Tuesday, December 23, 2014

December days

Life is as busy as ever around here. Here are some glimpses of what we have been doing this month...

We went to get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Around here you see these people made out of hay bales.  One day, as we drove past a female one, Rob said, "Hey girl!" And this has become a family joke.  Every time someone spots one they yell at it, "Hey girl," or "Hey man!" And once Jake even yelled "Hey marshmallows" at some wrapped in white plastic still sitting in the field.  We all find this very funny, even though we realize it is completely silly and dorky.  Actually, that might be why we find it so funny.

It is also Christmas market season here in Germany.  Christmas markets are a magical place where you can eat many, many yummy things, ride rides, listen to music, drink a lot of hot wine (if that is your thing,) see the lights, shop for souvenirs, and just generally feel the magic.  The kiddos like the rides and anything involving chocolate or Nutella the best.

At our local market Amelie and Jake rode in the stroller.  It was pretty cold out, but we were sufficiently bundled up.
We also revisited one of our favorite medieval cities- Michelstadt.   Is it half-timber homes, the easy parking, the old city walls, the ice cream shops in summer, the bakeries in winter, the CUTENESS?


I can't put my finger on exactly why, but we just love this place.

This trip, we found one more reason to love it.  A little old German lady stopped us along the way and asked us if we knew about the toy museum.  Ummmm, no, we did not know about this! She told us she had four children as well and then gave us directions and as it started to rain outside we found ourselves in a free museum with antique toy displays, interactive play area, one floor of local history, and an entire floor of working model trains! We love you, Michelstadt.

Spinning in the toy museum.

Then back out to the Christmas market for more bratwurst, pommes, kartoffelsuppe, crepes, mandelbrot, kinderpunsch, and so on. Yum!

Visiting the Christmas markets was one of the activities in our advent calendar this year. Another one was making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.  Some of the other fun stuff, that I didn't photograph, included: hot cocoa and Christmas books night, decorating the tree, a candlelit dinner, Christmas movie nights, making paper snowflakes, having friends over to make ornaments, and delivering treats to neighbors. Each day also had a scripture that had to do with the Savior's birth for us to read together.

I put the lights on the tree, but then let the kiddos decorate it this year. I thought I would rearrange ornaments after they went to bed, but I didn't.  It was fine, they had fun, and I think all Christmas trees look pretty.

Especially when a cutie like this so lovingly hangs her ornaments.  Of course, she took them off and rehung them nearly every day this month, but so it goes.

The big kids are off of school for two weeks now and we started it off by doing a very smart thing.  I found this lovely 12 year old young lady (in the picture) who is willing to come to my house and play with my children (for a reasonable fee.)  She came over on Monday and helped us decorate cookies.  I was also able to make a double batch of cinnamon rolls, do the dishes, and take a peaceful shower without any children killing each other.  She also helped clean up and we had a productive happy day.  I will likely have her come back again after Chirstmas.
And finally, Miss Ami would like to remind you to love the baby Jesus.  (The piece from the Nativity that she is holding to her face.)  We love the ribbons and bows, the lights and the gifts... but Christmas "does not come from a store," Christmas DOES in fact, mean a whole lot more.  

Merry Christmas from the Anderson family.


Stitch Fix- an early Merry Christmas to me

My first StitchFix came in the mail today!!!  Woo-hoo! I had told everyone I would share how it went, so here goes.  I received in the mail a necklace, a sweater, a blouse, a dress, and a pair of jeans.  Shockingly, everything fit.  (I expected to have some fit issues, but I guess I did a good enough job of giving my sizes and shape.) Here is a quick look at the items...

First off, we are not talking about my Christmas cookie belly, it will go away soon (I hope.) 
This top was $54 from Skies are Blue.  The necklace was $28 from Bay to Baubles, and the jeans were $78 from Liverpool.  I didn't like the chest pockets on the top, or the sleeves. And I think the necklace looks cheaper than it is.  The jeans were kinda awesome.  I wore them around the house for a while and debated them much.  In the end I didn't keep any of these three items- though I was very close on the jeans.  I just have enough jeans that fit and I wear regularly, that I couldn't justify it to myself.
 

This sweater is $48 from Market and Spruce.  Same necklace and jeans. I kinda love this sweater.  It is soooooo soft.  And comfy.  And I love this color. And the sleeves are different than anything else I own.  The v-neck is super deep, but great for layering.  I kept this one.  :D

And then there was this dress.  
$48 from Papermoon.  I was very tempted to not even post a picture of it, but here ya go friends.  This is not a good look for me.  High neckline = giant orange box. Also, you can't see the hem in the picture very well, but the pattern there had a similar effect of cutting me off and making me look shorter and squarer.  Even Ami is like, "What is THIS?" No bueno.

So, I went on Stitchfix.com and gave feedback on each item and paid $28 for the sweater (48-20 styling fee.)  The other items will go back in the prepaid postage envelope they came with.  There was also in the box, a styling card showing different ideas for wearing each item... somewhat helpful for the style-challenged like myself.  I signed up to get another box in January.  I liked trying stuff on at home, the quality of the clothing seems high to me, and it was a pretty fun shopping process.  I do think the prices are higher than I would normally spend, but I am willing to spend a bit more for staying home and letting someone else put outfits together for me. Also, if you purchase all 5 items, you get a 25% discount on your order.

Stitchfix. If you decide to try it out and go through my link, I get a $25 referral credit when you receive your first box. 

Monday, November 24, 2014

a taste of 20 questions

When we are driving in the car seems to be when I have some of the most interesting conversations with the kiddos.  I don't know exactly why this is.... maybe the lack of other distractions for them, maybe because they feel they have me cornered?  I don't know, but that is the way it is.  Unfortunately, I don't always have the resources to answer all of their questions while I am driving, and, while I appreciate their curiosity and want to encourage it, I am driving a car, in a foreign country, and do need to focus a little bit on what I am doing.  So, I asked Charlotte to write down some of their questions and we would talk about them at home.  This morning she handed me a list:

1. How many planets is there in space?
2. What is every single thing in the world made of?
3. What are different kinds of rocks called?
4. How many mountains are there on the Earth?
5. Who is the oldest person on Earth?
6. How big is Earth?
7. What is a space black hole?
8. How do people tell the future?
9. How do bodies work?
10. How do some people make movies?
11. How do you make a book?
12. How many Navy guys die once a year?
13. How are toys made?
14. Have any hunters once got killed by a wild animal?
15. When was money first made?
16. When was air conditioners first made?
17. What flower was first discovered on Earth?
18. When was gravity first discovered?
19. When did jobs get invented?
20. What was the first kind of bird found?
21. How do you make paint?
22. What was the first fairy tale?

Some of these are easy enough to answer, or to Google the answer... others will require more thought and discussion.

Also this weekend, Toby made his first restaurant menu... independently. He has just begun reading and sounding out words, and I LOVE this stage!  I love the head-scratching puzzling I get to do when deciphering the words he writes and getting a glimpse into how his mind works.  I spelled 'chocolate', 'shakes', and 'cakes' for him, but otherwise it is all his work.  See how good your kindergarten deciphering is...

Shakes and Cakes

Dinrs
Csis
Sbgede and Mebals
Posd wif Niutle

Dsrs
Chocolate Smeoe
Tere Cnes
Adl cnes smveoe (this one has an extra trick to it)
Owrd Tere on Bed
Vere Tasd Caec
Cnes Chocolate Smveoe Tasde
Ovr Tasde Tere Smveoe

I will try to post a translation to this in a day or two, but would love to hear your guesses in the comments.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Bacharach

On Veteran's Day we decided to make our first sightseeing day trip, and drove to Bacharach. It is a town located on the Rhine river which we had seen from the Rhine River cruise, but had never before explored on foot.

On the way there, we passed this rest area, which Rob and I had giggled about in the past, but our big kids are just now old enough to find truly funny.  The sign is a bit blurry (you can drive fast on the Autobahn, don't ya know,) but it says, "Raststätte Heidenfahrt."

 Anyway, we arrived in Bacharach on a grey German autumn day and it was empty.  Like really empty.  But that is just the way we like it.  See that misty castle on the hilltop in the background?  That was our goal for the day and the walk there was full of medieval German cuteness and many, many stairs.


They don't know exactly how old Bacharach is.  The first mentions of it as a town in documents date from the early 11th century, but based on some of the evidence found there, it may have been a place people lived as early as the 700's.

Climb those stairs little bear.

This is the view from our first stop on the path at the Liebesturm, or Love Tower.  There are these towers remaining from what was originally the wall around the town, and they each have a name.  Others include: Thief's Tower, Market Gate, Post Tower, Tithe Tower, etc. 


Our little squirrel with her treasures collected on the hike.

The view of the Rhine from the top of the hill.  It is hard to tell, but this was around 1 pm.  It stayed misty and grey all day that day.

Rest stop.  But not to Heidenfahrt.

 And finally at the top of the hill- Burg Stahleck.
It was originally built in the 12th century, then partially destroyed in the 18th century.  It has been rebuilt in the 1920s and is actually now a hostel.  In other words, anyone with 20 Euros can spend the night in this castle if they so desire.

Another shot at Burg Stahleck.

We took a different route back down into town in order to pass the Wernerkapelle.
It was to be a church and construction began on it around the 13th-14th century, but it was never completed, and still stands there today as part of an unfinished cathedral.

All of that took us about an hour and a half to see.  On our way back to the car we were getting pretty hungry and only then realized that most shops in town were closed.  We hadn't realized that Veteran's Day coincides with St. Martin's Day in Germany. St. Martin of Tours was known as a friend to children and the poor, and his feast day celebrates the beginning of the harvest. In Germany, it is celebrated with bonfires and children walking the streets with lanterns made at school and singing and sometimes asking door to door for candy or donations for a charity. We saw some of that in our last village we lived in here, but didn't see any of it in our new town.  

Anyway, THAT is why Bacharach was such a ghost town.  But we loved our quiet, foggy Fall day.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

in between times

So what do you do when you are living in a hotel?  Or, living in a house with extremely minimal toys and furniture and dishes? Well, let me give you a few examples from our lives from August 1st-November 9th....

You go to local fests.  
I think this was the Herbstfest in Wiesbaden. We also went shopping a lot- for food, clothing, and looking for a few furniture items we knew we would need for the house.

Good thing our kids don't suffer from hay fever.

You take walks.
Soooooo glad we brought this double stroller on the plane. I wasn't sure it would be worth it, but it made it possible for me to get out and explore much more while we waited for our truck to get here.

You encourage your children to produce evening entertainment for you.
Charlotte, Toby, and Jake wrote and performed several "plays" for us with improvised costumes and hilarious story lines.  Way better than 95% of what Hollywood puts out. I also had them memorizing bits of poetry and scripture.  If they could recite it from memory for Rob when he got home, they got a piece of candy or a quarter.

You write letters, draw pictures, and take time getting to know your belly button.... and then show it to absolutely everyone you meet in the hope that they will show you their belly button as well.
 

You play way more video games than you are normally allowed to, and you finish potty training the toddler while you have an empty house and loaner furniture. (No couches were harmed in the taking of this picture.)

You play some music and DANCE!

 You take a lot of selfies.

You read a stack of books, and when you are done with those you download some on the Kindle and you borrow some more from the library, and you just keep reading.

You build elaborate things out of Playdough. 
And Lincoln Logs. And random bits of tile, sticks, and rocks that you find in the yard. And construction paper and tape.

So, in conclusion, you give your imagination a really good workout.

And you take a lot of selfies.
(This one taken just after our furniture arrived!  Yippee!)

Halloweeners

Happy Halloween! What? It is almost Thanksgiving? Yeah, well, our Autumn has gone by in a blur, and I am just now getting these cute photos up on the blog to share. So here it goes.


We HAD grand plans for this Halloween... but when the time came to actually pull all of the pieces together, we had just moved into our house and none of our things had arrived yet (sewing machine, costume parts we had already bought, etc.) So one day I took the kids to the store on base and pointed to the three racks of Halloween costumes and said, "go ahead and pick whatever you want."  It was a novel experience for us, and didn't go that smoothly as Jakey only wanted a costume that did not fit him, and Charlotte and I had our first in-store discussion of what is and is not appropriate attire for a little girl. But we did manage to leave the store with four little costumes.  

The kidddos wore them to our church's Halloween party and trunk-or-treat and had a great time.  We did not go trick-or-treating on Halloween this year... Last time we lived in Germany for three years we had exactly ZERO kids come to our door, so I wasn't really expecting our new neighbors to trick-or-treat either.  We did however hear our doorbell ring just as we were sitting down to dinner, and saw four boys in semi-costumes at our front gate.  Charlotte ran out and gave them candy from our stash.  And that was it.  Our landlord says that word will spread and next year we will have 50 trick-or-treaters.  I say bring it on.


Amelie the adorable lady bug.

Jake as Leonardo- teenage mutant ninja turtle.
This costume did not fit him at all!  see how short the sleeves are?  So I cut it in half and added that teal "belt" from an old t-short of Jakey's that just happened to be the right color.  It worked out okay, but was still skintight.

Toby the Ninja Lord. 
 Not just a ninja... I was corrected many times on that one.

And Charlotte as Hello Kitty.  Cute, and a wee bit more grown-up than the princess choices I tried to steer her toward, without being too grown-up like the fishnet stockinged ghoul girls that also came in her size.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Eight is great!

Welcome back y'all! Guess who FINALLY bought a new laptop? Yeah, that was a whole big mess, but now we are back online for real, and most of our boxes have been opened and the contents put away, and I am ready to catch up on the ol' blogeroo. I put all the photos at the end this time, so stick around.

Way back in October, we celebrated Charlotte's eighth birthday. Rob took the three big kids to one of our favorite haunts from last time we lived in Germany- Miramar.  This is an indoor pool complex with water slides, a wave pool, outdoor heated pools, indoor hot tubs, etc. I stayed home with Amelie because she was running a fever, and baked a birthday cake. When everyone got home we ate dinner, sang happy birthday, and gave Charlotte her gift- a cloth doll that she had seen on Amazon and had wanted for some time.  She has named her Bella.

Then this past week, Charlotte was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our church, you must be at least eight years old to be baptized.  We do not believe in original sin, we believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and that little children are innocent and do not yet fully understand the difference between right and wrong.  However, by the time you are eight years old, you are beginning to really understand when you have done something wrong, and can be accountable for your own choices.

So anyway, Charlotte decided to be baptized and we were thrilled to help her make that happen.  A lovely lady, Julianna, offered to make Charlotte a baptism dress!  Charlotte got to draw a picture of what she wanted the dress to look like (puffed sleeves! big butt bow!) and then we went shopping and bought the fabrics and gave it all to Julianna. And she made this dress, which Charlotte loves so much.  What a memorable keepsake for her to have from her special day. Charlotte received other special gifts as well.  Grandma and Grandpa Anderson sent a book called "My Baptism Memories" with spaces to record guests, the program, and other items, and a sweet little necklace.  And Rob and I gave Charlotte my mom's scriptures that have her name on them. I think she would be happy to know Charlotte is reading them, rather than having them sit on a shelf. (She is rapidly plowing through Genesis.)

After church on Sunday, Charlotte and Rob dressed all in white. We had a short service in the chapel where Toby said the opening prayer and we sang Baptism from the children's songbook.  Then I gave a talk on baptism and then Rob and Charlotte went into the font where Rob baptized Charlotte. Afterward the guests listened to some piano music played by a woman in our ward while Rob and Charlotte got dried off and changed.  Then we had a talk by Charlotte's Sunday school teacher about the Holy Ghost. After that, Rob and Brother Boyer (from our Bishopric) placed their hands on Charlotte's head and confirmed her a member of the Church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost and a special blessing.  We believe that any person in the world may feel the influence of the Holy Ghost at times in their life, but receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost means that you may always have the Spirit to be with you- to help you make good choices, to comfort you, and so on- as long as you keep yourself worthy of that gift.  In other words, if you ignore them enough, you can stop noticing those quiet promptings in your life, whereas if you try to recognize those moments of inspiration, or premonition, and act on them, they can become more noticeable in the future.

After the blessing, we sang the hymn I am a Child of God and had a closing prayer.  Then we had brought some light refreshments to share, planning on roughly 50 people.  Well, I should have brought twice as much food.  It was a stampede!  All of the food (curried chicken salad wraps, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a fruit and veggie platter, chips, pretzels, drinks, and about a hundred Kit-Kats) was gone in the blink of an eye, and Rob and I came home and made pancakes because we didn't even eat anything.  It was amazing how many people came to support our Charlotte, when we have only lived here for less than three months.  We felt the love for sure!

So Charlotte girl, we are so proud of you.  You are growing into a kind, compassionate, smart, talented, hilarious, and beautiful young lady.  Some days you and I butt heads, but I am really thankful for your strong will and determination, as I am sure they will serve you well in this world as you need to stand up for yourself and to do what you know is right. We love you little Peanut.


 (Check out our awesome loaner furniture and dishes by the way... more about those in a future post.)

 At home before church.


 Just before her baptism.

 With the amazing Julianna.

After Charlotte's baptism.

With Daddy.