Dying Easter Eggs

Whenever I think about "dying Easter eggs" I always think about "The Family Circus Easter" cartoon when the question is asked, "dying Easter eggs isn't like killing them, is it Daddy?" Well, this year was full of extra fun and at the end I was about ready to kill Toby. Toby...who would not keep his hands out of the Easter egg dye. In the end, he had it on his t-shirt, pants and spilled red dye onto the rug. I think next year, I'll give him a cup full of water and tell him he's in charge of dying the white eggs. I love this kid, on one hand his personality is really cute and he's easy-going and often goes with the flow and he has a way about him that is adorable but on the other hand, I hope to never have another child quite like him. I don't think I could survive two of him. He and trouble...they go hand and hand! Quite literally this time.

Thomas was so excited to get to do this. I boiled the eggs on Saturday morning, and we kept trying to find a time to do it...but didn't do it until Monday night.

Don't ever think he's sweet and innocent...it's all an act.

"Show me your hands!"

(check out his tongue)

All ten digits in all their glory.

OK. We did it. Thomas was happy. Toby was happy too. James and I were glad

to be done. Isn't that sad?

Until later,

Emily

All Good Things Come to an End

(This was a little flower arrangement/thank you gift I was given on Sunday)

Last week, on March 21, 2010 I was released as being the Relief Society president in our ward. I served as the RS president for 13 months. The last couple of weeks have been bittersweet. I knew almost a week before I was released that it was coming. What a week of highs and lows. One minute I would be relieved that this would "probably be the last time" this or that and the next minute I was in tears over it. I learned a lot serving in this capacity. Almost every opportunity was a growing experience for me. And I think I am a better person for it. I liken it to being a sort of a bootcamp for me. I changed a lot in a relatively short time and had to face a lot of fears that I probably never would have if I were not given this opportunity. And, of course, I got to know people in ways that I know I never would have.

So last Sunday, I was released and a new, wonderful sister was sustained. The next day, she and I called a meeting and I got her up-to-speed the best I could. That day, I received a few phone calls from sisters with problems, sisters that didn't know the change had happened. Over the next couple days, I received a few more emails. And then the word seemed to be out and that was that. How quickly life moves on.

We have three months left here in Germany. I am promised that I will be given another church job to serve in until we leave. Just not one that takes so much time and carries quite so much burden. The timing is good...actually the timing is great. Truth be told, I thought I would be serving for another month so it came as somewhat of a surprise to me. We are about to go on a long vacation and then once we get back we are going to jump into full "moving mode" and start going through all of our stuff. Just this afternoon, we received our moving orders so now we can start scheduling all the moving stuff, once we return home . But we are hoping to ship out our things before Memorial Day. That leaves just over a month to get our house in order once we come back from vacation. That's not a lot of time! Once our house is empty, we will bring in Army loaner furniture and live another month in our house. We'll check into a hotel a couple miles down the street from our home at the end of June and start working on returning our house to our landlady. It has to be in tip-top shape. Rental laws are quite different here. I'm sure I'll post more about this later on.

Until later,

Emily

Our Last Trip to Paris!

We have managed to visit Paris three times over the past 12 months. As our time is running out, this was our last trip here. This was during Thomas' "Ski Week" break at his school, we were there February 23-28. We love France. It was pretty cold most of the days there except for the last day. The last day was probably 10 degrees warmer and with our coats and gloves on, quite comfortable. We shopped and ate and shopped and ate. We love the French pastries, they are actually sweet as opposed to the German pastries which I've just stopped buying because I figure if you're going to have dessert it should taste like a dessert and not a piece of bread! (However the cheese, the cheese in Germany and really everywhere in Europe--yum--who am I kidding, I LOVE cheese no matter where it's made for the most part, except if it's melted in large quantities and then I start gagging right then and there)...anyhow....Traveling is getting easier with Toby, go figure. We took the train all over. Toby thought he should be friends with all the other passengers on the train or ask to eat the apples that they were eating. He's at a funny yet oftentimes embarrassing stage right now. We stayed at our favorite Marriott resort again. I'm really going to miss our favorite little getaway location.

Fontainebleau, France

Nourishment before touring the palace--always a good idea!

Handsome Thomas. I love this hat.

I love this pic of them.

More nourishment. We are all in happier moods if we stop often and eat. Especially pastries.

More of the palace grounds. It was freezing cold and windy.

Me and a lemon tart with a Cola Light. If you consume them together they cancel each other out and you get zero calories and fat. Yeah, it didn't work in college and it didn't work in my mid-30's either. It's so much more enjoyable putting in on than taking it off,

which is where I'm at right now--taking it off, ever so slowly

.

Quite possibly the best lemon tart we ever ate in France. We've tried a lot.

This one was perfect.

Triumphant to have found the perfect lemon tart.

However, disappointed that we only ordered one each.

Outside Versaiiles in Paris.

Inside Versaiiles. There were signs everywhere that we weren't supposed to take pictures. But people were taking them left and right with guards right there doing nothing. I joined in just because. As a side note, strollers were not allowed inside. The day before when we were inside the palace at Fontainebleau and also didn't take in our stroller (our choice), both days Toby became too tired and wanted to be carried. Unfortunately, he only wanted "Mommy" to carry him. And both days he was almost asleep so he was dead weight. Bummer.

Outside the grounds. I imagine they will be just beautiful in a month or so.

You can't tell by the picture but his pants are wet past his knees.

He enjoyed jumping in every single water puddle at least twice.

Family pic outside of Notre Dame. The last time we were here, we didn't have our tripod.

There are these metallic street performers all over Europe. For some reason, I find them fascinating. I don't know why. No one else cares, but

I'm always excited when we see another one.

And let's here it for more french desserts!

A chocolate tart for me, a lemon tart for James.

A yummy, feta, cucumber and tomato sandwich on a crusty loaf.

A little park by the Eiffel Tower. We let the boys run around for a few minutes, Thomas thought it was a "baby" park. He's growing up.

At first you may think this is inside some fantastic palace...

but, it's not...

It's an amazing shopping center called, "The Lafayette Galleries". We weren't there for very long...about an hour but I thought it was a lot cooler than Harrod's in London!

Until later,

Emily

Ramba Zamba

Today, Thomas was invited to a birthday party of one of his classmates. It was at a place called Ramba Zamba in Mainz. In Germany, they have all kinds of indoor play places for kids to run and get out some energy when it is cold and rainy outside. Since it is also a public place, we decided to take Toby along and stay at Ramba Zamba for the three hours. It takes us 30 minutes to drive there so it almost wasn't worth driving home. At the end, we had two sweaty, worn-out children who had a great time.

Until later,

Emily