Family Pic

Every few years Martin sketches our family.

We've got a lot going on with the kids, as you can see in the picture.

2 Years Later.....

We have been in Germany for two years! I can't believe that the time has gone so fast. We miss family, but feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity. We don't travel nearly as much as we had hoped, it's so expensive, and still stressful with young kids, but we enjoy the everyday life here. We have wonderful neighbors who we have parties with and just hang out in the front and talk.

Martin is now working at Ramstein Air force Base, he is working as a trainer and is on a 9-5 schedule. He has had the opportunity to travel for training, and has been learning more about radars. He is currently working on a new family portrait, it is AMAZING. I will post a picture as soon as it's done.

In May I completed 8 months of an intensive German course. Jetzt kann ich deutsch sprechen. Once a moth I get together with a bunch of great ladies and discuss a book, AKA Twisted Sisters book club. I am still active in my local quilt guild, as well as an Art Quilt group. I purchased a Longarm Quilting Machine, and am practicing on any quilt that I can get my hands on.

All 4 kids are fluent in German and speak German to each other. We are continually impressed with there skills, and are very proud of them.

Naomi is now in the big school in the next village, she is making great grades and her German is impeccable! This week her class had a three day, two night stay in the forest. She had a great time and made lots of memories. She has a few electives this year one of which is Bee Keeping!

Eyan is 9. He is in 4th grade and loves playing outside, roller blading, and hanging out with his friends. He loves pestering anyone he gets near, as well as playing jokes on others.

Silus went into first grade this year, so he is at the same school as Eyan. He is excited about learning to read, he plays "Ninja" on a regular basis, and LOVES Legos.

Toben is now 3. He has been practicing dressing himself and putting on his own shoes. He loves going to the indoor swimming pool, playing with Silus and being read to.

The Scoop....

WOW! It's been a long time. So, here's the scoop......

Martin got a sort of transfer and is now working at Ramstein, and has a new schedule. It is 6 days on and 4 days off. There are 3 different shifts, so there will be a little ajusting. But, there are definitely some great things too. We are hoping to travel more and enjoy 4 day weekends at the end of every work week. He will also be going to Colorado in the coming month to do some training.

Love the fact that I can get cheap flowers every week. Two weeks ago it was 50 Daffodils for 6 Euro and this week it's Tulips. I am in the final stretch of my German classes, only 4 weeks left. I have really enjoyed my time in class and all the interesting people I have met. It will be strange not going anymore, but I'm sure I'll find something to do. I am also staying busy with my local Quilt Guild. Last weekend I went on a retreat and sewed the whole weekend!

Naomi got accepted into the school of her choice. The school system here is quite different when it comes to middle school and high school and you actually have to apply to the school. Naomi had a great recommendation from her teacher. The school has a beautiful campus and is in the next village over.

Eyan had a strange allergic reaction to lotion this week. He had to stay home with me on Friday because he was so itchy. I took him to the Apothecke, which is the equivalent to WalGreens. We got a cream, and got the ok for some Claritin. Seems to have worked great, he's no longer itching and isn't all red. (Sorry, no picture at this time)

Silus is living up his last few months in Kindergarten. His class is taking many different field trips this spring including the Fire Station, Zoo, the City Dump, and the grand finale will be an overnight stay at the school. He is so excited to stay the night at the school and has reminded me over and over that he will need to take LOTS AND LOTS of things.

Toben has made a really good friend at school. They look for eachother each morning, and are pretty much together for the rest of the school day. It's so cute to hear him talk about him and see them playing together.

Close ups

Naomi made me take the other picture off!

It's Saturday. A very cold 21 degrees and SUPER windy. Kids watched TV for the first part of the mornning, Cartoons. I made a late breakfast, eggs, hasgbrowns and Pull-a-parts! Everybody's still in PJs. I did some much needed cleaning. The boys are play Legos. Naomi is trying to clean up her room. And Martin had to go pick up his uniform for the Ball tonight! Between cleaning and cooking I took a few picturs of the kids. Hope you enjoy.

No News is Good News

I've been really busy. Between 4 kids a house and school there is time for little else. But, that doesn't mean no time at all. I'll try and update this as often as I can.

Now that fall here we have gotten out all the winter garb out and added the layers. We have also brought the Guinea Pigs inside. Not thrilled, but oh well. Oh yes, we have added a pet Turtle to the zoo of a house we have. He has a name, but I'm not sure what it is.

We have had 2 special visitors this week. Grandma Irene and Aunty Denise came to see us. They have been enjoying the fall leaves and catching up with the kids. We haven't gone too may places, but have enjoyed the company.

Batman and Robin

Today Silus and Toben cleaned up the mountain of Lego's and in exchange I got down the overflowing basket of Stuffed Animals and dress up stuff. Dressed in record time. It's a Batman outfit for Silus that is 3 sizes small. Toben it's a Spiderman costume, but he is convinced it's Robin. At least 3 sizes big. Old warn out Halloween costumes. I've patched them and re sewn them, and tried to convince them to at least switch. No, they wont even consider.

They play with the animals and some little puppets. Throw them, dress them, and fight over them. All in a few minutes, but this entertains them for hours. It's fun to watch. There is screaming, laughing, joking and fighting. The house is a disaster. Eyan and Naomi will be home from school not long after, and so let the Wild Rompus begin.

School's Out

I can hardly believe that this school year is over! A HUGE congratulations to the kids for their perseverance and determination! They have exceeded our every expectation and are all speaking German with ease! Not only speaking but excelling! They can count, sing songs and hold a conversation. We need to do something to reward them for all their work! Any Ideas?

The Good Bad and Ugly

I'm happy that it's May. This means spring is here and there are leaves on the trees again. It means flip flops, short sleeved shirts, and ice tea. And maybe I can finally put away the winter coats. It's been 7 months that we have been living here and I thought I'd reflect on that.

• The Good: The kids can speak German, and I am also learning, very slowly, but learning. Couldn't be happier with putting them in school here, I hope that they look back on this time with fond memories. It's amazing to see Europe. It's not like we have travelled that much, but it is so beautiful and amazing to see. We love the village we live in and the slower pace of life. The kids can walk down to the corner store alone, or the park and I don't worry about them. Our house is awesome, and I have my sewing room. It's pretty great, especially considering our old house.


• The Bad: Our family is so far away. I obviously knew this would be an issue, but it's still hard. We miss them at birthday's holidays and just seeing them on a regular basis. Miss the option to fly down for a quick weekend. Plus it's so hard to plan tips here because of every ones different schedule and the price of a flight. Having to convert dollars into Euro, it's hard to explain all the whys on this one, but if you live here you know what I'm taking about.


• The Ugly: The trash is annoying. I do like to recycle, but sometimes I just want to throw something away without thinking so much about it. The language. We are learning, but it's hard. Can't read a menu. Can't ask for directions. Can't talk to someone as they are passing by. Can't ask someone who fell if they are ok. WOW that's not so fun. And car sickness. I don't think there is a straight road in all of Germany. At lease we haven't found them. Which means car sick kids and barf bags ready.

An Update

It's been awhile. Life just gets busy, and things get put aside. I do love blogging, but I'm afraid it was one of the first to go. I would have much rather skip out on laundry or lunch maybe cleaning the bathroom, but it was the blog.

In the last month we had a newly wed couple stay with us for 2 weeks. They just moved here and we helped find them a houses, showed them around town and everything else that goes with moving to Germany.

I had a birthday and went on a lovely trip to Switzerland. I joined a quilt guild and have also been learning about German history.

Martin had a field exercises and has been away much of the time. He also took the computer with him, so that did make it a little harder to blog. We have decided to take a few trips as a family before he leaves for Poland in about 6 weeks.

Naomi has been keeping her room clean and has made excellent grades in school. Can't even say how proud I am of her!

Eyan had fallen out of a tree and tripped up our stone stairs, so at the moment he is a little scrapped up. He also got a very good report from his teacher and is doing excellent in school.

Silus has ridden his little tricycle to school as the weather is starting to warm up. Funny when at 45 it's a real heat wave.

Toben is still 2. He stopped drinking out of a bottle, and is showing a new interest on walking around town. He stands just under me and repeatedly wines "a walk, a walk, a walk" until I either give in or distract him. I'd say it's about 1/2 the time he wins. I do love walking in the woods here.

SO, that's it in a nut shell. I am hoping to be better this month and get some pictures of the kids up.