haircut

post no. 100 has to be:
Juju´s hair is gone.. well, not all gone but he long hair that was down to his butt when wet and that turned into a heap of corkscrew curls when dry had to go. And yes, I still miss it :-)
he just looked way too cool but it was summer and it got increasingly hard to brush through it so off it came. He still carries it around and claims it´s an animal.. ha ha..

the day before the haircut I braded it so it would not get tangled too badly overnight...

what a sucky trade.. a lollipop for my hair.. hmm...

is that meee??? with the short hair??? BUT... I look like a BOY now?!?!

Isa got her first haircut as well, just a little trim and afterwards they gave her a cute french brade - she felt like a movie star.. ha ha..

To Blog or Not to Blog...

yup, exactly my question.. and it has been for a while, good thing reality had me very busy as well on the side or you´d get the idea that I actually put alot of thought into it 8)
I know that there are a couple of people that read the blog simply because they care about us, love us, miss us and want to be part of our lives even though we´ve all been scattered around the world. Those are the people I truly take the time to post pictures for - my family and friends (used synonymous in most cases!). There seem to be others that stop by along the way, be it by stumbling across it by accident or be it curiosity about whatever it may be they are curious about.
Well, after my last blog in February I received very negative comments because obviously I offended someone. And that someone wanted me to stop posting pictures and posts that might offend that person.
???????
I tried to put myself in that person's shoes and looked at it from many different angles but whatever the angle, I came to this conclusion:
DON´T READ MY BLOG IF IT OFFENDS YOU!!!!!!!
simple, huh?
I don´t intend to change my ways and frankly, I don´t see why I should either.
I´ve never intentionally hurt anyone, never leash out at anyone, that´s just not my nature.
Having said this - the answer to my self-imposed question is clear:
TO BLOG

Now that the computer is running again, my overtime at work has been decreased (yippeh) and hopefully with the switch to Windows Vista on top of that my camera will stop fighting me when I download the pictures, there will be ALOT more posts these coming weeks.. because there has been ALOT going on over here!

I think my very first post will have to be Juju with short hair. Short. It wasn´t even short when he was born. I miss his long hair.. it was down to his butt.. wait - let me save the sniffles for the actual post with the pictures.. lol

So yes, we´re back :-)

Origami X-Wing

Helau! Since I have not posted in .... hmm.. a month? .... I figured it was time. I just need to resize the pictures and off we go :-)
Meanwhile, I found these very cool X-Wing Origami instructions.. geeky? yup.. :-)
and way cool!

http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/icsf/library/history/picocon22/xwing/folding.html

enjoy!!!!!!!

little pre-christmas bowling

It´s funny how I can be this much older than the kids but they still kick my butt when it comes to bowling.. well - maybe the little bumper rails helped.. he he.. but let´s face it: I SUCK! ha ha ha
But we all had a great time so that´s all that counts.

Bowling at Dexheim :-)



















go Isa go!!!


















I rock :-)

sssstriiiiike!!!
wonder if I´ll hit anything.. lol

look Mom, THIS is how you do it.. (thanks Juju...lol)

Christmas Pictures

For the last couple of years at the christmas treelighting ceremony at the WAAF, our favorite Santa aka "Emily's Husband" endures hours of taking pictures with crying children, screaming parents and frantic grandparents cheering their offspring on to smile for Santa...
Since neither of us can pass up an opportunity to dive right into that AND it is his last year here in our community since Emily, the Art Director of the Römer Art Center, has decided to retire in spring, we got these pictures taken. My favorite is another picture though that has nothing to do with our family but makes me laugh out loud everytime I look at it! I´m only posting the link since it is public but I don´t want to put the picture of other people's children on our blog without permission. Here is the link though, if you need a classic Santa moment, this is it!:
www.armygermany.com/santa

AAAH! Forgot the Thanksgiving pictures, too! lol

OK, how bad is this? I forgot to post the Thanksgiving pictures.. lol...
Well, long story short, we went to the Messhall in Dexheim with a friend of ours, Georgina.

I won´t comment on the amount of food my boys stuffed themselves with - see for yourself! lol


Every year they have a contest between all the cooks for different cakes and displays - quite gorgeous. They also had a table for the soldier that can´t be there with them because he was killed in Iraq a few years ago. It´s nice they never forget.

Hearts Quilt.. Progress - finally!

Yup, it´s starting to come together.. and I think it´s the biggest project I ever tackled! Sometimes I wonder why I thought I´d have enough time to make this Quilt... Life is really hectic (isn´t it always?) and while I´m working endless overtime and we´re trying to get everything ready for Christmas there seems to be very little time to sit down and sew for more than 10 minutes at a time - that just does not cut it..
But, the top is almost done, the basting is next and then I can start quilting. Maybe I´ll take it on vacation with me? Yeah right, like I´ll have much time there! But I´ll try...
This is what it looks like right now, after this post I´ll go back downstairs to sew some more and hopefully finish it this weekend.

Have you ever wondered.....

how a broken ceran stove top looks like?
here you go:
and yes, it costs alot of money to replace it.. perfect timing 2 weeks before christmas, huh? lol

....where the 3 year old hides when he does not want you to know he took the Nintendo DS?
right here, wedged between the couch and the wall:
.....what a 19 year old looks like when he has to pick up all the easter candy that he accidentally spilled all over the kitchen floor?
so wonder no more.. ha ha

Christmas Tree Lighting

yeah yeah, I´m a couple of days late.. or maybe 2 weeks? Well, simple explanation: we have an Alex.. lol
Those rare creatures usually hog the computer all evening when I would have time to download pictures and do my computer stuff. Even now that he works from 9:00 - 18:00 during the week I haven´t had the time. So here are the missing pictures from this year's Tree Lighting Ceremony at the WAAF. The 1st Graders were the ones that were allowed to pull the rope with Santa to turn on the lights and Isa was the first one in line.. lol.. duh?


So proud - Isa's first letter to Santa - I love how well my 1st Grader writes already :-)


Isa's letter to Santa
Lilly and Isa - great friends since german Kindergarten

Santa's Post Office
munching on popcorn and cookies.. :-)
Making canes out of beeds - can he see through those bangs? lol
several attempts to take a family picture failed - partially because Juju wanted to rearrange the presents under the tree and hand them out to people he thought needed them.. lol

another failed attempt.. ha ha.. but we had fun - so who really cares?


THIS is the only way to roast marshmellows Army style.. lol

MAGC Wiesbaden

Did we have fun? Yes, we did!!!!! lol..
It was great to see everyone up in the Golfcourse Clubhouse on Sunday, Nov 4 and after eating and talking we - of course - went caching :-)

The Audimaniac Tribe, the Hzoi Tribe and us - later joined by the Nasenbär55 Tribe..
Christian and Kelly (hzoi) had really done great work in the weekends before the meet and placed some nice and original caches. He actually did some more work while we were caching - he first gave Juju a ride and later on Isa.. lazy kids.. ha ha
The whole gang had fun and since there were so many of us, we were able to make the trail stroller-friendly.. well, not friendly but doable.. lol..
Kim, our part time dog, had a great time as well, especially when all the kids figured out how nice she is and kept petting her.
Now, if you think that because there were so many of us, we had no problems finding the caches - you´re dead wrong.. ha ha.. but eventually - under the eyes of the cache owners - we found them and made it back to the Golfclub about 15 minutes after darkness fell upon us like bad family.. brr.. darkness brought coldness with him so it was good we were headed home. I don´t think Juju was awake by the time we hit the street - he just collapsed in his car seat :-D