Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone got to eat lots of food and be with the ones you care about most.

I, for one, am relieved the holiday season has finally kicked off! Now when people come over they won't look at me funny for already having my tree up with all the gifts wrapped under it.

Some of the things I am thankful for:

5. Thankful God blessed me with a wonderful son. We had wanted to start a family of our own for such a long a long time and we hit the jackpot. We can't wait to watch our family grow these next few years.

4. A loving husband who is so patient with Miles and lets me sleep in on the weekends. 

3. That we are living in Europe! Our eyes have been opened to so many things here. Looking forward to being a "seasoned world traveler" when it's all done.

2. So grateful for my mom. She puts up with me calling her every single day just so I can hear home and the sounds of the cookie store (oddly comforting I know).

1. The great friends we've made that have become like family. That's the one great thing with military. You inherit a ton of new family!

Some of the food.

Friends!

Snow Day!

I know it seems I've been blogging about weather and snow a lot lately, but it's really been coming down! We had a snow day today and now I have a new "all-time favorite video." He was loving it! (You can pause music by scrolling down)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Must.Get.Out

So, we've learned that if we want to stay in because it's cold we will NEVER leave this house until May! With the days turning into nights at 4pm and the weather getting colder and colder I can see how easy it would be to get depressed.

After 2 straight days of snow, we finally decided to get out and enjoy some park time. It was quite refreshing and chilly! Anything is worth coming home to a nice stew!

The car seat can barely contain our marshmallow boy.

Red handed

I leave the room for 1 minute today and I catch him red handed pulling all the DVD's and wires out of their place! He seemed to be proud of his work too! 

I can't tell you how much I love being a stay at home Mommy. I couldn't imagine having some other care taker raise him everyday from 9-5. I love watching him learn and experience new things even if it is pulling every thing off the shelf. 

Now... on to practicing our "No No No!"

Couldn't wait any longer!

I tried to wait until after Thanksgiving but couldn't resist any longer. I did better than last year though! I think I convinced my mom to put the tree up the first week of November then. The Germans are all about Christmas!  Perhaps it's because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving so they just dive right in? It's already snowing so why not? 

Miles just woke up from his nap and is checking it all out. 

We ordered a fiber-optic tree this year. My poor parents are the meditator to all things that don't ship APO, including the tree. It was worth it though! Miles surprisingly hasn't shown much interest in it. It is the cats that are constantly destroying it. They like to get in there an bat the ornaments around. Glass at the top! Plastic at the bottom!

Growing up my family had the same monogrammed stockings so we decided to start that tradition in our family too. I fell in love with these the second I saw them. In case you want to snag one of your own they are at Potterybarn.com. Do you see how Miles stocking is a little elf one? So cute! 

Of all the pics we tried to take tonight this is the only one that turned decent. Like my giant pink leg? 

Happy Veterans Day!

I want to thank all service men and their families for everything you do! It really hits home this year not being in the States for the holidays. You guys sacrifice so much and we are so thankful! I especially want to thank my very own veteran and hero, Brad. Love ya babe!

Heidelberg Holiday Bazaar

Today was a great day! We got to eat a REAL American restaurant! You couldn't have seen 2 happier people. Our drinks came with ice and unlimited refills and the cokes didn't taste like liquorish! The best part was having an English menu with an American waiter! I think Brad ordered a chicken wrap with fries and I had fajitas! So yummy! It was so worth the drive. We are thinking of making this a bi-monthly tradition. 

Anyhoo, we were originally brought to Heidelberg to shop the annual Holiday Bazaar. The Germans bring in all kinds of crafts, cheeses and wines to sell. We were tempted to splurge but are holding out for the Stuttgart Christmas market which is supposedly one of the finest markets in Germany! Only 3 weeks til opening day. 

Somebody is excited to get out of the car after the long drive!

Poor Miles was cut out of the picture.

Dinner time at the Lowe's

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Halloween

So Brad, Miles and I did the whole trick-or-treat thing last night. I gotta say when you squeeze a bunch of trick-or-treating Americans on to 1 base it gets pretty zoo-like. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the chaos. It was fun though. I love how Brad would hang back with Miles while I got the candy. Who knows what they thought. Probably some grown woman trying to mooch all the kids' candy. I even had a kid come up to me and say trick-or-treat! Can't you see how well I fit in? 

Our highlight of the night was running into our friends Mike and Kim (actually the first people we met here in Stuttgart) and their little mouse and turtle. We ran around with them for a bit. They're always a pleasure to be around.

Anyway, here's our monkey Miles.