Grace at 10 Months!

Somebody pinch me. Is Grace seriously 10 months old today? Wowsers! Time is just racing by.

Well, at 10 months she is as busy as ever and growing bigger and smarter every day.

She took her first couple of steps last week but is not quite ready to just start walking all over the place. She is content being the speedy crawler that she is... at least for now. She is into everything and insists on tasting everything as well.

She is babbling like crazy "Mama"... "Dada"... "Baba". And she definitely knows her name! If she is into something and we say "Gracie" sternly she acts all startled, as if she knows she's in trouble. She has also started to wave recently which Grandma Pat just eats up every time she sees her on skype.com.

Her big brothers continue to adore her as she continues to make their lives a little more interesting everyday... into their toys, knocking over their towers, stealing the video game remote controllers and tackeling them on occasion as well.

Grace doesn't stop with making their lives more challenging... she also enjoys exploring our kitchen cabinets, pulling the toilet paper off the rolls, fishing in the dogs' water bowl, emptying the contents of her diaper bag... and those are just the average daily explorations.

Most days she finds something new to get into. Some days it's hard to remember the times when she was not mobile and into anything and everything. But even with the added challenges she is a joy and a blessing in our lives each and every day.

These photos were taken this past Sunday after church.

The Strassenbahn in Heidelberg

I took this picture of a street car or Strassenbahn in downtown Heidelberg a couple of months ago and I am finally getting around to posting it.

Not all of the street cars are this colorful but there are other ones painted uniquely as well. This one, however, is one of my favorites. The street cars are well woven throughout Heidelberg and are a great source of public transportation for a minimal cost. We have only used them a handful of times at this point but the kids love it and there is a stop in walking distance to our house.

I think the kids are getting used to seeing the street cars on a daily basis. They used to point them out when we first arrived and now, as we see them so frequently, they rarely comment on them.

When we do have visitors I'm sure we will be using the strassenbahn a lot as it is the best way to get around in the area without having to worry about parking our big old beast of a vehicle!

A Holiday in Germany: Ascension Day

This past Thursday, Benjamin had a holiday from German kindergarten: Ascension Day. It is a public holiday in the area of Germany where we live (Baden-Württemberg). If you're not familiar with the meaning behind Ascension Day, it is the 40th day of Easter (or 39 day following Easter Sunday). It is the celebration of Jesus' ascension to heaven and is a holiday observed by many Catholics. Now that I'm reading more about it online, I found out that It has actually been a public holiday in much of Germany since 1936. As it is a national holiday, all businesses are closed (like every Sunday). This is also the time when German's observe Father's Day (however; Mother's Day is observed in Germany on the same day as the USA).

So, with Benjamin off of school for the day, he had been anticipating a trip to the PX (which my kids now associate as their local toy store!).

Apparently, he had his sights set on some Legos there and hadn't accompanied Don or I to the PX in awhile. Despite Grace getting a cold and having a bit of a rough night, we got moving early and made it to the PX. Both boys had a couple of gift cards for AFEES to spend. Benjamin picked out a couple of small Lego sets and Samuel found some Duplo (bigger Lego blocks) sets. They were thrilled and couldn't wait to get back home to enjoy their purchases. It was a rather cold and dreary day so playing inside wasn't a bad idea either.

Benjamin is getting really good at putting together Lego sets without any assistance and continues to amaze us how much he can entertain himself with all those small pieces of plastic! Much of his day off from school was spent either putting together the Lego cars or zooming them around the house. In his eyes, a perfect day off from school!

Evidence of Browning Baking

Just wanted to share this photo of Samuel after making some yummy brownies with Mommy yesterday. That boy loves to bake and especially loves to sample the tasty treats... before and after they're baked!

Samuel's First Art Show

There was a Kids' Art Show that was open to all the military kids in the area so I encouraged the boys to create a few things. Benjamin didn't end up entering anything in the fair. But Samuel loves to do "projects" and create things.

So, he entered a butterfly which was created out of a coffee filter and a clothes pin. And he also entered one of his marble paintings.

We did a bunch of marble painting a month or so ago and he loved it! We just took a cardboard mailing tube and put a sheet of white paper in there then dipped marbles in paint and placed the marbles in the tube. He loved shaking that tube all over the place and revealing the patterns the marbles created as he opened to tube. We also did some marble paintings with placing the paper in an empty plastic baby wipes container.

So, the art work was on display for a few weeks and then there was a Kids Fair with things for the kids to do. We were a little late for the fair due to the fact that Benjamin's first soccer game was the same night but the kids enjoyed it nonetheless.

Benjamin's Summer Soccer Season is in Full Swing!

A couple of weeks ago Benjamin had his first soccer game with the Red Raptors! He is playing on a team through the Child Youth Services program so he's with other military kids. And he loves it! His coach does a good job at keeping the kids moving and interested in playing at practice.

Keeping the kids (at least mine) attention span on game days is a little bit of a different story. But Benjamin was out on the field cheering on his team and spinning spidey webs (in true Spiderman fashion) throughout the game. He was having fun but not necessarily "into" the whole game. I would say that he was the number one cheerleader though... yelling "GOOOO RED RAPTORS!!!" over and over very loud and excitedly!

But as we saw during the recent basketball season he participated in, the kids' skill levels all improve as the season goes on.

They will have one practice and one game per week throughout the season. Last week, however, the game was cancelled due to rain. And it is very rainy here so we shall see how the season plays out!

Go Benjamin (#13)!!!! Goooo Red Raptors!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

This was my first Mother's Day with a daughter! What a blessing all three of our children are and I feel so fortunate to share in each of their growing days.

We enjoyed a pretty low key Mother's Day but I was able to sleep in until shortly after 8 a.m. That itself is a rare and simple pleasure in our house!

After church we had lunch and I enjoyed a nap! Yes... more sleep! I think I needed it. This afternoon we cooked out and enjoyed some nice weather outside. We tried flying a kite but there just wasn't enough wind today. Samuel is really fascinated with kites right now so we are determined to get one flying soon!