Happy Halloween!

 

It's Halloween officially in Germany! Tonight (well I guess last night now) a friend and I went to Toys R Us (yes we have one here too!) because they were havping a Halloween Party. Let me first start off by saying that Halloween is really an over all "new" "holiday" for Germans. They dress more like they do for Fasching which is in rather scary costumes. It's a little too much for me, but anyways...so we got down there about 5 and the kids go to different stations do something and get a stamp on their paper necklace ghost and at the end they go to the checker and get a bag of goodies. The first station they got Kinder tea which is just a treat for the kids, the next one they stuck their hand into different boxes...some had spiders and other fake insects, etc and one had speghetti, they got a piece of candy and of course their stamp. The next one they had to use a broom to scoot a skull around the freakiest looking stuffed cats I've EVER seen! At the end they got suckers! LOL They had a "spooky" tunnel to crawl threw and got vampire teeth, the last one was they ate this German goody...it's marshmellow on the inside and chocolate on the outside. I've had it before and don't like it. The boys liked it of course! LOL They had to eat it without using their hands. They had fun.

After they were done we decided to walk through again and this time look. I got Emma some little wool booties! They're so adorable! I'll have to try to remember to take a picture of her with them on. I may put them on her tomorrow/tonight with her costume. Emma's going to be a Princess! :) The boys are both being Peter from The Chronicles of Narnia. The boys have been counting down the days until Halloween! They're both so excited.

This year instead of the normal trick or treating we'll be going to the Fall/Halloween Festival instead. No scary costumes are allowed. It's sponsored mostly by the Chapel. I'll be working the PWOC table (we have a craft for the kids to put together) from 7:40-8:00, I have the last shift so I have a feeling it may be slow for me. There will be games and other activities for the kids to do. I really hope it's successful and they continue this from here on out. It's nice to have a Christian alternative and not worry about our kids getting scared because of the scary costumes.

Chad heads out for training on Thursday. He'll be back in time for Thanksgiving. This will be the first time other than 2 weeks ago that he's been actually gone for anything. Two weeks ago he was in school, but this is actual field time training. He missed the last time because he was on leave for having surgery on his knee. I have to say it's good that he's going. I guess you could say I make a good Army wife. I love, and I mean I DO LOVE this man...he gets on my nerves either way though! He's been home for a year now! In ways it feels longer than a year since he was last deployed, but we hit that mark last week! I am glad he's home for Halloween though. It should be a good break though for us. He'll get to call plenty. I do need to make sure that tomorrow he goes and gets more time put on his phone so he can call when it's good for him. I always call him back so it doesn't take his minutes (yes in Germany if you get a phone call it doesn't eat away at your own minutes!). I know the boys will miss him and by the time he gets home, I'll be ready for him to be home! :)

Ok so as you can see I have lots of Halloween graphics! I actually have more, but figure I'll save those for after trick or treating and I share pictures! Oh I have to tell you what Chad brought home this morning. A hedge hog! I was not very happy with him and told him to release him. The boys both got to hold him (they had thick gloves on). They were both thrilled as could be. He was cute I will admit it, but he's a wild animal. Tonight when I went to drop dinner off to him, I surprised him and there he was sitting there holding that darn hedge hog which he's named "Sammy"! That thing was all stretched out, quite comfortable in his hands being "petted" yes I'm DEAD serious! I told him it was time to let that poor thing go. I made him promise and when he called after we got home he said he went and released him back where he found him. I'll have to post the pictures of them holding him tomorrow.

 

 

Well it's late. The banana bread I made for PWOC is now out of the oven. I'm heading to bed.

 

Before I head to bed

              

 

I'm not sure what it's like all over the states, mostly because I'm being too lazy tonight to go and look. I'm guessing that at home (Kansas) it's nice. The leaves are all changing here and I'll post pictures of our color walk we went on yesterday later. Emma and I went to the ballet on Friday and it was wonderful! She was very good during the show. We saw the Russian Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty. The narrator was German so only about half our group had any clue what was being said, the other half of us just picked up words here and there, but it wasn't about the words anyways...but the beautiful dancing. Truly a gift and a lot of dedication and HARD WORK!

                

The time changed over here last night, so we fell back an hour, but no one informed my body of that and I'm absolutely wiped out! I'm going to bed once I'm done here. I wanted to come and ask for prayers for my Emily. Today marks 4 months since sweet Miller Grace (www.caringbridge.org/visit/millergracecassetty) went home to Jesus and began her beautiful dance with him. This is NOT an easy road, and I'm so thankful she has God to lean on. I do my best as her friend and I know others do as well, but the simple fact is none of us can measure up to God. So go by and read her words, send a shout out of Praise to GOD and all his glory. I'm not taking away from Emily at all and I'm guessing if she reads this she'll tell me if she agree's or not! But Emily's words are not for her glory, they're all about God's glory. Praising Emily isn't what it's about, encouraging her, giving her love...sure..but praising her, no...the one who needs the praising IS God. He's the one doing the hardest of the hard work. He's not only pulling Emily and her family through this time of deep grief, he's also giving grace to so many other people in this world. He manages to take care of us no matter what. He IS the King of everything and that includes multitasking! :)

 

Well, I'm off to bed. I'm going to go snuggle in with Emma and Chad and enjoy a hopefully good nights sleep.

testing animation

 

Just testing please ignore and do not comment

Trick or Treat Through J'Land

 

*****This is especially for little Miss Impatient Kelly since she had to "hound" me earlier for not already having this post up! LOL ;) *****

 

 

             

 

It's time to dust off that costume and get in some virtual trick-or-treating.  It's fun, it's easy and what could be better than Trick or Treating through J-Land?  Find new journals to read, and introduce your own.   Need instructions?

Snag the tag, make a trick-or-treat post in your journal that links back here.  Don't forget to leave a comment here including a link to your trick-or-treat post.  Then visit all your friends.  Hopefully they will have their treats ready!  Make sure you check back here often to see who else is leaving comments.  Go visit them and wait for them to come and visit you.

Happy Trick-or-Treating J-Landers!  Even if you don't have a journal you can visit the links and trick or treat.  Have some fun :)

 

Hi

             

 

Hi I'm still here, just really tired and there's been a lot going on here...some I can talk about some I'm just not ready to quite talk about. We're getting through everything and for the most part I'm still feeling pretty good. I have my down days but most of them have been up. Today I had PWOC and after lunch the kids and I went with my friend and her baby to Momax (think Ikea but cheaper) I didn't buy anything as I promised Chad I wouldn't, she got a few things but not much either. The boys acted like they'd never been there before (we've been there a few times) and were really getting on my nerves. They weren't bad, just constant and I do mean CONSTANT "Mom look at this, oh Mom, look at this, look at this, look at this" literally at EVERY single section! They were driving me bonkers! ;) When we got back I printed out team picture of Jacob's soccer team and I printed out one for each kid on the team, since we had our soccer party tonight. We did it at the bowling alley and we bought 5 large pizza's, 4 pitcher's of pop, and rented a room and did it all for $50.00...not bad imo! The party started at 5:30 and we left at 7:30. The kids all had a great time, but it was loud! Chad handed out the trophies, certificate of participation that I printed off, and the photo. He got an AWESOME thank you gift. He got a really cool basket..it's blue and they stenciled on it "Coach", gave him a dvd of various games through the season, a water cooler, different sorts of supplies, and a really nice photo album about 1/4 of the way filled. I'm going to print off pictures from not just this soccer, but Jack's and the other sports the boys have played to put in there! It's a leather bound photo album, really nice! Oh and that basket, I'm so taking it! That was the "team" gift. Then another little girl gave him a free movie rental card for 5 free movies along with a cute little home made card and another gave Chad and I a thank you card. It was really sweet. The kids had tons of fun and ultimately that's all that matters. Chad had a REALLY great group of kids this year and the parents were great too! I had a couple friends who's kids were on the team so that was an easy perk and then got to know a couple of the other mom's and really like them so it was really nice!The kids all played well together, none of the normal issue's you'd expect with 6-8 yr olds so it was really nice!

 

                  

 

Oh Jack had his soccer party on Monday. His coach is a friend of mine, we share a name! :) Her older daughter was on Jacob (and Chad's) team. Her and I have a lot in common, besides the same "great" name. She has a 9 yr old (son) Jordyn would be 9, a 6 yr old daughter (Jacob's age), and a 4 yr old (Jackson). Her 6 yr old is also Emma Grace! :) She's a riot and I enjoy hanging out with her! Her Emma was on Jacob's baseball team, which is how we met (they'd just moved here before baseball season). Oh and our younger two...both were born at Fort Riley...remember same years! Of course we didn't know each other at Ft. Riley...we had to come to Germany to meet! LOL She's requesting that both her girls be on Chad's basketball teams (he's coaching both boys!)...that man is crazy, but I'm so glad he's doing this because there are times in our life that it's simply not possible. Initially when he came home last year I more or less pushed him into coaching the boys in basketball...but no more pushing, he really enjoys it and the boys LOVE having Daddy as their coach and the other kids on his team love him!

 

              

 

Yesterday Emma decided it was the start or another growth spurt. I breastfeed her and love it, man though yesterday I was absolutely WORN OUT! She nursed every 30-45 minutes and would nurse for at least 30 minutes. She wasn't just pacifying either...but strong nursing. I was literally empty when Chad came home, nothing was left in me it felt like and I was so phsyically drained too. Chad took her for me, for about 30 minutes so I could just rest, which was a blessing. After that though...if anyone tried to hold her she was screaming for me. She woke up about every 2 hrs last night too, to nurse, she normally sleeps about 5 hrs straight at night before waking to nurse. To say the least I was exhausted this morning and not sure why the heck I'm still up, because I'm so drained! Tonight she's still nursing like a mad girl! I know it won't last forever and I do cherish this time with her. I'm all she truly wants and needs. If someone else is holding her, you can bet she's leaning trying to find me, and if she hears my voice she's practically falling out of their arms. I know you think I'm exaggerating, but it's true. She LOVES her Momma and her Momma loves her!

 

                     

 

Well I am getting off of here. Tomorrow morning I have to be up and out of here early. We have Mom's Morning Out and I have to go get the keys to open up the Yellow Ribbon Room and then after dropping the boys off there, I'm heading up to the Matting and Framing Class, which PWOC is having a special class (well 10 of us). I'm excited. I've wanted to take this class, but either I forget or something comes up...when it's offered during the week and weekends, so since they offer a deal of 10 people for $50.00 for the whole class (5.00 a person) you can't beat it. I asked my friend D who works there and who comes to PWOC if it was something we could offer and she said sure! Tomorrow's our first one and next month we're going to offer another one and if there's still demand they'll offer another one for our ladies in Feb. most likely! So anyways...I'm excited and once I have this class done I can go up anytime the matting and framing room is open and matt and frame pictures!

Have a good evening....Good night

 

Calgon Take Me Away

Well where do I start...it's Tuesday. Ugh...it's Tuesday. It all started off a good day. Got school done in a good amount of time, got dressed, headed to the commissary, came home, had lunch, forgot we had a WIC apt so got there about 10 minutes late, but all was good there. Left there and went and signed the boys up for Basketball, then headed over and dropped Jacob off at SAS (School Age Services so he could hang out and play), came home made brownies for a new mom, then it happened. My oh so wonderful husband who obviously thinks I'm an idiot left paint in the boys playroom. Now he painted that room early in my pregnancy earlier this year...a very beautiful green. This paint is NOT high quality trust me...it's junk, but the Military gives it to us for free to painte the rooms so beggers can't be choosers you could say. So...does the genius take the left over paint and put it up...oh no he leaves it IN the playroom. I told him time and time again to take it out of there, but of course Chad doesn't. So today Jack spills it all over their carpet. I was fuming. I was mostly angry with Chad for being so ignorant to leave it up here (which of course after this amount of time I'd forgotten about!) and upset with Jack for messing with it. He came out and said the bucket had a crack in it...yeah if you call the lid coming off a crack! A HUGE pile/puddle of it. So I started cleaning that mess up, all the while calling Chad on his cell to thank him for being so well...him!

 

                

 

 

I called my friend Bobbie who has a steam cleaner after I got the majority of it cleaned up to see if I could use it to get the rest of it up. She went and got Jacob from SAS for me, and then we all met at the park. From the park we went to her place and she gave me her steam cleaner to use. I used it after we had dinner, it picked up most of it from what I can tell. I just used plain hot water, and tomorrow I'll try it with some solution in it, I think/hope it'll get the rest of it. I'm just flabbergasted at all of it. Of course these things ONLY happen when Chad's gone. IF I didn't mention it...he's at school this week a little over an hour away.

 

 

                

 

 

Sometimes let me tell you being an Army wife is simply no fun and sometimes neither is being a mom. I just feel spent right now.

 

 

 

Chad's mom is having some heart issue's and actually had surgery last week and did anyone call us? Nope! I got an email from her last night asking to have Chad call her. Of course he can't since all he has is the cell phone, so I called and talked to my FIL who after having to drag it out of him, tells me they did the ballon and tried to but a stent in, but it wouldn't work, and that one artery is still clogged. I'm just furious at them for pulling this junk. I've told my mil to get an international calling card so if they need to call she can and it won't cost an arm and a leg (we are getting vonage and we obviously need to get it ASAP), but someone could have called us and we could have called right back so it'd have been only a 1 minute charge for them. I'm just bewildered, because they'd be absolutely furious if we didn't tell them of something serious like this. I'm not a huge fan of my inlaws, but come on now. Chad IS home right now and the kids are all here and we're civil with each other. I can hold a decent conversation with them. I just don't get it at all. At all. My mil has other health issue's, a lung disease that's incurable..unless they got a different dx, but of course she still lets her husband smoke (chain smoker to the max at that) around her, and she's always had asthma too...the only cure for her lung disease is a lung transplant, but with her living with a heavy smoker I don't think she'd even qualify for the transplant list. Chad's beyond disgusted with that particular one.

Well...as you can see I'm back! Missed me huh? Drama...too much drama I tell you.

Ok...I've got to get!

God Bless

Hi

I know I just updated briefly on Friday, but I am feeling more and more like me again, this break was definately needed. I don't know how often I'll be writing, as I feel like it and the desire and need hits. I will not go into exactly why I needed the break, but it was necessary and I do thank you all for your prayers. I will say this, I don't know how anyone gets through a single day of their life without Jesus, much less when life goes upside down or even just off coarse a bit...he's absolutely necessary for each and every one of us and if you do not have a relationship with Christ, please email me anytime and I'd love to share just how easy it is to give your life to him! The Hope, Faith, and Belief of/in Christ is absolutely EVERYTHING. I ache for anyone who does not believe in our Lord and Savior.

So....Chad's gone for the week. He left yesterday for school, a little over an hour away. Of course he went and took a card that I need for Jacob to go to SAS (School Age Services...aka more or less a fun hang out he can go to and we get 5 free hours a month), so he came home tonight to give me the card and had dinner with us. I made us cubed steak and augratin potatoes. Chad said coming home for dinner was worth the two hours of driving! (Here and back total) Of course I had reminded him on Friday to make sure he put the stamp card back in my wallet when he went and picked up Jacob, but he didn't!! ;)

The kids and I walked down to the mailroom today, it was a beautiful day out and the walk is about I'd guess 3/4 of a mile to maybe a full mile away. Of course on the way out of the mailroom I got stopped by a lady I know and we talked for about 15 minutes. We got home, took the kids to the park for 30 minutes and then came in to start dinner. I was hoping to have it done before Chad got home, but that didn't happen. I was still peeling potatoes when we walked in, so he got the steaks ready for me while I finished the potatoes up. Tomorrow I'm planning on making us vegtable soup. Wednesday I have weigh in so I wanted something that is healthy and not too heavy. I'm planning on making home made wheat bread too, if I have everything to make it with. I also have to make a cake for a lady who just had a baby a couple weeks ago. Instead of icing I'll be making pudding to pour on top of it! So good! I have a yellow cake and chocolate pudding, I have no doubt the boys will NOT be happy that they will not be getting any!

Jacob's last week of soccer is here. Last practice is on Wednesday. Chad's the coach but will be missing it. The last game is Thursday at 5:00, Chad's hoping he can get out of class early enough to make it back for the game. I really hope he does. The kids love him and of course Jacob really wants his Dad here for his last soccer game. The realities are Chad will not be here next soccer season so I hate for him to miss his last game. We'll have a party once we get the trophies, they were just ordered last week (@@@) so it'll probably be another week or two before they're in, then we're probably going to do a pizza party. I think we'll buy 3 pizza's and tell the parents kids first and if need be they can buy more or we'll do the Ice cream route again and buy all the players a cone on us. The ice cream would obviously be cheaper...but there was already talk of the pizza so I'm not sure what Chad will decide!

On Saturday I watched a friends 4 kids! Yep...that's right I had 7 kids here in my apartment! Honestly though after 4 you just really don't notice the other ones. The parents are missionaries, they run our local Hospitality House (sponsored by Cadence International) and Mom was running in the Breast Cancer 5 K run/walk and Dad had Drill (he's a reservist). It was for about 1 1/2 hrs they were here. We made breakfast..scrambled eggs and pancakes. They pretty well were in the playroom the whole time other than eating. The oldest is a girl who's 9, she's Jordyn's age. She's such a sweet soul. I just love her to pieces. then there are the boys who are 5 and 6 yrs old and look almost identical and are from the back, and then the youngest a sweet little girl of 3! After Mom got back we all went to the Pumpkin Festival that was being held here on post by a deployed unit's FRG. I'd prepaid for 1 pumpkin and then we bought 2 more while there. Chad had left about 9:30 to go to another post to get us a battery for our van. In case I didn't mention it...last Saturday I got my van back (not just this past, but the previous!!) wahoo! But of course since we didn't start it for 4 months other than a couple times the battery went dead, so we had to jump start it every time we wanted to take it somewhere. Chad got back to post and to the festival by I think it was noon or so. We all ate lunch and then enjoyed the afternoon. They had a jump house, face painting, a new game (to us anyways) which was donut on a string. The kids puts their hands behind their back, someone ties a donut on a string which is attached to a pole/stick and the kid has to eat the donut without using their hands. Trust me it's hilliarious because that donut's swinging all over the place! I was laughing so hard I was crying with Jacob and Jack the girl felt sorry for him and held the string so he could get it! LOL We're definately going to do that game for Jacob's birthday probably! Which isn't until January, but it's always nice to learn new games!!

Emma's growing by leaps and bounds and smiles all the time! She is really responding to us more and more and is awake more and more. Time just goes by too quickly. I can't believe she's already 10 weeks old. Next Monday we will finally get to drop off her paperwork for her passport, social security card, and American Birth Certificate. It should only take 4 weeks to get it back, so once it does...hello traveling!! I'm trying to decide where we should go for our first trip, I'm thinking Austria but haven't decided for sure yet...maybe just a closer trip to Czech Rep. I just read an article on Bruge, Belgium (we don't need a passport to go there) and I'm really wanting to go there. It's absolutely beautiful from the pictures I saw. We may wait until the new year for any big trips. We will wait until Spring to head to Switzerland as I want to put money back since it's an expensive country and want to make sure I can see everything I want to see while there! I'm going to check into Ireland too, thinking of making it Chad's birthday gift from the kids and I. A friend of ours just went there for the 2nd time so they can give us some great tips on places to stay and must see's and we have a couple friends in the states who go to there every year so between all of them we should be able to have a fantastic trip! I'll keep you updated on that, it will of course depend on when Chad can get leave!

Ok...I'm sharing pictures

Still Alive

I just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive and kicking. I just need to continue to extend this break from here. We're all doing well and I've been having some really good days. I'll just give a little update. School's going really well for both boys. Jack's done with soccer season. He loved it! They had their one and only game on Tuesday and had a blast! He kept running by me saying "I'm having so much fun" or "this is so much fun, Mom!" It was absolutely adorable! Jacob has one more week of soccer.

Emma went in on Wednesday for her 2 month well baby, yes she's 2 months old now, hard to believe isn't it?! She now weighs a whopping 11 lbs 2 oz and is 22 1/2 inches long. She started off at 7 lb 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long! The weight gain shouldn't surprise me as much as the girl loves to nurse! She's growing so fast, too fast.

Well I have to go to the post off so I'm off.

 

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. I'm working on this and have given it to God and I feel him working in my daily.

 

God Bless

Taking a Break

I'm taking a break for a while. I am just struggling with things right now and it's just all a little too much, so I'll be taking a break from j'land and well all blogs and possibly just the internet for a while. I have to get things ok in my own mind. If you want to pray go for it, I know I can use them. I just can't really say how to pray for me because I don't know myself. I am simply numb and not sure why, it's just how it is. I'm also thinking of going private when I do come back. Don't tell me you want to be on my list if I do go private..I'll write another post for that IF I do decide. Just food for thought for you.

 

Bye

Sad Day In J'land

I am so sad to have read this entry, I truly prayed there'd be another "end" to Penny's cancer.

http://journals.aol.com/penniepooh/pennys-pieces-of-ohio/entries/2007/10/01/sad-day/1140

 

For those who knew, loved, cared, Penny...she woke up in Heaven this morning.