Julian Turns Two!

My Little Man Jules

I honestly don't know who "Father Time" thinks he is sneaking through my days, weeks, months and now years with my little man Jules.  Julian is growing up a little too fast for my taste.  He is such a smart little guy.  He doesn't talk much yet but he is very adept at using his own version of sign language to get what he wants.  He LOVES to help me with anything I am doing, especially if it has anything to do with the dishwasher.  He loves to load and unload dishes.  He loves to load the washing machine with clothes.  He loves to "help" me vacuum by pushing the vacuum around the house behind me while I use the hose attachment.  He likes to play with his big brothers but most of the time he tries to stay out of their crazy games.  He loves to go for drives to the hardware store with Hyrum.  Now that the weather is getting a little nicer he loves to be outside.  Even when I start getting a little too cold and want to come into the house he still wants to be outside pushing his little toy giraffe around the yard.  He likes to chase the cat around and sometimes he tries to follow the cat into places only cats should go (ie: a bramble bush in our backyard that the cat likes to crawl under.  The other day I heard Julian calling "mama" from the back yard and I found him stuck amidst the prickers and thorns.  Poor guy, he couldn't go forward or backward...I'm hoping he won't try to follow the cat there in the future!)

What would I do without Julian?  He keeps me company all day while the boys are in school.  He smiles and runs to give me a hug when I have left him with daddy or a babysitter.  He likes to laugh.  He makes me laugh.  I love him from his cute little toes to his floppy blonde hair!


I have put together a little video of Julian from age one to two.  Pay special attention to how diligently he tries to blow out his birthday candles and how proud he looks when they finally blow out...too cute:)

The past few weeks

OK, so there have been many things going on these last few weeks and I just haven't sat down and wrote about them but I suppose late is better than never.

Friday February 11th
We picked the boys up early from school and headed toward Freiberg, about three hours away, for a trip to the temple.  We planned to meet up with some friends in Zwickau at a car museum.  They also have three boys and we figured it would be a nice halfway stopping point for our trip...boys like cars, right?  Well after two hours in the car what boys really like is to RUN and we were asked more than once by the security guards at the museum to please keep our boys under control.  I think they had fun though.  The museum had a race car game they could play as well as a "build your own car" computer game that they enjoyed.  After the museum we headed to McDonalds for dinner where they were once again extremely wild but I figured that was OK at McDonalds.  We got to Freiberg and we played some games with our friends, the Platt family and then headed to bed.

 Julian at the car museum, he wasn't too happy to be strapped in his stroller so we let him run around with his brothers after a while

 Townsend and Emerson playing the race car game at the museum

The boys found the coat lockers at the museum...what can I say?

Saturday February 12th
Hyrum and I attended a session at the temple while the Platts watched our kids and then we switched so they could also attend a session.  After the temple we had lunch at our favorite Doner Kebab restaurant in Freiberg and then we went to the swimming pool.  A fun time was had by all, especially the three 7 year olds who could go down the water slide all by themselves and they enjoyed a bit of freedom at the pool.  The trip home was wonderful because the boys had exhausted themselves at the pool and so slept most of the way home.  Hyrum and I had the rare opportunity to listen to a podcast that was actually interesting for adults, instead of listening to the audio for a childrens movie that was playing in the back seats:)

 Freiberg Germany Temple

Monday February 14th

Happy Valentines Day!  The boys were sent to school with a whole bag full of treats to pass out to their friends and they returned home with boxes stuffed to the brim with treats.  When did Valentines Day start involving more candy than Halloween?   Hyrum had taken the day off work so we could spend some time together.  We put Julian in daycare for a few hours and enjoyed a nice salad at Hotel Bohm here in Grafenwoehr for lunch.  It is so nice to sit at a table in a restaurant and talk quietly together about our day and not have to worry about crying kids or boys crawling around under the table.  Hyrum made me a fabulous dinner with my two favorite foods, broccoli and sweet potatoes! 

This is a photo of the boys Valentine boxes after they had already eaten about half the candy, I wish I would have thought to grab the camera sooner...those boxes were overflowing!

Flowers from Hyrum

The yummy dinner Hyrum made.  Stir fried broccoli with chicken and spiced sweet potatoes with yogurt dressing.

Saturday February 19th

Our Stake held a fasching party for all the primary kids in the Stake.  My calling is in the Stake primary presidency so I was heavily involved in the planning for this activity.  Last year about 30 children came to the party so we planned on about 40 children for this year.  Well, more than 80 children came!!!  Poor Hyrum was sent to the grocery store to buy more food and treats for the children.  I believe the party was a success.  The kids played games and enjoyed some yummy German sausages and krapfen (German donuts).  Unfortunately Townsend wasn't feeling too great that day and Julian was just a little scared of all the noise going on around him, so that made it a little harder to be in charge of all the activities that I was supposed to run.  Overall I came away feeling like it was a success, even though it was really crazy!

Can you tell Townsend doesn't feel great?  I was so busy running around I forgot to take any pictures so thank you Tera for sending me this photo!

Monday February 21st

The boys were home from school and Hyrum had the day off work because of Presidents Day.  We wanted to do something fun together but little Townsend still wasn't feeling well (it turns out he had pneumonia!)  We decided to go for a short walk around the Felsen Labyrinth.  The boys and I had been there a few times but Hyrum had never gone so we thought it would be a fun little trip.  We hadn't planned on there being so much snow on the trail so we were all just wearing our shoes instead of boots.  Poor Townsend couldn't really breathe very well so I ended up carrying him most of the way.  Everyone was pretty cold even though the sun was shining.  Needless to say, our hike was very short BUT we did enjoy the short time we got to spend outside in the fresh air.

Emerson broke this icicle off one of the rock outcroppings.  It was the clearest and smoothest icicle I have ever seen.

At one point Hyrum was carrying both Townsend and Julian!  What a great Dad:)

You can see the sun was shining and it was a beautiful clear day but we had to turn around before we reached the top.  I'm sure the view from the top would have been amazing.  We will definitely come back this summer!

Pinewood Derby

Townsend and Emerson have been participating in Tiger Scouts this year.  This was their first pinewood derby experience...and mine too.  I grew up in a family with 1 boy and 7 girls, I really have no idea about scouting and all the things that go along with it.  Thank goodness for Hyrum.  The boys chose the design they wanted for their cars but Hyrum did all the work.  I'm hoping they can help a little more when they get older but right now I just don't want my 7 year old using a band saw!  They helped sand and paint a little bit but the credit really goes to Hyrum, what an amazing Dad!

Townsend's car on the left, Emerson's car on the right

Emerson with his car on race day.

Townsend with his car on race day

The boys claimed a perfect spot to sit and watch the races

There were about 30 cars racing that day.  After about 1/2 hour I thought, surely we are almost done, when I asked a friend of mine when the race was over she said, "oh, this usually lasts about 2 hours."  What?  I had no idea.  Hyrum had to be sent out to the gas station to buy some drinks and snacks to help keep our energy up for the long haul.  Townsend's car came in 1st place for his age group and then 3rd place overall.  He was so happy and excited when his car kept winning.  Emerson had a bit of a hard time being happy for his brother.  His car did pretty well and won some of it's races but didn't end up placing at all.  We tried to tell him that lots of other boys didn't win at all but he just wanted to be angry that his brother won and he didn't.  Sometimes it's really hard having twins!

What We've Been Up To

I haven't posted in a few weeks so I have a bit of catching up to do.  It's not that I haven't been doing anything it's just that it takes motivation to sit at this computer and upload photos and attempt to write something witty.

We went to Spielemax (a toy store in Weiden) with some birthday money Oma had sent for the twins.  Townsend bought himself a skateboard and Emerson chose a package of 6 bakugan's (if you don't know what these are you must not have young boys at home!)  Julian found this stroller and pushed it all around the store while we were waiting for the boys to decide what they wanted.  I couldn't help but buy it for him in the end, he loves it so much!

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Hyrum let me have a little mini break from the kids for a few days the weekend after the boys birthday.  I LOVE having Paige within driving distance!  It makes it so easy to arrange for me to get away for a bit.  We enjoyed Indian and Thai food as well as relaxing on the couch with Oreo truffles...mmmmm so good!  This is a picture we took up at the castle ruins in her town of Hohenecken.  I love you so much Paige, thanks for always making me feel so welcome and for showing me a good time:)

Daddy and Julian

Mommy and Julian

Family photo

We are Durtschi's and what this means is that when the sun comes out we go hiking.  Today it was a sweltering 48 degrees so we packed the kids in the car and hiked up to a castle ruin outside the city of Kemnath, about 30 minutes away.  The boys loved climbing all over the ruins and enjoyed being outside in the sunshine.  Julian actually really likes the baby backpack and didn't mind hanging out in it for the hike but once we were at the top he wanted to get out and run with his brothers.  His favorite thing is splashing in puddles and so he had a fabulous time with all the melted snow puddles.  I truly love living here in Germany where we have access to so many wonderful hikes just minutes from our home.

The boys are SEVEN

For the past few weeks Hyrum and I have tried desperately to convince the boys they didn't want a birthday party.  We offered to take them on a small trip, to take them to a movie, to buy them something fancy...nope, they wanted a party.  I suppose after avoiding throwing an actual birthday party for my twins the last seven years I finally decided I should just do what they want and give them a party.  In the past we have had a few family friends over for cake and ice-cream with a strict "no gifts" rule but I think the boys have been invited to enough birthday parties now they have actually caught on to the fact they have been getting a bum deal.  So, two class parties and one big combined party later, we are all still alive and our house is still standing. 

Cakes #1 and 2

I brought in cake for the boys classes today.  Emerson wanted vanilla with oreo cookies and Townsend wanted chocolate with strawberries.  It was kind of crazy to organize it all.  I had to be in Townsend's class at 1:00 for his snack time and then Emerson's class at 1:15 but I think all the kids enjoyed the cakes.

Townsend wearing his birthday hat and enjoying his snack

Emerson and his birthday hat having cake with his class

Cake #3, for the evening birthday party.  This one was half chocolate and half vanilla.  Those are supposed to be number 7's all over the cake but they are kind of sloppy...I'm not known for my craftiness:)

They played a few games (duck, duck, goose and some other relay games)

They opened some gifts...

Then we smashed a pinata to bits!  Here is Emerson getting ready to take a swing

Townsend takes his turn at whacking the pinata

I'm pretty sure the boys had a good day.  The friends that came over seemed to have a fun time and there was PLENTY of food.  We ordered 8 large pizzas and a whole sheet cake...what were we thinking?  I'm also pretty sure I don't want to do this again anytime in the near future...good thing their birthday only comes once a year!

Random Happenings

 Well, we are still here even if I have been a little slack on my blog updates.  January has been full of everyday happenings as well as some real crazy moments.  The biggest thing to happen was our basement flooded.   We woke up Friday, January 14th, ready to start packing for our trip to Frieberg.  Hyrum had a four day weekend because of the Martin Luther King holiday and we had a few fun things planned.  The boys were the first to discover the lake in the basement.  I believe they went down there to hide one of Julian's toys (they are always hiding his favorite toy.)  They came upstairs and said, "mom, we have a swimming pool in the basement!"  I thought the worst and ran down looking for a broken pipe or the sound of running water but I didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary that would explain the 5 inches of water in my basement.  Hyrum came down and we decided it must be ground water seeping in through the basement walls and floors.  Bavaria had about 39 inches of snow in December when the average snowfall is about 8 inches.  Then January came along with warm rainy days and all the snow melted at once...not good.  Our landlady who grew up in the house we are now renting said the whole time her family lived here the basement has never flooded.  The good news is we didn't loose anything too precious other than a few framed pictures and some books.  Most of the things we could just take to the laundromat and clean up or hang outside on our front porch to dry.  Still, it ruined our whole weekend and we usually get to explore something new and fun on a four day weekend!

You really can't tell how high the water got from this picture but just look at the sides of the cardboard boxes to see how high the water rose.

 

Here is Townsend showing off the gingerbread man house he made for his classroom gingerbread village.  Yes, I know it's made out of cardboard, but it had to last the whole month at school!

Do I really need to add a caption to this cute photo?  

OK, so the second crazy thing to happen in January (gee, the month isn't even over yet and we have had two major upsets!)  Yesterday I was making Julian a very nutritious and well balanced lunch (OK, so I was opening a can of spaghettios) and I sliced my finger on the open lid of the spaghettios can.  At first I grabbed a paper towel and applied pressure (thank you Girls Camp for the first aid lessons!)  The bleeding didn't stop and so I called Hyrum at his office and told him I was on my way.  Lucky for me he was on his lunch break so I wasn't interrupting his schedule.  When I got to his office he decided the best course of action would be stitches.  Those of you who know me well know I am the biggest wimp when it comes to needles so I wasn't too happy about this but I also wanted my finger to stop bleeding.  Hyrum's very nice nurse took Julian for us (she bribed him with gummy bears!)  Hyrum had to give me about 5 injections of numbing medicine to make sure my finger was nice and numb and then he proceeded to sew me up.  I was very brave but also very nauseous and light headed when it was all over.  I am posting the G rated picture because I can't even abide looking at the stitches and I didn't want to expose anyone else to the gore.

So there you have it.  January has had some ups and downs but we are still here!

Happy 2011

Another whole week with no school? What am I supposed to do with these kids for 7 more days? To make things worse Hyrum had to work 2 whole days this week (I know, pretty crappy right?) Here's a run down of how we said goodbye to 2010.

Monday: We headed over to Mega Play, the giant indoor play area that is usually a mad house. We got there at 11:30 and left at 12:30 and we never saw ANY other kids the whole time. We had the entire play area to ourselves for an hour, it was awesome!

Julian and Townsend at Mega Play

Tuesday: We headed out to Bamberg, about an hour and a half away. We went to the Natural History museum which has a fantastic collection of birds. After the museum we walked around the city a bit and had some hot chocolate, it was a pretty good day.

Townsend and Emerson examining some of the birds on display

Townsend and some birds

Some of the Christmas decorations were still on display in the city

Mommy and Julian on the bridge in Bamberg

Wednesday: Hyrum was at work so the boys and I went to Burger King for breakfast. The boys were so excited to get the french toast sticks!

Thursday: We went to Weiden in the morning and Hyrum switched out a sweater I bought him for Christmas for a larger size. We walked around briefly in Weiden but it was super chilly so we didn't stay out long. Thursday evening we went to our friends, the Platt's, for some yummy pizza and popcorn as well as some fun games. The boys LOVED running around their house with their 6 year old son Cael. They especially liked that Cael had a slide to get off his bed!

Friday: We did a bit of grocery shopping and got the boys hair cut. That evening the Platt's came to our house for movies (the kids watched Scooby Doo) and for games (we played Ticket To Ride and Quibbler...lots of fun!) At around 10:30 PM we decided it was late enough for the kids to be up and we decided to torch our Christmas tree to bring in the New Year...see video clip at the end of this post. I really like how you can see the sparks going up into the air as the snow is coming down.

Saturday: We headed to Nuremberg to visit the German History museum. There is A LOT to see in this museum and our boys get tired after about an hour in a museum so we had to be pretty picky as to what we saw. We saw the worlds oldest globe, so old that America was not on it yet! We saw some paintings by Albrecht Durer as well as Rembrandt. The museum itself is housed in a pretty cool building so it was just fun walking around. After the museum we grabbed some lunch and headed over to the Roxy theater, one of the few theaters near us that plays English language movies. The boys and I watched Tangled while Daddy took Julian for a walk. We tried to sit in the theater with Julian but he is just too young and wiggly at this age to sit for long.

Mommy and the boys at the museum

Townsend and Emerson in front of the very old globe

Our family in front of an exhibit showing how a hunting lodge would be furnished back in the day.

We survived another week with no school but I have to admit I am really happy school starts again tomorrow:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!