Potty Trained!

Yup, that is right Jacob is potty trained. According to Chrissy Roecker, he could have been potty trained a long time ago (and I agree with her) but I was too lazy to do it. I actually prefer to wait until they are closer to 3. They can do more by themselves, they seem to pick it up quicker, and there just seems to be less mess involved. It was one year ago this month that Nathan was potty trained.

So, anyway here is the story of Jacob. We went to Walmart the other day to do some shopping while the boys were at school. He was walking behind me at a dawdling pace when all of a sudden he says, "STOP! I need to pee." Then he stands still for a couple seconds with an odd look on his face, and then says, "K, I am done." And keeps on walking like there was nothing out of the ordinary about that.

Well, you better believe we went straight to the underwear isle to get some new undies for him to start wearing. He was pretty easy too. With both Nathan and Jacob I just put them in underwear and tell them to tell me when they need to go potty. Well, of course they pee in their underwear the first couple of times, but it is never too big of a mess. Just coming out of diapers, they pee often, so it is never very much. After they have wet in 3 pairs of underwear, I say OK let's put a diaper back on and we will try again tomorrow, and I will wash all of your underwear. Then, I do the same thing the next day. And with both of my boys they have got it down before they get three pairs of underwear wet the next day. Jacob even went to church in underwear today, and did great.

Steven was a different story of course. I think he only had one accident, and he was not quite 2 and a half when he was potty trained.

Valentines Day-A little late :)

So, I know this is late, but at least we are still in the right month. Does that count for anything?

We had a wonderful Valentines Day. We had heart muffins for breakfast, and opened a little Valentine package that came from Mom and Dad the day or two before. Mom put some new Chocolate Valentine hearts in the package that I had never tasted before and they were Wonderful. Too bad Jacob ate most of mine later on in the day. Thanks Mom and Dad for thinking of us. We love you.



In the evening, Steve and I fed the kids at the normal time, then put them to bed. After they were gone, we sat down to eat together and then watch a movie. Steve made chicken alfredo, homemade garlic breadsticks, and cheesecake for dessert. I made the salad, and set the table. Steve is such a wonderful husband, and I am so grateful that he is with me. The longer we are married the more great qualities I see in him. I Love Him! :)


P.S.- the beautiful flowers came from Steve too.

Fasching a.k.a. Mardi Gras

Today is Fasching! which is the same thing as Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is also Fat Tuesday I have been told. Which all means very little to me, except now that the kids are in German school they get to PARTY! They got to dress up as whatever they wanted on Monday, and then for today they had a theme for dress up. It was Wild West. So, they could be cowboys or Indians. The boys had a great time dressing up, and these kindergartens really know how to party.

These are the "before" pictures of the boys and our neighbor Ronya (Noelle's daughter from the last blog).



And these are the after pictures. I love the comparison. Nathan was crying when I went to pick them up because his teacher wouldn't give him juice. They only had water for them to drink, and the Germans drink bubble water, which is horrible, so he was thirsty. Poor guy. Steven has his treasure from the party (Nathan's hat full of candy). And the difference in Ronya just cracks me up.



Here are pictures of all the things they had for the kids to play with. The boy on the horse is not anyone you know. :)

They had a great time.

Fun Saturday

OK, so I will post my Valentine pictures eventually, but I wanted to blog about our Saturday activities first. The only sad thing about this is, I put my camera in the car so that I could post pictures with this blog, but we ended up taking the other car. HaHa!

So, on Saturday our neighbors invited us to go to the Christening of their 4 month old son. I thought it was so nice of them to think of us, and was excited to go. We went to their church and watched the ceremony, and it was very interesting. And although it was not a ceremony that I believe needed to be done, I think it is nice for all children to have some kind of ceremony that involves God. The poor baby cried almost the whole 45 minutes, and the Mom was quite frustrated. There was a lot of singing (in German) and some candle lighting, and then some blessing type of things. During one part of the ceremony they gave 5 of the children that were there, a candle to hold, including Steven and Nathan. Then, they just let the kids hold them until the kid eventually did something wrong and the candles got blown out one by one. There has to be many times that the preachers robe or someones hair has caught on fire. We were all standing by the little tub where the baby was getting christened in very close proximity with all these young children swinging their candles around. No disasters for us though.

So, that was very nice, and it was good for me to experience. Then after leaving the church they invited us out to dinner with them. Our neighbors consist of a German women, and an Irish man, and their three children. They are fluent in German and English, and both of their parents were here as well. The German parents speaking very little English, and the Irish parents speaking NO German.

Our neighbors own an Irish Pub in Frankfurt which is where they chose to go to dinner. They have told us to eat there so many times, but we never have, so we decided now would be a good time to see their Pub. The food was very good, and the kids had a great time acting like wild animals. Then when we were done eating, we stayed a little while longer to listen to our neighbor (Noelle) sing some Irish folksongs, and boy are we glad we did. It was so cool to hear him sing these songs, and I thought about the Buchanans although I am sure the Scottish are a bit different. His friend that was playing with him started out playing a mandolin, and after a couple of songs switched to the banjo. Noelle was playing the guitar. I personally liked the sound of the banjo the best. The boys who had been pretty rowdy, just sat and listened to the music, and really enjoyed it. I was also sitting next to Noelle's Mom whom I had been talking to for a while, and I got to hear her sing along to the music with her Irish accent, and on one of the songs she started clapping her hands to the music. It was so neat to be there.

Then when Noelle was done with a few of his songs, they convinced his Dad to go up and sing a song. He had an older, richer voice, and I just loved to listen to him. He was singing a song called "Streets of London" by Ralph McTell. Much to Steve and I's surprise not only did all of the Irish people there join in with the song, but the Germans also seemed to know all the words of this song. Both Steve and I had never heard it before. It was great. We just loved being a part of this cultural experience. I was very sad not to have my camera there!

Valentines Day Muffins

I just got done making the dough for some Fabulous Chocolate Banana Bread. I have made this recipe before, and it is great. I have a heart shaped muffin tin, and I am planning on getting up before the boys tomorrow morning, and making them heart shaped muffins for breakfast fresh out of the oven. And since I am ahead of most of you in time, I figured I would share the recipe in case anyone was looking for something fun to do. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup margarine, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 6 bananas, mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• a pinch of salt
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup lite sour cream
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and cocoa; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

This recipe came from allrecipes.com (of course), so in case any of you like to look at the reviews like I do, here is the link. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-banana-bread/detail.aspx


And since I have already done a blog with no pictures this week, I will share some lovely pictures of Jacob's binky collection. He collects them as he seems them laying around the house and then says he wants "all the binkies" when he is going to bed.

Rain, Rain

We got our new camera in the mail from Mom a couple of weeks ago, and are LOVING it. I was afraid I wouldn't like it because it was big, but it is the same size as my other camera so that is what I am use to, and it is so light. We really love it. So thank you Mom and Dad for the Christmas gift.

It has been raining here so much lately. This is usually when we get our snow, but it has rarely gone below freezing this winter, so we are getting rain instead. It has been the weirdest winter here. The typical highs have been in the mid 40's which is quite high.

So, of course the boys have found a way to enjoy the rain. This is in a lot next to our house that has a perfect puddle.
We were bored enough that I didn't even make Steven get out of the puddle when his whole boot was getting covered.




The outfit that Steven is wearing is what the German kids put on every time they leave their houses in the winter. It is a snow bib, boots, coat, hat and gloves. It seemed so weird for me at first, but once they are old enough to put it all on themselves it is quite nice. They stay plenty warm and when they play outside they keep their clothes completely clean. Nathan hasn't warmed up to the idea of adorning himself in all of that gear whenever he leaves the house. It is a good thing this winter has been warm or the teachers would have my head. They do ask them to wear rain gear when it is wet, but warmer. Which would consist of rain bibs, coat, boots, hat. Germans don' t like to be cold. :) They are great.

Jacob's understanding

So, Jacob and I went to the store this morning, and in the checkout line he keep asking me for candy after candy after candy. I kept saying No, especially since he was already holding a snack in his hands. I finally told him if he asks me again, I am going to put him in the buggy where he can't reach the candy. Well, of course it came to that, and once he was in the buggy he was being totally rude and acting like a brat because he didn't want to be there. I told him to stop or I am going to put him down for a nap when we get home.

So, then we are in the car and here is the conversation:

Jacob: Am I going to bed?
Me: If you keep acting Rude you are.
Jacob: I'm not Rude (pause, then breaks in to song)
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
Has a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it,
you would even say it glows.


Apparently he thought I was saying he is Rudolph. haha

Speaking of having a baby

Speaking of having a baby Dad, I went to the Doctor today. After Alicia wrote and said that she heard her babies heartbeat, and she is due at least a month after me, I decided it was time for me to go see a Doctor. So Jacob and I dropped the boys off at school this morning and then went. He is a wonderful man, and I am confident now that having my baby in Germany is going to be just fine. Although there are going to be some differences.
Disclaimer:
K, if you don't want to hear the details this is where you stop. :)

So, at the Doctors office, after the initial exam, he said he was going to give me an ultrasound. I guess he would rather see the baby then just hear it. So he asks me to walk from one room to another with only my shirt on. It wasn't past where anyone else could see me, but it was still a little strange for me to be walking around like that with the Dr. and the nurse in the room. OK, so then I lay on the bed for the ultrasound, and of course I pull my shirt up past my stomach so he could start. Well, I guess at least on early ultrasounds the camera goes inside of you rather than on your stomach. Wow! That was a surprise. After the initial shock, I got to look at the screen and see the baby and it was so cool. I could see the head and the body and the arms moving. He said the baby is big so either it is going to be a big baby (9 lbs is big and that was the size of all my boys) or I am a week off on my due date. I think the former is probably more correct.






So, all in all it was a good experience that left Jacob a little confused, but me a little excited. The Dr. will be great, and I am now totally convinced that there is a baby inside of me, even if all my usual signs of pregnancy have not reared their ugly head yet. Who knows, maybe my attitude will never become mean and nasty during this pregnancy. Steve certainly would be thrilled. :)

ZUMA!!

K, so I just have to share my joy! I did a blog on Zuma a while back, and I have been faithfully trying to beat the game everyday since that blog. Jen Olsen beat the game about a month ago, which just made my desire to win even stronger. I was getting so, so, so close, but I just couldn't do it, UNTIL TONIGHT! What a great feeling to be triumphant. :)

Just thought I would share.

PS- Steve is still work diligently on beating the game. He hates that I beat it first, but HEY he won both games of Settlers that we played tonight, so oh well. :)

Triberg

So, I don't know what has happened to me, but I have turned in to a traveler I guess. We had been home for about a week from a long vacation to California and Steve and I were just getting the urge to go on a trip. So, of course we did. :) We have stayed in this same hotel in Triberg at least 4 times since we have been here, and we love going to this area for some reason. So last Thursday we left for a two day vacation, and took some friends of ours with us.

The first day we went to see the waterfall which was something we have done with both mine and Steve's parents. It was lightly raining all day that day, but it has been so warm here in Germany, that is wasn't too cold to be out getting wet.


The water was pretty dirty


In the evening we played a couple of games of Settlers which as you know is one of our favorite things to do, and the next morning we had a wonderful German breakfast of rolls, cold cuts, and cheese. That is one of my favorite things about this hotel, I just have good memories of their breakfast. :)

Then we checked out of the hotel, but we wanted to see one more thing before we headed home. Well, they had a brochure in their visitor info building that listed many different things to do in the area. There was one that talked about climbing on rocks and that it would be heaven for children. So... of course that is the one we decided to find. Little did I know that something that was advertised in a brochure would be SOOO hard to find. We asked 3 different people for directions, and had to turn around a couple of different times to find this place. I couldn't believe how hard it was to find. BUT, boy are we glad we did. We got out of the car and started on this little trail in the mountains, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The boys were thrilled because we were walking through the "black forest" which is what this whole area of Germany is called. We eventually did find some rocks, but they were right at the edge of a cliff, and I can't imagine anyone that would let their kids climb on them. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen though. So, it all worked out just wonderfully. And now a week later, I am ready to go see something else.

This was a clearing at the beginning of the hike. Steve couldn't resist, and broke into song with "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music."






This is the rock at the end of the hike, it was at the top of the mountain and had quite a view as you can imagine.

Thank you Nana and Papa!

So, we did have a near perfect Christmas, but it was not complete without seeing the Hughes side of the family. The Hughes live in Virginia while my parents live in California, so you can see the dilemma here. We were with the Hughes last year for Christmas which was wonderful, but we missed them this year.

But of course that didn't mean we were excluded from their generous gifts. They sent us some wonderful presents that we are so grateful for.

They really hit the jackpot with one they bought for Steven, that will be used with all the boys I am sure. It is the "Hooked on Phonics" learn to read program. Steven would be in 1st grade if we were in the states, so therefore, he should be learning to read. I have attempted teaching him, but he showed little interest and as you can imagine, I don't have many resources. For some reason after Christmas, he decided he wanted to learn to read from this present that his Nana and Papa gave him. So we have been working from the workbook, and reading a couple of books from it everyday. He is so excited about it, and he reminds me that we need to read everyday. I am loving it of course because I am not having to push him to do it, and it means he is on par with his classmates in the states.

So, thank you to Nana and Papa for all you do for us, but we especially thank you for helping Steven get excited about reading.

This is a chart he gets to put a sticker on for every book that he reads. It is a great incentive.

California-Pismo

The day after Christmas Mom and Dad favored us with a wonderful trip to the beach. It was only a couple of hours away, and they paid for us to stay at this wonderful "Cottage Inn" where each family had their own room. And the rooms were beautiful.

These fireplaces were controlled by the heat in each room. So when the thermostat came on, it lit up the fire to heat the room. It was so nice. The boys are getting ready for a bath after their game of wave tag which left them and their clothes sandy and wet.

We started out with a nice lunch together, and then walked along the pier,

This is my sister Alicia walking with Jacob. She bought him this cool shell from a little shop and he was thrilled.


Steve and I with my Grandma


This cool bird just sat there at the end of the pier for most of the time we were there.



Some ventured out in to the water for a nice game of wave tag.



That night we put the kids to bed and continued our tradition of a game of Settlers.

Then the next day, we wanted to go see some tide pools, but it was windy and the waves were huge. So instead we stopped by the water, and most of the family got out and braved the crazy wind to explore a little bit. I personally didn't. I don't know why I wasn't feeling adventurous, but I wasn't so I stayed in the car, and had plenty of company. It was really WINDY!! :)

These are pictures from the morning that we were leaving. We wanted to get one last look at the ocean from the "backyard" of the hotel



And that was the end of our fabulous Christmas vacation with the Allred side. I felt like we were there the perfect amount of time, and Christmas was just wonderful. We miss everyone already, and now I am entertaining the thought of wanting to go back to the states. I just have to work a little on Steve.

California- Christmas!

So, keeping up with our current life, we actually got up and I got the boys to school today. And we were only half an hour late! Not bad huh. That was after laying in bed for a while thinking, do they really HAVE to go to school today. But I finally decided we had used all of our allotted time to get back to a normal schedule, so we went. And the boys went to bed at regular time tonight.

Christmas in California was fabulous. There was only one brother out of 9 siblings that was not able to come to Mom's house for Christmas this year, and that is because he is serving a mission in Washington State. So we were all OK with his excuse. There are also 4 spouses and 8 kids that have joined us. And it was so nice to be all together. Plus we got to talk to Evan (the missionary)on Christmas day, which was very nice.

Santa set up the presents beautifully for the kids. I feel bad because since we have been traveling so far for Christmases my kids don't think of their Santa presents as the BIG presents that I remember getting from Santa. He has to stick with presents that can fit nicely in a suitcase. But I also think that being with family on Christmas is part of their big present, so I guess it is not too bad.

Christmas morning was also wonderful. We all got comfortable and opened presents one by one, which didn't seem as drawn out as I thought it was going to be. Maybe for 2 reasons, 1. we stopped for our annual Christmas breakfast of quiche half way through, and 2. opening presents has always taken forever. With 9 kids each opening one at a time, I don't think it ever took under 2 hours and this only took 3.


The boys loved their chocolate first thing in the morning.


One of the things I got Nathan was playdoh with playdoh toys, and the kids seemed to really enjoy that after the presents were done.

I must also say, I have some of the cutest nieces and nephews around, so here are some pictures of their cute little faces.

Krista and Blake Skinner


Bryce with Blake and Kea


Brielle Buchanan


Landon and Aiden


Davin, Kea, Nathan and Jacob on the bed watching a movie