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.

W51 of Y2

Yes, ANOTHER birthday party!

This time it was for a boy in Aiden's class but when I went to pick him up he wasn't ready to leave yet so Whitney and Connor got to play a little too.




The party was at Pinocchio which is like all your other bouncy house-type places here in Germany except it has a hochseilgarten (high-ropes course). You have to be 8 years old to do this course but they let Aiden go since Connor was with him.

If only we knew the nightmare that was about to unfold....

Here they are still excited and acting cocky.

All fitted into their harnesses and ready to go up. Still smiling.

The first problem... the bucket. Connor sat down in the bucket with his feet hanging out and then got half way across and got stuck. He couldn't get his feet back into the bucket and couldn't go anywhere. He tried so hard to pull himself to the other side, but it didn't work.
By now both of the boys are in tears and starting to panic.


Aiden tried to go on the other side to help him but was too far away.

So Aiden went across and pulled with all of his might and finally got Connor across.

The next problem... Connor and Aiden climbed onto this log together and then were too scared to let go of the red rope to grab the other white rope to get across. It didn't help that the other one kept making the log move. They were both screaming and crying for me to get a worker to help them but there was no way anyone could help them - they just had to get across. I couldn't stop laughing so that made the boys even more mad.

Aiden finally got across but Connor refused to move. Soon there were 8-10 little kids behind Connor waiting to go but no one could move until Connor did. Finally one of the dad's that was up there helped Connor across on the logs.

They were so happy to get down. I had to prove to everyone that they were ok afterwards here. I had to buy them all an ice cream to make up for laughing at them though.

Valentine's Day

I know it's not Valentines Day yet but we decided to celebrate on Saturday instead of Monday since it was on the weekend.

We've been wanting to eat at this restaurant in Ladenburg for a long time, Die Kartoffel. We had heard so many good things about it! I love this city, it is so charming and the restaurant is perfectly situated in the heart of it.

The menu is simple. You pick your meat and your topping for your baked potato and that's about it. They bring your meat out on a hot stone and you cook it yourself at your table.

Such a wonderful evening with my sweetheart!

After dinner Jeremy surprised me with flowers and chocolates. I love him!

W50 of Y2

This week the kids had their African Day celebrations after school. Aiden won this elephant. I begged him to let me have it but he wouldn't part with it.

I had to stay in Stuttgart one night this week for work so Jeremy came and stayed with me. We walked to an nice Irish Pub next to our hotel for dinner. Fish & Chips... my favorites! :)

Friday night Jeremy and the boys had to register their cars for the pinewood derby the next morning. So... I let Whitney get as Fancy as she wanted and the girls went out to dinner! She seriously picked this outfit out all by herself... including the purse!

I wanted to take Lindsay to my favorite Schnitzel Restaurant in Hemsbach.
This is the Zweibeln Schnitzel.

Whitney was the perfect little lady all through dinner. When it was time to go the owner of the restaurant came out and put her coat on for her. She thanked him with a curtsy. lol!

This is how you will find Aiden most of the time at home lately... snuggled up with Lindsay.
He especially loves her!

The Pinewood Derby

This was a pretty big deal this year. Connor did it last year but didn't really know what to expect or what was going on. This year he was really looking forward to it and Aiden was so excited that he could participate this time.

Whitney was so proud of her big brothers!
First the Tigers. Aiden's car in the front row, the first one on the right.


Aiden was sooo cute! He was cheering, smiling, jumping up and down every time his car won.

Aiden got second place. The way they judged the race was really dumb! Aiden never lost a single race and was way ahead of every single car that he raced. However, he got second somehow. The kid who got first never even raced Aiden's car. I was really annoyed by this but decided not to make a big deal about it because Aiden seemed super happy to have second and didn't seem to care.

Whitney was having fun eating popcorn and cheering on her brothers.

Now for the bears. Connor's is in the front row, first one on the left. (it's a little blurry)


Connor was MUCH more serious. This was the closest I could get him to a smile. He was mostly just biting his fingernails the whole time looking really nervous.

He ended up getting first out of the Bears!

Since both of the boys placed in the top 3 that meant we had to wait around until the final championship at the end of the day. So we went to the park. It was really windy but a really beautiful day.
Drinking hot chocolate


Yes, that's Lindsay at the top inside with the boys. This is why we love her!

The Final Championship

Connor and Aiden were so cute cheering each other on, giving each other thumbs ups and high fives, etc... I had so much fun just watching them!

Then... the moment we were all fearing. Aiden and Connor had were in the top 3 out of all the scouts and had to compete against each other.

Here it is! You can hardly tell but they said Aiden's car was just barely ahead of Connor's.

Aiden ended up getting first out of the entire Pack and Connor had second. Connor was a good sport and was happy for Aiden. We had the missionaries coming over for dinner that night so we had to rush straight home to make taco salad and the boys were so excited to tell them blow-by-blow everything that happened. Such a long, exhausting, but totally unforgettable day!

W48 and 49 of Y2

In A Slump!

My camera battery died right when we got back from Rome (because I took so many pictures!) and it has been charging for the last 2 weeks. I haven't taken any pictures since we've been back - and it's not because we haven't done anything either.

Let's see... when we got back from Rome the kids were all so happy to see us. They had so much fun while we were gone. I feel so blessed to have the best au pair we've ever had! I didn't worry about the kids at all while we are gone and fully trust her. It is such a relief to be able to leave to go to work or to leave the country and know that the kids are happy, safe, and in good hands. I feel like we really hit the jackpot with Lindsay! She really is like one of the family.

That week it was back to work and recovering from being gone. That weekend we devoted all of our time to the kids as a reward for being so good while we were gone. We had sleepovers Friday and Saturday night for the boys. It was fun.. but exhausting! Sunday we went to our new ward. We decided to start going to the American ward here now instead of the German ward. It was a really hard decision and we have been praying about this for a long time. We really love the people in our German ward - they have been like family to us ever since we moved here. We originally wanted to go to the German ward because we wanted to learn the language and immerse ourselves in the German culture. Well, Jeremy and I both got jobs working on the bases where we are surrounded by American's and speak English all day. At night we are home with the kids and it's a mad rush just to get their homework done, feed everyone dinner, and get them to bed on time. We just never have time to learn/practice German. We never interact with any Germans during the week, and if we do - they all speak English anyway (even when I'm actually TRYING to speak German with them!). So, we decided that after being here for 2 years... we are probably not going to learn German any better than we know it now. Also, Mannheim bases are closing and everything is in Heidelberg for us now (school, scouts, jobs, shopping, etc...). The American ward is in Heidelberg as well so it just made sense. Now we are the small fish in the big pond in our new ward.

This last week Whitney, Jeremy, and I all got a terrible cold. We went to bed at 8:00 just about every night. We got caught up on sleep at least. We are all just now starting to get over it. This weekend we were busy with birthday parties. Connor and Aiden went to one for a classmate. He is in Connor's class but invited Aiden too. Aiden eats lunch with Connor's class and plays with Connor's class at recess. He seems to be closer with the 3rd graders than his own class of 1st graders. The 3rd graders are all really sweet to always include Aiden. That is one thing that I love about their new school - it is small enough for their classes to do things together. Friday night I got home late from work and Jeremy surprised us all by taking the whole family to my favorite Greek restaurant down the street. It was totally what I needed!! Then last night Lindsay and I went to a birthday party for a co-worker in Kaiserslautern. We went to a Flammkuchen restaurant. YUM!

Well, that's about it. We are all so happy and doing great. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't stop and think about what a wonderful life I have. I have 3 wonderful, funny, sweet, healthy kids. I have a wonderful husband, partner, and best friend who is sweet, helpful, loyal, and always keeps me laughing. I can't think of anything I'd rather do more than to just be with him all the time. I am so thankful for him. I have a wonderful aupair who loves my children and is such a great help to me. I have a great job and supervisors that care about me. I am proud of my job and working with the Military. I can't tell you how many times I'm sitting in my office and I hear the Army band practicing in the gym across the street from my office or I hear a group of Soldiers running together and chanting a song or (when I'm still at work at 5:00) I hear the national anthem playing overhead and I get choked up. I'm so proud of our Military and that I have this opportunity to work with them. I have wonderful friends all over the world. I am so thankful for my family and Jeremy's family for the love and support they give us. I talk to my Dad just about every single day - he really is one of my best friends. I just don't think I could be any happier right now. I know this post is a little mushy and exactly what Emily Matchar is talking about in her article. But, I don't get to do this very often. I promise... next week I will be back to posting pictures! :)

Have a great week everyone!