Christmas Part 2

We got my mom's packages from the states this evening! It was Christmas all over again! Here are a few pictures complete with the "Hannah Montanna" sparkle outfit!

the super sparkly Hannah outfit!!

Dean and his new Bill O'Reilly book!

The "abbygalla" with the bedroom and the "croy bolton picture"

Christmas Recap

Christmas was quiet this year. I think this is only the second time I have not been able to be home with my family and the first ever that I didn't see my sweet boys on Christmas. I know they had a great time in TN but I still really wish I could have been home! When I talked to them Daxton had recieved a guitar and Dawson a small ATV.They were super excited to see what other surprises were still to come. We had a nice day. Gracie got everything that she wanted from santa which included a kitchen, baby doll, and cash register. This was the first year she ever really enjoyed the santa thing. Of course we told her all about what Christmas was and that it was really celebrating our sweet Saviors birth.
She was quick to get up that morning but I don't think she knew what she was supposed to do when she came downstairs. She just kept saying that she had to stretch and just looking at her stuff. It was cute. Needless to say she figured out quick that she could open it all up!! My sweet hubby bought me a beautiful new watch and the most precious thing he got me was a little precious moments figure that is dressed like cinderella with a sweet note that said it was to always remind how Gracie is now. I don't collect figurines and don't plan to start but that little figure I will always cherish!
Other news our oldest boy (dean's son) Andrew proposed to his sweet girlfriend Courtney over Christmas break! We are super excited and can't wait to see them! Gracie is thrilled that she is getting a new sister!! They are getting married in May. She is so sweet and we loved her the moment Andrew introduced her!!
Alexa and Mitch seemed to have enjoyed their day as well. We found a signed Rudy Rutiger helmet from the movie "Rudy" he was really happy about it!
I guess that is about all. It is time to start making resolutions for the new year but that will be for another day! And finish taking all this stuff down! I have started and my plan is to finish today!!! I hope everyone had a great holiday!!

a few more pics from Austria

I found the little camera that Dean had with him and it had some cute pics of Gracie actually up on skis. I just had to share!

The Christmas Dress

Here is Miss Thing in her little Christmas number she picked out herself. She is becoming quite the little lady lately!

A Christmas thought...

Grace and I were baking cookies and she was rolling out the dough and wanted me to try a little piece, So i went in to try a bite and she informed "This is so good momma, try it, just don't eat the booger part!" Needless to say that batch went to the trash!

Christmas Performance

Here are some pictures of Gracie at the Holiday Performance! She was so cute, much better than the dance recital... there were no tears, or complete state of panic!! She went right out there and cheered and danced her little heart out!

Austria

Over Thanksgiving Break we went to Zel am See, Austria. The Alps are the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen! We had a great time. We stayed at the Gasthaus Schett. It was nice but a little different than your typical Holiday Inn. As in I don't think they have changed the decor since about 1970!! Dean and Grace skiied all weekend long. I was really nervous about her skiing but she did awesome. Dean took her to Ski Kindergarten the first day and by the end of the day she had graduated and needed a lift pass to go to the mountain! Yes my baby rode on an open ski lift. It makes me nervous just thinking about! But she loved it and can't wait to go again. I am going to take lessons next time so that I can ski as well. Gracie tells me she will teach me how to ski! Here are some pictures from the weekend! Sorry it is late!

Thankful... a few days behind!

We were in Austria skiing on Thanksgiving and I didn't have access to the internet while we were gone so this post is a few days behind. I will post pictures of that soon.
Thankful...
It is that time of year again when we all reflect on the past year. I am thankful for that God loves me with all my faults unconditionally, I am thankful for the trails the Lord has given me this yeay and although I didn't enjoy going through them I am grateful for the lessons I have learned. I am thankful for my sweet husband who is the funniest person I know and no one will believe me because he is soooo serious all the time outside the house. I am thankful for the belief he has in me and his support as I take on this new venture in my life. I am thankful for my three beautiful children. I am thankful that although I have a unique family situation with my boys they are happy and healthy and have two sets of parents that love them very much. I am thankful for Daxton's strong loving personality and Dawson's happy go lucky atitude. I am thankful for my sweet little Grace. I am so grateful for her.I am thankful that she is overcoming so much of her anxiety and she is blossoming like a little flower. I am thankful for my parents who love me always. I am thankful for my friends, old and new. I am thankful for the great country we have and all the men and women who serve.I am thankful for my puppies and my sweet kitty and thankful she is finally learning how to go to the potty box!!!Yeah lola!
Silly things I am thankful for.... coffee, and hazelnut creamer, the HOGS!!!, german chocolate and pastries,the two days of sunshine a month we get here in Germany, my 7 channels of AFN, my computer and many many more things!! Happy Late Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!!

Snow!!!!!!!

We had our first snow Saturday Morning!!! It was so much fun! Here are some pictures of Grace enjoying the weather!

Long time no write...

It has been awhile since I have had time to sit down for two minutes to blog! Nothing much new in Germany rain....rain....rain...some more rain... I think you get the point! I actually find myself getting excited when I see the suns faint reflection under the clouds. They say we might get snow on Sat that would be fun.
The fall baazar is this weekend and I am sure that will be fun. Gracie has her first cheer performance in a couple of weeks, I am praying that it goes well. She is so much better than when she first started. We visited a new church on Sunday and it was really nice. More like what we are used to from home. I miss our church so much, I think that has been the toughest part about moving here. So I am hopeful that this might be the place we belong until we are back home.

On a completely other note I have decided I have the dumbest cat in America and in Germany!! She can not figure out how to potty in her box so Lola Seraphina has been evicted and is now an outside kitty. Gracie is not very happy that her kitty got the boot but I am a much happier mommy! And when mommy is happy all is good! haha

Last friday I got the privelage of watching my husband recieve an award. This was my first time to actually get to be there. I was the only one in attendance that was not donning acu's so it was a little overwhelming, I hid in the back by the ficus. It was very nice to be able to watch him recieve his medal.He recieved a Meritorious Service Medal and SNCO of the quarter. I sat and listened as they read the description of what he had done to recieve the award and I am very proud. I love you babe! I am so grateful for your service and all the other men and women who serve our great country! I think all to often everyone gets caught up in the politics of it all and forget about the ones who actually serve!!!





Isn't he the cutest in his uniform!! I love it!!! Anyhow I guess that is all for now and will try to be a better blogger for all of my faithful blogging buddies! haha Now the spaghetti is calling!

St Martin's Day

This week we celebrated St. Martin's Day. At school Gracie and I made a latern she picked a pink pig. On Thursday evening we went to the church and they had a children's service, they did a play about St. Martin and sang songs. It was all in German so we did not understand a thing but it was fun. After we all went outside and the children put little lights in their laterns and we paraded down about 6 blocks following a man a horse that was dressed as St. Martin. At the school we all ate sugared pretzels and had hot cider around a bonfire. It was so much fun! I finally researched who St. Martin was and he was a man who helped the poor and dedicated himself to helping people. Here are few pictures from that evening.

Dance Recital

On Thursday Grace had her first ever dance recital. She was very excited all day long, giddy more like it! She took a shower, fixed her hair and even added a little lip smacker vanilla lip gloss to boot! Everything was going right on schedule! We left headed to the show met Dean and everyone was very excited!! We all sat down in our assigned seats, ( we are by all means military) I thought that was a little much but anyhow. The light went down and the show was on! Grace danced the fourth dance. She began to watch the girls go up and perform and I could see a slight bit of nerves beginning to show. It was very cute. she is my daughter after all and I hate getting up in front of people!!! It was her groups turn to be on deck and while the little bitties were wiggling away to the wiggles "mashed potato mashed potato" my sweet grace was having a massive panic attack. Giant alligator tears and screaming she did NOT want to go. I pushed my way through with her and we headed for the stage all while she is boohooing!! I am comforting her and telling her it will be alright, because I know how that panic feels, I am telling her that we are so proud and I really want to see you on that stage but it is ok. I myself am screaming in my head for dean and then I see him running throught the back of theater carrying the sweet little pink roses he brought for her. He grabs her up and shows her the flowers and tells her that he brought them just for her and he really really wanted her to dance and that was it, a little push and she was off. She reached down deep climbed those stairs and danced!!! She smiled and while you could see that she was still a little unsure she was dancing!! I am crying as I type this because this was such a big moment for her! We have prayed that she would be brave and she was. It was a such a blessing! I know that a month ago she would never have gotten on that stage but she did it!! Of course as soon as she saw Dean she wanted those flowers!! Such a girl! She was so proud of herself when she sat back down, although she kept asking if she had to go back up there again!! Here are some pictures of my little ballerina!! I am so proud of you LilliGrace! I love you so much!!

German Amusement Park and a moon....

Dean had Columbus Day off so we went with another family to Holiday Park. It was really fun. It was like a very watered down Six Flags but it had tons of kiddy rides as well as a pretty good roller coaster. Just a little tidbit I Casey rode the roller coaster with one hand up the whole way!! That is huge for me. Somehow Dean convinced me to let my sweet little baby girl on the big swinging boat ride. You know what I am talking about they have them at every amusement park created. She was really excited because it looked like the Buccaneer ship off Nim's Island but to her dismay not near as much fun to ride. She screamed the entire time to just get off!! I am saying just close your eyes and hold onto me it will be over soon and Dean is screaming whoooo this is fun open your eyes. She attempted to open them once she was however NOT impressed!!! We got off and she had no desire to ride it again! Her favorite ride was the Dragon boat ride, it was a typical boat ride with all the little manequins moving however at the end a little tower opened and a man manequin flashed his backside!!! Yes I am not kidding he moons the boat!! Gracie was cracking up that "he just showed his booty!!!" Welcome to Germany!!! I was offended!!!!hahaha Anyway it was a great time. The weather was pleasently cool and crisp and it didn't rain!!

This is the infamous dragon boat ride with the exposed booty man!!!

This picture was actually taken after the "Buccaneer Boat" ride, I was suprised she got on anything else!!

On the way home we drove through Frankenstein Germany and saw the real Frankenstein's castle!! It was cool!!! We stopped at a Gasthaus to take pictures!!

Pretty Colors!

Here are some new pics of Gracie! The weather here has been really rainy and we had a sort of sunny day yesterday so we ran out and took a few pics. The trees are beautiful. It is like nothing I have ever seen before! I hope you enjoy!! ( i can't make it quit underlining sorry! )

3rd times a charm!

We have now been going to dance and cheer for three weeks and Grace has finally settled in! Yeah!! It makes me happy that I am seeing the little girl I had before we came to Germany! School is going well, we played hooky on Friday, she is trying to get a cold so I kept her home and let her sleep in. She is undecided on what she wants to be for hawloween. We are not huge on that holiday here at our house but we are going to a "trunk or treat" on base.
I had a really great talk with the boys last weekend! I miss them so much! Let's see Dax asked a girl to the dance and then had to go out of town. He was not happy about that one. He is playing football and loving it. He told me that he injured two players but not on purpose. I in the motherly fashion said "well don't be to rough" he says, "mom it is football!" boys!! He said he did apologize and helped them up! He is liking his school and loves changing classes. Dawson on the other hand not so sure on the class changing and well football is ok. He says he is making friends and likes the new school as well. They seem happy and content which makes me feel better. Such a sticky situation and like I always say they are the amazing kiddos! and I am so blessed to be their mom!
On a completely different subject.... 29 not my favorite year so far!!!! Let's see got glasses, my first cavity and wait for it my first ticket!!!! And i got is for going about 6 1/2 miles over the speed limit! It was a 60Km zone and I was going 72Km which sounds worse but like I said it is about 61/2 mph to fast, On top of that I was driving the minivan on a super curvy road going down a hill. It was a total trap!!!!! Anyhow yes I was speeding GUILTY but still!!!! Over here they can ask you to pay the ticket right then and of course I had no euro so that polzi was nice and let me come to the office the next morning! And can I say it was the nicest police station I have ever seen. Anyway I now have a little backseat drive who tells me to slow down and tells everyone that "my mom got a ticket, she was going too fast!!" Thanks Grace!! I hated calling Dean and telling him. He is in charge of all the tickets the squadron gets so it was a little embarassing! I am crying he just laughs!! So sweet that man sometimes!
Have a great weekend!

You go Girl!!!

Here are some of the much anticipated cheer pictures!! She is loving it! They are going to perform at Christmas. It is supposed to be a 4 min performance with 2 sidelines and a dance. We will see! She is very excited to be getting her pom poms! Their colors are purple, black and white! This is practice last Thursday!!

Growing up!

Well we are 2 days into our new school routine and she loves it!! Like laters mom i'll see ya when i'm 16 loves it!!!! I am so glad!! I miss her so much!! I know it is only a few hours a day but there is just so much laundry and house cleaning that needs to done!! I can't wait for the clock to get to 11:45 so that I can go get her. I cried so hard after I left her that first day! My bp was even up at the dr office that morning!! I am so not ready to let her grow up yet! When I picked her up today she was outside playing, and they play hard here!! They have this little rain gear type outfit and rain boots they put on them and it is like a free pass to crazy out there!! She has been exhausted when she comes home. In fact she is sleeping now, and those of you who know her know she doesn't take naps!!! I am very proud but i feel very alone.
With her getting so big I feel like I need to "grow up" myself. I wanted one thing when i was little and that was to be a wife and a mom. So check, check. I feel like I need to add something for me. I am slightly crafty and love to sew and paint, I also secretly love taking pictures. I want to know how to do it better. I love to capture those moments in time. So anyway I want to work from home so I can still be mom but maybe try something new. It is all a little scary! Gracie is my last baby so I feel like I need to "grow up too"" Anyway I will figure it out!! For now I am just glad that school is going well!

Dancing Girl!!!

She did it!! We went to dance this afternoon and Grace had a blast!! We talked about how she needed to participate and not be shy!! She leaped and jumped and tapped her little heart out and you can't forget ballet hands!! I am so proud of her!! We will see how round 2 of cheer goes tommorow!!

Before class... a little nervous
after class.... so happy!!
Gold Heart!!