When Gigi Comes to Town

Once upon a time, my Mom made her 2014 visit to Germany. HI MOM!!!

And she surprised the girls. Which was really cute. 

And she brought lots of presents and stickers. And sugar. Cause that's a grandma's job!

And she found Frozen dresses for Ana and Elsa's upcoming birthdays and hosted a pre-birthday tea party. 

And she visited the Dino Park, the Ktown Zoo, Kusel Castle, the ballet studio, and the Japanese Gardens. She also took us out for breakfast a few times - my fave. 

She tired my kids out enough for us all to sleep in a bunch! And J and I got to go on two dates!

We went to Monte Mare for a few swims and water slide adventures. 

We got all tired out at Yabadoo. 

They snuggled on the couch for a lot of movie marathons and naps. She did dishes and started laundry and vacuumed the floor. Cause she's awesome!

We made silly faces. Which Gigi's really good at. 

No really, she's SO good at them! 

We went for walks and sang silly songs and painted our nails with the special FAVORITE colored nail polish she brought us all! 

And then we were sad. Cause she went home. LOVE YOU MOM!!! Thanks for all the wonderful memories!

YAY I Didn't Spoil Our Surprise | Gigi's Here!

Here's a heartwarming little video of the girls' first glimpse of my Mom today! 

Ode to Stephanie's Hair

I'm starting a club.  It's more of a support group.  We can call it "People Who are Insanely Jealous of Steph's Hair" (PWIJSH for short.)

Look!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's a MERMAID?  Nope, just my sister.  

Can someone please explain to me how the BABY sister "stole" all the amazing hair genes?  I mean, come on.  Shouldn't I, the oldest sister, have had the rights to all that amazingness?

Apparently not.

PS unless any of you are actually concerned, I'm not hating on my own hair.  My hair's been good to me over the years.  It does what I tell it, for the most part (except for holding curl, but that's a lot of work and I generally don't bother anyways.)  I mean, I don't have much to complain about when stick-straight hair is in vogue and that's all my hair wants to do anyways! ;o)

This is just a simple brag on Steph's mermaid hair.  I realized I was collecting quite a few photos on the subject.  

See?  Just LOOK at it!  She doesn't even have to try!  

And that's one thing I love about her (besides her awesome hair) ... girl has every right to be completely conceited about her looks yet you couldn't ask for a more down-to-earth, low-maintenance-gal.

I love you Stephanie!  Even though I want to rip your hair out and turn it into a wig for myself!

Wordless Wednesday | The Grandparents (and Aunt Steph!) are Livin' the Life!

Favorite Memories with My Favorite Brother

It's seriously a good thing I only have one brother (hence the nickname Brother) because this guy is so great, he'd blow any competition out of the water.  Thankfully, he's the only brother among three sisters and I don't have to feel bad at all saying he's my favorite Brother in the whole wide world!  

We had many a grand adventure together.  I am super sad that he's gone back home now.  But all vacations come to an end.  Alas.

We ate a lot of bread, as per usual.  You can't come to Germany without frequenting the amazing bakeries, and you can't come to Otterberg without frequenting Barbarosa.  I love that place.  I'm going to try to pack it up and ship it home with me when we move back to the States.

We drank a ton of coffee.  Not just at the bakeries, but we seriously gave my french press a workout.  Frenchy II didn't seem to mind ;o)

We played with the kids a lot.  Alex even asked for an exclusive tea party with his little nieces.  In which they demonstrated to him how clumsy they are with pouring real tea from their little tea pot.  I tried to warn him, but some lessons are best learned as you laugh at a 3yo literally filling a tea cup to overflowing and then adding a few more drops apparently to make sure the saucer also has enough tea on it. 

We went to a wine fest.  This area of Germany is famous for it's Reislings and we had a blast going up to this cute little town on the Rhine River.  More on that soon, it was a great night sans kids so I have lots of pictures!

We cooked together.  That was a special night.  It wasn't quite what he had planned, as he was trying to cook for us but Globus let us down and didn't have fresh clams for the clam sauce he was going to make.  So I took a rain check on that recipe and we bought some shrimp and put our heads together for a simple white-wine-fresh-tomatoes-and-shallots type sauce.  And it was amazing.  One of my favorite nights, actually, because Jesse was able to join us.  I always love good food and good friends, but especially when it's homemade food that you made together!

We saw a lot of glorious sunsets.  This time of year is apparently "majestic sunset" time.  I'm so glad Brother is pretty low-key and thrives (as I do) with some much needed downtime each day.  So we'd both sit down in the living room, watch the sunset, and do our own thing (for me, starting that there photography business weeeee!) and then after that we'd head up to the "upper deck"...

The Upper Deck is the name Kirsten gave to the rustic table and chairs that sit on the patio next to Lilo's garten haus.  And it is the place Alex and I ended most nights... smoking a cigar and drinking a beer and enjoying the barn lights.  I think it goes without saying that we enjoyed many a good laugh and many a good conversation.  I miss our Upper Deck times the most.

Thanks for staying with us Uncle Brother!  We miss you already!!!

Why I Haven't Been Blogging

Brother's here!!!!!!!

Lots of time catching up with my one and only Brother means less time for blogging.  I'm sure y'all understand.  So many fun trails to explore, bakeries to eat at, cigars to smoke, and good conversations to have!  

I've really missed this guy... so glad to have him all to myself for two weeks!

My Favorite Soon-to-be-Senior

Here he is folks, Mr. Josh Rawleigh!  Class of 2014!  When I found out Josh and Uncle Floyd were coming to Germany to look at a college, I figured I had to ask if I could use him for some more portfolio building.

And of course he agreed because how many kids from Strasburg, PA get to have their senior photos done at a castle? Probably only this guy.  

Oh and we also got to snap some shots in a 12th Century Cistercian Monastery.  No big deal.  But extra cool and meaningful, because he's thinking of coming to Germany to study at a theological institute.  So how's that for a "personalized prop?"

Congrats on your upcoming senior year Josh!  Enjoy it!  I look forward to hearing how it goes and what you decide... especially if you do come to Germany for college.  I'm so proud of you.  And thanks for letting me take some photos!  Love and hugs from cousin Jess.

Dear Bethany

Thanks for all the sister coffee dates.  Three weeks of having you here totally almost made up for all the ones we've missed since I moved away.

Thanks for the great talks.  I miss those.  I obviously wish we lived closer so we could chat in person more often, but I'm so blessed that we can just pick up where we leave off each time we're together.

Thanks for dealing with enjoying the kids.  I know the little Monkeys can be... difficult at times.  Thanks for all the stories you read, all the hugs you gave, and all the whining you put up with.  Also for those nights when we were both so tired but you whisked them off to bed so I could clean up the dinner mess.  You rock.

Thanks for taking three weeks out of your life to take part in mine.  I so enjoyed showing you around my corner of Europe.  I know I will treasure these memories.  I hate that we can't live forever in "Bethany's-visit-fairy-tale-land" where we get to have endless fun and laughter and cool outings.  But it's time for us both to get back to normal life.

I miss you already.  Best wishes on the next stage of the adventure that is your life.  You're the coolest nurse I know and Strong is lucky to have hired you.  Can't wait to hear how awesome the new job is!  Love you tons.

Good Times with Aunt "Bef-ing"

I think it's rained every day since Bethany got here.  But that's okay, we're not letting it get us down.  We're still having a blast and making some really great memories.

One of my favorites is that we've been working out together almost every day!  I'm not usually so motivated, but with a super fun workout partner, it's a blast!  We laugh a lot, and we're getting good exercise.  Which is important, because we're consuming a lot of bread, beer, and other German delicacies ;o)

At one point we were doing a P90X and both of us were whining and being lazy at the end until he announced "Okay, cool down time" and we both jumped up and were like WEEEEE COOL DOWN YAY and Jesse laughs from the kitchen "no, you guys aren't sisters or anything."  Like I said, lots of fun!

Another favorite memory is hearing Lily and Beth get in an arguing match... Bethany yelled at Lily for being in the trash can and Lily yelled at Bethany because she didn't recycle a cardboard toilet paper roll!  Germany has taught my kids to be recycling snobs - SCORE!

Unfortunately for Bethany, she has to learn fast or the local 3yo recycling-police will yell at her again.

And this morning we went to Globus.  And had breakfast treats.  And OF COURSE my girls needed a potty break before we did our grocery shopping.  So while I was in the big handicap/changing table bathroom with the Monkeys, Bethany decided to go down the hall to the other restroom.  Apparently she had a mini-panic-moment after she was already in the bathroom... "Wait, am I in the men's room?"  

Fear not, she remembered correctly that "Damen" is for the ladies ;o)

She's Here! She's Here! She's Here!

Bethany's here!

Things are going to get weird.

But we love weird in this family!

I am so excited to have this girl all to myself for three weeks!  She started college the fall before we joined the Air Force, so I feel like I was always getting robbed of Bethany-time when I'd go back to visit since we had to squeeze visits in between college classes, breaks, and other college shenanigans.  

But this girl is officially a college grad!  So happy graduation to her and now she's in Germany with me!  WEEEEE!  The biggest thing I have missed since moving away from home is all the "sister coffee dates" we used to have.  So now it's like a sister coffee date every morning (and afternoon) as I give my French Press a workout!  I have so missed talking to this girl!

She recovers from jet-lag like a champ.  Seems like it didn't even phase her!  We have lots of fun plans... the biggest being a trip to Zurich next week :o)  

Other than that it's the usual German things... though I had a fresh pretzel waiting for her when she got of the plane, I really do need to remedy the fact that she's been in country for two whole days and hasn't seen the inside of a bakery! We're planning breakfast at Barbarossa Bäckerei this morning.  

And it looks like this whole week it's going to rain cats and dogs.  Guess we'll get to apply the German saying "no bad weather, only bad clothing" so that we don't miss out on any fun just cause it's raining!  Bundle up, get those rain jackets on, and grab your umbrellas folks!  

Lily and Sam are in 7th heaven with another set of arms to snuggle them, do "ba-yay" (ballet) with them, read to them, and take them to the bathroom to use the new soap ;o)  And Bethany's even a good sport about the fact that Lily keeps accidentally calling her "Aunt Sefny" instead of "Aunt Befing"...  crazy kids.

Welcome to Germany Beth!!!  I'm so glad you're finally here!