Bonjourno!

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Here are a few pictures of our trip to Italy in September. We had the opportunity to take a little vacation alongside attending a wedding there. Craig's buddy Pete La Franchise met a wonderful little Italian girl, whose family is from Rome, but have a house in Alghero, Sardinia Italy. It was a lovely wedding. The people there were precious and loving. The weather was gorgeous, the beach was gorgeous--what can I say? It was GORGEOUS!! We stayed in an apartment we rented right on the beach where we could take the kids out everyday to play very easily. The beaches were clean and the water magnificent! The water was not only clear, but warm! We were told that it takes June and July to warm the water up, so August and September were the warmest times for the water--perfect! We were able to walk around the town, take a boat ride out to a cavern and just enjoy not having to run all over the place. It was a real vacation! I know that when we go to Rome and some of the other big cities we will want to run all over and see everything, but when your in a small, beautiful town like this with no pressures to see every museum and church for the sake of history--it was nice to just relax. Take a look at the beautiful scenery we were able to enjoy and you'll understand exactly what I mean!

pictures(end of school, summer, Bible School, birthdays, etc.

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Getting Older...

Bet you thought I was talking about myself, didn't you--but wrong, I was talking about my eldest daughter, Paige who turned "6" on the first of August--I after all have stopped having birthdays. Guess I should've titled it "Growng Up". I can't believe it sometimes, but then I'll look at her and she is definitely looking older and am proud to say acting a bit more mature as well. We no longer have to argue over hair and clothes--guess she finally figured out that it was pointless, because Mom always wins. But truly I'm seeing her really develop in such a nice way,so helpful and so loving.

Paige had a big year this past year--beginning Kindergarten in the US, then moving to Berlin and finishing up her school year in an outstanding school, where she did very well, and really enjoyed it. Now she is getting ready for Year 1. She's very excited about this year, knowing all of the kids in her class (as they stay together from the beginning here). Year 1 is a big deal in Germany. There is a big party on the first day of school for them and they are showered with all kinds of sweets and gifts. Every person you know is invited to come (Grandparents, neighbors, siblings, friends, etc.) I think it will be really fun for them, as most of them don't know about it--it's a big surprise!

After the school year starts then I am faced with birthday party, part II. On her actual birthday, I let Paige have her very first real sleepover with 3 other little girls(all American Embassy girls--their dads work with Craig) besides she and Claudia. They had a great time having all the junk food you could imagine(I had to make a special trip to the Embassy store to find that kind of stuff!) They did make-overs on each other, painted nails, did each others hair, danced to Hannah Montana, and finally made a fun palette in the floor to watch High School Musical on the projector, so it was like they were at the movies. They had a ball!!
All of her school chums were "on Holiday" in other countries--and I couldn't bear to let her special day go by without something so I told her we'd do one with our Embassy girls and another one with her school friends once the new year started. You can imagine there were no complaints from her!

For now, I'm enjoying having the girls at home with me before the whole school rat race starts again (Aug. 28th for Claudia and Sept. 1st for Paige). Both Claudia and Paige started tennis lessons this week and are going to take swimming lessons for the last couple of weeks before school starts. Between that and a few trips around in the city and maybe a weekend trip close by, we are going to end our summer with a bang! I'll update again soon and let everyone know all about the first days of school.

My Baby is "2"!!!

Well, we've officially made it to the terrible two phase for the third time--although I don't really remember it being so terrible with my other girls. I guess that is why Brooke is making up for it twofold! We started noticing her "outgoing" personality about 15 months, then she started walking and we'll let's just say the world wasn't quite ready for that. Now she is all over the place and as long as she is able to go and do what she wants and is eating a treat she's happy! So now when I leave the house, I make sure I stock up on some kind of cracker and beverage and hope it lasts long enough for me to get my errands taken care of.

Recently we had Vacation Bible School at our church. I was helping with snacks this year, so this was not only Claudia's first time, but Brooke's as well. The first day, she did pretty good, even made a little mask for a craft! The second day, not so much. She had to join me for T, W, and TH because she was a bit much for the sweet little high school girls to handle. She was so happy to be outside snacking away talking to every other child in VBS. It wasn't until Friday that my friend Peggy came through. Brooke starting throwing her typical fit with the girls, to get out of her class and come to me. My much wiser friend Peggy (has two older daughters, 8 & 10), went into the nursery for me. She simply knelt down and told her that she needed my help for a few minutes and that if she stayed in her class, that she would bring her a treat! No problem. Brooke stopped crying, went back and played and that was the end of that! Who says a little bribery never worked! After that we instructed the two young women that had been so sweet and patient with her to just keep feeding her--and it all worked out. And sure enough, Ms. Peggy handed her an ice pop at the end and now they are best friends! You would think I never feed her, but she's just a little snacker!

That brings me to her latest update--she weighs a whopping 25.2 pounds and is 34 inches tall.
She is such a ham! At her birthday party, we had to sing "Happy Birthday" to her at least 7 times! We would finish and she would start in singing again, looking at everyone, like why aren't you singing? She talks to everyone and isn't afraid of anything! A very busy little bee-much like her daddy! We are having so much fun watching her grow up. She loves to sing and dance. She knows every princess song, and is beginning to know some Hannah Montana and High School Musical songs as well. She's only 2 and poor thing is like--"Elmo Who?"
She loves playing Barbies with the big girls too, which is great. I love watching all of them play together. It reminds me so much of growing up with my two sisters.

He favorite thing though, is what we gave her for her birthday, a little kitten we named "Pearl". She absolutely loves her! I've had the best time watching her chase the cat (Pearl running for her life), picking her up and moving her place to place that Brooke thinks she ought to be, and throwing her over her shoulder, "cuddling" her. Very entertaining.

I have to say, she is a handful, but after two pretty easy kids, I guess I was asking for it. I think she was God's way of saying "Your Done". Truthfully, we do adore her and I think she's a GREAT one to end on. WE LOVE YOU BROOKE!!

We're still Here!

It' been a long time--I know, but we've been kind of busy. After much waiting we finally got into our house on May 15th. So after almost 4 months of temporary quarters, you can imagine we were happy to get all of our stuff back and very anxious to settle in. So between that and finishing up school activities with Paige we have stayed on the go. We did manage to squeeze a trip in over Mothers Day weekend to Garmish (about 5 hours south of Berlin). It was beautiful there. Everywhere you turned you were swallowed up by the beauty of The Alps. Gorgeous weather. We rode the "zugfarht" (gondola) up to the top and were able to look out over all of God's glorious creation. One word--MAGNIFICENT!!! The girls could not get over the fact that they were walking around in snow in their sandals. After that one would not think the kids could get excited about much else, but then we went to "The Cinderella Castle"--Neuswanstein Castle. Oh my goodness! They just knew they were looking at Cinderella's bed! We even took a horse and carriage ride to the top--delivered there just like Cinderella would have been. All the castles we've seen in Germany are beautiful and all worth a look, but the nostalgia that goes with taking my three little girls to this particular castle was well worth the drive! I have to say, even their daddy was all about it.
We saw Linderhof Palace as well on this trip, but after that we spent much of our time just letting our girls play in the streams along the mountains.
Among my favorite things of course was all the wonderful Bavarian food we had. I was really worried I would not be into the German food, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I've truly enjoyed it!
Each town, region, etc. has all different styles--so far I haven't had any bad experiences.
They also have different ways of dressing. In this particular area--it can be pretty touristy, so when I saw these little men going around in their feathered hats, Laderhosen with the socks pulled up to the knees-- just figured it was for show. But it wasn't! They truly dressed like that. Something straight out of "The Sound of Music"! The only thing I could think of was where can I get my dad one of those outfits! Can't you just see him in that?
The ladies wore the traditional attire as well, but it wasn't as eye catching as the men.
We were only there 4 days, but we did alot and really enjoyed it. I'll post a few pictures.

Claudia--a.k.a. Mulan turns 4!!!

Our daughter, Claudia just turned 4. She keeps us in stitches because quite frankly you never know what is going to come out of her mouth. First of all, just before we left the U.S. she decided each day when she got out of bed that she was a certain princess. Every morning she would come down stairs and before even saying Good Morning, she would announce what princess she was that day. It started out with Sleeping Beauty which you think, okay I can see that--very blonde hair, with her beautiful milky white skin. Then all of the sudden she was intrigued with all of the dark headed princesses. Typical girl, always wanting what we don't have. But then finally it stuck--Mulan was the one! She was so intrigued with how she was not only a princess, but was tough too! She would go into these big involved stories of exactly what she would do if she were to face a bad guy.

Then we arrive in Berlin... We go to Craig's office, and before I can introduce my sweet Claudia to his colleagues, she comes out with it--"I'm Mulan". Well, I don't think there has ever been a time we've stopped by Daddy's office, that she's been addressed as anything but "Mulan". I truly wonder if they even remember her real name.

Currently, "Mulan" is not in school, but we are really enjoying our time together, as I know it is our last year before the bell will be ringing for her. Things she loves to do, is read books with Mom, which she is actually starting to put the sounds together on some simple words to try and read like big sister Paige. She also LOVES to play on the computer! She can figure just about anything out--I can't get over it! And of course she loves to play with Barbies--which is why we had a Barbie birthday party for her this year. We had 4 little girls here besides my 3, plus parents, another family and one of the guys from Craig's office.

Claudia loved the attention! We played games, had pizza, cake and ice cream and opened presents. Everyone that came was so good to Claudia! As a matter of fact, my friend Laura, recognized my state of helplessness still being in temporary quarters. Everyone knows I really enjoy making my kids birthday cakes. It is something I take great pride in. It may not always be the best looking, but I feel all that matters is the love and time that I put into it. Maybe one day they will look back at pictures and say "wow, mom that sure was an ugly cake--but thanks for trying to make my day!" :) Anyway, the fact that all my bakeware is still in storage I graciously accepted her offer, knowing that she adores my daughter and would make it awesome! Which of course she did! Wait to go Laura!!!! By the way, after the big day, Claudia started calling her "Princess Laura". See Laura, it was worth all the work! What a fun day!

We are trying to get Claudia into an activity, but haven't found the right place for her yet. She's at the very in between stage of not being young enough for a toddler play gym, but not being old enough for soccer, swimming, etc. (here they don't start these activities until age 5).

One place that she is involved and loves it is church. She is the youngest kid in her Sunday school class. We attend a very small church so the kids are grouped from age 5-8. She's allowed because they have seen her willingness to sit and listen and invited her in. Today she came out and told me that she prayed twice in Sunday School because none of the other kids wanted to. I loved that! She's bold and she's only 4! Following Sunday School this evening, they had AWANA, which is a super fun time of fellowship, games, learning bible verses, and having lessons. I had 3 teachers search me out to tell me a Claudia story. The first one was telling me how good she was and how well she was doing. The second one told me "She had a chocolate cookie, but don't worry, there is none on her hands, because we played duck, duck goose and now it's in everyone's hair!" Okay, funny, cute.... then the third one finds me and says "I may never be able to look at your husband again--your daughter was drawing a picture of your family and she drew Daddy naked, because he was getting out of the shower"! Who knows what kind of story followed that--trust me, I didn't bother to ask! As you can see, our little Claudia is a humorous one. She always keeps us guessing! All that aside, she is the sweetest, most loving, adorable, kind hearted little "princess" girl you have ever seen. Of course, that's my opinion! I'm her mother!

Frohe Ostern! (Happy Easter!)

Well, Easter here wasn't quite the same, but it is a very big deal here. First of all, most of the schools close down for at least 2 weeks, some even 3. All businesses (with the exception of a few restaurants and gas stations) close down not only Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but they also are closed on what they call Easter Monday. One can imagine the craziness at the markets and stores on Saturday in between. Many people choose to go out of town, on trips because there is really nothing to do except spend time with family. This of course made me really miss our families. Luckily we were able to spend some time with friends and then really relax and enjoy each other especially on Easter Sunday.

The girls were able to participate in a few egg hunts, the first of which was with all the kids from the Embassy. It was great fun for them to see lots of friends, and do a couple of games and crafts.

Easter Sunday brought many surprises and fun. First of all the visit from the Easter Bunny was very exciting, because they were a bit worried that he might not come to Germany. After all the excitement of checking out their treats, Daddy Craig informed them that on his way to take out the garbage he had noticed an egg outside that looked like one of the ones we had colored! He must have hidden our eggs! With much enthusiasm, they were off on another egg hunt. Later in the afternoon, we made our way to church (which meets at 2:30pm). I wish I could say we were in our beautiful Easter clothes, but it is STILL way to cold! It was a lovely service and afterward we stayed for a potluck dinner in the fellowship hall. Most of the church families are American, and are therefore away from home just as we are. Nice to have other people to lean on in times like this--very comforting! Of course the kids couldn't leave without going on one more Easter egg hunt--which in all actuality was a candy hunt. They had a ball! The only problem, is that everytime Brooke found a piece, she thought that meant that she could eat it. Needless to say, we had to cut her hunt a little short. We don't want to break her spirit! The rest of the evening we spent playing games and enjoying each other, making our calls back home to wish everyone well and with no stress about getting anyone in bed at a certain time because there was no work or school the next day. Overall a very peaceful holiday which is exactly the way Easter should be. Things we missed about being in the states at Easter: family, ham, family, mashed potatoes and gravy, family, pie, family, our mom's cooking, family, our aunts cooking, family, Grandma D's cooking....you see where I'm going with this.

Truly we did miss being with our family on such an important holiday, but we ourselves have been so blessed and are so thankful for our health and for having such wonderful families supporting this decision to be here. We love you guys!