Toy Vacation

Since the number of our son's toys are growing and the space in our apartment isn't...
we've decided to have some of his toys take a vacation! :) What exactly does this mean?
This morning I sorted through his toys and pulled out ones that he doesn't play with much anymore... like sophie the giraffe, mr. potatoe head, the activity triangle and a bunch of other things. They went into a bag (or box) in storage and at some later date will come back, while some of his other toys go on vacation...

Right now he's to little to really understand that any are missing (my husband says he's like a goldfish!) So it works out great for all of us. He still has a great assortment of toys to play with and we get a neat looking living room!

Here are a few of the toys going on vacation:

















And what our living room looks like now:



















(too bad i didn't take a shot of before... but it wasn't a pretty sight!)

Cookie Monster 1st Birthday Party

Our son recently turned 1!!! I was excited about throwing him a themed party and saw these cute cupcakes in our local Cupcake Corner Bakery and decided Cookie Monster it would be!


















I found some other pictures of great Cookie Monster Birthday parties and decided to go with the 'cookies and milk' theme (i also had veggies & dip and cold cuts/cheese to snack on). We also found this cute balloon and 1st birthday bib and ordered them early on amazon.com. One difficult thing about living in Poland is that there are not a lot of great party decorations... and the ones that I manage to find are often very expensive. Even my search for blue plates and cups turned up empty... and i decided that on my next trip back to Canada that i will most definitely 'stock up' for the next several years of children's birthday parties!

























I decided to make my own graphics that said 'happy birthday lucas' and milk/mleko and cookies/ciasteczka (i made them bilingual since we had party guests who spoke both languages!). If you would like the graphic files (photoshop) email me at krista[at]benandkrista.net and i'd be happy to send them to you!
















































As you can see he thoroughly enjoyed the cupcake!
We also watched this fun Cookie Monster clip and a video of Lucas' first year of life!





I'm also a fan of free printables! Check out these fun kid parties:
1. Woodland Party Kit from ellinee
2. Hello Kitty Party from Shery K Designs
3. Robot Party via Hostess with the Mostess

Pinterest is also a great source of ideas!
Or you can also buy super cute printables from different graphic designers on etsy.com,
like this boy's vintage surf party or this girl's owl birthday party!

Lucas Allen - Year One

the God who sees me

In my head, theologically, i know, that God is sovereign. That he controls all things, that "He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them" (Daniel 2:21)... But never before have i experienced the sovereignty of God in the detail of my life in such an obviously beautiful way.

Let me explain. Months ago we shipped our belongings from Canada to Poland. 27 boxes in total. We had agreed in our hearts if the ship sank that life would go on. Our most valuable treasures can't fit in a box. But we did ship our winter clothes. I guess that was an act of faith, maybe a little foolish... because we really didn't know when our things would arrive. We had hoped that we would see them sometime in November... but things were prolonged... We were thrilled when we heard that they had arrived in the northern port of Gdynia December 5th, and thankful that it hadn't gotten too cold here yet.

Days went by. Then weeks. And due to multiple factors including our company getting 'absorbed into another company' as well as 3 'holidays' come 2012 (6 weeks later) we still didn't have our things. We were wondering if we would ever see them, and if so how much we'd be charged in the end (at one time it looked like we would have to pay over $8000!) But thanks to the grace of God (and the intervention of our wonderful Polish pastor here in Krakow) they arrived January 11th! I remember saying that night, "bring on the snow!"

2 days later, we woke up to snow covering the ground. As i stood at the bus stop in my winter coat and boots, I stood amazed. You see this is the first time this winter that it has really, i mean really snowed!!! Literally tears came to my eyes as I thought about God's goodness, his kindness, how he intimately knows us and all of our trials. That he was the God who sees us (Genesis 16:13), and saw the circumstances of our little family... What a beautiful reminder that He who calmed the seas (Mark 4:39), is still the Almighty, All Powerful One... and He can even hold back the snow!

Here is some of the beautiful snow I captured that weekend...

Top 11

Recently i started following a new blog for moms and those who like photography.
It was there i was inspired to look back at 2011 and share my favourite photos with you!
So fun to look back at the many new adventures and blessings of this year and look forward to what God has for us in 2012...

11) This is one of the first pictures i took of Lucas when he was one day old in the hospital! Love his little puffy eyes and the colours and love radiating from the little blanket and hat my mom (aka. grandma) made us. I still remember how it made the hospital feel a little closer to home...



10) dreamland. This one was during Lucas' 9 day photoshoot (which it took us over 3 hrs to get him to sleep for!) Love the combination of his dreamy look and the fleece which he now sleeps on.



9) Pole-andia. On a road trip to visit my brother in law in Poznan (the day he arrived).
What a gorgeous country we live in!



8) A Father's Love. I love the baby blue eyes and curious innocence in this shot as well as a smiling proud father in the background.



7) This was taken not long after we moved to Krakow, in our backyard. Love the fingers in mouth and twig in hand. Says... baby... says... boy!



6) He fell asleep on my chest when we were on vacation. Luckily the camera was close enough to reach and i was able to capture this moment!



5) Zloty Jesien (Golden Fall). The essence of Polish Fall... this beautiful walkway along the river just past the castle is simply stunning in the fall!



4) My husbands favourite shot of our little guy. We love how he makes people smile... With a grin like this who can resist?!



3) The Path. During a family fall hike, my husband commented on how much the pathways looked like they were straight out of Hanzel & Gretel. This was on the hike up to Morski Oko (The Eye of the Lake) in the Tatry Mountains (Poland).



2) Feeding time is his favourite. Love the look of pure delight as cereal drips down his face. Now that he can crawl, he actually crawls over to his chair to tell us he's hungry!



1) It is such a blessing to have some family living closer to us in Poland. This beautiful backdrop to Lucas and his Uncle Marshall, is Poznan.



There you have it! I look forward to becoming better and better at capturing the life of our little guy(s)... and the story that God is writing with our lives (and theirs) here in this beautiful place.
Love from Krakow.

Announcing...

the arrival of #2... coming July 2012!

A Case for Sippy Cups

A few months ago I was riding on the bus... there's just something that seems strange about a 5 year old drinking from a bottle. This may be a European phenomenon (it may be financially based, or cultural....) But either way, it was in that moment that I decided my son would drink from a sippy cup... I was determined, by his first birthday.

I started trying to give him one at 8 months... no go. He just didn't get it.
A friend of mine suggested putting some juice and water in it... still nothing.
She also suggested buying multiple cups and trying different ones! Genius. Being a first time mom, I never realized that they were different! So on my next trip to the mall I bought 3.

I tried to remember to give him the cup at each meal time... show him how to use it... then just let him play with it... I read somewhere that it is common that they just play with them for a while.

Juice never worked for me. But when we transitioned him to whole milk @11mths... he drank! I guess that was the trick for our little guy... something in the sippy cup that he really wanted. I'm pretty sure that there are no 'magic tricks' and that each child is different but it sure did help to have the advice of others as I began the journey of not having a 5year old bottle drinker!

Here are some tips:

• try mixing juice & water (makes it sweeter and more appealing than water)
• try MULTIPLE brands & styles of cups (even if you are thrifty... splurge and buy 3-4!)
• let your baby play with the cup at first... it's okay
• try to your baby the cup at every mealtime
  
• try whole milk when your baby is almost 1year old

I have to be honest it felt like WAY overspending to buy multiple sippy cups... but now that our son figured out how to drink out of one, he can drink out of the others too!







also has some great tips on Sippy cup do's and don'ts

Family Life :: A Christmas Recap

We started out our Christmas vacation with a visit from my husband's side of the family. We took a family trip to the mountain town of Zakopane, and were thrilled to find this winter wonderland awaiting us!


































































































































We returned back home to Krakow to celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th and Lucas enjoyed his cozy Christmas pajamas and the warmth and comfort of our home. We were able to celebrate Christmas with our Polish church family over a noontime meal, then have turkey Christmas dinner with our family!