Our Anniversary

Last minute we called our AWESOME friends, asked them to watch our older kids (kept the cute little man pictured below), rented a car (since ours was already headed across the ocean) and drove out to the Netherlands to see the tulip festival in Keukenhof.  

We got to stay in this cute bed and breakfast on the border of Holland and Germany (pictured above) and got to spend the weekend of our anniversary together sightseeing.  It was fabulous!!

This little guy was the perfect addition to our afternoon in Keukenhof wandering around the beautiful tulips!  I mean, come on, who wouldn't love that face?!

Guess who FINALLY learned to ride her bike?!

MOVING DAY!!

The day where life is totally crazy!  The day where you seriously have a million and one things to do!  The day where your 4 year old finally gets the courage to ride a bike on her own!  So Cute!  She was one proud little lady!

2 Big Events

Both sets of grandparents flew out for two special events in our family ... Paige's Baptism & Kenneths Baby Blessing.  Paige was so excited that they were coming just for her and felt so important and Kenneth is now the oldest baby of ours at the time they received their blessing but was perfect.

Thank you Grandma's & Grandpa's for traveling across the world for our family!!  We Love You!!

Kinder School

Its been a couple of weeks since Evan started his Kinder School and he is still kind of getting used to it.  At first he told me that school was boring because they wouldn't let him watch a movie or play on the iPad.  Isn't that exactly why I put him in it in the first place?!  When I pick him up after school they are all out at recess and he is slowly making friends and trying to play with the other kids.  Usually I see him exploring or playing on his own, or hanging out with his teachers.

I have to say though, I've been really impressed with the school so far, they have lots of fun themes and activities.   I seriously want to own all the toys that they have in there for the kids to play with too.  There are these awesome wooden trucks and tractors that I know the kids would love.

(this is Evan after his adventure to the potato field after learning about the potato king - he brought home a bag of potatoes that he picked at the field and we made beef stew and a casserole with them.   He was so excited to be eating his potatoes, it was so cute!)

Hit and Run

Did I mention I got in a car accident ... pulling into my garage?  

Our garage out here is not automatic and when you open it it swings out toward you so you can't park too close to the garage.  I had just gotten home from running errands with the kids, I had opened my garage, was back in my car getting ready to pull the car into the garage when the neighbor's friend backed up and hit me.  I got out of my car to confront them when then put their car in drive, drove up the street and drove away.  Seriously?  Did I just experience a hit and run?  My other neighbor was walking up the street from below me and yelled at me to get the tags.  THANK YOU!  I was able to get the license plate number just in time.  

We had just gotten our car from being shipped over here too ... with NO scratches whatsoever too!! 

 I called the MP's, which are the military police, and they came over to take my report.  They also had to take my neighbor's reports - the one who yelled at me to get the tages and the one who got dropped off.  The girl who hit me had a few issues that I wont put on the blog ... I don't think the MP's should have told me that kind of information.  The MP's were here forever taking every little detail ... there must not be many exciting things happening out here because the 2 MP's who were here initially turned into 8 MP's going in and out for a few hours.  I tried to call Miles several times but had to hang up with him to talk to the MP's over and over.  Oh, yeah, did I tell you this all happened when Miles was TDY - 4 hours away for 2 weeks.  Perfect!!  I guess it makes for a good story though!

Public School

The first day of school!!!  

We have to be up at the cities official bus-stop at 7:40 AM.  Last year it was at 8:45 AM, so this is a lot earlier than we are used to.  The girls were so excited!  I felt like throwing up for them since I was sending them off to a German public school where they were the minority and they didn't speak ANY German.  The only German phrase they knew was "where is the toilet?".  But when you ask that, don't you need to understand the answer?  Yeah, I was just slightly  nervous for them.

These are the kids' HouseShoes.  When they get to school they have to change their 'dirty shoes' into their 'house shoes'.  They also came home later in the week telling me that they also needed sports shoes and sports clothes, and Emi also needed a swimming bag since she has a swimming class every Wednesday.  Miles was gone and I had to end up doing it all by myself ... yeah I was lost for about a week and a half ... I also cried every other day after talking to Miles on the phone because I didn't know what I was doing.  Nothing like throwing me into Germany, huh?!

This is the sign for the bus stop ... not to be confused with a Hospital since I'm on the lookout for hospital signs whenever I enter a new city.

Here are the girls getting on the bus (on their second day of school actually).  It's this little van that picks them up and takes them the 3 km to school.  The bus driver is so nice and humors me when I practice the few German phrases I know on her.  There is a little girl who rides with the girls who is really sweet to me when I mess up and she has to correct me.  She speaks fluent German and English.

This is the sign that indicates that it is a school bus.  These signs are all over these little vans all over the place.  I love this little sign!  The bus drips the girls off right in front of our house at the end of the day ... at random times I might add.  I honestly don't know when the girls come home each day.  Some days it is 11:30, others it is 12:30 and others it is 1:00.  It's a lot different than the U.S. but I think in the long run it will be well worth it.  The girls already are getting a better education than I anticipated. 

Last Day of School

Yeah, I know, we are really, really, really behind in blogging ... but it has to be done, right?

Here are the girls on their last day of school, sporting their school T-shirts.  They were all too excited to be finished.  I was glad too, we were seriously the last ones to get out of school in the United States.  We were ready for a bit of summer!

Olympia's Dance Recital

Here are the girls at their dance recital before we moved.  They were so excited to participate and to be able to were BRIGHT makeup.  It was so funny to watch them admiring themselves in the mirror after they were all ready to go onto the stage.  They both did a great job, we were so proud of them!  

my man and his GRADUATION

the graduating class

I can't believe this day actually has come and gone.  My husband has almost finished school ... what a HUGE accomplishment!  (WOW!  He has been in school for a very long time!)  We are so proud of you Miles.  You have worked so hard and put so much time and effort into school and work!  Thanks for everything you do for our family.  Congrats!!!

These individuals are our family away from home.  We love these people and will dearly miss them when (at the end of the month) we all go our separate ways (except 2 are going to the same place) and are forced to say goodbye to one another.  We have been each other's support group by having BBQ's, playdates for the kids, girls movie nights, guys movie nights, and other gatherings.

I seriously look sick here ... this was before I finally saw the sun and my sad pale face diminished just slightly