Birthdays 2 & 4

So I just realized that I never posted photos of the kids on their birthdays. Here they are.

There's a reason I don't decorate cakes professionally....but I got a smile out of my sweet baby girl, so I'm satisfied.
Jana, we missed your balloon-tying talents, so we attempted our own. Again, it's a good thing she's an innocent little four-year-old and was easily pleased. :) She wanted a BIG crown, so that's what she got.
An "ouch-free" hairbrush, a princess story book, a Barbie movie and a Dr. Seuss? What could make her happier?
Obviously I got a little burned out on the princess cake. Ha. Or maybe my two-year-old boy was happy with a donut and I wanted a simple day.

Hailey helped me sew Levi's cape, and she was so excited to give it to him! Levi was equally delighted. He hardly held still long enough to get it on before he ran around the room, arms extended, yelling "I flying, I flying."
Hot-wheels from G'pa & G'ma Stevens were a big hit! (And yes, Hailey chose her own outfit...well, that was probably her fourth for the day...Most days she matches a little better).
"Things that go" book from G'ma & G'pa Butler....Levi is one of those things that goes, hence the blurry photo. :)

Life is Simple...and I Love it!

So yesterday was a nice, quiet, stay at home day. As I tidied the house, did laundry, and made homemade wheat bread (thanks to Matt for my Bosch, Christine for my grinder, and Mom for the recipe and good memories) with my babies, I was filled with gratitude for the simplicity and joy in my life.

I had to post these photos of my crazy kids eating bread dough. Yuk! But they love it. Just like my dad. Yet, they won't eat potatoes. Weirdos.

The evening before we went on a walk on a bike path close to our house. It was so peaceful and quiet. The kids loved running around.

I really do have something to do with the genetics of this boy....even if it doesn't show.

Prague

So I'm lazy, or something like that. I'm going to direct you to our German Chocolate blog instead of posting here myself. Matt did a great job on the post. Here you go: www.butlergermanchocolate.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Bat

Matt has a couple days off and we decided to spend today unpacking and organizing the last room in our house. Yeah! It's been an all-day project and we still have a little ways to go, but we were interrupted by an uninvited guest, Mr. Bat. Yes, a little black winged bat. The windows here are quite ingenious in many ways, but the fact that they have no screens is not my favorite feature. So now we have a winged creature in our loft. We'll be calling our landlord first thing in the morning. Ah, another adventurous day.

A Funny Day....in Retrospect

So now that the day is over and Matt is home and I've vented, I can laugh at today's events. Moving to another country has gone quite impressively smooth, but there have been lots of little things/bumps along the way. Today was one of the accumulative days. This is how today's events played out:

* My new cell phone service (that costs a small monthly fortune) doesn't work inside my house because the walls are too thick - according to the sales lady that helped me set up my service yesterday and I returned to ask why it didn't work. I have to go outside to talk to people or stand by an open window upstairs. The dog next door (we live in a tri-plex so when I say next door, I really mean five feet away from me) barks up a storm while I'm trying to talk. Thank goodness the dog isn't home much.

* I get a paper in the mail from our internet company (in German, of course). Since I can't read it I take it to the base with me and find out that it's a letter saying that my bill is overdue. I never got the bill. I'm a little anal on my bills. I pay them the day they come. Except now, and I have to go to the bank and pay them a fee to wire my money to the company. I like the security of the payment, don't like the extra stop and fee.

* I ask my landlord for garbage bags (garbage deserves it's own post. Long story short, I have five different trash cans). He brings me a small roll (which now I see is generous after my experience at the office) and tells me where to go to pick up more. The next town over. I go there and they give me a slightly larger roll of bags and when I ask for the special bags to use for diapers, they tell me I have to provide them with my child's birth certificate and rental agreement before they'll give me trash bags. What?!?

* I come home and try to call Matt. My phone won't connect. The kids are hungry and tired. Levi is still fevering with absolutely no other symptoms, except severe grumpiness.

* Later I make dinner and get the kids fed. Matt still hasn't appeared or answered any texts (they're a little more successful than calls, but I still have to stand by a door). He finally calls and says he had a meeting that went really long and has another to go to.

* I get the kids in bed. I plug in a transformer in the kitchen to charge my now completely dead toothbrush. I blow the entire kitchen's power. I start to cry.

The kids are happily asleep, Matt's home, my kitchen's power is back up and going (my landlord showed me how to do it - I'm sure it'll probably happen again in the next three years), and now I have a couple hours of quiet down time to enjoy. Life is wonderful and there's a beautiful sunset outside. I guess I need days like this to appreciate the smoother days.

Oh, and as a reward to anyone who took the time to read this novel, we found out yesterday that we're having a girl. Hailey is ecstatic. Everyone else will know when I remember how to get the little pregnant lady on the side of my blog. I'm due in December.

Like a Dog

We had a funny post-breakfast conversation this morning:

Hai: Let's go take a shower now.

Me: We will, but we have to wait a little until the dryer finishes because all the towels are in the dryer. (We have a very limited supply for now).

Hai: It's okay, Mommy, we don't need a towel.

Me: We don't? Well how will we get dry?

Hai: (While kneeling to demonstrate)...We'll just shake like a dog.

Heidelberg Castle

We took our first European family excursion (with the exception of an outdoor restaraunt dinner outing at which Hailey dumped 2 Euro worth of water in my lap, Levi got dumped on his head out of the stroller, and the kids chased pigeons all over the cobblestone courtyard - it was a fun and eventful evening, but we forgot our camera) this past Saturday and had a great time. We had several people think we were German, but I guess it makes sense - most tourists don't bring along small youngsters to run around ancient castles.

All the streets are so compact. This "playground" was right off one of the streets, right in between houses, etc. This was the steepest slide I've ever seen at a playground. Hailey and I went down together and I barely caught us from a face plant as I stumbled to get footing after the speedy eject. We took the kids down three times each and they LOVED it.

This is looking across the Rhine river at some houses on the way back from the castle.

It was a fifteen minute walk to the castle from the parking garage and we came to this plant with the most beautiful huge flowers. I'm sure they're not unique only to Germany, but they were still beautiful.

Levi thought the railing made a perfect peeping hole. He kept peering through and exclaiming "I see!"

This was what he was peeping at.

It's been so nice having Matt around again.

Another part of the castle.

Matt has created another blog strictly for our European travels. It's butlergermanchocolate.blogspot.com if you care to take a look at a few more photos of the castle as well as our little village we'll move into in August.

Big Changes

For anyone that didn't read the beginning text of the last post, we moved to Germany a couple of weeks ago.

For the past and next two weeks, we've been living in a one-bedroom hotel with a kitchenette and a pull out bed for Hailey and pack n'play for Levi. It's been an interesting transition, but has gone better than I expected. The kids have actually done pretty well sleeping in the same room.
The kids and I got to the airport about 6:30am and arrived in Frankfurt about 8:30am the following morning (or 12:30am MST). We met Matt in TX before the over-seas flight, thank goodness, but he didn't even get to sit by us. He was just a row over and back so he was still close.

Chasing His Tail

I laughed so hard at Levi trying to get a balloon off his back. Enjoy!

Lots of Randomness (Super Cute Randomness)

So there's no rhyme or reason to these - just some fun times around the house lately. Oh, and for anyone that doesn't know yet, I thought I'd mention that we're moving to Germany this summer for Matt's 3 year assignment with the Air Force. We're super excited!

Levi is my accessory boy. He loves shoes, hats, sunglasses, etc. I had to laugh at this one though. The funniest part was to watch him work with such determination. He tried over and over and Hailey even helped him after a while. He struggled a little with walking, but I was impressed that he could walk at all.

The kids were so excited to build a snowman. Oh, and to prove the fickle nature of Utah weather this time of year, the kids and I took a walk around the neighborhood in just sweaters that afternoon.

Matt is such a fantastic daddy. The kids adore him and their play time with him as soon as he gets home. They don't even wait for him to change out of his work clothes (he doesn't usually crawl around the house in a shirt and tie).

Hailey was so excited to "paint" cookies. It was sweet to watch her do them with such effort.

Like I said, Levi loves hats. He wears this one a lot and puts it on himself - sometimes sideways and backwards, it's always so cute.

I made Hailey the same kind - just a little more girly. She loved that her apron matched as well. I love her little pose.

I love my cheesy grin boy. He's saying "eees" in this photo. He's a toothy boy. Two of his two-year-old molars are getting close to being completely through.

And you wonder why I give in so easy....could you deny those little eyes?

Got milk?

I love my little lady so much! She is such a sweet thing and a huge help around the house. She was excited about having a new library bag.

She's started making cheesy faces for the camera lately. Sometimes it produces some funny photos.

Another crazy face.

She was thrilled to roast strawberry marshmallows.

One of my new favorite places to take the kids is the discovery museum. It is so fun!! We got a family pass when they were on sale (the individual tickets are awfully priced) so I love that I can just drop in for an hour here and there without feeling like I have to stay long enough to make it worth the price. When Christine and Larry were here for spring break we got their family in on our pass and military discount so it was well worth the money for all the fun the kids had. This particular toy has fan in the bottom that blows little plastic balls up through tubing. Levi was completely fascinated!

Take two...

So do you remember this.....

Well here's take two.....

Now, we can't claim complete innocence. Matt and I were attempting to enjoy some good books (so Mel, I guess we can blame you :) on a Sunday evening and I heard the kids laughing hysterically behind Hailey's closed door. Mommy instinct told me they were up to no good, but their laughs were so cute. Matt went to check on them and immediately called my name to find the above scene. BTW, any ideas on how to recompose and teach your children the wrongness in their actions when you laugh your head off when you first see their innocent (although guilty) little white faces looking up at you?

Morning Humor

Hailey loves to play hide-and-seek. She's constantly asking me to count to twenty so she can hide. I usually drag out my counting while I'm doing things around the house, like gathering laundry this morning. I played a couple of times while I was gathering then headed downstairs to sort and start a load, telling her I'd be back. Apparently she didn't want to wait for me to come back. This is what I hear....

H: (Indistinct chatting to Levi then...) "Okay. One, two, three, four......nineteen, twenty." (Pause in voice, but I hear footsteps).

Exasperated, "You wasn't hiding!"

Apparently seventeen-month-olds don't make good hide-and-seek partners.

The other morning Hailey woke up early but Matt and I didn't want to get up yet so we told Hailey she could watch a cartoon for a few minutes.

H: I don't know how to turn on the TV.

M: Yes you do and I set up your show so all you have to do is turn on the TV.

H: Ok.

She leaves, but a few minutes later we hear her back, whispering in a very worried voice.

H: Daddy, there's a coat on the ceiling!

M: It's okay, I put it there last night after I ironed it.

H: (In a very worried three-year-old voice) It scare me! I thought it was a bad guy.

(She's on my side of the bed and Matt and I are laughing so hard at this point.)

M: Where did you learn "bad guy?"

H: I thought it was a munster. (monster)

M: No, it's just a coat.

H: Come look, it's so scary! Turn on the light. It's so scary.

I walked down a little later and saw why she was so scared. She had been wondering down the stairs in the dark to the light switch at the bottom of the stairs. There's a hook in the ceiling about three feet from the bottom of the stairs and on it Matt had hung my freshly pressed black peacoat. I would have screamed. Poor kid. Matt also said later that she said she thought it was a goost (ghost). Apparently our child has picked up some kind of accent some where "Munsters and goosts."