St. Martin Lantern Sing and Walk

Brecon's German Kindergarten celebrates St. Martin day. We met in the church and watched the children sing a few songs...  We loved watching Brecon sing the words that he knew and mouth the rest. Then we all bundled up and went for a walk around the village.

It was a bitter cold night and we had not really been prepared for the cold weather. Brielle and Connor both fell asleep during the walk making it a bit painful to carry the "dead weight" around. It was so neat how the community had put out candles in jars along the path, or in their yard hanging on the fence to add to the evening atmosphere. After the walk there was a bonfire with sausage and rolls, pretzels and warm drinks to buy. We ate our pretzel and hurried to the car as fast as we could.

I am always impressed with the kindergarten teachers at St. Martin's. They are loving and kind to each child, making sure everyone is involved and helping when it is their turn. Sweet and beautiful women and I will miss when we move from here.

The many faces of Connor

Today is Connors Birthday. Happy Halloween (also happy birthday to Aunt Amanda) He is a very special boy and we love him so much.  He has a smile that is infectious and is very quick to share it.  Additionally we have noticed that it is very difficult to get a normal smiling picture of him.  For some reason he always has crazy faces for the camera.  We think he is doing it on purpose because we have too many odd pictures for it to be coincidence.  Here is a blog we will entitle "The Many Faces of Connor". 

One of the only normal smiling pictures we have of the crazy kid

This picture was taken this morning as Cael was getting ready for school.  We don't really know why he was making this face as he was really happy.  It was his birthday and he had just opened up his presents.  Of note, every day we tell Cael to comb his hair before school.  For some reason every day we have to redo his hair for him.  He does the craziest hair-doos if left to his own.  I think this one was a throwback tribute to the down-the-middle part that uncle Brandon always sported in the 90's (we called it the butt-crack) 

 Getting his gameface on for his Quasimodo halloween costume

We see this face a lot, but usually after Cael has been making unspeakable things with his backside

 

Gangster

 This was such a sad time, when he broke his hand.  It didn't slow him down much but occasionally he got frustrated with having to one hand difficult projects 

 What's wrong with this kid?

He loves this hat.  Picked it up in England and he wore it everywhere. 

Happy Birthday Buddy.  We love you. 

Mediterranean Trip



We just got back from a nice trip to the Mediterranean .  We left the boys behind with friends and kept the little one.  Here are some pics of some of the different spots we hit. 

Trevi Fountain in Rome. Beautiful at night. 

Athens.  The Acropolis is beautiful in the background and this was one of our favorite spots to view it. Up close it was hard to appreciate the grandeur of it all.   Notice the baby in the backpack style carrier.  She actually did really well in this thing.

 Us at the Acropolis. 

 Walking through the Agora, below the Acropolis.  Beautiful structures. 

Turkey.  This is the sight of an ancient temple with a mosque and a cathedral in the skyline of the background. 

Turkey, Ephesus.  This was the library.  It was amazing to walk through the streets and try to imagine what life during ancient times would have been like. 

Summer Highlights 2012

I saw a friend who recently posted why she loves looking back at all the memories and the little things that happen on her family site. I feel like I have been "busy" with this or that and I haven't made the time for documenting my family and I want to do better. It has been a lovely summer and our family has made the adjustments of having a new baby in the house and having more time together. We've had family and friends visit, we've gone on trips, and had some fun get-togethers around town! I love this crazy time with my little family! So here are some pictures over the last couple of months so I don't feel so guilty for not having anything up at all for a long time!

 My oldest son turned 8 YEARS OLD! When--- HOW?!! He has been getting ready for his special 8th birthday and chose to be baptized on the same day! I love this young man and what an amazing kid he is becoming.

 Here we are eating some cake and ice cream and having a little gathering with friends to celebrate. I LOVE THIS BOY!

My Mom and Dad visited us for 3 weeks and we traveled all over the place. But first we promoted Ben from a CPT (captain) to a MAJ (major)!

We have a girl in the house who is adored by her brothers...

 She wears pink and flowers (when I remember to put them on her head)

Connor had 4 stitches on his head installed by his Daddy and 2 broken fingers from the "crockpot" accident. Poor little guy healed up in 3 weeks!

 Brecon turned 5 years old! He is getting so big and is such a funny boy to have around. He is really the one who is always paying attention to his baby sister, it is really adorable and sweet. He is a joker, and loves to tell jokes that end in "cow poo".... anything with poo is pretty funny!

 His party involved water guns and THE longest spanking machine EVER! We started feeling bad because he was really getting a lot of hits after the kids kept running to the front and making him keep on crawling through.

 Cael and the neighborhood boys played some street hockey and NO ONE broke an arm!

CONNOR is potty trained! I had been introducing the potty on and off during my pregnancy, but decided I wasn't fully committed. Lo and BEHOLD the day we bring a new baby home he refuses to wear a "baby diaper" and away we went!! I couldn't believe how great he did with it all. I have to say that the #2 was a bit tricky, but a reward of a chocolate KINDER-egg really put him over the top. Sometimes I would hear him saying "CAW-KIT IGG" after running out of the potty! WOO HOO! SO glad I only have to deal with 1 baby in diapers these days.

Now all I need to do is catch up on all the other stuff that has happened... wish me luck!

England Trip

We decided it was finally time to go visit our friends in England.  What a fun country.  The kids were troopers and we only had a few meltdowns and near death experiences. 

We started in Ely and Cambridge. Went over to Croughton for Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace. Down to Bath... for the Roman Bath and Comedy walk. Finished out in London for 3 days. It was a bit more chilly than we had packed for. But we made it out alive!

On the ferry boat headed up to see the Tower Bridge.  It was a cold day and we forgot to bring the jackets.  You would think we were raised in the tropics, not the cold wastlands of Wyoming, with how often we seem to be the only people around who forget to wear weather appropriate clothing. 

We bought the boys hats early on in the trip and they loved them. We were supprised at how they made sure to wear them everywhere and often got upset when misplaced or stolen by a brother.  Cael was the only one who lost his hat by the end of the trip.  Too bad because he sure looks smart in this thing. 

Connor had no concept of whether his hat was straight, sidways, backwards, or inside out.  It was so fun to see the different ways he would put it on. 

We stopped for fish-n-chips.  Brecon is having a meltdown and wouldn't eat.  When he saw this picture he told me that it was because Cael had stolen his hat. 

Classic British guard standing in the background. 

Good lookin boys

The Union Jack.  Apparently the only time it is actually called this is when it is flying at the front of a boat. 

I have always told the boys they need to protect the women of the family. Brecon and Cael have the right idea.  I think Connor is trying to lay his own type of protection around the ladies. 

Warwick Castle

London Eye in the background.  Beautiful at night

Museum of Natural History

We visited the Duxford Air and War Museum.  I think the boys liked it

We were not sure if people were supposed to be climing on these things.  Better to ask forgiveness that permission, right? 

Roman Bath House. 

Bird show at Warwick Castle.  We were a little afraid the big birds were going to fly away with the baby. 

Riding the trian. 

The kids played well together, for the most part.   Sometimes Brielle doesn't know what to think about her crazy brothers.  They sure do love her and seem to smother with it sometimes

Warwick Castle

Stonehenge.  Very windy but worth seeing. 

The boys love carrying their little sister around

Beautiful countryside

Many days Connor wouldn't make it to the end.  Sometime we would put him in Brielles push-stroller and sometimes we would just carry him.  Its amazing how kids can sleep in the most odd positions. 

Big Ben and big Ben (and little Connor)

We sure had a great time on our England trip. It was so nice to ask for directions and understand the response with confidence. There were so many friendly people we ran into offering to take our family group picture. It really was such a change to have everyone laugh right along with us at the crazy things our kids say, instead of just laughing at us behind our back. All in all - a great and crazy trip with the whole family!