Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt)

The Christmas market started here on Monday. This is practically the reason I agreed to move to Germany, so we went there for FHE on Monday night (that's not cheating, right??). It has been so freakishly cold here, so we bundled the kids all up, and took the strassenbahn (street train) downtown. It was bigger than I expected. They have a hot wine that they serve (Glühwein) but they also have a non-alcoholic drink called Kinderpunch. We tried it. I didn't love it, but everyone else thought it was good. They have waffles here at a lot of places (sometimes at our Farmer's Market, Legoland, etc.). They make them fresh and they smell really good. The waffles are a little different than we have in the States, but they're good. We tried to find waffles at the Christmas market, but they were all out, so we settled with some german donuts. There was so much to look at and so many Christmas trinkets, I could have spent hours there. There was also a few rides there, so the older boys rode a merry-go-round and another similar ride. After about an hour and a half, the boys were frozen, so we had to go, but I felt like I didn't get to look at barely anything (we wanted to get a cool nativity to bring home), so Devin consoled me by reminding me that I could go with Ethan while the older boys were in Kindergarten. Well, it's Thursday night as I am writing this, and this Christmas market has been eluding me ever since! For one reason or another, I haven't made it back. Today, the boys were going to stay later at Kindergarten because they were going to cook lunch, so I went to playgroup with my friend Rika, and then we both headed over with the babies. Right after we parked and were walking over, Silke called and said Kevin was tired and upset at kindergarten, so I left to pick him up.

It was a bummer that I had to leave, but when I got to kindergarten, Kevin had cheered up and they were all eating lunch. They made something called Schupfnudeln. It's made with potatoes (you cook them and mash them) then add flour and sugar (and maybe one more thing.... I can't remember). Then you roll up pieces of the dough like short fat snakes, then put them in a pan with butter and a little cinnamon/sugar and cook them for a while. (traditionally, it's cooked without the cinn/sugar, but with sauerkraut. yuck) The boys loved it! Kevin had 3 helpings! I tried some and it was really good. I'll have to try to learn how to make it. They served it with fresh fruit. So, I guess it made up for missing Christmas market. :) Tomorrow, though, I'm definately going!

In other extremely grave and sad news, our camera has died. I was particularly upset because I was so grateful to get it back from London, but Devin said I was being punished because I've been coveting this other camera for some time, so after ours died, I ordered the new one and my parents got it yesterday. So, when my Mom comes in 17 days (not that I'm counting), she'll bring it with her. But, until then, we don't have a camera, which is a huge bummer. So, for a picture, I got a google image of the schupfnudeln. :) This one is with the sauerkraut, but you can image it without that icky stuff. :)

Germans meet Gringos

So, the day after our Thanksgiving meal, we hosted a "Marriage Seminar" for the ward. They asked us like a month ago if we would host it, but someone else would be teaching it. We were fine with that.

On Friday, I was talking to Rika and telling her that I was going to the store to buy some cakes for refreshments after the fireside. I don't usually buy the refreshments, but I decided to try to make things easy for myself after the Thanksgiving meal. I'm sure Rika feels bad always having to be the bearer of bad news for me, but she told me that usually people serve dinner after the fireside. So much for easy. I tried to think of something German to make, but since I pretty much know how to make 1 thing, and it's not even that great, I had to resort to my usual repertoire, which is of course, Tacos. I wasn't sure how Germans would feel about Tacos, but it was something easy to make for a crowd. I also wasn't so happy about having to use 2 of my Taco Seasoning packets, but since my mom is coming in 17 days (still not counting), I decided I could share a little. When I told Rika on Saturday what I was making, she looked a little worried.

Sunday came and the fireside was good. There were 10 other adults there and we talked about communication. It was in German, but Rika sat next to us and whispered to us what they were saying (all while she was knitting, too- pretty amazing). After the fireside, I sat everything out on the table. I had tortilla chips for a taco salad, or hard shells, or soft shells for tacos. They all just stood there, staring at the food. I was getting more than a little nervous, but Rika explained to them how to do it. I can only imagine what they were saying to each other in German. Well, after they tried it, I think all of them (except one) really liked it. I even had to cut up more tomatoes and make more meat cause a few were having thirds! :) I'm attaching a picture Rika gave me. The people in the picture look a little surprised, but I don't think they knew she was taking a picture.

Thanksgiving 2007

We made a Thanksgiving meal the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Devin didn't take work off (we have the same number of holidays as we would have in the states, but we can be flexible when we take them, so we try to use them for holidays here, which unfortunately, Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here). It was a little weird on Thursday to think that it was Thanksgiving and none of the stores were closed. :) We had our meal with Rika and her family (including the dog, Neno-- Germans take their dogs with them everywhere) and the missionaries. It was really sad not having it with our families, but it was still a good day.

Rika made the turkey, gravy, and green bean casserole and I made the rest. I wanted to try to make pumpkin pie because I know Devin loves it, but I'd never made a homemade pie crust. My fingers would barely type that sentence... I'm so emberrased to be a homemaker and never have made pie crust. I know, I'm so horrible, but really, Marie Callender's frozen pie shells are really good. Anyway, so shortening doesn't exist in Germany, so I got an oil pie crust recipe from Devin's mom. It seemed a little too complicated for a novice like me, so I Googled an all-butter recipe. I found one that looked easy, and set out for the store to get a ton of butter.

I wanted to make the pies the night before our dinner in case it took me 20 tries to get the crust right. Of course I didn't make it to the store until 9:30pm, and all the grocery stores in town close at 8pm, except Kaufland, which closes at 10pm. So, I raced over there and cleaned them out of butter. When I got home, I realized that I didn't ship my pie pans from Arizona because I was just going to get new ones here. So, I went back to the store the next morning to get the pie pans. I practically had a stroke in the store when they didn't have them, and I called Rika in a panic. She said that deep dish pie pans don't exist here, but they have round casserole-like dishes that are really deep, and round tart-like pans that are really shallow. I thought I was doing OK, but as I was relaying this to Devin at home, I started crying. I don't even really like pumpkin pie, so I don't know why I had this strong of a reaction, but that's what came out. So, I pulled myself together and decided that deep dish pie pans weren't worth leaving Germany over. We decided to make a pie in each pan and see which one worked.

They both ended up being fine, but the one I took a picture of was too thick in the crust around the sides. I still like American pie pans better, but we'll survive for a year. You only need pumpkin pie at Christmas and Thanksgiving anyway, right? We did manage to get whipping cream too, so Devin was a happy boy. We also had to search a few stores before another American told me which store had fresh cranberries. I went there and got the last two bags! We also didn't think we could find sweet potatoes, but the man who sells only potatoes and apples at our farmers market had sweet potatoes from Poland, so I was happy. I have always used canned Yams, so this was my first year making it from real sweet potatoes, and I think it worked out. I don't think they tasted that much better than canned, though, so I'll definitely save myself the trouble when we're in the States.

Dinner was fun and it was fun to have people over. Dallin had 3 helpings of his food and 2 pieces of pie! I'm not sure where he stored all that food, but we were happy he ate so good! :) After dinner, the missionaries told us that their mission president told them it was OK to play Nintendo, so we all played Wii for a while. It was really fun and everyone really like it. Andreas, Rika's husband, was anti-video games before he played, but by the end, he wanted to buy one for Christmas. :) It was fun, and hopefully we don't get struck by lightening for letting the missionaries play the Wii. :)

*Note, Rika let us use her camera for this, since ours died. So these pictures are all from her camera.

The Kid table

Dallin has been into folding paper lately. He was doing it all night, and folded this one that I thought was cool. :)

Ethan and Tabitha loved talking to eachother across the highchair.

Don't you just want to hug him??

Au Pair?

I know this is a little random, but Silke's (the boy's kindergarten teacher) daughter is looking to be an au pair in the US next summer and I told her I would let my friends & family know before she went through an agency. So, if any of you are looking for an au pair (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right... it's just a live-in nanny) next summer for 6-12 months, then let me know. She's German (obviously), 18, speaks good English, and of course good with kids. Email me or leave a comment if you want more info. :)

Sweet Boys

I wanted to post a little blurb about each of the boys so I can somewhat capture what they're like at this age. Some days I just want to pause time and keep them exactly like they are (but I must admit there are days I feel ... mildly different)

Ethan is 15 months now. He just got his 4th tooth on the top, and has 2 cute teeth on the bottom. His brothers for some strange reason decided to put their finger in his mouth and found out how sharp his teeth are! He can say Dadda and Dallin (Dally) really good. He'll just go around the house yelling their name. I guess Kevin & I are just chopped liver. :) He can also say, Uh oh, Mama (although not often), dog, bye bye (sometimes he tries to say, "Tschuss" which is the German word for bye), and hi (more like hiya). This is usually the time that my kids go through a crazy stage (I'm sure I'm not alone), but Ethan's crazy stage has been fairly mild. (I'm sure I'm going to jinx myself on that one) He doesn't throw too many tantrums, and doesn't yell a lot. If he wants something, he will come to me and point at me and sort of grunt, which means in baby language, "Come follow me." I'll follow him while he runs as fast as his cute stubby baby body will take him. He'll then point and grunt at whatever he wants or wherever he wants to go (upstairs or downstairs). I found out this week that he LOVES sausages. I bought Devin a package of small little meat sticks and Ethan ate the whole thing. I guess Germany is a good place for him. :) I forgot to blog about this before, but Ethan's hair started getting curly. At first it was just the back, but then it was going to the sides, too. It was the longest I had let his hair get, so I decided to cut it, but now I'm missing his little curls. Well, really they weren't always cute little curls. They ended up being frizzy crazy hair most of the time. :) I think he looks older, though, with a new haircut. He's learned how to dance recently, which is so funny to see. I really need to take a video. He not only shakes his body, but he waves his hands all over. Good to see he's got rhythm. :) He's discovered how to open our freezer, which is under our fridge. He's completely obsessed with Popsicles right now, so it's sometimes a challenge to keep him from eating 84 popsicles in one day. Unfortunately, our camera is dying right now, so I don't have really cute pictures of the boys to put up. This one of Ethan is his new favorite pastime. He loves to take all the wipes out of the container and then stuff them in something else. I just love how he sits on his legs like that. :) Kevin is going through an in-between stage with his naps. He can't make it to bedtime without getting fussy, but if he takes a nap, then he wants to stay up until 1am. So, we're trying to work with that. He's been a lot calmer, though. The only time he yells at me and has meltdowns is when he's tired and needs a nap. When he's rested, he's the cutest thing. He seems to really enjoy kindergarten and likes to play with the kids there. He just learned how to put his big winter boots on, and he was really proud of himself. The other night, I was getting him dressed for bed and he kept saying, "I have a story!! Once upon a time, I was born, and then I slipped on some crazy ice. The end." He told it to me like 5 times. I think we might have a budding author on our hands. :) Kevin's been on a hunger strike lately. He'll barely eat anything except apples. I'm hoping he'll go through a growth spurt so he can be hungry again. He's in the stage right now where he asks like 1,000 questions (I can't relate, I never did anything like that). He'll just keep asking questions to your answers until you stop answering or ask him a question. He still has to have his good guys with him wherever he goes. It's the first thing he asks for in the morning... sometimes even before he opens his eyes. Speaking of eyes, you can see his eye color really good in this picture. When he was born and until he was almost 2, he had clear blue eyes. When he turned 2, they started turning a sage green color, and now they look like they're going brown. I thought your eye color was set at 6 months??? I think he has chameleon eyes. :)Dallin is starting to have a little bit of a hard time about moving to Germany. I was expecting it, but I thought it would happen when we got here, so I was surprised a week or so ago when he started genuinely crying about a toy he had in Tucson. He was saying that he missed it and that he was sad that we sold it. I told him it would be there when we got back to AZ, but he insisted that it went in the big truck and we sold it all. I realized that the movers put all our stuff in a big moving van to go to storage, and even though I tried to explain it to him, Dallin somehow thought we sold all our stuff. Poor kid! So we've been trying to give him some extra snuggles and talk to him a lot about this. Hopefully this trip doesn't have any lasting damage to these poor boys! Besides that, Dallin is doing really well. He loves to ride his bike to kindergarten and to the bakery with me. He hasn't creamed anyone yet, but I'm always worried about it. Usually I'll warn him when someone is walking towards us, and he does fine until right before they're passing, and then he veers towards them. I finally figured out that he lets go of one hand on the handle bars to wave at them. :) They may get hit with a 5-yr old on a bike, but at least they got a wave. :) I volunteered the other day in the boy's kindergarten. It was my first time staying for the whole time, and it was so cute to see their circle time. I didn't think the boys were learning any German, but after we put all the chairs in a circle, the kids and teachers starting singing songs and fingerplays. Our boys were singing them all and knew all the fingerplays. It was so cute to see, especially because I had no idea! They have one cute song about an Uncle Joe. They sing a little poem about Uncle joe, and then they go around the circle and each child says, "Ich habe einen Onkel Joe und der macht so" (I have an Uncle Joe and he does this...) and then the child will do an action and freeze, and then the rest of the children (and teachers) will copy the pose. It was so cute and funny to see what each child chose. They are very happy in kindergarten. We have been extremely blessed with great teachers who are so nurturing to them. Silke, one of the teachers, told me that Kevin has a time each day where he comes to her and wants to snuggle for a bit and then he goes and plays and is fine. :) Where's the pause button on time???

Snow Fun

We had our first big snow of the season! We woke up last Saturday to a white backyard. The kids got all bundled up (not by their choice, of course) like they were going to outer space. The older two had a great time and played out there for over an hour. They played with some neighbor kids and had a little snowball fight. Ethan liked watching the snow and really thought he wanted to go outside. I got his snowsuit on and also his snow boots (which was the first time he wore them). I put him down outside to grab my camera, and he immediately fell flat on his face. I felt SO bad! I should have thought that he wouldn't be able to to move. He wasn't too excited about standing up after that. He let me hold him for a while outside then he got annoyed with the snow in his face, so he and I watched the older boys from the window. :) It was really fun for the kids to play in the snow.

Dallin couldn't help but eat the snow....

We're ready for take-off....

My snow angel

London Trip

Whew! We've been back from London for 2 days now and I feel like I'm still tired. :) For those who don't want to read my entire epic about our trip, I'll give you the Executive Summary: "It was good, the weather was great, the kids loved it, next time I think we'll just buy bus passes and let the kids ride the buses all day long." Now you can skip down to the pictures.

Here's the the not-so-short-version. London was a great city. It is the biggest city that Devin & I have ever visited, so it was interesting to see so many people in one area (even in the low season--- I can't even imagine it in the summer!) It sure was nice to be in a place that I could read all the signs and menus, though. I was also looking forward to understanding the people, but some people really had a strong accent and I really had no idea what they were saying. :) This was our first big trip with our kids that wasn't to visit family. When we would have time off, we would always want to go see family. So, we didn't have a routine for "sightseeing traveling" with the kids. London was a good place to get into our groove, because it is in English, but horrible in the fact that it's so darn expensive (the dollar is at a 25-year low, so everything was pretty much double the cost of the US.)

We flew out on Thursday night (mistake #1: never book a flight when traveling with kids that arrives later than 9:30pm). Our flight was at 11:30 pm, and it was an hour flight. England is an hour behind us, so we got in at 12:30 Germany time, and then had to go through customs and then take an hour taxi to our hotel. So, we didn't get in until about 3am Germany time, which totally wiped us out for the next day. Well, at least we learned, huh? On Friday, we slept in (of course) and then went to a nearby grocery store to get some snacks and breakfast food (mistake #2: always try to book a hotel with breakfast included, and not an extra 15 pounds, or $30 per person....) We figured out our bus and train schedules, and then it was time for nap time. So, we decided to let the kids have a good nap so we could have a good vacation. When all was said and done, we got out of the hotel late afternoon. We went to London Bridge, and the Tower of London. We walked across both London bridge and the Tower Bridge and walked along the river. The weather really was mild, so we were happy. I was really impressed with the Tower. I didn't do as much research as I should have, and didn't really know what the Tower was, but it is a castle within a big wall, with a huge, beautiful bridge. We ate dinner near the Tower at a Pizza Restaurant (Dallin was excited to order a pepperoni pizza that wasn't hot peppers) and then walked around what is called "The City," but is just the financial district.

Saturday, we had a small tragedy. Our hotel was outside of London (it was a little cheaper than in the city) and so we would take a bus to the train station to get to the city. Well, after we had taken our bus and were waiting at the train station, I realized I didn't have the camera. I hoped I had just left it at the hotel, so Devin took a bus back to the hotel and looked all over the room, and then took a bus back (I waited with the boys at the train station. The boys built a "robot" out of grass clippings they had pulled). I almost started crying when Devin came back empty-handed. I had left the camera on the bus, and so now my camera was gone and all the pictures from the night before. I was so dejected. Of course it would happen that I was in London with no camera. We bought a cheap disposable camera to use on the trip, but of course the pictures won't be great quality. I tried to not be upset, and we went on with the day. First, we wanted to go inside the Tower. We were intrigued by the outside. I thought it was really cool because you could pretty much just go wherever you want inside the really old buildings. They have the crown jewels there (with guards) and a building with armor, swords, and guns (heaven for my boys), and a small building about torture (which wasn't as gruesome as I feared). Dallin had to go to the bathroom there, (I'm fairly certain we visited 75% of the public restrooms in London) and when I took him, I saw like 3 signs in the Women's restroom that said "Please do not eat or drink on the toilets." What???? Maybe there was some big problem with families taking picnics in the restrooms or something, but it seemed a little freaky to me. :) After that, (Mistake #3, when you're traveling with three kids and it takes you like an hour to get from one place to another, just do all the sights you can in one area of town... kinda like zone defense, right?) we took the tube to Regent's Street and walked around a bit and looked at the stores. Geesh, you could pretty much make a trip just out of all the shopping! We went to a really authentic Japanese restaurant that was really good (the boys really loved it) and then took the kids to Hamley's, a HUGE toy store that my sister-in-law recommended. The kids were in absolute heaven. I think it's like 7 stories or something. As soon as you walk in, the workers are doing bubbles, there's toy demonstrations by the employees, and there's toys around for the kids to play with. Our kids just stood there for a minute or two, just dumbfounded. :) It was cute. We were all pretty beat at the end of the day. It may seem a little weird to most that we were only able to see one big sight in a day, but let me try to give you an idea of our pace. Step away from the computer and try to walk with no space coming between your feet (like a penguin). That's pretty close to our average pace. :) (mistake #4, take two single strollers. We didn't want to take our big side-by-side double stroller, so we just took our umbrella stroller, which was great and light to carry up stairs, but we needed two strollers to be quicker) That night, on the train, some young guys got in our compartment, and they were being really loud and obnoxious. Ethan was sleeping, and when they started singing some song with the F-word all in it, Devin went to ask them to be quiet. The guy was a little psycho and needless to say, didn't quiet down, so we had to change cars. People like that always make me nervous, but it all turned out fine in the end. At the end of the day when we were taking our bus home, I asked the bus drive for a number to call about lost-and-found. The man in front of us overheard us and said that he turned in a camera that morning in a purple case (my case!). It was a complete miracle that he even turned it in, and that he was on the bus with us again that night! So we were able to get our camera back the next morning. I love honest people!!! :)

On Sunday, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was amazing. It's so huge! We happened to get there right before 3, and there was a church service at 3:15, so we stopped in to listen. They had a great organ and an amazing choir. I had to take Ethan out because he realized that his voice really echoed in those huge cathedral ceilings, so even though he was happy, he was making a lot of noise. :) After that, we walked through Trafalgar square to House of Parliament. We wanted to make it to Westminster Abbey for the evening organ performance. I knew Westminster Abbey was somewhere in that particular area, so when I saw the House of Parliament, I thought it was amazing, and just assumed it was Westminster Abbey. There were two guards at the gate, so I walked up to them and they told me it was closed until Wednesday. I disappointedly said, "Oh, so no organ concert tonight?" They looked a little confused, and said that it was probably going on at the church across the street. I think I should probably learn an Australian accent so I don't make America look so dumb. :) So, we went across the street to Westminster Abbey. Both buildings were completely amazing. We were really impressed. We made it there in time for the organ concert, and it was really good. I only stayed for the first 3 songs, because Ethan again was enjoying his echo. :) The older boys, though, stayed the whole time and did wonderfully. When that was over, we decided to go back to Bexleyheath, the small town we were staying in, and eat dinner there. We first went to some restaurant in the shopping center that looked good, but they told us they couldn't allow children in there after 7 or his license would be taken away. That was a little strange, but we found another restaurant.

On Monday, we really wanted to go to the British Museum. I was always surprised at the buildings that we visited. They were all so much bigger than I expected. I think we all liked the museum. We saw the Rosetta Stone, which was cool, and the boys really enjoyed the mummies. There were some mummies that still had hair on them. Ew. We wanted to try to make it to the London Aquarium, but we took too long (well, I should say I took too long) looking for a Christmas ornament in a store, so we were too late. Next time, I guess. That night, Devin went to see Phantom of the Opera, which he really liked. While he was at the play, I took the kids back to Hamley's. It was fun (even for me) to just look around the store. One store employee was doing a magic demonstration, which fascinated Dallin. She finally let him in on the secret and tried to teach him how to do it, which was cute. :) We took the train home without any problems, so that was nice.

On Tuesday, our flight left at 3:30, so we left at 10:40 (which I thought my dad would be so proud of). We took our bus to the train station, and waited for the train. We wanted the train to Victoria Station, which was the second train. Right as the first train was pulling out of the station, it was announced that the Victoria Station train was canceled. Wonderful. So, it was another hour before a train came. We were a little nervous, but we high-tailed it over to the bus stop at Victoria Station to catch our bus ride to the airport. Our bus was 10 minutes late, and then a 1.5 hour bus ride turned into a 2 hour bus ride. I don't think I had any fingernails left by the time we arrived at the airport. By the time we got to the counter, we only had 30 minutes before our plane left, and they close the flight 40 minutes before takeoff, no exceptions. I was about to strangle the guy, but Devin was very calm about it. We had to pay a "change fee" to get on the later flight (6 hours later) that essentially tripled our total cost. I think my self-esteem is directly related to the good deals I can get, so I am going to need some time to get over that one. I suggested to Devin that we take a bus back into London, but he pretended not to hear me. We decided to drown our sorrows with Krispy Kreme Donuts (Yes, they had some in the airport!). We had a great 6 hours in the airport filled with freaky Irish food, stories about an "Ethie Wethie Monster", and lots of exploring. We got back to our house at 3:30 am, and played hookie (is that how you spell it??) the next day. The kids didn't even wake up until 11:30!

I think it was a great trip. If you ask Devin, I think he had a good trip, but I don't think he's up for traveling for a little while. :) I'm going to try to put up lots of pictures in our gallery, so check back in a day or so.

For some reason, they cut Ethie out of the picture. Well, at least you can see his little eyes. :)

This is Dallin and Kevin's favorite part. They loved riding the bus. I was surprised how similar they drive to the crazy buses in Harry Potter. :)

Big Ben

Kevin & Ethan in front of St. Paul's Cathedral

In front of St. Paul's Cathedral. I know it looks like I'm pregnant in this picture, but to save some embarrassment, you don't even have to ask because I'm not.

After 6 hours in an airport, things are getting a little crazy

Devin's telling the boys (who are completely mesmerized) a story about two boys named Kevin and Dallin who fight a scary Ethie Wethie Monster. :)
Westminster Abbey
We stopped in Heidelberg on our way to the airport. We wanted to show the boys the castle. It was getting dark, so we didn't get great pictures of the castle, but I love this one of my boys. :)