Busy Busy

Emma is officially a Girl Scout Daisy. She had her troop investiture ceremony last month and they are smack in the middle of cookie sales. I have to say, Emma is a natural. She just walks right up to those soldiers and lets them know that they will be buying some girl scout cookies! First, who can say no to cookies and second, who can say no to her? lol! I'm sure Dave and I are the only ones raising our hands. We went to visit Nuremberg last week while picking up an antique desk and had a lot of fun visiting the old fortress and new places to eat! Dave has a four day next weekend and says we will be going out of town, I'm hoping Prague or Brussels! He is busy in the middle of the advanced course, it is a requirement to continue to move up in promotions. I like this school schedule he is on though, 8-5 most days with some letting out even earlier! I think the kids really enjoy having him home in the mornings and evenings! I'm taking a pretty heavy load this semester of all senior psych and behavior courses, but I am loving every second of them. They are really helping to prepare me for my future in Counseling. The sacrifices and hard work really start to pay off when you can actually enjoy what you are doing! I am hoping grad school will be just the same! Love you all!!!

sleighing...

or sledding. Emma prefers to call it sleighing but that sounds vicious, at least to me. We took the kids to the giant hill across the road from our little town and let them have at it. Mason loved it until he busted his face in the snow and then he was down, but who wouldn't be after that? Emma didn't want to leave and announced she wants to 'sleigh' everyday. hahahaha.

Is Disney inside the castle?

This week after Christmas we traveled to Neuschwanstein Castle which is most famously known for being the inspiration for a few of the Disney castles, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I say both, because of course on the internet there is great debate over which one was actually the original inspiration, so to cover my mistakes I noted both. :) Emma overhearing this, believed we were actually going to Disney World...she was a tad bit disappointed, but was soon won over with a carriage ride up the hill to the actual castle. We visited both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles and both were exquisite inside and out. Both were castles for the Kings of Bavaria, Ludwig and his father. Poor Ludwig didn't get to live in his fancy castle for too long. He had a spending problem and instead of just taking the checkbook away from him, they had a doctor declare he was 'mad' and dethroned. Geesh. I'm glad I'm not a Queen or anything.... This family was also very obsessed with swans, they were everywhere in the decor, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Emma was very concerned with why there were so many of them. The little hotel we stayed in was so cute and the food was amazing!!! All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I cannot wait to visit when the weather isn't as cold and the fog doesn't block the castle!

Merry Christmas Ery-body...

That's how Mason says it anyway. You can tell my Dad is on vacation because he hounds me all day about not updating the blog. He gets upset when I post pictures on Facebook, because well Daddy doesn't do the FB. :) So here you go Daddy! We had a wonderful Christmas indeed! After some aircraft troubles, cancelations and delays, Dave made it home to Germany at lunchtime on Christmas! The kids have just been thrilled to have him home, poor Dave though is having to play catch up with the jet lag now. We are hoping to do some Euro-travel during our break, if the weather stays nice. We got a couple feet of snow the other day and seems to keep on coming. Santa knew that Daddy was going to be arriving late on Christmas so he scheduled his visit later on Christmas Day so Dave could be there, which I thought was very nice of him. I made a wonderful Christmas lunch/dinner that actually all tasted yummy! The kids were spoiled, like always, by both sets of Grandparents. Our house looks like a toy store disaster right now, but thats ok. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

This is what happens...

When mommies have too much homework to do and aren't watching little boys like they should be....meanwhile, Emma watched him the whole time and never once told on him until she saw the prize inside the egg. Mason swiped a Kinderegg from fridge while I was in school mode. He did come tell me because if you know Mason, you know he doesn't like to be dirty at all! :)

sorry...

I just realized there were no pictures of the children in the last post...thats who you really want to see right? Not me in front of giant cookies? ok. :)

You can disown me now...

I am horrible, I know that. I won't even give excuses about school work, Dave being gone, strep and pink eye, I promise. :) We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with some really great friends last week. I hope you all had a good Turkey Day as well! Christmas markets have consumed me here in Germany and I am trying to attend all the ones nearby to get a collectors beer/gluwein mug from them. Great goals I have in life! We have also started some new Christmas traditions that I wanted to share! We are doing the 25 books of Christmas, where the kids get to unwrap a book each night in December and we read it before bed! I also made a huge advent calendar with some help from my Momma! She sent me the boxes and uber cute scrap-booking paper for them! The kids were so excited to see little chocolates inside the box tonight! Advent is huge in Europe so we even made an advent wreath like the ones the kids light at school! Germany is amazing at Christmas, it really makes up for the homesickness! Miss and love you all!