2012 review-February

So February was devoted to unpacking...and more unpacking.  We only had  a few inches of snow all winter, which I was overjoyed about!  The kids were a little sad (but this past winter more than made up for it!) but took advantage of the few inches we got!

 Olivia was excited to FINALLY start ballet class.  She had been begging for a year, but was too young and then we were moving.   Such a cute little ballerina.



Germany is covered with Castles, so we made a trip to Marksburg castle for a day trip.


I love the interior of the castles.  I couldn't imagine how they lived back then!




The highlight of February was going to Italy.  Our first big family adventure.

 This was the villa we stayed in outside of Milano.

 The kids were troopers, it was quite a ride to get there.  But is was worth it...

 The USA/Italy soccer match in Genova, was awesome.

We also got to explore the Genova aquarium.

Hiking to the top of the Milano duomo was a highlight for the kids.   Seeing the "Last Supper"  was a personal highlight of mine!  So amazing.

It was an unforgettable trip!  We love Italy, and it was a great February!

2012 in review-January

This past year was a big one for our family.  Since I did so terribly blogging, I thought I would review the past year and what I missed!  Here's some highlights of January.

 We arrived in Germany about 5 days before Christmas (this is a little of December too).  So we were able to hit a few of the Christmas markets.


We spent Christmas eve in Heidelberg with some friends that we had known in Georgia-the Gillespie's.


Christmas in the hotel.


We were livin' it up in the Mainz Hilton hotel.  The novelty actually wore off after about a week.  This is the kids in the elevator on the way to go to school.  There were a few times as I was herding the kids down to breakfast and out to the car at 7 am, that I wondered what we had done!

 The kids started school and adjusted beautifully.  Micah was excited that we had moved in in time for him to participate in the school spelling bee.  We were super excited when he won!  Definitely a highlight!

 Room Service:)

 Jude got his first tooth at age 3 1/2 months...many more to follow.

 Micah turned 10.  He celebrated in his usual style.  Out to eat and a homemade ice cream cake.  Does it get any easier?!

We were also able to move into our house in mid January.  It was/is a long process unpacking with a infant but we were so excited to get to know our little village and start adjusting to our new home in Germany!

A trip to the ER

This weekend was a long weekend.  

The kids had school off on Friday and today.  We had beautiful weather, great soccer games, incredible conference talks, and time with our family.  Today for our day off we decided to go on a little day trip.  As we were all getting ready I hear Jude in the room next to me start screaming.  As I rush in I find all the kids frantic and see Jude with blood dripping down his head...and a rather nasty gash.  Now, I have never had to take my children to the hospital for injuries, but I immediately new this would require a hospital visit.  THANKFULLY, Dudi was off and took him to the hospital so that he could talk to the doctors.  While he was gone the kids were all bawling and so worried about him.  They adore Jude.  ADORE him.  I think Davin had a easier time holding Jude down while they glued his head together than I did at home trying to settle the other kids!!!

So yes, we had our first ER visit, and it was no suprise to me that my little daredevil was the one.
Oh, and the injury came from tripping and falling into the corner of a bedpost. 
Learning to walk is rough stuff.

Here's our little patient, all stitched up.

And yes, we did still manage to get our little day trip in too.

We were all ready for bed after a long day.

Another school year!

I figured it is time to post the first day of school pictures!  It is hard to believe that we have a 5th grader, 2nd grader, and a new kindergartner! 

 My school bound kids.

 The school boys.

 They are getting so big.

 My school girl.

 Excited for kindergarten!

 At school.

 Olivia's friend from ballet was in her class (It was so nice that she had a friend in her class with her!).

In her new classroom!  

I have to admit, I was less "worried" about leaving her than I was the two boys on their first day.  She has been so excited, it was hard not to be excited for her.  She did come home happy, but then every day for the next week she would cry that she didn't want to go.  "It's too long,"  "I miss you," etc.  I started using a treasure box for every day that she would go without crying and after about 3 days she was perfect!  No crying or whining about going (and actually no treasure box anymore!).  She really does love school now and is always excited to go. 

The boys think school is school.  Asher has really started to love reading this year and Micah started the gifted program so that is new and exciting for him. 

They are great little kids and students!

Olivia's 5 year pictures

This summer Olivia turned 5. 

 A few weeks ago I realized I hadn't taken her 5 year pictures yet and felt rushed to do so.

  I posted a few of my favorites and as you can tell, I'm a sucker for B&W's!

She has such a personality and I feel like I was able to capture it--love that!

The next day I was so glad that I had taken the photos.  

This is what Liv looks like now...

still adorable, just down a tooth!

Livy the Dancer in Video

This is a follow-on to a previous post. Livy is such a sweet girl and she is such a ham on stage. Here are videos of her dress rehearsal and dance recital in May/June earlier this year. She is so fun to watch and she loves to dress up as a ballerina. The rehearsal (first video) is actually a better run-through of the performance and Livy seemed to do the dance better in this showing. (I do apologize for the the high-pitched noise audible throughout the video. That is Livy's dance teacher yelling out instructions.) The recital (second video) is worth watching all the way to the end for a little theatrical surprise from Livy. She kills me. Where does she come up with this stuff?

We enrolled Livy in an Irish Dancing class taught by a bi-lingual instruction in downtown Wiesbaden this year to keep her in the dancing frame of mind. It is also a good way to immerse her in a German environment. Her favorite phrase thus far is Knie hoch!

Cooing and Other Family Habits

Our family time on Easter Sunday this year was centered around watching Jude being Jude. This video is good footage of Jude showing off his growing confidence in cooing. Shamefully, I must admit that the semi-naked kids that come into view from time to time are ours as well. It's just safe to assume that Livy will be in her undies more often than not. I used to fight it, but it's no use.