Last night I had the pleasure of joining a small group from our military community to celebrate the month of the military family. The guest speaker was Sue Hertling, wife to General Hertling. That name might sound familiar because we have had the honor of meeting with GEN Hertling once before! If you remember correctly, he even took a liking to Emma and her giant bow. Sue sent our unit information about the wonderful Battalion Buddies that the kids were given right after Dave's deployment started. The event was amazing and we even got to take part in the Hertling's holiday greeting to our deployed troops! Emma stole the show during that as well, but I am waiting for a youtube link so I can share it with you all! Mrs. Hertling spoke to the crowd about the importance of supporting your solider, but of also supporting each other. This is so true when living overseas far away from your regular family. I would be lost without my military family, at every duty station! The girls in Korea helped me to become the person I am today, optimistic about every opportunity! My wonderful girls in Colorado became the very best girlfriends I could ever ask for, as well as family friends! My girls here in Germany, well they are everything. To say you can survive a deployment alone is a lie. Mrs. Hertling spoke of a scene from the Sex and the City movie about the unspoken connection between friends Miranda and Carrie. Miranda didn't have to tell Carrie that she needed her company, Carrie just knew. And my girls just know, and I know that about them. It's amazing to be able to share this journey and bond with them and I am one very lucky girl for that! Don't think I forgot about my 'real' families in the states, you guys are amazing too!!!

What we did this week...

Remember this guy?? Funny, Emma is wearing the same hat, scarf and jacket from last year's picture!!

The kids really love to take funny face pictures for some reason...

The stairs lead to the wall that surrounds the city of Rothenburg

I convinced them to take a nice one...I'm so jealous of those baby blues!!!

Aside from our huge Thanksgiving celebration, we tried to keep the rest of the weekend low key. We hit up the Schweinfurt bazaar (which sucked) and their px for Christmas goodies. Luckily, I was able to get some things at the exchange, so that made up for the lack luster bazaar! Today we ventured out to the Rothenburg Christmas market today and I think it grew from last year! We also ran into the very same St. Nicklaus from last year as well! I love tasting all the yummy treats and collecting my gluhwein mugs! I just order hot chocolate instead of the nastiness...lol! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your families, I was lucky enough to talk to all of ours, plus dave and celebrate with some wonderful ladies! I am so very thankful for those of you that still like to keep up with us!!

Thanksgiving...Army and German style!

It's not Thanksgiving until you burn the marshmallows!

Everyone lining up their prized dishes! YUM!

A candy stand at the Christmas market

Emma enjoying her hot chocolate like a big girl..

oodles of snow globes!

This is the Playmobil princess castle that Emma asked Santa for...little does she know it's sitting in our basement storage room! :)

Lebkuchen. German gingerbread!

My precious and I in front of the Kathe Wolfhart store. She looks confused, but it was very cold out! We left Mason at the German kindergarten for the day...good decision.

Crepes are amazing!!! I ordered one with cinnamon and sugar.

This year since all the men are away, Charlie Company had Thanksgiving dinner at our house! We packed the house with wives and children and TONS of food! It was a great time together with the girls and to really be thankful that we have created our own family here in Germany. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a die hard Black Friday fan. I don't always have crazy items to fight for, it's more about the tradition for me. Well, Germans don't do black friday so I have made my own tradition of going to the opening day of the Nuremberg Christmas market on 'black friday.' I go on this day because it's less crowded and the real winter weather hasn't really hit yet! Today was FREEZING! But no snow or ice, so that was great! I didn't find any great crafty things but I did get my annual gluhwein mug sans gluhwein. It's comparable to hot wine with some odd spices, yuck. We did indulge in some Starbucks and retail therapy in the big city though! Our good friend Miss Gari-Ann came joined us as well! Tomorrow we are hitting up the international bazaar at a nearby base, I can't include pictures of that because they might contain gifts to be given at some point... :) I also just made a 5 day reservation for our family at Edelweiss Resort while Dave is home on mid tour! Hopefully we won't have to revisit the German hospital again while there!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!!!

Just a photo to share our turkey shirts with you! Our wonderful friend in Colorado Springs whipped these up for the kiddies! We hope that you have a wonderful day of Thanks with your families! We are celebrating with our Charlie's Angels (our company's nickname for the spouses) since we are all without our hubby's this holiday. We miss and love you all!!!

What we did this week...late...

After the lantern parade. It was freezing! Winter decided to show it's face in Bavaria I guess!

A proud little man. Last year he was with the 'baby' class and I had to walk with him on the parade, but this year I dropped him off! I had to walk with the other parents and pray that he wasn't going to light anything on fire while out of my view!

Checking out the flame. The two boys next to him are American as well and his best friends at school!

These are old, but I don't think I posted anything but her video. She had a parent night a few weeks ago to showcase all they had learned so far.

I meant to have this up yesterday but our day turned into mush pretty quickly after sleeping through my alarm. I know it was a Sunday, but we had planned to try out the chapel on post and yesterday was just not our day. The good thing is Sunday's usually come once a week so I think we're good! ;) The school has had me working A LOT lately and just recently they asked me to apply for a permanent position. The job would be working one on one with special needs children, which I basically already do since I sub for those ladies A LOT! This job would really help me with some of my graduate coursework as well, so that was awesome! I should hear from the principal soon about interviews and such, so cross your fingers! We have parent/teacher conferences coming up this week so it will be interesting to see what Emma's teachers have to say about our princess! Mason also had his lantern parade at the German school this last weekend. The best part, in just over a month we get to see our most favorite person in the whole wide world. NOT Santa, but Dave/Daddy! We are super excited to have him home for his mid-tour leave!!!

German Lantern Parade

Every year, the German kindergarten has a lantern parade. I have yet to find the real reason they do this. Last year I thought it was to welcome St. Nick but this year the lanterns were decorated like cats, mice, dragons and bats...so I'm no help! Here is a video of Mason trying really hard to give his mother a heart attack with an open flame. Yes, the lanterns ALL have lit candles in them, even the babies! Europeans are much more trusting of their children than us uptight Americans! :)

This is Emma's parent night at Tap. There really are no words for what you are about to witness. I will say, Emma's tap video was much better than the ballet video! Just make sure you have gone to the bathroom(you might pee your pants) and are not drinking anything(or spit your drink out from laughing) while watching this video.... :)