Happy 9th Big Guy!

Landen, Landen, Landen. I thought we had discussed this before. Please stop growing up! You obviously have other plans. I suppose I will have to live with it whether I want to or not.

Well, its your big day and I love you more than you'll ever know. You are getting so grown up and changing in so many ways. I love many things about you and here are a few:

I love the way you nurture your little sister.
I love they way you nurture your little brother. And, fight with him.
I love that you are very sentimental and have such a huge heart for people who are hurting.
I love that you love to play sports and are SO aggressive out there.
I love that you turn a shade of red when you get embarrassed.
I love that you love to go to school and still let me bring cookies this year to celebrate.
I love that you enjoy all the trips we are taking and soaking it all in.
I love that you love to write about your trips in your journal.
I love that you love your family - grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.
I love that you have nice manners when we are in public and I usually don't have to worry about how you act.
I love that you are starting to sleep in a little on Saturday mornings.
I love the way you dance to Soldier Boy.
I love the way you sing along with your iPod.
I love that you like to play Yahtzee with me.
I love the way you pray at the dinner table. You are never at a loss for words.
I love that you are NEVER at a loss for words at any moment.
I love hearing your laugh when daddy tackles you.
I love watching you ride your bike and roller blade.
I love that you put on a baseball cap as soon as you get out of the shower.

But, most of all....

I love that I get to be your mom. Happy 9th Birthday!!! Have fun today. (The computer is showing Friday's date, but I posted this today March 30th. It must post the date you start the entry.)


On another note, mom and dad made it to Germany and have already been here a whole week! Time is flying and we are all having fun. We are headed to EuroDisney in one week. Then we're off to Keukenhof, Holland to see the tulips. Here are a few pictures of places around here... The weather was beautiful today. We got up to 61!

Here comes Peter Cottontail - in the SNOW

There's been lots of "first" in our lives since we moved to Germany. This weekend is the "first" time I've ever colored Easter Eggs while it was snowing outside! It snows, the ground is white. The kids go out and play for 30 minutes. An hour or two later, it has melted. Then, the cycle starts all over again. It has done this for the past week and is predicted for the next week! We will see how tomorrow goes, but I predict we will be hunting easter eggs indoors this year. It won't be the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last.

For those of you who like a German lesson, here goes. The picture below is of German children walking through the neighborhoods with their noise makers. They do this on Easter weekend at noon, in place of the church bells. I wish I had caught them coming up the street, but by the time I got my camera they had already turned around. They then come knock on your door and ask for money for the church. Thank goodness one of the little girls translated :) At least, that's where I think my 5 euro went, ha, ha.



Happy Easter to everyone!!! I hope your weather is better than ours.

She's growing up!

For those of you who have never potty trained, you may want to skip this posts! I'll get something more interesting for you later. Look for pictures from my girls trip to Baden, Baden this past weekend coming soon.

Now, for those of you with little ones at home... here's my story. I've always "heard" girls train easier and faster than boys. I always wondered if it was true, considering up until now I only had boys to compare. Well, if this past week is any indication I think there is some truth to it. I'm sure you see where this headed.

Jordyn, 17 months, has started showing an interest in the potty. I ignored her for the most part because frankly, I'm not ready for it and assumed she is too young. The boys were a good 2 1/2 before I got them trained and I had to bribe, bribe, bribe. Hayden was almost 3 before I got him to go #2. He would hold out for days and days until I would give in and give him a diaper to do his business. Anyway, back to Jordyn.

So, I finally let her sit on the potty a couple of nights after she promptly got out of her bath and pee'd on the rug every night. She laughed and it was cute and that was it. Then, the third night... I told her no again about the rug and sat her down on the potty. She went!!! We laughed and cheered and I was convinced it was a fluke. I even emailed a few friends with girls and asked their thoughts. All but one replied with she's ready! Go for it. Anyway, I'm taking a laid back approach and she has now pee'd in the potty 5 out of 6 evenings. She goes immediately when I sit her on it. So, today I thought lets try one time and see what happens. She went! I tried again later and she didn't go, then ran to the laundry room and pee'd in the floor, lol. I wasn't in there to see her do it, but she came and grabbed my hand and lead me to it and pointed. Uh oh.

So, I don't know where this is headed and if it will end soon. But, wouldn't it be something??!!! I think I'm going to at least buy one package of pull ups and see. I assume she'll have a set back or stop the interests, but several of you had your girls trained by 2 so maybe not. Stay tuned!!!

A little of this, a little of that...

I don't really have any idea what I'm about to blog about. I usually come on here with some type of plan, but today, it's whatever pops in my head.

First, thank you for the phone calls, emails, cards and e-cards for my birthday the other day. They always put a smile on my face. Matt had been gone for two weeks and was supposed to be back that morning, early. However, with the snow he got stuck in the Dallas Airport for about 6 hours. Nonetheless, he made it home by late afternoon so that was my best birthday present. I also got some money, 2 pair of pj's, a t-shirt, and a book. I made myself a carrot cake, lol, and the kids decorated it with icing. It was yummy! Matt was going to get me a cake (he's not much of a cook) the next day, but the boys insisted I have one that day.


The kids are doing good. Landen has his big "Terra Nova" testing at school this week so we have to make sure we get to bed at a decent time. Hayden has learned he will get to play baseball so he is VERY excited. He actually missed the cut off of turning 5 by 11 days. So, mommy and daddy went through great pains trying to get approval for him to play since he had played last year in the states and it worked! Jordyn has a few more teeth that have come in. She suddenly wants me to carry her all day and gets angry when I sit down at the computer. Guess that means I'm on here too much.

The weather is making me grumpy. I really am ready for some sunshine around here! It's cold, windy, rainy, & snowy.... and its continually projected throughout the next week. Where is spring? Ugh. My parents are coming to visit in 2 weeks and I am hoping for some prettier weather. We can't wait for them to get here!

I am working toward running a 5K. Yes, I know many of you have run marathons and such, but a 5K is big for me! I have 6 weeks. I've been running since November, but I'm not ready for it yet. We'll see if I actually stick to it. My goal is to cross the finish line. I've never been a runner so stay tuned. I thought maybe if I announced it, I would actually do it. lol My other project I have been working on is getting my pictures printed out and in albums. I'm just beginning the process and it is taking a long time because I am so behind! Does anyone else find that with digital cameras they take a gazillion pictures, yet never get them developed and in albums?! I have a definite problem, but am trying to get caught back up. Kodak.com has made a lot of money from me lately!

That's all for now as you can tell I am just babbling. Guess I shouldn't write if I don't have anything to say.

Winter Isn't Over, Yet!

I was going to post today about several miscellaneous things, but we woke up to snow so I thought I would go ahead and share a few pictures. Maybe I'll do another post later... At the beginning of the season, we thought we would get some snow here and there. But, that hasn't been the case. It's only snowed a few times and usually is followed by rain to melt it away quickly. There wasn't much on the ground early this morning, so I sent Landen on to the bus stop (he leaves at 6:55am!) . However, to my surprise it has snowed all morning and I kind of wish I would have let him stay home to play in it! Oh well. Maybe it will still be around when he gets home. It's the nice powdery kind that packs so easily. I bundled the kiddo's up and we went out to play.... Here are a few cute pics that I snapped before my camera went dead. I don't know why I can't remember to put it on the "snow" setting, but they seemed to turn out pretty good anyway.

Links

So, I'm taking the lead from a fellow blogger and asking for a little request. If you noticed, I took our last name off the blog and would ask for those of you that link to me, to please put our first names. I changed everyone's link on my end as well. You can never be to safe, and I probably put out too much information as it is. Thanks for the help!!!