Mini-Golfing

Before the weather turned unfavorably chilly we enjoyed a morning of mini-golfing in Burgerpark. It was Atticus' first time and boy, did he love it.

Burgerpark is beautiful. We sure do love living so close to it.

The golf club was nearly the same size as Atticus, but that did not deter him.

Milayla opted to snooze away in the shade of her wrap.

Both Mommy and Daddy did their best to share their incredible wisdom about mini-golf techniques and Atticus soaked it all in...until he realized that he could pick the ball up and place it in the elusive hole much easier than hitting it in...perhaps we'll work a little more on the rules of the game the next time!

Our little pumpkin patch

We have started digging out the fall/winter wear (a fact I am not so happy about) and stumbled upon a favorite item of ours - the pumpkin patch hat (a fact I am a little happier about).  For the future embarrassment of Atticus and Milayla, especially in their teenage years, I felt I should post photos of both of them in the little pumpkin patch hat. They'll thank me later ;).

First, here's Atticus at 3 months...

(My goodness, it feels like it has been a long time since Atticus was that tiny.)

And here is Milayla at nearly 5 months in the same hat...

(please excuse the phone photo quality...)

They both look pleased as punch about it, don't they?

At least they both learned the drill early - keep the hat on, look at the camera and it's over much quicker.

Getting his daily greens

We have been pretty fortunate that Atticus loves food - anything and everything. So it probably shouldn't be any surprise to us that he asked if he could have frozen spinach to snack on. He seemed to be a little confused that we wanted to snap a picture of him eating it because he thought it was pretty normal stuff. He'll get it one day. In the mean time this picture will sure put a smile on our faces.

I’ll love you forever…

‘I’ll Love You Forever’ written by Robert Munsch is in permanent book rotation in our home. The kids love it and I love it. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, it is about a mother who sneaks into her son’s bedroom after he is asleep and rocks him back and forth while singing:

I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be


This mother continues doing this as the boy grows older and older and eventually moves out to start a family of his own. Admittedly, it seems a little creepy when the mother starts driving across town with a ladder so that she can climb into her son’s bedroom in his new home, but the sentiment is still there.

As cheesy as the story is, I always have to work to keep myself from tearing up because, well, I finally get it. I finally understand to some degree why the mother is sneaking into her son’s bedroom and I think it’s a rather brilliant idea. And this is why:

It’s because there are moments as a mother that are harder than others. There are moments when lunchtime rolls around and you realize you still have not had breakfast. There are moments when you go grocery shopping with two tired, young children and get to the check out (with everything on your list) thinking “I did it, I actually did it!’ only to discover you forgot your wallet. There are moments that you pray your son will start looking where he is going so he’ll stop running into walls and doors…then you do it yourself. There are moments the laundry piles up. Moments you have more bodily fluids on you than you care to think about. Moments where you can’t remember that last time you washed your hair. Moments where the screaming begins to turn into white noise. And moments where you remember that silence means trouble and “Uh oh, Mommy!” means it’s already too late. But at the end of those days, once the kids are asleep if you sneak into their room to see them sound asleep you get it.

(these photos were taken during nap time, which is why the kiddos are not in pyjamas)

It is right there in those quiet moments where you remember what matters most. You remember with vivid detail the first moment you held them in your arms. You remember how perfect and innocent they are. You remember the numberless days where they have blessed your life with more joy than you ever thought possible. The days where you stay in your pyjamas all morning – on purpose – to curl up on the couch and read books together. The days where you hurt yourself only to have them kiss it better. The days where you get to be a part of helping them discover something new.  The days you realize that there has never been a day that lacked in the department of hugs and kisses. The continuous days they do something that amazes you and your face glows with pride. The days that are never short on adventures or laughter. And the days that are always full of love.

It is during this flood of emotions that your heart swells with so much love for that one person that it feels as though it may burst out of your chest. It is this love and these emotions that refuel you and leave you waiting in anticipation for the moment they wake and you get to be “Mommy” again. This is when all those "hard" moments are put into perspective and the grand picture is put into view.

Being “Mommy” may not be glamorous, but I am continuously overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to be Mommy to these kids. When they were born I signed on to partnership with God that I would do everything in my power to raise them so that they will return to their Heavenly Father again some day and even with all the inevitable bumps in the road, I would never trade that role for anything. I love these kids and I love being their “Mommy”.

Moving

Man oh man. Moving is an adventure – no matter what country you live in – but add in a couple foreign languages and it always makes for an exciting time. It feels like moving day was some time ago, but with boxes still lingering it’s no secret that we are still pretty fresh in Bremen. So, here is a rundown of all the adventurous highlights of our switching countries.

Of course, everything began with apartment hunting. Then it was on to packing boxes, canceling contracts, researching health care and on and on. Moving day was actually broken up into two days.

Day one: Jason took the train to Germany to pick up the moving van while Laura and the kids finished organizing everything to be loaded into the van. Jason made it home in time for the van to be loaded up. We were very blessed to have so many able hands show up to help us load the van. We had a whole crew to load the van and even had one of the Young Women to help take care of Milayla (Atticus was already in bed). Loading the van took all of 45 minutes, which meant that we had plenty of time to start the final clean after they all left.

Day two: With how smooth Day One went, we had high hopes for day two. Some ladies from church came over to help out with the final cleaning items which was incredibly helpful as it went quickly and they were great company. Then the boys headed off in the moving van while the girls headed to the train station at the airport with Angie so they could catch their train. The timing was planned out so that we would all make it to the apartment at about the same time; which was just in time for us to do the walk through with the agent, sign the papers, get the keys and eat dinner before we unloaded the van. It was a great idea, unfortunately it did not play out that way at all.

Laura and Milayla came via the train and had one switch to make in order to arrive in Bremen. They made it to the stop they were supposed to change over at without any problems. When Laura looked at the train board to find the platform of her connecting train it was no where to be found. So she showed a ticket man her ticket and asked him which train was hers. He directed her to a train that was waiting at another platform assuring her twice that it was the correct train. So the girls got on and settled in set to arrive at Bremen Hauptbahnhof 45 minutes later. Well, an hour later they were still on the train and no where near Bremen. Wrong train. Thanks Mr. Ticket Man.

After some sorting out and some assistance from Jason’s coworkers to figure out where the girls were and how to get them to Bremen, they arrived two and a half hours later than planned only to discover that due to some protocol, which we were not aware of, we were not allowed to move in. Great. We had people from church waiting eagerly to help us move in our boxes and we had no where to move them to. Not to mention, none of us had eaten dinner and it was now well past the kids’ bedtimes. Grumpiness was in abundance where patience would have been nice. Milayla even had a solid two hour crying fit; for a girl that rarely cries this is incredibly unusual. Again though, it was Jason's coworkers to the rescue! Everything was sorted out (after several hours), the boxes were moved in, and everyone enjoyed some chili that a lady from our new church congregation had brought. We were so very grateful for all the help and to eventually make it to bed.

Of course it's not all done yet. For starters, having moved from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished apartment we have the looming task ahead of us to start getting some furniture in this place (absolutely everything, right down to the light fixtures). We have made a good start and have a few of the basics, but there's still plenty more to do. The knowledge that it will all come together eventually is definitely helping us to be patient with the process. Then there were all the repairs, flooring and painting that needed to be done - thankfully most of that is done now. Other than that, most of the logistical things are done or well underway (residency permits, finding doctors etc.)

It has been a busy time, but we are really happy with how quickly it has felt like home. As things begin to come together we will be sure to start posting pictures of our apartment.

A Walk in the Park

For many weeks, our apartment was littered with flooring, paint, repair tools and many other items kids should not be around – not to mention a lot of noise. So the kids and I spent many days exploring the neighborhood and searching out some playgrounds (in rain or shine!). Here are a few photos from our journeys (taken with the camera phone, so excuse the quality).

one very happy little boy (who happens to be needing a haircut...)

Oh, this picture makes us laugh - Milayla looks like our little Evil Genius here!

he still needs to point at everything...

boat ride in the park anyone?

finally some sunshine!

collecting leaves for his art project

Mr. Independent

Mr. Independent (alias: Atticus) insists on picking out his own clothes and dressing himself. He washes his own hands and does not want help unless he asks for it. He will not wear grey socks - only black. He will make his own bed. No, he does not want his shoes on the right feet. And he enjoys wearing shorts in cold, rainy weather with one knee high sock and one ankle sock. Wearing socks on your hands and having buttons misaligned is all part of a cool toddler trend in his eyes and is not to be tampered with. And he would not even dream of asking for help going up or down the stairs - no matter how long it takes or how many times he stumbles. These are only a few examples of all his independent traits...

Yes, Mr. Independent sure does test his parents' patience with his determination but when we get to see how much he has learned and improved we remember that we need to let him sort some things out on his own no matter how long that may take sometimes. Love him and his firm determination!

He is pretty proud of himself and so are we!