Wednesday, March 31

Brenna and her massive plate of green beans (with almonds). I happen to love green beans too, so I made the plate for us to share from - Brenna decided to take over the whole plate (along with her two other plates - how silly are we at meal times....and no, the plates weren't for her "pretend" friends, these were all hers - we only do "pretend" plates for the "pretend" friends). Wonder if my family was putting any green beans in the garden this year? Can you tell how much she loves them, lol!

Hello All!!!

Can you believe that it is the last day of March already??? My time is flying by over here - I don't think I will be able to complete all the projects that I have before we come home, but I am sure I will be glad to be staying busy. I kept Brenna home again yesterday, so I lost my project day for the week :-( She seems to be feeling much better - so off to Kindergarten this morning (Dustin even dropped her off at school :-) Only one more day of school this week and then we are off on our vacation :-)

Brenna and I watched the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie yesterday - she seemed to really enjoy it :-) We also printed some new coloring pages and had fun with those (as well as some of her cards and other games). Overall, we had a pretty relaxing day yesterday of not doing too much (we even took the dog for a nice stroll in the afternoon).

Well, I think that is about it for now! Take Care!

Monday, March 29

Brenna giving me a lovely cheesy smile with her face-painting (the town had their biannual Sunday store opening - crazy to think that the stores here are never open on Sunday, but something you do get used to). One of the town banks had the face-painting (called Schminken in German - isn't that a great word?) for free - I was impressed that Brenna let the person do a complete face :-). Oh, how did I get this lovely smile above - I promised chocolate - see below, lol!

Mmmm - chocolate - I think her second smile of the series was better than the first one ;-)

(Brenna saying she wants chocolate below :-)

We bought Brenna new modeling clay this weekend (it promised that it would float in water) - Brenna loved it! (She is trying to patiently wait for me to clean this morning so that she can play with it today - I kept Brenna home today with her head congestion - it doesn't seem too bad right now, but we need it to be better for our travels this weekend)

One of our sharks...

Brenna enjoying a pony ride at the Sunday store opening - look how hairy that pony is! I actually carried on a little conversation with the owners of the ponies - they thought Brenna was so pretty!

Brenna getting her face painted - don't you love the serious faces??

Love the pretty purple lips - they didn't last long - but it was adorable!

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here (rainy - where did our sunshine from last week go??). Our weekend was rainy, but we seemed to stay busy with running errands and going to the Verkaufsoffener Sonntag (Sunday store opening) in our town. I was able to get Justice out in the mornings for some nice long walks before the rain came (so he was happy with me). Justice is shedding his winter coat right now - what a hairy mess we have - I just can't keep up with it...

While Dustin was sleeping in on Sunday morning, Brenna and I opened her new modeling clay and had fun playing with it - hope you enjoy our videos (isn't she getting so big???).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPAGR61eD8E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqN7yeiNtqg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIK786NztOk

Our clay came with a few fun cutting tools - Brenna loves them - so glad that we got the big kit for her to play with :-)

I kept myself away from crafting all weekend - a little bit of a challenge for me, but our time still went very fast! The Verkaufsoffener Sonntag is a very neat street fair - we ran into two of the people I see daily with taking Brenna to Kindergarten and stopped to talk to both :-) We also enjoyed a yummy supper there - yummy Bratwursts for Brenna and I and Flammkuchen for Dustin :-) It was sprinkling for most of the afternoon (when the stores were open), but we enjoyed all the activites that Brenna participated in (they had some really cool things for the "kids" to do -there was a crane that would take people up and also they had Kinderbaggerfahren (excavators) that the kids could help drive in and pick up cones (Brenna didn't get to do those two activities, but they still looked pretty fun). We did go to the fashion show at the local clothes shop - we found out last weekend in Baden-Baden that Brenna was very interested in the fashion shows (they had one going on at one of the malls we went to last weekend). Brenna enjoyed most of the fashion show - she was the biggest clapper for all the fashions :-)

Well, I think that about covers our highlights. Brenna is home with me this morning - she woke up with a head full of congestion, so I thought it was better to keep her home since we have an exciting trip planned for this weekend and we hope everyone is 100%.

Take Care!

Friday, March 26

My latest quilting - I am so glad that I decided to do the quilt along with my mom and sister :-) I look forward to not only seeing my blocks, but the ones that my mom and sister do as well (by the way ladies - your blocks are looking great!). I love the color on these blocks - the pink fabrics is one of my favorites, but I only have a small amount left...

Brenna decided to help with me laying out my blocks. She wasn't sleeping here, just "play" sleeping (isn't she a good little actress). I layed out a piece of cream colored fabric and then proceeded to layout my quilts on the bed. (I actually started with the I Love you quilt in getting it layed out - in one of my many shots that I took, I could see Brenna trying to get her little toes underneath everything). So, here are all the blocks I have completed for the pinwheel quilt along - loving them :-)

Justice had to come in and check out what we were doing (sorry that you have to see my messy bedroom - when you always have clothes hanging up to dry, it always seems to look a little messier...)

Brenna with the crazy log cabin quilt (this one will be hers - I love all the bright colors :0)

This was before all the strips were sewn together - I sewed them together today - it looks so cute!

lol - Brenna looks like she is just waking up here to me, what a little actress. (I did decide based on the pictures, to move the lightest strip of I Love you to the middle instead of the bottom as it was here in the pictures).

before Brenna decided to join in :-)

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. We had a rainy, dreary day here in Germany today :-( Actually, the morning started off fairly sunny - I did take Justice out for a nice walk this morning and then Brenna went off to school (I should have expected that it would be pouring by the time I needed to pick her up as we went off without her rain coat this morning)... About 15 minutes before I planned on taking Justice out, the sky was very dark and then it poured - yuck, I decided the dog didn't really need his noon potty break today (mean doggy mom...). I hoped that after 20 minutes of pouring down rain, it would lighten up and I could go get Brenna without getting soaked - hmmm - no luck there - we had to do complete outfit changes when we got home (I did take umbrellas with me, but about half way home, Brenna said the heck with the umbrella, lets run - that lasted about 3 minutes and then I was a mean mommy trying to pull my daughter along home in the rain without our umbrellas - sigh) (Brenna even commented to me that I wasn't being very nice - hmm, guess I was a little short tempered as I just kept saying hurry up, hurry up...hopefully, she felt that I was nicer this afternoon - at least she didn't tell me that I was being mean again).

While Brenna was at school today, I worked on more of my quilting (I know I should have cleaned, but I am a total quilting addict right now - plus, I didn't feel like cleaning today). I got my three I love you blocks sewed together for Brenna's quilt - I think she is really going to like that one - I am making that one to match her room when we move back to the US (there will be curtains to match the quilt :-)

They posted at school today that they have had their first case of hand, foot, and mouth disease - yuck (it really makes me think about keeping Brenna home next week from school since we have our Ireland trip scheduled and then she is already off school for Spring Break the week after - but they are also having a field trip next week and the Easter Bunny is coming - I think I am just going to have to cross my fingers that she keeps washing her hands well at school and doesn't get it...)

Brenna and I did play her Nemo memory game today (actually played this time, most of the time she just likes to put the cards in the cardboard punch-outs that came with the game) - she was very excited when either of us made matches.

Well, I think that covers most of our highlights - we didn't make it out to take any more pictures today since it rained during our afternoon walk - Brenna was pretty bummed not to take the camera along - wonder how many days of pictures we will have this spring and summer - I think I may let her take as many pictures as she wants as I think it will be fun to have her pictures for her someday (and hey, they are digital - so other than computer space, they are "free").

Take Care!

Thursday, March 25

I am starting to think about putting together a photo book of our town for Brenna - it is amazing how quickly all our time is going over here. It also amazes me to think that the only lifestyle that Brenna remembers right now is living in Germany and how we walk everywhere. (and I really feel bad that she is looking forward to walking to school by herself someday, and that just isn't going to happen where we live in Ohio). Anyway, I love the view of our town - I will miss these hills this fall...

O.k. - get ready - today you are going to be treated to the world according to Brenna :0) I handed over my point and shoot and let her go to town on pictures (I apparently needed to clean off the photo card 1st - she filled it before we got to the top of the hill, lol) (you may need to click on these pictures of Brenna - I love her face in them :-)

o.k. - from here forward are all Brenna's pictures - I love how she captured the blue sky in so many (and it was pretty overcast today - so I am impressed that she found so much blue).

I thought my face looked funny here - hope it makes you all laugh too (o.k. - my eyes are kind of buggy, but we were having fun, lol)

Brenna and I both took this picture - if you make the picture bigger - you can see snow still on the hills in the background - won't be long before it is all gone

this dog barks at us all the time - I told Brenna to get a picture, and I think she did pretty well, lol.

our sidewalk - love the design :-)

I loved all the blue sky with my head in the picture - am I just too easily impressed by her vision???

Brenna taking a picture back at our house (it is behind the garden in the front) - I love her height perspective

spring flowers

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - enjoying the spring weather (it is supposed to turn to rain and cooler the rest of the week - bummer!). Brenna and I stopped for ice cream on our way home from Kindergarten again today - I think I am going to try all the flavors before we go back home at the end of the summer :-) I loved the conversation that Brenna and I had about that today - it went something like this:

Mommy - "So, Brenna what flavor ice cream are you going to get today?"

Brenna - "I am going to get the same one I got yesterday - vanilla. Which one are you going to get?"

Mommy - "hmm, I think I might have to try all of them, so I'm not sure which flavor I will try today"

Brenna - "Mommy, you can't eat them all - you will get a tummy ache"

(oh, and there was some misunderstanding in there about Brenna only hearing the I'm not part - she was actually upset that I might not have ice cream with her - wonder if she has figured out already that when mommy doesn't get any ice cream she tries to share hers???). So, we enjoyed sitting on our bench and eating our ice cream (I chose Snickers today - yum, yum, yum (it was last years favorite :-)

While Brenna was at Kindergarten, I worked on my quilting today - I got all of my small (3 inch) pinwheels done for the sashing, all of my trimming done, and one of my blocks (I bribed Brenna with TV to finish my 2nd one today - I know, bad mom there, but it was something educational and it was only for 45 minutes). I will share these pictures tomorrow - Brenna took some great pictures on our walk today, so I just had to share those instead.

Brenna is a little more sensitive these days - I blame it on Dustin being gone so much - I think she is missing having her Daddy time. I hope our upcoming vacation helps some :-)

Brenna and I also colored eggs today - she loves doing pink - it is her favorite :-) (she voted on eggs for supper tonight - can't believe she ate 4 egg whites (no yolks today - she decided she didn't want them...))

Well, I think that is most of our highlights! Take Care!

Wednesday, March 24

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. We have been having some fabulous weather here in Germany, so we are trying to make the most out of it (although my body is feeling old now - my feet hurt and my knee brace is my constant accessory). Anyway, on Monday afternoon, Brenna helped me take Justice for a nice long walk in the afternoon - I figured she would be exhausted by bedtime, but she was almost awake longer than I was, lol. I worked on my quilting in the morning on Monday (I think I said that on Monday's post, but have forgotten since then...), but with the nice weather and cleaning, I haven't had a chance to get back to it (I feel like it sits there begging me to sew them, wish I had more energy in the evenings to get them done, but by the time Brenna is in bed, I am too tired to want to sew...). I'm sure I mentioned that Dustin was going to London on Monday - at least he comes home tonight (although late). Brenna really misses him when he is gone and has started taking her "invisible Daddy" places (mainly on our walk in the afternoon) - (Brenna has started in with her pretend/invisible friends in the last two weeks - mainly they are her friends from school, but she added Daddy as one yesterday....(she also has pets too) - hmm, can't wait until she can have some real playdates at our house or at some friends houses - I think she will love those).

Yesterday after cleaning, Justice and I had a short walk and then picked up Brenna. At school, they played outside for the first time since the weather warmed up and we weren't prepared with playpants at school yet (she still has her winter ones there - with about 60 degrees outside, I guess it is time to change them out and bring the warm ones home...) (I don't even have any here - I had to order some online - they should be here tomorrow :-)

Brenna and I did some more painting - she has a lot of fun with it and when she is painting with our brushes, she has decided that the paint brushes need to match the paint colors she is using :-) We also took Justice on a short walk in the afternoon up to the monument here in town.

Today, Brenna and I stopped by the ice cream store in town for a sweet treat (oh, how I will miss that ice cream when we go home - it is soooo good). We stopped and ate it at one of the benches and enjoyed the sunshine. I took Justice on a nice long walk in the morning after German class. We read one of my German teacher's favorite books today, so our class went a little long (bonus - not much homework this week :-) Brenna seems to prefer when I read to her in English instead of German, but I try to include at least one of the German books at our story times (in the morning, afternoon, and evening). Maybe my poor German skills put her off of those books - they are all really cute stories... Anyway, Brenna and I took Justice on a nice stoll this afternoon and then came home for supper and a bath :-)

We go to Ireland in a little over a week - I better work to get the cameras cleaned off here shortly :-) I can't believe it is almost April - I have so many projects that I am behind on working on!

Well, I think that covers most of our day(s)! Take Care!

Monday, March 22

Brenna enjoying the park with Dustin :-) (this is a park close enough for us to walk to, so hopefully as the weather allows we can take advantage of that and her energy).

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here. The weather over the weekend was rainy (although not as rainy as I expected) - but we managed to get out to Baden-Baden on Saturday and then stayed around the house on Sunday. Brenna did get a chance both days to go out and play when there wasn't any rain with Dustin :-) Dustin was home for the weekend after his busy week last week, so Brenna was very attached to playing with him. It is starting to look spring like here with lots of flowers coming out :-)

I have been addicted to working on my quilting projects here lately - hopefully, I will be able to get another quilt top done by the end of the month :-) (I was very ambitious with my goals for this month - I was hoping to work on 4 different quilts, so 2 quilt tops is really good if they can be finished). I am working on two quilts at the moment, although all I did today was make triangles for the quilts :-) I have a pretty stack of them right now.

Dustin is off to London tonight and will be gone until Wednesday evening (late) - hopefully we will have some more nice weather while he is gone.

Friday, March 19

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here. The weather here is much warmer :-) Yesterday, it was all sunshine - I even walked Justice without a coat :-) This morning we had some rain - which worked out for my first quilt (it is all paper-pieced, such a fun way to make this quilt) - the top of the quilt is finally done - isn't it so pretty??? I made it to go in Brenna's room - I love all the great colors, but all she wants to look for in it is the pink right now. (I think she will really like my next quilt for her - I am going to try to make it more about the pink for her. I am re-thinking my butterfly quilt for her - I think I should put it on a pink background instead of my yellow fabric I bought, but I have time to consider that while I work on the pink quilt...). (o.k. - I will admit that I let Brenna watch TV this afternoon to finish it up - she was very patient with me to let me finish this up). I am amazed with all my sewing that I have been ambitious to do lately, although I do have to wonder why I stabbed myself with a pins twice with this quilt and none of my projects before that, lol! (yes, there was some blood that required a band-aid too - Brenna was very sympathetic - she of course wanted a band-aid to wear as well).

Yesterday, Brenna and I made a mug-em version of Pineapple upside down cake and homemade pizza. Brenna picked all the pineapple off, but ate the cake well (even with no frosting :0) and she really enjoys putting the toppings on our pizzas. Dustin was busy with a customer yesterday, so today is the first day Brenna has really seen him since Monday. They are playing in her room now (until bedtime :-)

Brenna and I stayed busy today with doing yoga and going to the playground - we should have got out some more with Justice to enjoy the beautiful weather, but I got caught up trying to finish the quilt. The weekend here is supposed to be rainy - not sure yet on any plans - I know Dustin would like to go somewhere (anywhere as long as it gets us out of the house for awhile :-)

Well, I think that covers some of our highlights!

Take Care!

Wednesday, March 17

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - a little crazy, but good :-) Dustin left for Paris yesterday morning, but he is returning late tonight. I am glad his trip will be short, but bummed that Brenna will miss him until Friday (he has a customer in town tomorrow night and won't get home till late). So, what have we been doing?? Well, on Tuesday morning, Brenna and I went to pick up Dustin's ring at the found office (called the Gefunden Büro) at the town hall. It only took about 4 wrong offices until we found the right one, but we were very lucky that someone found the ring and turned it into the office in good shape. (there was a fee to retrieve the ring - not a big deal except the only money I had was small change - I was very lucky that I had stocked up on the loose change before leaving the house - and I made the amount - just barely, but I made it, lol!).

After the stop to pick up the ring, Brenna was off to school (late) and I came home to work on my quilting project (sorry, I am going to wait to post a picture until the quilt is done - it is almost done, I promise - maybe you can see it this weekend). The quilt I am working on right now is for Brenna - called a Crazy Log Cabin - it looks pretty good and I love all the bright colors in it. I think Brenna wishes I put more pink in it, but hopefully I can make her happier with the I love you quilt I am working on for her. (to bad for her that I don't plan to actually quilt them until I am back in the US - she even asked today if it was for here in Germany or for in the US - I am just hoping that I can have most of my quilts that I am doing now done by Christmas).

The weather here is turning nicer - starting to feel like Spring :-) Today, we even had our evening walk with the dog without our hats :-) Justice's walk today was cut short by Brenna spotting the "chicken truck (at least that is what I like to think of it as)". Since, I didn't make the pizza dough I had planned, I thought it sounded like a good plan B - plus it was extra exercise for Brenna (sorry Justice - I will take you for a walk tomorrow). Brenna jogged most of the way to the place (nothing like some encouragement of "hurry, they might close if we don't get there in time"). I'm sure that Brenna gave our dinner two (greasy) thumbs up (at least that chicken is only available on Wednesday). After dinner, Brenna had a bath, story time and bed - she fell asleep while reading her 3rd book (I was impressed she stayed awake that long - she was pretty tired).

I am loving Brenna's newest phrase - not sure where she picked it up from - anyone recognize "Smell the Goodness"?? (she puts it at the appropriate places too - like tonight as we went to pick up the chicken and fries - "Mmm, mom smell the goodness").

Well, I think that covers most of our highlights.
Take Care!

Monday, March 15

My new quilt squares - block #4 (we have made 2 of each block so far, so I have 8 blocks done :-)

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - the weather is supposed to warm up this week :-) I hope the snow melts soon and I don't see anymore this year...

On Saturday, we drove to France for some shopping at Cora - the giant shopping store there :-) Brenna got a new swimsuit and a new pink spring coat - she was so excited that she wore the swimsuit as soon as we got home and then all day on Sunday too. I may have to hide it in her closet until the weather is warm enough for swimming for real... The swimsuit is cute - it is Strawberry Shortcake (with her French name), but then has words written in English on the front - how ironic! (can you tell that the weather here wasn't really nice enough to be outside - I am hoping we have better weather this coming weekend - maybe we can even make it up to Frankfurt for a day of sightseeing...)

I made some new quilt squares on Sunday for my quilt along - I love using my scraps from my previous projects here :-)

Brenna went to Kindergarten today - not to much fuss either (which was very good). I think she is happier when she can ride in the stroller to school and then walk together on the way home...

Dustin's ring was located and turned into the town hall :-) Brenna and I tried to pick it up today, but they had already closed for the day (o.k. - when I go back to work, I want a job that only works for 2 hours in the afternoon and closes at 4, lol). So, I promised Brenna that we could go together to pick it up tomorrow morning before school - maybe it can get her out the door at a decent time... (Brenna was so excited that the ring was found, we cut short Justice's walk today - poor guy - and then went back to the town hall to try to pick it up, only to discover that they had already closed - so then we had to call Dustin and tell him the good news :-) I think this story goes to show what a nice small town we live in over here - a person could actually leave there doors unlocked and feel safe and neighbors want to help one another - I will miss that when we leave.

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

Saturday, March 13

Brenna wanted to show off our rosey cheeks after the snowball fight at the park :-)

Hello All!!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here. We are still hoping for some more Spring weather to come soon - the snow has stayed all week (as well as cold temperatures). Brenna boycotted going to school on Friday (and with the need to walk with all the snow, I didn't have many ideas to get her out and walking a mile to school - any ideas there???). But, she stayed and helped me with laundry, some sewing (she loves to "drive" the machine, and she does a pretty good job) (I was zig-zagging the edges on some new fabric for a quilt for Brenna), and some other cleaning. We colored some brown eggs that we boiled - hmm, I don't think we will do that again as the colors don't come out good at all... (I was impressed that we even made it until 2 pm before we turned on the TV - that is some feat in our house as we are all TV addicts here).

On Thursday afternoon, Brenna and I had a snow ball fight at the park - she loved how pink her cheeks were when we got home - isn't she too cute! We tried again yesterday, but the snow was slushier (the sun was shining yesterday even though it was still cold) and I wasn't too much in the mood to be out for long.

I ended up missing the parents meeting yesterday since Brenna stayed home - not doing much good for my German skills there :-( Oh, well - life will go on...

We made some roasted Broccoli this week as well as pizza. Brenna tried a couple of nibbles of the broccoli and said yum, but I don't want anymore (hmmm....). Brenna helped put all the toppings on the pizza yesterday - she had a good time putting all the toppings and did a really good job.

I started working on my original paper-piecing quilt again. I am hopeful that I may even be able to sew the top all together this week sometime (cross your fingers for me). I can't wait to have it all together and get a picture of it as I think it will be really cute. I also can't wait to see Brenna using it - I think it will be a great addition to her room someday :-)

Brenna has been busy "marrying" more of her friends - so cute to see what she wants to play at this age. Dustin has influenced the latest "prince" - Scott Celvin from the Santa Claus movies - too funny!

Well, I think that covers some of our highlights!

Take Care!