newsflash!!!

Yesterday morning there was a commercial on Nick Jr. about potty training. I thought I'd try to take advantage of this instance of marketing to children and asked Charlotte if she'd like to wear panties and sit on the potty. She did! And guess what! She had an extremely successful day of going on the potty! Woo-hoo!!!

Rob suspected that she just did not want to do it because we wanted her to. Looks like he was right. :) She wore a diaper to bed last night, but otherwise she has been 100% a potty girl since yesterday morning. Way to go Charlotte! :D

good times

When Rob & I were first married, we made some friends who were also married with no children.... 3 1/2 years later it's great to get together with some of our old gang! We bought our first homes around the same time, had our first babies within about 6 months of each other, and had our second babies within about 7 weeks of each other.

Cameron, Toby, & Sophie
(I love how Toby is flirting in this photo!)

All of the kids!
William, Cameron, Toby, Charlotte, Josh, & Sophie

It was a lot of fun to see y'all- Hancocks & Spiveys!

One last photo-- we took Charlotte & Toby to the Visitor's Center at the Washington DC Temple this week. This is where Rob and I were married. The Visitor's Center has a lot of information and displays about the history of the Church and the life of Jesus Christ. When we were walking back to the car, Charlotte said, "This is where Mommy and Daddy and Charlotte and Toby got married." and "That was a good Jesus."

Also, yay! we have a sit & stand stroller!! Let's hear it for yard sales. ;)

watch out world, he's on the move

Toby is soooo close to crawling! I took this video a few days ago. He can now find a way to get to the things that he wants--- which means we are in big trouble! :)

sweet home Pennsylvania

After Easter Rob had to return to Maryland and his class work. The kids and I decided to stay in PA for 2 weeks and visit with friends and family. (Although Rob did come up on the weekend, because we missed him so much... for the first time, Charlotte was actually willing to really talk to someone (her daddy) on the phone. Amazing!)

Here is a muddled snapshot of our trip--- I'd put these photos in order, but I'm blogging from a hotel room with 2 small children, so this is the best I can do today! ;)

Molly and Charlotte enjoyed going for a little hike at Beltzville and lunch at the Sunset Diner with their moms. One of the nice things about hanging out for so long was being able to meet up with some of my old friends from high school and catch up with them. 13 years is a loooong time- it's nice to know some things never change. :)

Toby and Aunt Melissa. I liked having little visits throughout our stay and having time to talk with my family as individuals and not just as a big group. I like teasing Melissa that Charlotte got her Chatterbox gene from the same place as her Aunt Melissa. ;)

I made a short visit to see the headstone that we had put up for my mom and her parents. She had always talked about getting a headstone for their grave and hadn't been able to. Since we had her remains buried there as well, we were able to do that for her and I think that would have made her happy.

A crowd gathers to watch Uncle Ed eat something yucky- pickled tripe I think.

Toby with Aunt Melissa and Max. It was wonderful for Charlotte and Toby to spend time getting to know some of their cousins better.

Portrait of a TIRED traveler.
Charlotte has been such a good girl throughout this trip, but she seems to really be missing her home, toys, and friends in Germany.

Nothing like a popsicle on a hot day.
Notice Charlotte's new haircut? She can see again!

Toby chillin' with his Uncle Dan. Only 13 and already taller than me! Well I was the tallest in this family for a long time-- go ahead and enjoy it Dan- until Toby overtakes you. Oh wait, you have to catch Allen yet! ;)

Play time at Chestnuthill Park.
I got a haircut too- although it's pretty windblown in this photo, I think I like it. We'll see.

Tori preparing the kite for flight at Chestnuthill Park.

Happy little traveling man. We left this carseat in PA and have switched to a bigger one since Toby had reached the weight limit on this one and I could barely carry it around anymore.

It rained a bit and even hailed one day, but overall we had beautiful weather for our stay on the farm. Thank you Pam & Mark for letting us hang out and stay for so long!

Charlotte and Toby both liked the dogs at Pop-Pop's house. This is Buster, he's the bigger one.

And this is Nana. She's a little bit smaller while still fitting in the "enormous dog" category.

Tori and Charlotte had fun playing kitchen together and dressing up as super fancy ladies. I laugh every time I see Charlotte's face in this picture. :D It reminds me of living in New Jersey for some reason. hee hee

Thank you all for making time to play with us! I'm sorry if there is anyone we missed-- it was a very busy couple of weeks. It's kinda nice to be back at the hotel and recoup for a little while before we head off to visit Grandma & Grandpa Anderson in Georgia!!!

Easter 09

We headed up to visit my family in PA Easter weekend. It was great to get together with a lot of Charlotte and Toby's cousins and hunt for eggs and dye them as well. :)

Charlotte did a great job on the Easter egg hunt and couldn't wait to see all of the candy inside the eggs.

Easter egg dying- Eddie, Aunt Pam, Leah, Grandma Linda, and Connor

Aunt Pam, Leah, Daddy, Connor, and Uncle Dan

Charlotte showing off the eggs she dyed... notice how they each have exactly one sticker on top.

home sweet hotel

Hello from beautiful Greenbelt, MD! "A Liveable Community" according to the welcome sign. For those of you who might not have heard, we are spending some time in the good ol' US of A this Spring... and it really is good to be here. :) Here's a glimpse at what we've been up to so far.

Toby thinks the king size bed is just the right size for chillaxin'.
I agree.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner last Friday. Charlotte LOVED it. She ran right up to Chuck E. and said, "Hi Mickey, I'm Charlotte." I told her his correct name about a zillion times, but at this point he is still "Mickey Cheese."

Even Toby got in on the action and rode a creepy Teletubby ride.

Daddy and Toby beat Charlotte at air hockey, but she basically understood how to play and giggled like mad the whole time.

In non-photographed news--- we have been "stimulating the economy" (aka shopping.) I, especially, have really been missing the American shopping malls... and Target. We've been eating at all of our favorite dining establishments- Red Robin is my favorite and last night we celebrated Rob's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. Yummy! (Happy birthday again my love!) And last, but of course not least, we have been catching up with some old friends and having some fun playdates. :)

On the flip side- Charlotte is a bit homesick for her toys and friends in Germany. The morning we first woke up here she said, "let's get ready to go home!" Ummm, no. Living the Eloise-hotel lifestyle gets old fast. And there are things that we really enjoy about Germany--- our friends there, being able to walk places, bakeries on every corner, book club, etc, etc. But we'll be back there before we know it.

In the meantime- we look forward to seeing family very soon and hope that you all have a very Happy Easter this weekend. :D Tschuss!

out on the town

We've had some really nice weather here lately (for a change) and so we've tried to take full advantage of it and get out as much as possible. :)

On Sat. the 14th we walked through the forest to the Vivarium. It's a little zoo in Darmstadt, and is about a 3 km walk from our house. Charlotte loved it there! Rob, Toby, and I had a nice time too... and boy were we all worn out when we got home!

The walk took a while because we had to FULLY experience it by walking on logs, crunching through leaves, and pointing out pebbles in the dirt.

My cuddly Toby bear.

Charlotte, the curious monkey.

Charlotte and Daddy by the "Nasenbär exhibit." There is one in the photo, just to the left of Charlotte's head, but it is really hard to see here. I was surprised, there were many animals there that I had never seen before. Also, the habitats/exhibits were quite nice and large--- not nearly as depressing as some zoos I've been to.

This is our self-created double stroller. Toby is in the carseat in the stroller and Charlotte sits on top of the cup holders. It works pretty well actually.

Last Sat. we took a drive to Aschaffenberg and walked around the Altstadt, the open air market, and the castle there. It was a beautiful day! I love visiting different little German towns--- and eating yummy food too. My favorite German phrase right now is either, "Haben sie ein schoko-croissant?" (Do you have a chocolate croissant?) or "Eine kleine Doner mit Flatbroten bitte." (One small Doner on flatbread please.) hee hee

Random photo of Charlotte "smiling" like Rob did in his childhood photos.
(Those quote marks are just for you honey.)

"Knock, knock... are there any princesses here?"

In the courtyard of Schloss Johannisburg (probably misspelled) circa 1600. That door Charlotte was knocking on is on the righthand wall in this picture.

Castle in the background, market in the foreground. I thought it was quite busy for March- but it was a beautiful day out. :)

6 months old!!

Toby is now 6 months old! He had his check-up with Dr. Pfalz... who has become my favorite Kinderarzt. She said he is doing great, and her only concern is that he is sitting up too early. Well, um... sorry about that... I guess. He is now 19 lbs (50-75%) and 27 1/2 inches (75-90%). We think he is huge-- but apparently not?? He is 12 month size clothes already.

Here are some Toby facts-

He is now sleeping through the night- sometimes, other times he is up every two hours!
He has started eating baby food a bit... and has had one bite of Chocos cereal thanks to Charlotte.
He likes to be tickled, and to do ANYTHING with Charlotte- even if it involves her sitting on him or poking him.
He is a major cuddle bug.
He is amazingly good at reaching for things, grabbing them, and putting them in his mouth-- he has deceptive speed.
He smiles easily and loves to try to talk to us in his deep baritone voice.
We are so happy to have him in our family. :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

On Friday we went to the Army Library in Wiesbaden for a celebration of Dr. Seuss with our friends the Bentons. The library had a very nice program with crafts, games, story time, and refreshments that were all Seuss-ian... green Jello eggs anyone?

The activities were a bit too advanced for our little ones- but Charlotte and Sam always try to make their own fun. (Even if that means paying the price of sitting in time out in a corner of the Library in Charlotte's case.)

Sam checking on Toby.

Toby and Jack were pretty easy going, but got left out of some of the fun, I'm afraid. It's hard to be the little brother sometimes.

Partners in crime.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss- from Thing 1 and Thing 2!

"ABCDEFGs"

She does sing the whole thing sometimes... but the camera is a major distraction and shortens her attention span to about 15 seconds!

why Toby's shirt is always wet

Isn't Toby just adorable? :)

He's getting more personality every day lately. He has discovered his feet, and loves being tickled and playing peek-a-boo...

and THIS (the video below) is how he usually lets us know that he is ready for play time!

Miramar

Yesterday we went to an indoor waterpark called Miramar with our friends the Bentons to celebrate Jack's first birthday. :) We had a great time!

Because the Germans didn't have a holiday, the place was really not busy at all. They had lots of fun things to do there- like a wave pool and water slides. They also had hot tubs, an indoor/outdoor hot pool-- which was really neat with the snow coming down, places for yoga and tanning, and a restaurant. They have other stuff too... but you get the gist. ;)

It was different from US places in other ways too, for example: Europeans are, um, more comfortable with their bodies, there were extremely few lifeguards to be found, and no one tells you when it is safe to go down the waterslides (which did lead to a little collision incident for Rob.)

Thank you Bentons for inviting us!

HILARIOUS
picture of Charlotte and I falling off of our tube at the bottom of this slide.

Hanging out at the wave pool. We don't currently have a swimsuit that fits Charlotte, so she just wore a swim diaper and t-shirt.

Charlotte and Sam swimming with their dads.
Notice all of the empty chairs? Soooo nice to not have crowds around!

This is a post script....
we have been trying for WEEKS now to get a decent family photo.
Charlotte has decided she despises photographers who try to play peek-a-boo with her, Toby is mesmerized by cameras, and well, I have no excuse for Rob and I in this shot.

A little stroll down memory lane

weekend update

Just a few pictures of the kids doing some of their favorite things...

I don't know who invented "paint with water," but Charlotte got a Care Bears book for Christmas and it is a fabulous (low mess) activity for her right now.

Yeah, she's wearing a Rolling Stones T-shirt.

Toby likes being close to me (he'd rather I hold him all day, but that isn't an option.) He sits on the counter in his Bumbo seat when I do dishes and cook dinner.

Charlotte and Sam enjoying some dinner together. You'd never know from this photo that they only settled down enough to eat after 2 or more hours playing and arguing with each other.

By the way, Charlotte's nursery teacher at church told me this past week, "she's one of those kids who thinks she's the general manager of the universe."
Yup, pretty much.

Toby swinging with his favorite giraffe. He is such a sweetheart. :)