Constant Beginnings

So, we always hear--3rd times a charm. Let's hope this is true in our case because......we recently learned that we are pregnant! We are over the moon, trying to remain calm, keeping our excitement in check, and gripping on to the possibility that things may go wrong. Basically Chris and I are psychological messes as we prepare for the letdown. That is extremely sad. We are thrilled, but don't want to get our hopes up only to experience the heartbreak again. That being said, we are farther along than we've made it in the previous pregnancies, so we remain hopeful. I am feeling extremely tired. Today I dropped Claire off at Bible School, came home, slept for 1.5 hours, made lunch, picked up Claire, fed the girls, then we all napped for another 2 hours. Pathetic, but so lovely to be able to do that. Not great parenting, but what do you do? I have also been experiencing nausea like never before. I am constantly feeling sick--not to the point of throwing up, but basically to ...

I am not a big believer in parties for young children, so instead, Chris and I do our best to spoil or birthday child for the day. They basically choose whatever they want to do and we do it. Claire chose to get her ears pierced then hit a new (for us) zoo, followed by a late, late night firefly quest. Well, we went to Claire's jewelry in Kaiserslautern right at 10:00 when they opened only to find out that the 2nd employee was due for work until 12:00. We decided to shop around, have some lunch and go back at noon so she could have both ears done at once. Both she and Mya had their ears pierced and both were thrilled. By that time it was nearly 2:00 and we were tired. We opted to hold off on the zoo until the next day, go home and have a nap so we could stay up late for the firefly hunt. Claire was a-okay with the change of plans, but I couldn't help but feel bad. The rest of the day flew by, we enjoyed cake, presents, playing outside and movie watching. At about 10:30, we walk...

One of our favorite things to do while living in Massachusetts was venturing out to pick our own strawberries and pumpkins. We couldn't have been more excited to learn of a few different erdbeere patches around our little village. They were the largest quantity of large sized berries I had ever seen--and mmmm so delicious!

We ventured away on an overnight trip to Brussels a few weeks ago with our travel buddies, Erika, Aaron and Asa. Brussels is about a 2.5 hour drive from our house. Most people do not go to Belgium to visit Brussels, but we decided to see what the city had to offer. We stayed at the Sheraton in the heart of the city, hopped on the Hop On/Hop Off bus to catch the highlights, stopped at the Atomium (" iconic building in  Brussels  originally constructed for  Expo '58 , the 1958 Brussels  World's Fair ") where we waited an hour or so to ride the elevator to the top sphere to take in the panoramic view of the city. The atomium was renovated in 2000 something, but really doesn't have anything to offer those of us who have seen a light show or two. It was very much a disappointment. We also enjoyed Belgium fries. I'd call them French fries, but I suppose that isn't quite right. Anyway, Belgium is known for their fries and waffles, both which were delicious! From...