Santa's little helpers

The kids were pretty excited to help out with wrapping this year. Sadie has gotten pretty good at it and I trust her to wrap a gift for a friend, one of my friends. She doesn't well with picking out nice paper and coordinating bow. Taylor wanted to get in the action and found a "present" for Greg out of his own toy box. He approached Greg and said, "I am going to wrap this (showing him the gift) so you don't know what it is. He did a pretty good job and the gift stayed wrapped under the tree until Christmas morning, when Greg pretended to be surprised.

Sadie led Taylor into my bedroom, to wrap a surprise for me. I came into the room to see what my gift could be. This is what I found.








Just, what I always wanted!

Pumpkin patch

I love the annual visit to the pumpkin patch. This is one thing that we did not do in Germany. There was a pumpkin farm in our area made for Americans that gave tours, but we never made it there. Here there is a farm just down the road. I got to go with Taylor. We wasn't in the best mood, but I think both had fun. I know that I did.
Taylor perked up when we saw the kittens and at the hay maze. Of course, picking out a pumpkin was really fun. We enjoyed out time with his buddies in his class, and got to know his teacher Ms. Linsey, since we carpooled together. We had a great time.

Summer fun

Some of the things we did this summer

We are back

I have really meant to keep up on the blog. Since the move however, my routine has changed and I don't find myself on the computer as much as I used to be. Which is a good thing overall, but is the reason why I have not documented our lives lately.

It is time to play catch-up
1. Some culture shock:

We all had to adjust. Some things we had forgotten about the states. Poor Taylor never experienced some of the differences and it was funny to see what things were NEW to him.

Greg and I had to adjust our driving. The first drive on the freeway in DC seemed like a snail's pace. Luckily, we haven't got any tickets yet. Also, I find myself still yielding to any driver on the right, and have to remind myself yellow lines separate me from oncoming traffic.

Upon arriving at the airport in DC, I realized that no one was staring at us. I felt a load of stress lift off of my shoulders, when I saw lots of kids running around the airport. My kids were not the center of attention anymore.

Poor Taylor had to relearn how to flush a toilet and to open door knobs that turn.

Micah noticed the fire hydrants. They look like "dogs wearing a fire hat." I had to agree.

Customer service is now a priority in restaurants and stores. "Would you like a cart?" "Can I help you find anything?" and "Would you like another diet coke?" are phrases we didn't hear often in the last three years.

There is too much variety of food over here. Capitalism thrives in the fast food industry and is also apparent in the snack section of the grocery store. Wow....how many different types of Oreos are there? This isn't good for the waistline, but since we are giving up bakeries and bratwurst, we will probably break even.

The streets are safer. There is more space between pedestrians and cars. The streets are a full two lanes, with ample space for parallel parking. Plus, there is a large paved sidewalk flanked by grassy strips. Cars drive slower too. I feel like my kids can play in the front yard without risking their lives. We can take family bike rides without dodging speeding cars. Overall, we play outside more.

I can sit in my car while it is running without any dirty looks.

My house is easier to keep clean. Well, we do have a new house which helps, but we don't have all the tile floors (and no white tile in the bathroom, thank you!) Carpet hides dirt. The walls are easier to wipe clean. The windows don't get as dirty (There was a lot of burning of wood and coal in our old German neighborhood.) Germans like to see dirt, so they can clean it up. I prefer to ignore it.

2. Things we miss

I didn't miss anything for the first two months. With all of the traveling, jet leg and family time, we didn't have time to be sad. When school started and our routine started back up, I realized what we would miss.

Friends. Of course our friends are on the top of our things-we-miss-list. Micah shed a lot of tears in the evening when is was time for bed. Both kids dreaded the first weeks of school, until they settled into a new friend routine. Both Taylor and I were sad without our weekly play dates with Lilly and Payton. So sad.

When we sat down to plan Greg's leave for the remaining year of Greg's military service, we realized that we would have to get more creative with our vacation time. Gone are the cheap trips to another country. No more quick drives to France. We will be swapping exotic vacation for family recreational time. It is an okay trade-off, but doesn't sound as cool. Also, we will need to spend some of that time, doing things like, house repairs and yard work.

The beautiful scenery. Washington state is beautiful, but we seriously lived in a fairy tale, with rolling hills and ancient architecture. Our drive to school, was like a post card, especially in the winter. The snow capped steeples dotted the horizon and little villages were nestled into the valleys.

With Christmas time here, we also miss the Christmas celebration in Europe. The Christmas markets are beautiful and festive. Last year, we had a white Christmas with record snow falls. It was really a magical holiday season. It also seems like the Christmas is less materialistic in Germany.

3. Things we are grateful for:

Convenience
School is 5 minutes away. Church is 7 minutes away. A dozen grocery stores are just down the road. Convenience has given us more time in the day. With the new schedule, I have almost 2 more hours with the kids every day. The kids get home from school at 3pm and on the first day of school I had dinner ready at 4pm? When Greg got home from work and we continued with our evening routine, we realized that wow we have more time!

Babysitters

We had great babysitters in Germany, but they lived 30 minute drive away. Date night started at 4pm, with me making the drive with the kids to pick up the babysitter. Greg usually met up with us at the house at 5pm. We usually tried to come home at 9pm. After paying the sitter, I still had a hour round trip to get her home. I also didn't feel comfortable driving the sitter home through the beautiful scenery at night. The poorly-lit, narrow back roads were treacherous, especially in the winter.

Last weekend, our babysitter drove herself to our house. She lived 5 minutes away and had her license. (You cant drive in Germany until 18 years old and the Americans are required to have a US license first. So even college aged babysitters couldn't drive.) It was nice to come home from our date, and stay home.