Gingerbread Houses

The boys had to get the H1N1 shot at school today. I told them if they were really brave they could decorate gingerbread houses when they came home. Well they both did fantastic. Emerson even came home with a sticker on his shirt that said "brave kid" on it.

Here are the boys with Oma and Opa hard at work and having lots of fun decorating (and eating...of course!)

Opa, gingerbread house builder extraordinaire

Oma helps to unwrap some goodies

Emerson hard at work

Townsend decorating

The finished houses. I think you can see they had lots of fun and I'm sure they will have lots more fun eating their hard work:)

O Tannenbaum

We went out on Tuesday evening to hunt for our Christmas tree. I am one of those that just can't abide a fake tree, even though I know they are more convenient and cheaper in the long run, I don't think they compare to the real deal.

Many thanks go out to Opa, of course, because without him I would not have been able to cut down, haul, tie to the car, shake out, insert in stand, and haul in my house the Christmas tree!

We decorated the tree tonight while listening to John Denver and the Muppets Christmas cd (I highly recommend this if you don't already own it). The boys were very methodical about decorating. All of the angels in one spot, all of the balls in another spot, all the snowman ornaments in another spot. Needless to say I had some re-arranging to do once they were finished but I'm glad they had fun.

Julian, all ready for the cold weather

At the Christmas tree farm

Julian wants to help decorate!

Townsend arranging one of the nativities

Emerson hanging ornaments

The finished product

Oh yeah, I bought another nativity. I couldn't resist this one because it looks so authentically German.

Thanksgiving...The Start of Christmas?

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hyrum's parents flew into Germany the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and so I had lots of help in the kitchen (thanks Oma) and we had a fabulous dinner.

My sister Paige came over and we headed to Nuremberg for the opening of the largest Christmas Market in Germany. It was a lot of fun and so wonderful to be there without my three kids. I could take my time wandering around the different booths and never have to worry about who needs to go pee or where I can find a place to feed 2 picky eaters.

Julian enjoyed his first Thanksgiving. He liked the mashed sweet potatoes and bread the best. Of course, we all missed having Hyrum at the table with us and I'm sure Oma missed having Hyrum in the kitchen to help her out. Poor Hyrum didn't even get a Thanksgiving meal because there were 800 soldiers standing in line at the one cafeteria on Post that was serving Thanksgiving food. He ended up having stir fry and "greasy curry" for Thanksgiving.

I have much to be thankful for this year but number one on my list is my family. I love you Hyrum and I can't wait to have you back so we can be complete again.

Julians first lollipop...he really liked it:)

Townsend and some classmates getting ready to perform their Thanksgiving play

The queen of the kitchen...thank you Oma!!!

Julian and Opa, look at those TEETH!

The feast

The kids table

Julians first Thanksgiving

The Nuremberg Christmas market. All of those red and white stripped roofs are booths selling trinkets for Christmas. It was a huge market but lots of fun to look around.

Paige and I in Nuremberg

We were in Nuremberg all day. On our way back to the car we saw this Christmas tree lit up on an island in the river, it was so festive we just had to stop and take a photo.

Happy Birthday Hyrum

I'm sad that you're not here with us for your very special day. I hope you know we miss you and love you so much. I'm glad your birthday package made you happy. The boys worked really hard on those "spiral" pictures and I did my best on the DVD. Next year we'll be together again for your birthday and you can pretend you're "25" again:)

A Visit From Aunt Katrina

Hyrum's sister Katrina has been here and I have actually had someone to talk with and watch movies with in the evenings. Let me tell you how wonderful it was to have Katrina here. She was GREAT with the boys, she did my dishes, cooked my meals and helped out so much by just being here and lending a hand when I needed it. She left 4 kids back in Portland for 2 weeks just to come and help...I really can't say thank you enough. It was so much fun, she is so great to talk with and really easy going and is great at reminding me to take a deep breath and remember that everything will be fine. She is a wonderful example of how to be a good Mom and she is a good person to talk with when I feel like I am falling apart.

Thanks so much for coming Katrina...we miss you TONS!!!

Katrina playing with the boys at the playground. She was such a good sport to follow them around and do all the things they wanted to do.

Katrina and little man Jules

Oh Townsend, you are so silly!

I dare you to find a cuter baby!
(OK, so maybe I'm just a little bit biased!)

The boys waiting to go up the Cathedral tower in Freiberg. Of course Aunt Katrina climbed all 320 steps with them while I stayed down with Julian.
Townsend is holding up the little basket he chose as a treat with Emersons toy egg inside...those two have the strangest taste when it comes to finding little things to carry around.

Townsend at the Mineral Museum in Freiberg.

Emerson and Aunt Katrina working on a tower

Happy Halloween

Here is what the boys looked like on their way out the door for trick-or-treating. I have to give a big THANK YOU to Hyrum's sister Katrina who is visiting and brought these costumes with her from the States. There is pretty slim pickings for Halloween costumes over here in Germany.

The boys lasted for about 1/2 hour before the cold temperatures beat out the desire for more candy. Now I just have to figure out a way to sneak a few pieces of chocolate without them knowing...

I hope you all had a fun and Happy Halloween!

Bowling, fun. Spending money...really fun!!

I took the boys bowling last night because they had been asking me for weeks to go bowling and the bowling alley is right across the street from the gym where they take gymnastics (which is why they are wearing shorts and t-shirts...it actually SNOWED yesterday!)

The other photos are for Hyrum so he can see what I am spending his hard earned money on. There was a Bazaar here today with a bunch of German vendors selling old antiques and rugs and paintings and nut crackers and cheese and lots of kitsch basically. I found this really cute wooden wagon and I couldn't resist because they are pretty hard to come by these days so I snatched it up after being at the Bazaar for only about 5 minutes. The other thing I got was a hand stitched nativity made at a monastery in Poland. I sort of collect nativity sets and so I believe this makes number 11 for me, but I still couldn't resist!

Thanks Hyrum, I guess you don't have to worry about getting me anything for Christmas:)
***that was just a joke, you still have to get me a gift***

Check out the concentration on his face.

The boys were able to lug around their balls all by themselves, they hardly needed any help at all.

This is Julian in his winter bunting. I guess Old Navy thinks ears on the top of babies hats is cute...I'm still undecided, what do you think?

The old wooden hand wagon

Nativity #11 (or is it 12?)