Monday, November 30

So, I know I mentioned it when we mailed Brenna's letter to Santa - guess what? she already has a letter back from Santa - how cool is that!!! I love the envelope (it was almost too pretty to open, lol)! (Sorry, I played with the smudge feature in Photoshop - not really looking to share my address here!)

Brenna's ornaments that she decorated - aren't they cute!!!

Some of our Christmas decorations - I love the color of these glass balls! I think they would look so cool with a Browns theme or something for Dustin!

One of our souveniors from Prague Christmas market - I think they are really cute and Brenna loves them too!

Our little Christmas tree - it is about 7 inches tall!

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! I had a "fun" day of cleaning and washing the dog today! (see all the smiles here, lol :-)

So, I'm going to post pics from our trip soon - Dustin is out of town until Wednesday and Brenna has the sniffles (she stayed home with me today), so no promises that I will get a post up tomorrow. Our drives went well for our trip (we left on Friday morning for Prague (about a 6 hour drive) and got to our destination around 3:30 pm, then on Saturday we left Prague and drove to Dresden (about 2 hours), and then on Sunday we drove home from Dresden (about a 6 hour drive) and arrived home about 9:15 pm). Brenna did great on the trip and is now a Pez addict (hint - if anyone wants to make her day for Christmas - Pez and a new Pez dispenser would bring a smile to her face, lol :-) - also jewelry - the girl is a very girly, girl, lol).

So about our trip, we arrived in Prague on Friday about 3:30 - our hotel was called the Prague Castle Hotel - it was right in the middle of everything which was so nice :-) Way to go Dustin on picking a great location :-) (and Brenna loved that she had her own twin size bed to sleep in - she slept great with it, I was paranoid that she was going to fall out and bump her head, lol). Anyway, we took a walk into the old town after we arrived and picked a place at random to eat supper - wouldn't you know that we would pick Pizza in Prague! Our only meal to eat something authentic, and we pick Pizza, lol!!! (we needed to get something quick for our little trouper, and the restraunt/bar did a great job with that - and the food was pretty good!). After dinner, we went back for an early evening (since Brenna did not nap) and woke up early for our next day in Prague. We walked down early for the Christmas market and enjoyed walking around there and buying a few of our suveniors there. (We missed one of the other Christmas markets - oh, well (I think that was probably good for Dustin and our wallet!)). We went up to the top of the clock tower in the old town - Brenna scared herself when she was playing with the machine that mashes the money into pictures, but Dustin handled it well with her and recovered for the rest of the day (go figure, she wasn't concerned about how high up she was, only that the machine scared her!). We then took a tour around the city to see the old town, the Jewish Getto, Charles Bridge, and the Castle. Our guide was from Prague and very knowledgeable about all the history there (which we knew nothing about). So, I learned alot about Prague and the people there (Dustin, not as much as he herded Brenna around quite a bit). After our tour, we left to go to Dresden (it is amazing that by 4 pm it is dark now!). We arrived in Dresden tired after all our walking around from Prague, so we just crashed in the hotel for the night. The next morning, we went to several of the Dresden Christmas markets. I think the Dresden Christmas markets are my favorite so far as they have some themed ones that makes the markets at least a little different then all the ones we went to last year. Brenna really enjoyed the Medivial Christmas market, and loved that Daddy got in the wheel to make the Merry-Go-Round go (more about that in the next post, and some pics too, lol). After our full day in Dresden, we had a long day in the car, and then we were glad to be home! As I said before, Brenna did great!

Today, I have had a full day of cleaning (including washing the smelly dog) - at least our apartment will be clean for Dustin for a couple days after we leave next week. Well, I better go wake up Brenna - she has napped for quiet a while today - catching up from the weekend I am sure. (just have to share the dog washing story from today - I cleared out the bathroom as I knew that Justice was bound to make it a wet mess (so fun, clean the bathroom from the chimney sweep, wash the dog, clean the bathroom from the wet dog). I put everything in our bedroom and shut the door. Well, the dog did great with the bath and then shook water everywhere in the bathroom as expected. Of course, with a 3 year old, I didn't get a chance to really contain the dog to one room and had water trailed from the bathroom to the living room. Of course, I needed another towel, so I opened our bedroom door for about 5 seconds and Justice bolted in there from the living room to shake even more - (do you think he was getting even with me). I even said after I kicked him back out that I think he did that on purpose, lol!)

I thought I would share Christmas pictures today - maybe get people in the mood for Christmas - plus, I think Brenna's letter to santa and his response is too cute not to share (doesn't she have great writing and spelling already)!

Take Care!

Sunday, November 29

Hello All!!!

We are home from our weekend of traveling! After a long day in the car, I am off to bed. Tomorrow, I will have to sort the laundry, clean up after the chimney sweep (what a mess those guys make - bummer - we weren't warned this time either!), and try to get my Christmas crafts done.

Take Care!

Thursday, November 26

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(by the way - this was the art work project that Brenna was working on the day she painted her hands)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there and Happy Thanksgiving!

The weather here has been nice the last couple days so Brenna and I have been trying to enjoy it. We took Justice for a walk yesterday (I forgot that the Chicken and Fries truck was out on Wednesday and we went right past it - lucky for me it wasn't close to a meal time :-) (this is like Brenna's McDonald's over here - I must try to get a picture sometime this spring!). Brenna fell asleep on the walk, so I ended up taking a longer route - we (that would be Justice and me) walked for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. He loved it - as for me, I'm tired today!

I have been working on one of Brenna's Christmas gifts for the last few days. What started off as a simple project has became much more complex - (especially since there is quilting involved!) - but I'm sure Brenna will love that it has the alphabet and snails on it (and of course the color pink!). What is this project you might ask - it is a laundry bag/toy bag - hopefully it will turn out cute (with the fabric I picked, I don't think I can go wrong!). I will try to wait and post pictures next weekend of the bag, that is when we are going to celebrate Christmas as our own small little family (how lucky is Brenna to have Santa visit her at the beginning of December instead of the end!). (Of course that means that I need to finish the bag next week too, lol!).

Brenna and I have also painted the last couple days - we used her squeeze pen paints yesterday and our glitter glue and metallic pens. She loves the stuff she can do by herself more than with help. She is getting very independant with everything which is very hard for mom most days (I think I have control issues, lol!). She is a really good helper though and her memory amazes me! They had a used toy and book sale today for the kindergarten so I collected some new books and games for Brenna - going to wrap these up for Christmas too!

I bought a very small Christmas tree today (hah, I don't know that you can call it a Christmas tree - more like a baby Christmas bush!) - I think it is about 6 or 7 inches tall - but good size for our apartment. Our landlord offered to get us a tree from the Black Forest (how cool is that!) - but with only another week left and the big dog, Dustin graciously declined.

We are busy getting ready for our weekend travel - Prague tomorrow and Saturday (morning) and then to Dresden on Sunday. I know it will all go by very quickly (although we may not think so when we are sitting in the car!). Hopefully our weather will be nice, but I'm sure my rain coat will look good in pictures anyways, lol!

Well, that is it for today! Take Care and Happy Turkey Day!

Monday, November 23

I really debated if I should put the top picture up - these are gifts for two of my nieces (shhhh, lol). But, I just had to see if any of my other Ohio State fans email me and ask for one too, lol! How did I do on them? I think my design (yes, this is my drawn design for embroidery!) looks pretty good!!! Below is my other weekend project - recipe card holders (or passport holders as my practice one turned into!)

hmmm - wonder who wanted an alphabet one???

Hello All!!!

Hope is well out there. I had a very busy weekend of crafting here (o.k. - I realized how far behind I am on getting things done if I want them done before Christmas (or before I leave for the US in 2 weeks!!)). Dustin made it home safe and sound from his travels, although he was very tired. Brenna, of course, couldn't wait to see him and in her excitement woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning. Brenna and I bargained that we wouldn't wake Daddy up until the sun was up - at least she didn't notice it was daylight until about 8:15 (Dustin wanted to sleep later of course, but what can you really do with a small apartment and a 3 year old who can't wait to see Daddy??? - my suggestion wasn't well received of "if you wanted to sleep in, you should have stayed at a hotel" - can you tell how pleasant I was after waking up at 5:30)?? We did our normal errands on Saturday morning and then I worked on my crafts in the afternoon. The weather was nice, so I did get Justice out for some walks, but the weather this week won't be as nice (Brenna and I even took him for a walk on Friday afternoon :-).

I tried to work mainly on the gift for the teachers at Brenna's school, but I was distracted with doing some felt ornament embroideries - didn't they all come out cute??? I am debating about the purple one above for the teacher gift - I am thinking about doing another one (which means I probably will) - at least I did already cut out extra fabric to do one (or two). These recipe holders turned out pretty cute - I hope her teachers like them. (Can you tell which owl I thought was the best one, lol - she seems to be every where in the above pictures!)

Well, Brenna will be waking up from her nap shortly!

Take Care!

PS - I just had to share the conversation Brenna and I had on the way home from school today:

Mommy - "I am so hungry I could eat a horse"

Brenna - "Mommy, horses are not for eating - they are for the circus"

Mommy - "O.k., can I eat an elephant than??"

Brenna - "No, mommy - they are for the circus too. You need to eat food, like peanut butter, chicken nuggets, or fries"

(Gee, I have a healthy eater right now don't I - guess I know what she will want from McDonald's if we make it there when we are home at Christmas, lol!).

Friday, November 20

Yeah- Brenna's stocking is finally finished!!!! I think it is really cute!

Hello All!!!!

I'm going to try to get my post up early this morning (before Brenna wakes up). The weather is going to be nice here today, so hopefully, I can get Justice out on a nice walk and enjoy the weather with him today - I feel like I have been neglecting him lately with all of Dustin's travel and the crummy weather.

Yesterday, Brenna and I got the markers out to do her hand as a turkey (even though we don't have Thanksgiving, that is one thing that I want to do with her each year - I have them from last year too). Little did I suspect that she would use the markers to color all over her hands and arms - doesn't she look happy with her new art work, lol! Good thing we hadn't had her bath yet and it was already bath day - (and almost time for the bath, lol). I took some more video of her arms too (she wanted to be sure that Daddy saw her coloring too) - just have to share this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JD6SvNIMz8

I have some other cute video of her dancing recently - I will have to get it all computer transferred soon - it is just on the camera right now (maybe I will just bring it back to the US to watch in a couple weeks). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxTDX1DDm4 - o.k. late add, I did get one video up - I love this one because she takes and "makes" her audience during the video - sorry it is long, but it is funny if you can watch it!

Well, my time is up - I need to go wake up Brenna - yeah, last day of school this week :-) She woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon and asked if she was going to school "today" - um, no - she doesn't go in the afternoons, lol. She is right on the edge of not taking a nap every day, but I'm sure with the time change for her soon, she will be more messed up with sleep schedule (have I said how glad I am that this is our last time change back and forth until the final trip back to the US). We are going to mail her letter to Santa today :-)

I am coming up on my 300th post soon (I think I am 5 posts away - maybe I could do a Thanksgiving give-away, lol) - I am actually thinking of doing a give away of one of my new crafts - hmm, going to have to think about it!!

**I added two new pictures of Brenna's stocking today - just finished today (just in time to go to school next week :-) I think it turned out really cute (how could you go wrong with these embroideries and the fabric?? granted, my cuff needs work, but I still think it looks good).

Take Care!

Thursday, November 19

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are getting busy for the holidays here (I have to say that I'm glad not to have to worry about Thanksgiving this year - just straight on to Christmas, lol). I feel like I have so much to do already with gifts for people and things to finish on projects already started (did I confuse everyone with that last statement - I think it confused me, lol!!).

Dustin is out of town until late Friday/early Saturday :-( I am so bummed that he is traveling so much right now (and long hours at the office too :-( Hope it gets better in the new year - Dustin keeps saying that is end of the year rush...). Brenna and I wrote her letter to Santa today - we plan to mail it tomorrow :-) I already have it all ready to go now. It amazes me that the only item she really wants is a stuffed dog (she has wanted this dog since June - isn't that too funny for a 3 year old!). Not sure yet how I am going to wrap him - I had hoped to find a gift bag, but didn't find any that large, so I am thinking of making her a laundry bag instead. I sure feel like I am running out of time for stuff here as we fly to the US in less than 3 weeks!! (it is more like 2 1/2 weeks) - I can't believe that this is our last trip back to the US before coming back permanently to the US (and when we come back in January to Germany only 8 more months and then we are back in the US :-). The upcoming year should be lots of fun with travel and getting our last wish list places in :-) I have a suitcase and a half packed already with stuff to come back to the US (and stay there, lol) - hope I can fit everything in this trip, lol!

Brenna is doing well at school. She has a favorite song that they sing frequently - it is called Pitsch, patsch, Pinguin (I think it is something like splish, splash penguin - going to have to ask the German teacher next week, lol). It took me a while to figure out what she was saying and then took some more searching on the computer to actually find the words :-) I will have to try to sneak some video of her in with it - it is very cute!

Well, I think that about covers what is happening right now - going to have to find some good activities for this afternoon and tomorrow for Brenna :-)

Take Care!

Tuesday, November 17

My latest project - some families of owls :-) Read the story of these guys below, lol. On the picture below with our owl "family" doesn't it look like some college team colors - the "daddy" one looks like he is dressed in Akron type colors, the "mommy" one is in Ohio State, and the baby - well, the baby had to have pink on!

My towel - I am hoping this might work as a "drying" towel for things that come out of the dishwasher still a little wet :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! I have been very involved with my projects the last two days. The weather here has continued to be dreary and rainy, but we heard that the sun may actually come out tomorrow (to bad that Dustin is on his way to England tomorrow). We can't believe over here that Brenna and I fly to the US in less than 3 weeks!!! We have a trip to Prague and Dresden scheduled before we come back, so we will be staying busy with that and getting stuff ready here (plus all of Dustin's travel for work - yuck there) :-)

Yesterday, in trying not to buy something online, I figured out how to draw my own embroidery designs :-) These little owls were hand drawn by me (literally) and then made into embroideries - aren't they cute!! The top one is the first try and the bottom ones are the ones I stayed up late last night finishing. For whatever reason, I have decided owls will be on the gifts for the kindergarten teachers - so recipe cards with owls and the holder with owls too (I will probably be tired of owls by the time I am finished with them all!). I am trying to get all of my designs sewn so that I can pick which ones to use for the teachers. I really like the middle one with the bow on my "family" of owl towel - any thoughts?? I think I will do a different owl for each teacher. (why did I make so many different owls you might ask - well, in my craft world, I am generally not successful on every first attempt - this project took about 5 or 6 attempts - so there are at least that many different revisions of owls, lol). Now, I will try not to get to carried away making more stuff, but I already have a couple Christmas trees ready to go now and also a bear that I did today! (I sat down for what was supposed to be 5 minutes this morning on the trees and ended up staying in the chair for at least 30 while Brenna was at school). (I think my middle owl would look cute holding a sign too - maybe something that says "Go Bucks" - hmm, the Christmas gift opportunities there!)

Well, I should get sewing while the house is quiet (although I think I ended up wasting more of my time while it was quiet then I planned - why is the internet such a time black hole for me!).

Take Care!

Sunday, November 15

Top - our seats at the circus - great job Dustin getting us close to all the action. Below - a fall picture I took yesterday - it is not in focus, but I still thought it looked kind of nice (it was still early and my little point and shoot camera was having a difficult time with the lighting).

One of my new craft projects - I think my gift for Brenna's kindergarten teachers for Christmas will be a recipe "wallet" and recipe cards (I am thinking maybe 15 cards - is that reasonable - I don't want to use up all our printer ink - but I'm afraid I may be in a little bit of trouble with this project, lol). What do you think of my first attempt at making a recipe card ? (btw - I didn't misspell recipe - the word Rezept is German for recipe)

Brenna and my art projects - can you tell how early Brenna lost interest on the first one and mommy colored alone, lol! My new owls that I purchased (I am so sorry Dustin - my spending has gotten out of control - I will stop shopping online, I will stop shopping online, lol...) - anyway these are really cute and you can get your own at: http://www.jessicasprague.com/ The owls got treated to some glitter treatment today by Brenna and me, lol!

More of our glitter paint and paper punching :-)

oh boy - my new fabric - I even have gotten all my new fabric washed, dried (in the dryer - while the landlord is away :-), and ironed (yep, you read that right - I have an iron and actually know how to run it even though it hasn't ever seen any of my clothes! The fabric definetly gets special treatment (and hugs too, lol)).

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here (although I am in a grumpy mood today - I think it probably has to do with the lack of sunshine here lately - will the cloudy skies and rain stop already!!!). We spent our afternoon at the Circus today :-) Brenna LOVED it!!! She was totally amazed the whole two hours and sat on my lap so wonderfully the whole time (she also ate a whole bag of popcorn too, lol). It was a small one ring circus - but they did a good job keeping everyone entertained with the animals including: a trained bear, trained camels (who knew that you could train camels to perform like they did, lol), an elephant, horses, ponies, a pig, trained yaks (or some yak mix - looked a lot like a really hairy cow, lol) and a trained dog. They also had a knife throwing (wild west type) show with the girls standing in front of the board, a tight rope walker, clowns, a girl who rode a horse and performed with it, and a girl that did an act with hula hoops. I think it is what I have in my mind as a circus from books and the Dumbo movie! Brenna has told everyone that the elephant pooped - and he did, a lot, and it smelled - yuck, lol. Dustin got us all really good seats - we were in the second row right around the ring - what a great seat for a 3 year old to see everything. We even visited the animals during the intermission (which is called a Pause here in Germany) - Brenna got a chance to pet the horses - not sure if she touched the yaks, but you could go right up to them as well (although it was funny that before entering the tent, her first comment was that it smelled like poop before going in (she was right too, lol)). Brenna would not agree to any pictures at the circus - so, none from the circus this time :-(

Thought I would what Brenna and I have been working on lately - hope you enjoy seeing our art work (we got new paper punches and glitter glue - what fun!!!) (Brenna made the comment when we were using the glitter glue that maybe santa would bring her some (good thing santa already had thought that was a good idea and he already has it wrapped up!!)). I think we are done with our Christmas shopping for a our small little family to celebrate before going back to the US - I even have almost all of Brenna's presents wrapped - except for the one that she is fully committed to that santa will bring her - can't wait to see if she is excited to finally have that gift home. I can't believe how much she has put her hopes on one gift for Santa to bring her at 3 - I thought that was more something for older kids, lol!!!

Well, I think that is about it! Take Care (and enjoy all the pics from this weekend :-)

Friday, November 13

You really must compare the faces above and below - can you tell which one was taken after being woke up too soon!!

My new fabric - so sad that I am so in love with fabric - I think I hugged it yesterday, lol!!! I was sure excited that it came, lol!

Brenna pretending to be a cheerleader - this is her splits and then arm in the air (if you want to see where it came from, watch any of the newer episodes of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, lol). I wasn't really prepared for the picture opportunity - can you tell by my wonderful camera angle! You only get one shot with Brenna on these, lol!

Brenna decided we were done with our art project and she was cleaning up - gotta love that the Merry Christmas tree was the one that I could see :-)

Don't you love how covered our table is with our art project??? ME - we used all our stickers of letters! It was funny - Brenna kept asking for specific letters after I asked her for the M and C.

My first and second santa claus's below - can you tell Brenna didn't love my first one! She asked what he was and if he was a fairy! Guess it was a good thing I did better on the second one!!!

Hello All!!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - back to rainy weather after a break on Wednesday (I'm beginning to really think the rain is bothering my knee more and more - Wednesday it wasn't too bad, but yesterday and today I am feeling "old" with it!). Maybe we will finally get a break here soon :-) Dustin is in France right now and is supposed to come home late tonight (or really tomorrow morning really, really early). We are both missing him here, but I think we occupied our time pretty well yesterday. We did some dancing, watched parts of Singing in the Rain and White Christmas on youtube (Brenna actually laughed hysterically with the song Make 'Em Laugh - granted she hadn't napped and was tired - but it was really funny!), and did some coloring. Brenna hasn't napped the last two days - which isn't a big deal as she has slept well at night - but made for a somewhat grumpy girl on the lantern walk (she fell asleep about 3 minutes from the Kindergarten and then we woke her up and made her walk - what mean parents!!).

So, our lantern walk on Wednesday evening was nice - clear weather and chilly (it amazes me, but I think the Germans here are much more inclined to go out in any weather (and stay out in it) - for the lantern walk we were outside for about 30 minutes just standing after a 20 minute walk. It also made me think about the Carnival parades in Feb. or March and how you stand and watch for hours!). When we got to the church (Brenna's kindergarten is associated with the Catholic church here in town), they had firemen with big torches and a man on a horse dressed up as St. Martin - pretty cool for the young kids. They had some of the older kids do some songs and play music and then there were several readings and a play about St. Martin. It was cool, but a lot more people than we had last year (last year, we just had Brenna's play group - maybe 10 people at the most - this year there were probably 200 or more). They even closed the road for our walk and had the fire trucks follow us - it was amazing to see all the lanterns light up in the night, but I couldn't get any type of good pictures as it was way too dark.

My new fabric came from the US yesterday (it is my Christmas gift! - hmmm - does that mean I need to wait until when Dustin, Brenna, and I celebrate Christmas here to use it - I'm thinking not - bad me!!! but then I can wrap up the item I make out of it, lol!!). The fabric is to use in Brenna's room mostly when we get back to the US - although, I am really thinking about making her yoga bag out of the alphabet one - hmmm...going have to decide on that soon. I ordered some home dec weight fabric from here in Germany - it should be here today and then I can decide which fabric I want to use :-) At least I can wash and dry them (in the dryer) with out too much guilt as the landlord is away on a trip and the weather is so dreary that the dryer will really help :-)

I am so glad that it is Friday!!! Hope everyone was able to open our elfyourself video - it is really funny (sorry if you can't open it). Karen - Brenna says the same thing about watching the video - we have watched it a lot of times ourselves, lol!!!

Well, I better get moving - I need to get dressed for the day and then go wake up Brenna!!

Take Care!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wednesday, November 11

Hello All!!!!

Hope all is well out there! Brenna is back in school today - she wasn't the happiest about it, but I am sure she is having a good day (her best friend was so excited to see her - I must write down her friend's name while I know it - Samira - it only took me 2 months to finally figure it out :-) We have our lantern walk this evening - I better put batteries in her "lantern" soon, lol.

We tried various craft projects when Brenna was home the last two days - I found she wants to be free to draw her own thing :-) (and she had no interest in the pretty dresses I printed to color on - check them out here for gift tags or haning paper ornaments - http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2006/12/tag-your-it.html - she has recipe cards to print out there too that are really cute!). We are working on some letters - I have Brenna spelled out on my dresser right now - (we also have all the letters for Daddy, Mommy, and Justice) - but she only wants her name right now, lol.

I hadn't planned on Brenna being here when her new yoga mat came, but sure enough it came early yesterday morning (well, it was around 10, but with not having school, Brenna and I were pretty much still in our PJ's). At least it made it easy to get the new mat out and do our yoga afterwards. Can you tell from the pictures how excited she was :-) (of course, then I decided I need to have a yoga bag for her - the fabric to make one should be here on Friday - poor Dustin - but tell him it was on sale if you talk to him, lol!). Brenna loves that she has a pink mat now, and she thinks Daddy should get a yoga mat too now, lol! Maybe I can give him my blue one and get a purple or red one for myself next spring??? She is very funny with all the yoga - she knows downward facing dog and tree pose and she is doing those two all the time (although whenever I do downward facing dog, I am a bridge where she wants to play London bridges falling down, lol). She is also into watching the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders on cmt (I know - bad, bad mom - but it seems fairly G rated) - she was so cute last night - she wants to do the kick line and the splits at the end! I think I'm going to have to get her into dance when we get back to the US - it seems to be her favorite thing. Not sure why she had the hat on - I think she was pretending to take her animals for a walk with her stroller (got to love the tank top!). Anyway, I will have to try to get some more video of her doing her yoga or dance - it is great! (I wonder how many 3 year olds out there are as excited about a yoga mat as she is!)

Well, I think that is about it for today! Dustin is supposed to come home early today, but then he is off to Paris tomorrow morning early :-( Our apartment should be very quiet as the landlord said he was going on a trip too!

Take Care!

Monday, November 9

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there :-) We had a rainy, dreary weather day here in Germany today. I kind of feel like I should have something special to say about being in Germany on the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down, but we stayed inside today - so we really could have been anywhere in the world today. Our trek outside for the dog walk was pretty miserable today - lucky for Brenna her stroller has a nice rain cover - she at least was not rained on with the cold rainy day. Brenna's Kindergarten is closed today and tomorrow - so at least with the poor weather we don't have to walk too far (seems like the nicest week of the Fall here - Brenna and I were sick - the rest of the Fall rain (I think that is pretty similar to last year too!)). We did some coloring and reading today as well as my "new" work out videos. Not sure if my knee is bothering me because of the weather or what, but I really hope it starts to feel better soon! I do not like feeling old already!

I bought some new velcro curlers tonight at the store (not sure why exactly - but I knew that Brenna would love them even if I don't use them in my hair, lol). We did have fun playing with them tonight - wish Brenna would have let me take a picture with them in her hair - it was too funny (sorry you missed it!).

Well, I think that about covers our uneventful day today! I hope our rain goes away soon - I am tired of wet dog paws and rain boots right now!
Take Care!

Sunday, November 8

The magnet above is my favorite -wonder how long these things will last??

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there!!! We had thought we might go traveling this weekend, but ended up just staying home (which was good as we needed to run errands yesterday morning). While Dustin was at work yesterday morning, Brenna and I printed some magnets off the computer and then decorated them (these are from the wonderful pictures we had taken by http://www.picturesque-photography.net/index2.php - these ladies are located in Celina, Ohio and do a really good job and have reasonable rates :-) Thought everyone might like to see them, so I am going to post them today as well as the hair clips Brenna and I have been working on (after working in a place that makes adhesive and especially solvent based adhesive, I feel like a really bad mom for having my daughter help me use the Fabri-Tac glue that is most definetly solvent based. I think I handled all this stuff much safer when working in the factory! It does work great in gluing ribbon onto the clips though!). The words that are on the magnets mostly say Sweet as Honey (I think if they have words, that is the only thing they say, lol). Brenna really enjoyed putting some of her beloved beads on the magnets too (these are a great 3 year old toy - they can occupy her forever and then she does a really good job sorting them and putting them away when she is done - just don't ask her to share them, lol).

I spent about 30 minutes yesterday looking for silicone glue at the hardware store here in Germany with no success. Dustin was getting very annoyed with me by the end of that one - of course he made he suggestion when we left the store that I should have thought of before even going - "can't you just find it online?" Hmmm...it only took about 5 minutes to find it online and it will be delivered to my door next week (after all my addiction to online shopping, you would think that I could think of that on my own, lol). The glue is going to be used to make the clips slip-free or so I am told - I will have to let you know after I try it (of course, that means that Brenna would need to leave the clip in her hair for longer than 5 minutes!). I will have to try to get some better pictures of the clips once they are all completed.

Brenna and I are going to try to do yoga every day before we come home for Christmas - my knee is starting to bother me again - yuck. I am also going to try to add in some new workout videos - maybe all my jeans could fit before Christmas, lol! (Don't tell Brenna, but I bought her a pink yoga mat for Christmas - can't wait to see how excited she is on that one! I may have to give it to her early so that we can use it this month!). We did two different workout videos yesterday and today - Brenna really enjoyed the activity (even if she doesn't do it the same way they do on TV, lol). I figure it can't be bad mommy and Brenna time doing that stuff. She loves to dance - if anyone finds any good kid dancing DVD's that would be right up Brenna's ally for Chirstmas.

We had some delicious Bratwursts for supper last night - it was the first time that we made them ourselves here at home (how sad is that)!!! Tonight we are planning on doing bar-b-que Chicken - hope it turns out o.k. :-) I broke down this week and bought some of the many Christmas cookies that are out here already (although I am trying to tell myself that this will be the only purchase this whole year) - Brenna is really loving the Vanilla kipferl ones - I will miss those next year!!

Well, I think that about covers my morning!!!

Gotta share one of my favorite sayings from Brenna this week - I have still been recovering from my cold here and whenever I cough - she tells me "Mommy, you'll live" (I don't know where she connected that one from - makes me feel like a mean mommy when she was sick though !). Also, I complained my knee hurt on Friday and she went and got the ice pack for me out of the freezer :-) She is such a better mommy to me, lol!! She is such a sweet little girl right now!

Take Care!

Friday, November 6

Hello All!!!!

Hope everyone out there is enjoying a fabulous Friday :-) (I am so happy it is Friday, but a little bummed that Dustin has to go to work tomorrow morning - hope that is short!!). Things are going well here. My cough is still hanging on, but getting better every day - maybe by next week it will be completely gone :-) I planned to get Brenna's stocking done yesterday, but ended up loafing around and not getting that done yet (mom - I need you to help explain making bias strips to me - I only have a 1/2 yard of fabric to do it with and want to conserve as much fabric as possible). I searched online yesterday trying to find a gift idea for Brenna's 3 teachers - still not exactly sure to make them... (if anyone has any ideas - feel free to send them to me! I'm thinking a small bag that could hold a cell phone or camera right now). I ended up finding something else for Brenna while I was searching - a method to make hair clips slip free - I'm going to have to give it a try and see how she likes them :-) (I hope it works - I think that would be a great gift to make for some of the other little girls in my life :-)

On Wednesday, Brenna came home from school and wanted to help me with the cleaning - I love her concentration in these pictures (she was having a great time - she did all my laminate and tile floor and was ready to go to the carpet) - I was surprised she didn't have a great big grin when I looked back at the pictures, lol! Brenna hates wearing socks at home and sleeves - I put her in her cute fall clothes for school and the moment we step back in the apartment she wants it all off - no shoes, no socks, and no long sleeves. Anyone know how to get a 3 year old to change her sense of style for winter wardrobe??? At least the shorter hair is easier with her right now - I don't have the request for the ponytail removal immediately upon arriving home.

Dustin has been having long work days right now - wonder if any of those will slow down before we go back to the US for Christmas? I felt bad yesterday evening as I didn't expect Dustin home for dinner and we didn't really have anything to eat in the house when he came home (to be fair - it was 7:45 by the time he came home - who wants to eat that late??). I think he discovered all my peanut butter hiding spots though as there were 2 empty containers on the counter this morning - bummer, lol!! I had much better hiding spots for that stuff in the US.

We have our walk for St. Martin's Day on Wednesday next week (you can read about St. Martin's day here if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin's_Day - I need to try to get a picture of Brenna's lantern soon (I think I am going to have to look for a book on how to make some of these - maybe bring it home and make one with Brenna each year in the US). Kindergarten will be closed on Monday and Tuesday - so I need to come up with some ideas to fill our mornings - I'm sure that Brenna would love to do some more crafting or baking here at home :-)

The weather was decent yesterday, but we are back to a rainy, dreary day today :-(

Well, I think that is about it for today. Renee - thanks for sending me the picture of my new fabric - I can't wait to see it all when I am back in the US - only a month to go! (I am such a fabric addict - I love buying fabric and thinking about all the possibilities of what I can make (but I don't love cutting into it) - I think I would love just seeing fabric hanging on my wall, lol! I even decided to have Dustin buy me fabric for Christmas this year!) Poor Dustin will have to send me to fabricaholics soon!

Take Care!