The annual Santa parade

This is our 3rd year marching (well, walking and waving, actually) in Austin's Chuy's Children's Parade on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I used to take the kids when they were little so we already have lots of memories of this parade from the sidelines and we are making new ones as participants. Hehehehe...look what I found in my old boxes of photos! I don't know where our presents are - maybe we already handed them to a helper. That is Duncan's best bear "TJ." And look at Steffi's hair - it is as white as her dress!

Here they are another year with Kelsey and with foam antlers on (we had to buy a new set each year!).

3 times makes it an official tradition now, right? Whole Foods is one of the companies who signs up to provide an "entry" into the parade. Then some nice person asks who wants to participate and a bunch of us sign up and then some of us show up at the right time and place. Year 1 (2 years ago) it was hot, like 90 degrees and sunny during the parade. We wore just the tee shirts that were provided to us and I think we might have gotten a little sunburned. Check this out from that year... (yes! that is Elvis!)

The 2006 annual "hat" was a set of antlers.

Year 2 was the exact opposite. Well it wasn't exactly snowing, but it was a very, very cold and constant rain. We wore as many layers as possible. The parade started early and finished early, but miraculously people turned up to contribute gifts. It took us all day to warm up from that.

This year was pretty good - Steffi says it was perfect - a bit gray and cool, but luckily the rain held off until the drive home. And the crowds were great! You'll see in the photos below how much fun we had. We are also on TV!! We are on KEYE (http://www.keyetv.com/) in part 4 about 5:44 minutes into that clip. You can see Duncan carrying the banner and the carrot dancing in the background. Steffi and I are near Duncan behind the banner.

Mike is the carrot in these photos (there is a story about why he has a carrot suit, but we'll save that for another blog). Here he is with the corn.

There were large balloons that had to be carefully navigated around the traffic lights and trees.

Here's the Chuy's fish that had to be led around because he/she could not see out of the costume :)







The parade route started around 14th and Trinity. We walked down to 11th and then turned right and walked past the capitol and turned south down Congress Ave.

The green fruit is a pineapple. Must be a very unripe one.

Everyone wanted to high-five or hug the carrot!







Duncan and Steffi got turns carrying the banner. Duncan is carrying it on the TV shot on KEYE.







We got Santa hats this year which was good to keep our ears warm.







There was a fleet of pickups interspersed between the floats and periodically the parade would stop and we'd collect gifts in our shopping carts and then load them into the trucks.

Now we can't wait until next year. I think we're due for a warm, sunny day too!

PS- I added a link in my Thanksgiving blog to Steffi's blog about the UT game so you can see the great pictures she got. Here it is again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and it was such a busy day I don't know where to start. Okay, I'll start with Thankgiving Eve - with both Stefanie and Duncan at home at the same time - a rare event these days! We invited Mike over for dinner (yummy curly pasta with a sausage pepper tomato sauce) and had a nice time just sitting around the table talking. Speaking of tables, I don't host Thanksgiving, my sister does, but I do put out a few decorations like these precious turkeys (above) made many years ago by my own children's hands, probably in elementary school. They probably made pilgrim hats and other things that have long gone lost, but these two turkeys remain and I try to protect them all year long until Thanksgiving.

On actual Thanksgiving Day we went over to my sister's before lunch this year because we had tickets to the UT-A&M football game later in the day so she graciously offered to have an early supper this year. Before we left I had to give the dogs something yummy for their Thanksgiving feast so here they are:


Topher's bone was darker and smaller so you really can't see it, but he did get one!

The guest list included the usual susects, my sister's neighbors, Sandy and Una. Sitting around Leslie's table yesterday we realized that we had been celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter with Sandy and Una for about 10 years now. They are just like family. The day proceeded as usual with a lively game of Michigan Poker where fortunes are won and lost and the bank offers a bailout to anyone as needed. I always sit near the bank (the jar of coins) and slip pennies to anyone running low, oh - like myself yesterday. We don't keep track, but it seems like Sandy always wins. Mike gave him a run for his money this year though! Beginner's luck.

The gaming starts to wind down when it is time to make the gravy and either my sister or me has to excuse ourself from the game to stir & season the gravy. This year Leslie made two turkey breasts instead of a whole turkey and the meat was moist and flavorful. I made the jellied cranberries, which I am still amazed that they gel each year. I buy a backup can because there was that one year they didn't and we had cranberry mush. I also contribute the sweet potato casserole, with marshmallows of course! We also had peas, mashed potatoes, stuffing and our traditional German family staple for celebrations - sauerkraut & sausage. Dessert was a gorgeous trifle (Scottish style) that Una made. It looked heavy but was wonderfully light and tasty with the sherry soaked sponge cake at the bottom. I wish I had taken a picture, it was so pretty.



We were done with dinner right on time and left for the game around 4:00. On my way home from work on Wednesday, I passed the Pots And Plants garden center and they had created this with their flamigos, representing the Longhorns v Aggies:

I expect if I drive by today the Aggie flamingos will be lying on their sides. I heard that the husband and wife owners are alumni of both of these schools so they have a family rivaly. The Aggies won the last two games but UT was expected to be triumphant this year - and they were 49-9. Steffi had her good camera and got pictures of the game. Here you can see them - they are GREAT pictures!. Anyway, we had a great time at the game. The Aggies put up a good fight and most UT fans stayed well into the 4th quarter, as we did.

Thankgiving 2.0 will be this evening at Mike's house. More turkey = more leftovers - count me in!

Helping out in the store

Yesterday I got to spend the afternoon downstairs in the store instead of sitting at my desk. It was a blast! Around holiday times everyone who has an office job, here in Austin and in all of our regional offices, is encouraged to help out in the stores. There are sign-up sheets and you can work as a bagger, or whatever is needed in grocery, bakery, specialty, produce and floral. I've generally volunteered in grocery and bakery in the past. One thing I learned in grocery was how to "face" product - that means turning all of the cans and shelf items so their pretty labels are facing forward. I do it out of habit now, even in other stores!

Yesterday there were lots of "helpers" from the office upstairs, however I got what I think was the primo assignment - working in floral. Below are Stony and Meg who showed me all the ropes. Stony told me he is named after a character in a rodeo movie, I think it was called Wild Horse Rodeo, starring Alan Ladd.
My assignment was to process boxes of flowers and prepare them for display on the floor. Basically, I opened boxes, removed the flowers, gave them a "fresh cut" and placed them in black buckets with water. The nice part of this job was that I got to work outside in a little hidden work area behind produce. It was a beautiful day in the 70's so being outside was perfect. Here is the cutting table where I worked. You can see the type of box the flowers come in, the bucket and the cutter.

Some flowers came with little nets on them. Here is a before and after shot.

I didn't have time to take a picture of every flower box I opened (we went through 2 large pallets during my 4 hour shift) but here are a few...

It was a lot of fun, and all of the store team members seemed to sincerely appreciate the help. Occasionally someone would do a "shout out" over the store speaker system thanking us for being there. I think I will sign up for floral again at Christmas!

Feeling guilty

I am feeling guilty because I haven't blogged in a week. I have been thinking about different subjects, but nothing is really blog-worthy yet. We were going to go to an art fair over the weekend, but chores & shopping and football - lots of football - got in the way. The art fair would have been something interesting to write about though so it's too bad we didn't go.

This is an interesting week at work because they encourage us "office" folks to work in the stores to help out during the busy holiday rush. Actually this happens all over the company, not just in Austin. We can do this at Christmas too. In the past I have worked in grocery and bakery. Today, I'll be in produce & floral. Very different muscles are used working in the store than sitting in my chair, answering emails & talking on the phone all day (like no muscles are required for that!). I am always thoroughly exhausted after a shift in the store! but hopefully it will be good fodder for a blog.

I've been amused recently by dogs in cars. They are just so cute. And so many people in Austin drive their dogs around with them. This one was in front of me the other day on my way into the office. Notice the "Animal Friendly" license tags (Steffi and I have these too!)

These gorgeous pups were parked at the Breed's hardware store. Aren't they sweet? My dogs would be jumping out and barking and otherwise not well-behaved.

Have a great day!!

On the Trail

There's this great hike & bike trail around Lady Bird Lake that Mike and I sometimes walk around after work or on weekends. I thought I'd snap a few pics from our walk last Sunday. We always start at the MoPac bridge and walk east (or it is possibly south), crossing over at the 1st street bridge and then we walk west (or north, if the first part was really south) to the car. This loop is somewhere around 3 or 4 miles around. It's a beautiful walk and as long as it is not too crowded walkers and bikers can coexist just fine.

This is a great big tree. Pretty unusual for this area.

Austin music legend, Stevie Ray Vaughn

This was the most interesting part of our walk this day. Below is a group of women offering free advice. On anything. To anyone. Free! They had a sign and this handmade crocheted banner that said Free Advice. It was pretty funny.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEFANIE!

Tuesday, November 18th

Recognize this face? Perhaps not because you really can't see much of the face, but how about the eyes? Recognize those big blue peepers?


Yup, that's my baby girl. And this was her first birthday cake. I think our idea was to put it in front of her, take a picture and then remove it and serve slices to the guests. One look at the cake and she must have had other ideas! Perhaps influenced by our dog Bentley who she might have observed from her highchair eating this way - directly out of her bowl - she decided to try eating her cake that way too...face first. Why not? Or perhaps she waited "patiently" for me to start spooning it into her mouth the way I did with her baby food and got tired of waiting and decided to take matters into her own hands. Or face. (Stef was never a patient baby.)





This has always been one of my favorite pictures. It was just so spontaneous and totally unexpected.




Her table manners did improve over time and she eventually learned to use a knife and fork.

There were lots of presents and parties over the years.

So here it is November 18th, 2008. Hippo Birdee to Steffi today! Technically she will not be 19 until just before midnight. Each year that goes by I always remember the days leading up to her birth and the specific moment when she was born. The doctor gave me a choice of birth-days for her - just before midnight on the 18th or just after midnight, which would have made her birthday on the 19th. Saturday or Sunday. Such a choice to make after already waiting 9 months and being in labor all day! I couldn't wait to see if we would have a Stefanie or a Duncan so I said "speed it up!" And so, at 11:55 p.m. I got to say hello to my baby girl. It turns out the 18th was a good choice and firmly established a trend in the family. Both my kids are born on the 18th (November and July) and our chocolate lab Choco's puppies were born on December 18th. My cousin who has the same birthday as me (same day, different year) has an almost 1 year old son - you guessed it - born on December 18th. The 18th turned out to be a pretty popular day to be born in our family.

Now you can say hello to year 19, Stef.

Happy Birthday angel girl!