Monday, December 28, 2009

Warning

Dearest children,

If you ever take all of the DVDs out of their cases and shove them under the guest room bed (especially in the five minutes it takes me to unload the dishwasher) again... "nice" Mommy might disappear forever.

I love you, Mommy

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Dizzy Dazzling December

Merry (belated) Christmas!

We have been very much enjoying all of the festivities of this time of year... here are a few snapshots.

**Santa brought me a new camera (yippee), so I have been taking a LOT of pictures the past two days, but the first of these are from the old camera. Can you tell the difference? (I can.)**

Early in December, the kids and I started collecting pine cones on our walks in the woods to make some crafty ornaments. Then one night Charlotte and I glued silver glitter on them, and I tied some ribbon on, and Voila!

Toby has been REALLY interested in the workings of the woodstove this winter. No burns yet, thankfully.

I put icing on all of the sugar cookies, but let the kids do their own sprinkles. This was Toby's very own creation. :)

Charlotte's cookie masterpieces.

Of course, I like to decorate cookies too.
(Notice the blur? Guess which camera.)

In mid-December, we went to a Christmas concert and party at our church.
Rob and Toby looked dapper in their green shirts.

Charlotte is such a shy and retiring child. HA!

And finally, the main event!
Christmas morning was VERY exciting for Charlotte. She LOVES the dollhouse Santa brought her. (And all of her new toys, dress-up clothes, and books!)
(Blur, blur, grainy, blur.)

Toby also really enjoyed Christmas (though it took him 2 hours to open his presents.) Santa brought him a wagon and blocks and he received many other cool toys, (which he has had a lot of fun with already,) but he is just so cute taking care of the babies in Charlotte's dollhouse.
(Crystal clear photo = YAY!!!)

Today has been full of more fun with new toys and also with the new camera. :D
Crazy fairy princess in the foreground, singing Toby (with a spoon as usual) in the background.


I love this wild child.
(Fun new camera!)

Tickling and wiggling and giggling with Daddy.
(And not a blur in sight.)

Contrary to popular belief, Charlotte does actually stop moving from time to time, and always enjoys a good book.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!
(See ya in 2010!!!)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Warms my heart

It's a cold day in Germany... so it made me feel very warm inside to hear Charlotte say, "Come on Toby, you're my best friend forever."

These two have their rocky moments (like when Charlotte nearly drowns Toby in the tub, or when Toby pulls Charlotte's hair in frustration) but it is my HOPE that they will have a close relationship and always look out for one another.

I grew up in the same house for the first 18 years of my life. I am still friends with many of my childhood neighbors. (Shout out to the Meadowlake Gang!) So, I feel bad that we move around on our kids-- and that the nature of the community we live in now, means that the friends we make here are also very transient.

The only upside of this, I think, is that in the absence of other long-term friends, Toby and Charlotte will be "best friends." Hopefully forever. :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Rothenberg ob der Tauber

On Saturday we went to Rothenberg to visit the Christmas market there. Every town in Germany has a Christmas market of some sort-- but I wanted to visit this one because it is in Bavaria (it's like they invented Christmas here or something) and we hadn't been there yet (due to my goof-up back in June of getting directions to a different Rothenberg) and I really wanted to see what I had heard was the cutest little medieval walled city around. :)

Very life-like (almost creepy) Santa Claus sculpture.

This is one of the gates in the wall around Rothenberg.
It really is like an enchanted place from a fairy tale.

The view over the edge of the wall on one end of town.
(You can see the wall continuing to wind around the town.)

The ultimate "time out" chair. ;)

Music playing in the square near the giant Weihnachtsbaum. It was around the time we got here that the snow started falling! It was very Christmas-y magical. :)

Brats for everyone!
(Rob made an attempt to get us some non-alcoholic apple cider, but kept getting drinks that smelled (and cost) like the alcoholic ones and so we finally gave up on that.)

Happy little madchen--
with a Santa hat and a giant gingerbread cookie necklace.

One ride on the mini-carousel before we leave, as promised to the kiddos.

Toby was ECSTATIC about this.
He threw a fit when I pulled him out at the end of the ride.

Medieval German cuteness.

Monday, November 30, 2009

More Warsaw

We spent most of our afternoons walking around Warsaw. This time of year the sun is setting around 4 pm and it was REALLY cold out.

There's a Hard Rock Cafe in Warsaw. The sign out front says "Choppers Parking Only." We thought the two scooters parked there were pretty funny. (Polish for Choppers?)

Maybe it is because I like family history so much, or maybe I am just weird... but I think cemeteries are massively interesting. This is the Catholic part of a cemetery in Warsaw-- dating back to at least the 1500s.

This is part of the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw. It just goes on and on for as far as you can see. (And for at least 2 tram stops, which is how far we had to go to get to the entrance from the Catholic side.)

Maybe if you click on the photo you can read the bottom- but it says, "In memory of one million children murdered by Nazi German barbarians 1939-1945."

Charlotte was desperate to make a friend in Poland. Newel teased her that she came to the wrong country for making friends... but she ADORED Karolina. So see! She did make a friend in Poland. ;)

Toby relaxing in the kids play area at the hotel.
He's just so cute, I had to include this photo.

Rob & Newel pushing the strollers.
We took Super Scrabble with us and one afternoon Rob and Newel had a quiet game while Karolina and I took the kids shopping and to the playground. It was nice to relax and visit with family and let the kids play. It was a non-traditional Thanksgiving for sure, but thank you for spending it with us!

Did I mention that it was REALLY cold?? ;)

We saw Warsaw!

Poland has really had it hard, ya know? Even just in the past hundred years, they've been trampled on first by the Nazis and then by the Soviets. They've only really been independent again for the past 20 years. I thought Warsaw was really interesting-- especially with Newel & Karolina to show us around. And it was great to meet our littlest nephew- Jack. :)

This is what I imagined Warsaw would look like... and this also happens to be the view from our hotel room.

One of the first places that we went was Lazienki Park. The grounds were beautiful and scattered with buildings from past rulers. (Rebuilt post-bombing, as is most of Warsaw.)

Toby & I in front of the Palace on the Water.

The Warsaw Andersons- Karolina, Newel, and Jack.

Scary playground equipment is not just a German thing.

Charlotte and Toby both loved scattering the pigeons.

Frederic Chopin was from Warsaw- did ya know that? They really, really like him there. Here is his statue in the park. The airport is also named after him, among other things. (Also, FYI, Marie Curie was from Warsaw.)

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be freedom fighters.

The Warsaw Rising Museum was our one museum stop on this trip and it was a good one! They have a "Little Insurgents Room" where we let the kids play while the grown-ups took turns learning about two months in 1944 when the Varsovians fought back against the Nazis. (Sadly they ultimately lost and then the Soviets moved in.) The displays were really interesting and movingly presented. Their website is good too- http://www.1944.pl.


Charlotte poking the Hitler puppet's eyes. ;)

This is the Palace of Culture and Science, an infamous "gift" from Stalin that the Poles have a love-hate relationship with. Mostly now it just has office space.

We happened to be at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier just as the guard changed. No band or fanfare, but it was very precisely done.

THIS is what I didn't expect to see in Warsaw, but was happy to! The Old Town has been restructured and was colorful and busy and they even had the Christmas Market up and running. :)


Christmas tree, shopping kiosks, live music, and crowds.

Sadly, this was the food we got at the Christmas market. This is Polish for pizza-- carrots, green beans, corn, and onions on a crust and covered in KETCHUP! Ugh. We did have some good food in Poland though- I liked the Pierogorie- a restaurant totally devoted to pierogies- awesome. And our last meal in Warsaw was at The Sphinx- which had yummy middle-eastern-ish food. But, mostly the food was not thrilling and we ate from both Pizza Hut and McDonalds on this trip.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Mr. Toby Tobias


If you're ever feeling blue, you can borrow Toby (but only for a little while!) I don't know how anyone could spend time with our "little man" and not smile. :)

Monday, November 02, 2009

Trunk or Treat

On Friday night we took our kids to a Trunk-or-Treat at our church. There was a Halloween party and soup/chili cook-off and bake-off inside. After that the parents all opened up our car or van trunks in the parking lot and decorated them a bit and handed out candy to the kiddos. :) Yes, once again, I failed to take many pictures at the event. BUT, this time I planned on that happening and took some pictures of the kids before we left the house. :D

(I sooooo wish I had a picture of Rob and Gilles dancing to Thriller in the parking lot!!! Maybe next year?)

Carving our Jack-o-lantern on Wednesday. Seems like (for now at least) I'm the only one who actually enjoys this tradition.

Bumblebee with a 'tude.

There's our cute girl! (With Little Polar as usual.)

Toby did not like wearing his costume... but he stopped crying long enough to blow me some kisses. Awww, he is the sweetest little monster. ;)

My Pumpkin Cake.
It was a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting that I made to look like a pumpkin. (har har) It was good too! It even won 2nd place in the bake-off. ;)