Sunday, January 31

Our day in the snow :-) Below - our snow covered street (I haven't heard any snow plows since yesterday - I think they are only working on the main roads now). (Brenna is hiding behind one of the snow piles next to Dustin)

Our beautiful snow covered park

The town hall (or here the Rathaus) - I wanted to take a picture of all the signs on it - they are up for carnival - they show what some of the costumes for Carnival will look like if you are curious.

Brenna at the park

I took several pictures of the snow covered cars and this one reminds me the most of Germany over here - if you look closely you can see that the windshield wipers are up - smart idea over here and very common to see on the cars if there is bad weather expected).

Picture from our sled riding adventure - on a clear day (or clearer day) you can see the Black Forest in the background - with all the snow today it is pretty hazy. If you look closely you can see the church in the background (about 1 mile away) - that is where Brenna goes to Kindergarten every day.

Going up the hill :-)

Brenna decided it was my turn to sled - I didn't get to far :-) (but don't you love the effort!) (I got plenty of dog kisses to with the sled sitting - Justice thought it was time to be all over me at that point)

Don't you love how much it was snowing when Dustin was sledding with Brenna!

I thought this one of Justice was kind of funny (more so the next one) - when he is very excited, he thinks he should be in charge (and would like to take the lease and walk himself where he wants to go)

Justice trying to catch snow flakes (or more likely his leash, lol)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. We are recovering from a stomach virus here (I bet you can't tell that with our sledding adventure from today). Brenna had the bug on Thursday night and I woke up with it on Saturday morning - we are crossing our fingers that Dustin doesn't get it too. I was a bum yesterday with it - I didn't move much all morning (how comes when Brenna had it she recovered so much quicker?? - you wouldn't have known from looking at her on Friday that she was sick the night before).

Our landlord let us borrow his sled, so we went out to the street behind our house (where the monument is to World War and a nice size hill) and had fun going up and down there. So, anyway, with all the pictures today, I am going to keep the writing short and let the pictures and video speak for themselves on the fun we had today :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoDNuvzl8nk - Brenna and Dustin sledding down the hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHRmjJ9iXkM - Brenna and Dustin making snow angels

Friday, January 29

So with all the snow outside, I decided to make some summery shirt inside. I think the shirt turned out pretty well (and should be very nice this summer if the days are hot :-) Brenna loved directing me for the pictures - she had me go in the kitchen for one picture and also had me put my purse on for a picture, lol. I had to include the picture below - when she saw it, she said "Mommy, I cut off your head" (she has been doing pretty well with the pictures, so I can understand why she was surprised, lol).

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. Brenna is down with the stomach bug here (oh, bummer - just when I thought I was going to complete a project between yesterday and today, I am cleaning up vomit instead - yuck!!). Brenna got sick around 10 last night (and lucky for me (lol), I wasn't tired yet and stayed up with Brenna until about midnight. (What an awful time to get sick, I needed to throw the sheets (and her) in the wash, but with the 10 pm no shower/noise thing, I had to wait until this morning - yuck, yuck, yuck). O.k. - I have probably described enough of our yuckiness here - cross your fingers that Dustin and I don't get it to - I know that I am. Brenna and I ended up sleeping in the living room (so that the smell could air out of her room) - not so comfy, but it helped her get settled down for the night.

Yesterday and today we have snow coming down (although it seemed like the amount of snow yesterday was more - today is wetter and more drizzly). Brenna had a lot of fun walking home in the snow - she worked to catch snow flakes on her tongue (which was very easy with how hard it was snowing) and also made a few snow angels along the way. I was glad that I had stopped and picked up paper towels at the local store in the morning as they really were needed last night (o.k. - enough about that subject....). I worked on a new pattern (although one that was in my project list - I even thought about making it while in the US for Christmas) - I think the look is very flattering, but I still need to get into better summer shape. The only things left to finish are the arm holes and the hem :-) (hopefully, I can finish that after Dustin gets home today :-) I missed all the notches on the pattern pieces, but luckily they weren't too important for this pattern (I had never seen just a small line drawn on the pattern pieces before). The pattern writing wasn't great, but now that I have made one and understand it, it shouldn't be a problem if I want to make this pattern again in the future (plus, I already have all the pattern pieces for my size traced - not something that you find me doing very often, lol). I thought I was doing pretty well with all my sewing until my invisible zipper foot didn't fit my machine - I ended up using the dog paw nail cutter (basically a Dremel with a cut out for the dog nail) on it to file away some of the front plastic (although I guess it was more useful there than on Justice's paws - he doesn't let me use it on them). (hopefully the foot will last the rest of the time that I am here - I don't really want to have to find another one over here!).

Well, I think Brenna is waking up from her nap! Take Care!

Wednesday, January 27

One of Brenna's pictures of me from this morning - I thought it was only fair to share one :-) She took some pretty good ones, but the apartment was showing up pretty dark in the first few. Anyway - the brown pants are the "4 year" pants that are finally done - I even wore them to walk to and from Kindergarten today :-) (Do you ever have those projects that once they are finished you say - hmm, that isn't the most flattering item in my wardrobe - this is one of those - sorry!).Brenna before school today (and before all of her layers for outdoors). It was in the 20s today (which is colder than the 30s we had been having). Hopefully, it will warm back up soon!

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Not too much new to report on our day today - we had German class (and Brenna's field trip for "Dirty Thursday" - is mostly about the opening of Carnival celebrations) and Brenna had school (although we didn't make it out the door early enough and my German teacher arrived at my house before I was back). We also did some painting and cut out some alphabet letters. Dustin is working late today so Brenna was sad not to see Daddy this evening...

Brenna made snow angels at the park yesterday and today - she just loves plopping down in the snow and making them! (I don't think Brenna was too happy with my hat choice for her for school today - I put on an old spiderman hat from my parents - only her eyes were exposed, but it kept moving on her head so that it was hard for her to see (plus, lots of people commented on it - including her friends at school - wonder if she will wear the hat again this winter now, lol)).

Well, I think that covers today - I guess I will be off to an early bedtime today - so tired with all this snowy cold weather here - just makes me want to curl up under the covers!

Take Care!

Tuesday, January 26

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - Dustin is busy at work and we are working on fully adjusting to Brenna's no napping schedule in the afternoon (how I miss naps already - not that my daughter isn't always fun to have around - but an hour of really my own time in the afternoon was really nice to have - I haven't done any indoor biking at all since coming back to Germany - going to have to figure out how to get the rest of my exercise in every day). So, on our walk home today, we tried out my new shopping bag at the grocery store (I love it - I will defintely need to make more - maybe as gifts this year? they are awesome!) (it was funny at school when I picked Brenna up with the bag in my hand - she had to show the bag off to her teachers - they were a little like "whatever" (but they were good sports for the sake of my excited child) - and they are getting to know that I make stuff - the one teacher even asked if it was something I made :-). After lunch, we used our store purchases to make chocolate peppermint cookies (Brenna isn't impressed with them, but Dustin and I sure love them). Brenna had fun during our baking lining up the spices and playing with them (not sure if they were her kids/friends/puppets - she kind of lost me with her story line - but loved that she made a stage out of my one container and put all of her "stones" on top). (The dough I made was not kid friendly at all - the only thing she really could help me with was breaking open the eggs - what a bummer!). (Guess I missed my picture taking opportunity there - it would have been fun to see all the stuff she had on the counter all lined up - and her outfit was cute too - a pink heart shirt and pink tights (no skirt, just the tights for here at home)).

Well, I better get my German homework done! The upcoming school activites sound fun at school - they are planning a disco for the kids, a face painting day (that should be neat to see what Brenna comes home looking like) and a costume party (all for the week before Carnival). I really need to take my camera up to school and take some pictures of the cool decorations in the building - it is so festive inside with streamers, balloons, and ribbons :-) (I think there are more decorations for Carnival then there were for Christmas!)

Oh, I almost forgot - if you want a great laugh (and insight into my clearance shopping tendancies) - check out the posting by the Meanest Mom today (one of the links in my favorite sites). If you need some inspiration today, check out the NieNie blog - she really inspires me to try to be a better mom, a better person, and a better Christian (she is recovering from a plane crash that left her burned over 80% of her body and trying to care for her 4 young children - her belief in God and her love of family inspires people from all over the world including me).

Take Care!

Monday, January 25

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - we had a slushy/snowy day (although I think most on the ground was mostly slush - the hills looked pretty with a layer of white). Brenna and I got a late start for school today as I forgot about the permission slip I needed to decide on and then sign (oh, yeah - and translate too - I'm not 100% sure what I agreed for Brenna to do yet, but I'm sure it will be fun, lol - I will have to find out from my German teacher this week on what exactly Dirty Thursday means for the kids before Carnival).

While Brenna was in school today - I worked on finishing a pair of pants that have been in process for about 4 years now (I lost track of when they were started, but I think it was after one of my operations) (I joked with my mom that instead of being an hour pattern or a 2 hour pattern, I had the 4 year pattern - it isn't the first project that has sat unfinished for a long while, but hopefully it will the first of many to get finished this month). I still need to hand sew the hook and eye on the top and then they should be all done :-)

Brenna and I did some painting today and watched some Sponge Bob too (followed by the dog going outside and a bath). Brenna voted for scrambled pancakes for supper (although what she really means is that she wants the sugar and sprinkles on top, lol). Dustin is sure to have a busy week this week with a customer coming to Germany - but hopefully, Brenna will get to see him some this week before she goes to bed. I am going to have to come up with some more fun indoor afternoon activities here soon - although tomorrow we are talking about baking something :-)

Well, that is it for today!
Take Care!

Sunday, January 24

My new shopping bag :-) Sorry you can't see the lining fabric very well in the pictures - it is the great fabric that my friend Joy gave me for Christmas - thanks so much again!! (Brenna below with her (my) curlers in her hair).

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. I can't believe what a negligent blogger I have been this week - just not up to typing I guess (sorry!). Brenna was a little more crabby than usual by the end of the week (although somewhat typical when Dustin has been traveling and it is just the two of us - oh, and the no nap thing - since our return to Germany, Brenna hasn't taken any naps (other than the 1st week back) - I think our afternoon nap days may be over - so sad that my little girl is growing up so quickly :-(

So, what did we do last week??? Hmmm - we did lots of art painting last week and did some cutouts too (Brenna is getting pretty good with scissors - if I draw a shape, she can cut it out pretty well - circles, squares, triangles, stars). Brenna loves getting the paint out and going to town with the brushes (it is insane how many paint brushes we set out -one for each color (so I usually get out all 12 brushes we have!).

I made a shopping bag last week (it is the same design as what a normal shopping bag is in the US - I used a Target bag as my pattern). It turned out awesome - I am so happy with it! I told my mom to remind me that if I have extra fabric left before we come back to the US to make more of these - they are a quick, fun project to do :-) Brenna modeled it for me today - don't you love her look with curlers today! I also have been working on finishing an alphabet project for Brenna - hopefully, I will get that done this week. I am contemplating a new bag pattern (I don't know why I am not doing the projects I already have decided - do any of you other crafters run into this "problem" - I have several projects lined up to do, but when it comes to what I want to work on today - it needs to be something new (and not one of the projects I have on my to-do list!)). So, I have spent too many hours this weekend looking for something different to do, and no project to show for my time and effort. Brenna did have lots of fun yesterday with a spool of thread - she wound it around all the furniture in the apartment and then jumped over it. She laughed and played with the thread for probably an hour (I probably did a really bad thing here - I would not normally let her unwind a spool of thread, but the thread wasn't working for sewing or embroidery, so I figured why not let her play with it - I know that when I get my normal thread out she is going to want to do the same thing - not going to happen and then I am going to be a mean mommy... oh, well - at least I was fun for a day!).

Brenna went with Dustin for his run today - she was so happy to go along and get all bundled up (although I think the hills may have been a "little" more challenging for Dustin with the extra baggage ;-)

Well, I think that covers most highlights! Take Care!

Wednesday, January 20

Brenna's new princess dress :-) The fabric has glittery sparkles over the whole fabric - hard to photograph well here, but you can see it in a few of the pictures. (This was pretty much all my own design too - I think it looks pretty good on her (although she could wear a sack and look adorable, lol)). Below - I bribed my child with eye shadow and lip gloss for a smile (this is good for me too as it uses up my blue eyeshadow that I am not ever going to wear and she loves it, lol).

Yummy Linzer torte - the packaging almost looks to good to open (amazing the German teacher told me that shelf life on this stuff is really good to - it can last a couple months she said just on the counter :-)

Brenna and Justice hanging out together - she kept squinting her eyes with her smiles today, but I thought they still looked cute together :-)

Brenna asking Justice if he wants her to read to him :-)

Before I moved them closer together - I was surprised how well he stayed for me - that isn't his strong suit, lol!

Brenna with her Christmas book - the Aristocats (which we then had to watch the movie today too, lol).

Starting into the pictures with the reflection on her face - bummer that the dress does that with a flash - but hopefully, I will have lots of opportunities to see her in her princess dresses. She was "Bippity, Boppity, Bo - changing the dog into her prince" (which also happened to be part of our story from our walk home today - we made up several stories today - she was getting pretty good by the time we got home :-)

Looks like she was twirling a little for me here :-)

My attitude picture here - this was the face she gave me when I told her that she couldn't go in the dog crate with Justice with her dress on! (Don't you love her tights and shoes!)

Brenna starting to go into the crate before I told her she couldn't with her dress on. I also thought it was a good picture of the back/side of the dress - I think the straps just going down the back was nice, but Brenna liked it tied in a bow.

Brenna pretending to sleep with Justice on the floor - she looks pretty realistic!

Brenna loving her dog!

I loved this picture of her hugging Justice - I'm not sure if I can tell who missed who more (from when we were gone at Christmas). The picture below was from this morning - notice I just have the top of the dress done (and I didn't think it was going to have the skirt ride as low as it does on her - but for a costume, it looks pretty good!)

Brenna being silly this morning with her top on :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. Things are good here - hoping that Dustin comes home soon (I am so tired that I probably won't still be up when he comes home in about 45 minutes (if his flight is on time)). I made one of the dresses that I planned to make for Brenna yesterday and today (started yesterday and finished today - I love quick projects :-) Hope you enjoy all the pictures from our photo shoot around the house, lol! I didn't realize there was so much reflection from the trim that I put around the top of the dress - it looks so cute on her though!

I had German class today and my teacher brought me a recipe of hers that I asked for (yummy chocolate Linzer torte) and a torte too :-) I hope when I make it that it turns out as pretty as hers did - hope your mouth doesn't water too much when you see it, lol!

Well, since I put up so many pictures today, I am going to call it quits for today! Hope you like my new dress I made for Brenna - I sure do! Take Care!

Tuesday, January 19

I thought the picture below was pretty precious (although I had to keep telling Brenna to take it easy on Justice - she was trying to squish him).Brenna loving her Justice :-)

Brenna's new mask with last year's Carnival costume.

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - another foggy, slippery day outside (no falls this morning - now just to make it through the afternoon :-) I totally blocked out Dustin telling me he had to go to England yesterday evening - so we are by ourselves until Wednesday late (so Brenna will miss him today and tomorrow evening). Brenna has been very clingy to Dustin lately, so I'm sure she will not be happy that she doesn't get to see him until Thursday evening. I will have to come up with some fun things for us to do this week. We painted and baked yesterday (as well as using Skype on the computer and Brenna watching Willy Wonka - the original one). We made some scones with coconut and almonds in them - Brenna and I really liked them, but Dustin wouldn't touch them.

Brenna also put on a little fashion show for me with her costumes - she looks pretty cute in all of them :-) Hope you enjoy the pictures I took of the action!

Well, that is about it for today! Take Care!