a quick V I S I T from our KS friends

We were so excited to start December off with a quick visit from our Kansas friends {and neighbors} Steve and Tammy.

Oh, we have missed them!

We have really missed living across the street from such wonderful neighbors.
We loved watching as they worked on projects together as we worked on our own projects.

We really just want to be like them when we grow up.
Funny thing is how much Jim and Steve are alike.
Almost identical in a lot of ways.

Unable to get any time off work, our weekend together was quick but still wonderful.

We started off meeting them in Rothenburg ob der Tauber for the Christmas market and nightwatchman tour- a very cool way to learn a little bit about this walled city.

It was the first and only snow we have seen this winter and SUPER cold. We think they brought a little Kansas wind with them... brrr.

It was so nice to see them. I think we are even more homesick now.
Our countdown to get back to Kansas continues...

an A B U N D A N C E of home

It has been an abundant two weeks for us.
Every part of the definition is applicable.

a·bun·dance  (-bndns)n.

1. A great or plentiful amount.

2. Fullness to overflowing

3. Affluence; wealth.

 

To have an abundance of something is to have more than you need. 

Abundance is the opposite of scarcity. 

{plenty, heap, bounty, exuberance, profusion, plethora, affluence, fullness, opulence, plentitude, fruitfulness, copiousness, ampleness, cornucopia, plenteousness, plentifulness}

An abundance of noise. 

An abundance of laundry. 

An abundance of food. 

An abundance of dishes.

An abundance of messes. 

An abundance of wrestling. 

An abundance of brotherly love.

An abundance of craziness.

An abundance of happiness. 

An abundance of home. 

Justin asked that we not plan any trips over the Christmas break.

He wanted to be home. He wanted to chill. 

It has been just that and could not have been much more perfect. 

Working out {for the boys}, eating, movies and time together.

We were reminded again {click here for my post from last Christmas} with a visit from our Oma across the street how blessed we are. She reminded me again that I have everything. 

She does not want to come in past the front door.
She won't come for a meal as I have invited her many, many times.

She does not want to be a burden. 

She also lights up seeing her boys and her dog.

We broke the news to her that this is our last German Christmas, our time overseas is winding down. She looked at us with disbelief and tears filled up in her eyes. 

I told her I will write to her. She does not know it yet, but I will keep true to my word.

Yes, we have an abundance.

that drive to F R A N K F U R T

I asked a friend of mine a while ago if it would be easier for me to say goodbye to Justin after this Christmas break home.

With kids at college in the United States her response was,
"That drive up to Frankfurt never gets easy."

We made that drive to Frankfurt yesterday morning. He's safely back in Kansas. His trip was relatively smooth with the exception of one delayed bag.

It was a nine-hour flight to Washington DC, then another 2 1/2 to Kansas City. A long day for him. Now he gets to get back on CST time.  

I think I did fairly well. 

We got him checked in and were heading to the gate. He let us know he knew where to go and we didn't have to go all the way with him. 

I didn't start crying until I went to hug him and told him I love him.

He was ready and excited to see friends. He is ok. I know this.
It does mean that I will miss him any less. It's just too far being over here.

We don't have the convenience of having him home for long weekends or other holidays. 

I'm already counting down the days until Summer break.

I didn't think I was quite ready for the boys to go back to school until I realized how quiet it was this morning. It was nice- very nice.

Ty, Coleman and Caden started back up this morning.

I am so excited for 2013.

 We were fortunate enough to be invited to ring in the New Year with our Dutch friends the VanGaalens.  They are a wonderful family- we just love being around them. They taught us {and fed us} their Dutch traditions and shared their beautiful home and family with us. 

 

The boys were spoiled as our friends purchased tons of fireworks. It was freezing at midnight, but the fireworks show was spectacular.

 

Getting home late, we didn’t have much time to sleep- it was an early morning up so we could head to Garmisch. 

 

What a trip.

That being said, I think we would all agree that we enjoyed this Christmas break to the fullest as a family. Lots of new memories.

Glückliches neues J A H R

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R!
Glückliches neues Jahr!

We are on our way to southern Germany to get away for a couple days.
It is one of our very favorite places to go. Everyone is excited!

First up on our quick trip is the World Cup Ski Jumping finals at the Olympic Ski Jump arena in Garmisch-Partinkirchen. It's a tradition every New Year's Day- even televised for Europe to watch.

Last year, we checked the arena out with Starr and Mac. This time, there will be snow, ski jumpers and lots of Europeans. Even with standing-room tickets {the only affordable way for a family of six to attend}, it should be a memorable time.

When do you get the chance to see World Cup athletes?
They'll be competing just ten minutes away from our hotel. 
I'm sure it will be crowded. It might be really cold, too. But, we have to experience it!

At the World Cup ski race every year starts a who's who of Alpine skiing.

Total height149 m {489 feet}
Tower height60.4 m  {198 feet}
Starting length103.5 m  {339 feet}
Bounce rate92 km / h  {301,837 feet/hr}
 Height of takeoff3.13 m  {10 feet}

Hopefully, we don't have to witness any crashes. I just hate it when they get hurt! Scary stuff.

Happy New Year! 2013 is going to be exciting- I can tell already!

Rüdesheim M A R K E T

Rüdesheim had its first documentary mention in 1074 according to Wikipedia.
I love these old villages.
Rüdesheim is absolutely beautiful. Nestled right along the river, it is another postcard-perfect setting.

Cobblestone streets.
Old buildings with drawings on the side.
Character.

After getting off the ferry, we quickly parked and headed out to walk around the market. Going with friends makes it so much more fun- the kids all get along. The parents all get along.

Over here, our friends are our family- we love them.
Fun times to get us through the holidays living so far away.

The food is always wonderful- the best reason to go in the first place.

Everyone is happy. It is a festive time in Germany.

For this one, we tried the brats {you can never go wrong with a German brat}, potato cakes {you can never go wrong with German potatoes}, fresh {hot} crepes, currywurst along with full mugs of hot cider and hot chocolate.

Here, you pay a deposit on the first mug you buy, then you can get it filled as you walk around. It's a nice way to keep warm. Everyone is spun up on sugar by the time we leave.

We made it out just as it started to sprinkle.
More great memories.

Rudesheim a. R H I N E

It was a great day. We planned to go to a Christmas market with friends.
Just an hour away, we settled on Rudesheim.

About an hour away, it is a quaint city on the Rhine River.

When you choose to take the quickest route on the GPS, you never know where you're going to end up.

For this quick day trip, the best part of getting there was a surprise trip across the Rhine on the ferry.

As soon as we drove on the ramp, the barge took off to carry us across the river. How fun is that?

Oh, it was another fun day that could not have started out better.
Simple pleasures- that is what we are all about!

B R A T W U R S T from our oma

I was taught a great lesson this week. I would like to think I knew how blessed we are.
As a family, we were reminded again of how rich we truly are.

It was Christmas eve, we had eaten dinner and were watching a movie as a family. Everyone was getting along {not always the case}.

The fire was hot. The tree was lit along with candles throughout our living room. Our bellies were full.

Everyone was content just spending time together.

Everyone was excited for Christmas morning.
The doorbell rang. It rang a few times. I assumed it had to be friends with a small child pushing the button over and over and over.

To our surprise, it was our Oma from across the street.

Her hands were full. Her heart was full as well.

She had candy for the boys, bratwurst for Jim and a flowering plant for me. She explained how to spread the bratwurst on bread or crackers. She thanked Jim and Caden over and over for shoveling her walkway after the last snow.

As she handed it to me she this Azelea {wrapped with foil on the bottom to hold the water from running out of the plastic planting pot}, said something I will never forget.

"Chai-LA {how she says Sheila} I don't know what to get you. You have everything."

Her eyes filled with tears and she started to cry.

She is a very lonley lady.
Her health is poor. She has very little.

To her, we do have everything. We are a family.
I couldn't agree more.

chicks in the N E S T

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was different for us this year. At least, for me it has been different. Having experienced a lot of "new" this last four months with a kid in college {across the ocean}, I have a new perspective on things.

Far from having an empty nest, we still have reached a new stage in life.

It's nice to have all of our chicks back in the nest if only for just a couple of weeks. We have enjoyed every minute of our time together. Movies. Sleeping in. Naps. Food.

Nothing spectacular, just being in the nest together.
This mama hen is happy.

I've loved it.
We have all loved it.
Caden can't keep his hands off of Justin.

For today, it is more movies and more relaxing. More food, too. The down time is pretty much what we have all needed. I won't be taking it for granted.

Merry Christmas!

deciembre C A L E N D A R

Think someone is excited for his brother to come home?

I think we all are. Less than ten days to go...

 

 

Here's the close up on Coleman's December 14.

JD BDAY My brother Justin is coming home

 

S C H N E E {snow}

Happy December!

I was just commenting that for me, it doesn't seem like Christmas without snow.

December seems to sneak up on me when the ground is still brown and the grass remains green. Pansies having recently been planted in our village really throws me off.

I'm not sure what I'll do if we ever get moved to San Diego or Texas where the sun is still shining.

That doesn't necessarily mean I miss the snow.

I just think that after living most of my life in a state that snow is a definite, I am programmed to associate snow and the holidays. It is pretty. I just prefer not to drive in it, or shovel it or scrape windows.

I'm happy for two little guys who are eager and excited to get out and shovel the {less than one inch} trace of snow we received last night.

I'm sure it would be a different story if we were in Alaska and shoveling was a chore.
A really different story.

It's never a question of if it is going to snow in Alaska, but how much snow are we going to get.

In Kansas and here in Germany, there are winters where there is snow and others {last year for us} that not a flake falls. It's a dark yet mild winter in Deutschland.

Rain just doesn't trigger the thought that I better get out and start shopping or baking.
Maybe now, I'll get into the holiday spirit.

This is the view we woke up to this morning.

These scenic pictures were not changed to black and white. At 9:00am, my camera on auto needed the flash to get enough light. If you look closely, you can see the brown or the green on the fir.

It is the grey of Germany.

The grey of winter.

Happy December!

our T H A N K S G I V I N G weekend

I had a little bit of a technical glitch hence my delay in posting.

While adding the below post this last weekend, I was told I had exceeded my photo limit. Imagine that. It's taken me a couple days to figure out what to do. Actually, I've been a little lost.

I almost bought more storage, then realized that they allow an unlimited number of photos as long as they are below a certain size. Whew. I can do that. Guess I better start paying attention to how big my photos are. For now, I will continue blogging.

Hopefully, they don't have a word limit. It wouldn't surprise me if I hit that maximum allowance next if they do. Yikes- that could cost big bucks.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend {late}!

As much as we were missing Justin, it was a very nice Thanksgiving here in Germany.

As hard as it was for this first holiday without him, it was comforting to know he was with friends being well taken care for and fed a wonderful meal.

Ywo years ago, we were sneaking on base with our small car to eat Thanksgiving in the chow hall. As hard as we tried to keep our heads up, it was tough. Definitely not the Thanksgiving to remember.

This year, we shared the day and meal with our good friends Randy, Michelle and their son {a junior in high school} Ryan.

It was a calm, quiet day- exactly what we planned and needed.

Check out Michelle's beautiful Polish Pottery. I'm thinking we need to make a quick shopping trip to Poland. I'm loving it.

the greatest G I F T

Merry Christmas!

There are more things than I can list that I love about Christmas.

Silver.
Baking.
Family.
HOT Apple Cider.
Josh Groban's Christmas CD. Cranberries.
Clementines.
Christmas Tree Farms.
German Christmas Markets.
The excitement.
Christ.

One of my other favorite things about the season are snowmen. I don't love being in the snow- but it's hard to deny the beauty of falling snow and the sweetness of little snowmen. My mom knows how much I love them and always seems to find the cutest snowman decor. A few years ago, she gave us this card. I finally put it in a frame this year and I love it. It's all about love. On the subject of love...

How sweet is this note that we found on the fridge the other day written by our little Caden? And this hug- pure love. I think if I could freeze time- I would. I love this stage of life. I LOVE it. Merry Christmas.

gingerbread H O U S E S

My aunt Sarah was well known for making the most beautiful gingerbread houses. You know the kind you see in magazines?

Beautiful detail. Perfect all the way around. I have her gingerbread and icing recipes, but still haven't gotten brave enough to attempt making them.

I do however love the tradition of gingerbread houses.

Usually, my boys get to do the graham-cracker style houses and don't care or possibly don't even know they're not really gingerbread.

This year, I bought these cool kits ready to just be glued together with icing and decorated with candy. I still struggled to get them together and they were by no means anywhere near perfect. Lots of candy covered them up, and they were perfect in their eyes.

But, the boys didn't care. So, I didn't care. It was fun, they were happy. Life goes on. The candy started coming off before I even got the finished pictures. I'd consider that success.

Maybe next year I'll attempt baking them from scratch. Or, maybe not.

Happy Christmas Eve... the littles in our house were up at 4:20 this morning- so excited for Christmas Eve. Ugh. I have a feeling tomorrow morning will be an early one in our household as well...

santa G E R M A N style

German Santas look much different from the chubby American ones. Don't you think? We found these two at Sankt Wendel at the market. They're pretty tall, too. I like their beards. We even caught a glimpse of a couple of their reindeer.

Seven days until Christmas... the boys are keeping track on their Advent Calendars. Should be a pretty exciting week ahead!

cute C R E P E maker

On from the little gnomes or dwarfs... we found the food. The boys were much happier I must say.

Perhaps the best part of the Christmas markets is the FOOD. Justin and Coleman love the brat and brotchen. Ty tried the Currywurst here and liked it, too.

Simple enough to eat even without mustard- they are pretty tasty. I just wonder why the brot isn't a little longer to fit the brat. No matter what- they're so good.

Caden and Ty LOVE the crepes. Nutella, chocolate, chocolate and banana, cinnamon and sugar.. you pick your toppings. Today, he was making a cinnamon and sugar with apple. Yum.
We watched him slice up the apple, then without hesitation he chomped down on the rest of the apple.

No sense in wasting a good apple, right?
Isn't he the cutest little European crepe maker you've ever seen?

I think so. I'm kind of kicking myself for not trying his ham & cheese crepe or even the fresh vege and creme crepe.

Not sure you could go wrong with anything on his menu. They make them to order- I'm sure they're all delicious!

st. W E N D E L market dwarves

To finish out last weekend for us- we headed with friends to St. Wendel for their Christmas market. I'm a little slow to post and there's more to come. What a beautiful little spot in the world just about 45 minutes from our house!

Here, the stands with handmade crafts are nice, but the dwarf village {according to a little research} is supposed to be the highlight.
I knew before hand that thousands and thousands of hours have gone into this project that is always being improved and added upon.

I read this before going- thinking it sounded kind of cool. In 14 little houses, they have built a village of dwarves- all doing something and many of them with moving parts.

I think their site said there were nearly 200 of the little guys- all in different settings.

When we first stepped on the cobblestone downtown street in the midst of the market, there were quite a few people but still room to move.

The lines weren't too terribly long. Within a couple of hours, the streets were packed. Way too many people and the lines were ridiculous.

When the Autobahn hits a stand still with congestion from construction or an accident- it's called a Stau. While walking the market streets, I heard several Germans refer to it as a people stau. It was horrible!

Anyhow- we made our way to the dwarf village entrance {following the mobs of people} and this is what we found !

The boys kind of looked at me like, "Really, mom? We came for this?" It's all about the culture.

So funny- I couldn't stop laughing.

Justin let me know I was being a little immature.

 I really did try to not act so childish in front of the Germans.

I am still trying to kind of fit in with them. But, I couldn't help myself. It was as much fun watching Justin as it was watching the dwarves.

This was the little sauna house. The towel the little guy in front was holding moved up and down to expose his little pee-pee.

Justin doesn't like clowns to start with {at all} so he didn't find any of it very enjoyable. They were a little scary looking. This one was kind of normal- a bike race. Typical Europe. We missed the hospital and the breastfeeding mom in the corner.

Why should I have been surprised if there were naked parts showing? Why do I always seem to laugh or giggle when there's public nakedness? I don't know- it just always seems funny to me. Real people or figures.

We couldn't figure out what this one was supposed to be. Maybe fanning the hot or sick grandma? But, the tongue sticking out? The next one was obviously bath time. Do you think they really hang out there together? I'm not so sure.

It is a way of life here- I'm tellin' ya! "Of course, mom would take pictures," as Justin so confidently stated.

st. N I K O L A U S tag

We are in full Christmas mode here in Germany. I love it.

The gal the cuts my hair told me, "You do know... Christmas did start in Germany."

The traditions are really beautiful here.
We're trying to soak it in.
For German kids, December 6 is one of the best days of the month- St. Nikolaus Tag.

The evening of the 5th, children put their shoe outside the door in hopes of receiving treats.

For the good kids, it's candy and maybe a little toy. For the not-so-good kids, it's sticks.

Coleman says if you're kind of good, you get sticks and candy.

Being in Germany immersion, Coleman was especially excited to put his shoe out and made sure all our boys were set for candy.

The boys found another treat on the front step later in the day. Each got  a 4-pack of Kindereggs- a super cool German chocolate {with a toy inside} for kids.

I'm pretty sure our wonderful landlord played St. Nickolaus as well. I do love her.

our B L U E spruce

It's looking like Christmas around here.. pretty exciting. We {probably mostly me} really wanted to get a real tree this year.

We started the tradition in Kansas of going to the Christmas Tree Farm and picking out our tree.

The whole experience is wonderful. I love it.

That year, we gave our artificial tree away and decided never to have the fake variety again.
After asking Alexandra where we should go to buy one- we headed to the next village over to find the German farmer. She drew a map showing where he lived.

After asking one German neighbor who didn't know English or where the farmer was- we found a row of pines and took the chance by driving up to their driveway.

A girl was in the yard. I approached her in German and she quickly ran to get her mother who also spoke no English. The mother told me they do sell trees, but only one day- December 10th.

We couldn't wait that long. So, we headed on base instead and picked ours out from the Boy Scout fundraiser stock.

A German farmer was making his delivery as we showed up, so it's almost like we bought it straight form the Germans, right? I'd like to think so.

The trees here are a little funny looking. Not the typical- full firs. We picked out a Blue Spruce and are actually quite happy with it. We trimmed it a little making it fit in the corner perfectly.

It smells great, but is very, very pokey. It's real- I'm pleased.