W1 of Y3

Finally!!!

Jeremy finished our 2009 blog book. He did such a great job too. All the time spent posting every single week feels so worth it after seeing a whole year in such a beautiful book. The kids really enjoy looking at it too. Here are a few pics of the book.

Thanks Honey!!

Also this week we had some drama with Aiden's teeth. He has 4 loose teeth! After we finally convinced him to let us try to pull some out, he now only has 2 loose teeth. He has such a goofy and totally adorable smile now!

SKI WEEK

It's that time of year again for our annual ski trip to the Bavarian Alps in Garmisch, Germany. It's only about 4 hours from our home but we hit terrible stau's the whole way.

Lunch on the side of the road

First sign on the Alps in the distance. Yay! We're almost there!!

The kids needed to stretch and entertain the other cars behind us while we sat still on the autobahn for hours!! We ended up finally getting to the resort after 8 hours. Poor Jeremy wasn't too happy about driving all day on his BIRTHDAY! :(

We went straight to Zuggy's to celebrate Jeremy's big 3-5 birthday.

They only had cheesecake - but it was yummy! Happy birthday!

After the "party" the CDC club (cool dudes club) went to play some pool together.

Trying to do CDC with their fingers. Obvioulsy, Jeremy is the weak link here.

DACHAU

The next morning Jeremy and I left early in the morning and let the kids sleep in, swim, explore with Lindsay. We wanted to go to Dachau concentration camp but were told not to bring kids. It was about 45 minutes away from the resort.

The tour was very depressing and disturbing. We left half-way through. I honestly didn't need or want to see anymore.

This was the court yard where the prisoners had to stand for hours every day.

These were their beds. When the US Soldiers invaded this camp and set the prisoners free there were over 30,000 prisoners crammed into these living quarters.

This is where all the other living quarters were before they were torn down.

The sign on the gate: Arbeit Macht Frei means through work, one will be free because they were worked to death, literally, and death is what set them free. So awful.

We couldn't get home to our babies fast enough after that. We hurried back to the resort to pick everyone up to go get fitted with our ski gear at the lodge.

It's so much work getting all the boots, ski's, gear, etc...

I love watching Jeremy in action here. He's a pro at it! He learned from his Dad who did it for all 3 of the boys every year. I don't know how he did it!

After everything was ready for skiing in the morning we had time to get settled in our room a little. Jeremy and Aiden were having fun throwing stuff at me for the loft.

A well-deserved dip in the pool after a long day! Tomorrow we ski....

W52 of Y2

Köln(Cologne)

We started the week off with a quick little getaway to Köln. It's about 2.5 hours north west from Mannheim. I have been wanting to go there before we even moved to Germany and was so excited to finally see the city. We weren't there long... just enough time to see the enormous Gothic Cathedral in the middle of the city and grab a bite to eat in a charming little cafe.

The streets were busy in this little shopping area even though it seemed most of the stores were closed. We were surprised to see a Dunkin Donuts there though.

A few facts about the Cathedral that I thought was interesting... It is Germany's most visited landmark and has the second tallest spires of any other church in the world. It is so massive. It was interesting looking at old pictures of this cathedral during WWII and seeing the destruction all around the cathedral but the cathedral remained standing. The Cathedral houses the relics of the 3-wise men as well as many other Saints and Archbishps. It also had amazing stain-glass windows.

The boys asked if they could light a candle. I asked them what they would be praying for. They said they wanted to say a prayer for their Aunt Linda who has been very sick. I couldn't say no. They were very reverent as they lit the candles. It was a sweet moment.

We love and miss you Aunt Linda. You are in our prayers daily.

Whitney was really struggling to sit in the pews. A little different from what she's used to. She couldn't quite figure it out.

The Altarpiece of the Three Wise Men

Time for some hot chocolate and lunch!!

My handsome men!!

Doesn't she look so chic??

Valentines Day

Jeremy and I had already celebrated Valentines Day over the weekend so Monday was just another day for us. But... the boys had an interesting day.

The kids at the International School did not exchange "valentines cards" because you can't buy them here in Germany and some of the kids have never heard of this tradition in their home countries. So, Connor's teacher (who happens to be American) decided to have the kids write a little note saying something nice about each kid in their class.

Here are the cards that all the kids wrote for Connor:

Ola: Dear Connor, I like play with you. You are very nice. Thank you for all things.
Giulio: Hi. You are a good friend and you are a good golly.
Avneet: In soccer you are the best gollea in the world.
Nahilla: I was really surprised that you were on page E even that far is really good. I am still on page D 2-digit, 1 digit. Now I think you really are good in math!
Kaede: Connor, thank you for everything. You are nicely because sometimes you smile to me.
Ethan: Dear Connor, You are bery good at multiplication. I am so amazed that you are on your 2-digit, 2-digit thon. Happy Valentine's Day!
Mr. B: You are always so friendly to everyone when working and playing. I admire how easily you share with and include everyone.
Alex: Connor, You have a cool little sister. You are great at making people cheer up.
Jack: Dear Connor, You are very good at soccer! You make me laugh a lot! Peace and Love!
Sofi: Happy Valentine's Day. You are a good goly!
Kaan: You're the best goalie ever
Sophie J. : Dear Connor, you climb the tree better than I do.
Charlotte: Dear Connor, you always know how to make me laugh with the stories about your little sister. P.S. your hair feels nice and looks cool.
Mias: Dear Connor, I like sitting with you! Happy you-know-what.
Jordan: You are the best goaly I know. So it is so cool!
Tyra: Dear Connor, I think you are very nice to your little brother and you are a very good big brother.

The comments about his brother and sister were my favorites. He loves them so much and all of his classmates can tell. So sweet.

Aiden, my little romantic, decided to give the love of his life (a 5th grade girl) a chocolate rose. He begged me to buy this rose for him one Saturday when he was grocery shopping with me so he could give it to her. I was lucky enough to be there when he made his move. He was walking around after school with the rose in his hand looking for her. When he saw her he just stuck the rose out and handed it to her. He didn't say a single word. She took the rose and smiled but didn't say anything either. Then he came with me and she walked off with her friends. Aiden was so proud of himself for having the guts to do that. He kept saying "I bet Daddy could never do that!"

After we all got home that day we were greeted by the cutest little valentine ever!!!

Whitney and Lindsay had made home-made valentine cards for everyone and pink cupcakes!!

2-Year Anniversary

It completely snuck up on us this year. Friday morning Jeremy reminded me that 2 years ago that day we moved to Germany. We had to go back to our boarding house which was all we knew for so long (it seemed!). We lived here for 3 months until we found a house and didn't have a car for most of it so we just knew whatever we could walk to (about a 2 mile radius). We had everything we needed though right in this little area. The kids are especially fond of this little park where we went every day - mainly to keep our sanity! We've all learned and grown so much since our first few months living here. It was such a scary decision to move our entire family to another country to live for 3 years but I can honestly say that I'm so glad we did. If I could go back and make the same choice again, I would! I can't believe we only have 1 year left!

February 18, 2009



February 18, 2010


February 18, 2011

Still haven't found a bakery here yet that can make dampfnudels like this one. Sometimes we drive all the way back here just to pick some up. They are SO GOOD!!

One quick side-note: There were 3 little sisters at the park this day that were Russian but spoke perfect German and a little English. The were so sweet! Whitney went right up to this girl without saying a word to her and just started rubbing her coat. It was so soft, she couldn't resist herself. The girl just looked at Whitney like she was crazy but let her proceed.

We ended up playing with all 3 of them for a long time. When I asked to take a picture of them the oldest girl immediately started fixing the other girls hats and rubbing chocolate off of one of their faces. It was so cute.

We found out some sad news... Our friends are moving back to the US in a few months. Connor is in the same class as Jack and his Mom and I have become good friends. We are so sad to see them go. We had Jack over for a sleepover this weekend so we can spend as much time as possible with them before they leave.