Thursday, December 20, 2007

Trier - Christmas Market

Here's a slide show of the pictures from the Trier Christmas Market. The pictures are hard to see, but if you put the cursor on top of them it lightens them up a little bit. You can also double click on them and they will appear a little clearer and bigger at Slide.com. The market was incredible and crowded with lots of people. We didn't get to buy anything because we couldn't manage to get up to the booths, but we at least got to see what it's about. Next year, we will go during the day and in the middle of the week so it's not so crowded. There were lights, toys, souveneirs, and lots of new food to try out (although Jordyn had a melt down at the end and we had to leave so we didn't really get to sample any.) It was very cold as you can see we were all bundled up. I had taken pictures of the Porta Negra , but evidently they didn't turn out to well. We'll have to catch it in the daylight.

I can't believe Christmas is approaching so quickly. We've had lots of festivities and will have another kids party to attend tomorrow. We're looking forward to Nana and Pop visiting after Christmas! It will be nice to have some family around - even if only for a short time.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Jordyn's Favorite Things To Do...

I haven't reported much of Jordyn lately, so I thought I would catch you up on how she likes to spend her time these days. I'll explain a few of them...

She enjoys twirling what little bit of hair she has and yes, sucking on her paci 24 hrs a days. She calls it ni ni which I think is night, night so we are a little confused.


The next pictures are her playing with her toys. Yes, cars and balls seem to win out. So much for my vision of baby dolls and barbies! I'm still going to try, don't worry. I'll eventually brain wash her.... I know, with 2 big brothers, probably not.

She enjoys cleaning out mommy's kitchen cabinet whenever we are in the kitchen. Along with standing on her head - hey, maybe she'll like gymnastics!


The next two are of her getting in mommy's desk (which desperately needs to be cleaned out.) And then, the aftermath of being told no. I didn't get a picture of this, but she ever so carefully will lay herself down on the floor, with her head being the last and easiest thing to hit. Then, she'll scream for a minute or two until she is done. I really need to get that on video.

Let's see... oh yes, she loves getting into my drawers in the bathroom or pulling everything out of my purse. On this occasion, she found lipstick. Good girl. :)


This last one is of her climbing the stairs. She usually crawls up them, however recently she has decided she is a big girl and she can walk up them. Yes, it's scary. There's much more I could tell (like she loves to use the broom, help me load and unload the washer and dryer, eat and give out LOTS of hugs and wet kisses) but that will do for now.




I don't want to leave the boys out. They got to go see the Globetrotters last week with daddy! They stood in the rain in a mile long line for an hour before it began. They had to sit on the floor, but they didn't mind because a lot of people were turned away.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Elf Yourself

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1174658797

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Monday, December 3, 2007

Knock, knock....anyone home?

Friday, 3:00pm: doorbell rings. I answer to a man standing there asking me if my house number is 2 (in German), which it is. I answer yes and stare at him with a blank face. He goes back to his car, gets his phone and stands at my door talking to the person at the other end of the line. Keep in mind, I have NO IDEA who this is. It is 27 degrees outside and I'm holding a baby standing there with my door wide open while he chats. Eventually, he hands the phone to me along with a sheet of paper. He is a collector saying I owe 354.60 Euro to RWE the electric company and he wants it now or he's cutting off our electricity! Keep in mind this is about $537.00 USD. My jaw drops and I explain there must be some misunderstanding. I eventually talk the lady into giving me until the next morning to get it taken care of. (Long story short, we jump in our car and head to the bank where our automatic allotment has been coming out every month to RWE and they are closed. We head back the next morning and RWE is closed. So, out of fear, we pay the full $537 which includes a collection fee to assure ourselves we are not without electricity for the weekend!) $1000 bucks later - we had electricity all weekend and find out our money has been going to the wrong account. YEAH! We could have told you that :-) The kinks are still being worked out.

Friday, 6:30pm: knock, knock, knock... (ok, actually the doorbell again). This time, two German police. Hallo?! Spreakin si English? one did thank goodness. They were inquiring about our mystery neighbor across the street who we haven't seen for quite sometime. We have deduced he is getting divorced and has a girlfriend on the side who picks him up because he no longer parks his car in the driveway. This is all the Rowland theory of course.... I told the police I had not seen him, but his trashcan was put out on Tuesday (which I only noticed b/c trash didn't come until Thursday). Wonder what he did???!!!! My doors are locked. He seemed fairly friendly. lol

Sunday, 7:30pm: ding, dong.... Hallo! Our German neighbor (very nice family) says he's sorry to bother us so late, but our trampoline is blowing away and it is dangerous. Yikes! We look outside and low and behold it is seriously flying away - like upside down in the drain ditch on the other side of the yard about to roll into the street and smash out some windows in somebody's house! Guess we should have had that anchored down, lol.

To sum it up: I'm not answering my door anymore.