Friday Favorites

In an effort to be more regular about blogging, I'm going to try and post a favorite something on Fridays. These will undoubtedly be random and unrelated from week to week, but hopefully will be fun, too.

My first favorite is one of my favorite Christmas gifts I recieved. I recieved a batch of these babies from my MIL and am loving them. I've long been a lover of the Sharpie, but these little wonders have taken my admiration up a notch. The color selection is limited now, but hopefully, soon it will grow to match the variety of the beloved firstborn. Sadly, these aren't available here in Austria, but I'm sure I'll be stocking up on our next trip home. So, even though Christmas is long past, what gift are you using daily or loving so much still?

Look At Those Teeth

Well, Miss Katy has decided to go and get some teeth. Here are a couple of pics attempting to showcase the first two. She's been sporting these for about two weeks now. In other development news, she can crawl (since 6 months old), pull up to her knees (this happened the same week she started crawling), pull up to standing (since 7 months old) and is attempting to take a few steps holding on to the couch or whatever else she has pulled up on.

New Year's Eve 2009

We spent NYE, at least part of it anyway, with the Rybinskis. We all had a great time hanging out with our friends. We used Tamika's new racelette grill and it was yummy. The kids played and the grown ups chatted. Sadly, we had to leave before midnight to come home to Daisy. She gets a little stressed out when all the fireworks start going off. I can't really blame her thougth since it pretty much sounds like a war zone. Hope you all had a geat time.

Ok a couple more

Here are a couple more pics I found of December.

Our Christmas tree.




This would have been our Christmas card photo.

A quick look at December

And by quick, I mean really quick. December sort of flew by, just like it did for you all, I'm sure. I must say that I really do love Christmas in Vienna. The schedule is way less hectic, and the overall feeling in the air is more Christmas and less commercial. We only made it to two Christmas markets this year, but enjoyed them both. Here are a few pics. Jake is holding the rest for ransom, jk.

Kim and I spent a morning making cookies at Karen's. We all had such fun, and I got to use a Kitchenaid mixer again. sigh.


We spent Christmas Eve with the Greg and Karen also. It was a cozy evening.

Just a pic of Abby. Her new fav pose is with her tongue hanging out.

In other news

A brief photo essay of what has been going on around the Haskew household.

First, up Abby went and turned six on us. I was a bit sad when we asked her to show us how old she was and she had to use 2 hands.

Abby had her last Lichterfest at Kindergarten. This is one of her good friends.

I just really like this one. Two peas in a pod.

Katy had a little cold.

Headed Out for the Weekend

We're gearing up for our annual trek to Rothenburg, Germany this weekend. This will be the third year we've traveled to attend the Euro American Family Retreat. We absolutely love this new tradition of ours. It is a time to get our spiritual cups filled and get a little rest from the daily grind here in Vienna.
We hit our first Christmas market this afternoon, as well. There is a small one not far from where we live and we had never been before. It was sort of odd to me to be doing something Christmas before Thanksgiving, but by the time we left I could feel a bit of the Christmas Spirit stirring.
I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving Dinner next week, too. We'll be coming back from Germany on Wednesday and will celebrate with team and some friends on Sunday. It's always an adventure figuring out how to make a grand meal in a smurf size oven. I think everyone just about has in down by now.
Here are a few pictures from the market tonight. First off, it's just not Christams in Vienna without scary, devil like creatures called Krampus.

In one of the building there were these displays about Christmas in the countries of the Donaudelta. This one is of Bulgaria.

Abby got to help make some cookies. Love the little hat.