Christmas 2011

This Christmas was A LOT of fun around our house!  Parker is "close" to understanding the concept of Santa, but not quite there!  We spent the weeks leading up to Christmas day looking at holiday lights, talking about the meaning of Christmas (mainly focusing on "baby Justice"....Parker couldn't quite say "Jesus"), following "John" the elf around our house, singing Christmas songs, and of course, lots of talk about Santa Clause and reindeer.  
       So, when Christmas eve finally arrived we were READY!  John and Parker made cookies for Santa and we read "Elf on the Shelf" one last time.  Later that night, after Santa had come and gone (and for those of you wondering, yes we put off ALL assembly until Christmas eve, and no, there was no bloodshed...barely), John downloaded "sleigh bells" to his ipad and attempted to wake Parker with ringing bells and "Ho Ho Hos", luckily it didn't work!  

Christmas morning was a little anti-climatic.  Parker was more overwhelmed than excited.  She just kinda stood there staring at her "pile" of toys not really knowing what to do.  Eventually, she warmed up and began playing with her new things.  We spent the rest of the day lounging around playing with our new toys.

On Monday, John and I dropped Parker off with a babysitter and we headed back to Garmisch/Oberau to meet up with some friends from Texas, James and Eileen Mijares, who are now stationed over here.  We spent all day Monday and Tuesday morning catching up, shopping, and eating.  It was nice to have some "adult" time, but we were both ready to see Parker by Tuesday afternoon!

A Week with Juju and Garmisch

Last friday Juju came to visit!  We were thrilled to have her with us all week, and it's safe to say that we have ALL been spoiled!  As usual, I was horrible with the camera and only managed to take a few pictures of Parker the entire week, sorry :(.  

The weather has been great all week, so we were able to visit several Christmas markets and do LOTS of shopping!  We had snow on Tuesday and Wednesday, but nothing heavy enough to slow us down.  

Last weekend we went to the market in Rothenburg, it was so much fun.  We shopped, shopped, and ate!  We spent most of Sunday working in Morgen's room, washing clothes, cleaning the closet and setting up furniture.  On Monday, Parker and I went to school and John and Juju spent the day shopping in Regensburg.  On Juju's last visit John was in the field, so it was nice that they were able to spend some time together this trip.  Tuesday was pretty low-key, Parker stayed home from school with Juju and then that night Judy and  I went to a coffee with the other "Warhog" wives.  It was nice to get the chance to introduce her to some of my friends here.  Next came Wednesday, which meant work for me and John, then my 31 week doctors appointment (which Juju got to go to and see baby Morgen) and some more shopping in Regensburg.  On Thursday, Juju and I went to the Christmas market in Nurnburg, which is the oldest market in Germany.  We had so much fun!  The market was great and we found some really neat things.  Friday morning we all got up, packed the car and headed down to Garmisch.  Garmisch is the home of Edelweiss, which is the Army's European resort.  We have been trying to get rooms there since we moved here.  Usually, this time of year it's snow covered and a MAJOR ski and winter sports attraction, however, we don't have any snow....so it was nice and quiet.  We spent the weekend relaxing, eating (we actually had USDA steak!!), and shopping.  It was a great end to a great week!  This morning we had to say good-bye to Juju, we can't wait to see her again in March!

5am Sunday morning.....

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year Parker was a cow.  We decided to stick with the "animal" theme because it's really cute.  The cow was an easy choice, mainly because when asked, Parker can tell you what a "cow says."  We began our Halloween festivities at school.  Her class had special snack, art projects, and photo ops on the hay.....Parker enjoyed all three!

Tonight we went over to a friend's house for chili and trick-or-treating.  It was VERY cold but Parker had a blast!

Momma Loves You

This post is for my lovely husband who says, "you've really been slacking on the blog".   I tried to explain to him that he too could update the blog....you can imagine how that went over! 


John left for rotation this past Wednesday, so Parker and I have spent this week getting back to our usual schedule of school and work.  By Friday we were both in desperate need of some extra sleep and attention, luckily we're both good at giving/getting both!  We have slept in until 9am, ate muffins for breakfast, and played with every toy in the house (I have the mess to prove it!).  This morning while eating our blueberry muffins Parker was in an especially good mood, so I grabbed to camera and took advantage of her smiles :)!


And, as for the title, Parker has taken to telling everyone that "Momma loves you".  I guess she does listen to what I tell her!

A Visit from Home and Parker's 2nd Birthday

Last Wednesday Ebby, Kitty, and Papa came to visit.  This trip has been planned since we moved to Germany and it was highly anticipated!  Parker and I met them at the airport in Munich and as soon as Parker saw Ebby she started yelling "Ebby" and running through the exit gates.  It was SO cute.  I wasn't sure if she would recognize them or not, but she sure did!  I feel sure that it made Ebby's day :).  We spent last week traveling around our area visiting different towns and just enjoying time together.  

We decided to do Parker's party a week early due the family being here and John leaving for rotation on the 5th.  So we rented a bouncy house (HUGE success) and invited a few friends and neighbors over for hamburgers, hotdogs, cake and ice cream.  It was by no means a big party, but we all had fun, especially Parker!

Parker's school will be closed on Friday (her actual birthday) so I decided to take cupcakes today for her class.  I'm not sure if Parker understood that it was her birthday, but I know that she enjoyed the attention and cupcakes!