Happy Birthday James

His birthday turned out a little different than planned this year. His birthday landed on Friday this year. We had a good day together just running errands and doing things around the house. Hailee decided that on his birthday James would get everything he wanted. She was most annoyed when I put him down for a nap even though he didn't want to go down for a nap. "But mom it's his birthday!" I also drew the line at streaking around the house without a diaper on. After his nap he didn't want to put his diaper back on after getting change. Those two things aside, Hailee was very sweet about doing everything he wanted to do. She played the games he wanted to play and indulged him in every possible way. That evening I made a special birthday dinner for him, hackbraten and roasted vegetables. We've been experimenting with German food and so far the kids have loved everything. After dinner I had gotten a cake for him, but before we could get it out he finished dinner and went to the couch and threw up every where. Poor little guy. He was a little crankier than normal after his nap, but he was doing his best to be happy. We decided to put the rest on hold until he was feeling  a little better.

Saturday we were running around and by the time we got home we had just enough time for presents before the grumpiness/tiredness sunk in. When Sunday came around I planned on celebrating with cake after church. James, on the other hand, had very different ideas. Todd and I were up before the kids and when they made it into our room they climbed into bed. I asked them if they were ready for breakfast. James was still a little sleepy and said, "No." After a few minutes I asked him again if he was ready for breakfast, he replied, "No, I'm ready for cake."  Since he had had a rough birthday anyway I decided  to let him have his cake for breakfast.

 Since I don't really have baking stuff with me I just bought a cake from the store, added some vanilla pudding and put strawberries and blueberries on top. He loved it. Overall I would say he had a pretty good birthday. It was a little more drawn out than I had originally planned, but I think it worked out okay.

Here are some things that James is excited about right now.

He loves doing puzzles. He loved the little wodden puzzles we had from Hailee, but when Todd brought him back a few more challenging puzzles he was thrilled. He can get them put back together faster than I can. For his birthday we got him a few even harder puzzles for him to grow into. It is so cute to see his little brain working, he is so focused when working on them. 

He still loves wrestling. Before coming to Germany Hailee told me she hopes we have a girl next, she said "Mom you have no idea what it's like!" I really don't. I never had a brother that would jump and attack me when I was sitting quietly. At least we know where he gets it from. Below is Todd's preschool progress report. I had to laugh when I read whether he was able to accept rules and routine... "We're working on this...(He likes to wrestle, etc. - sometimes at wrong times)" Is there ever an appropriate time for wresting during preschool.

He has learned almost all his letters and numbers. He is getting really good with his letters. The only letters he struggles with at this point are J and K. He has several little games on the iPod that he likes to play that has him recognizing his letters and numbers. We just started working on them when Todd was in Korea and he has learned them really quickly. Sometimes when we're out and about he will point out his favorite letters and all the ones he recognizes.

He loves to tease. He must get this from his dad as well. He loves to get a reaction out of Hailee and his mom especially. It doesn't matter if that reaction is laughter, a scream, or annoyance he loves them all. Sometimes when I am getting exhausted with him Hailee will sweetly remind me, "Mom....just ignore him and he'll stop." Sure enough once he is no longer getting the reaction he wants he quickly moves on to something else. His favorite phrase at these times is "That's so funny!"  When I tell him it's not funny he just responds "Yes, so funny!" No amount of convincing will convince him otherwise.

He loves to read. His favorite is Dr. Suess. We read through out the day, but the set time we have for reading every day is at night. I used to read him a few stories every night before bed. Hailee has decided she wants to read to him. There is nothing cuter than listening to those two reading together. She reads him two books every night. She loves to end with "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." The last page is about going to sleep with their pet Zeep. "Today is done, Today was fun, Tomorrow is another one. From here to there. From there to here. Funny things are every where." Then they snuggle down and go to sleep. It is really about the sweetest thing ever.  

We all absolutely love this little guy. Even though he likes to wrestle, be rowdy and teases us constantly we just couldn't be happy without him. He is so happy and Todd and I always say that he smiles with his entire face. The only time he gets a little cranky is when he is tired or hungry. If he is neither of those he's always got a smile and a laugh for us.

The Castle That Ruined Germany

Nicole and I are just a little bit anti-tourist.  We like to travel and love new experiences.  But there's nothing worse than arriving somewhere exciting and new, only to find that the history and culture that you came looking for has been littered over with souvenir stands and "American friendly" restaurants. 

No, I don't want your tower on my key chain.  I don't want your snow globe with whatever miniature you've got in it and I don't want the t-shirt to say I've been here.  I don't want my culture served to me happy meal style.  I want to work for it.

So, it was with some reluctance that we planned a trip to the most visited castle in the world on Saturday.  Expecting the worst, we figured that we had to waste a weather forecast of rain and hail somewhere.  What better than to use the worst weather on the one place most likely to be overrun with tourists.

That was how we ended up at the castle that ruined Germany.  Now I know some of you are saying "Hey- that thing's famous.  What kind of dumb American complains about the most visited castle in the world?" 

Well, this dumb American has a major problem with Neuschwanstein.  Somehow, despite the crowding tourists, the souvenir stands, and the American high school students who looked stupid and sounded stupider, this castle managed to exceed all of it's hype.  Forget the pictures, puzzles, articles, guidebooks and posts you've seen.  It's better than that.  It's mind numbingly beautiful.

That is where my complaint lies.  We're two weeks into an eight week experience here in Germany.  Our time has been filled with wonderful family exploration and fun.  Now we're staring at six more weeks of adventures that will all fail to live up to one afternoon.  Neuschwanstein- I wish I'd never met you.

Wet took the scenic route to Neuschwanstein and it was perfect.  Our drive took us through the little town of Rottenbuch which had this house to drive through.

 Nicole and kids in the horse drawn carriage up to the Neuschwanstein.  You can see Hohenschwangau in background.

  Hailee, James & Todd on the path up to the castle.

 Todd, Hailee and James on a balcony.

 This boy is full of surprises this trip. Not only has he been good on all our little excursions, he is actually excited for them.

Nicole, James, and Hailee on the way down. We stopped at a restaurant along the rode and ate the best German food topped off with homemade Bavarian donuts.

The Munich Zoo

The kids and I decided to venture out to the Munich Zoo. Afterall James will be turning two tomorrow and it felt right to do a little celebrating for him. As good as he is in the palaces, James is really in his element at the zoo. He loves watching the animals and running around as much as I will let him. It wasn't long after we arrived that he was ready to get out of the stroller and run, which he did the entire time. It wasn't until the very end when we went into the gift shop that he collapsed in the stroller and fell fast asleep.

We had a perfectly lovely time in the zoo. It's not very big, but it's the perfect size for our kids. It seems every time we go to the zoo there is always one or two animals that stand out. This time one of the favorites were the penguins. When we first got there Hailee decided to name one "Zippy" that was swimming in the water. James was delighted since they were swimming right at his level. Not long after Zippy started a few more joined in and the kids spend the next 10 minutes or so cheering for the penguins in their races. Hailee is sure Zippy won every race.

I always love going to a zoo outside of the US, it seem they have a little bit different standards when it comes to the animals. It really feels that if the animals really wanted to get out they probably could. The animals are closer and you really feel like you are right there by them. In the rhino house there was a sloth walking across the pathway just a few feet over our head. It was so great. Hailee and James loved it. It was such a beautiful day for the zoo.

Play Day in Germany

When we found out we were moving to Germany for a couple of months the first thought that went through my head was how I wanted to spend my time. I didn't want to get to the end of if and think, "I wish we would have...." I want to make the most out of every day that we have. That being said, we can't be running around every day. We still have to make sure Hailee gets her school work done and we do need a little recovery time after our really long days. Today was one of those days, it was filled with school work and getting stuff done around the house. In the afternoon, our neighbors/landlords, had their grand-daughters over and the kids had an impromptu play day. Hailee was in heaven. The language barrier wasn't too horrible and they got right along playing. After James woke up from his nap he joined in the fun as well. It was a great "German" day even if we didn't take the train into the city.

A Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The only problem with that is they didn't say that the thousands words were always right. For example...

It was shortly after arriving that I found myself in the grocery store and when we were picking out juice. Hailee wanted some grape juice, our neighbors had given her some grape juice when we moved in and she was craving it again. I looked at my juice selection, picked out the picture of grape juice and off we went. Shortly after we got home she wanted some juice. It tasted a little funny to me, but since I like grape juice really cold, I just figured the odd taste was due to the lack of refrigeration.  Later when it had enough time to chill it still had a weird taste to it. Again I just decided that I don't always like grape juice the the US and I supposed Germans probably just liked a little bit different flavor of grape juice than I did. This went on for a few days until I noticed on the side of the container they had ingredients written in several different languages, one of which was English. I looked to see what was in it and was very surprised to find out that what I thought was grape juice was actually black current juice.

The juice section also surprised me when I found Mango Maracuja juice, or mango-passion fruit juice. Maracuja is the exact same way the Portuguese say passion fruit. I also found that pineapple or ananas is the same in Portuguese. I was expecting to find similarities between German and English, but not German and Portuguese.

The other funny story I have of my first few days is our washer and dryer. I was thrilled to find out we would have a dryer because I think I only saw one dryer the whole time I was in Portugal and that family rarely used it. I know it's not really fare to judge Germany and Portugal together, they are really very different in a lot of ways, but Portugal is my only other European experience. I went to the store and bought what I thought was laundry detergent and fabric softener and was all ready to go when we had our first batch of laundry to do. I put everything in they way they showed me on the first walk through of our house and then nothing happened. I was a little embarrassed to go an ask for help so I decided to wait until Todd came home. When he got home and we still couldn't get it to work I had to go ask our neighbors for help. Come to find out there were two problems....first I had bought the wrong thing to wash my clothes....and second it wasn't plugged in. I'm still not sure what I bought, any of my German speaking friends know?

The dryer was also a little bit of a learning curve as well. I did have a few problems with that as well, but thankfully between Todd and I we were able to figure it out before needed to ask our neighbors again. It is a condensation dryer so you have to empty out the water after every load. I feel quite accomplished now that I can do my own laundry again.

We have loved being here in Germany. We are trying to learn as much of the language, food, and culture as we can. On the way to church I saw Burger King, Subway and McDonalds and I told Todd that we shouldn't eat at any American places while we are here. It's just seems like a crime. Hailee in the back of our car, completely oblivious to our conversation, pipes up and says...."Oh look they have Burger King here!" Thankfully she has started getting excited about German food and experiences.

Munich Residenz

Today was the true test. I decided to venture alone with the two kids. We are hoping to see some of the things that Todd has already seen and spend our weekends on things he hasn't had a chance yet to do.  Since we only had a chance to see the first 15 rooms or so of the Residenz we decided on that for our first alone visit.

The morning started out with Hailee complaining that dad couldn't come with us. "Mom who is going to tell me about all the rooms." Todd had already taken the audio tour on one of his previous trips so he told her about all the rooms. This time she had to settle for the audio tour. She thoroughly enjoyed it, but she said it was more fun with dad. That being said, she did love listening to the tour and was a little annoyed that the last few rooms she couldn't listen to everything since James was getting a little tired.

Even though James got a little tired at the end I was very impressed. He missed his nap completely and still didn't have any melt-downs. He even enjoyed listening to the audio every once in a while. It wasn't until the very end that he needed to be carried. He was very excited to get back to the place where we left his stroller. He climbed in and just collapsed. The other funny thing happened when we were in the gift shop picking out postcards (writing postcards is Hailee's new favorite past time) and he found a little red hat that he just dearly loved. This coming from my boy who refuses to wear hats. His bald little head and the sun just don't really get along so I've always tried to get him to wear one. Up to this point it's been impossible. But he fell in love with this hat and wouldn't take it off. It's a little big for him, but with the sun coming out, I'm glad we at least have one hat he'll wear. Let's hope he continues to love it.

I thought for sure the kids were beyond tired, but as soon as we passed the park on the way home from the train they insisted that we stop to play. The day was absolutely beautiful and they had a fin time playing. The only problem was having to drag them away kicking and screaming. At least James was kicking and screaming, Hailee was just complaining.

Overall about the most perfect day. I can't wait to go and explore more. I was worried about James the most, but he has decided that he likes hanging out in the stroller and taking in the sights.

Marienplatz

Saturday was our first chance to really get out and see Munich. Todd was so excited to take us and show us around. There was so much to see that most of the time Todd was pointing out which direction to go to see something. The kids and I will be going down on our own over our time here to see more things. We did get to see quite a few things, but the highlight of my day was seeing Hailee's face when we came out of the underground station. Todd was the only one who had been here before and I must admit it took my breath away as we were coming up the escalator. Right as you come up you see the Neues Rathaus (the New Town Hall buit in 1867....I just love that 1867 is considered 'new' in Europe).  As I looked up I was amazed then I looked at Hailee and love the expression on her face. Up to this point we had stayed in the suburbs and she had yet to experience what Europe really looks like. By the look on her face I think it exceeded her expectation. Before coming to Munich I asked her one Sunday if she wanted to look at pictures of Munich. She told me that she wanted to be surprised. I am so glad I didn't show her pictures. It was much more fun to be surprised.

We also walked around the Viktualienmarkt, an amazing outdoor market with just about every type of food in it. We ate lunch there and Hailee got to try her first bratwurst. Todd also got a currywurst and both kids preferred the currywurst. It was so yummy.

After lunch we walked around some more and then decided to show Hailee the Palace where the King and Queens of Bavaria lived. It's know as the Residence. It doesn't look much like a castle from the outside, but the inside has been beautifully restored. Hailee loved looking at the rooms and she loved going to the treasury. There they had beautiful jewels, crowns and all sorts of pretty things to look at.

This was one of Hailee's favorite rooms. One wall is a big sculpture made entirely out of sea shells.

James was amazing all day long. He stayed in his stroller when he was suppose to and walked holding our hands when he was suppose to. I have been worried about how this little guy would behave in Europe and if Saturday was any indication I think we're in for a lovely two months.

On the way home we bought the best strawberries. They were seriously as big as my hand and so delicious. I thought I bought plenty, but the kids quickly went through them on the train ride home and there were just a few left. It was a busy and fun day. Every one slept well from the fun day of sightseeing. Now we just need to decided what to see with Todd next weekend.

I will be nice

With the time change James has had a hard time adjusting. In the morning I have to wake him up and it takes him a few hours for him to be pleasant. We all can totally relate, but since he's almost two he tends to throw more fits and get a little more wild than we do. When he gets especially wild he likes to bite, take off his clothes, or just jump off things he shouldn't. So we have a little time out at such times. He has to sit on my lap and sit still (something he isn't too fond of). Then in order to get off my lap he had to repeat after me "I will be nice." 

In the end of the video after I say "I will be nice" he says "Yeah, I will....cheese"

The first few days

 We have enjoyed our first few days in Germany. The kids are still fighting jet lag and the weather has been rainy so we haven't ventured out too far yet. We have really enjoyed getting to know our new neighborhood. The first day Todd found a fun little park on his way to the train station. He emailed us and the kids and I had a wonderful afternoon playing in the park, that is until James fell off this hammock and I was worried that he had broken his hand. I should have listened to my sister and found a doctor or hospital for the inevitable disasters with James. As it turned out after a little while his hand seemed just fine and Todd agreed when he returned home that night. I'm just hoping our trip here can stay a little less exciting than emergency room visits.

 Some of the other things about Germany....

 Nutella tastes even better in Europe. I'm pretty sure the kids and I are going to at least eat our weight in European Chocolate. The first words out of grumpy James mouth in the morning are "Chocolate" and Hailee dreams of a kinder egg Easter.

 Since our assignment is for only 2 months we have to homeschool Hailee. I got all of her homework from school before we left and Hailee is doing really well with me being her teacher. She really misses the social aspect of school, so it's not going to be a permanent thing, but for now it's working. We try to get her work done in the morning to allow time in the afternoon for exploring. The only problem we've run into is that while I'm helping Hailee with a few things it gives James time to get in to trouble. Luckily Hailee doesn't need a lot of hand holding during her lessons, but one morning James got in to my makeup while I was helping her. Once he was done Hailee told him he looked like a tiger and once he saw it in the mirror he was quite pleased with his tiger-like appearance. My make-up now rests on a much higher shelf.

We also discovered the German kid channel. The kids were thrilled to find some of their favorite 'kid shows' that 'speak' German. While I'm making dinner they get to watch a show or two. Hailee loves picking out German words. I hear from other room "Mom, car in Germany is 'auto'..." She loves it. I'm not sure that it's teaching her German, but it's fun for her.

These two have been the sweetest little kids. Except for a little grumpiness with the jet lag they have been angels. It's been weird for me to experience a move with them. It's amazing to see them. I know it's been an adjustment, especially for Hailee. She misses her friends and life at home, but she is doing her best and really enjoying this new experience. Here they are doing their favorite things....Hailee is on the computer and James has the iPod. Even though they are playing different games they love sitting by each other.

Travel buddies

Before we knew it, we were packed and it was time to get on the plane to go to Germany. I was so happy that Todd didn't have to go over before us, because I was very nervous to get on an overseas flight with two children. At the airport we divided the passports and Hailee and Todd were travel buddies and James and I were travel buddies. We have gone on several little flights since moving to Oregon so both kids are great through security, but it wasn't two minutes after arriving at our gate I was beginning to rethink my wonderful idea of 'travel buddies' James was ready to run and Hailee and Todd were just sitting nicely waiting for the plane. We survived it, and as the plane was taking off James quietly fell asleep in my arms. He slept most of the way to Chicago and woke up in time to get a drink and land. The next flight was all the way to Munich. The best part was that we had a whole row to ourselves. Todd and I sat on either end and James and Hailee in the middle. We've decided that both kids don't want to be left home because they were the best travelers. It's a long and exhausting day as it is, but both kids proved they are going to be good little world travelers. I was really nervous James would be causing all kinds of problems on the plane, but for the most part, he watched movies, played on the ipod, ate his dinner and went to sleep. The only fussy time he had was when he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. It took me a minute to figure out he wanted his clothes off (lately, at home, he's been sleeping in only a diaper). I wasn't sure I wanted him to run around in just a diaper, but once his clothes were off he sat right down, put his head on the pillow and was asleep the rest of the flight. He woke up in time to get changed, eat breakfast, and land. I was really pleasantly surprised by how well he behaved.
 

After we landed we rented a car and made our way to our new house. It's a cute little house about 20 minutes from Todd's work and about 20 minutes to downtown by train. The landlords live next door and are very nice. She even had food ready for us, because she wasn't sure when we would be getting into town and she didn't want the stores to be closed. The kids had a great time exploring and picking out their rooms.

I had forgotten what a nine hour time change is like. I think we were in bed before eight. We were all exhausted so after doing a little shopping, making dinner, and unpacking a little we all went to bed. I woke up first, I thought for sure it was at least early morning, but it was only 11:00 pm. After about an hour of reading I was ready for bed again, then Hailee woke up and needed some cough medicine and reading a little bit she was ready for bed. Just as she was settling back down James decided it was his turn to party. By this point I was exhausted. He was happy when he got up after playing on the ipod for half an hour he was so annoyed that it wasn't starting to get light. He decided he needed a banana and a cookie. After a quick snack he stayed up playing puzzles for a little while before settling down again. I was exhausted sitting next to him, half dozing. He loves doing puzzles and every time he finished one he would say "Awesome, high five" and give me a high five or "Hooray, knuckles" and give me a fist bump. He loves doing the puzzles that Todd brought back from Korea. I need to video him doing it.

Today we are just taking it pretty easy. It was very hard getting up this morning. James and I are still on Oregon time, but Hailee and Todd are doing much better. I woke up James at 10:00 to help get him on schedule. Todd just emailed me and told me about a park close by, so after lunch we are going to go check that out. This morning we are just doing school work and updating my blog. I'll post more pictures later of our cute little house.

Chicks Dig Scars

Shortly after moving to Provo there was a guy in my ward that had gotten in a roller blading accident. When talking about it he said "Pain is temporary and chicks dig scars." If that statement is true James is already on his way.

Friday James decided to being his journey to having the most scars. He slipped and fell coming out of the shower. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with this kid. I took him to the doctors and while the nurse was checking and cleaning the cut he didn't cry at all, but he did say "Stop it!" It gave the nurse a good laugh. They were all so impressed that he didn't cry or fuss at all. This kid unfortunately has a high tolerance of pain that I'm not sure he's ever going to learn his lesson and start being a little more careful.

Saturday he decided to add a little more excitement to the week we have to get ready to go to Germany. He decided to swallow a coin. (Still not sure at which one he swallowed.) He got into Hailee's piggy bank and the next thing we knew he was chocking. Thankfully he got it down and didn't stop breathing, but now we just get to wait for it to come out. Quite possibly the grossest thing I've done for my child. I'm just hoping it come out soon....I wonder what happens if it doesn't come out? I hope I don't have to find out.

Just before Todd left for Korea we had a fun weekend with Aunt Ruthann. We didn't do anything big or major, just enjoyed the nice weather and time together. It was the first time Ruthann got to see Portland in the sun. Every other time she has visited it had been cloudy and raining. Even last year when she came in June we had an unusual amount of rain. It was chilly, but thankfully there was a  lot of nice sun.

Saturday we went into Portland. Hailee had a class in the morning and then we discovered a fun little cafe by where her class is located. After we picked up her we decided to stop in for a snack. We quickly found out how hungry the kids were. James discovered a new favorite food. They had the best cinnamon rolls made with croissant type bread. I was disappointed that they had run out of their chocolate croissants. With James I started breaking off pieces for him to eat, but it wasn't long before he started complaining. I wasn't sure what the matter was, until he grabbed the entire cinnamon roll from me and took a huge bite. I didn't get anymore after that. It was quite funny.

Hailee and Todd finishing up their treats.

Spring is just around the corner and it definitely felt that way at Pittock Mansion. After hanging out in Portland in the morning we came home and let James get a nap, then in the afternoon we went to Pittock Mansion. It was a beautiful day. It's a beautiful view of the city and today was clearest it's been while we've visited. We also decided to not just enjoy the beauty outside, but check out the inside as well. It was fun to see their beautiful house. You can tell a lot of work went in to planning and all the finishing details. It was beautiful.

 Hailee loved looking at the house, so I think she is going to love Germany. James on the other had love causing a little trouble. I may need to invest in a child leash system for that kid. 

We had such a great time with Aunt Ruthann. We also got to go to our favorite area of Portland on Monday before she went home. As always her visit was too short, but lots of fun. 

Class seamstress

Way back at the beginning of school it was time to go to back-to-school night. James, unfortunately, had gotten hand, foot, and mouth disease and we all couldn't go. I sent Todd with Hailee and told him to sign me up for some things to help with Hailee's class. I was more than a little surprised when he signed me up for a sewing project. I do own a sewing machine, but honestly I am not a sewer by any stretch of the imagination. Thankfully the project Hailee's teacher wanted done was a simple bag that fit on the back of the chairs. I even had some fabric that I was going to use to recover a chair (that we no longer own) that would work perfect. It was quite a bit of work but I got 36 bags made for her class.

Top row: Keaun, Sean, Madison, Trinity, Aimerie, Delany, Dylan, Leo, Aiden. Next row standing: Riley and Juan Carlos. Next row sitting: Austin, Vittoria, Alisa, Zahira, Hailee, Jordyn, Niki, Alliyah, Tori. Bottom row: Myles, Braden, Jonya, Martin, Charles, Andrew, Aaron


Fast forward a few months and it's time for the school auction. Every class is responsible for making a basket to raffle off and a class project to auction. Her teacher was having a few problems getting volunteers so she asked me if I could make a blanket. We decided to let the kids draw with fabric paint on squares and then I would piece together the quilt. We decided on a bug theme and the kids did a great job drawing on the fabric. One of my good friends (her daughter is in Hailee's class) helped me get all that together and then it just took piecing it together. It's very simple, this is only my third quilt I've ever made, and I was a little nervous that nobody would want to buy it. When I took it to Hailee's class the kids were thrilled and although we had to miss the auction because Hailee was sick, there were a few people bidding on it and it went for a good price to help the school. I informed Todd that the next time he volunteered me to be the class seamstress I was going to need a better sewing machine. My refurbished brother sewing machine we got on overstock when we were in school just isn't going to cut it anymore. I very much prefer sewing things for my family...sewing for someone to buy is just too nerve wracking.

When we were picking out fabric to go with the quilt Hailee was thrilled to find this print. It had flowers that would work for the bug theme, but it was also West Union blue. She just knew it would be perfect. It did turn out quite cute. She was a little sad we didn't get to keep the blanket, but we have the pictures and I told her maybe we could make another one.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

 Well it's officially official, our family is on it's way to Germany for two months. Todd has gone back and forth a few times over the last couple of months and they decided that they needed him longer that his two week stints. Since it's going to be longer than two weeks Intel has decided to send the whole family. Because of visa issues we can only stay two months (getting a work visa takes too long because they need the help now). Todd will be doing finance training for a recently purchased company. We would love for it to be longer, but it's hard to complain since we all get to go together.

At first Hailee wasn't really sure what to think about moving to Germany. She was worried about missing her friends. As things have gotten closer and she understands a little bit more she is getting quite excited. We got her a little book with CD's to learn German and she has decided she is very excited. On Sunday I asked her if she wanted to see pictures of where we were going to be moving and she said, "No mom...I want to be surprised!" It's going to be a whole new world for her and I'm so excited. James on the other hand has no idea what is going to happen and even if he did I think he'd be just fine as long as we pack a few cars for him to play with.

With Todd working in Korea this week, it has been more than a little interesting trying to get things settled for Germany. Coordinating with the craziest set of time change has been absolutely nuts. We're still trying to figure out housing and other logistics for while we're there, but our tickets are bought and we'll be on or way in just over a week. Thank goodness Todd got home Friday.  One time difference is enough to worry about, with two there just aren't any overlapping times.