Constant Beginnings

Being an adult is a tough gig. I've never been great at making big decisions. Sure I make them, but more times than not, the days and months leading up to them are filled with stress, worry and agony. Living life via the military has it's advantages and disadvantages. For me, not knowing where the road may lead was an advantage. All I had to do was hang on for the ride. Sure, Chris and I went back and forth weighing each possible place we'd call home as if we really had a say in where we landed, but truth be told, we went wherever "they" wanted/needed us. Massachusetts, S. Korea and Germany. Now, 9 years later, retired from that life, here we are. Planted temporarily. We know that Germany is not our forever home. Only this time, we don't have a "they" in terms of the government to direct us. To be the grown up. To tell us where to land. Instead, we have little people. Little people who desperately want to land near their Grammy, Papa, cousins and th...

It seems life is flying at rapid pace. From the moment we wake, Chris and I are barking out orders to make sure everything gets done, everyone has what they need and all walk out the door with relatively brushed teeth, combed hair and clean clothes. It is a group effort. While our girls do pretty well, they get side tracked--often by their brother's cuteness. It is frustrating. That frustration turns the tides from a pleasant morning to a crabby, hurry-filled panic. Super frustrating. Work is my calm amidst the storm. I am in control. Of my schedule, of my life. There and only there do I not have 3 other demanding little people's needs to meet as well, knowing full well, their happiness rests on my shoulders. I love my job. That being said, working outside the home, means nothing productive is happening in other areas of my life--no laundry being washed, floors being cleaned, food being scraped off the high chair, boxes being packed. At 2:35 it begins again. The storm. I pi...

Some things are just too good not to share ;) Claire, Mya and Ava had a make over session. Ava was the makeup artist and applied the hair chalk. She has a talent ;) The girls were thrilled with their new looks and that is definitely what matters :)

Our neighbor across the street has an empty lot next to his house. He has graciously constructed a neighborhood garden of sorts and began growing his crop earlier this spring. The girls frequent the lot, playing soccer, spies, and attempting to climb the apple and plum trees that call the lot home. My dear neighbor posted this on facebook, " Thanks to who ever decided to pull out my pumkin plant and break the other one. I was trying to grow some for holloween." Spelling errors aside, I immediately asked my lovely girls if they were touching Mr. David's pumpkin plants to which Claire firmly denied. I breathed a sigh of relief, tucked them into bed and posted my response on facebook, " not your little friends here either., but it may have been me, sabotaging the contest ;)" Flash forward to morning. Chris comes in the bathroom to share the news. He interrogated the girls at breakfast and they confessed. I could feel my skin crawl with embarrassment, disappo...

As much as I am yearning for time to fly by or at least these next 4 weeks, I am finding myself yearning for it to stop just the same. Our girls are growing up too quickly, becoming more and more independent everyday and as their ever proud Momma, I love it yet hate it. This post is going to be somewhat random, but I feel I need to capture some of these moments for posterity's sake. Before we know it, this blog will be consumed by all things "Pedro." Claire has been learning responsibility. We are encouraging a study routine (never thought I'd be implementing this in 1st grade) with homework being done at the kitchen table. She completes her weekly math packet on her own, then Chris and I check it over and review what needs reviewing. Claire has a reading packet that is completed every Sunday afternoon even though it is not due until Tuesday. We are trying to teach her timeliness and how to avoid procrastination, even though I am a pretty successful procrastinator. ...

Wow, it is hard to believe 2013 is done and gone. It was such a mixed year for us. We suffered two miscarriages, immeasurable heartache and stress as we weren't certain our hopes to expand our family would come to fruition. We settled into a new house, made it our home and fell in love with our little neighborhood where our neighbors are like our family. We took our first cruise to Greece and Croatia, traveled to Venice, Italy three times, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terra, Belgium twice, Netherlands, France, England, Portugal & Morocco.  10 countries in a year is pretty amazing! Claire learned how to read fluently and is now reading at a 3rd grade level. Mya has learned all of her letters, the sounds they make and can blend sounds to read words as well. She is officially a beginner reader. Both girls are doing amazingly well at swimming. They love the water and can front crawl like no other. Claire has developed a love for soccer and is now competing in U-7 district s...

Our December has been jam packed with everything from swimming lessons to Christmas programs to carolling and projects galore in their classrooms. It has been busy and I am exhausted! Here are a few pictures of what we've enjoyed. Claire's side. Mya's side Claire's creations. Add caption Claire and her classmates carolling at the BX.

Chris and I had this elaborate plan on how we were going to share the news with our girls. I ordered adorable shirts, which took forever to get here. They were supposed to ship Oct. 4, but didn't. I am not a patient soul at all. I love to share good news and spread the excitement. We went to a German doctor last week for a gender reveal ultrasound. He was 99% certain of his selection. Claire and I began looking at clothes online. She asked questions about why we were looking at baby clothing, but thankfully, my sister has a little guy and a baby girl who is due in December. They are my perfect excuses for all things baby! Claire asked nothing more and began pointing out things we should buy Jackson or the new baby girl. Our weekends typically involve partaking in a local event or just relaxing, which means a trip to the KMCC Mall. Saturday we went shopping or at least looking. Once again, the girls became excited, choosing items for Jackson or the new baby girl. I decided I cou...

Gartenshau is located in Kaiserslautern, which is about 10 minutes from our house. It is a great park filled with huge dinosaurs. There are playgrounds, flowers, walking trails, sand activities and food. It even has a miniature golf course and skate park. In the summer, they hold concerts and special events. We tried to check this place out last fall, but couldn't find the entrance :) Anyway, we are glad we were successful this time as we are now season ticket holders at the price of 45 Euros. It is a steal and so much fun!

We ventured to Holiday Park which is about a 1 hour drive from our village to celebrate Asa turning 4. It was a great day! The park is pretty reasonably priced for children--10 Euros and meets everyone's needs. We mainly utilized the rides for smaller children. Claire had high hopes of riding bigger, more scary rides, but she didn't quite make the height requirement. She was able to do the Tower or Power which is a smaller version of the adult ride. It was a pretty big deal and she loved every minute. The kids had their faces painted. The chick started painting the side with Mya's dog bite until we asked her to stop. She had to revise her design a bit, but the girls could have cared less. They were in heaven. They both had butterflies though I neglected to take pics of Claire's. It was a really fun day. The girls had a blast.

Claire and Mya finished their first semester of ballet at an actual ballet studio. Their previous experiences were both on-base, which are nothing like the "real deal." Being enrolled in a more focused studio had its pluses and minuses. They completed the season with a Disney Showcase, performing all songs from various Disney movies. It was very cute. The girls performed "Arpeggio" from Aristocats. The kicker is that they not only attended their one day per week class, but the week of the performance they practiced Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Friday's practice was a dress rehearsal which lasted from 3:00 until 6:00 with the actual performance at 7:00. I thought it was far too much for preschool children. Claire was pretty patient and focused, but Mya was ready to run after about 2 hours of sitting. I don't blame her. It was too much.  Watching the ballerinas perform while they wait their turn. Claire, Peyton (Mya's friend from presch...

We were picked up at our boat by Paul for PK Travel. I booked this tour for 380 Euro which included a 12 person tour, private bus and private guide. It was a great deal. He gave us some information about the city, pointing out the Olympic stadium, which is used very infrequently now, rules of road use--odd/even plates dictate who is allowed to drive into the city on given days, and other odds and ends. The poor economy has helped decrease the traffic conjestion immensely. We met our guide at the Acropolis, which refers to all the hills in Ancient Athens which were used for political purpose. We heard a very detailed explanation, checked it all out, touring for a few hours, then headed over to the Changing of the Guards ceremony. We completed a driving tour of the city, then opted to skip the museum and head over to the shopping/flea market district where we dined on gyros and shopped a bit. It was a lovely day! The Acropolis from below. The theater where numerous greats ...