Sunday, November 28, 2010

Weihnachtsmarkt

On Saturday, we went up to Lichtenburg again to go to their Medieval Weihnachtsmarkt. It was very very cool. :) And of course, gorgeous. How fun is it to go Christmas shopping outdoors at a castle in Germany? 


the minstrels

John did great- he was SO cute with his rosy little cheeks!

We had waffels- lebkuchen and schwam

Harry drinking his heisse schokolade

The kids got to make wooden angels with their friends

Jay in line for the baumkuchen

baumkuchen- rolled baked bread with crusty outside and toppings- we got zimnt and kakao
 We also went to the Christmas market in Landstuhl. This was the Sankt Andreas Markt and was also very fun. I ended up only buying Harry a pair of suspenders for his snow pants, but the food is really what these fests are all about! The weiss bratwursts are incredible!


John got "snuggled" when he got home. :)

Walk around the Village








Saturday, November 27, 2010

Tagged

Becky tagged me.
RULE #1 : People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

RULE #2 : Tag 4 people to do this quiz and they cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family?
We have 3, and yes, they belong to our family. :)
2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?
I would become a better photographer. Everything else in my life is pretty stinkin perfect right now!
3. What is the one thing most hated by you?
annoying people and their annoying children
4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
let Jay do all his fancy things he wants on his nova, and my corvette. Buy all the camera lenses I want... do a TON of traveling!
5. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?
listening to my kids laugh, looking out my window and seeing the beautiful German countryside, realizing that I'm only 4 hours from Paris!
6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
both, which is more depends on the day. some days I give more, some days I receive more :)
7. What is your bedtime routine?
feed John, wash my face, pee, collapse.
8. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner?
I moved in to the upstairs of a house. He lived downstairs. He came home from a trip, I saw super hot guy in the driveway and decided that we should be in love. :)
9. If you could watch a creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be?
Art Wolfe
10. What kinds of books do you buy?
only ones that I want to keep forever. I heart bookmooch.com
11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?
I just realized the other day that my driver's license expires when I'm 35. I'm not ready to think about 10 years away! Plus, I"m guessing we'll be out of the military around then, and that opens up a whole other can of worms. I really can only think a year or two in advance. 
12. What's your fear?
something serious happening to one of the kids. Or Jay. 
13. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to visit outer space?
Nope. I heart chips. And Keebler iced cookies. :)

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married, but poor?
I can't imagine living my life without Jay, so I'm going to go married, regardless of money. Plus, its not like we joined the military to get rich! LOL
15. What's the first thing you do when you wake up?
Feed John. Pee. Change John. :) Love having a newborn!
16. If you could change one thing about your spouse/partner what would it be?
He'd be able to read my  mind. I hate nagging and hate asking for help, and he's a man, so he never guesses what I'm thinking, and we have a stupid fight. It sucks when that happens, but we're getting better!
17. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
The crazy-busy lady
18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?
I'd like to say that I can forgive, but I generally don't forget. It's something I need to work on, but I try and protect myself. 
19. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?
Border Bar Pizza. I miss me some northern Minnesota goodness!

I"m going to tag: Amber, Linda, Shannon, and Michelle

Friday, November 26, 2010

Turkey Day and the First Snow!

We woke up on Thanksgiving morning to beautiful glorious German snow. :) The kids were SOO excited, as was I. We ran right out and played in it. After an hour or two, Emma says, "Mom, can we have breakfast now?" I totally forgot to feed them before we went out! We made snowmen, used the sled, and threw lots and lots of snowballs!
Schnee!! 

Emma frowing snowballs

Harry loves snow :)



The back of our house!

our german neighbor trying to ride her bike in the snow

we built a snowman

Harry trying to wink

my beautiful children
That evening, we had a Thanksgiving potluck at our friends' house. Michelle invited over 4 families, including us, and we had an amazing time! 11 adults and 12 kids! We are SO blessed to have such amazing friends right in our village!
The mafia children

The beautiful Martinshoehe Mafia Mammas
Deedee, Christy, Me, Michelle, and Heather

Monday, November 15, 2010

Shutterfly!

So, I found a cool idea. Actually, I stole it from Jeannette over at 4 Ring Circus, but whatever... I blog about Shutterfly's awesome cards, and they give me said cards for FREE. Pretty neat, right? Anyways, I've ordered my cards from Shutterfly for the past 3 years, along with John and Emma's birth announcements. I also order their calendars and whatever else happens to strike my fancy to increase my order to get free shipping. Gotta love free shipping. This year, I'm really loving their Christmas ornaments. What a great gift and stocking stuffer!
Anyways, now I just have to find the time to create the cool card for this year. I have the picture... it involves a castle. That's all I'm going to say, but trust that its awesome. I'm thinking I'm going for a more classic look this year. Perhaps something in red? Last year, I let the kids have a vote and they chose something pretty cute. Snowmen, snowflakes, etc.
As always, Shutterfly has lots and lots of really cool designs, templates, colors, and styles that I (and you) can choose from.
If you are interested in free holiday cards, and seriously, why wouldn't you be?!, go here and fill out the form. It takes a day or two, but its SO worth it!

Castle Fun

We hit up two castles today, Lichtenburg and Nanstein. The kids and I had fun practicing some picture techniques.











Sunday, November 14, 2010

A few pictures... and some Emma-isms!









"Mommy, I have sumpin to tell you. I don't love you. No, wait, I DO love you cuz sometimes frocodiles don't bite us, but sometimes they do bite us, but they're not in our house."

"I don't think I'll probably listen to you next time either, Daddy."
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