We're Adopting!!

By the time we bring our little girl home we will have waited nine months! Much as if we went through a pregnancy ourselves. We haven't decided on a name for her and she doesn't get to come live with us for another week. We have visited her often though and she is very adorable, energetic, and a bundle to be loved. We have had to work with our schedules, educate the boys and ourselves, and really prepare for her presence in our family and the changes she will require of us. We know that she will will try our patience through her baby/toddler and later teenage years but she will also bring us much joy. Please welcome our newest addition!

When it snows.....IT STORMS!

Well today we were awakened to a 3am call from school informing us that we are on a two hour school delay. Grrreat! I was surprised since the German street crews are usually on top of things and although we went from 0 to about 6-7 inches in a few hours, they seem to handle such things. Well when the time arrived to drive in I was very disappointed. The roads were declared red and they were! It was trecherous in several places and most roads were not cleared, even main roads!

The real kicker was arriving into work and receiving and email from our boss that stated though the students were on a two hour delay, the teachers were NOT. Evidently she was upset that teachers were not at work at 7:55am. AFN (our local radio program) announced the delay and stated red road conditions. They followed that up by clarifying that any non-emergency, non-mission essential military and civilian personnel were to be on the roads. Normally the message only applies to military but they did include the term civilian today. They even joked about how happy this would make the teachers.

Needless to say that the staff was extremely upset. Why call us at 3am if we are expected to report at the normal time? The tone of the message implied that we were not doing our job. This was offensive to all. As anyone knows teachers are not given enough planning time and often are found coming in early and leaving late. We have however noticed that our boss leaves before we do. Interesting... We were also expected to remain after school for committee meetings even though the weather has only deteriorated. That said, this is her first year in her current capacity so she is sure to learn by trial and error. As it is still snowing and doesn't seem to be stopping, I do hope she uses better judgement.

As for my own homeward travel, the throttle cable clip broke on my way home! This means that my car would only idle, no gas! Fortunately J was almost back from Schweinfurt and was able to pick me up. What a day! I will have to upload more photos.

I took Jakob to the doctor today and it is possible that he has chicken pox! We will know for certain in a couple of days! When is snows....it storms!

Back to Normal???

I have found that recovering from the holidays can be as overwhelming as preparing for the holidays. This year our break lasted two weeks into January. It has been difficult to get back into the swing of things. We find that we have less time for relaxing without worrying that something needs to be done. Rock and Roll both returned to school and are doing quite well. Roll has been very busy with Boy Scouts. J and I returned to dancing on a different night. We also returned to bowling but also no a different night. We still have some holiday decorations up that need to be packed away but by the time the weekend arrives, J and I just want to relax and haven't found the energy required to get the house back in order.

Just after Christmas I found that my Christmas tree had been home to a few spider nests and the warmth of the house tricked them into thinking it was time to hatch. We had hundreds, possibly more, of spiders covering every available limb of the tree. A friend kindly rushed to my house to get it outside since J was at work with no desire to come to my rescue. I was alerted to the problem when Rock began screaming while I was cleaning downstairs. I ran upstairs to his frantic yells that a spider was in his plate. I couldn't understand how a spider got into his food until I looked down and saw several walking around on the tree skirt. Anyone knowing me, understands that this is my worse nightmare come true! J wasn't sympathetic then or now.

On a different thread....Roll has his first loose tooth!! Unfortunately it doesn't appear to want to come out on its own. The permanent tooth has aready come in behind the baby teeth with another soon to erupt as well. I was hoping that the baby tooth would come out on its own but now I worry that if it doesn't come out soon, the permanent tooth will remain crooked. I need to make an appointment this week.

We had a terrible wind storm this past week. J and I laughed with the way the locals were reacting as we have had some pretty bad wind storms on the WA coast. I have since revised my opionion as over 40 people were killed due to accidents caused by the storm. I was called during the day Thursday and told that all German schools had been closed due to the upcoming storm but that my Nanny would get the kids until I could get home. Next we heard that the American school in Hohenfels was closing early. We ended up canceling all afterschool programs in order to keep people off the roads. Teachers were told to leave as soon as the busses pulled out. I picked up the kids and and storm was still not here but the wind was picking up. We called out dance studio to learn that they didn't expect people to come so we should stay home. We cancelled out babysitter. The storm arrived that evening and while I was on the phone with my family the power cut out. The boys started freaking out although they were supposed to be in bed. After getting them calmed and getting settled in bed ourselves J came running in yelling that Roll was sick to his stomach. We used candles to try to avoid the mess and get him cleaned up and resettled in bed. Fortunately he had made it out of his bed but what are the odds that he would get sick after the blackout? The power came back on around 10ish but went out again for a shorter period about half hour later. It stormed severely all through the night. All German schools were cancelled on Friday so our Nanny once again took the kids. The drive to work was interesting. There were many trees that had fallen in the night but the city had obviously been hard at work and most was off the roads already. There were two trees that had fallen on the newly built section of the church next to our school. They considered the wind storm to be equal to that of a hurrican force and named it Kyrill. It is now Sunday and there is still much to be cleaned up but not a lot of damage to be seen here. Still terribly windy though!

I do hope that everyone else has recovered nicely from the holidays. Give me another week or too and maybe I will feel more caught up on things!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas has never been as fun as watching your own kids delve in and try to open all presents at once, at the same time trying to play with each new toy! We are truly blessed to have two wonderful children. I admit I was pulling my hair out dealing with them the closer we came to Christmas this year. Threats of calling Santa didn't seem to phase them the same as in years past. Roll actually asked for the number so he could talk to him as well! Rock follows his big brothers lead so this can create some interesting evenings in our house.

We shared the day with some close friends and new ones as well. It was truly enjoyable. The only damper was not having family near. The time difference creates a bit of a problem when trying to share your children's joy with grandmas and grandpas.

To those whom we have shared past Christmas's with, you were missed! Another pit fall to being in the military environment is that although we have many wonderful friends, once their tour is up, they move on. We miss each of you and keep you in our thoughts and prayers!

(J bought me an iPod!! He has already regretted that as I tend to get one tracked and he feels a bit left out. Although he wouldn't admit it, I think he is enjoying it as much as I and we may purchase one for him next!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Busy Week

Monday night was the last night for the winter league bowling. We tied for 6th out of 11 teams. After I hurt my ankle I had some terrible games that certainly didn't help. For the most part it was quite fun and we will miss our friends whom were our bowling partners.

Tuesday night Roll's school was invited to "open" a window at the old Rathaus (old court house). The whole school turned out and sang together. It was quite nice although at the end St. Nikolaus was there to hand out gifts and candy. This wasn't organized and it quickly turned into a mob. Roll was exhausted already so the fact that he was too small to fight the crowd and they ran out by the time he reached St. Nikolaus just made his night. Fortunately our friend was with whom the boys adore and she was able to cajole him out of his bad mood.

Wednesday night and Thursday I was visiting a good friend who is in the hospital.







Friday night was the Holiday Ball for the Vilseck, Hohenfels, and Grafenwoehr Training Area. J nor I have ever attended a ball and I thought it would give us a good chance to put our dancing lessons to use. The sappy side of me loved the idea of my guy taking me to a dance as I never had that in high school. We were all decked out for the night and really enjoyed ourselves. The best part was that many did not recognize me and thought J was stepping out on me. I had received cool welcomes until they realized it was me. J says they don't expect teachers to clean up so well:)









Saturday found us running around doing things we can't during the week. Spending time with the kids and cutting down our Christmas tree. Roll helped J cutting it down but Rock was a bit afraid of the saw. We couldn't decorate as we had dinner plans with friends who flew out this morning. After dinner we met up with other friends to celebrate her completion of her Master's
degree.



Today we woke early and headed to Vilseck for some much needed Christmas shopping! The boys did get to meet up with Santa and ensure that thier orders were heard. It was quite cute to see them intently conversing with Santa rather than screaming in fear.
Then upon our return the family crashed. When everyone was up and about we spent the rest of the day decorating the Christmas tree. Now the boys are in bed and I will soon follow. Tomorrow will be equally crazy as I am pretty sure Rock has "pink-eye". I will be glad to be on holiday so that I can rest. There is just too much to keep up with on my blog!

Weekend Wonder - Historic Christmas Market by Naaburg

Today the boys, J, and myself drove up to the old historic town of Naaburg. We heard through friends that there was a Medieval Festival this weekend. We had also seen advertisements for it throughout Weiden. They evidently have this yearly but we haven't been before so we thought it would a great idea to go today. When we arrived in Naaburg we immediately saw what appeared to be a Christmas market. After about five minutes we realized this couldn't possibly be what they were advertising as it was just a bunch of street vendors much like you would see at a Farmer's market. Sure enough after asking we found that we turned right off the autobahn but had we turned left, we would eventually have left Naaburg and came across the castle turn where the festival takes place in Guteneck.

Upon arrival we were worried that we had a made a poor choice and were thankful we were dressed warmly. This was due to the fact that the streets were lined with cars about 3/4+ mile from the festival and people were walking. We also passed a Shuttle Bus stop. Luckily we were able to park closer but still had a jaunt before arriving at the fest.

This was an impressive event. People were dressed in medieval attire and the entire area was transformed to create a middle age time period, knights, ladies, and all. By the time we arrived it was quite dark and fog had set in adding to the atmosphere. There were torches everywhere to light our way and such a crowd of people. The festival sports a menagerie of entertainment to include: flame throwers, jousting, trade work examples, theatre, mintrals, stilt walkers, dancers, etc. We were able to enjoy a man using glass balls that he rolled around his body and juggled. There were booths selling trade goods, alcohol, clothing, and food. Though some of the food was more comfort food for modern times, they did have several from the past as well. I myself enjoyed a fresh baked flat bread with garlic, tomato, and cheese. It was quite tasty! Of course we had hot cider as well. Unfornately for J they were sold out of Gluwein when we arrived so he enjoyed a beer instead.

They had a medievial camp showing how they may have lived at the time, an area for the animals, and other areas we did not get to see due to the large crowds. We did enjoy our time though muddy and cold as it was. We may attempt to go again next weekend but earlier in hopes of avoiding so many people or without the boys as the crush of people can be frightening to them.

The story behind this Festival is quite interesting. If you would like to read about it, check out the following link: http://www.historischer-romantischer-weihnachtsmarkt.de/en_index.php

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells...

Roll learned long ago and has now taught Rock the infamous "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" with great assistance from Daddy of course. Now rather than hearing their sweet voices singing Rock-n-Roll or more appropriately for this time of year, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, we hear "Batman Smells". The only endearing quality is their pure enjoyment and heart felt laughter. Can you ask for bigger smiles?

King Size Bed

Recently J and I finally bought a new bed. The old bed came with J and had seen better days. We finally decided on a King size bed rather than the Cal King. Our local exchange doesn't carry Cal King and it sounded like a head ache. Not to mention that the Day After Thanksgiving Sales were incredible for savings. We were getting a great deal! Many warned us that a King size bed is just too much for German housing but I was determined that for our peace of marriage, I wanted my own space for sleeping and J agreed. Of course we didn't really think it would be terribly difficult to get it up the stairs....

If our past neighbors are reading this, they completely understand what an undertaking that could be. Needless to say it was good that the children were not around. After much effort we managed to get the bed wedged tight in our winding staircase. Finally decided it would fit better the other way and had to shove it back down, turn it around, and start over. We finally got it up there and I am still thankful that the box springs come as two sections. After getting it settled on the box springs I just wanted to jump in an sleep! What a way to break a sweat!

I have found one fault with the bed now that we have had is almost a week. I don't want to get up! I have actually knocked my alarm off the side table in order to stay in bed a bit longer. Now this isn't unusual for a weekend, but normally I jump up during the week. Especially since J is off and I don't have to worry about the kids. I have the opportunity to go in early and get some extra things done for school. On the first night J commented that I "had my own zip code". This is nice as I like to take up real estate when sleeping and although he wouldn't admit it, so does J! Anyone who knows German housing understands that with a King size bed, we really don't have much room for much else although that is the next plan. There is a wonderful wood worker who custom makes furniture. We have already shared some ideas with him and maybe next year we can begin:)

It is funny how something as simple as a new bed can make me giggly. I find I can't wait to get home just to go to bed!

Cub Scouts

Roll is still going strong in Cub Scouts although Mom and Dad have found this is as much our adventure as his. When doing something like this at this age it is a real commitment as we must attend each function with him to include meetings. We still need to practice the Boy Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack in order for him to earn his Bobcat patch. Several of the scouts are my students and it is odd seeing Roll standing in formation with them. He still seems as if he is my little boy at times but he is the same age as these other boys and I expect a lot from them. When I stop to think I realize he how fast he is growing!

Soon Cub Scouts will include a new group called the Lions. This will be for Rock's age next year (Kindergarten.) Prior to Roll joining I wouldn't have even considered this but now that Rock sees what Roll does, he is jealous and wants to do the same. I do hope that they have fewer requirments as I can't see Rock memorizing the Boy Scout Promise or such. This has been great for Roll to learn how to be a part of a "team" and that you cannot always win (this he still struggles with.) This has also been a great way for Roll to associate with other Americans his age.

Tonight he worked on the flag ceremony and carrying the flag. He was quite proud although had difficulty due to his height in keeping the flag off the ground. We will also be visiting a museum this weekend and going to a semi-pro hockey game in Weiden. Busy, Busy!! And Christmas is just around the corner!

Weekend Wonder: Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Well I haven't kept up this past couple of weeks with the holiday but we went to Garmisch for Thanksgiving. Several other teachers went down as well and some other friends of ours so we enjoyed a large meal together in honor of Thanksgiving. It was nice although many other Americans had the same idea leaving the restaurant out of turkey by the time we ordered:)

While there we just relaxed. I tried to get in a bit of shopping but wasn't very successful. We just enjoyed being away from the rush and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Fortunately we had beautiful weather as well.

One heartstopping moment was when Rock decided to jump off a play structure from a height just over 5 feet. His knees buckled on impact and he didn't cry but I was concerned none the less. After assuring myself that he was okay, I calmly asked him not to do that again which he with equal calm replied "kay". Personally I think it scared him more than me and he was glad to be told not to do that again. Saving face you know...

The boys seemed to enjoy their time although the times they went shopping were not their favorite.