Ruldolf the Red Nose Reindeer

Alianna had her school concert Friday night. It was a wonderful evening with the kids showcasing their hard work in music class. It was a strolling concert since the school is not yet finished and doesn't have a space large enough for all of the parents. So the children had to sing their parts three different times. Alianna surprised us with a special song. This video is the third time they sung the song so the enthusiasm had declined! They also sang Jingle bells in english, spanish and german! It is amazing and so much fun to watch Alianna speak German. I know I keep saying that, but if you saw her you would understand why. I am also very jealous of how easy german comes to her!

Landon also did a great job of behaving for his sister! It was a long time, it was hot and there were many people. But he was a champ and sat in stroller while munching his way through the concert. He even held his arms above his head and yelled, "WooHoo! WooHoo!" for his big sister. He proudly clapped at the end of each song. The evening was a great success!

St. Nicholas Day

This is Alianna's class celebrating St. Nicholas Day.

It's been a little while since the last post. Things have been busier then ever. We are preparing for the Christmas season and our VACATION! Can you tell I am excited? We are off to Grindelwald, Switzerland for a week of skiing in the Alps. If they make boots small enough we are even planning on putting Landon on skis! And speaking of the little fellow...more great news! He is over is egg allergy! What a blessing! We are down to just peanuts. While peanuts are very scary to me, it is such a huge relief to be down to only one allergy. It has been so much fun to watch him fall in love with chocolate and eat his very first pancake (ok, he really just licked the syrup and got pretty sticky!) He is turning into such a little boy. His babyness is going away. He is talking a little more and we found a new kindergarten. He will start mid-January. I really like this place and it will fit my schedule well with my german lessons. I just hope I am not disappointed again. He seemed to feel right at home when we checked it out. I think he will be happy to make new friends.

Alianna as always is flourishing here! She told me the other day she is German. Not like a German, but acutally German. And I and all of you as well, are no longer allowed to call her Ali. Her name is Alianna! Got that mom! she said. Let's hope Santa get's it right. I don't know who will get the presents with only Ali written on them!

This weekend is the much anticipated Weinachts markt at the castle. We are holding a small open house on Sunday for friends to stop by for some gluhwien and cookies while they check out the markt. I'll have to post some pictures.

Larry is very busy at work. While I hate that he works late every night and we are on our own for dinner, I am thankful he still has a job to keep him busy! We will be very happy to spend time with him on VACATION! I think I mentioned that already! We are going on VACATION! A vacation that I don't have to pack an entire kitchen with me. While I still have to be very careful with Landon, we are actually going to be able to eat at a restaurant with him!

Enjoy the holiday season, relax a little and remember we are really celebrating Jesus' birthday! Even though times are tough we still have so much to be thankful for! Being away from home always reminds you of all the important things in life and all of the blessing we have... family, friends, a warm home, food on our table...
Have a very Merry Christmas!

St. Martin's Day and My Top 10 List of what I miss most

It's been a very busy few weeks! Alianna and I celebrated St. Martin's Day with her school this evening. 600 children filled the streets of Widdersdorf with their lanterns and walked in a parade of lights and song. The parade ended at a large bonfire where St. Martin arrived on horseback. The children then headed back to school to share hot chocolate and Weckmann (sweet bread shaped like a man with a smoking pipe). It was very fun to join in this German tradition.

Landon has also had a busy couple of weeks. The best news in a long time is that it seems he is no longer allergic to milk! We spent Nov. 3 at the Children's Hospital and sat with Landon for 7 hours while he participated in a milk challenge. Every 30 minutes he was given a larger quantity of milk. He did great! No immediate reactions and nothing 48 hours later. Our only concern now is whether or not his system can handle milk. He has had some pretty bad diapers lately. But I'm not sure if it is the milk or if he is sick. So we will just take the milk thing slow. Next month he will have another food challenge, this time with egg. Our lives will forever change if this test also comes back negative!

Landon also started preschool last week and then he ended preschool last week. We were very much looking forward to him starting and making new friends but I ended up not liking the preschool. Once we starting spending significant time there I found there to be too many problems to overlook. So now we will start our search again. Hopefully we will find a school we can feel good about.

Larry is working hard, he is actually on a conference call as I type, and he is enjoying his work. I still have many 'I hate Germany' days and yell out 'I want to go home', but I am trying to adjust. I am often asked what I miss most. Here is a top 10 list...
1. My family
2. friends
3. babysitters
4. Whole Foods
5. Target
6. large parking lots with wide spaces
7. ENGLISH
8. Sabor Latino
9. English TV and all of my favorite programs
10. My house

What's been going on

We have been here 4 months now. I think as a family we are feeling settled and comfortable in our surroundings. One of the fun things about being some place new is that there is always something new to discover! A street we have never been on, a neighboring village we haven't made it to yet. So each weekend we look forward to a new experience.


This weekend we finally made the short road trip to Bonn. It's only 30 minutes away and we had a great time. It had a huge pedestrian shopping area (of course the shops were closed as we went on Sunday) so it was great not to have to worry about cars while walking around. It also had a wonderful park. The kids had much fun on the play structures and Landon had a great time on a set of stairs.

Language classes are moving along. I'm still a deer in headlights everytime someone says something to me, but my germantoddlerese is improving. Today I learned how to tell time! Landon is really starting to say some words. Alianna is his favorite teacher! He loves repeating her. They play so nice together. I know everyone says it won't last long, but I'll take we have right now. It is great to sit back and watch them chase each other. They have all sorts of little made up games they play. They laugh their hardest when they are together!

Ali's Birthday Cycle

For Alianna's birthday, a neighbor named Mattias, fixed up a little motorbike as a present. He painted it red and fixed the battery. It was very sweet. So here is a little video of her receiving her present.

It's been a busy, fun time

So it's been awhile since my last post. Landon and Alianna have both had their birthdays! Frau Schumacher had a wonderful party for the kids. Grandma Jan came to visit and surprise Alianna for her birthday. While she was here both Larry and Alianna were on holiday from school and work. The first week we spent in Belgium at a resort called Center Parcs. It was so much fun! Think of the Homestead meets Great Wolf Lodge. We had a great apartment with 3 bedrooms and a kitchen. Center Parcs had an indoor waterpark and a spa! It also had an indoor pirate play area called Discovery Bay. We all had a wonderful time. We even spent one day walking the streets of Antwerp. After we returned home to regroup, we went to Movie Park in Germany. It's owned my Warner Bros. and looks like a movie set. The kids enjoyed Nick Jr. land and they had rides for both Alianna and Landon. Landon was so excited to ride Diego's Jeep and Ali loved Jimmy Neutron's roller coaster. Once we returned home from that adventure, Ali and Larry spent the next day skiing on an indoor ski hill! They had a 4 person chairlift, real snow, 25 degrees and it was all indoors. And since Larry doesn't know how to stay in once place, we repacked a third time and head for a drive down the Mosel River to Eltz Castle and the city of Bernkastel-Kues. This was Jan's favorite part of her stay! However, we all loved it. So that sums up quickly the past few weeks. I will add some pictures soon.

Now back to routine. Landon will start nursery in November and our next holiday break is over Christmas. We will be spending it here in Germany. I am excited about the upcoming Christmas markets. We are also hoping to go skiing in the Alps over Christmas. Bis bald...