Official..

We are official "Residents" of Germany. The kids and I just have a two year conditional (we are tied to Todd) residence, but Todd got a 10 year unconditional (not tied to his job) residence. It feels a little strange but in a very fun way. So far we're set to be here through the end of 2012, of course they have extended ever other deadline we've had so who know what will happen.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

This little guy definitely gets the prize this week. I was expecting the absolute worse and for the most part he's been in very good form. I knew I had a lot of errands and shopping to do this week. It started out on Monday with shopping downtown. We went to 5 different stores and spent quite a bit of time at the Christmas Market. He didn't have one melt-down. Of course we stopped for "hangerbers" in the middle of all the fun."

 Tuesday came and I still had quite a long list. When I asked James if he wanted to go shopping he informed me that he wanted to "play trains." I humored him and we spend some of the morning playing trains then convinced him to come out with me with the promise of "hangerbers." He was ready to go again and did so well at the couple of stores we stopped at. He even had a fun time picking out a present for his "Sissy." He did surprisingly well at knowing what she would like.

Wednesday brought another fun day of shopping and James knew the routine. As soon as we got to the car he asked for a "hangerber" and of course I got him one. Who knew a happy meal is all it takes to keep him happy shopping? This McDonalds had a play place and I let him get his wiggles all out before sticking him in a cart again. Today we just have a few errands to run and we're going to wait until Hailee gets home. She gets home early today and we can't wait to go pick out Todd's Christmas presents. Everyone else is all done. :)

 Snow has come to Munich. And I must say Munich gets an A+ in keeping the roads nice and clear. Maybe it's because I'm coming from Portland where they don't own a snow plow so the one time a year it actually snows it's an absolute nightmare. But whatever the reason I've not had one problem driving in the snow. The funniest thing here is they have big snow plows like we're use to from Utah for the big roads, and then they have tiny little ones for the regular roads. The little ones are quite adorable.

 It doesn't matter how clean my house is when I leave, the second I get home it looks like this. I got a few boxes from Ikea so I'm hoping to get the kids (and myself) to be a little more organized in our entry way. And if you're wondering where the lack of James clothes are....

I just find a trail to the fridge. The top priorities for the boy are (1) clothes off and (2) food.

Quick list

I am so far behind on blogging....it happens every December so it should surprise me. So for my own benefit I'm going to jot down a quick list of happenings, and then when I make my book later I'll be able to write more about each one.

• Having Todd and the kids sick the first two weeks of December really slowed down our Christmas preparation, but we seem to be back on track. We might not get "everything"done, but we'll get the important stuff done. 
• Pretty sure James can eat his weight in yogurt and cheese in a single day. I had no idea a "boys" appetite started at birth and just got worse as time goes on. As I'm writing this he just finished off his 4th yogurt pot.
• Hailee is our families angel. That girl is perfect and my sanity on most days. She danced the cutest little ballet that she came up with all on her own in her class christmas show. 
• James on the other hand is her perfect opposite. These terrible twos are just about to kill me. Don't even get me started on the lovely scratch he gave my face. Let's just say I'm happy to have photoshop so all our Christmas pictures won't be featuring a 3 inch scratch on my face. After getting out of time out he asked me "what happened to your face mommy?" When I told him he had scratched me he replied "Oh I'm so sorry mommy, I love you so much." Good to know.
• I have now completed all my "manual transmission" training. I have been in road construction, a traffic jam, down town Munich (where driving and roads are even crazier), a parking garage, parallel parked our huge boat of a car, and have now driven on icy roads. I don't think anything else can surprise me. Granted I'm not perfect, but I'm perfectly confident to drive and if I stall I don't mind the honking. 
• James loves to sing. He is quickly learning lots of words to songs and will sing along. At night he sings along to "Hush little baby" and when we get in the car I hear him singing "We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship..." What we just discovered that if he doesn't know the words he's decided that isn't going to keep him from sining so he'll just sing his favorite words. Last week in church we sang "Silent Night" and James sang "Robots, Robots" over and over again. This wouldn't be that bad if he sang quietly, but since he likes singing so much, he sings as loud as he can. In our small congregation everyone got to hear. 
• Todd is doing so well at work. He is settling in quite nicely and taken on lots of extra projects. He has a great manager and is getting busier and busier as the days go by. (Something he is thrilled about and something I'm learning to be happy about.)
• We are really enjoying learning about new German Christmas traditions. One we had heard about is on the 6th of December Santa brings treats for kids shoes. We heard about it before and with being sick completely forgot about the day. On the way home from picking up Todd from work Hailee was sitting in the back and said, "Sarah told me that I need to put my shoes out tonight because Santa is coming to put treats in them." Thankfully Santa was ready in time. The weekend after we played in the snow and left all our boots outside our door to dry out. The next day James brought them in and as I was doing my hair he told me that he had chocolate in his shoes. I didn't really believe him until I saw him eating chocolate. Sure enough someone at put chocolate in each of the kids shoes. It was a fun surprise. 

• I am probably the last to know this....but I just discovered that you can download the PDF versions of the church magazines and put them on the iPad. It's totally cool. Hailee absolutely loves reading the friend and I like reading the ensign. I've always know you can download these through the gospel library, but it's just the text and not very pretty. I love having the pretty version on my iPad. Todd just discovered that he can link his lds.org account with all the notes he makes in his scriptures and lessons. Now he can read and prepare his lesson on the bus on the iPod and bring it home and teach his lesson from the iPad. We are all enjoying our early Christmas present. 
• Todd's has also been enjoying his early Christmas present. He got the Adidas miCoach stuff for his iPod. It's a great little running program that plans runs based on your heart rate and your goals. He is just like a kid at Christmas as he goes out for a run and when he gets home to download his information. If you're looking to set some healthy goals it would make a great Christmas present.
• I just finished reading "A Tale of Two Cities." I can't recommend it enough. It was an awesome book. Of course now I need something a little lighter. Any ideas???
• We have most of the big things out of the way and now just settling into Christmas. I still have a couple of days of shopping to do, but then we have a whole week with Todd home. We didn't know until late that he would have the week off, so now we have to figure out something to do. 
• Hailee is even looking forward to Christmas Vacation. She recently had one of her friends move back to the US. It was a sad day, but one she'll probably have to get used to. There is a lot of transition at the International school. She is doing so well at school. We are so proud of her and how she is growing up. 
• James is completely obsessed with "Hangerbers" also known as hamburgers. The last few weeks every time he sees a McDonalds or Burger King he insists on getting a "hangerber." (even at nine in the morning). I'm pretty sure every person on the train thinks I'm a terrible mother who only feeds her child hamburgers. 
• Our other favorite German Christmas thing is Kinder Punche. It's a warm drink for kids (the adults drink spiced wine) and I'm completely addicted. I'm usually not a fan of wassail, I always stick to hot chocolate. But Kinder Punche isn't like wassail, it's fruity and so lovely. Now I just need stock up so I can have it through the winter. 

Hopefully we can get caught back up and download some pictures but for now we're just enjoying taking the pictures, shopping, and getting ready for Christmas. 

Snow Day

Hailee has been looking forward to the first snow fall for quite a while now. She absolutely loves the snow. We woke up Saturday morning will a little bit of drama. I don't know which one woke up first, but they woke up the other and both were grumpy. As they were squabbling they went downstairs and as soon as they saw the snow they stopped squabbling immediately and started planning our day.

They requested that we go play in the park and have a snowball fight. It was James' first experience with snow. He absolutely loved it. His favorite part was getting hit by a snowball.

He also had to taste it.

Hailee was completely in her element as well. I think she could have stayed out forever if we would have let her. She loved the snowball fight, but my favorite quote of the day was when she said, "Ahhh, Help mom, I got snow up my nose." Sure enough a snowball when up her nose and I was surprised to find quite a bit of snow up her nose. Who knew that was even possible.

Of course I tried to tell everyone that I wasn't participating in the snowball fight since it was my job to take pictures. For the most part they were pretty good, but they couldn't let me avoid all the "fun."

One of James' favorite parts was when the kids were in the swing and Todd was tossing snowballs at them. James kept saying "Hey dad, over here, get James!" He was laughing hysterically every time Todd would toss one in his direction.

On the way home there was even time to make a snow angel. The now was too wet to build a snowman, but we had plenty of fun. James played his heart out and slept for 3 hours after lunch.

The Boy

 I'm not sure where he got that nickname for him, but it's very fitting. He is "The Boy." There is just no way around it. He is all boy and is constantly being "boy-ly" (as opposed to girl-ly" I suppose) as Hailee would say.   I can't even begin to guess how many times I've heard "Mom!!! Can you come get the boy." "Mom!!!! The boy is driving me crazy." and "Mom!!!! The boy is climbing on the table." And a number of other variations. For some reason "The Boy" just fits him.

So far our experiment of "wear James out so he'll sleep" has been going quite well, except for the days that we don't get enough outside time in. When we get the run around time, nap time is always lovely (except for the day he slept 20 minutes because he woke up and needed to go to the bathroom).  The weather doesn't seem to bother him at all, so we've been out most days. I love his little red coat and I'm looking forward to getting his new boots in the mail. After that I don't think we'll ever have a problem with it being too cold (except maybe for mom).

James has been picking up so much German. He can count to ten in German and comes up with words that I don't even know what they mean. I started letting him watch German television again, during the summer they changed their programs and I didn't like them so much. But now they have gotten back to a few cute shows during the day. One time Todd caught him putting together a couple of German words. I think he's learning even more than I think he is. I am excited to get him in a German "kindergarten" in the spring.

One day as we were leaving the park he was telling everyone good-bye. He was running through the list, "Bye slide" "Bye swings" then I heard him say "Ka-chow slide." It took me a minute to figure it out, "Ka-chow" is what Lightening McQueen says. But later as we were leaving the grocery store the store clerk said "Ciao" as we were leaving to which James quickly responded "Ka-Chow" with a nice little wave. I guess he figures "ka-chow" is a lot more fun than just "ciao."

German playgrounds are absolutely crazy. Which goes along perfectly with "the boy." I'm slightly worried that when we get back to the US he's going to have a hard time adjusting back to the "safe" playgrounds. But I'm fairly confident he'll find a way to even make the safe playgrounds dangerous. A new park we found that is fairly close to our house has everything our little boy could ever want. A slide, climbing area, a several trampolines, and a teeter-totter on steroids. James loves it when we find another little kid that wants to play on it with him. This teeter-totter not only goes up and down, but also around. I can't believe how fast they get going. I'm pretty sure I would be sick if I was up there. So far I have't seen any injury's, but it still makes my heart go a little crazy.

I wish I could have gotten a picture of his face as he is jumping on the trampolines. He thinks it's the best thing in the world.

One of the perks to having a boy is that they are very easily distracted. One day we jumped in the car to discover a new park that was a little too far to walk. He thought we were going to pick up Hailee's friend Isobel. This was our conversation on our way...

James: Go pick up Isobel?

Nicole: No James we are going to the park.

James: Go pick up Isobel first?

Nicole: No we're going to the park.

    Once we were there...

Nicole: Come on James let's go to the park (at this point he still couldn't see the park).

James: No, go pick up Isobel!

Nicole: Let's go.

James: I sit down right here (in protest to not picking up Isobel he sat down on the grass).

He had the biggest scowl on his face as I put him in the stroller as he continued to complain that we weren't picking up Isobel (we were really close to her school). Then he saw the slide and the scowl was replace by a huge smile. 

James: Oh a slide! Let's go play on the slide. 

Off he ran, as happy as can be. Boys....so easily distracted (just like his father).

Somehow this little boy has a way of driving me completely crazy. One minute I'm ready to sell him to the highest bidder and the next I don't think I would be able to live without him. No one can drive me crazy quite like him, not even his dad. (Of course his dad has learned that driving me crazy is not a good thing and already knows I can't live without him.)

He is getting to be a much better shopper. It helps that I give him a job to do while we're there. He gets to push around the cart, help me get things off the shelf and then put them up when it's time to check out. Usually it distracts him enough to keep him out of trouble. It works, until I get distracted. I needed some new olive oil and as I was sitting looking at my options he ran off. It took me a minute to realize it and then I was running in the direction I thought he went. By the time I got back to the olive oil area he came running back from the other direction with a HUGE smile on his face. In his hands he had a bag of chips and a kinder-egg, and said "I did it, I found the chips and Kinder-joy, great job!" He was so pleased with himself. I was so relieved that I found him and his proud little face just made me laugh. He is not afraid at all when it comes to going anywhere completely alone. Hailee wouldn't have never thought of going anywhere without me (even now if we're together she is always right by my side).

One cold morning after taking Hailee to the bus we got home and James quickly stripped down to his underwear, like he does everyday, as quick as he can. I was trying to remember when Hailee could dress herself and realized that James would probably be pretty old since he's just interested in taking his clothes off. But after a cold and rainy morning the sun came out and James had another surprise for me. While I was finishing up lunch he went and put on his skeleton clothes (top and bottom) and also put on his snow overalls. Then handed me his shoes and socks and told me that he needed to run. I guess the break in the clouds was enough for James. I let him run on the patio while I finished making lunch. Then we went to the park later. I guess he can dress himself, he just chooses not to.

Before it was time to start our Advent Calendars I was questioning my sanity. What was I thinking? How is a two-year old suppose to understand the concept of an Advent Calendar. Much to my surprise once Advent started he caught on pretty quickly. First thing in the morning Hailee and James run to their calendars and open up they number they are suppose to. James is really good at waiting for the day. We know that today is "Number 9" as he has told me several times already. It's also plain to see that I picked the right one for him (Hailee, as well, loves hers). He absolutely loves playing with his "lego mans." I hope Lego keeps making them, because I have a feeling this is going to be a lasting tradition.

Hailee Girl

(Hailee on her way to church. James was sick so I stayed home with him and she had to go early with Todd. I let her take a book to read while she waited for the meeting to be done.)

James and I both have been missing our Hailee girl during the day, but I'm not sure the feeling is quite mutual. She loves going to school and doing new things. Here are some of the fun we've been hearing about when she gets home.

Opera...
Hailee recently went on a field trip to the Opera. She absolutely loved it. I think we went to the Rodeo when I was in second grade...not quite the same cultural experience. Before leaving in the morning she wanted to wear her Opera dress. Which according to her was a dress with bright colors. At the Opera they showed them part of Hansel and Gretel and then took them all around the Opera house (which according to Hailee meant a lot of stairs). They got to see where King Ludwig would sit to watch the opera, he didn't like to be seen by people so he would put the curtains all around him and just watch from a tiny part left open. They also got to see under the stage and the make-up room. Since Hailee didn't need to go to the bathroom her and her friend Sara got to play in the make-up room mirrors and pretend to be princesses. She loved everything about the opera, she was thrilled that everything was a pink-red color. When she got off the bus it was all anyone heard about for the rest of the evening.

PE...
PE has always been one of Hailee's favorite subject. For her new school it required 2 pairs of tennis shoes (one indoor and one outdoor) and a school uniform. I thought for sure with all this serious equipment she would love it. I was surprised the first little while she actually hated it. It went from being her favorite to actual dread. After a few questions I figured out why. They had just started a new unit...they were learning how to play Cricket, and Hailee did not like playing Cricket. It cracks me up to hear her try to explain the game (of course she does a much better job than I would since I don't have the foggiest idea of even how to play).

Missing tooth....
Hailee finally lost her seventh tooth. I've never seen a child baby a tooth for so long. Which is saying something since my family can claim that I was terrible at baby-ing my teeth before they fell out, but I can attest that Hailee is 10 times worse than I ever was. By the time her teeth fall out it's because she sneezes or something, they are that loose. Tooth number seven almost put me over the edge. I can't wait until we loose number 8, then we'll at least have the front ones all gone. It will make eating so much easier. The poor child has had the hardest time eating with all her loose teeth and the others that have fallen out are taking their sweet time coming in. I hope that means they are going to be extra strong. I'm just happy I don't have to make special lunches for her tooth anymore.

Sick days....
After James got sick Hailee came down with it too. She had to miss two days of school....it was horrible (according to Hailee). Throughout the day she would ask me what time it was then say, very dramatically,   things like "Oh mom, we would be sitting doing ___________, right now." It was dreadful for her. She missed going to school so much. Thankfully her fever broke the second day and it didn't require a doctors visit. She happily went back to school on Friday and was feeling just fine. The first day she stayed home she really wasn't up for doing much. I think she read books all day long. She loves reading on the iPad, but I think she still prefers holding a real book.

I guess she got tired of reading in the same position, because this is how I found her in the evening. Who would have thought that would be a comfortable place to read. I just had to order another bunch of books for her. She is absolutely devouring books. Does anyone have any good ideas for books? She is in the middle of Nancy Drew right now and really enjoying them, but I'm afraid even those aren't going to last very long.

Expressing your feelings....

There are lot of things we really like about Munich International School, but there are a couple of thing we don't. The most important thing at this point is that Hailee is happy, the rest we can work around. One of the funniest thing is her Unit of Inquiry right now is "Expressing you Feelings?" Which is very nice, but do we really need to spend 7 weeks expressing feelings. Todd and I have decided that she is getting a great Liberal Arts Education. This morning when she was doing her Math she asked me to please ask her teacher for harder work. They are barely starting regrouping, and it's getting quite boring for her.

Game Boy....

Hailee came home from school the other day and asked me what a Game Boy was. As I was trying to explain it to her I used other words that she had no idea what they were like PlayStation and X-box. James picked right up on the lingo and was repeating "PlayStation." Haile said, "I know what a play station is, it's like a room or area with toys in it. Right??" Ummmm not quite. When am I going to have to buy video game system so my child isn't the only one in school that is completely clueless. I guess I never had one growing up and I managed to survive. Right now I'm just happy she is enjoying games like "Math Bingo" and "Stack the Countries" and  in her spare time she prefers to play legos and read.  We'll worry about the rest later.

Now I'm serious

My last post was about needed to get caught up, but this time I'm really serious.  I don't have any excuses now. I finally have re-joined the 21st century and have REAL internet. As you can see by this picture the kids were pretty excited about it. We finally could get the iPad, iPod and my computer set up the way they were suppose to be set up. This picture was take the morning after we got it. James and Hailee woke up 45 minutes earlier than normal and got busy "playing." Hailee was playing "Math Bingo" and James was playing "Word Girl." I know we're probably get the prize for being the most boring parents, but we just do educational games and so far the kids don't seem to mind. Hailee doesn't even know what a Game Boy or Playstation is, which is another funny post in and of itself.

So now that we have good internet and I have a morning that I'm not running around I'm going to try and get caught up before it's time to wear James out at the park so he'll sleep for me.