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.....