Lantern (Laternen) Festival

Little R's kindergarten had a "lantern festival" last month.  We went in one day after school and made the lanterns, and then the next week we met in the evening, they lit the kids' lanterns, and we went on a "parade" to the fields.  There we all gathered in a circle, and they sang songs..it was very cute!

Little R was not impressed at all!  It was cold and dark outside, and he was tired; so he spent the entire time crying.  We ended up leaving early, just to get him home!

It is neat to see the different traditions and customs they have here.  And if little R wasn't in the German kindergarten, we wouldn't even know about most of them!

R coming out of his school with his lantern.

A close-up of R's lantern that "we" made. 

Ready for the parade!!!

The parade begins...

We made it to the fields!

The coughing & sputtering you hear in the background?  Yep, that's little R...he cried the ENTIRE time!!!  After this song, we ended up leaving, while the other kids went on into the fields, singing and having a good 'ol time! : )

Happy Birthday T!!!

Nov. 19, 1997; 8 lbs 1 oz

I can't believe it has been 14 years since T was born!!!  In a way, it seems like a lifetime ago...we were so young and unprepared for parenthood!!  But in other ways, I feel like she can't possibly be a teenager, in high school!!  She should still be my little girl!!

T was a special child from the beginning.  She was totally unexpected, but the best surprise ever!  She changed the hearts and lives of so many people. 

She turned R from an unmotivated guy with no plans for his future, to a man on a mission to provide for his little family, no matter what it took!!

She brought out the best in my parents.  I saw them love her in a way I had never seen!!  I know they loved me growing up...but they thoroughly ENJOYED this little girl!!  She was the apple of their eyes...and still is in a lot of ways!

T was born on her due date.  She arrived after only about 10 hours of labor, healthy and happy!  She was such a fun baby...happy, playful, content...and we got comments from strangers everywhere we went with her!  She was a great baby, and made parenting fun....most of the time!  The every-2-hour-around-the-clock-nursing was a little NOT fun for me! : )  She would go to strangers, stay with family, and was happy at home with us.  She just really was happy all the time, as long as she was fed!

Fast forward 14 years...and the T we have today!  She has been through a lot in her 14 years, and I definitely think those things have shaped who she is.  She has moved to different schools 8 times; she has endured her Daddy being deployed two times; she has had to leave friends and family behind so many times...and it never gets easier!!  She has welcomed a brother and sister into her family...and both of those changed our family dynamic in soooo many ways!

T is CRAZY talented!!  She is artistic, and can draw things I couldn't even imagine drawing!!  She can play the piano like a pro...after less than a year of lessons and lots of hours in her room at the piano!  She has taught herself how to play numerous songs, just by listening to them over and over again.

She is super smart, too!  She has done so well in school, even with all the changes in her school career.  And when she doesn't do well, it is more a lack of desire than intelligence!

She is a collector!!  She has numerous items that are very special to her...that she has picked up along this journey; and while I don't like the clutter, these things are important to her!

She loves animals!!  The love of her life so far has been a big yellow dog!!  She loved her more than anything!!  She is also pretty crazy about a certain kitty that lives in her room!!  She shows affection to animals that we never see directed at us! : )

She is very shy!!  She hates speaking in groups, or to people she doesn't know.  Her crazy, outgoing Daddy can't understand this at all...but I do!! 

So all that to say, T is turning into a fine young woman.  We are so proud to call her our daughter!  She isn't your typical teenager...and we like it that way just fine!  She amazes us with her creativity and talent...I can't wait to see how she uses them in her future!!

For her birthday, she chose to spend the day at an art museum, and then dinner out.  We found a great Art Museum in Stuttgart, and admission was free!!  We spent a couple of hours there, and she had a great time!  Then on to dinner at the restaurant of her choice...she chose a place callled Casa Del Sol...it is supposed to feel very American...but didn't really to us.  She had schnitzel, and LOVED it, so it was a successful dinner!  Then we came home and had cake to top off the day!!  It was a great day, celebrating a great girl!

The museum in Stuttgart

Dinner!!  Schnitzel mit pommes!!

We ALL had plenty to eat! : )

The "disaster"!!  The cakes wouldn't come out of the pans...they fell apart...so I had to put them back together (in the pan) and cover them with frosting!! : (  I've never destroyed a birthday cake before, and I have done much more difficult cakes than just a homemade chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!  I felt horrible!!  But, they tasted GREAT...and T was very forgiving!! : )

We love you, T!  We had a wonderful day celebrating YOU!!  We can't imagine life without you, and we can't wait to see what the future has in store for you!!  We can't promise fewer changes in your life, but we can promise that we will continue to be there with you through them all!!

Fall in Germany

The fall colors here have been absolutely beautiful!!  We have been meaning to take pictures of the drive into our town for weeks, but never seem to have our camera with us!  Finally last weekend, we took a walk around town to try and capture some pics for our Christmas card..(which we got, by the way, and you will NOT be seeing on this post)!!  After we were done with our walk, R jumped in the car and took a couple of pics of the road out of our town.

Stuttgart, Germany is HUGE!  It has over 600,000 people!  So while we are stationed at Stuttgart, we don't live there.  We live in a small town named Steinenbronn.  It has a population of about 5,200 people, and that suits us just fine!  We have several cafes, restaurants, hotels and bakeries in the town.  There are also pharmacies, gas stations and grocery stores.  Basically, anything you need you can get in our town without having to travel into the bigger cities.  Of course, you have to get it before about 7:00 in the evening, and NEVER on Sunday...everything shuts down early in the evening...and pretty much NOTHING is open on Sunday!  But we like our little town, and we keep discovering new things the more we venture out!

The is the road coming into our town...a very pretty drive!

Same road...

This has become one of our favorite spots...a little cafe in our town, owned and operated by a Turkish family.  We love their pizza!!

This is looking up from the center of our town...little R and I walk this path everyday to go to school.

The is the 'rathaus', or city hall of our town.

Pretty tree in front of the rathaus...and some pretty cute kids, too!

This is at the German school...

Pretty fall colors near little R's school...

The kids couldn't resist the leaves!  That is R's school in the background!

This is little R's school...a German kindergarten.  This is quite the experience for him and for me!

A house along our walk route...this was full of blooming flowers earlier in the year...still pretty without all the blooms!

One of MANY open fields...R took advantage of the open space!

The view of the hillside walking up to our side of town.

The view of the main part of our town...we live up on one side, and the middle of town is kind of in a valley.

More pretty? : )

More open fields..a lot of these were full of corn until just recently!

This was a bit spooky, but the kids wanted to check it out anyway!

I can't say that I love living here yet, and I don't know if I ever will.  But I can say that every single day we see something that is just simply beautiful!  The houses, the forests, the fields...there is so much here that is so different from home...but beautiful nonetheless!  And we are trying to embrace the much more simple lifestyle they have here...taking walks as a family, taking pride in the appearance of your home (not because it's a grand, expensive home, but because it is yours and you are going to make it look it nice), and walking anywhere you need to go in your town.  Basically, people here enjoy their families, enjoy getting outside with them, and enjoy their beautiful surroundings!  I think I could get used to that!

Pics of the House...

WARNING:  This post may be very boring to most people reading it!  MiMi & PaPa have requested pics of the house several times...so this is to appease them!  They really aren't that interesting, but they give a peek into our home...

So here we go!

The kids' rooms are always the first rooms I do after the kitchen.  The kitchen comes first, because it isn't really home until you can cook your meals in your kitchen!

This time we had our kitchen functioning already when our household goods came, because we had already been living here for 6 weeks!  We are allowed to send over a small shipment early, and it arrives much faster than our household goods.  So most of our advance shipment was kitchen stuff!!

So as soon as our household goods arrived, we got busy on the kids' rooms!  Little R had been crying for his room for quite some time, so he was the first priority!

This is R's room before...

We have decorated doors since I first put these names on their doors in GA, before R was even born!  Now they all enjoy decorating thier doors...however they wish!

And this is R's room after!!

Notice the "closet"?  Not a single built in closet in this house..which is the norm around here!

R was SO very happy to have his bed back!

And after having only a small suitcase of toys to play with for about 2 months, he was VERY happy to have all his toys back!  This time we put his toys in his room...hoping to have a more "toy free" family space in the living room.  But it hasn't worked...he just carries his toys down a few at a time, plays with them, and then leaves them in the living room.  Then they have to be carried BACK upstairs to his room at the end of the day!!

T's was the next room that we completed.  We bought a cheap, European bed for R and me when we first got here, so T got our old king size bed when our household goods arrived.  She is as happy as a clam!!  She was sleeping on a twin size bed before, so this was a big step up for her!!  T's bedroom is in the basement, which she loves!  She is down there by herself, and if she has her door closed, she can play her piano just as loud as she wants to, and it doesn't bother us!!  The downside is...anytime we need her, we have to walk all the way down there to get her...because she can't hear us calling for her!! : )

This is T's room before...

And T's room after!  T is our "collector".  She has so many things that she won't let go of...and I have just surrendered to that.  Her room is never as neat, tidy and organized as I would like it..but this room is very symbolic of T!  She LOVES it, and that is what matters!

T's "closet"...I will never get over the fact that they build houses with no closets...it's a disgrace! : )  If you look closely you will see Anji in the chair at the desk.  She spends most of her time down in T's room. I only see her when the kids are gone to school..then she comes up to visit with me!

T is so proud of her "grown up" bed!!

The piano...T spends more time sitting here than anywhere else in the house!  That girl LOVES piano...and she's really good at it, too!  We should have gotten her started years ago!

The picture above the piano is T's birthday present. She saw it at Ikea when we first got here, and she loved it. It goes along with her black, white and red theme, and the bus even says Victoria on it! R and I went and bought it the other day because I was afraid they wouldn't have them if we waited any longer. But then we were stuck...because we had nowhere to hide it until her birthday!! So she got it a little early...and she made sure R hung it up RIGHT THEN!! : )

And last but not least, A's room....

This is A's room before.  It was the only room in the house that had been painted...it was the owner's 2 & 4 yr old daughters' room...and A felt it was too childish.  So when the house was painted before we moved in, we had them paint over the pink and purple!  On a side note:  The Army gives us an allowance for paint before we move in...but they only pay for white paint in the whole house.  We got the painter to do an eggshell color, but that's the best we could do for color!

A isn't as much of a collector, so her room stays pretty neat and tidy...and organized!

A was also quite happy to have her bed back after sleeping on an airbed for 6 weeks!

Again, the lovely closet...

A has doors out of her room...but there is no balcony...just metal bars to keep you from falling out!  We have the same doors, no balcony...

Yes, Greyson Chance came to Germany with us! : )

A's door...she really got into it here...I think this is the most stuff she has ever had on her door!

And there you have it!!  That's it for now!  Our room is almost done...gotta hang some stuff on the walls.  Kitchen is done, but I have to catch it freshly cleaned and dishes put away to take pictures!  Living room is waiting on curtains!  So more to come, hopefully soon!