Sweet Lemony Blog Award

I was nominated by Lee Anne and Jessica for this award, awhile ago, and am just getting to it now. It was perfect fitting because of my word of the year....gratitude. These two ladies have wonderful blogs and I truly love and appreciate their comments on my blog.

Here are the official rules of the game...

1. Put the logo on your blog post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude.

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

I nominate:

1. LeeAnne. even though she has already done it. I teach with Lee Anne and we both are moms of boys only! You should check out her blog. She does these amazing tributes to people (her boys, mom, mother in law) that I will probably be copying at some point. ;) She is a very honest person, and so great at making comments on people's blogs.

2. Jessica, even though she has already done it. Jessica moved this summer and I really enjoy being able to keep up to date with her from her blog. She does an amazing job of keeping it up to date. Jessica has a beautiful girl, Jordyn, who is always smiley...and such a blessing.

3. Kristin, my sister in law married to my brother Matt, also does a great job of keeping her blog up to date. They have an adorable 6 month old, Kelsey. I swear she is the best baby I have ever known. I have yet to hear her cry more than a few times. Even though we live in the same town, we're all very busy so I love being able to see how my niece is growing up. Kelsey is a blessing also.

4. Erin,my cousin who lives in Illinois. She also has a Conor, who is so cute. We used to see each other and talk more when we were younger, and now don't see each other very often. It's great being able to watch and see what's going on with them through her blog.

5. Wendy,is a friend from high school. We were great friends in high school, sort of lost touch during college, and then picked right up again after college. We don't get to see each other a ton, or talk all that much, but when we do we it's like we haven't missed a beat. We have a lot in common. She has two adorable girls, that are just like their mom. Wendy is one of the more hilarious people I know.

6. Kelly, I got to know from playing softball. She is an amazing mom of four great kids, not to mention a mom doing it on her own for the most part. She is a very talented photographer, and one of the most laid back people I know, not to mention still an amazing softball player. ;)

7. Tanja, doesn't even know me, but I follow her blog daily. I came across it this summer and I used her 12 course meal idea with the boys a ton. They thought I was the coolest and I owe it all to Tanja. She is always so positive in her blog and appears to be a beautiful person inside and out.

8. Stephanie, also doesn't know me, but I follow her blog too. I became addicted to Stephanie's blog awhile ago after finding out that she and her husband were in a plane crash and have been going through intensive burn therapy and surgery for awhile now. It is amazing what they have all been through. Her "voice and personality" really come through from her blog.

9. Laurie, over at Tip Junkie, is always sharing and featuring amazing women. I have made quite a few connections from her blog and love all of the ideas. It's almost overwhelming sometimes. She also does not know me. ;)

10. Dawn, is a friend I have gotten to know better within the last 5 years and she has two adorable kids, Lane and Kate. I have not met Kate yet, and hope to do so soon. Dawn is a very creative and sweet woman.

Valentines

Big party tomorrow! We spent lots of time "perfecting" them, especially Hillary's! ;)

We're home!

Wow, what a wonderful trip we had. Well, I had atleast. I know Matt enjoyed the time that we had together, however he had to work ALOT of the trip, so I know not all of it was as enjoyable for him. It was so good to get home and see these lovely faces and fall down from such hard hugs and kisses.

Back to reality today with teaching. It was fun being back in the school, seeing the kids, talking with my coworkers, but man.....wouldn't mind being in Germany still!

We had an incredible last day on Monday when we took the train to Fussen (on the boarder of Germany and Austria) and then took a bus to Schangua to see the castles. It was a picture perfect day, with beautiful setting. In my opinion I thought the snow setting, versus seeing everything green, was even better. More pictures and stories to come, I didn't have time last night because it was all about the boys (and we were exhausted!).

For those of you who are not familiar with the Backyardigans, it is a cartoon where these characters go into their backyard and have an imaginary adventure and their backyards turn into whatever the setting of their adventure is.

"Mom, I know why the Backyardigans are called the Backyardigans!"

"Why?"

"Because they play in their backyards and they do it again and again....get it....the Backyard...agains?!"

"Good thinking! I bet you're right!"

Mom did such a great job of taking pictures and updating us with the little things said or done while we were gone. She had to email me my marriage license to make my journey home go more smoothly with my passport and she put this in the email: Tonight while snuggling....I told Connor and Jacob that I'm glad mommy and daddy are coming home but I'm sure going to miss them. Jacob grabs my hand and says "I miss you"....Connor says, "I will miss you a little...but am glad mommy and daddy will be home." Gotta love that."

It's good to be home.

A few pictures....

Hallo.
The word FEW is not a part of my vocabulary when it comes to pictures. I have taken, I don't even know how many. Those of you that know me....can probably imagine. I've received that look from Matt many times....seriously, another picture? I've added a FEW of them here...

Again, I am up at a strange time -12:45 am here, 5:45 pm there...because I have a strange burst of energy. What better thing to do with that energy (when my husband is sleeping of course ;) ) then get on the internet?! Yesterday I went back to Nuremburg and went to the Nazi rally grounds and then Matt surprised me with calling me to meet him earlier than we had planned at the Central Station. Actually, he quickly went back to Erlangen and changed and met me so that we could stay in Nurenburg for the night. We walked around, enjoyed the festivities of the Toy Fair, had a delicious meal and tasty drinks.

Today I joined Matt at the Toy fair to walk around and see what it was all about. Wow - so cool. I have never seen so many toys, booths, and innovative things. We had fun taking pictures that the boys would enjoy (the stuff Matt did and looked at for work, like balls, weights, and early childhood equipment wasn't nearly as fun to take pictures of). We then headed back to Munich by train this afternoon and were able to get some Munich sight seeing in during in the light. I was hoping to see the Glockenspiel go off, but we missed it. We came back to the hotel, called the boys, and I starting another book, while Matt got some work done.

We both think that we had the best meal that you see here in these pictures. Some of you are probably grossed out, however, this sauce was mouth watering, flavorful and the meat literally melted in your mouth. The potatoes are awesome over here, and of course the beer was great and refreshing! Supposedly, this (shoulder part) is special just to Nuremburg.
This is the church, The Church of our Lady, that was our view outside of our window in the picture above.

Tomorrow we're taking a 2 hour train ride to go see these: (it won't be as green, so I hope I still get some beautiful pictures)

I am in love......

...with my husband of course, but also with Nuremburg. Last night we took a train to Erlangen, north of Munich for Matt's next trade show in Nuremburg. The show is so big that all of the hotels in Nurnberg (as it's written in German) are full and we have to stay in Erlangen, about a 25 minute train ride away. I got up bright and early this morning with Matt (5:40 am) and headed to Nurnberg. I am in LOVE with this city. Oh my goodness. I spent from 7:00 am until 6:20 pm (truly- my legs are exhausted, but don't even notice because I enjoyed myself so much drinking coffee and people watching in a little corner cafe, looking in shops, walking around the market, gazing in awe at the beautiful churches, touring a castle and a brewery along with the underground beer cellars, talking and enjoying some beer with some folks from Belgium, and just making choices on the spot. I went through most of the "Old City". Which ever way I wanted to go, I went. No agenda (well besides the map that I had marked up with spots I wanted to see eventually). The buildings are beautiful, tall, red-roofed,aged and the churches are enormously gigantic and breathtaking, the shops are oh so fun, the roads are cobblestone, the history is magnificent, .....blah blah blah. I could go on and on. It takes too long to put pictures on over here, so I will have to do that when I get back. Of course I am heading back there tomorrow to get some more depth in some of the things I started, to do some shopping, and to tour the Nazi Party Rally Grounds (Reichsparteitagsgelande) where many of the parades, rallies, events, and the Nuremburg Trials took place during that time. This is all too incredible, have to pinch myself before I go to bed.

We've been going to bed for a little while and then setting the alarm to wake up to call the boys (and grandma and grandpa of course) on the web cam. We call them at midnight German time, so that it is about 5:00-5:30 pm U.S. time. Being able to see and talk to them, makes it easier to be away for so long. It sounds like they are having a blast, and it's fun hearing all of the stories and anecdotes of the day. Tonight we also got to see and talk to Natey and Matt, Kristin, and Kelsey. What a treat. Technology is wonderful most of the time isn't it?

Again.....GRATITUDE.

Hallo from Germany!

No, it is not a mispelling, it's how you say hello in german.

Before I left Tuesday, the boys and I were able to spend a little time together and we had "I love you" scrambled eggs (in the shape of hearts if you can't tell).

Well, after a long detour I finally made it here to Munich..............and met up with Matt. I arrived 5 hours later than I was supposed to. What an interesting journey. To start with, I feel really stupid but didn't really think anything of the fact that my passport still has my maiden name on it. When I went to check in at Mpls. the lady gave me a really hard time about it and didn't know if I was going to be able to take the trip. It ended up being fine as long as I had all of this verification, but she flagged me as high risk security (she was not my favorite person) so every time I had to go through security they had to look through everything by hand and pat me down. Ugh! Note to self, make sure passport is completely updated next time. The flight to Amsterdam was fine, long (8+hours), but fine. I enjoyed a couple of movies and some wine. From Amtsterdam, where my flight was late to start with, I had to get on this little plane where I had be outside on the runway and walk up one of those stairways on wheels to get on the plane. The flight went fine, however we couldn't land in Munich because of zero visability, so we had to land in Stuttgart. This was pretty cool because it's the city where my dad was stationed when he was in the service. From there they provided a bus to take us to Munich, a 2 -1/2 hour ride. Like I said, what a long journey, however I was able to meet and visit with some interesting people from Amsterdam, Germany, London, and India and I got to see more of Germany than I had planned on! Always try to see the positive right?! Gratitude! ;)

Needless to say I am exhausted. We went to the Hofbrauhaus (big brewery) and had some delicious german food and beer and then walked around a little. We walked to Marienplatz (the the town center and the City Town Hall). I love all of the little streets with tall buildings and shops. I am so excited to be here, and so fortunate I could take this trip.

We got back to the hotel, slept for a little while and then woke up to call the boys at grandma and grandpa's. It was good to see them and hear their voice. We are so fortunate that it worked out for my parents to watch them, Mattey to take Connor to preschool, and Natey to help out this weekend with swimming lessons and giving mom and dad a break.

I can't wait to go back and see this City Town Hall in daylight. The green area is the Glokenspiel and the figurines dance and move to music at certain times of the day.
I decided to do these last two pictures in Sepia and Black and White because they are a little blurry. We had to ask like three different people to try to take our pictures (they didn't understand english and I couldn't get them to understand the focus part of my camera. Oh well).

I obviously won't be updating this every day (if at all while we're here I just couldn't sleep at the moment - the whole time change thing), but will have a ton of stories and pictures to share when I get back. Mom is doing a great job keeping up with taking pictures and jotting down stories and comments for me.

Crazy, when I try to log onto this site everything is in German. Good thing I know the site well enough because I only know a few words.

Auf Wiedersehen (good bye) for now!

Gratitude...2009

This post is actually for Monday, but I didn't get to the computer in time tonight (this morning!).
I got a little busy with preparing for the trip.


My necklace came in! If you were able to read and remember my blog entry back in December about my word of the year for 2009, I was fortunate to be chosen as the winner of a necklace. Originally I did the post without knowing about the contest, so winning is an extra bonus.

Check out Laurie at Tip Junkie. She has an incredible site and I get such great ideas from her. Thank you Laurie for the giveaway and thank you Tabetha at Reminisce Heirlooms for the beautiful necklace. I love it! Check out both of these wonderful blogs for great ideas and beautiful jewelry. I love the picture bracelets Tabetha makes.



I plan to wear this often to remind me of everything I have to be grateful for.

Talking to...and seeing...daddy

We met with our friends, the Burmeisters, for lunch today at McDonald's. We both have 3 boys, so we have lots to laugh at, complain about, and compare! Here are the boys eating their ice cream (minus their little one).

Daddy called tonight on the web cam. It's the first time we've used it with him. The boys thought it was pretty cool. It helps me knowing that I will be able to see them when we talk. Seeing their faces will be an extra bonus, and help me be able to enjoy the trip. Silly I know, but this is a long time to be away from them.

We watched the Super Bowl with my family for a little while, as long as the boys could make it that is. Bummer the Cardinals lost! What a great last touchdown play by the Steelers.

Matt called this morning letting us know he made it safe and sound.

My bebe now has his own spot at the table in Nolan's high chair. Again, cute? or obsessive? ;)



The boys had swimming lessons today again, and lucky me got to get in with Jacob. I LOVE putting my swimming suit on! NOT! However, it was very fun being in there with him. He is just wild and crazy, so happy. He went under the water a ton and was so proud. Connor did great as well. We got home and took a nap. It must have been all they needed because then they were chasing in circles and wrestling (I was having visions of our life with 3 boys so close together in age in the years to come).



Matt, Kristin, and Kelsy dropped by for a visit tonight, with ice cream! MMMMM. We played some Wii, and Uncle Matt even made a treasure hunt for Connor. Kelsey took a bath at our house so we got out our tub. Guess who Nolan thought needed a bath? Kelsey girl's first Mario cart game.Auntie Kristin's first Mario cart game also!