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!

A brand spankin new baby!

Well, it happened AGAIN...I had ANOTHER of the cutest baby boys the world has ever known!  I don't know how Rick and I have pulled this off again, but the results speak for themselves!

I will not be going into the whole birth story.....all the blogging world needs to know is that some weeks ago I decided I wanted a natural birth....NO DRUGS of any kind were taken in the birthing of little Henry!  I did it!  I accomplished something that I never thought I could and I am quite proud of myself!

I also decided some weeks ago that Henry was going to be born on April 6th.  Rick had been in Germany for the 6 weeks leading up to this day, and I was bound and determined that this little guy would make his debut into the world the day after daddy came home.....Well, wouldn't ya know it....Henry came with 5 minutes to spare!  11:55 p.m....way to go buddy!

I have learned a few things about myself that I didn't know before 2 months ago....that my mind is VERY powerful...what we think, then believe, will become our reality!  I am living proof of this phenomenon.  I've learned that I shouldn't be afraid of pain.... this fear was holding me back from experiencing one of the greatest moments of my entire life.  I've also learned to let go and allow others to help me where I fall short....instead of being anxious and crabby every time I needed others to step in and help, I relaxed and enjoyed the help, even if other people do things differently than I do.  I don't need control over EVERYTHING all the time...such a relief to realize this!  I've learned that I can do hard things.....VERY hard things....and I can do them happily.  I've learned that Heaven is closer than I had ever imagined it to be...(for many,many reasons that are not for blogging about).  

So that's the birth of little Henry in a nut shell.  I can't believe I was dissapointed that he wasn't a girl....geesh....what was I thinking!  

Thomas holding Henry

                                                               

 The "infamous" 1st bath....went pretty well

                                                 

 Henry and his Oma

                                                                

 "Henry and the HUGE binky"....sounds like a Beverly Clearly book title!

                           

                                                        

it's been almost 3 years since....

It's been almost 3 years since this little guy came into my life....I cannot wait for it to happen once again.  I was just browsing through some pictures and found this beautiful one of James at a week old.  I am so very excited to be approaching this point once again.  It's crazy how quick these early moments pass, but it also seems like yesterday that he was this little and sweet.  (James is still kinda little, but the sweetness has been replaced by a crazy monkey man!)

Yesterday, I had an ultrasound at 35 weeks and came home feeling so happy about this new little guy, lets call him Henry for funzies.....okay that's probably his name, I'm just trying it on for size.  Henry has been trying to make his appearance into this world a little too early.  We only have 6 more days to go buddy until daddy can be here to witness your birth.....SO STAY PUT WOULD YA!!!

James' violin debut

          I swore after Thomas started violin lessons that we were done!  I concluded that James would be perfectly fine learning the piano, after all, we need a pianist in the house and the violin is very difficult to learn (mostly mom is tired!).  But after he discovered our smallest violin and declared, "MINE VIOLIN MOMMY," and "MINE TURN PRACTICE MOMMY!" how can mommy say NO???  He packs that thing around with him all day long in its case, and when the older kids get home from school and start practicing their instruments, he breaks it out with a mischievous smile on his wee little face.  At 2 1/2 years old, he is a very diligent practicer....sure is sounds a lot like wild pack of screeching monkeys has invaded my living room, but the sound will come with time....a lot of time.....(heaven help me!)

How can I say "No" to that face??  Tell me.

Clarissa was in the background giving him some sound violin advice.  Mostly statements like, "James, don't bash the violin into the china hutch," and "James, stop spitting on the violin buddy!"

Serious cuteness!

His form is a little rough, but he gets the general idea!