It's Been A Year Already? WHAT THE!?

WOWZA!  That went by awfully fast!  Rick stared his job here in Germany 1 year ago....leaving me home (big, fat preggo woman) with 4 other kids to look after.  Today, he is, ironically  in Utah....I am left home alone (once again) with 5 munchkins to look after.  Luckily he will be home in less than two days and the insanity that is motherhood can subside a little with his return Saturday morning (breath Anna, just breath!)

Oh so much has happened since last February  it hardly seems possible that it all happened to me....and in one year.  In April I had a baby boy (Henry...cutest baby yet!), 3 weeks later we hoped on a flight with all 5 kids and a mound of luggage to rival Mt. Everest  and set off to Stuttgart, Germany.  Upon arrival, we all felt TOTALLY and COMPLETELY overwhelmed with our new life.  Kids started school, Rick resumed work, I began to get used to a new baby and a toddler at home, and basically life went on.  We have made so many wonderful lifetime friends, I can't imagine our lives without them!  We have traveled to France, Switzerland, and Austria.  We have explored the Black Forest, The Ulm Cathedral, Sound of Music Tour, Salt Mines, Barfuss Park, not to mention all the amazing parks they have for kids here in Germany....us Americans have NO IDEA how to build a park right....just an observation.  We toured Hohenzollern Castele, Ludwigsburg Castle, and have made the 45 minute drive to and from music lessons almost every Saturday!  WHew!  Just typing this makes me TIRED!  Clarissa, Sam and Thomas have all ventured to Patch Elementary School and have LOVED it.  Thomas' German is coming along quite nicely, he even gets the whole flem-in-the-throat action going!  He translates what they are saying on the radio for me....a feel like an immigrant.  

Recently, um, well, actually TODAY.....our house is being sold!  Yes, our lovely home-on-the-hill in Tree Town is no longer ours as of 9 O'clock on Thursday morning.  I have had VERY mixed emotions with the decision to sell our home.  It was very hard to let go.  We LOVED living there for almost 8 years.  Our older children will probably always call Tremonton home.  Our ward family was so AMAZING, we loved our little  school (Heritage Foundation School) that the kids attended and miss it so much!  I feel blessed to have spent a good part of my life there....oh Tremonton, you will be SORELY missed by this family.

So what's next you might ask.....well, who the heck knows, really?  We will stay in Germany, maybe longer than we had anticipated, and enjoy it while it lasts.  We are venturing to England and Wales in a few weeks with Ricks parents and brother Charlie!!!!!  SO EXCITED, I CANNOT WAIT!!!!  Legoland Deutschland is in the works for Sam's birthday...WAHOO!  And Clarissa is planning a daddy-daughter weekend in Athens....so there you have it!  It's a WONDERFUL LIFE!  Oh yea, we (meaning me and the 5 kids) will probably be spending the summer of 2014 in Utah, so make plans to come see me!  

Keepin' it to-GE-TH-er

I'm not sure what I wanted to portray when I typed that title!?.....but I had to document the unprecedented happenings this morning at the Palfreyman homestead.

Last night as we were doing the ol' bed time routine, Clarissa said that she wanted to get up earlier in the morning to shower and play her violin....then Sam and Thomas chimed in and stated they wanted the same thing.  I left them to do this on their own (as I am usually dead tired at 6 A.M. due to Henry not sleeping well these days).  I went to sleep last night with little hope that they would actually achieve this.....well, well, WELL....I was proved so wrong!  I got up to feed baby Henry, and wouldn't ya know it, all 3 kids were totally READY for the day!  IT was 6:30 and instruments were out and being played and I never said a word to them!!!!!! YAY!!!  Now, if they can just keep this going.....hmmmmmm...only time will tell.

Another great thing to mention is that my hair is no longer falling out by the handfuls.....Henry will be 6 months old next week and my hair is coming back in!!!  The only downfall is that when I got in the shower this morning, my hair was still wet from yesterdays shower....I have A LOT of hair on my head (it was also in a braid)....We joke  at our house that Rick has a receding hair line, while I have a pro-ceding hairline...Poor guy!

This is the last week of Rick's insanly, unfair and totally wacky work schedule!  He has been at work roughly 60+ hours these past few weeks (even on Saturaday!) so here's to the end of the fiscal year.....stinkin' fiscal year....I loathe you...


A few random pics of Clarissa's b-day......

Books and card from the best cousins EVER!

American Girl Doll crap......more and more or it....I figure I'd better get this stuff now before she is too old to play with dolls!

I made a chocolate torte for Clarissa's birthday cake, yes, I love her that much.....have you ever tried to make a chocolate torte?  It takes a fair amount of time....but mostly it takes a fair amount of eggs, and time beating the eggs, then it goes in the refrigerator overnight and PRESTO!  you've got yourself the most delicious birthday dessert of all time! 

Why is my son always at least partially, if not fully naked, WHY JAMES?

GIRL LEGOS!  

So to end the day of celebrating, Thomas decided to favor us with a little Irish step dancing....his own rendition mind you....I really want to put him in dance lessons, but neither him, nor his father will agree to this.  SO I've been secretly teaching him hip-hop moves at home, mingled with a little tap!  He is the little dancer I've always hoped for....except he is a boy, and he refuses to take a class....I guess beggars can't be choosers, right?

The many faces of......

The many faces of James Richard Palfreyman.....or as James will tell you, "my name is James DADDY Palfreyman!!!"  it's cause he can't remember Richard, but he knows FOR SURE that he was named after his daddy!  This day, we went to Stassbourg France......and captured thoughtful moments of James.....

 sweet innocent look......

.......still pretty cute.......

......I like to call this face,  " The Palfreyman scrunch!"

..........Jay..........

........his "crazy old man forehead face.....

And there it is.....what he was looking for.....a puddle!  

May.....the first week

         This was a very nervous time for the kids.....trying to figure out where in the world the bus stop was.  They do things a little differently here in Germany. (the kids go to a school on base, so nothing TOO crazy)  They have to catch the bus down the hill from where we live, and when I say "down the hill", I'm not talking about the hill we lived on in Tree-town, no no no no....., this hill is down 4 or 5 street levels and across a main highway (they actually walk under the highway to get to the bus stop every morning @ 7:15....we are the second to the last stop too!).  It takes the kids a good 10 minutes to walk there, then they hop on a city bus and head school!

This concludes our first week in a foreign land....

Across the street from our home is a few acres of wilderness awesomness!

Jay-Way, being Craz-ay!

Thomas....being his usual self....

"TO THE BUS STOP KIDS!!!!"

"Why is my card pink?" said a disgruntled Thomas.  

Not going to lie, I was so scared to send the kids to wait for a bus here all by themselves.  But then, I noticed a 7 year old German boy waiting for the city bus to take him across the city to his violin lesson at a University....I had nothing to worry about!!  

The softer side of Ricker

Our Dr. Seuss tree in front of our home.....wish I could somehow bring it back to Utah with me!

AHHHHHH!  I love these boys so much!!!

Oh my freaking cuteness!  

Ludwigburg Palace.....and peeing

Now on to more things GERMAN.....Life in this country is entertaining to say the least.  Where else can you enjoy Ritter Sport Chocolate, super awesome pretzel bread, and my favorite, peeing ANYWHERE you feel like peeing?  James is going to have a very rude awakening when we return to the states and he can't just drop his drawers and  pee whenever he feels the urge!  To tell you the truth....having 4 boys, the pee anywhere option has come in handy more than once.  Why is this not socially acceptable in Utah?  WHY???

Okay, so onto other things....  LUDWIGBURG PALACE.....FYI, do not take an almost 3 year old on a guided tour....the cute German girl giving  the tour may give you dirty looks the entire tour....mostly because your 3 year old is CRAZY!

Speaking of delicious pretzels....

Ludwigsburg Palace....our first real touristy destination!

Going upstairs to start our tour!

Rick takes A LOT of pictures of James...if you haven't noticed...

Outside, watching the rain fall by the bucket load!

These two are GINORMOUS!

This pic is of the Fairytale Gardens.....Thomas' birthday wish is to return there for the fall festival....I think we can safely say that this WILL happen!

James...

More of cute James....

And yet another...

We all got a little wet in the rain

Awe, cute girl

James....surprise, surprise...

Thomas was SOAKED through....

Good times!

Ahhhhhh Ludwigsburg, how we love you!

In honor of my newly aquired computer skills....aka...figuring out crap in a forgien language....I am going to be taking us back.....WAYYYYY back to the beginning of this German adventure.  There are just too many great picture NOT to go back an revisit them.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy your morning Muesli......

James helping daddy "finish" the house before we left for good!

This is the day I came home from the hospital.....I remember feeling very overwhelmed by it all.....there may or may not have been some serious closet crying that occurred that day...

Henry, oh sweet Henry!  It took me about 2 months to feel 100% okay with his name...now, I love, love, LOVE IT so much!

James is still this excited to see his brother every morning, noon, and night.  I was VERY selfish in wanting him to be a girl....

Here we are with ELMO.....the primary presidency in our Tree-town ward gave the kids some wonderful gifts before we left....notice the on-going construction surrounding us.....

This is the night before our plane ride outta there, Rick is hanging the chandelier that I bought 6 years ago....no more sparkly grandma light....lets hope we can just move right back into that beautifully finished house!!!  

That's all for today.....I plan on keeping this up until I get caught up with our lives in Sept.....but by then it will be January, so it goes.....Here's to 2 more years in a foreign land!  Only 2 more years left....time is FLYING!

I'm back baby!!!!!!

Okay my blogging friends, I'M BACK!!!!!  Everything on my blog was in German, and was saved under my old email address......so......after much perseverance and persistence, I have finally figured out how to access my blog AGAIN!!!!  YAY!!!  I will be posting many pictures of this summer, so stay tuned!