Road Trip

We are planning to be gone over the next four days. We will be visiting some German friends of ours that live in the former East Germany. We will be spending New Years with them. So look for a new post with some pictures of our trip when we get back. Have a great New Year celebration!

Second day of Christmas

Here are some pictures of our activities on the second day of Christmas here in Germany. We are enjoying resting and for me NOT cooking anything all day- just re heating leftovers! A picture of the family watching a movie. Notice the pinball game in the background that was played alot in between movies. We watched Narnia and a Bill Murry movie, I forgot the name of it, but the kids seemed to like it.


Sarah was having fun playing with her new toys and hanging out with her brother and sister. She now has her own word for each of them. Jacob is called "Gobbin" and Anna is called "Dobbin".

Here is a picture of the three kids playing - Dobbin, Sarah, and Gobbin.

Christmas 2006

After a few days without internet service, we are back up and running. Here is a photo journal of our families celebration from Christmas 2006.
Christmas Eve just before we left for the Christmas eve service a traditional photo in front of our tree with the children. This was Sarah's first Christmas!

After our time at church, we enjoyed a nice time back at home eating yummy food and visiting with our friends Lee and Laurie Evans and their three children. The children preformed an original version of the Christmas Story for us. Sarah was of course, Baby Jesus.

Christmas morning, we told the children not to wake up earlier than 8 AM. So at exactly that time, Jacob and Anna jumped on our bed letting us know that it was officially Christmas morning. Here are a few photos of the children opening gifts that were sent by family in the U.S.

Jacob got a pinball game from "Santa" and presents from granparents in Oregon and California!

At the end of the opening marathon, Sarah found herself in the middle of all the loot and paper!

In the afternoon, we had a nice dinner with some BFA neighbors then SKYPED with our families and even shared in some Christmas carols together with an ocean separating us all. Today, we are enjoying the second day of Christmas here in Germany. Stores are still closed so we are surviving on leftovers and watching movies and of course playing lots of pinball!

Trip to Europa Park

We decided to treat our family to a little over night trip to Europa Park. What is Europa Park? Well, think of Germany's version of Disneyland. The park is only an hour from us so we do like to go up there for a special outing during the summer months. This was our first time to go during the Christmas season. We decided to make it extra special and stay at one of their theme hotels. We have never stayed at a theme hotel before. It was a special treat and we invited our friends the Evans to come with us. So here is a pictoral log of our adventure.

Jacob, Anna and Sarah in the car already for our adventure to the hotel and park. Sarah had just finished saying her second word- "Ba Ba" which is what we call her bottle.

The tree in the foyer of our hotel. The hotel was made into a Rome theme with us staying in the Colosseum.

We were able to go into the park for free that night. It was fun to walk around and see the festive lights and go on a few rides. The lands are diffrent countries in Europe with theme rides from that country. Here is Sarah on a ride in Russia. It is kind of like disney's small world except with out the annoying song.


Here is a group shot of us all warming up at one of the many fire pits around the park. It was fun to stand there and get warm while seeing the sights. Our friends the Evans with their childen Emmalee ( in Jacob's class), Caylie ( in Anna's class), and Nathaniel.

Back at the hotel, we decided to go swimming in the indoor pool. The kids had fun, but it was a little cool for Laurie and me. So we headed back to our rooms. Here is Anna showing off their neat bunk bed that they got sleep in.

Next morning, after a large breakfast part of the package, we headed out to park for more fun. Since it is winter, there were some fun snow theme rides. Here are Jacob and Anna using kid sized ski mobiles.









After spending the day on rides, and going to shows, we ended up in a circus tent filled with kid friendly activities like cookie making and crafts. Sarah had a blast playing in a baby ball bin.
After two fun days, we came home very tired. It was a fun outing for our family and a nice early Christmas gift!

Elementary Christmas concert

On Thursday night, Jacob and Anna took part in their very first Christmas concert. We were very excited to see our kids on stage performing their little hearts out. In the German system they never had a Christmas concert so this was very special to us. Anna kept cracking us up as she stood in the front row singing her best and then being the only one that bowed at the end of each number then she would hold up her fingers and count how many more numbers she had left to sing. What a ham! Jacob was more laid back in his performance. He enjoyed singing with his 4th grade class in the song "Wassel, Wassel".














After the concert, I was able to get a nice pose of them together on stage. Then it was off to our friends the Evans house for some hot apple cider and cookies. Anna was going to have her first sleep over at the Evans house with her friend Caylie. She was very excited. We did not bring Sarah with us because the concert started at 7:30 and that is when she normally goes to bed. We had our favorite babysitter Christine come over and stay with Sarah. A fun night was had by all. Now all we need is some snow for it to really feel like Christmas!

Did he really say that?

As a parent, you always wonder at what age do your children start to associate good words from bad. At least, this is something that I think about from time to time. Protecting our children from the ways of the world is hard. Now living oversees and having limited ability to view american tv shows it would seem easy to avoid. Even sending our children to a small christian international school would seem even easier. Then there are movies. We have noticed lately that animated cartoon features are laced with adult inuendos that children wouldn't neccesarily catch. Not a classic movie right? Wrong. The other night, we started our christmas celebration by watching a classic, "A Christmas Story". You know the one where the boy wants a BB gun. We love that movie. However, there is a scene where the boy is trying to decode a message from his favorite show. He rushes upstairs and into the quiet of the family bathroom to discover what this important message is. His adrenaline is pumping until he finishes the message and to his dismay, reads a lousy commerical for Olvatine. In his frustration, he says a bad word. Jacob and Anna were watching this with us. After the boy says the phrase- son of a ----. Jacob looked up to us and said, "Stuck in a ditch! Why would he say that?" Jeff quickly responded with out cracking up by saying that you say this phrase when you are really frustrated. Praise the Lord that our children are still protected! Now Jeff and I say that phrase to each other when we get frustrated because it is so classic. "Stuck in a ditch!"

Weekend happenings

Well, we are in the swing of our busy activities here during the Christmas season. The funny thing is that only one weekend activity had anything to do with Christmas. Friday night, we went to the first home basketball game. That is always fun. Jeff and I were able to sit by ourselves while all three of our kids were busy. Sarah was quickly taken away by students who played with her in the stands. Jacob and Anna played with their friends. Jeff and I enjoyed watching the game and eating yummy baked goods. It was almost a date for us! Saturday saw us shopping in France. We were able to find american candy canes and 7-up for some good holiday drinks! I was surprised in the higher cost of meat and dairy in France. A woman who spoke english told me it was because of the war in Iraq. I did find some good ingredients to make a yummy quiche and of course we bought some great french pastries. How can you go to France and not have those! Saturday night, Jeff took me swing dancing! It was our first time and we had fun learning some easy steps. My feet were pretty sore when we got home at 11 p.m. Sunday, Jeff performed in the High school Christmas concert. He played his trombone in two numbers. By last night, we were pretty bush from our weekend. Only three more days and then Christmas break can offically begin for us. I am baking cookies all day today so Jacob and Anna can pass them out tomorrow to the German neighbors around their school. I think our schedule should quiet down during break as fellow staff travel back to the states to spend three weeks with their families or travel around Europe. As for us, we plan to stay put. Thanks to the weak dollar over here, we are happy to have a warm home and a place to rest our head at night.

Saint Nickolas Tag

Yesterday was Saint Nickolas Tag in Germany. Before the idea of Santa Clause came over to Europe, Germany had Nickolas. He was a man who went around and gave gifts to children in December. So every December 6th, German children leave their shoes outside in hopes that he will keep coming and fill them with surprises. There was much excitment in our household as the children went to bed Tuesday night. Jacob and Anna love getting surpises. Here is how their shoes looked as we went to bed. Of course, they made sure that they found the largest shoe to put out for more treats!



Sarah didn't know what to think about all of the excitment when she woke up in the morning. We didn't have too much for her, so we made her bottle up and stuck it in her shoe. She loved that!

Update on Sarah

Sarah is only ten days away from turning 11 months. It seems that this past week, she has hit a big development milestone. She has figured out how to crawl and taken 12 un-aided steps too! Her crawling resembles a crab but she is covering some ground fast. She will now follow me through the house. Yesterday she was very determined to walk everywhere. She practiced non stop all evening after dinner. We all took turns walking with her. She just couldn't get enough of it. So, when it was time for Jeff and I to wash the days dishes, I took Sarah downstairs and put Jacob and Anna in charge of her. We got busy with our chore and when I was done, I thought that it was pretty quiet downstairs. Usually, Jacob comes running up and tells me that Sarah is crying. So I went downstairs and found Sarah sleeping sweetly on her big sister's lap.


I asked Anna how Sarah got on her lap and she told me that Sarah kept rubbing her eyes so she picked her up and wrapped her in the blanket which she quickly fell asleep. I guess she was worn out from all that walking.

This morning as Anna was getting ready to leave for school, she said, "Mom, I think Sarah and I will be best friends always." I couldn't agree more. And I will remind Anna of that when her little sister gets into her private belongings one day- maybe sooner than later.

Traditions meets one-stop shopping

This weekend, we decided to drive up to Freiburg which is about 40 minutes from our home. Freiburg is the largest city in the Black Forest. It has many old churches and an interesting Alte Stadt (old city) to walk around in. Freiburg also opened up its Christmas market. Germany is famous for Christmas markets. They are fun to walk through but only when the weather is nice. This weekend, the weather was nice, so that is why we decided to go there. Here is a picture of a sign that greeted us when we got there. The sign reads, "Frohe Weihnachten" Which means, "Merry Christmas" in German. Once we got on the outskirts of the market, we in countered a mass of humanity.
Here is a typical booth in the market, many items are handmade and of real good quality. One of my favorite Christmas decorations came from a booth like this. It is a carved wood image of a church with a music box that plays silent night. The background lights up also.

Once we had enough of the crowds, we walked away from the Christmas market and down the rest of the outdoor shopping of Freiburg. I came across this group from the Salvation Army singing. Everything was festive in the city center. I saw this trolley decorated and it looked like it belonged on main street in Disneyland. Once we got tired of the crowds, we decided to head for an easier place to finish our shopping and that only means one thing- WalMart! We love having a walmart 40 minutes from us. It is not quiet like one in the States, but it IS familiar. This sums up the extent of the American food items sold at this Walmart, Hey we take what we can get around here and are thankful for it.