Naughtiness by Toby

This morning, for whatever reason, Toby decided to pick up the fingernail polish bottle that was on the back side of a table lamp (the polish had been there for MONTHS and MONTHS) that is in my room and see how it would "bounce" down the tiled stairs. He did this all on his own, it wasn't a reaction to someone seeing him holding the polish and asking him to hand it to us, no James was in the shower and I was downstairs in the kitchen when I heard the shatter and the little brush flew over and almost made it in the kitchen.  Thank goodness it was clear polish--it did hit some things, like my new brown suede-like boots that I got for Christmas and some of the stair rugs, but nothing major...nothing like it could have been if it would have been pink...red...black!?

Until later,

Emily

Addicted to Apples

Toby is addicted to apples.  He loves apple slices.  He even eats the skins.  He approaches me many times a day and asks, "Appo?" I take an apple, slice a few slices and then just keep it on a cutting board until he wants more.  He grazes on them all day long. I guess you could say apples are his favorite food.

Until later,

Emily

It Must Be Love!

Thomas has been mentioning a certain girl in his class quite often over the past couple of weeks. Her name is Ally and she is a really cute girl.  I made note of it in our teacher/parent notebook and his teacher confirmed that there is something going on between Thomas and Ally.  Ally has been giving Thomas drawings and art projects and I guess they play together at all three recesses.  I asked Thomas if Ally is his girlfriend and of course, he said, "No, we're just friends!" so I asked him what makes her such a good friend to play with and this was his reply:

"We're like the same people. We have the same food in our lunch boxes, we both have a Wii at home and we have three of the same Wii games."

Until later,

Emily

Totally Taken by Twilight

For a very long period of time I have had many friends and relatives badgering me to read the series "Twilight", to be honest, I had no desire to read the books and thought they sounded absolutely D-U-M-B and couldn't imagine why so many girls that I think so much of could get wrapped up in such a ridiculous story!  

The movie, Twilight, was released in the States in December and I have heard the murmuring that the movie was also excellent.  I started to waiver, I think more than anything because I wanted to see a good chick-flick.  I love movies, I love going to the movies, and since living in Germany,  I've gone to one movie at the theater on our base and I think a couple over the summer, while in the States, and that was it.  So, on Monday, I joined a couple of friends and saw Twilight.  I went in with some really low expectations, after all it is romantic movie about vampires that is geared toward a teenage audience.  By the end, I was won over by Twilight!  I came home Monday night, ordered all four books and the soundtrack to the movie!  I would have pre-ordered the movie if I would have known at the time that you could do that too! 

Then, tonight, I went to see Twilight again.  The movie is only coming twice to our theater as in one 7:00 PM movie on Monday and one 7:00 PM movie tonight.  That's it!  I will start looking in my APO box toward the end of next week for my Twilight goodies! I love Twilight! (I love Edward!)

Until later,

Emily

On the Road Again!

Short & sweet: we picked up the car this evening.  I about gave the kids and I whiplash a couple of times already because I am so used to driving "the Beast".  It's going to take some time getting used to a car with some pick-me-up.  Thomas and Toby were as giddy as I was picking up the car, I think they've missed it too.  

Until later,

Emily

On Call: The Tooth Fairy

Thomas has been complaining this week about having a sore tooth.  I told him he probably has a loose tooth.  He has been excited because at least a third of his Primary (school) classmates have lost a tooth, so obviously, it is chattered about regularly.  Tonight he was complaining again about his sore tooth and I convinced him to let me check for a loose tooth.  Sure enough! One of his bottom front teeth is loose.  Not super loose, not ready to come out tomorrow loose, but loose all the same.  I told Thomas he needs to keep wiggling it and soon it will be really sore and he will want it out so bad that he won't be all that scared and THEN the Tooth Fairy will come to our house!

Until later,

Emily

Toby: Just Like a Bad Puppy!

My mom and dad are raising two puppies right now.  I have never met these puppies because they got them after I left Utah this summer.  My mom often tells me her "bad puppy" stories and we often think that Toby, Mindy and Ivy sound an awful lot a like.

Today, I needed to make some important phone calls and be able to hear the person on the other side of the phone.  Toby has, unfortunately, learned how to open our doors now and therefore, go into and out of every room in our house, and also out the front door (but that's a whole other story!) So, back to my story, I needed to talk on the phone and Toby decided he was going to go down to the basement and torment the cat.  I generally don't like him going in the basement because there are lots of things down there that can hurt him or that he can hurt.  But, I decided to risk it, because after all, I could hear him yelling and harassing Tailer.  The phone call lasted longer then I thought and Toby was too quiet.  I knew that could mean nothing but trouble.  Yes, yes indeed!  I guess after he got tired of screaming at Tailer, he decided to tear into one of my full packaging recycling bags, technically called a Gelbe Sacke here in Germany.  I'm sure it was because he saw the empty package of a "milkshake" only he didn't know it was empty.  So, I came down to find a whole garbage sack (except they are yellow and made especially for plastics and packaging recycling) torn apart with its contents spread out all over my basement floor.

Just like a bad puppy!

Until later,

Emily

Fingers Crossed for Friday!

My car is literally "in the shop" today.  James saw it with his own eyes when he dropped off the snow tires so they can switch off the all-season tires while they have it.  They told James they are working towards being done on Friday.  Now lets cross our fingers that they didn't overlook something when they were deciding which parts to order...I don't think I can wait another 8+ weeks!

Until later,

Emily

Plan B and a Taste of Home

With this weekend being a long weekend for James, although not for Thomas, we were hoping to go on a small trip, we never even got so far as to choose where but we thought we'd pick Thomas up from school on Friday and stay somewhere Friday and Saturday night and come back tonight. Unfortunately, our Rondo is still not fixed...eight weeks later...it is still in the same shape that it was the night that we wrecked it.  The parts are here but are taking a long time clearing customs.  We did find out on Friday that they are in a large shipment, parts for many cars, and it really has to do with clearing customs, they have been in the country for nearly two weeks.

Anyhow, we were forced to come up with a Plan B.  I suggested we go on two day-trips one yesterday, and the other today, but yesterday we were easily discouraged by the bad weather and other than James running some errands that had to be done, we just stayed home, and stayed warm.  However, today, despite the fact that it was even worse weather i.e. pouring rain, cold (although not freezing cold but cold enough for layers, hats, gloves and boots), absolutely no sun, we were determined to go out and do something.  And, yes, this means we skipped church, but we would have skipped church if we went on a two-night trip, too! So, we dressed in our best layers and boots and off we went.  The kids and the diaper bag and the hat/glove bag in the back, our coats in the trunk and me and the umbrella stroller in the front passenger seat and James was driving--yes we piled in the Mini Cooper. In all honesty, I had no idea where we were going when we drove away.  James likes to be mysterious like this.  Kind of drives me crazy, no, not kind of, it DOES DRIVE ME CRAZY, but at least today I knew we would be gone for a large portion of the day and I had planned for it.

We ended up going to Speyer, Germany which is only about a one-hour drive for us on the autobahn, today we drove at a conservative speed due to the rain.  First, we were going to go to a historical museum, but we found that a great number of other people also had the same idea for a Sunday afternoon.  The wait just to sit in the foyer of the museum was 30 minutes...no thanks.  We turned back around and walked around the town.  Most stores are closed on Sundays, but there were some café's that were open for business.  Not that we sat down and had a café experience of our own, no we stuck with fresh pretzels that were sold on the street.  We walked around the pedestrian zone and then went to capture it all on my camera, when I realized that my camera battery was dead, never fear, I have TWO! Only it helps if you put the second battery in your camera case...so that was that, no pictures!  So, we turned around and went to see the second tourist spot of the day, the Speyer Dom (Dom means Cathedral).  We walked around it for a while and then decided to move forward with our day.  Despite the miserable weather, the kids were absolutely amazing!

We hopped in our car and drove for about another hour to Ramstein, Germany.  Home of the Air Base with the Chili's!  The last time we went there was for Mother's Day Saturday.  I pretty much ask every other weekend if "we can go to Chili's?" and for the past month I have really been asking to go.  I've been feeling like I needed my "American dining experience" fix.  The kids were, once again, really, really good.  It helps that Americans know all about good, quick service but they were still exceptionally good today.  We were in and out of there within an hour.  An extreme difference from the minimum 2 1/2 to 3 hours you get to sit in a German restaurant for your meal, which explains why we don't take our kids out to eat here except to McDonald's.  And our waitress really knew how to keep the refills a-coming!  The food was just how we expected it and we all thoroughly enjoyed our meals!

All-in-all, not a bad day!

Until later,

Emily

Geography?

This morning, James and Thomas were eating breakfast together. I was picking up toys in the living room, so wasn't actually a part of this conversation, but I overheard it all:


James: "Thomas, have they started teaching you anything at school about Geography?"

Thomas: "Who's that?"


Well, I guess that answers that.

Until later,

Emily

No Bears!

At about 4 o'clock this morning, Thomas came running into our room. It is a normal occasion, I would say he ends up in our room sometime during the night 5 out or 7 nights during the week. I have a slumber bag and a pillow always set up on my side of the bed. It bugs James, but I am OK with it. He always comes running, I know he's scared. He usually gets in his slumber bag, and is "out" within one or two minutes. So, this morning seemed to be usual, he got in his slumber bag, snuggled in and I reached over and put an extra blanket over him. But then he asked, "Mom do we have a bear in our house, because I thought I heard a bear growling?" I replied, "No, we don't have any bears, but maybe mommy and daddy were snoring." He was silent for a moment, probably processing what I had said, but then replied, "No, I must have been dreaming." And that was the end of our conversation for he hit the pillow and was out just like that.

Until later,

Emily

Birthday Fun with Toby

If you look closely at the red car, you will see that it is actually a Mini! A couple of weeks ago, when James took his car into the local BMW to have his oil changed and snow tires put on, he called me and told me they had these cars for sale. I was going to buy Toby a different ride-on toy, but when James mentioned this, my mind was changed. When Thomas was little, we bought him a plastic fire truck, we still have it, and let me tell you, it is the best-loved toy in our house. So, today we added another vehicle and a shopping cart. These toys can be annoying at times, mainly because of the noise they generate, but they also create a lot of fun. Happy Birthday to Toby! I can't believe you're two!

Until later,

Emily

Just Look Who's Turning Two Tomorrow!

Until later,

Emily

Good News...But is it "Too Good to be True News"?

Today, our loaner car had this really weird fluky thing happen to it. We got in it this morning and the inside lights would not go off. I found the owner's manual and it said that after 20 minutes, if we had left the inside lights off, they would turn off. We went to the church house for a baptism and we were there for about one and a half hours. We came back out, and the lights were still on. I knew that we would have a dead battery by tomorrow for sure. After a lot of experimenting, we discovered that the switch in the back driver's side door was not working correctly anymore. After much convincing (I don't know what he would have done otherwise), we drove to the place that is fixing our car...the place that the loaner car belongs to. On our way there, we drove by the parking lot where our car has been...still is...it has snow all over it and it looks like an abandoned car. We didn't even know if they were open on Saturday. Luckily, they are. They had us come back after closing (at 1:00 they only work half a day on Saturday) and they replaced the switch. The guy that did it is the same guy that James has been talking to week after week about our car parts. I nearly jumped out of the car and hugged him when he told us that they expect our car parts to arrive on Tuesday and we should have our car back by the end of the week! He then looked back at our kids in the back seat and said, "I bet it's been hard in this car with the children." I thought that was kind of nice of him to say. I told him it had been, but I was thankful to have this one to drive but I was looking forward to having my car back. So, we'll see.

Until later,

Emily

A Moment of Silence

After a long and courageous battle with breast cancer, James' Aunt Robyn passed away this morning. She was a wonderful, loving, person who will be truly missed. She was my mother-in-law's only sibling. She is leaving behind her husband, four children, one daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. May peace and comfort be with them at this difficult time.

Until later,

Emily

"We think the parts are here in Germany."

James made the weekly call on our car today. I think we've both kind of hit our breaking point with this issue, I mean it has been over six weeks! The man he spoke with told him that they had received an invoice for the parts, so "we think the parts are here in Germany." He continued on saying that they are guessing they are at the airport clearing customs. I hope so, I really do.

Until later,

Emily

Changes

As we have started to get back to "normal", I have found that I am going to deal with changes to my weekly schedule. Today, I went to the Air Base to sign up for my gym class again. This is a class that I have grown to love. It is a strength training class where I can take Toby. The instructor is a very positive, upbeat person who also has three children of her own. While her oldest is six, she is full of empathy for "those days". It has worked out that everyone whose "baby" is actually a "toddler" brings a small bag of toys, all the kids kind of share, the moms get a workout and the kids have a fun time too. The past two sessions, the class has been on Mondays and Wednesday from 10:30-11:30 AM. I was a bit surprised to find out that it has been switched to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:15-10:15 AM! Actually, the time change will be perfect. I will drop Thomas off at school and just keep on going, 9:15 couldn't be any more perfect as far as that goes and it will be nice to have it "over with" earlier in the morning. The only problem is, my German 2 course is being held also on Thursdays from 9:15-11:45 AM...unfortunately, I can't be at two places at once so I had to make a choice. This was hard, because I have also grown to enjoy my German class, even though I am still horrible! There is always a chance that I can take German 2 in the spring, but I know my retention won't be as good, I also know that the longer I wait, the easier it will be for me to talk myself out of it!

The other change that has occurred is that my German neighbors across the street have decided to send their 6-year old to the same school as Thomas. Simone (the mom) approached me a couple months ago about carpooling, as they were trying to make this decision, as she needs help getting him to and from school on the days that she works. Fortunately, her husband already goes in later to work on those days so he can take the younger son to the German kindergarten (where Tristan had also been attending until two days ago), so Tristan will only have to come over 10 minutes before I usually leave. That is about the time that I am moving the kids toward the front door, getting coats and shoes on, so Tristan will just have to hang out in the entry way with us. In turn, Simone is going to drive and pick up Thomas from school a couple days a week also. It is going to be a change, and I know some days it might be a challenge, but I also think this is going to be wonderful! I'm also excited for Thomas and Tristan to have a chance to get to know each other better. Sadly, they are not in the same class this year, but they have lunch and recess and some activities together. I'm also excited to have a couple days of the week where I don't have to rush out the door, giving Toby a chance to sleep a little extra in the morning or in the afternoon for him to take a nice, long nap--like he did today--3 hours!

Until later,

Emily

F-F-Freezing!

So it is officially winter and officially cold in Germany. Currently, it is 2 degrees fahrenheit, but with the humidity (85%) it feels like -9! It's reached that point when it hurts to take deep breaths when you are outside. Oh, and it snowed yesterday and it stuck. Only it's just too cold to let the kids play outside. I was walking Thomas into school today and the principal asked me, "How do you like the cold weather?". My answer: "Well, this is what I grew up in, but I still don't like it!"

Until later,

Emily

Fun While It Lasted

Winter Break is winding down, only a couple more hours to go, officially. Tomorrow, Thomas goes back to school. I have thoroughly enjoyed not rushing around in the morning, heading out the door, and driving him to school. James goes back to "real" work tomorrow. The last two weeks have been a breeze. He finished up on his final reports on the 23rd of December and I don't really know what he's been doing at work except that I know he's been clearing things out, in preparation for their move to Frankfurt in August. And the point is, he hasn't been stressed out or complaining about work. Gosh, what a difference that makes! Not to worry, his work load will get heavy right away, with the craziest phase ever starting in the spring! Tomorrow, I will go to the base and see about signing up for my gym class and German again, I got sick at the end of their sessions, so I don't even know if they start up again this week or the next. James and I are starting to resemble healthy people again, although I think I'm a bit ahead of him. Since we got sick on Christmas, we have really pretty much stayed at home and vegged out. It has been absolutely wonderful. I'm not sure if I'm ready to go back to "real" life...but alas, I know we will!

On two different, random notes, Toby turns two in a week! He is such a big boy now. Well, not really, he is skinny. My chubby babies sure do thin out quickly. Thank goodness for hidden adjustable waistbands! And the other random note, my car is still in no better shape then SIX weeks ago today! James and I were driving home from church this evening and we both (at pretty much the same time) said we're losing our patience on this and we better get some positive word on it this week! Six weeks!

Until later,

Emily

Totally Busted!

Until later,

Emily

My 2009 Resolution

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, although I guess I sort of have the same ones in the back of my mind like, get more organized, feel more confident in a swimming suit and just overall improve on me.  But, this year, I have a real resolution, and it could very well take all year to do it!  I want to get on top of my photos! I don't scrapbook, and I don't even want to be enticed with digital scrapbooking (although I do like the digital photo books that you can make online), but I would like to print out some of my pictures, put them in a photo book and be able to sit down on the couch and look at them.  I haven't sat down and really ordered pictures in over two years.  In the year or two before that, I had a habit of ordering them, but not filing them away, so I have lots of old pictures in Shutterfly envelopes around here somewhere! Which means, that I have nothing substantial to look at in terms of ever since Toby was born (It also means, sadly, that the most updated pictures of Thomas are of him wearing some of the same clothes that Toby is now starting to wear!).  And all I have of Toby is a small brag book that I printed when he was a week old and a "Preemie Book" that I created this fall through Shutterfly. I have tons and tons of pictures on my computers and on CD's but that's where they stay. I have a lot of work ahead of me but I am determined that this is "the year". Wish me luck!

Why Tailer Spends A Lot of Time in the Basement

My friend made the comment to me the other day that "I swear, I never see your cat, do you keep her locked up in the basement most of the time?" I told her that no, that although we do lock her in one room in the basement at night, first thing in the morning I let her up and she has free rein over the house but that she does spend an awful lot of time downstairs in her bed where it is cooler and more quiet.

And then I caught Toby trying to use his power drill on Tailer. And I thought about it. Hmm...it's safer downstairs for you, isn't it girl?

Until later,

Emily