The best cake I ever made

Ok, to be honest, I haven't made many cakes in my life. I'm more of a cookie or bread sort of baker. But yesterday was my sister's 25th birthday~ she is gluten-free and it isn't easy to find delicious tasting GF desserts~ so I decided to make her this cake from the glutenfreegoddess blog. Oh my word. It was so delicious. It's a flourless cake made mostly of chocolate, eggs and cream. Its silky. Its smooth. Its delicious. Do yourself a favor and make this cake. Its perfect for the holidays, a birthday, a dinner party, or a Saturday night. Enjoy!

Trimming the Tree

Having little hands around to "help" decorate this year has definitely changed things... we debated about putting up a tree or not but finally decided to go ahead with it. Geoff even surprised me by suggesting we get a live tree this year rather than put up our [puny] fake one we used the past 2 years. It fit well in our tiny apartment when we first moved here but there just is no comparison to the beauty of a real vs. fake tree. {Thanks again, honey!} I grew up with live trees so its something that's hard for me to compromise on. When Geoff and I were dating in college, he lived off campus with some guys and we all went out one Saturday morning to cut down a tree after I'd made french toast for everyone. One of my favorite memories from college, probably~ it felt like such a family activity. Here we are:

Anyway, back to now... we've really enjoyed the Christmas season as a family so far this year. Telling Zoe about ornaments as we hung them on the tree, going to the neighborhood tree lighting ceremony, driving through our neighborhood to judge look at outside Christmas lights... it's been a lot of fun making new memories and anticipating the years to come of new normals and new traditions. For next year I plan to make a felt tree for Zoe to decorate all her own like this one and make some sort of Advent calendar to do as a family. I'm looking forward to it already!

Enjoy some pictures of our Christmas adventures so far this year... we are doing our Peck family Christmas (the 3 of us) on Saturday and heading up to PA to be with my family for Christmas week on Sunday. We hope you all enjoy your Christmas holiday!

Old Town Alexandria

Merry Christmas!

Williamsburg

A few weekends ago, we got out of the city and spent some time in Williamsburg as a family of 3. We enjoyed food at one of our favorite restaurants, Food for Thought, for lunch. We sniffed candles until we were sick at the huge Yankee Candle store – its the size of a department store, filled with specialty items and more candles than you can imagine. Did you know they have a new line out this year based off the “My Favorite Things” song? Wanna know what Brown Paper Packages, White Woolen Mittens or Whiskers on Kittens smell like? Now you can!

We spent our evening in Colonial Williamsburg enjoying the sights of  the Christmas decorations and tastes of the {free} samples from the Peanut Shop. An absolute must-stop on the list, for sure. Sadly it was late in the day and several samples were empty… but there were several new varieties we hadn’t tried before which made up for it. Our dinner was sandwiches from the Cheese Shop and we took dessert back to our hotel with us from Aromas (a local coffee shop). Its a tough call, but the dessert may have been the best part of the day… :)

We ended our weekend away by visiting our old church in Virginia Beach and reconnecting with friends over lunch. The church had acquired a new building since we’d left so it was exciting to see the new space, and so many friendly faces. It was a short but great weekend away and we’re already planning our next trip back!

11 months

A month away from Zoe turning 1 and I know with all the holiday festivities going on, time will fly even faster than usual! Geoff and I have been talking about how we almost can't believe this is Zoe's first Christmas since it just seems like she's been part of our family forever. This time last year we didn't know whether we were having a boy or girl, I was on bed rest, and we were oh so anxiously awaiting the arrival of our child - I wanted her to come early but she was super comfortable in there :)
This past month has been a great one! Zoe has really mellowed out and her goofy personality is starting to show through more clearly. She is pulling up on everything and can move between furniture if she really wants to. She stood without support for a second or two last week but doesn't seem too interested in letting go of the security of an object to hold on to just yet. Fine by me! Probably my favorite thing is her love of stuffed animals right now- she gives them all hugs and sometimes wants to take one along with her in the car.
Some funs and not-so-funs this month...

FUNS
~ she has mellowed out so she is much more easy going, less whiny, and more into independent play
~ continues to be a pretty good sleeper, getting about 12 hrs each night and 2 daytime naps (sometimes one of her naps is 2+ hours which makes such a difference! if only it were every day)
~ enjoys books and looking through them on her own, can keep her occupied for awhile!
~ gives hugs and kisses
~ gives high fives
~ generally eats very well- she loves broccoli, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados and bread
~ she absolutely loves playing in the tub and just got some new bath toys from Oma!
~ her two bottom teeth fit between her top teeth which gives her the cutest little grin :)
~ She babbles on and on, and I think she has a word for "daddy" that sounds something like "dah"? She is going to be a talker for sure!
~ Zoe loves people and other kids/babies in particular. She loves play dates and its helpful when she goes to the nursery to counteract the mommy-clingyness :)

NOT-SO-FUNS
~ she went 12+ hours without eating 2 or 3 nights this month but overall continues to wake up to eat around 11pm... sometimes I can get her back to sleep without feeding her at that point but she usually wakes up an hour or two later to eat anyway...
~ I feel like I'm saying "no" A LOT! Whether its the Christmas tree or getting into the kitchen pantry, she ignores the 15 times I say "no" and redirect her until I finally block her path or we have to move to a different room for awhile. She's definitely got a stubborn streak in her.
~ The car continues to be a challenge. She just isn't happy in the car for more than a few minutes, generally. We recently went to Williamsburg for the weekend and I sat in the back with her for all our travel which helped for part of the trip... but a lot of the time its just me and her in the car and I've pretty much come to dread having to drive anywhere. Hopefully switching to a bigger car seat will help?!
~ She's started chewing on her crib rails. Not cool.

You bring us such joy, Zo Zo. You really are our little sunshine. Happy 11 months!

Thanksgiving

Yes I know, Thanksgiving seems far gone already as Christmas looms ahead of us, coming more quickly each year it seems. But things were busy around here around Thanksgiving and I wasn't able to post anything about it until now. Its a rare night where Zoe is asleep and Geoff is out doing some Christmas shopping and so the house is quiet and dishes are cleaned and I feel like I actually have a minute to address the blogisphere!

 We celebrated Thanksgiving with Geoff's family in Wisconsin. Last time we saw them was in July and Zoe was just mastering sitting up on her own~ fast forward to November and she was crawling all around and into everything and it gave us quite a clear picture of how much she's changed in 4 months!

Zoe got some new toys from Oma and Opa which helped keep her entertained, but she mostly liked watching Opa in the kitchen :) Unfortunately she was going through a clingy, mommy period where she did not like to be out of my reach and certainly not out of my sight. This was a bit challenging for me and sad for Oma and Opa but hopefully next time will be better! We enjoyed a relaxed time with them, visiting with family, playing cards, going out to eat... I know, sounds pretty good right! We're already looking forward to our next visit!

Just a few of the many, many things I'm particularly thankful for this year...
~ a loving husband with a servant's heart
~ the gift of motherhood and a healthy daughter who brings such joy to our home
~ family who loves and supports us, prays for us, prioritizes time with us, and will point Zoe to the Lord
~ a church community who cares for us spiritually and tangibly
~ a faithful, gracious Heavenly Father
~ Geoff's stable job that provides enough for me to be able to stay home with Zoe
~ my sister moving close by
~ coffee and chocolate :)

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holidays, too!