Fun at the carnival

A few weeks ago there was a carnival down by the sea that we went to. Maggie is very into beauty in the beast right now so she was thrilled to find this tea cup with beauty and the beast on it.
She rode this ride over and over and loved it. We all (me, owen, joe, mom, and maggie) went on a ride on a ferris wheel which sounded like a good idea until we got to the top and realized that the wind blowing off the sea was even colder that high up.

Here are some pictures of mom's attempt to get Owen's hair to lay down better. She washed it and put this hat on...He would fit in perfectly in Jamica with his dreads and his peace pipe huh. Oh yeah, hair still stuck up!











Here are some cute pictures of Maggie and Owen playing. She has begun letting him play Dora with her some.

American hamburger in Germany.........Too good to be true?

The answer is yes! So today we headed to Hamburg to go to a English speaking church we found there. The guest speaker was actually a NFL player from the states. I don't know who it was, but Joe said he was really good. I didn't get to hear him since I was hanging out in the childrens church/nuresry with Maggie and Owen. The whole church service is in English, adn most people there speak english...yet the sunday school is totally in German. I guess it's because the little kids may not know English yet. WEll, Maggie would not sit still to listen to the story, not that I could blame her since she had no clue what the story was even about. But she jumped right up to join in for snacks and craft. After church we headed to a restaurant I had found online called the Louisiana Bar and Restaurant that was American cuisine. We sit down and Joe and I are so excited to see "Classic American Hamburger" on the menu, along with fries and cokes. We put in our order, along with a vanilla milk shake for Maggie. Several minutes later out comes our meals. The first odd thing we notice is Maggie's milk shake....she takes a drink and looks at us and says.."Maggie likes it Momma??" As if to convince herself that she does. I take a sip and say, no honey, I don't think you do. It is exactly what the menu said...a milk shake, or shook up milk. No ice cream, whip topping, or cherry. Just milk shook up. Luckily we had brought her some yogurt adn peanuts so she was okay with sitting aside her (3 dollar) "milk shake." Joe and I begin to eat and immedietly look at each other. I spit out my bite of hamburger and am like, "what in the world is this" Joe swallows his and being the Germany optomistic that he is, says...it's not too bad honey. We never did figure out what the burgers were made of, she told us it was cow beef, but it was not the cow meat we know. Anyhow, we left our entire burgers there (even joe didn't take another bite of his) and paid our bill and left. So anyhow, American cusine obviously doesn't exist in germany. We stopped at a Ben and Jerry's on the way out and got ice cream. It was the same...aside from the fact that you were only allowed to have 1 scoop if you got a cone. The cones were not big enough to hold more than 1 scoop.
The Germans love their beer...in fact we saw today that you can get beer to go with your nachos at the movies as a combo. Right next to the popcorn and coke combo.

We met up with the American couple yesterday that is moving here in June. They were here on their house hunting trip and found one only about 5 minutes from ours which will be great. Her name is Kim and she's really nice. She paid alot of attention to my kids, which always helps when your a mom too! Her kids are almost the exact age as mine so I am sure we will be spending quite a bit of time together.
Joe got the baby seats on our bikes today, so we are officially the Mark and Mary of Germany! He took Maggie out for a quick ride tonight and she loved it. Since everything is closed on Sunday, that is probably how we will spend most of our Sunday evenings.

Here are some more pictures of the house. Here are the stairs that I get to go up and down all day doing laundry.


Here is the kids playroom















Here is the upstairs room that we use as a family room area.

Month one in Germany

So, our first month in Germany has been quite an interesting one. I still do not have my internet up and running properly and am forced to go down to the basment on our old (slow) computer to check emails and update my blog. What have I learned thus far about Germany.......nothing gets done quickly. I have been waiting for the internet/telephone man to come and move my phone jack (yes, you only get one per home)to my main floor for 3 weeks now. He and the garbage man who is suppposed to bring me my trash bins for rubbish and for bio trash must be hiding in the same place because he also has yet to show himself.

I am posting some pictures of my home, these are all from the main floor. I haven't taken any of the upstairs or downstairs yet but will post those later.

























Maggie and Owen are doing great.

Owen is not crawling yet, but has no problem getting all the way across a room by a combination of rolling/army crawling. I don't figure it will be too long. He had his first taste of cottage cheese last week and loved it. I went to the market yesterday and stocked up on lots of fruits and veggies to make for him. His friend Carlyn's mommy told me about this great appliance called the magic maxx (magic bullet in the US) which makes up his baby food in literally 10 seconds. It has been great....Thanks Kirsten! Anyhow, Maggie has adapted great to Germany and enjoys walking around saying chees! and Danke! to everyone she sees. (these mean goodbye and thank you) some people seem to think it's cute, others just look at her with a strange look on their face.
The weather has been really nice this week, mid 60's to 70. We have been outside alot playing which the kids love. There are several older kids in our neighborhood who are really sweet to Maggie and let her join in kicking a soccer ball with them. She also has become pretty fond of chasing and trying to feed and pet all of the dogs, cats, and birds in the neighborhood. She has one particular bird named Harry (basically any black bird with a orange beak) that we are always trying to hunt down and throw peanuts at. I have her Mimi to thank for the naming of Harry and the feeding him. She told me today that she missed Megan, Emma and Mary and wanted to see them. I told her that they were too far away to see right now but we would visit and she looked at me and said, "I need some new friends then." I told her I was working on that.....I have 3 playgroups lined up, 2 are english speaking (one of the two is american) and the 3rd is german speaking. We also have another american family from Illinois moving here in June that have 2 kids the same age as my kids so that will be great.
German lessons are going good and I reallly like my instructor. She is super nice and has been really helpful with everyday things in Germany which has been reallly nice since Germany and helpful don't really go hand in hand for the most part. I had my first conversation in German today in a grocery store and it went rather well. I left the grocery store knowing to go back on tuesday and they will have ordered plain cheerios for me to pick up. (well....at least that is what I think I know...we will see on tuesday i suppose)
well, here are some new pics. I put all my other pictures from our first few weeks on our computer upstairs so I will have to post those after that computer gets up and running. We miss you all and hope you all come to visit us!!

Denmark

So mom and I decided to venture out to Denmark one day last week. We had a good day and thanks to our GBS system didn't make any wrong turns. (Of course, we probably didn't need it since I had mom and her map with me) We took off that morning with our German dictionary and euros in hand ready for the day. After getting there though, we realized that in Denmark they speak Danish, not German and use some other werid form of money and not euros. Luckily they also accepted euros too since they are so close to Germany but as for the launguage we were pretty much on our own. The people there I thought made Germans seem friendly....which is a long shot. We shopped around some and ate at a small diner that we found. There was a light house there that we went up in (after forking over 10 euros) and also saw the prince of Denmark's castle. The down point of the day was when we got ready to come home and found we had a ticket on our car. Seems that you were supposed to put some sort of timer on your car saying what time you left and you have to be back within 3 hours or you get a ticket. Well, since we didn't know that nor did we have a timer we ended up with a ticket. Instead of just heading home and letting Cat take care of it (since the car is leased in their name) we hunted down the police station and mom went in to pay for it. After 45 minutes and 70 euros we finally headed back to Germany. Can you believe a 70 dollar ticket for parking a little too long??? Anyhow, we had a good day and now can add Denmark to our list of places we have been.....but don't care if we return, right mom? :)

We are here

Hello to all of you who check my post daily waiting for some sign that we are in Germany alive and well. Well, here is that sign!! We think we finally have internet up and running as of tonight although the wireless isn't working so i have to come down in the basement on Joe's laptop to get online right now. We had a great trip over here, the flights were not bad at all and the kids could not have been better. When we landed in Amsterdam after our 8 hour flight a lady getting off that was sitting a few rows behind us said, "gosh, I didn't even know you had 2 babies up here." So that was a nice relief. It didn't take any of us long to adjust to the time change and the kids were so happy to be back into their own beds. As for my house over here, it is HUGE. I don't believe I have ever been in a bigger home and I know I will never live in a bigger one than this. Maggie and Owen have plenty of room to play and that is just what Maggie has been doing.

It is very different here, and none of them in a good way. It's not horrible here at all....it's just no America. First of all, they have some stupid obsession with saving the world by recycling every piece of trash possible. Right down to your snot rags and the twist ties for your bread. I have to have 5 different trash bins for all my different kinds of trash. And then, you are only allowed to fill your different trash bins up to a certain point in the can......which creates quite a problem when you have 2 babies in diapers AND they only pick trash up every 2 weeks! So anyhow, we got in trouble this week because we had too much trash in teh can and it was the wrong kind of trash. ( I only know this because my german teacher read me the note that was on my trash can)

Mom has had a good time here, I think she would actually enjoy living here for 2 years. She has made more friends here in 3 weeks than I will probably make the whole 2 years. Not a surprise if you know my mom though! We have a train in our town that you can walk to and it will basically take you anywhere you'd want to go. She and I have done that a few times and just gone to the big shopping mart some. We drove to Denmark on monday for the day which was fun. Not much to do there but shop and eat but we can now say we have been there. As far as the food.....it pretty much sucks, as far as I am concerned. They are supposed to be famous for their sweets but I have yet to taste one that even tastes sweet. The good news is I have already lost 5 pounds since we got here!

Maggie and Owen are doing great. Maggie loves riding the train everywhere and alwasy insists on holding the ticket. (she only lost it once) Mom and I have had a few crazy experiences on there, the worst one being the day it stopped at our stop on our way home from shopping but closed within 20 seconds and took off before we got off the train. So we had to ride all the way to rendsburg, which is about a half hour away and wait there an hour until the train came back to Felde, our town. (This may seem like no big deal, but keep in mind that we can't read the signs nor could we talk to anyone and find out how and when the train came back) Lucily, we had blocked the entrance to get off the train to another guy so we just followed what he did.

Well, I am going to get to bed. I have lots of pictures to post and more to write about later. Just wanted to let you all know what was going on with us. Miss you all!!!!

Germany here we come

Maggie spent the morning hanging out with her Grandad. They played outside and sat on the swing before coming in and eating some popcorn. She is gonna miss him so much, she thinks he is coming with us to Germany and probably won't be very happy when he doesn't get on the plane with us. I caught some cute pictures of them this morning on the swing talking. Dad is really going to be sad after we leave. As much as he is gonna miss mom and I, I doubt it compares to how much he is gonna miss coming home from work to Maggie and Owen. He will be a bacholer for over 3 weeks so if anyone has extras invite him over for dinner!


We went out and visited Mama Sue and Papa Whitey one last time today. It was sad to say bye to them since my Papa was diagnosed with lung cancer recently so I know this may be the last time we see him. He loves the kids and they really took to him also.

Everything is packed up I hope. I have 6 suitcases stuffed full plus maggie's carseat to check so we are getting there in plenty of time to check in just in case we have to do some luggage rearranging. I hope the flight goes smoothly and the kids do well. The plan is for them to sleep so hopefully that is what will happen. Well, I may not post again for awhile since I don't know if our internet is up and working yet, but keep checking in. I will be back on as soon as I can.

All our bags are packed we're ready to go...........

okay, so technically not everything is packed, but almost! We have had a fun, busy week. The kids and I went over to my friend Kari's house yesterday and the kids played great. We also got to see her new baby girl, Klaire, who is totally adorable! We were bound and determined to get a picture of the 4 kids together and finally did. Photographing 4 kids under the age of 2 isn't easy at all, espeically when 2 of them can't sit up yet.






Maggie and Christian had lunch togther while watching Higglytown Heros.


Today I ran a few last minute errands while Mom watched the kids. Aunt Pat came out and hung out with them kids this morning. She and mom took them on a walk, it was 75 degrees today, so a great day for it. Maggie loves the bunny ears Neila got her and even shared them with Owen today. He obviously knew he looked cute!(even in pink ears!)


Maggie has started enjoying holding Owen more lateley. I don't know how fond he is of it though!

We fly out tommorow evening at 4:30 so I will try to post one more time before we leave.

LEXINGTON!!

So today we spent in the promise land.........Lexington, Kentucky. Haha This is by far the best town ever and everytime I visit I remember how much I want to live here. I am staying hopeful that we are able to move back here after our time in Germany, it's a long shot but there is always a chance. This town has like every restaurant you would ever want to go to, at least 2 of every store I like to shop at and to top it off there is a picture studio (even a picture people) on every corner.
We had so much fun getting to see Neila-Susan, and she looks so cute pregnant!! Only two more months until her baby boy Carson arrives. I am trying to plan a trip home this summer so I get to see him.
Maggie loved getting to see Neila again and of course enjoyed the easter basket she brought her complete with bunny ears!!

Maggie also had fun feeding some birds a left over granola bar with her. We had a great lunch at Johnny Carrino's (spelling??) and then shopped a bit before meeting up with Matt at Wild Oats natural food store.


He couldn't visit long since he had to get back to class at 4 but Maggie was so happy to see her uncle matt.


He took her to Joseph Beth to look at books and then over to Cold Stone to get ice cream. He let her pick what she wanted for them to share and they ended up eating cake batter ice cream with gummie bears in it. He obviously loves her alot huh!! Owen only got to hang out with Matt for a few minutes since he slept most of the time but woke up in time to get a picture with him.


See where Owen gets his cute smile!!

We visited with Neila a little more before heading home and getting everyone to bed. More visiting is on the list for tommorow along with trying to start getting things together.

Our day at the camp

Well, we had a great day up at Jim and PK's camp for Gracie's birthday. The biggest news of the day ......Owen is sitting up on his own, FINALLY.

He isn't great at it but he can stay there for quite a while and play before toppling over. He isn't too crazy about it yet though, he is always pretty happy when he falls and he can go back to rolling.



Maggie had so much fun playing with all of her cousins.




This was the first time I had been to the camp and it is much more than a camp....more like a log cabin in the woods. I could even get used to that kind of "roughing it". The kids did surprisingly well for not having any naps.

Maggie had her fair share of cake, chips, and ice cream and she and Grandad were especially happy when Aunt Pat came in with her delicious chocolate chip cookies.




We all had alot of fun hanging out together. I wish we were all able to live closer so that we could do that more often. Maybe someday, but I guess for now we'll just have to settle for the times we are able able to meet up.

Nothing New

We are down to 1 week left here in WV to visit and like always it went by too quickly. This week we went to get the kids easter pictures done at the picture people and they turned out really cute. Maggie did great for the first time in months. Be watching for your pictures in the mail soon everyone!! I also hit the mall this week (alone!!) to cash in my gymbucks and add to my kids ever growing closets. Owen still isn't feeling that great, his cold is gone but he is just alot more fussy than his usual self. We are going to Lexington, KY on monday to see my friend Neila-Susan who is a pediatric nurse practitioner so I am anxious to have her give him a good check up and make sure his ears aren't infected or anything. We are also going to meet up with Matt for dinner while in lexington so the kids will be glad to see their Uncle Matt again before we leave. Thursday evening we had dinner at a mexican restaurant here with Mama Sue and Papa Whitey. Maggie had a great time with her Papa Whitey and they ended the evening with ice cream. Today we are going up to my uncle Jim's camp for my cousin Gracie's birthday party. Unfortunatley it's pretty rainy outside so we won't be able to get outside much but with everyone there it will still be a blast. Maggie has talked all day about getting to see Gracie again so she is super excited. I have missed Illinois alot this week, even more so after hearing that the playgroup girls had a mom's night on thursday! I am sure I will miss everyone even more after getting to Germany so you guys....PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH!! I just found out that I am going to be able to get a US phone number while we are over there so that was good news since people here can still call us as though we live in the US and not have to deal with all the international stuff. I will let you all know it once I find out what it is. Joe called and our stuff is being delievered to the new house on tuesday so it will all be there when we arrive on friday. Maggie is missing her daddy alot and will be so glad to see him . But when she says she misses her daddy she always tells me that she misses her slide and her dora house too. (she knows that they are also in germany with daddy) well, we are about to leave so I will post pictures later.

Keepin' Busy

We had a fun time at Lori and JR's Saturday night and Lori's meal was DELICIOUS! Maggie had a blast with TJ on his trampoline and neither of them seemed to mind that it was freezing outside. It was good to get to visit with everyone and I was so glad that Jim, Pat and Frank also came over so that we could spend a little time with them. Owen enjoyed most of his evening being held and especially took to JR. Friday night I got invited last minute to go out to eat with some friend's for a birthday party and ended up getting to see quite a few friends from high school that I hadn't seen in years, so that was a lot of fun. We have been keeping busy visiting quite a bit and running some errands/shopping that need to be done before heading to Germany. Joe and I keep missing each other. The 6 hour time difference makes it difficult to connect up since the time that is best for him to talk is the middle of our day when we seem to be out. And then the evening when I have time to sit and talk is the middle of the night for him. I am hoping to hook up with him tommorow sometime so we can catch up on everything. From our bried conversations and emails things seem to be going well although he is very anxious for us to get there with him. He found out that in April he has a 4 day weekend at easter so we are hoping to take a weekend trip somewhere fun while mom is there so she can do some sightseeing too while she is there. Maggie is eating life up here at MiMI and Grandad's as you can see. She knows how to push all the right buttons and get an extra helping of cheese puffs or cookies!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

We have enjoyed our first week here in West Virginia. Maggie and I have gotten over our cold/cough symptoms but Owen can't seem to get rid of his for some reason. We haven't gotten to visit much this week with Owen being sick, Patti K is in Europe so we will be glad for her to get home, lori and TJ have been sick too this week and Owen naps so much that everytime we think we're going to go somwhere he's fallen asleep again. Maggie has enjoyed going walking at the cemetary with MiMi everyday. They talked Owen and I into going one day but we didn't enjoy it as much as they do, too many hills! Today we all went out to Target and shopped a little before eating lunch at panera bread. The kids looked so cute in their St. Patricks Day outfits although I wasn't able to get a great picture of them. Mom informed me that amanda and I never had "leprochan outfits" when we were little. Hahaha. I found an old big wheel of mine up in the attic this week and let maggie try it out but she wasn't able to peddle very well and got so mad at herself that we just decided to come back inside. About an hour later a neighbor of mom and dad's brings over this brand new red rider tricycle in the box with the pole on the back so you can push your kid and said that maggie could have it, her little girl had outgrown it before they even got it out of the box. Dad put it together but it hasn't been warm enough yet to let her try it out. She will love it!! I wish we had gotten it sooner so we couldv'e taken it to germany with us but she'll just have to keep it at MiMi and Grandad's to play with when she visits. Mom has tons of toys here for the kids to play with, lots of amanda and I's when we were little and she's also picked up various new toys since maggie came along. Buy of all the toys Owen's favorite thing to play with is mom's back roller!! Figures. Tommorow we are going to have dinner at Lori and JR's house. Maggie will love playing with TJ and I think some others in the family will be there too so that will be nice to all get together. Joe called me today from Germany and was in our new house checking things out. He said it looked great and they had gotten professional cleaners to come in so it was in move in shape he said. He is figuring out the lay of the land it seems. Well, i will update more later.

Goodbye Peoria!!

We have said goodbye to Peoria for the last time now and have arrived safe and sound in West Virginia to visit for a few weeks before the big trip to Germany. This past week was a whirlwind of signing papers, packing up, making phone calls and trying to keep my sanity with 2 babies in a hotel room. To top it all off the kids and I were sick pretty much the whole week with cough/cold symptoms so we didn't get to visit with everyone before leaving like we'd planned. We did get to have dinner with the hammelman's thursday evening which was nice, but sad. I got some really cute pictures of maggie with the girls but am waiting for Joe to email them to me from Illinois so I can put them on here. Mom came down thursday night and kept the kids for me friday while I got my hair cut and ran some last minutes errands before we headed out saturday morning. Joe leaves thursday morning for Germany so I am hoping he is able to get everything ready at the house before we arrive in a few weeks. It will be nice to get into a house again with all our things and have a more normal life for the kids.