W40 of Y2: Part I

There they go... sniff... sniff! My little princess and her Daddy flying to the US for Thanksgiving.


Thanksgiving was just another day for us. On the way to school that morning we saw the very first snowflake! The boys were squealing with delight!! After school that day we celebrated with Turkey hotdogs and Mac&Cheese. The boys were thrilled! After dinner we brought up the Christmas decorations and decorated the house and Christmas tree.


Didn't they do a great job!?!

The boys actually made these pies all by themselves! They were so proud!!

Connor had a school play this week just for grades 4 & 5. He was one of the main characters, Paul and spent the last 3 weeks practicing. In fact, our whole family acted out the play for family home evening one night to help him learn his lines. He really got into it! Jeremy was bummed he was going to miss it so I promised to take a video of it. I was using Aiden's camera all week (Jeremy took mine) and right when the play started I took 2 seconds of video and the memory was full!! Ugggh!! I frantically started erasing pictures and took more video. I had to do this throughout the entire play. So.... I only got a little bit on video. The whole class did so well!

This weekend was the weekend of birthday parties!!! Friday AND Saturday! One thing that I love about their school is that all the kids play together. We had kids from Grade 1 up to Grade 5 at the parties and everyone just played together and didn't care. That is one advantage of a small school!












Saturday night I took the boys to Fody's. A restaurant that people have told me about. It has an American feel to it and a great atmosphere for kids. After dinner we went and saw a great kid's movie: Alpha and Omega. It was fun to hang out with just my boys! I have to say.... I missed Jeremy and my little princess so much this week - but the boys and I really had a blast! It was fun to just do stuff that they like to do and spend time with them without distractions. I feel so blessed to have such great boys!! They kept me in stitches all week. They are so fun and funny!!





Sunday we had our Thanksgiving feast. The boys really got into helping me get ready for it. They made name tags for each of our guests and colored pictures to put up all around the house. They were really excited for our guests to arrive and to eat the food they helped me make!



All of our guests! They are all very dear to us and we are so grateful for each of them. It was a wonderful evening!

Aiden's welcome home poster for Daddy and Whitney! We pick them up in the morning. There will be a W39 of Y2: Part II this week which will be all the pictures Jeremy took during his family reunion. It sounds like they had a great time. I'm really glad the 2 of them got to go.

W40 of Y2: Part II

The second part of this week consists of what Jeremy and Whitney were doing in the States all week. First they went to Philadelphia to see Grandma and Grandpa Cates new house and the schools where they work.



After a couple of days in Philly they flew to Utah for the family reunion. They stayed one night in a hotel, which meant swimming!!

They had so much fun in Utah. His family was so organized and had everything planned so no one was ever bored. I wish we could have all gone!! They had everything from their traditional Turkey Bowl football game, to a family talent show, lots of little kids running around, TONS of games/competitions, crafts for the kids (and adults), and of course sledding!!

Jeremy's top 10 funniest quotes from the Sanders Aspen Grove Family reunion 2010:

10. "Ok (heavy breathing) what are we going to do? (heavy breathing) Everyone just go long (heavy breathing) I'll just throw it to you"

9. "Where is Cesar? Uh... I don't know... check the kitchen."

8. "It (Cow stomach) wasn't so bad... I only gagged like 4 times"

7. "Alright Dane, change your angle and position so the other side of the room can share the joy."

6. "It's so cold out there... I think I my eyeballs just froze."

5. "Where are the 6 cups that I wrote my name on?"

4. "Is that a diaper or did someone just cropdust the lodge again?"

3. "I don't think that kid belongs to us... or does he?"

2. "Why does my left leg feel like jell-o?"

1. "Probably one of the best reunions ever!"

Honorable mention:
- "Unicorns and Rainbows"
- "This menudo smells and tastes like stinky feet."
- "I think Grandpa turned his hearing aides off."
- "Go BYU, Go U of U! Oh who cares?"
- "Who stole my food?"

Pre-Turkey Bowl

My baby's still got it!!

Post-Turkey Bowl

Jeremy and his Uncle - unable to move after the Turkey bowl.


Even Grandma took a turn down the hill. I love this picture!

Whitney loves her Aunt Abby!






Before they knew it they were back on the plane to Germany!!
Coming back home to Mommy!!

W39 of Y2

Everything was back to normal this week.

Our weeks now consist of Scouts for both boys each week. Aiden was so excited to finally being in scouts after going all last year to watch Connor. Connor looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Another highlight to every week is "Pizza - Movie night". This happens every Friday. We love Fridays!! This is also the day the Putzfrau (cleaning woman) comes so we come home to a nice, clean house and I don't have to cook! It's great!! It's not always Pizza but always something quick and easy and then the kids all look forward to the whole family watching a movie together all week long. It is by far our favorite day of the week and has brought us such good memories!!

Christmas Markets (already?)

Yes, that time of year has come!!! I was so excited to go to the first one of the season this weekend. We went to Ludwigshafen (just 20 minutes from Mannheim). It was really crowded and busy but it was so fun! It had all the things we were expecting from a Christmas Market.

Langos mit Kase & Nutella!!

Langos is actually a traditional Hungarian food but it is always at the German Christmas Markets. It's basically just fried bread with lots of different toppings to choose from. SO GOOD!!

Of course, no Christmas Market would be complete without the bratwursts!

Can't wait to go to LOTS more this year!!

And now for the sad news.....

Jeremy and Whitney went to the US for Thanksgiving. Jeremy has been wanting to go for months and after many failed attempts of talking me into the whole family going he finally got me to agree to letting him and Whitney go. The boys are in school all week (since they are in an International School) so I stayed here with them. It will be a really sad week without my sweetheart and my little baby girl, but I'm really glad that Jeremy's family will get to know Whitney better.

Before she left I was able to capture this video of her telling everyone that she is "Funky, Cool, and Sassy". Not really sure how she even knew these words or why she was repeating them over and over for almost 20 minutes. (Don't worry I only cut out 36 seconds for the video.)

I miss you my little pill!!! (and you too Jer)

W38 of Y2

You know you may be traveling a little too often when you see this...

I asked Whitney what she was doing and she said "I'm packing my suitcase to go on a trip!"

St. Martin's Day

Last year we were completely caught off-guard about this German holiday and didn't have a clue why kids with lanterns were parading around the village following "St. Martin" on his horse. This year the kids made lanterns at school (now that they go to an International School) and we knew a little about the day. For anyone that is interested...

St. Martin lived in the 4th Century A.D., in France, and was in his youth a soldier in the Roman Army. One day while out riding, he saw a beggar, this was not an unusual sight for these times. The beggar asked Martin for some food and warmth, and Martin suddenly realized how unfair it was that he should be wearing a warm cloak while this beggar was freezing. So, he stopped, got off his horse and cut his cloak in two giving half of his cloak to the beggar. The following night Jesus appeared to Martin in a dream. After this encounter, Martin decided to lead a religious life as a Christian Missionary. In the year 371, Martin was elected "Bishop of Tours." He did not feel worthy of this honor so he hid himself from the people in a shed with geese. The geese start gabbling so loud that they gave his hiding place away. He was then made Bishop of Tours. When Martin died on November 11, 397, he was hailed a Saint because of his humility . In remembrance of his good deeds, the traditional meal on November 11th, is goose.

We just didn't know where the parade was going to start. We waited outside our house (in the rain) until we saw the crowd. The boys made these lanterns at school and were so proud to show them off!!


We took it easy over the weekend as we were still recovering from Budapest!

Friday night we went to see Megamind



Saturday we went bowling. A friend of the boys from school and his Mom came with us. Afterwards the boys had lunch at the deli while my friend and I shopped. Very convenient!



Aiden went on a field trip with his class last week to a bakery. Now his favorite thing is to walk to the bakery from our house by himself and by a little treat. He thinks he's so grown up!!


Lastly, I took a video of Whitney on her little german bike (laufrad). She has gotten really fast on this thing and balances it really well, even with her long, fancy dress on! lol!