Monday, April 25th

Brenna modeling her new white dress and purple flower headband. (My sister made the great headband and I made the dress)

so, I have been planning this dress above since Feb. - I bought the pattern and couldn't wait to try it out (and I even made a dress from this pattern for a gift) - the pattern is pretty easy, but it does take a ton of fabric for a little girl's dress - I'm not sure what Brenna doesn't like about the dress, but I had to bribe her with chocolate for this photo shoot, and she hasn't wanted to wear the dress now that it is done. I'm crossing my fingers when the weather warms up that she will want to wear it (apparently, I made the waist too high for her style - at least that was her one complaint on the dress). But she sure did give me some great pics on the day she wore it for me :-)

Isn't that headband the cutest thing??? It really makes me wish that I looked as good in headbands as Brenna does....

I also decided this week to make some bags up. I thought this was going to be a fairly quick project, but with the embroideries I put on, they did take a lot longer than I expected (in fact, I planned to make 3 or 4 bags, but only got two done). The mice below are on a bag for my niece, Ally. They are little ballerinas - aren't they too cute???

front of the bag - I love the shoes with the name here (and it only works with 4 letters, so I'm really happy that I put on Ally instead of Allyson :-)

the two bags that I finished. Instead of buying an Easter basket for Brenna this year, I made the bag and we set it out for the Easter bunny to fill. This was the first year that Brenna really got stuff from the Easter Bunny at our house - the last two years we did some trips (hard to imagine that we went to Ireland last year and Italy the year before), so we never really did more than a small chocolate bunny at home.

Brenna helped with the choices for Ally's bag - of course, this meant once she liked everything on Ally's bag, she wanted things to be pretty much the same. The only regret that I have on Ally's bag is the white bottom. In hindsight, I would have liked to do a color on the bottom like I added to Brenna's, but I changed my plans after I already started Ally's bag. Karen - if it gets too dirty, we can use some soft fabric paints on the bottom (the bag is only surface washable with the fabric I used and all of the interfacing - so sorry!).

(oh, this bag will be Brenna's new dance bag - I have wanted to make a new bag since September when I found out she needed a dance bag, but haven't gotten around to it). Guess since I finally finished Brenna's curtains and the bag, I can move on to my wish list of projects from October, lol.

Brenna posing with some of the items from Divine Miss Gammy and Uncle Steven. She loved, loved everything she got from all the family that came up yesterday. Brenna has been drooling over these squishy ball things (the item in her hand) at the store, so she is so excited to finally have one - thank you so much to Divine Miss Gammy - what a cool Easter basket!!! I'm not sure how Brenna will be using her new bag (I may have to copy the design of this bag - it is pretty cute!), but so far the strap has already been used as a dog leash (not sure how much I have talked about this, but Brenna loves to use Justice's leashes for her stuffed animals and will also leash up Justice as well, so this "floral" leash will be used often (and I'm sure the bag too)). (Don't you all just love Brenna's "at home" clothes choice today - she wanted to look like a princess today :-)

One of my 2 favorite flowers - thank you so much for the flower Rusty!! I am so sad that I bought a hydrangea from the boy scouts and it died the day after I got it. I never even got a pretty picture of it :-( Hopefully, I can have more success with this pretty flower... Anyone have any words of advice for me on it???

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! We had a great Easter weekend here despite the poor weather (lots of rain here). Last week I was busy making some crafts (I was hoping it would clean up my craft room some, but I have quite a few more projects started than I should). I made some cute tote bags - one for my niece Ally and one for Brenna (we used the bag instead of an Easter basket). We have traveled over Easter the last two years (Dustin always had a good amount of vacation time around Easter in Germany), so this was the 1st year in a while that we could really do an Easter celebration with Brenna. I'm really glad that she attends a Christian preschool right now, as she came home several times this week to remind me that Easter isn't about the bunny and candy, but about Jesus and God.

Anyway, we all did enjoy some outside time on Saturday when we had a break from all the rain (seriously, a flood warning here now with all the rain - and more rain is called for all week - boo!!!). Brenna enjoyed having Dustin home for the long weekend too - they went up to the bike shop in Akron and also to the pool here in town. We really enjoyed having Dustin's family up for Easter lunch (Brenna was so sad that everyone left her house - she could have played until the sun went down with everyone there) and then we went over to friends in town for a great Easter egg hunt. Brenna had such a good day - I told her that I think we will have Easter candy in the house until July 4th now :-)

With all my crafting my week sure flew by! We had a pretty quiet day here today - worked on the letter G and H with Brenna and sorted out the candy that remained here from Halloween and then Brenna and I took a nice nap this afternoon :-) (we had to try to recover from all our partying yesterday).

Well, that is about all for now! Take Care!

Friday, August 27

So, these are pictures taken from Brenna's last day of Kindergarten - I love her attitude in the morning :-)

My new favorite flower that will forever remind me of Germany and our great town...

Two of Brenna's teachers - I will miss her Kindergarten and her teachers...

I think the title of the woman below would be the Kindergarten director - I loved the way Brenna said her name - it is Sarah (but the way the Germans say it puts emphasis on the last h - kind of a "Sar - ha" for the pronunciation). (I really need to send out letters to everyone over there - Brenna and I better get busy soon!!)

Getting ice cream on our last walk home. We bought an ice cream maker since returning as I have a mission to master our favorite Gelato flavours...

I let Brenna have free rein with making a creation with the sprinkles - I'm not sure how much she ate as well, but she did have fun while I was making supper that day :-)

Our landlord and his wife - they were great to us. Brenna will miss seeing them frequently...

These were our neighbors next door (the woman is the sister of our landlord's wife). (the picture below was taken the morning that we left Germany - it was sad leaving).

A yellow vehicle means mail to Brenna - it is going to take a little while before that is deprogramed from her mind (case in point, she saw a Stanley Steamer truck yesterday that was yellow and called out - the mail truck is here!).

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - still busy with boxes (blah - I'm tired of unpacking). Dustin and Brenna did some work on her playset yesterday, so we now have sand in the back yard. I didn't realize how much Justice would like the sand - he decided to join the fun right away and laid down in the sand! Hopefully, we can get him used to staying out of it shortly so that he can be outside with Brenna when she plays (he is so big for the sand box that he takes up half of it!).

Hmm, I can't think that too much else is going on here right now, lol. (I guess when you spend a whole day unpacking it is hard to think of a good story to go with it!)

Take Care!

Thursday, October 8

Not sure what kind of berry these are above - but love how bright in color they turned out. Below, I love the squashes that this person decorated with - I probably should have cropped out the flowers above more, but I had my hands too full, lol!

I loved this apple tree for some reason - it had no leaves, just the apples hanging on it - looked kind of sad, don't you think!

The overlook point by our house - it didn't seem like it was hazy yesterday in person...

Chestnuts on the road - most of these do get picked up - the people here love them!!

Our beautitful flowers that we enjoy daily at the park.

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. Things have been going well here. The weather was really nice yesterday (although maybe a tad muggy with the 80 degree weather - guess that led right into the rain today, lol). It was a really nice day for our walks to and from kindergarten, so that was pretty nice. I had German class yesterday - it is amazing how fast an hour long class goes. After class, I "spaced" on what I was going to do - and ended up not doing anything! Of course, about the time I needed to leave to pick up Brenna I realized that I should have been doing laundry to hang outside - oops!!! I got one load in and then the landlord took over - what a bummer - now I need to wash sheets and with the rain I don't have any places to hang them!!! I will look forward to a time when I have my own washer and dryer back :-)

Late in the afternoon, we took Justice for a nice long walk around the neighborhood. With all the Americans going back to the states here, it made me realize again that my time here is limited and this will be the last fall I will see here in Germany. So, I decided along with the dog (think 70 pound Golden retriever) and Brenna in her stroller, I would strap on my camera and try to get some pictures of our town, lol!! I think I did a pretty good job with the pictures - just wish I could have gotten one of all three of us and how we look every day, lol! I did get plenty of comments from folks along the way as I let Brenna take along some entertainment so that the long walk was possible. There were plenty of blurry pictures yesterday with having my hands so full - oh well, at least it is all digital!

Yesterday evening, Brenna and I decided that the "new" jar of Nutella needed to be used up in our house (thanks Joy - you guys were the 2nd Americans to leave that stuff with us, lol!!!). We made a Nutella muffin mix (although I just made one big one, lol) (that doesn't count as a cake, right??? - too bad I kept telling Brenna it was cake yesterday - I'm sure she will bust me with Dustin, lol!!!)

Well, that is it for our day yesterday!

Take Care!

btw - we are off to London for the weekend, not sure if I will get a post up tomorrow, but look for new trip pictures next week :-)

Tuesday, June 23

Most days - Brenna has stopped wearing pants, but she is finally in underware :-) I think the picture of the meat below is funny - Brenna did not want to be in the picture (can you tell she wouldn't even look at the camera), but I had to take a picture of the meat with elephant pictures on it.

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. We had a quiet day yesterday - German class in the morning and then inside all day (it was a rainy day here, but we did get a lucky break when we had to take the dog for his walk). Brenna took her knew pinwheel on her walk today - that was a good purchase (thanks for finding them Karen - she had so much fun with you - she is already pretend playing with you here at home, lol). We made a beautiful batch of scrambled pancakes for supper with a strawberry sauce (I couldn't believe that Brenna wouldn't try the strawberry sauce - she will only eat the strawberries when they are fresh right now...). Dustin had a late day and then had to run off to the airport, I know that Brenna was pretty bummed about that - hopefully he will get some time this week when he is home to spend with her.

Brenna is doing pretty well with her underware - just one accident in the last few days (and then she knew that she had to use the potty, but thought she had time to brush her teeth first - oops). Brenna and I invented a new game for her yesterday - rolled her up in a blanket (since the weather was cooler, it was possible to do this :0) and then put "toppings" on her burrito, lol. I love all the toppings she wants on (although I don't know if she actually knows what a burrito is either, lol) - coconut, peas, beans, carrots, pizza. Brenna had me get rolled up to (although the small blankets are much easier on that small little body, lol) and put toppings on me as well. She has also been enjoying getting all her stuffed animals out and playing with them (but only a select few get to stay out for naptime - all of her dogs - she has 4 and one turtle - who behaves like a dog most days, lol). The chosen few also have to be in the living room with her all day - I love the armful of stuffed animals she brings out in the morning - too funny.

Our neighbor's hydrangea bushes are in full bloom - I think they look so pretty (and they looked so pretty when they were getting ready to bloom). Brenna and I plan to go to the local store today - I can't believe we ran out of 3 oils that we have in the house on the same day - what is the chances of that happening??? (Renee - I love my pampered chef sprayers - those were a great idea over here :-)

Well, I need to get busy! Take Care!

Monday, May 11

Hello All!
Hope everyone had a great day :-) We had German class this morning and then a pretty quiet afternoon. It rained some this morning - looks like the future forecast for here has rain in it every day :-( Hopefully, we will still be able to get out and explore some - at least it makes it easy to search for snails, lol!

We got out for a nice long walk this afternoon after Brenna's nap - the weather was nice and warm - we were all warmed up by the time we got back to the apartment.

Mom and Brenna made some light catchers today - mom made several during Brenna's nap - she was very excited to see them when she woke up.

Here are a couple more flower pictures from yesterday - the Gerbera daisy was from our mother's day bouquet :-)

Take Care!

PS - Happy birthday Joanna - hope you have a great day!

Sunday, May 10

Hello All!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mother's out there today - hope you had as nice a day as I had :-) Dustin and Brenna gave me a very nice necklace that we got in France yesterday.

We drove to the lake at the top of the hill today - very nice to walk around it :-) The path was closed so we had to take a hike up to a service road (not good in the dress shoes I wore today, but at least no one slipped, tripped, or fell - o.k. - everyone was the most worried about me falling...hmmm). We found some cute souveniors for mom, and had fun looking at the stuff in the shop. We did a driving tour of Baden-Baden and Bühl (and looked at where our landlord has his vineyard - very nice and very large!). Our landlord was having a birthday celebration today, so we all went down to toast him (Brenna accidently got a big flower "bouquet" that she pulled off there plant - oops!). We will be trying a couple of the specialty wines we purchased (got to see what mom should take back home to dad!)

We continued our search for snails (not so much slugs) in our area - I found the biggest one so far - hope you enjoy the picture! Also, had to get a picture of Justice enjoying the search! I love

all the greenery here (look at all those ferns and moss) and the flowers - this one was from one of my favorite gardens in the area.

Well, that is it for today - I'm bushed from all our exercise this weekend!

Take Care!