Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Whirlwind

 The last two weeks have been a whirlwind.  Not only did we celebrate Christmas and New Year's, but we made our big move to Germany!  This post will play catch up on the last few weeks so it is a long one!!!! Lots and lots of pictures.  This top pic is the view from our hotel on the Rhine river.  It is beautiful and has cruise ships and cargo ships going down in constantly.  There were quite a few cargo ship with coal going down the river before Christmas, I told the kids that they were headed to the North Pole for those last minute "naughty" kids! 


 Room Service.  This is how we have been dining a LOT.  It's too  much trouble to take the kids to resturaunts.  We are like a freak show.  People are constantlly looking at us like we are crazy.  People here either don't have this many kids, or don't take them out ever!  As of late we have been sick of the room service and have ventured out more.  There is only so much schnitzel, steak, stroganoff, and burgers we can take!  We've never eaten this much beef!



 We were excited to be able to come before Christmas so we could make it to the Christmas markets.  They were a lot of fun.  It is so festive!

 Dudi has been loving the Brats!



 The ward has been great.  We've met a lof of great families and went to one of the markets with them.  It's nice to have the church wherever you go!  We do miss our awesome ward in Georgia though!


 Yes, we are the Americans eating ice cream in the German winter!


 Downtown Mainz.


 Great toy store in Mainz.


 Christmas eve visit to Heidleberg castle.





 Such a pretty view.  The kids were loving it!


 We bleed Fanta.  They don't really do water much, so we have Fanta for almost every meal!


 We spent Christmas Eve with some friends from Georgia.  They have been living in Heidleberg, so it was fun to get to visit with them!




 Sorry, these pictures are out of order.  This is how Jude spent most of the first week.  He had the hardest time adjust to the time difference.  He was a great little guy on the plane and slept almost the whole time, much to everyone's delight.  As we waited in line to board the plane to Frankfurt he started going crazy and was inconsolable.  I know everyone was sweating it hoping they weren't next to us.  Turns out he was just tired and fell asleep on the plane.  I even had someone compliment me on how well the kids were on the flight-whew!


Christmas morning pics.
 Micah and Liv found these awesome colored pencils made out of sticks at the Christmas market.  Perfect for our little artist.
 The boys found this cute little yodeling bear for Liv.



 The one and only green Barcelona jersey.  Santa worked overtime to find this impossible jersey!!!!



 our little guy is getting SOO big! 


Micah and his "Ronaldo" cleats.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are getting use to everything slowly.  Dudi and I both passed our horrific International driver's test, I drove on the autoban (once), and I even ordered room service when Dudi was at work ( we were missing a few things and had a few extra things I didn't order, but hey, I made an attempt).  The boys start school tomorrow, so it will be nice for them to start a routine.  We are all VERY anxious to get into our house.  We are a little stir crazy from being in an apartment for a month and then a hotel the last two weeks.  We will move into our house as soon as our house hold goods arrive.  Our van did arrive the day after we got here, it's so nice to have it and looks so cute with its German plates!
We hope you all had a fabulous holiday.  We love you all!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christmas 2009

The Christmas morning extravaganza is usually over by 7 am in our house. This year was a little different,, it didn't start till well after 7.

Micah came in and woke me up at 4am. One glance at the clock and I sent him back to bed. Of course he couldn't go back to sleep so he asked if he could go look and see if Santa came and then take a shower (his favorite thing to do when he can't sleep). He reported that Santa had come and the cookies were gone. Then he showered and finally went back to bed. About 1/2 hours later @ 7, Dudi and I woke up. We were showered and dressed by the time any of the kids woke up-a definite first! Of course Micah was the last one awake since he was up most of the night. He finally rolled out of bed at 8:00. Christmas morning was finally here!
We snuggled up on the couch and read the Christmas story. I love reading the birth narrative on Christmas morning.
It was 8:30 before Dudi and Micah started passing out gifts!

Asher was so excited about everything. He really loves his scooby doo mini mates figures and his
spring action lightsaber. Santa was a very naughty santa and didn't tell mrs. claus he was getting it for him. That brings the lightsaber count to 11. Asher reminds us of Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" and he is totally gonna shoot someone's eye out with that thing!



Micah was really loving his Captain Rex helmet. At least his eyes won't be getting poked out.


Reunited.
Livy got another Tinkerbell to replace the one that was STOLEN from church. Needless to say I am not still bitter.
She was in heaven with all the dolls, fairies and princess stuff.



The boys got these awesome star wars puzzles from their cousins in Utah. Thanks Mark, Elizabeth, and the rest of the gang!


We spent the rest of the day playing with dolls and fairies, putting together puzzles, playing Harry Potter clue, building legos, and figuring out how to work stuff! We enjoyed the day with friends and family.

It was so much fun and we're sad it's over!

Friday, December 25, 2009

December 25th

Merry Christmas!


We love you all!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas lights

Each year a favorite Christmas activity is going to see the "Lights of the South" light displays.
This year my mom and dad were in town and got to come with us!


Micah wearing grandpa's hat.


Sneaking up on Santa.


Me and the Mr.


The lighted princess castle with the princess inside.

Cold weather attire and a cute little smile.


Hot chocolate, a favorite part.
It always taste better when you are outdoors on a cold night.


The wooden train. We were with some friends and 2 of the kids are their cute girls.



Grandma, Grandpa, and kids. I realize Olivia is coughing, but this is as good as the photo op got.

What a fun winter's night!

Sugarfest 2009

The annual building of gingerbread houses.





Some kid totally came up with this tradition.

I loved all their little creations.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

The most wonderful time of the year

Tonight was our counties Christmas tree lighting and festivities. There are vendors, singing, ballet performances, and of course, the lighting of the Christmas tree. It was really fun.


It was pretty cold out tonight. Thanks for letting the boys borrow the blanket Andersons!

I'm a terrible mother. My kids haven't ever had a picture with Santa, as is obvious by Olivia's reaction. They've never really wanted one, and quite frankly, I never wanted to wait in those long lines. So, when I saw the short line, I was all over that photo opp. Livy was a bit traumatized...but I got the picture.

Here she is recounting the harrowing Santa encounter to her dad.


It SNOWED!!!! Well, it snowed the kind of snow I like...the fake stuff. It was actually soap. Whatever works I guess. The kids LOVED it. They were covered from head to toe.
Asher was a little hesitant around the "snow." I found out later he didn't want to get snow on his green shirt. I reassured him that it was FINE and all was well. What a cutie.
Plus, he just wanted to keep going back to get the free hot chocolate!


No sign of Santa=smiles.

It was a really fun night and got me in the Christmas mood. I love this season.