Pics #4

German parks have interesting rides that you don't see in the US. There are so many parks here though... we love that!















(note: even the toy cars are BMW here)











Nobody knew what St. Patrick's Day was here. We celebrated with green eggs and ham for dinner.



Our Greek chef.

The boarding house has a chef from Greece who will cook for you (for a large fee). She has made several meals for us that are SO good! The kids aren't crazy about them, but Jeremy and I love everything she makes. She usually cooks for us 2 nights/week.





Soccer Center

This is the first place we ate on our first day here in Germany. This picture was taken later. I remember how weird it seemed our first time here. lol!



Connor's favorite book and Aiden's homework that he does while Connor's in school.



Eating lunch with Connor at school. Here is his class. You can see a girl all the way on the other end with a blue headband... this is Connor's new crush: McKenzie. :)



Ladenburg











Game night at Connor's school









Sea Life: Speyer


















International PotLuck Dinner - YUMMY!!!

Week 4

Another week down!! This was actually a really good week. The weather was nice every day. Still chilly (in the 50's) but it didn't rain all week. Also, Jeremy was out of town (NO... that's not why it was a good week) but he left the car for me. I didn't think I would go anywhere but decided to try it out. We drove somewhere everyday. I'm not afraid to drive here anymore and had fun driving to new places and to the base. It was great! Aiden, Whitney, and I went on base to have lunch with Connor on one of the days. That was really interesting. It was really good for me to see Connor with his friends at school. I always imagine things worse than they are. He has a lot of good friends and they are all so sweet. They all loved Whitney and were so nice to her and Aiden. I asked Connor where the mean kid was. He pointed to a table far away and there was one little boy eating all by himself there. Connor said that was the mean kid and he has to sit there by himself every day at lunch because he always gets in trouble. Connor is so nice though - he took Aiden and Whitney over to him so he could meet them. He says that they kid isn't mean anymore. Connor is so proud of his little brother and sister and wanted to introduce them to everyone. Then Connor begged me to come to his classroom so he could show me a book. He has been talking about this book for about 2 weeks and has the whole thing memorized. He has rehearsed it for all of us several times. It's called "When I came to this land". He took us back there and showed us the book and his teacher said that he loved the book. Connor said that he asked his teacher if he could bring it home to show us and the teacher said no because then he would have to let all the kids take home books. Well, the next day a boy passed out on the bus because he was dehydrated. Connor was really upset about it all day. At school he was sad about the boy and his teacher told him to hurry and put the book in his bag before all the other kids saw and he let him bring it home for the weekend to cheer him up. lol! Connor read the book to us 100 times this weekend. It's so funny. Connor LOVES to read. He's so proud of his little book collection. During church is favorite thing now is to write notes to me and Jeremy. Sometimes his spelling is hilarious. Aiden has been doing Connor's worksheets from his class in Kansas. Connors teacher in Kansas sent home a bunch of worksheets for Connor to do here but Aiden has been doing them. He does math and writing and some reading! Whitney just tries to do whatever she can to be naughty! She's so funny though. She makes us laugh so hard. She loves it when we are laughing at her so then she will really ham it up to keep it going. She makes the funnies faces. She also immitates and copies everyone. When people say Danke Shon (Thank you) , or Guten Morgan (Good Morning), or Bitte (Please), etc... she copies them. It's so cute to hear her saying these German words. Next week they are going to have a nursery teacher for Whitney and 1 other little girl Whitney's age. They will both be speaking only German so we think Whitney will start picking it up a lot faster. Also, there is a little Kindergarten (Preschool) by our house that we are going to move into so we might try to send her there a couple days a week or so to learn German better.
By the way... we got the house I mentioned last week. 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms - I CAN"T WAIT! The kitchen there is bigger than the room we are living in right now. I just wish it was April 1 instead of May 1. It's going to be great though after we get moved in. We will have plenty of room there for visitors, so.... anyone wanting to come to Europe in the next 3 years?
Other highlights of this week -
TV!!! My parents recorded 2 DVD's full of TV shows from America. OMG - It was so fun! Even the commercials were fun to watch. We tried to ration the shows so that we didn't watch them all the first day, so we just watched a couple each day and tried to make it last. We've watched all of them now though... several times. :) That was so fun... Thanks Mom and Dad. Also, thank you to Cami who sent 3 DVD's. We got both packages on the same day. It was a total freak-out show when Jeremy walked in with the packages and we saw all the DVD's. You would have thought there was a million dollars in them we were so excited! THANK YOU!
We went and bought Connor some new shoes this week. His had 3 holes in them. (Bad Mom!). He has become quite opinionated about his shoes I discovered. UGGG!!! They had to be just right. No velcro or elastic (that's for "babies") and only black and white. The crease by the toes couldn't go down too far or it hurt and it couldn't slip off the heel at all, etc.... We FINALLY found a pair that was ok.
Also, Jeremy took the boys for haircuts. The hairdresser spoke NO English so Jeremy showed her pics of what they should look like. Connor looks good, but poor Aiden.... he got the worst hair cut he's ever had. It's pretty bad. Thank goodness he's so cute so it doesn't matter. Whitney's hair is getting long and is always in her face now. It's not long enough to put up so it's just going to have to be like this for a while I guess.
I better go. Only 10 minutes left and I haven't checked anyone else's blogs yet. How does this hour go so fast!?! Miss all of you. I can't wait until I can put some pics on here. It feels weird to write so much.

Week 3

This week was pretty eventful. Let's see....
I passed my Driver's License test with a 97%... YAY! I was too scared to even try to drive though until yesterday for the first time. Not only are the signs, lights, rules, speed limits, etc... totally different but the car we have is a stick. I haven't driven a stick since my cute, little college car. It came back pretty quick. I did get lost a few times though (even with the GPS!!) Every exit has 2, 3, or 4 exits that are all lumped together. So when the GPS says to "exit right" it's hard to figure out which exit to take. If you take the wrong one you can get stuck on the wrong autobahn and have to drive a long way before you can get off and turn around. Ugggg! I did find the Ikea during my little detour. That was exciting! :)
We went and looked at another house this week in Hudenfelt. So far this one has been the best one that we've seen. It has 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3 stories plus a basement. The best part is that an American family has been renting it so the landlord put in a full kitchen already (with a dishwasher!!!). Every house we've seen the kitchen is TOTALLY empty. You provide your own counters, stove, sinks, fridge, etc... You also provide all light fixtures and outlet covers. This is expected here so to find a house with a kitchen already in it is amazing! We should find out tomorrow if we get this house. The only down side is that there is no yard. In fact, the family there right now have 2 dogs and have to walk 2.5 blocks just to find a patch of grass for them to pee. That's why they are moving. There is a huge park, lake, walking/biking path just a couple blocks away though so we could go there a lot.
We had our first dinner invite with a really nice couple from our ward here. It was such a great time. The members here are so nice. They don't speak a lot of English and some of them don't speak any at all but they still come and talk to us every single week and try their hardest to talk to us. We appreciate their efforts but really would like to learn German better so that we could talk to them in their own language. One lady is from Africa and speaks better French than German and very little English. We actually talk to each other in French because that is the best way that we can understand each other. I took French in college and don't speak well, but it works.
This weekend we went to a place called Kids World. We thought that we really needed to do something FUN! This place was great. I think Jeremy even had more fun than the boys. :) Whitney was fearless, which was freaking me out. Most of the things there would have been illegal in the US for a million safety violations. There were absolutely no age or height restrictions on anything. It was fun.
Connor is doing great at school, but he still talks about Belinder every day and misses it. He never complains though. I'm so proud of him. There is a mean kid at school that told Connor on his first day that he didn't like new kids. He would say mean things to Connor every day. He told him he was going to punch him, that he didn't like Connor's sweatshirt, etc... Connor would just laugh when he told me because he thought this kid was 4 or 5. I guess he's really little, but in reality he is probably Connor's age or even older. Connor asked some of the other kids if that kid was mean to any of them and they all said that he is mean to everyone. So, he just hangs out with the nice kids. The last time he told Connor he was going to punch him another kid stood up for Connor and told him he couldn't. That made Connor feel good. I know he misses his old school and it's not as good here. He had so many good friends there. 2 of the kids had to call him before we left even because their Moms said they had been crying all weekend because Connor was moving. I am just glad that it will be summer soon and then he can start the next year with everyone else. The other day they already got another new girl. Connor said that he told the girl "Don't worry. I know it's scary but you'll get use to it fast, I did". lol!
Aiden is a little trooper too. He just hangs out with me all day. I insist on going on walks every day, rain or shine, just to get out of our room. He never complains. Poor guy... I walk so fast and make him hold onto the stoller to keep up. He is literally running most of the time to keep up with me. He's so sweet.
Then there is Whitney. She has been the biggest pill since we got here. We can never predict when or IF she will take a nap or go to bed at night. It's awful! She was so consistent in KC with sleeping and such a good sleeper too. She rarely takes a nap here anymore which leaves her grumpy from not getting enough sleep. It is impossible to "Whitney-proof" our room so you have to watch her constantly and even then she manages to break, spill, tear, mess everything up! That's the other reason I have to leave everyday because it is so much work just watching her in the room. She is driving ALL of us crazy!! I really can't wait to get into our home and get our things. Hopefully this house will work out and we can move SOON!!!!
Well, I better go. Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks to all the readers and comments.
See ya next week.

Second Week

Still unable to post pics. Sorry. You'll have to listen to me ramble on.
Our second week here was better. We've all pretty much adjusted to the time change now. We have experimented enough with the local eating places here to know what we like. PLUS... the big news of the week was Jeremy passed the Drivers License test. It's really hard. You have to take a 2 hour class and then pass a 100-question test with an 85% or higher to pass. Jeremy got an 84% the first time... UGGGG! He had to retake it and passed with a 95%. Since he passed the test his boss loaned him one of his cars until our van gets here. We drove to the Military Base which is just 10 minutes or less from our house this weekend for the first time. It was wonderful!! I felt like I was back in the U.S. We went to the PX (like a Walmart) and the Commissary (groceries) and then Wingers for lunch! I got all stocked up on American food that we were missing. We have to be careful how much we buy for 2 reasons... the car we are using is SOOOO small. We barely all fit into it and then the bags have to go under our feet. Also, our fridge in the room is really tiny too. No freezer. It was good though. I also took the drivers test last week and failed. :( I am taking it again tomorrow. Even after I get it though I really don't want to drive here. It is really scary and different.
Let's see..... the kids are doing good. The boys are really missing Kayla (when I say boys, I mean Jeremy too) I miss her too. The other night Aiden was saying family prayer and said "Please bless Kayla won't die. Please bless she won't forget about us". He talks about her everyday... ALL day! He bought a stuffed animal dog here because it looks like Kayla and carries it with him everywhere and shows it to everyone and says that his name is Kayla. :(
I also takled laundry this week. It is not an easy job here at all to do laundry. The machines are really small and take a lot longer. To make it worse they only have 1 dryer that works.
Well, my hour is just about up. Here's to Week #3.

We're Here!!!!

This is the first time I've had internet access since we got here. I can not describe how happy I am to read email, see everyone on their blogs, etc... It's amazing how much you miss something when it's gone. That's pretty much what I think all the time here. I never had such an appreciation for normal, yellow mustard before. I thought I was somewhat prepared before we got here. I read several books, looked up everything I could about Germany online. But, I have to say it's a little overwhelming. We are still in the boarding house, which, if you took the tour from the link I posted before we got here and you saw it yourself in person you would fall on the ground laughing (or crying). It's nothing what the website made it look like. It's ok though. We have everything we need. I am just really looking forward to being able to get settled in our own place. We don't have our van yet so we walk a lot... I love that part (except when it's raining and it's pretty cold here). Connor started school last week and likes it. A bus comes and picks him up in front of the boarding house and takes him to the Military base where the school is, and brings him back. Jeremy works all day. So, Aiden, Whitney, and I get to explore during the day. Our room is too small to stay inside all day with the kids and there's not much to do. I brought a huge suitcase full of toys but they are already bored of them. The TV is all in German except we get CNN and an occasional MTV show in English. We are so desperate for English TV that Jeremy and I actually watched Paris Hilton's new BFF the other night just because it was in English. LOL! We have a portable DVD player but we only brought 6 DVD's and we've watched them all by now. So... we have to get out of our room. We walk and walk and walk and walk. There is a Mc Donald's about 2 miles away that we like to walk to, but mostly it's just fun to walk somewhere different every day and see what we are going to find. I've gotten us lost a few times but we always find our way back. Before our walk we've gotten into a bad habit of stopping at the bakery and trying a new pastry every day. Oh my gosh they are so good!
Sundays we've been going to a German ward. It's really small and interesting. We don't really understand anything but it feels good to be there. The boys are such troopers. They never complain. They keep saying that we are on vacation. They have been so good. Whitney's been a little pill but she's good too. I have to hurry because my hour is almost over. I will write more later. We miss all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last But Not Least

Well, today's the day! The movers came and took away the storage items. I got a big dose of reality. I can't believe we are actually moving.... AGAIN!

I had to take a pic today of Jeremy enjoying himself while watching 4 guys pack all of our stuff and doing all the work. lol!


Here's his view from his chair....



They are coming back in the morning to pack everything that goes on the ship. We won't see any of it for 4-6 weeks (at least!). I am still up trying to finish packing everything in suitcases that we will be using until our stuff gets there. (scary!) This is going to be another crazy adventure! We are really excited but also nervous and a little scared of the unknown. It's like we are going to a foreign country or something... oh yeah! WE ARE!!!!!

I may not be posting a lot over the next couple of months until we are settled... but stay tuned for lots of posts about our exciting adventures in Deutschland!

Whitney stories

A couple things about Whitney that I wanted to include here to be remembered for all time...

The first one does not come with a picture but it is so sweet that it can't be forgotten. For a really long time now Whitney's favorite thing to say is "Mama, Whitney". We will hear her saying this over and over in her bed sometimes when she's trying to sleep, or when I'm holding her, or when I'm gone she will say it to herself. She loves to look at pictures of the two of us together and say it. It's so sweet. But, today was a momentous day. At 6:30am she wakes up. I go and get her and bring her in our bed for morning kisses and cuddles as Jeremy and I are both trying to wake up. This morning she said... "Mama, Dada, Whitney". She finally included Jeremy in her little mantra. His heart melted.

Here she is in her favorite pose. Bottle in one hand and the other hand down her shirt. lol! She loves it. Yes.... we started giving her bottles again because we want her to use them on our flights coming up. I know... probably a stupid move but if it will help to keep the insanity down during this transition I don't care!



Lastly, here are her LEAST favorite things... stamps! I hide these all over the house and yet, she always seems to find them. She hates them but can't stay away from them at the same time. She looks at them really close for a long time yelling "Ewww" every few seconds. I have to take them away from her or she would probably never put them down. She really doesn't like those nutcrackers!