Family Photo Shoot

Ice Skating

Obviously keeping up my blog was not one of my New Year's Resolutions.  Instead I have launched a massive offensive against the clutter and chaos in my office/work area.  At this point the battle is still pretty fierce, but I think I'm making progress.  One more trip to Ikea and I think I'll be able to pull through victorious!.. And then I can get back to the blogging world.  But in the meantime here are at least a few ice skating pics!  Maybe I'll even have a cute background and get rid of the Christmas music soon!

Briggs (aka Indiana Jones) Turns 7!!

10 Things I LOVE About My Son

1. Everything is funny.  A good joke is never wasted on Briggs and he has a great laugh!  It's as much fun to watch him watch a funny movie as it is to watch the movie because everything is hysterical.  

2. He's super stubborn and thinks he's always right.  You may wonder why I love that - it certainly can be frustrating - but I love it because he got it from Me!  You can't tell that child anything if he's already made up his mind the other way.  I love it.  

3. He's still sweet.  He still lets me kiss him good-night, sits on my lap, and will kiss me on the cheek.  He can play really cute with Porter and loves his stuffed animals.

4. He's all boy.  He loves sports.  Any sport.  He does the sound effects, he wrestles, he gets holes in the knees of his jeans long before they should be there, there are always rocks in his pockets - and in my washing machine - and his shoes are always muddy.

5. He's extremely social.  This has caused some problems at school and church when he's supposed to be working quietly or actually listening, but he has a real gift.  He really loves people and makes friends really easily.

6. He's well-rounded.  He loves sports as I mentioned, but he loves reading, loves music, loves traveling, loves art...he just loves everything which makes life fun.  Okay, maybe not cleaning his room so much, but everything else.

7. He's smart.  I have to admit that I'm proud of how smart he is, but I won't go on and on.

8. He's tough.  I mentioned he's all boy and likes the rough and tough things, but he also is a tough kid in hard times.  He has had recurring fevers and joint pain since he was two and has been quite a trooper through a lot of tests and a lot of time spent feeling really sick and rotten.  He gets fevers much less often now which we are really grateful for!

9.  We have a really close relationship.  He's promised me that he won't date until he's 21, will still sit on my lap and let me hug him when he's in high school, and will live on the same street as me after he's married.  I'm holding him to it.

10. He loves food!  Thankfully he has the energy to handle it because he can eat more than Tyler and often does.  I fear the years - and grocery bills - ahead.  He can handle an insane amount of food!  But he always thanks me for the "wonderful dinner" without fail!  So I guess I'll keep feeding him.

Pool Party

I've finally learned that it's MUCH easier to do birthday parties somewhere OTHER than your house.  It only took me 8 years to catch on!  The kids play...Tyler and I sit back...and when it's over we all just walk away.  No mess.  No insanity.  Everyone is happy.

Christmas

Christmas seems to have come and gone too quickly this year.  It seemed like December was really busy, but we had a lot of fun baking, dipping chocolates, and shopping!  We had a great holiday but we found that we really did miss having family around this year.  I had this nagging feeling that something was missing a couple of days before Christmas before I finally realized that it was the family parties that were missing.  

We are consoling ourselves though by playing a lot of Rockband, trying to figure out our new iMac, and by eating a wide array of holiday treats!  We also love the Christmas cards and letters - even the double sided epics :) - that we've recieved from friends and family.  Thanks for helping us pull through!

We really hope you all have had a great holiday season!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

Cologne Christmas Markets

One of my favorite things about Germany is the Christmas markets.  Almost every village has some kind of market for at least one day, but the bigger cities have markets that go from Thanksgiving up to Christmas.  Every year we try to get to a few new cities.  This year we went to Mannheim and Cologne.  Mannheim was really kind of a bust.  It was so crowded you couldn't move and so cold that all the kids were in their snowsuits.  Porter decided he had to go to the bathroom about 5 minutes after I had asked him if he needed to as we passed a McDonalds.  We made the treck back and went through a 10 minute ordeal to peel off all 20 layers in a very small and very hot bathroom stall because he couldn't pee otherwise.  Of course then it took almost as long to redress.  Then we made it literally 6 paces outside the bathrooms when he stopped and said, "Mom!  I need to go poop!"  and we did it all again.  It was killing me.  The highlight was the entertainment though.  Some dude with a thick German accent singing Garth Brooks.  I'm sure you just had to be there!

Cologne was the exact opposite however.  It was probably one of the best we've been too.  The Cathedral and Chocolate Museum were definite bonuses, but the market itself was fantastic!  They actually have about 6 different areas in the city with stalls and sometimes little rides set up.  It was open enough to move freely and the food was awesome.  And this is probably more info than most people care about, but I'm always trying to entice people to visit if I can!  We have Rudesheim and Strasbourg, France planned for next year if anyone is in!

Christmas Markets

So the atmosphere, the stalls of toys, decorations, jewelry etc., and the little rides are all really fun, but we really go to the Christmas markets for the food!  It's so much fun.  We walk around getting one or two of all kinds of things to try and then share them.  We had bratwurst, chocolate covered strawberries, crepes, waffles, dampfnoodeln - my favorite - and the best pork kabob I have ever had in my entire life.  We started with one and then had to sent Tyler back to fight the mob outside the stall for another they were so good.  And did I mention the chocolate museum?  Worlds best cup of hot chocolate hands down!

Girly Lips

I overheard Porter playing with a couple of dolls the other day. Not his usual toys, he's more into cars, playmobil knights, and swords, but still the conversation between the two dolls was pretty funny. I grabbed my grocery list and scribbled a snippet on the back. Here it is...

Doll #1 - Don't kiss me! You're all girly! And you have girly lips!

Doll #2 - What the heck?

Doll #1 - And you have girly pajamas!

Doll #2 - What the?

I believe that there was some kind of kissing between the dolls taking place shortly after, but it was hard to see as I was hiding behind the dining room table trying to listen.

Porter is at my favorite age right now. He says some pretty funny things and has kind of been on an anti-kissing campaign lately. Not sure where it came from, but he has also informed us that he doesn't like people to 'dance him'.