Sunday, June 12

wow - two days in a row with new blog posts!! Thought I would share some of our fun from Saturday (and I actually have some time to get a post up right now). Anyway - Brenna in her PJ's on Saturday morning looking cute above. Playing dress-up with Isabel below.

little Tinkerbell...

the girls enjoyed seeing themselves in the mirror with each costume change...

Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader...

It was really great that my mom had a chance to visit for a few days (although they went too fast). On Saturday, we also tried a recipe we have been dying to make - a genuine Linzer torte (the recipe was from my German teacher) - it turned out great (and no surprise here for anyone who knows Dustin - one of these pie pans is already empty).

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! We are all recovering on our sleep schedules after Brenna's late night recitals. Yesterday, Brenna got to have one of her friends over for the afternoon - they had a great time playing together (even though Brenna got really tired at the end of the afternoon).

My mom and I also made a Linzer torte from my German teacher's recipe. It turned out really well (this time) :-)

We had a pretty quiet day here today. My mom went back home (we were all sad to see her go - come back and visit soon), Dustin and Brenna went to the grocery store, and we all took some walks around the neighborhood. I am hoping to be healthy here again soon - I have had a sore throat since Wednesday and my voice sounds kind of froggy right now.

Well, I think 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!

Wednesday, July 28 - the movers come today

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! The movers come today to pack up the majority of our stuff today - we will be down to 3 suitcases, the dog crate, and our backpacks. Just a little stressed here - went to bed at midnight, tossed and turned all night and was up at 5:15 - yuck. Hopefully, I will get some good sleep tonight! Still things to do here this morning, but we got a lot done yesterday (Dustin and I were both beat by the end of the day...). The computer will be packed too - so, no more email, posts, or skype until we are back in the US :o(

We are all going to miss our little town in Germany - we all have very fond memories of living here. But, it is on to the next adventure in our lives (and hey, with all my stuff, it will be great to have some space to spread out in). Brenna has 2 days left of Kindergarten here - I must remember to try to take my camera with me tomorrow for the last day of Kindergarten (another really cool thing about living in Germany - her Kindergarten was really awesome)... I have a really great book for Brenna of our town - hopefully we can keep her memory alive of our time here with all our pictures. We will miss the stores, people, and scenery. (And hey, now that we are past the heat wave, we will miss the mild temperatures that are found here - much more comfortable to be out year round here!). There is so much to miss here, but lots to look forward to with moving back to the US and being close to families and friends again :-)

We also emptied Brenna's piggy bank yesterday - she had around 45 Euro in her bank (not including other coins that Dustin has collected in his travels). She was funny as she was only interested in the 1 and 2 cent coins (although she still had about 3 Euro worth of those). We took her out shopping with the money and she bought a new game, a new necklace, a new coloring book, and a new Ariel doll :-) (too bad the Ariel doll and coloring book are the only two items that will still be here tomorrow)...

Well, that is it for now - off to finish in the kitchen!

Take Care!!

Tuesday, July 27

Dustin's beautiful gift basket from work - isn't it pretty (and loaded!!- cheeses, meats, oils, wines, and other local alcohols). I think the Germans here give some of the prettiest and nicest gifts around! Justice thought the gift looked (and smelled) pretty inviting - "please give me some...."

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Today will be a busy packing day here (that is once everyone is up and Brenna is off to school this morning). Lots and lots to do before the movers come tomorrow!!!

Dustin was late getting home last night with this wonderful gift from his work place - isn't it beautiful?? (Brenna fell asleep very early on the couch, so he didn't miss anything here at home). Well, I should really start getting busy - lots to get done!

Take Care!

Monday, July 26

Brenna with the cow at Lake Mummelsee. The new hotel at Lake Mummelsee. The hotel burned down before we moved over here and was rebuilt and finally up this year (I don't think there was much to look at as a hotel when my mom was here - but the hotel still looks nice now a year later).

A piece of Black Forest cake

The hotel sign (that I just thought was neat)

Another picture of the cow - what can I say, I liked him, lol

Brenna got a glass from her school group (hand painted). She is in the smurf group at school - isn't the glass adorable???

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are busy around here with getting ready for the move.... We spent a good portion of our weekend with packing and cleaning. Brenna enjoyed helping, but she is a little stressed with the idea of her stuff being packed up. (Brenna being the smart cookie that she is has said - "Mom, once our stuff leaves, we should leave too")

On Sunday, we went up to Lake Mummelsee. We had a nice stroll around the lake and Brenna enjoyed playing in the sand as well. The lake had a hotel that burned down before we moved over here and it is now completed and open.

Not too much else going on here - the computer leaves on Wednesday, so only a couple more posts available before we fly (which is in 11 more days!).

Take Care!

Thursday, July 22

Since I had so many pictures to share from Europa park, I had neglected to share a few of our trip to the zoo. So, here there are. I have to wonder what the giraffe who picked up the feather from the ground was thinking after he discovered it was just a feather (and he looked pretty funny bending all the way to the ground for the feather too).

the penguins were out in full force - we were all amused that so many were in their little dens (but Brenna made a dash for the next animals - sorry no picture of that, lol!).

Brenna loved the statues again. We bought her a new stuffed red panda (I have such a bad stuffed animal addiction - must stop buying stuffed animals, lol...)

the baby leopard at the zoo - I don't think he was too interested in all the people standing around with their cameras (including me...)

My latest sewing projects - 3 aprons for Brenna's kindergarten teachers. I think they turned out pretty cute... (sorry, I cropped my head out of a lot of the pictures - I just thought it showed off the apron better :-)

The tie was designed to sit low on this pattern. After the first one that I made (the one in the Amy Butler fabric with the cupcake tie), I decided a little higher on the tie would be nice. I think it was better (sorry to give you a butt shot, lol!). (I was running very low on matching fabric to make the ties on these - guess I really have used a lot of fabric this year :-)

I really liked the polka dot one (o.k., I liked them all - I am thinking about making this pattern for myself when we get back :-)

hmm, my favorite fabric below - I think I almost cried when I cut into it. Hope I can justify to Dustin that I need more of it :-)

this was the first apron I made using the pattern - I think the ties a little higher was better (but I wasn't willing to rip out the thread on this one to change it).

not sure about how Brenna will do this morning at school - she was in a mood (can you tell??). She took the pictures with the tripod and self-timer. Not sure why she decided to join me for this one, lol...

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are getting crazy here as our move approaches - the movers come next week to pack our stuff for the air and sea shipments (sob :-(, the computer (no posts and no skype...) and DVD go with the shipments as well as the majority of Brenna's toys - hope we have nice weather for playing outside for the last week at home). Our weather was hot yesterday, so after Brenna's grillfest at school (where she got some wonderful gifts for the end of the school year since she won't be returning), we went to the pool (and found most of Brenna's kindergarten class there, lol). The weather is cooler today and should stay cool for the next few days :-)

We got off to a very late start for school today - I did a fashion show for Brenna with the apron gifts (and then I ironed them again after). Brenna was the photographer. Then we went to the paper store in town to buy wrapping paper and make the gifts (although my wrapping never looks as nice as the gifts I have received here in Germany...). We arrived at school very late (so late, I think the only thing I will accomplish this morning is my blog post!). (Guess I should have used my time more wisely this morning when I woke up at 3 am and couldn't sleep - urg...)

Tomorrow I think I will start working on the packing (suitcases) - I am not looking forward to packing up the last 2 years of our life here (but I am looking forward to that fenced in yard - especially on hot or rainy days, lol!)

Take Care!

Monday, July 19

Our Sunday visit to Europa Park (o.k. - just a "few" more pictures from the weekend - I can't believe we only have 18 more days left before we fly...)

The parade - it wasn't nearly the big deal that it is at Disney Land - there were plenty of places to sit - we even managed to find a bench to sit on! All of the characters waved to Brenna - she loved the parade and all the characters :-)

We also found a face painting station with no line :-) Brenna looked so wonderful with the face painting that she picked. The face painting artist took all of 10 minutes (if that long) - it looked wonderful (hmm, maybe I should have got mine done and then Brenna might have wanted to have her picture done with me, lol).

Right after having her face painted...

Poor Brenna - I really tried to get some good pictures of the beautiful face painting - I took dozens of pictures on the next two rides we rode...

Brenna loved these mushrooms from the ride - aren't they great??? (They came in all different colors - I especially liked the pink one)...

I really loved this exit sign :-)

Waiting for the train to arrive at the park

Our car trip on Saturday - Brenna and I doing our silly faces in the back seat - can you tell she was more interested in the TV then the pictures...

Innsbruck, Austria - if the clouds looked like rain, that is because it was right before the storm... (be sure to check out the video posting from Sunday for the wonderful hail and flood in Innsbruck...)

The hail in Innsbruck (in front of the Swarovski store)

Our only picture of us in Innsbruck - at least Justice finally made it on a family trip :-)

Justice in Liechtenstein...

More face painting pics...

Our picture with the yellow mail box - the color of the German post offices :-)

From our visit to the Karlsruhe zoo today - didn't she have some great smiles while feeding the goats :-)

Lasagna ice cream - doesn't that look like a masterpiece :-)

Hello All!!!

Lots of pictures to share today - hope you made it through them all, lol!!!

Things are good here - Dustin took an extra day off this weekend so we enjoyed a family day today at the zoo in Karlsruhe and then the local mall :-) Our time is going so quickly - only two more weekends here in Germany! If anyone reading ever wants to vacation in Europe, I would highly recommend Germany now - especially the Black Forest region - there is lots for families and couples to do here - we will certainly miss it.

I can't think of too much else to say on our weekend - I think the pictures today speak for themselves :-)

Take Care!!