Exit Strategy

We've had some questions lately about our exit strategy. Some people are complaining because they think we've been here too long; some people want us to stay longer. Other people didn't even want us to come at all. So, we've decided to issue a statement outlining our exit strategy.

On Friday, we signed a "memorandum of understanding" to extend our time here until December. This is based on the dire need of our generals and troops for Root Beer and grocery baggers, and other classified information. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to evaluate our military strategy and the needs of our unit, taking into account a trillion different things. These command staff meetings will occur at very late hours, probably when one general is very tired and the other general has an unquenchable desire to talk about serious things. The commander-in-chief (Devin's boss) has requested that we stay until March 2009, so the generals will make the decision in a few weeks whether to accept that mission, or come home in December.

Our unit has had a great experience on this tour, but are very excited to return home. We would like to recruit more troops, but our logistics team (i.e. reality) has advised us to wait until our return home. Our unit is also excited about Taco Bell, Costco, hot summers, Mexican food, Region 1 DVDs, Bisquick, pay at the pump gas stations, bills in English, and wide roads.

This statement is subject to misinterpretation and misleadings by the media and is to be taken vaguely and can change at any time with or without notice without regard to logic and reasoning.

EDIT: Just in case you were wondering, this really has nothing to do with any world event, it's really just our way of telling you when we're coming home....

Kiddo Update

Kevin's been saying his regular funny stuff lately, so I wanted to be sure to write down a few:

-The other day in the car, I asked Dallin and Kevin when we should have a new baby (not that they're really involved in making that decision, but still). Dallin was thinking when Kevin blurted out, "When I'm sixty-six!" Then Dallin said, "No way! She'll be dead by then!" Then I promptly fired them as my family planning advisors. :)

-Devin put on Lord of the Rings a couple mornings ago, and Kevin saw the main guy character kissing the girl character. He looked back at me and shrugged and said, "Hum, I guess that's his mom."

Today we took the boys to Playmobil Fun Park by Nuremberg again. I think that place is one of the best places for kids their age. They had a great time and were completely tuckered out by the time we left. The weather was absolutely perfect today, so I was a happy girl. Our grocery store had some fall decorations the last time I was there (today), and I was kind of freaked out thinking, why do they have that already??? I didn't realize that these last 3 months were actually summer and now we are heading to fall. Dang it.

Anway, today at Playmobil I was standing by Ethan while he played when a lady next to me said, "Hey, that shirt is from Old Navy." First of all, you speak English? and second, you know Old Navy? Let's be best friends. :) She was an American (mormon, with three kids almost my kids' ages, expat) living in Frankfurt. It was good to talk to her and see how her experience is here. It always makes me feel better. Too bad they don't live closer!

Ethan loved playing on everything today. He went down a few big slides and loved playing in the water. One time Devin whistled at the other boys to get their attention, and Ethan wanted to whistle, too. His form of whistling is a very high-pitched short shreak, which surprisingly sounds similar to a whistle. Another interesting thing about Ethan right now is he's starting to talk in pitches only dogs can hear. We try to teach our kids to ask nicely for things, and for some reason, that has translated to them to raise the pitch, so when they're asking really really nice for something, it's usually a really high pitch. Ethan's taken this to the extreme, though, and now we can hardly understand him when he's being ever so polite.

I don't have time to download the billions of pictures from today, so here are some scrap pages of the boys to hold you over.

I love being a boy's mamma

This picture just sums it all up for me:

Random things

Here's a random collection of things that have been going on lately:

*Ethan has graduated from the highchair into a regular chair. He couldn't stand not being like the brothers. :)

*Today was a good day at church, which I was really happy about. Usually I come home exhausted, but today my YW lesson went good, the kids were calm for church, and our meeting after church was only half the length (and drama) that it normally is, so I was happy. We also sang "God Be With You Until We Meet Again" for the closing hymn, which is one of my favorite hymns in German. It's a little different than the English version and I really like it a lot. I tried to find a sound clip online of it, but I couldn't. Bummer. Looks like you all will just have to come visit us to hear it.

*I am loving our cookoo clock even more than I thought I would. I was wondering if it would get on my nerves, but it doesn't. I just love it. :)

*I wasn't sure if I dared to blog about this, but I think it's safe enough to say now that we have SUCCESS in the potty training department. Whew. I'll tell you our secrets, but try not to tell people because we're going to patent them and make a million dollars. Our two secrets are: not putting a diaper on him until after he falls asleep (He doesn't stay dry at night, so he still needs a diaper at night), and giving him an enema. The enema was pretty traumatic for him and me (thank goodness my mom was here then or else I couldn't have done it), but we had to take him to the Dr. because he hadn't had a "movement" for 7 or 8 days, so he told us we had to give him the enema. It worked like a charm, but Kevin was really freaked out about it. So, after that, if he wouldn't go to the bathroom for a day or two, I would just have to remind him about the "water" (which is what he called it), and he would go in no time. The doctor also gave us a stronger fiber type drink which we gave him for almost two weeks to keep him regular. We had the enema experience about July 1, and we've only had 1 or 2 poop accidents since then. Knock on wood.

*I just LOVE Old Navy Halloween costumes. I think they're great quality and a good price for what you get. My kids love to use them later in the year for dress-up. So, I've been stalking Oldnavy.com to see if they have their Halloween costumes out yet, and they finally do! I was quite a bit disappointed to realize that my older boys are old enough to have an opinion about what they want to be for Halloween. Dang it. I remember the days that I put Dallin in a frog costume (which sort of proved to be a wrong move because he was 2 1/2 and couldn't speak very well and "Frog" sounded eerily like a swear word....) and he looked so dang cute, and then a few years later Kevin was a monkey and also so adorable. I was having a great time looking at oldnavy.com when Kevin told me he wasn't going to dress up in any of those costumes because he wanted to be a good guy (knight). Dang it! Dallin's too old for their sizes, so he's off the hook, too. So, Ethan's my only victim this year, and I'm getting this costume for him. I think it's adorable. I wanted Kevin to be this dragon, but I guess I have to accept the fact that he's growing up and can choose what he wants to be. :)

*I started a scrapbooking blog. I'm on a new Creative Team and wanted to post some things about scrapbooking, but I wanted this blog to be our family journal so I could make a blog book of it when we get home, so I didn't want too much scrappy stuff (like sales and cute kits, etc.) in it. So, if you're interested in scrappy stuff, you can visit my scrap blog: http://bitsandscrapsofmyworld.blogspot.com/

*Ethan's been talking a lot more lately. He also tried to say his own name for the first time the other day. He calls himself "Ena." :) Dallin called himself Danny, which we still call him sometimes. :) Ethan tries to say prayers also, which is really cute. He just folds his arms and buries his head in his arms and mumbles a lot. :)

Here are some pics of the kids:

Here's Kevin on his "laufrad" (I'm sure I misspelled that). It's a bike that all the kids have here. It doesn't have pedals, so they just push themselves with their feet. He is a little speed demon on it. He's really learned his balance, too. He can ride almost all the way down a street behind our house without putting his feet down (it's slightly downhill). Hopefully that will help when he tries to ride a regular bike without training wheels.

Dallin's still toothless on the top. They're just breaking through the gums now, though, so he'll look different soon!

For the last week of kindergarten, I went on a field trip with them to a fun park. Ethan of course had to sit in the sand instead of just playing with it. :)

Lovely Visitors

I've been a little MIA this past week cause we've been having fun with Devin's family. They came last Friday and stayed for a week. We were so sad to have them leave, but I guess it was impractical to hold them hostage. :) We had Devin's Dad, Grandma Baker, Alex (little brother), and Lyndi (little sister) come. Devin's mom was planning on coming, but right before she left she got a sinus infection so she couldn't fly. We definitely missed her.

The boys loved having Alex and Lyndi here to play with. Poor Lyndi carried those boys everywhere we went. I think she went home with some killer biceps. Alex has gotten a lot taller since we saw him last. Devin's a little freaked out that his 15-year old brother is almost as tall as him.

It was really fun for us to show them the things we like here and let them try some yummy German food. We went to Rothenburg (I adore this town!!), Neuschwantstein, Munich, and walked around Ulm together. It was such a great week for us. Here are some pictures:

In Munich, we went to the main branch of the Deutsches Museum, which was awesome. We spent a lot of time downstairs in the children's part, which was really cool. Here's Lyndi and Ethan in front of a humongo guitar.

Here's Grandma Baker at the same museum with all the boys.

Lyndi & Dallin at the Olympic Park in Munich

The family in front of the city wall gates in Rothenburg

Kevin & Kevin :)

We went to a really fun park here in Ulm and the boys had a blast on the wild slide. :)

On Saturday, we walked around Ulm and went to the big farmer's market. We also saw the Muenster downtown. Devin was trying to convice us all that we really needed to climb the 746 stairs to the top of the cathedral. Yikers.

Alex, Lyndi, and boys in front of the best Christmas store ever in Rothenburg

We walked around a really beautiful park in Rothenburg. The boys had fun running around collecting lots of sticks. :)

I couldn't resist

I just think this picture is the funniest thing and I finally found a kit to scrap it with. This is Ethan when he was 7 months old, trying to figure out the whole crawling thing, but ended up in a push-up. :)

Summertime, finally!

Yeah! We finally have summer break! :) It's kind of weird to think that my friends in Tucson have already started the next school year and we just barely started our break! The last day of kindergarten was last Thursday, so the kids and I had a fun, relaxing Friday together. On Saturday evening, we went downtown and had a little "family party" to celebrate the kid's finishing a year in school. I know it wasn't easy for Dallin, and we're really proud of him for sticking it through to the end. We ate at a yummy German restaurant that had a kid's mini playground right next to it, so it was nice for the kids to run and play before and after the food got there. Afterward, we went to a nearby park and played for a while. Ethan just loves slides and spent the entire time going down the slide. :) The kids have to go back to school the beginning of September, so we only have a short break. We'll have to pack in some fun! :) Here's a picture of the boys with their teachers, Frau Schmidhausler and Frau Staufenbiel. Frau Schmidhausler had allergies that day, so her eyes are a bit puffy in the picture. Ethan had to be in the picture because he pretty much thinks he's in kindergarten, too. :)

Happy Birthday, Ethan!!

My littlest man turns 2 today! I can't believe my baby is actually two! He's such a happy boy and so cute to watch. I really love the time that I have with him in the mornings when it's just to two of us. He loves slides, going outside, and doing everything that Kevin does. He can't ever be shown up by the big brothers, he always has to do what they're doing. Even in Italy, he went down the big water slide at the pool (On Nana's lap, of course) because he had to be like the brothers! He's a cutie and we can't imagine life without him!

2006

2007

2008

Funny Tag

Here's a tag from Janae that I thought was so cute! It gave me more ideas for scrapbooking. I think I'll have to interview my kids more often! :) The answers with a D are from Dallin and the K is Kevin. I typed exactly what the kids said. :)

Oh, and I tag Ashlie (I know Tayler has some hilarious things to say), Janei, Suzy, Heather, Kristie, and Asialene.


1. What is something mom always says to you?
D: You love me
K: Be good and be quiet and be bravy. Mom, what's bravy mean?

2. What makes mom happy?
K: that you do things on accident
D: Um, Me helping you.

3. What makes mom sad?
D: Not helping you and being disobedient
K: When you don't do stuff right and when you don't feel so good and when you feel sad.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
D: Tickling me
K: Tickling.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
K: like a bird. A little cute bird.
D: Pretty.

6. How old is your mom?
D: 27
K: Momma, can you guess for me?

7. How tall is your mom?
D: A Mommy
K: Like a mommy

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
D: Play with me and love me
K: play with me when you're happy and glorious (except his glorious sounds more like gworious)

9. What does your mom do when you are not around?
D: Go shopping and sometimes stay home and miss me.
K: Just be happy and worry about yourself and don't be bad.

10. If you mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
D: What does famous mean?
K: Zero.

11. What is your mom really good at?
D: Cooking and doing garden stuff
K: Washing dishes and cleaning up.

12. What is your mom not so good at?
D: World of Warcraft
K: Um, Ah, being glorious

13. What does your mom do for her job?
D: stay home and work and take care of the kids.
K: Washing dishes.

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?
D: Your favorite dinner is the same as mine
K: The same food as Dallin and me.


15. What makes you proud of your mom?
D: Helping me
K: Um, doing stuff what you say.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
D: A Mommy
K: Superman.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
D: Sometimes we do dates and play together and one time you played World of Warcraft with me.
K: Be happy and be proud of eachother.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
D: Eyeballs are the same as mine.
K: being the same hair


19. How are you and your mom different?
D: The bodies.
K: When we're different hair.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
D: Growing in your tummy.
K: Being happy and proud. Doing what you say. Can you help me guess it please??

Kevin's gonna defect

Today as we were riding bikes home from kindergarten, Kevin piped up, "Mom, I wanna be a German kid." I said, "Oh really, why?" "Because I just want to be a German boy and speak German. I don't want any English anymore." We better watch out for him when it's time to leave. He may make a break for it and try to defect.

On a side note, this crazy boy is speaking really good German in kindergarten! His little brain just switches modes when he gets to school and he just speaks German the whole time he's there. I didn't realize this until a little while ago when I spent some time there. It's so cute to hear his little voice saying all these words I can barely manage. :) Here's a scrap layout I did of the little squeaker:

Tag

I got tagged forever ago by Aubrey, so here it is:

Five Things on my To Do List

1. Scrapbook the last 7 years worth of pictures :)
   
2. Fold my laundry
   
3. Take my kids to the park
   
4. Get my YW stuff organized
   
5. Vacuum
   

Five Jobs I’ve Had

1. My first job was a hostess at a Steakhouse in Conway (making $4.75/hr!)
   
2. Aide at Easter Seals in LR
   
3. Secretary thing for someone in the Law building at BYU
4. Tutor for an autistic child
5. Mom

Five Places I’ve Lived

1. Little Rock, AR
   
2. Conway, AR
   
3. Provo, UT
   
4. Tucson/Vail, AZ
   
5. Ulm, Germany
   

Five Favorite Snacks

1. Toffiffee
2. Gelato
3. craisins
   
4. carrot sticks with Ranch
   
5. Chocolate :)
   

Five Things I would do if I were a Billionaire

1. Buy a house that has a big enough lot that I could have lots of trees and a big garden
   
2. Buy a scooter. :)
   
3. Travel with my family
   
4. Help kids in poor countries
   
5. Have Devin retire early and hang out together every day. :)
   

Five Things You May Not Know about Me (**I talk entirely too much, so I really couldn't think of 5 things that people didn't know about me. This is all I came up with, so if you already knew it, sorry!) :)

1. I sleep with Pepper Spray under my pillow or on my nightstand (so don't try to kidnap my kids or rob my house!) :)
   

Five Things I Love

1. Devin
   
2. Dallin
   
3. Kevin
4. Ethan
5. Newborn smells and the squeaks they make. It makes my heart melt!
   

I tag: Ashlie, Suzann, Marci, and Janae!