New Years Eve 2013

Happy (rather belated) New Year 2014!

Lets be frank, 2013 was not my year. It ended up more than wonderful with the healthy arrival of Jelly Bean into our family. But it wasn't a lovely year. I'm pretty sure that a pie chart of how I spent my time would have the three largest slices would be in order:
1. laying down (and feeling icky)
2. sitting around (and feeling icky)
3. on my knees (and puking).

So, yeah, 2013 wasn't my year.

But 2013 is over and 2014 as already started in an awesome way.

My kiddos acting silly together. These moments are too damn precious.

My brother and his soon-to-be celebrated with us. We started out watching Dinner for One, a bizarre German tradition.

Watching the movie

Snapshot of the movie

Then we enjoyed raclette together. It was both of Uncle Frannie's and Aunt Kiwi's first time eating raclette and I hope that they both enjoyed it. I did - so much that I forgot to snag a picture.

Then, since our visitors were heading into Heidelberg and PJ has started to sleep through the night, we all headed out to set off some fireworks.

Correct footwear is very important.

Unfortunately PJ grabbed onto the wrong end of a sparkler before we went outside and burnt his finger, so he wasn't really all that into the fireworks this year (a big change from the last few years). Good thing Aunt Kiwi helped make some other noises:

And the men, as usual, went a little crazy with the fireworks. Because, well, why not?

Afterwards, it was already bedtime for our little man (Jelly Bean was already asleep in her little Ergo), and Uncle and Aunt headed into Heidelberg for some adventures. Thankfully a neighbor came by and took a picture of us all.

Good looking group of good people, eh?

The Mr. and I struggled to stay away until midnight - I made him start watching Say Anything - but in the end, gave in and toasted in bed, and then went to sleep. That's what I call winning ;)

xo

Happy 4th of July

Today is the 4th of July when my home country, the United States of America, celebrates a pretty nifty document that led to our independence from the British monarchy. But considering how many people woke up insanely early to watch Kate Middleton and Prince William tie the knot ... I'm not completely sure everyone got that whole "down with the crown" message.

And, yes, I did record it. Just to see the dress. Really. Okay, not really. I watched some of it, pausing frequently at shots of the dress.

Anywho...today was PJ's first 4th of July. Last year I was still desperately awaiting him to give notice on his one-room apartment. This year, as an outside baby and as a little American, we had to make sure that he learned the purpose of the 4th of July as early as possible: HAMBURGERS and FIREWORKS and FLAG WAVING.

Sadly, PJ is a little too young to stay up for the last ever American firework celebration in our area before the soldiers move on to greener pastures. (insert sad face here) But the Mr. made sure that PJ enjoyed some very yummy, homemade, grilled hamburgers with all the toppings. And I made sure he got the chance to wave his flag.

The Mr. getting ready to make magic happen on our deck.

Little man getting friendly with his flag.

Soon the flag was waving away.

"More hamburger! More hamburger!"

"I said, more!"

This was our first meal on our new house's deck - which kinda means it is OUR deck, but I'm still working on that mindshift - and it was fabulous. On a warm day, we were cool, surrounded by green, and part of a symphony of neighbourly sounds.

The American-German family celebrating the 4th of July.

Life. Its good.



xo

Happy 2012!

Here's to a wonderful 2012! I hope you all failed to make resolutions, or if you did that you've already broken yours!

We enjoyed a pretty laid-back, baby-friendly-ish New Years Eve, unlike other years. We had raclette for dinner with ham, mushrooms, lots of different sauces, including sour cream. Had I made a resolution to lose more baby (cookie) weight, I would have broken it before midnight. Good thing I skipped making it in the first place.

Speaking of cookie weight - this one was (and is) super yummy!

Our little man was just as excited about dinner as we were. We could hardly keep him away from the table:

Raclette is a fabulous family meal because it takes hours to slowly melt the single servings of cheese with ham or mushrooms. Thankfully, little man was a real trooper and lasted almost the entire meal at the table with us, in great part because he looooooves chewing on his new-ish sippy cup.


PJ went to bed around 6pm (as usual) but as more party-goers filled the streets - and the air with their fireworks - he woke up quite frequently. The Mr. and I watched South Park and Dinner for One (seriously, click this link to learn about one of the most entertaining but bizarre German traditions) until about midnight, pausing to calm little man back to sleep each time he woke. Then the clock hit midnight and the German people once again lost their collective minds in firework excitement.

After years of trying I finally got a video:

And can you believe it? PJ slept through the first ten minutes of the chaos!



Who knows what finally woke him up but he finally came to join us and was enthralled with the noise, the sights, and the smell. Which is great because I think our downstairs neighbors spent half a year's salary on their fireworks.





So, here we are in 2012! A lot of great things happened in 2011 - the biggest being the smallest: our little man. Yet, I am pretty excited about 2012. There is a lot to look forward to: a shared month of parental leave in March; (hopefully) a new house; my return to work; some bundles of joy that will be born this year into other families; and tons that I'm not aware of yet. But the thing I'm definitely most looking forward is introducing our little man to his American uncle and his fabulous girlfriend in April. Exciiiited!

How about you guys - what are you looking forward to? What have you got planned for 2012?

xo