Play us a song...

...you're the piano man. ;)

I've had that going through my head ever since we bought this used piano last week. Rob is the only one in the house who really plays the piano (I took 2 semesters at BYU, but that is barely anything.) So anyway, he has been entertaining all of our requests to the best of his ability-- which will be about a thousand times easier when we get him some sheet music. Maybe in January Charlotte will begin to take lessons? We'll see... maybe we'll wait a year. For now, we are all loving listening to Rob play for us.

Today I borrowed a copy of the Children's Songbook from our church so Rob has some music to practice with until we buy some of our own. (Also, any re-upholstering tips for the gold colored seat cushion? I'm not sure we can handle its awesomeness long term.)

Another project while we waited for our furniture this past week was this tether ball pole in the backyard. The kids are a little clueless yet, but had tons of fun out there with Rob- who was only missing his "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt.

And finally this is me at 36 weeks-- with all my babies.

This was just after nap, and Toby is choosing to be clothing-free for the photo. I also considered taking the photo of me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen for maximum effect, but wanted to show you the fireplace instead and the vase Rob picked out and filled with eucalyptus clippings from our yard. He's so cute. :)

catch up collage

June was a BIG month for us. Here are just a few snapshots of what our lives have been like.

The day we moved out of our house in Germany, Charlotte's school had their Sommerfest. Among the activities was this crazy kiddo version of walking on hot coals. Charlotte and Toby both jumped at the chance to walk barefoot across tires filled with gravel, corks, rocks, sticks, and pine cones. So weird.

Charlotte's class had a little farewell party for her on her last school day. She loved the sparklers and being the center of attention sitting with her best "Erde Gruppe" buddies Paula and Martyna. She especially loves the scrapbook they gave her with photos and memories from her year in German Kindergarten. She also enjoyed giving her teachers a book about Charlotte the sheep (in German) as a gift for the classroom.

Toby fit in too well with Charlotte's classmates. He loves doing anything that is for "big kids."

A week or so after that we flew to Augusta, GA. I took this picture of Charlotte in the rental car after 17 hours or so of traveling. A picture is worth a thousand words, no?

This is my mellow man in the rental car too. He's awesome.

We spent a week or so looking at houses and cars, filling out many, many forms and trying to find our way around our new city. THEN we ran away to the Outer Banks and spent a week visiting with some of our family members. This photo is Rob and the kiddos heading down to the water with Grandma Anderson. At dusk all of these little "ghost crabs" come out and run all over the sand. The kids had a great time chasing them and splashing in the waves.

Toby relaxing with Pop-pop at the beach house.

I think the trip worked out great... we got to spend a lot more time with the people who were able to make the trip than we would have if we tried to travel to everyone. And we all got to have a beach vacation to boot! (We did go through a shocking amount of steak, bacon, and brownies with 25 people in the house though!)

Charlotte and cousin Savannah hit it off fabulously and shared their love of stuffed animals, books, dress-up, and drawing.

They can't wait to get together again soon.

And finally, we have found a house to move into as soon as our furniture arrives from Germany. I look forward to seeing a lot more of this view out my kitchen window.

Or from my seat on this shady swing with a glass of lemonade in hand.

Soon. :)

all in a day's work

Hi folks! I know I haven't been blogging lately, and I think a brief rundown of our past week might help to explain why. (The few weeks prior were similarly busy, I promise.)

Last Tuesday- shipped our car to the US and packed our bags.

Wednesday- Headed to Frankfurt airport at 7 am, and after many computer glitches and security searches (Really? What is my 4 year old hiding? We were fully cooperative, but a little sensitivity and age-appropriate explanation would go a long way, TSA. I'm just sayin'.) JUST made it onto a 10 hr flight to Atlanta, GA, followed by a 3 hr layover and 1 more mini-flight to Augusta, GA. Arrived at the hotel at 8 pm (2 am Germany time.) Somehow we were all still functioning and the kids had ZERO meltdowns. A serious blessing.

Thursday- Went to Verizon and bought cell phones, had lunch out, stopped at Target, and then the kids and I settled in for naps while Rob went car shopping. Went out for dinner and then took the kiddos to the pool. (The high temps have been between 95 and 100 degrees since we got here. Let's here it for AC!!)

Friday- More car shopping for Rob, and he bought a 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer. Then we had to drive back to the airport to return the rental car and loaner car seats (our car seats finally had arrived after getting on the wrong flight from Atlanta.) Then dinner at Chik-Fil-A so the kids could play. They have been soooooo patient with all of the grown-up boring stuff, and living in a hotel room. We've had some frustrations but really they are the BEST little travelers.

Saturday- House hunting! We made appointments through a realtor to see 5 houses in the Evans area and found 1 in particular that we really like. We MIGHT be signing a lease later today. (We're still debating trying to find something a little cheaper that we like or just being done with this house hunting business.)

Sunday- Church at 8:30 am! We met a lot of really friendly people (even another 4 year old girl named Charlotte) and were invited to lunch by a super nice family that just moved in a week ago themselves. After our daily required naps, we went out to explore and found the Columbia County library and BEAUTIFUL playground & amphitheater. We ran into 2 more families there that we had met at church- 1 that arrived 1 month ago, and 1 that moved in 3 months ago. Looks like there's a lot of turnover in the summers here!

Monday- Rob went to work! Woo-hoo! The kids and I did laundry, went swimming, and kept pretty busy at the hotel. Then we all went out exploring again and got Rob and the kids haircuts and picked up Papa John's pizza for dinner at the hotel.

Today! We went out for breakfast and then I had my first ob/gyn appointment. (For those of you keeping track, I am now headed into week 32. The doctor seems nice and everything is going well with the pregnancy.) I also made an appointment to pre-register at University Hospital where we'll hopefully deliver our baby girl in August. And then Rob went to work and the kids and I are once again hanging out in the hotel. :)

So that is a look at what our lives have been like lately. We are really happy to be back in the US, and we are looking forward to being a bit more settled in before the baby is born. Next week we are headed to the Outer Banks to lounge on the beach and visit with some of our extended family... we are SO EXCITED about this trip and I promise I will blog it... eventually. ;)

hodge podge

First of all, Happy Mother's Day!

This is a picture of me taken yesterday- about 6 months pregnant now and in full hippo-mode. I've been avoiding the camera (and mirrors) for some time now, but have allowed this photo to surface so that baby #3 does not feel she was completely neglected.

Now that's out of the way, there are some photos hanging out on my computer that I haven't blogged yet for one reason or another, so I thought I'd give a quick run down. ;)

We did dye one dozen Easter eggs this year- and that was enough. I hope as the kids get a little bit older these traditions become a wee less messy. Also, this is how Toby smiles for pictures now, and apparently both he and Charlotte have inherited Rob's childhood belief that all you need to do to smile for the camera is show all of your teeth.

One day (in response to 8 zillion questions about colors from Charlotte) I decided to bring out my paints and teach the kiddos about the color wheel, primary & secondary colors, and so on. They loved this!

After we went over the basics, they just went combo-crazy and covered their papers with every imaginable mixture. (They ended up with a lot of green-ish brown, but they were happy, so whatever.)

Yesterday I declared we should celebrate Mother's Day by driving to Michelstadt and eating ice cream, so that is what we did. (That was our first outing when we arrived in Germany, and I wanted to say goodbye to one of my favorite medieval villages.)

As we were leaving Rob said, "Hey we should go to Worms." Apparently he was joking, but I said "Okay, let's do it." So off we went to Worms, Germany. We've talked about it for a long time, but never made it a priority and so it hadn't happened. Until yesterday.

So what's the big deal about Worms? Martin Luther. In 1521 he stood in the shadows of this cathedral and defended his 95 theses at the Diet of Worms. This action (and others) made him the father of Protestantism. Which could be argued to be the beginnings of religious freedom... which we are extremely thankful for.

This photo makes me smile for so many reasons. :)

what a trip!

Pardon me for being a bit self-indulgent today... but I've been looking through our family travel photos from the past 3 years (really just 2 years- we didn't do much the first year with having Toby and settling in and all) and put together a video scrapbook of our travels in Europe. It runs chronologically and I tried to include a bunch of photos that I haven't shared before, but also some favorites.

they like it!

Tonight I made a basic Chickpea Curry for dinner. (chickpeas, diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, spinach, and curry powder, served with rice and sour cream.) This is one of those back-up, I-have-nothing-else-in-the-house, it'll do in a pinch recipes for me. As I was cooking it, Charlotte passed through the kitchen and declared "something smells yucky." Great. I thought. I wouldn't have eaten this as a kid if you paid me. Of all the ingredients in it, I ate ONE as a child- tomatoes. And that goes for all the way through high school and into college as well. But I persevered and served it anyway.

Toby liked "the balls" (aka chickpeas.) Charlotte said, "mmm, thanks for the great dinner mom." They both cleaned their plates. And I was reminded once again that my children are fantastic eaters. Maybe they got it from their dad??? Rob will try anything. Or maybe they got it from my mom??? She LOVED food and was devastated by her mac-n-cheese, hot dog, pb&j lovin' kids. I don't know where it came from, but I am extremely thankful! Hopefully our next little one will be just as easy to please.

(PS. For moms of picky eaters-I did eventually learn to eat my veggies, and as an adult I have tried many different cuisines and found a few that I REALLY enjoy, so there is hope! Just keep giving them different things to try and one day something will finally click! Maybe-- I still can't stand Thai food.)

going 'au naturel'

**If you are not interested in reading anything about childbirth, then close your browser NOW.**

Being 5 1/2 months pregnant, I have been thinking a lot lately about how I plan to have this baby. To review:

Charlotte was induced (a week late,) and I had an epidural (that 'clogged' before the real pain began,) and I had RIDICULOUS problems for 3 months afterwards. Seriously... it was finally taken care of with a follow-up surgery, which was also no fun, so in total my recovery lasted about 4 1/2 months (during which I cried every single day.)

Toby was born here in Germany where 'natural childbirth' is the preferred way to go. So that's the way I went, but I wasn't really committed to the process, I didn't prepare for it appropriately (which is at all,) and I didn't really know I could scream that loud for that long. (I was hoarse for days afterwards.) That said, Toby was an enormous 9 lbs. 1 oz. and yet 8 hours later I felt incredible.... well, good enough to get out of bed and shower on my own.

So, people have been asking me how I plan to have this next baby. And it is a good question that I have been considering for some time. I've decided to try to have a natural childbirth again. It hurts! There is no way around that truth, but I am hopeful that with preparation I will be more ready to cope with it this time around, and that my recovery will be faster. I have to admit, learning the baby is a girl (and will likely be a bit smaller) has influenced my choice. (And of course, if there are unforeseen complications or other things beyond my control, then we'll have to re-evaluate as needed.)

But I am committing myself this time around and I want to do what I can to be prepared... So if you mommies out there who have done this before have tips or reading materials you would recommend, PLEASE comment and let me know about them. I need all the help I can get! :)

latest baby news

Well folks, this day has been an up and down one! I was scheduled to see my ob/gyn this afternoon, but then had a very scary pregnancy incident this morning. (I won't get into the gory details.) I called Rob and he came home from work and took me to meet my doctor at the hospital. Thankfully, the exam showed that the baby is fine and everything should be fine. Whew! I have honestly never been so frightened. And I am very thankful that it turned out to not be a problem for our baby girl. Oh wait, did I just say that? ;) YES, in all of today's drama we have learned that we are having another little girl. Toby is non-plussed, but Charlotte is ecstatic! She suggested we name the baby Pinkie Pie. It's been an emotional day, and I am just glad that it has ended on a high note. :)

Keukenhof

After a good night's sleep, We drove to nearby Keukenhof to see the tulips and other flowers in bloom. It is still quite early in the Spring, so not all of the tulips were open yet, but there were PLENTY for us to admire and take photos of. We also ate some yummy Dutch food-- fresh stroopwaffles and Dutch apple pie with hot chocolate. I'm glad we went early in the Spring and early in the morning, because we were able to avoid the crowds, and the kids could run around pretty freely. It was a gorgeous day!

You can actually walk across the pond on these little platforms. However, Rob took the kids out on just the first one, since it was only 50 degrees out and we didn't have another change of clothes for anybody.

I love these bright yellow fringed tulips!

After our first loud chorus of "Don't pick the flowers!" The kids, thankfully, didn't try to do it again.

Just a little field of daffodils. ;)

Rob took the kids in the petting zoo.

(Me and my flip-flopped feet gladly waited outside the dangerous doo-doo zone.)

A rainbow of flowers. This place is kinda like Disneyland for botanists.

We climbed up this windmill and listened as a visiting band played below.

The view of some of the fields from the windmill.

Another way to tempt our children into the very cold water was with these crazy bridges.

Of course, Charlotte needed to try it as well. They ended up with some wet feet from this one, but nothing too major.

These blooms were as big as Rob's hand!

I've never seen such beautiful flowers.

Silly girl.

This place was much more fun for the kids than tromping around museums in the city.

We just kept saying, "Ooooh, look at THOSE!"

And "I like THESE the best!" Over and over again. :)

It was a great day and to top it all off, the kids were so exhausted they slept half of the way home. Yay!

Amsterdam

On Friday we went on a quick trip to the Netherlands. It's about a 5 hour drive from our house to Amsterdam. We decided this will probably be our last European trip while we live here, so we splurged on one night in the Marriott rather than our usual budget B&B accommodations. It was nice to be in a comfy room, but we had limited time to see the city, so I picked just a couple of things that I really wanted us to do there.

This says Amsterdam to me.

Bikes, canal, canal houses.

The number of bikes zooming around is really striking. And I barely avoided being struck by one more than once!

Our kiddos with a statue of Anne Frank.

We went to the Anne Frank House, which does not allow photos, but you can see the secret annex here and see some short video clips about the experience of being in hiding. (I highly recommend it.) I found this museum very moving. I am soooo glad we went. The concentration camps are horrific because of the scale of the atrocities that occurred there, but this place was more emotional for me because of the intimacy of the tragedy. I also found it difficult to answer Charlotte's questions, but she was much more interested in this place because girls lived there "just like her."

No trip to a European city would be complete for us without stopping to buy a hunk of cheese to take home. (PS. I don't want to hear anything about how enormous I look in this picture.)

Next we headed out for dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called Sama Sebo to celebrate Rob's birthday. We had (l to r) omelet, chicken, pork, rice, fried rice, and also (not pictured) sweet and sour fruits, and sweet potatoes. We had never had Indonesian food before and chose this because Indonesia was a Dutch colony for a long period of time, and it is a very popular cuisine in Amsterdam. It was alright. Not our favorite, but we did eat it all up. ;)

Finally, we spent the evening roaming around the Van Gogh Musuem (which also doesn't allow pictures.) I have seen pictures of his Sunflowers (above) for as long as I can remember. But I never knew that in real life the paint is so glossy that these flowers actually shine! Charlotte thought they were quite "sparklish." It was really a memorable and very full day for us. And our kids managed amazingly well considering how late we kept them up.

The Birthday Man

Newborn Man

The Original "Little Man" Rob- 6 mos. old "Little Man" Jr. Toby- 6 mos. old Big Brother Man

Big Hair Man

Missionary Man

(Madagascar or Ile de la Reunion)

Married Man

First Time Daddy Man with Charlotte

Second Time Daddy Man with Tobias (Same shirt? Must be good luck!) OutdoorsMan Traveling Man

Family Man

My Man :)

they grow up so fast!

Okay, I'm not quite ready to burst into a chorus of "Sunrise, sunset" just yet, but our kiddos have hit a couple of milestones this week.

Charlotte had her first school pictures.

Yeah, I goofed it with the dirty pink boots. If I'd known her feet were going to be in the picture, she'd be wearing her black patent leather Mary Janes. Oh well, I kinda like seeing the muddy boots since she wore them to school each day for months. The German Kindergarteners go out to play EVERY day- rain or shine, and these boots kept her feet dry and warm.

We recently had Charlotte's class over to play for a morning... 18 kids and 2 teachers! I was really impressed by how Charlotte behaved with her friends. I was most happy to see how kind and compassionate she is. There is one girl in her class with special needs, who doesn't speak, and Charlotte took extra care to make sure she had things to play with and had fun. Likewise there is one other non-German speaker in her class (from Poland,) that her teachers told me Charlotte has befriended. These two girls can't really talk to each other, but walked around holding hands, playing, and laughing together. I am extremely proud of my sweet girl. :)

And then there's Super-Tobs.

Toby has kept me very busy this week with potty training. He has given many indications that he was ready for this step, and I have been procrastinating because, oh I dunno... I'm pregnant and preparing to move back to the US?!? However, he would not be deterred and we have spent a lot of this week in the bathroom. He has done really, really well! He loves getting a happy face on his potty chart and earning rewards like stickers, chocolate, and balloons. He even got himself out of the tub one evening and peed in his potty independently. Looks like we'll be shopping for big boy underwear tomorrow! (And maybe I'll even get a break from diapers until the baby is born in August? I can't even describe my excitement at that thought.)