The 12 Days of Christmas

Okay, I know I'm way late posting this, but maybe it's taken me that long to bounce back from Christmas! We decided we were going to celebrate the twelve days of Christmas this year (Christmas through Epiphany) by giving a gift each day...well I guess that wasn't made clear because the gifts were all for Little Bear and Daddy Bear. Mama Bear got the shaft. Oops DB! That's okay though, because I enjoy the gift of giving and Daddy Bear planned an out-of-this-world birthday for me this year so I really can't complain.

We started our Christmas celebration with Grandma Bear on Christmas Eve after Mass.

The following 12 days, LB and DB, and even Shaddie Bear, received their gifts one at a time. Let's just say by day 5 or so, we were tired of it. All except LB!

New bed and bedding

More gifts

And more

And more

And more

I think Shaddie Bear started enjoying the 12 days of Christmas as much as LB

He definitely knew (aka "smelled") when the gift was for him

Anyway, you get the idea. It went on and on and ON. It was fun enough! But we learned our lesson. And I think next year we'll think of a different way to celebrate Christmas each day.

VERY Thankful

This Thanksgiving, I was very thankful to spend time with a house-FULL of family at my mom's. My grandma and aunt/uncle from Kansas, my great aunt from Texas, 6 cousins and a dear family friend from Louisiana, my brother from Oregon, and brother+wife and son from California. We had such a joyous time celebrating our Thanksgiving meal together, playing games, and solving the world's problems! Our current house on base is 30 minutes from my mom's so it was more fun to stay at her house with everyone. We waited until after the bulk of people had left on Friday morning, and then moved in and stayed through the weekend.

Daddy Bear got sick, I got run-down from not napping and not sleeping enough at night, and Little Bear hit his max on people-time and sharing a couple of times, but other than that we had a GREAT time and were so grateful for a full Thanksgiving. This will possibly be the last Thanksgiving we are all together since we will be moving many miles away, to the state of Washington in the spring.

Here are a few pictures from our gathering:

We hosted the first wave of family at our house Wednesday night for chili and birthday cake for Grandma Bear and GAN (LB's great aunt)

First Cousin Bathtime

Grandma Bear and her boys

Cousins

Birthday celebration for Little NIKO

I am so very THANKFUL for all the blessings in my life! And most thankful for my faith and family!!! I hope you had as much to be thankful for this year!

W--A--Y Behind Blogging!

It's already December and I neglected to blog once in October or November. I can't believe it! And yet I can. You see, for those who don't yet know the news...I'm 15 weeks pregnant!! Just out of the first trimester and still a little nauseous. But doing great considering the first several weeks. It was all I could do to get out of bed each day and make sure Little Bear's needs were met. A couple of weeks ago my energy started to pick up and the nausea started to lessen. This being said, I haven't had an ounce of energy that I felt I could devote to blogging. So here's a quick recap of exciting events of October:

LB's first visit to the pumpkin patch

Fun times with BFF "Aubbie"

Painting pumpkins back home

Our little monkey

First time trick-or-treating (@ neighbor's house)

I can't believe how big our Little Bear is getting!! He's growing up more and more everyday! Such a sweetie and yet such a handful!

Where did September go?

I can't believe it is officially fall and October is almost here! I also can't believe I haven't posted once since our trip to Germany! So now I get to play catch-up (not that it's that unusual).

First we had to rest up and catch up after our big trip.

Then, we went to Texas at the end of August to visit great friends. Out of the group, three of us have boys within a year apart from each other. They are still learning how to get along (mainly Little Bear is still learning), but we know that one day they'll be great friends and will most assuredly be partners in some elementary crime.

"Uncle Mark" had two of the boys and the only little girl of the group completely awed by something...

In September, Little Bear received a package in the mail from his favorite great aunt and uncle, GUS and GAN. You can see he was quite thrilled by his new pajamas and wanted to try them on immediately!

He also enjoyed painting pictures for all of his grandmas and grandpas for Grandparents' Day.

We went to Disney on Ice at the state fair. It was a great show and LB enjoyed it but our sensitive boy was quite scared of the Halloween segment and he wasn't too fond of how loud the music was. Other than that he had a great time. This picture is a little blurry but it definitely captures his excitement before the show began.

After Disney on Ice, LB separated his elbow by pulling too hard in one direction on Mama Bear's hand while MB was pulling too hard in the other direction. The doctor put it back in place the next day (I know, terrible parents), and it was as good as new.

Until it happened again just yesterday! Same thing only this time Mama Bear was standing stationary and LB pulled too hard in the other direction. Needless to say, we are avoiding holding his right hand for awhile.

This past weekend we went to the Train Museum to ride Thomas the Tank Engine. He happened to be visiting and our good friends from Stillwater were celebrating their sons's 3rd birthday there.

Us in our train car...

The birthday boy...

Fear of Sir Topham Hat...

What a great month it has been! I am so thankful for the cooler weather we're seeing glimpses of and another fall spend with friends and family.

The Last of Deutschland

Day 9 of Germany was pretty action-packed as we knew our time there was almost up. Early in the morning Daddy Bear, Little Bear, and I headed out on our own. Since DB has an international driver's license and is familiar with the area this worked fine for us. We headed to a spot about 30 minutes from the house (several towns away--the towns are so close together there!) that has trails one can hike up to visit some castles. This place is on the crook of a river and has 4 castles positioned around it, all of which can be seen from the one hike. One of the castles is currently lived in so we knew we couldn't get very close to it so we decided to head in the other direction towards the two castle ruins. The hike was pretty steep in places, but beautiful and fun to do as a family.

This is the first castle we visited on our hike. If you look really closely you can see little DB and LB on the castle steps.

It had a very tall tower that we decided to climb.

Inside the tower was too dark to make out the steps so it was a little eerie. Once we finally got to the top, though, there was a great view of the castle that is currently occupied. And if you look at the far right middle of the photo you can barely see part of the fourth castle.

The next castle on our hike was even further up the trail. It was a little bit less "ruined" and maybe a hundred years newer (still built back around 1200, I think it said).

Little Bear got to ride on Daddy Bear's back for the hike up...

...we admired the view a bit more from the top...

...and then I got to carry the load on the way down.

That night we headed to one last beautiful town with the family for dinner at an authentic Greek restaurant. You can't tell how Greek it was by the German building it is in, but the owner/cook was definitely Greek and knew how to make delicious food! They weren't serving Baklava for dessert this night so we headed up the street to another delicious Gelato place (they're EVERYWHERE!), and enjoyed our last Italian ice cream for the trip.

The next morning was spent repacking the suitcases, stashing Daddy Bear's bottles of German Beer, and getting things ready to head back home. We headed to Mass that night with the family but stayed at the house the rest of the day spending our last few hours with Uromi, Oma, and Opa before heading to bed early for the long day we had ahead of us.

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Now we are home and still adjusting back to Oklahoma time. We had been in Germany just long enough to get our internal clocks switched over and now we're having to go through the process all over again. Today seems to be Little Bear's first HALFWAY normal sleep day so far! Which I'm very thankful for! We probably won't make it back to Deutschland for a little while, but we'll savor the memories and the photos until then! Thanks for joining with me to reminisce!

Deutcshland continued...AGAIN

Okay, here we are on days 7 and 8 of our trip before heading home on Sunday!

On Wednesday morning, we headed to Heidelberg where Oma dropped off DB, LB, and myself while she ran a couple of errands. We walked the beautiful cobblestone main street and did some window shopping, Cocacola Light drinking, salivating at the pastry shops, and a bit of buying gifts for loved ones back home. We walked out on the bridge crossing the Neckar River (I think) and took a picture looking up to the castle where Daddy Bear had his senior prom.

How magnificent must that have been! We visited the castle the last time we were in Germany so we didn't actually go up there this time. But looking up at it was visit enough for me!

Here is a picture, also taken from the bridge, of the other side of the river. Picturesque, isn't it?

After lunch outside on yet another GORGEOUS day (am I bragging yet?), we headed back to the house for naptime and then spent the afternoon and evening enjoying time with Uromi, Oma, and Opa at the house.

Uromi took LB for a ride on her walker.

And then the backyard proved perfect for a game of Badminton. We each had a turn, but I think Daddy Bear was the most intense.

Little Bear loved it when DB let him play along with him!

We visited many great places and enjoyed some fine meals but this may have been the best time spent in Germany!

Deutschland Continued...

Sunday, we began the day with Mass at the same church from Friday night and then headed to yet another German town for lunch. As soon as we entered the town I remembered it from the last time we visited. There is an adorable downtown area with gift and clothing shops, bakeries, and restaurants; not to be confused with the other thousands of adorable German towns with shops, bakeries, and restaurants. In this town though, right across from all of this is a palace with beautiful French gardens and all! The crazy part is that this is just a commonplace sight for Daddy Bear and my in-laws! I cannot imagine. I sometimes felt like a child in a fairy tale. So beautiful! We had a delightful Italian dinner and then had OH-SO-AMAZING gelato to top it off! Little Bear THOROUGHLY enjoyed his!

On Monday we headed to a small park/zoo where Oma dropped us off while she did some shopping. There were birds, goats, llamas, and many other cute little animals to see...

...and a fun German playground for Little Bear to play on (haven't merry-go-rounds been outlawed in the states? Those Germans aren't afraid of lawsuits!).

After we had lunch and LB, his afternoon nap, we headed to a delightful little Fairy Tale Land!

We all had a really great time riding the bikes and vehicles!

and LB loved the other rides too, like the airplane,

the carousel,

the ball pit (his first ever--haven't they outlawed these in the states too? He was a little unsure at first but grew to LOVE it!),

the train ride with Opa,

and many others!

After we had experienced all there was to see and do at Fairy Tale Land, we walked down the hill a few steps and ate dinner on the back deck of a restaurant overlooking Heidelberg. BREATHTAKING view!

Tuesday was spent driving a ways to a community of Catholics: priests, sisters, and families that Oma knows well. We enjoyed our time with them and celebrated Mass. Then headed to a restaurant nearby at a beautiful hotel buried in yet another quaint town on a hill. The food was delicious and the weather was perfect for dining on the deck overlooking a fountain and the gardens. These Germans know how to dine!