I Promise It's Not A Long Story

Living Room....

2008-11-29T21:20:00.002+01:00

We bought new bookcases, added some Star Wars posters to the wall and rearranged the living room....this is the final result.

Halloween

2008-11-29T21:10:00.002+01:00

It finally worked!

2008-11-15T18:19:00.002+01:00

Sorry for not posting pics from Shannon's visit....for some reason every time I try it just never loads. I promise I will keep trying. To tide you over, here is a little video I made of Chris' new Lego AT-AT.....it's what I got him for his birthday.

He put it together last night and finished it this morning.

Uh Oh.....

2008-10-12T12:21:00.004+02:00

Gabe turned 12 on Thursday. One more year and we have a teenager...Yikes!
Here are a few pictures...there would be more but my camera died after he opened his first present. I checked the camera earlier in the day and it had two of three bars but as soon as I turned it on for the festivities the indicator turned red.

Gabe was anxious and excited all day. He had to go to school and was told that he couldn't open his presents until after 5 when Chris gets home from work. Well, Chris got off early so we were able to surprise the kids by us both picking them up at 2:15from school. Gabe was a happy camper.

HE'S (Finally) HOME!

2008-10-01T22:03:00.004+02:00

On August 18th, Chris finally got home from Iraq. 14 months and 18 days of missing him like crazy...
I want to thank all of you who sent notes and banners. Chris really appreciated all the time, effort and for thinking of him! We love you all very much.

Big Al's Birthday

2008-10-01T21:46:00.002+02:00

Alex turned 9 on August 1st. The only acceptable cake in his mind was a CARS cake...and that is what he got..and boy, did it make a huge mess...Red and Black icing aka the enemy of carpets.

Last Day of School

2008-10-01T21:33:00.002+02:00

June brought the last day of school and these pictures are from that day....at this point we still had two months before Chris got home.

Wildpark

2008-10-01T13:32:00.003+02:00

Alex had a field trip to the Wildpark in Bad Mergentheim last May...

Paris 2.0

2008-10-01T11:39:00.007+02:00

We were so depressed that Chris had to go back to Iraq that by March I couldn't take it anymore and decided to drown my sadness by taking another trip to Paris...

More posts coming...

I'm Baaaaaack!!!

2008-10-01T11:11:00.004+02:00

I finally found the paper that allows me access to this page!
I have so much to post from the last 10 months. Sheesh, I can't believe it has been that long.

I guess I should get started...I guess I should start with Chris' R&R...

Okay, we didn't take too many pictures while Chris was on R&R...we were too busy just being a family during those 18 days.

2007-12-25T20:23:00.000+01:00

Gabe got a Wii...I got a cold for Christmas

Just a teaser...

2007-12-25T10:59:00.000+01:00

Happy Christmas!

2007-12-24T21:21:00.000+01:00

We love you all!

October & November....the highlights

2007-11-29T13:33:00.000+01:00

Hi All! I know it has been a few. I kind of misplaced the paper with my password and couldn't log in. They (the great and powerful blogger people) have changed how things are done and well, I couldn't do a darn thing until I found said piece of paper.
So much has gone on in since the last time I posted here but nothing too interesting. Here's a breakdown and a few pictures (out of order and it's too much of a pain in the arse to reverse them)....

The boys had a good Halloween.
I cut all of my hair off (well not all, but most of it).
I've been crazy with the Book Fair (thank goodness it's over).
Chris is still being Chris in Iraq (he's ready to come home).
Thanksgiving was uneventful (the boys don't eat turkey).
We decorated the house for Christmas (the Saturday after Thanksgiving).
My mom is coming the 26th of December (so feel sorry for her having to travel on Christmas day).
Chris is coming for R&R sometime in January (Yea!).

That about covers it.

The last week.......

2007-10-08T16:41:00.000+02:00

So, last weekend Gabe ended up in the ER...he was going into anaphylactic shock....Who knew he was allergic to cashews.
Poor kid had it all...puking, hives/swelling/redness from head to toe and that pesky inability to breathe. All from one...ONE..stupid cashew.
I don't know how he made it to almost 11 without ever having a cashew except he might be the 2nd pickiest eater on the face of the earth. I'd give him top pickiness honors but he likes spicy food and his brother lives on grilled cheese and yellow box (Jeno's) pizza....So Big Al wins the picky contest.

I spent all this week going to doctor's appointments and getting stared at like I had a rabid monkey on my forehead every. blessed. time. I told someone that the kid had never had a cashew.

So far, the German Doc gave us some Prednisone suppositories....Yeah, I can see it now: Gabe eats cashew in public ...difficulty breathing, redness and hives everywhere, and puking (gawd that was bad)and I'm supposed to whip his pants down and shove something up his booty....Have these people never heard of an Epi-Pen?
I'm going back to our clinic to get several on Tuesday.

Friday night, Gabe declared that he was bored and that he was going to clean the bathroom....pretty strange behavior for a child that once yelled at me that he didn't know why I had to make everything freakishly clean....but I'm not complaining about his new found clean side. I'm just going to let him clean whatever he wants. I don't know if he's just getting older or if his little brush with death had something to do with it but I'm liking it so much. Since I moved him into his own room, I haven't had to tell him to clean it once...he just does it....My baby is growing up. (and I can't believe that he'll be 11 tomorrow)...

Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago. We had a scheduled power outage so I took the boys to Rothenburg.

September.....so far

2007-09-08T12:42:00.000+02:00

Hi all!

Just thought I would let you know what is going on in our world.
The boys started back to school last week so I'm getting some much needed free time. The summer was a little rough on us.
Our cat, Ollie, died last week so I've been cleaning out the cat/storage/laundry room so that I can move Gabe in there. This will be the first time since we moved from Savannah that the boys will have separate rooms. Gabe is soo excited.
This is what I have done so far....

Alex is also quite happy to have the big room all to himself. I would have moved Alex into the smaller room but I can't get his bed out the door and his toys are bigger than Gabe's so it just made sense to move Gabe.

Not much else to report.
Here are some silly videos of Alex...watch them in order.

We love you and hope you are all well!

Disneyland Paris!

2007-08-19T20:20:00.001+02:00

Paris.....

2007-08-19T16:21:00.000+02:00

Hi All!!
I know it's been a long time but with Chris leaving for Iraq and the boys being home all summer (if one can call 60 degrees and rainy most days a summer)there just hasn't been anything to really write about or to even show you.
Our 4th of July was a bit of a bust and all of Gabe's activities have been cancelled for one reason or another.
Hopefully he can get back to horseback riding soon. His teacher broke her leg in late May. She was hoping to start teaching again in the middle of July but something must have happened because we haven't gotten a call to resume lessons.

So, you are asking yourself why I'm finally updating this thing....I took the little men to Paris/Disney this weekend and I wanted to share the first of the pictures.

We ended up having breakfast near the Louvre and the boys and I went for a walk in the Tuileries Gardens.
I hope you enjoy the pictures. Most of them are in the Garden or taken in the Louvre Courtyard....The one with the Ferris Wheel is taken from the courtyard but it's facing where we had breakfast (croissants, of course) on the Rue de Rivoli.
Of course I couldn't forget to include a picture of the Seine or of Concord Square with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
I'll put up the pictures from Disneyland (EuroDisney) later tonight or tomorrow.
Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them bigger....

The first few days.....

2007-05-18T22:59:00.001+02:00

Shannon and Bob made it here just fine on Tuesday afternoon. We went to the airport and met them...well, Alex and Chris missed seeing them come out of the gate since they had to Alex needed to go um, relieve himself.
Wednesday morning we managed to get them their access cards so we picked the boys up a little early from school and headed to Wurzburg. We did a little shopping and driving around since we rarely drive in actual Wurzburg...we just go to the Army post that's there to go to the big PX and eat Taco Bell.
Here are some pictures from the first couple of days.

On the way back from Wurzburg we stopped in Ochsenfurt...it's about 10 miles from here.

We found this bull in Ochsenfurt...Gabe didn't want to ride.

This is just a few miles from our home...It's in the middle of the road..we are still working on exactly what it is.

Thursday morning we got up and drove to Munich. We stopped long enough to go to the Hard Rock....

And then we went Edelweiss. We got a loft suite for Thursday night and this is the view from our balcony. The boys had fun swimming and I had a great time gambling. I actually managed to win something. You can ask Shannon and Bob all the details about their experience...I don't want to tell their stories.

Gabe checking things out before we left...

This is what we saw after we left Edelweiss...

And then we got to Hohenschwangau to see Neuschwanstein...

This as a view of the castle...sorta near where the bus dropped us off.

This is the Marienbrücke...taken from Neuschwanstein.

This picture is to give you perspective. This was taken after we walked from the castle to the car.

Chris and Alex by the sign...

Neuschwanstein from the road...

We are back in Illesheim tonight...okay, I think Gabe is really sick of castles now.

Chris goes on a trip....

2007-05-02T15:38:00.000+02:00

Hi all! Chris just got back from a quick trip to The Netherlands and Belgium!

This is the view from his hotel in Mechelen, Belgium.

Here are some more of Mechelen and Antwerp

The aircraft on the boat...the reason that Chris had to go.

These are the shirts Chris brought back for the boys....From the looks on their faces, you would have thought they were the ones that went to The Netherlands...

Thhis is what Chris brought back for me!

Pinewood Derby

2007-04-28T20:12:00.000+02:00

Not bad for his first derby! We're so proud!!

More of Gabe and Morris.

2007-04-27T08:51:00.000+02:00

Okay, here is another, clearer video of Gabe riding Morris. Frau Tischer has him riding a pony since his legs aren't that big. His first lesson he was riding a gigantic horse and it was just too hard for him to squeeze his legs and do what he needed to do. This is better while he is learning the fundamentals.

Sorry that I haven't been posting anything but videos.

I'll post an actual update this weekend.

Gabe and Morris

2007-04-21T22:18:00.001+02:00

Sorry for the crappy quality. I took this with my phone....

Alex.....

2007-04-02T22:05:00.000+02:00

I'm pretty sure that it's the middle of March....

2007-03-17T21:50:00.000+01:00

I know, I know, I know...I'm bad, bad, bad! I honestly just haven't been in the mood to type things here....That's my only excuse. I keep promising but then life just sorta gets in the way. Well, life and Ocean's Express.

I'm so behind that I don't even know where to begin....

I guess I'll start with where I left off:
Chris got out of the hospital and spent almost two weeks at home recovering. It kept him out of the field but he was ohsobored sitting on the couch doing nothing but watching TV or playing video games.

When Chris finally made it back to work it was nothing short of crazy. Long hours and weekends..ugh! Of course he's now been in the field for the last 3 weeks...but he'll be back soon...we think.

Gabe had his Blue and Gold ceremony for Boy Scouts. He earned several new pins, patches and beltloops. Chris took pictures but somehow managed not to get any with Gabe's face. So sorry, no pics of that.

In other Gabe news...He made Honor Roll and has started taking horseback riding lessons from Frau Tischer in Untenhofen...it's about a 15 minute drive from here. He just loves it. You should have seen the pure euphoria on his face when he got to try trotting on Friday.

Alex is once again just being Alex. He's learning more but we still have fake sneezing and coughing almost every morning...He's sooooo sick....Yeah, good try pal, you're still going to school.

Well, since Chris is in the field that means that it was my turn to get sick...So that is what I've been doing the last week....pretty much trying not to die. So far I've been successful.

I just wanted to let you all know that we haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

Love and stuff!

He's Back......

2007-01-12T22:28:00.000+01:00

I'm sure most of you know by now that Chris was in the hospital. For the ones that didn't, he had to have emergency surgery for a ummm...delicate condition that could have been quite devastating.(I know there are a few jokes going around but it really was serious and horribly painful) It was caught in plenty of time and he got to keep all that he was supposed to have.
Here are a few pictures of where he has been the last few days. He was released this morning around 11 and can now be found riding the couch...

Here's a shot of him out of bed....

This is the door to his room....exciting. No wonder poor boy was bored out of his skull.

This is a beer we found in his nightstand...German hospital policy seems a little more relaxed than in the States....

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T13:30:00.000+01:00

I type you all a Merry Christmas and my bestest wishes!

As you can see, we've had our Christmas morning and Santa has visited.
The boys are currently hopping from one toy to the next. As Gabe is thrilled to report, this is the Christmas of "no clothes", and he's right. The only thing that can be worn on your body was a hat and glove set.
Here are the pictures from this morning.....

I hope you all have a wonderful day and we wish we could be there!

All our love!

Chris, Kerri, Gabe & Alex

It's that time of year again!

2006-12-16T20:10:00.000+01:00

Happy Holidays Y'all!
We've been busy with well, everything. Just the last few days were full of activities and here are the pictures to prove it. First I'll start you off with Thursday....Gabe's Holiday music program at school. He had a special part that required him to wear lots of winter gear. I only have video of that so you will all just have to wait until I get it up on YouTube and I'll share it here...Just give me a few days. This first picture is of him on the end...just click the pic and it will make it bigger...

This is Gabe and his best friend Shane. They have been close since Kindergarten and they thought they had a few more years in the same place but Shane's dad recently received orders and the family will be moving next month. Gabe is devastated.

The next two are the boys with Santa (obviously) from the Battalion Christmas party that took place on Friday. It was decent. We won a door prize...2 small Waechtersbach Christmas bowls.
I know Alex looks goofy in the pic....it was the best one he took. He really didn't want to visit Santa. We bribed him by telling him we would leave if he would at least stand beside him.

And now we get to today. We made it (finally) to the Rothenburg Christmas Market. We spent lots and had a good time. Big Al was mad at us for not riding the horse drawn carriage but it required a hike, it was starting to rain, we were all (except Chris) starving, and I needed a bathroom which is not always so easy to find. For the few interested, I ended up having to hold it until we got to the McDonald's in Ansbach. Not an easy feat.

The boys have their last day of school on Wednesday...thank goodness. We'll still have to field daily (okay, hourly if not every 10 minutes) inquiries from Alex about if he has to go to school but at least we can say no.

Saturday we are having our Christmas party. It's an open house and should be fun. I know I'm going to drive myself crazy over the details but I'm really looking forward to it.

I hope everyone is wonderful. I'll be updating this again in a few days so keep checking back.

Love to all and Happy Holidays!!!

Happy Thanksgiving...

2006-11-23T21:25:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day. We had some friends over and that made it an extra nice day. Having company gave me a great excuse for doing my deep holiday cleaning. You know us...we must have motivation.

Tomorrow we are putting up the Christmas tree and all that goes with it....Aren't you proud we waited this long?!?!

I'm almost done with Book Fair stuff. I made it through the actual event and now it's just time to box up the leftover books, send them back and figure out the financial worksheets. Fun Fun!

Nothing really new to report. Chris has been working, working, working and doing some more working. The boys are great..though they do seem to have a little more energy than I like. I think it has to do with the weather being so ick that they just aren't getting as much outside, run around time.

I hope you like the pictures. The one of Alex is from his Corn Fest on Wednesday. The one of the bedroom is of the boy's new bed. We are still buying Alex (or Gabe) another one but right now this is good enough. They don't mind sharing (for the moment). I just hope they don't destroy this one. The last one is of some church we passed on the way to Wuerzburg. We took the scenic tour since shouldn't go over a 100 kmh until we get the new parts put on the car.

Have a turkey sandwich for me and Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T20:22:00.000+01:00

So, the last two months have just crawled by. First Chris was in the field and then he was in Alabama and Charleston, South Carolina doing inspections on aircraft. It was a big ol' mess but we survived and now he's back and will actually be around for the holidays!

I've finally started working on Book Fair stuff...I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Thank goodness I have some great people willing to help me out. It's a huge job.

Saturday I had Bunco..Finally. I had missed the last few months due to vacation and just not having a sitter. This month of course had a Halloween theme so we all dressed up and acted stupid. Good times.

Tonight we took the boys Trick-or-Treating...we had some guy dressed as a Werewolf following us around. He never said anything or tried to scare the boys...I guess he was just stalking us. hehe Chris (dressed in black with a hooded robe plus light saber) stayed at our building and handed out candy. For once we didn't run out. Thank goodness most of our stairwell neighbors contributed to the stash.

I'm sure you've noticed by now the pictures at the top of this update....Gabe is dressed up. He is dressed like the cartoon character Ben 10 (you just can't see the black striped shirt under his jacket) and of course Big Al is a Alexsaurus....

Happy Halloween!

October came quick.....

2006-10-10T10:43:00.000+02:00

I know, I know, I know, that I promised to write every week but I couldn't seem to find time last week to resize the pictures.
Chris came home last Sunday from the field...and he is already gone AGAIN. This time he isn't in the field....He's in Alabama and next week he'll be in South Carolina. So please forgive me for not posting during the only week I've seen him....(did you like the pity party?..it was fun for me too.)

So what has been going on?...Tons. There is nothing like dealing with last minute military plans...seriously, I don't think Chris' head has quit spinning.
Our car: the registration expired while we were in the US so now we are dealing with many headaches ...I won't even go into it because it's a long and boring story that just gets me all worked up and there is nothing I can do but shell out more money because of that nasty thing that people refer to as "red tape"...ugh.

Gabe turned 10 yesterday...I'm still trying to "deal" with the fact that I have a kid in the double-digits...It kinda hurts. The kid is a DECADE old. I fully remember being 10 so this is just a bit surreal to me. Of course I'm not so thrilled that my "baby" is 7....Darn numbers!

In other Gabe news: He has joined Boy Scouts this year. He's a Webelos....
This is where I start to feel really inadequate as a parent. He needs Chris around for these things. I guess I'm going to have to learn to tie knots and make sure he works on earning his badges and belt loops....I'm so clueless....aka Mom that was only a Brownie for two years and even one of those years was spent play Red Rover in the back of a beauty salon instead of earning badges.

Alex news: Not so much...He's thriving (somewhat) in First grade and making us all just a bit nuts. I think we really threw him off by coming to the States. Oh well, we just can't sit in our home forever.....

I guess that about covers us.
Write me comments of send e-mails and let me know how all of you are doing.
I never hear anything.

and these are the pictures from Family Day (September 24, 2006)when Chris was in the field. We had a nice time but 4 hours just wasn't enough.

Euphoria.....

2006-09-16T09:17:00.000+02:00

I must have my camera on the wrong settings for indoor at night picture taking. Whatever will you all do with me actually updating twice in two days...yes, I'm on a furniture high.

This picture is a somewhat close-up of my coffee table...in real life it's much greener....

This is the ugly lamp picture I promised....

This is (obviously a wide shot of the living room....too bad I didn't notice the curtains were funky....sorry, we live here....

and here is a nicer picture of the dining room....without the plastic bag gracing the top of my new cabinet.....

I think I have totally forgotten to tell everyone what a wonderful time we had seeing everyone. Our vacation was incredible. I wish it could have been longer and we could have spent more time with all of you....Three weeks out of 4 years just isn't enough.

I don't think I have mentioned that Chris is in the field. He left 2 days after he signed back in. I went from having him every day for a month to not at all....at least the boys are in school. It makes it a little easier to get things done.

Of course the calls to volunteer at the school have started....I already helped out for Picture Day...and I'm so pleased with how the kiddo's pics turned out.....I had veto power.

Now I have to buckle down and start learning about how to run a Book Fair....it's a bit overwhelming and I'm the chairperson...hehehe...Power!

I think that's all for now. I promise I will be updating this at least once a week...even if there isn't anything interesting to write about....

Don't forget to say Hello.....

2006-09-15T17:13:00.000+02:00

Hi to all!
Just a quick one so I can post pictures of my new furniture. I'm going to already apologize for the crappiness of them. I think my lens is dirty and then the camera died before I had a chance to take pictures of my new lamps.....those will have to come later.

The first picture is from my dining room and when Chris comes back we will be moving the white thing..but I just couldn't do it by myself. I bought this piece for 35 Euro...that's about 45 dollars....

The second picture is from the bedroom and the wardrobe was 40 Euro....I went to the greatest place ever. It's kind of like a large estate sale but all the profits go to an orphanage in ...I think Romania. Sometimes they have great stuff and sometimes they have crap. I think I personally got lucky twice. It's a shame they don't ship to the US...I'm going to take nicer pics later but I just had to share...okay, brag. I love my new furniture.

Back to the land of beer.......

2006-09-06T22:00:00.000+02:00

We made it back to Germany in one piece..thank goodness.
We had a wonderful time...Thank you to all that made it so special. Four years is a long time to be gone.

Here are some random pictures from our trip. I promise to start using this more...I'll have time now that the boys are back in school.

The Flowers Have Exploded

2006-06-18T15:53:00.000+02:00

The end of school

2006-06-14T13:10:00.000+02:00

Hi all!!

The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy!
Alex had a field trip to the movies to see The Shaggy Dog. It was a reward from the school for getting Student of the Month(try to imagine 85 children k-6th grade walking to the theater...We stopped traffic). I was a chaperone and he only went to the bathroom three times... I was so proud. It's usually more like 6 or 7 times. I guess he really liked the movie.

The day after that his class went to the Nuremberg Zoo....The pictures are below. It was a nice day, but he didn't want to see the dolphin show again. We had just been to the zoo a month before.....

The next week all the K-3rd graders went on a Volksmarch through the village of Illesheim. The kids played games and had lunch and then walked back to the school. I almost strangled Gabe's teacher...but that is a story for another time.

Chris finally came back from the field....It's so great having him back. He is supposed to be home all summer. Now that is a first. I'm not sure we will know what to do.

In case you haven't heard, we have our plane tickets to come back to the States. We touch down in OKC sometime after 6 PMon the 10th of August. We are all so excited. We already know where we are eating the first night. I'm sure most of you can guess where.

I guess I'm going to quit typing here and so that I can have a bit of lunch before I pick up the boys from school. This is their last full day. Tomorrow they get out at 11:15....and then it's bye-bye alarm......

**** The pictures are from the Volksmarch and my flowers on the balcony. The little girl with the braids is the one Gabe has had a crush on for two years. SHHHH...He still can't get enough courage to tell her.

The Zoo

2006-06-01T12:49:00.000+02:00

Alex's first zoo field trip....

A message from Alex

2006-05-29T20:24:00.000+02:00

My new hair color.....

2006-05-17T13:21:00.000+02:00

I'm not a blonde.....

An update......

2006-04-10T10:34:00.000+02:00

Hi y'all!!

I know it has been a while but I just never have anything fun or interesting to write about. The boys are just doing the school thing, Chris is doing the work thing and I'm doing the stay-at-home thing. I'm pretty sure you don't want a play-by-play of our trips to the grocery store.

I had a really nice birthday. Chris took me to lunch while the boys were in school and as far as presents go, I am the proud owner of a 30GB iPod. I love it and I don't know how I ever lived without one. My whole life now has a soundtrack and it makes it easy to get the songs in your head unstuck.

The weekend...
Josh came over on Saturday and we put a few things on the grill. It was nice.

Sunday we went up to Nuremberg to go to the zoo. The boys had a great time but by the end Alex wasn't feeling that great. He managed to fall asleep in the car and wake up near Bad Windsheim...He threw up right outside the gates.....he managed to get most of it in Chris' beret..hehehehe

The boys are now on Spring Break...I hope I survive.

Hope all of you are great.....Mucho love

Ignore.......

2006-03-24T10:08:00.000+01:00

So I just realized I've been completely ignoring this blog.

The whole time Chris was gone I spent keeping the boys fed, watered and clothed. I tried to keep them from their destructive ways but it didn't work. I must try harder next time.

I don't know how many of you know that Alex recieved a new diagnosis. He is no longer classified PDD. They have settled on Atypical Autism. I still don't know how I feel about it. It doesn't change the way he is. just the way he is on paper.

Gabe is doing fine. He has had a ton of new changes since Christmas so he is finally coming to terms with all the chaos in his life. Maybe one day he will learn to adapt quicker...but I'm not holding my breath.

Chris made it back from the field in mostly one piece. He leaves again next month.

Oh, did we tell you that we are staying in Germany until 2009?
Once we get the paper orders we can start working on getting plane tickets to come home for a visit. I promise to let you know as soon as I know.

I guess I should say something about me....I'm good.

2006-02-11T13:21:00.000+01:00

I call this picture "boredom".....
Well, once again nothing exciting to type about, but I wanted all to know that Chris is currently in the field and won't be back until sometime in March.
We are all doing fine...If I could only harness Gabe's powers for good, we would be in perfect shape.....

Sorry

2006-01-28T09:27:00.000+01:00

I'm so sorry for the lack of posting lately. Since my mom left and Chris went back to work, we have all been trying to get into our new schedule. Chris FINALLY went back on day shift and the boys are back in school after their long holiday break and you would think that we had never done the "typical schedule" thing before.

Nothing really new or exciting to write about so I will just leave you with a warm Hello and hope you all are doing fine and this picture that Alex took while we were sleeping yesterday....and yes he knows he is not supposed to have the camera.

Sue's Trip...the highlights.....

2006-01-06T19:22:00.000+01:00

Hi to all!! So far having my mom here has been great. Thursday we mangaged to book a room at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch. The picture above is from our balcony....
The kid with the blue noodle is Alex....He had so much fun swimming. Chris is worn out...(Mom and I went to the casino instead)
Another of 2/3 of the boys enjoying the balcony.....
The boys waiting for Cris to bring the car around....
The front of Edelweiss.....
The town of Garmisch.....
This was taken in Munich......
This is also in Munich. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe close to this. Somehow I managed to not get any pictures in Hard Rock. I think I was too busy enjoying the first proper hamburger in over three years that I just completely forgot.
Grandma and the boys ...worn out from our whirlwind trip to the Alps.....

I have more pictures...I'll post them in a day or two.

The Sue has landed.....

2005-12-29T14:04:00.000+01:00

...and she's snoring on my couch!!!

Lots of snow coming down so I'm thrilled that the shuttle got her here in one piece.

We are going to the Anker in a bit....Chris was on duty last night so he is also sleeping...

Wait a darn minute, I was up late cleaning and tracking the plane and then up early to get ready.....Where is my nap?

Christmas Morning

2005-12-25T12:03:00.000+01:00

The Aftermath....

Chris would like you to pay attention to the truck that Alex is opening....

He managed to wrap it square....He is El Magnifico when it comes to wrapping presents.
Sorry that the pictures are going backwards in time....I'm too lazy to delete and start over....The boys are checking out what Santa has brought...

The before pictures......

I'll put more pictures of the destruction later.

I hope you all are having a Merry Christmas.

Love,

The Johnson's

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T17:07:00.000+01:00

All our love!!!

No pictures......

2005-12-21T20:28:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I really thought that there were a few good ones from the Christmas program but you can barely pick out the boy so I have just decided not to put them up.

I'll put Christmas pics up in a few days.

Chris just finished up his last shift a few minutes ago. He is now off until Tuesday!! He is so in need of a break. Night shift is killing him and the boys barely recognize him..Okay, it's not that bad..but you get the point.
I'm going to go ahead and stop typing so that I can get the boys in bed.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Love you all!!

6/6 CAV Christmas Party..and more....

2005-12-17T21:29:00.000+01:00

Last Friday we went to the Squadron Christmas party...I made the mistake of wearing Nine West black suede heels that I haven't worn since Sara's wedding......beautiful shoes but they have never been broken in...I totally forgot that we would be doing grocery shopping after the party...I felt like such a ninny.

Well, I hope you are all ready for Christmas...We are when it comes to the children...but I'm having such a hard time doing all my other shopping...

The boys had all of their school holiday festivities last week....Performances, parties and Santa's Secret Workshop....On top of all that, Gabe's teacher decided to retire and Friday was to be her last day to teach. This makes us really sad. This woman was a great teacher for Gabe and she knew how to deal with him and all the idiosyncrasies that come with having Asperger's...

Tomorrow I'll put pictures from Gabe's Holiday program...for now you will just have to be satisfied with Santa pictures that were taken in the hanger.

Mucho Love......

Rothenburg

2005-12-05T22:33:00.000+01:00

The square....
This is a zoomed in picture...so sorry for the quality.....
This is Alex pouting because we wouldn't let him go down the stairs at the bottom of the hill.....
I just like this one of Gabe......

The Tauber Valley.....This is 12 miles..or 20 km from Illesheim...

3 Days.......

2005-12-05T17:06:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we went to the Christmas Market in Rothenburg o.d. Tauber. We managed to get a bit of shopping done but really we just soaked up the atmosphere and avoided the kiddie rides. Alex loves the merry-go-round...too much..he never wants to get off of it.

Sunday found us getting ready and hauling arse to Wurzburg to see the 3 o'clock showing of Harry Potter. We made it in time to eat Taco Bell and get good seats in the 6th row center....but these turned out to be awful seats...It seems as if Alex has a bladder the size of a grain of rice....5 times in 2 1/2 hours..poor Chris saw more of the bathroom than he did the movie. Before anyone says anything...there were way fewer people to step over down his way and it was just easier for him. I'm still scratching my head as to the whereabouts of Alex's bladder.....

Today found me on the never ending quest for a proper white shirt. For some reason Gabe has to wear black pants and a white shirt for his Christmas program (on Thursday) and we just found out last week about this dress code....I swear there is not a single boys pair of black pants or even a plain white shirt in Southern Germany. If I had more time I would just order these things, but I talked to the teacher today and black jeans are fine..but I was still in need of a shirt. After walking all over Bad Windsheim I ended up at a strange clothing store located in one of the grocery stores ..and there I still couldn't find a white shirt in kids size. I ended up buying a size small mens sweater...it almost fits. The sleeves are too long but they don't look strange rolled up and the bottom is easily folded under and tucked in......I'll post pictures on Friday.....

Chris has a CTscan on his kidneys tomorrow...it's no big deal..they just want proof that he doesn't have kidney stones (he takes a medication that is known to cause them) so that he can turn in his flight psysical for approval. Phew, this process is almost over.....then we just have to wait....ugh!

OH MY!!!

2005-11-29T21:58:00.000+01:00

The picture is the proof....Alex has lost his mind.

Let it snow!!!

2005-11-25T10:11:00.000+01:00

We had our first real snow last night. It's a shame that I couldn't get pictures before the snowplow made its rounds.

I wish I didn't have to write this....

2005-11-21T21:08:00.000+01:00

Let me just start this off by saying : We love you and will miss you GG/Grandma/Faye. We are truly sorry that we couldn't be there to say goodbye. Our hearts are breaking.

I hate feeling helpless and that is exactly how I feel. There is so much more to say but I know that this isn't the right place for it so I will just send my deepest sympathies to Shannon, Tommy, Cindy, Betty, Judy and Patty...and the rest of the family. We love you.

.....1 month and 10 days until Christmas.....

2005-11-15T16:22:00.000+01:00

I finally took a picture of the dining room.

I'm too lazy to think of a good quote......

2005-11-13T20:48:00.000+01:00

Chris thanks you all for the birthday wishes and congrats. He would tell you so himself...but I won't tell him the password..hehehe I'm kidding. He's busy trying to get through to Gabe.....We are having clean room issues.

Chris' birthday was a nice day. We went up to Katterbach to do some much needed grocery shopping. I even managed to get a decent rug for the dining room and one of those no slip pads for under the runner in the hallway. I was sick of the cat sliding on it in the middle of the night.

I know I promised pictures of the house but we have been so crazy that I just haven't taken any.

Oh yeah, I haven't finished Chris' birthday recap. He got his chinese food but we brought it home and watched the OU game...well, what we could. I sometimes feel like we jinx them so we will turn the channel until we feel it's safe. Go OU!! The flag is proudly flying and enhancing the Christmas lights. Our neighbors (also from MWC and the husbands dad teaches at OU and the daughter is a current student) also feel like the flag enhances the buildings exterior.

Today was "be really boring" day. We just did a few domestic things and watched movies.....
Chris has tomorrow off but both the boys go back to school..whew..It was about time. They haven't been to school since last Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were parent/teacher conferences and you all know that Friday was Veteran's Day so....It's time for them to go back....Momma...and Daddy need a break.

Have a good one! I'm off to watch some "movie" that Chris has picked
out.

**The picture above was taken last November while Shannon and Bob were visiting.

Up to speed....

2005-11-11T08:13:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to let you know that your good thoughts worked.
Chris passed the flight aptitude test on his first try!!!!
He just has a few more steps to go before his packet is completed and then it can be turned in for (hopefully) approval.

As I talked about in the earlier post....the Christmas tree did in fact go up last Sunday. We need help:)..

I had to go to Alex's parent teacher conference yesterday. He's doing way better than they expected. You have no idea how happy this makes us.

Since it's Veteran's Day and almost Chris' birthday, I'm kindly letting the Veteran/Birthday boy sleep in this morning. We don't have any plans for today but tomorrow I know that Chris is getting Chinese food for his B-day supper. It's what he wants. I feel bad that he doesn't have any presents to open tomorrow. You see, last month while Chris was in the field I ordered him him a nice wool top coat and a new soft-end blanket (his old yellow one is on its last "legs") and they should have been here before he got back...but that didn't happen...also by some strange turn of events the box was sent by boat and showed up falling apart and soaking wet. This of course meant that the contents had to be inspected right away so the surprise was ruined....It's a good thing that JCPenney ships their stuff individually sealed in plastic.

I hope you all are well. Hugs and Kisses....

Just FYI..the second picture is of Chris at the age of 5...

A View Of The Valley.....

2005-11-07T22:24:00.000+01:00

Weekend.....Life....I'm worn out.....

2005-11-05T22:53:00.000+01:00

Thank you to all that have visited. We miss you.
Just so you know, the picture below was taken last month while the boys were out playing after school.
The picture on this post was from Gabriel's field trip to the Freilander Museum (this same museum where Alex decided he wanted to go "swimming" 2 years ago...and during his rescue I lost my shoes)... Gabe is posing with the bread he made. On that trip he also learned about spinning wool, barrel making, blacksmithing, butter making and just general life in the "olden days" in Franconia....
In the next post I will post pictures from Halloween and the new living and dining room furniture. I barely recognize my own home.

Today we went to Wurzburg to get Christmas lights and Taco Bell...both of these things rank really high in priority in this household. We also did the grocery shopping..but that's not too much fun.

Tonight we put up the Christmas lights on the balcony. I'm sure you will all be shocked to find out that our tree isn't up yet....probably tomorrow.

Chris has been pretty busy lately. He has been diligently working on his Warrant Officer packet and is hoping to have it completed and sent in by March for selection. I can honestly say that it will not hurt me to tell people that I'm married to a pilot...*grin* All next week he will be going to Katterbach to take tests and have his picture made...Think good thoughts on Thursday. That is the day he takes his flight aptitude test.

. Tomorrow is lazy day. We gutted the house on Friday so there isn't much left to do. Chris even managed to get our old couch down three flights of stairs and into the bulk refuse dumpster out back...all by himself.....I was afraid he was going to kill himself or at the very least throw his back out again.. but all is well and our spare bedroom looks so much better.

I guess I'm done rambling. Mucho love to all!

It's a start......

2005-11-03T20:25:00.000+01:00

Hello to all reading this blog....This is only the beginning.
Come back often for interesting stories and pictures involving the
B-O-Y-S...all three of them...and me too....

Nothing Exciting

2005-11-01T21:38:00.000+01:00

I'm just trying to get acquainted with my new toy.
I will write more when I've had a proper nights sleep and can actually think without getting light-headed....