving around looking at Christmas Lights
We visited three houses this year and Andrew slept through it all.  Two of the houses are within walking distance, and the other just a short drive up the road.  We didn't get a picture of the last house, but the top one is our new favorite this year!

Tradition #5 - Sitting on Santa's Lap
So, Mike and I anticipated the worst with this one.  We weren't really worried about Andrew's reaction to meeting Santa, because he is not wary of stranger's yet... but we were terrified of the line that we would most likely have to wait in to get even a glimpse of Santa.  We ventured to the mall on Christmas Eve Day, preparing ourselves for Andrew's inevitable meltdown while waiting in line, but as we turned the corner, to our delight there were only two families in line ahead of us! Andrew's first time meeting Santa went beautifully!  He was happy as could be, and except for Mrs. Claus limiting our choice of pictures because her eyes were shut, the picture came out half-way decent!

Other Mall Fun

Other December Festivities:
Grammy's Party
A party was held at Grammy's house for her birthday.  We had a very nice evening celebrating a fabulous woman.  Unfortunately, we forgot our camera and did not get enough pictures of the party.  Just these few from Mike's camera phone.

Mike's Birthday
We headed to Grandma Foster's for Mike's birthday dinner.  The guest list included Mom-Mom, Uncle Dave, Aunt Cyndie, Gram, Grandpa, Aunt Amanda and Mark.  We had a yummy rack of pork for dinner and an overall great time. Andrew loved his Daddy's Birthday balloon, and delighted us all with lots of laughs while Gram bopped him on the head with it!

Christmas Eve at Great Grandmom Palm's
For as long as I can remember, we have gone to Grandmom Palm's house for Christmas Eve.  We do presents and have dinner, baking in her way-too-hot house the whole time.  Again, I forgot my camera, so the quality of pictures is not that great as they came from my phone.

Christmas Morning
Since Santa knew Andrew was pretty oblivious to Christmas this year, he kept the presents under the tree to a minimum.  Andrew opened two picture books, finger puppets, and a Santa rubber duckie!  He was more interested in the wrapping, as was Tulip and Pepe.

Andrew propped up against his presents

Tulip and Pepe get in on the Christmas action

Christmas at the Elstons'
Since Mike and I moved in together in 2007, we have done Christmas morning at my parents.  We had a breakfast of apple french toast, bacon, and mimosas.  Yum!

Thanks Aunt Amanda!!

Play time with Aunt Amanda

Christmas at Grandma Foster's
After breakfast and presents at the Elston's, we head down the road to Church Street Brewery, aka Grandma Foster's house.  We spend the rest of the day here, opening presents, eating, snacking, drinking, eating some more, etc.  This year, Mike orchestrated an elaborate dinner (as if anything else would do), and made Beef Wellington.  It was DELISH!

Andrew modeling his new hat from Grandma

Uncle Warren and Andrew

Andrew in his Christmas shirt... he never did end up wearing his Christmas pants.

 

Family Portrait