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."

Long Overdue Update

So big changes...we've moved back to Utah for a year and have been crazy busy spending time with family and getting ready for the holidays. It has been so fun being close to family. Here are a few random photos for you....

Hailey LOVES the snow. I love this photo because it reminds me of the wonder I found in looking up at the snow when I was little. Unfortunately, she has also learned the consequences of playing in the snow without gloves and the crazy pain of fingers that cold. Oh yeah, and the coat? Kid to Kid for $9 - love that place!
My boy has grown up so much! Now fifteen months he walks all over - although he's still a little tippy and has all sorts of bruises and scratches on his head/face. He has 15 teeth with the 16th bulging under the surface. He's 24 lbs and 32" tall. Much better than his little man weight/height at the beginning. He adores Hailey and loves to wake her up after nap time. He says cute simple words like "mow" (more), "soc" (sock), "dat do" (thank you), "pee boo" (peek-a-boo), and a few others. He's so fun to have around.
Levi loves his beanie. He wears it around the house. The day this photo was taken he wore it for half an hour before taking it off.
Halloween was so fun. We went trick-or-treating in the pouring rain and had so much fun. Hailey was a little uncertain at the first few houses but as she saw the candy in her bucket she broke out of her shell and said everything herself. "Trick or treat. Thank you. Have a good night. See you later." It was cute. She was so annoyed that I made her wear anything under her dress and a raincoat over, but she got over it quickly once we got outside. Levi was so cute in his lion costume but didn't really understand the concept of walking around in the rain for an hour and a half.
I found Hailey in her underwear by Matt dresser pulling his clothes out. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I want to be Daddy." I laughed and told her I'd help her. I used to do this to my nieces and nephews all the time when I was a teenager. It was fun to do it to my own daughter. You can't see them, but she even has on Matt's white-tities and school name badge.
I bet you couldn't guess who designed our jack-o-lantern.
Hailey and Zoe. Her Santa present from last year - one of our best buys!

Levi had no interest in his birthday cake at first. He was just upset at me for taking away his watermelon. He sobbed through the song and even afterwards as I put chocolate into his mouth. He stopped instantly when I gave his watermelon back.
Hailey's 3rd birthday! We celebrated with lots of friends at the Collierville water park. We wouldn't usually go somewhere so extravagant for a third birthday, but we knew we wouldn't be seeing many of our friends for a long while so we decided to make it a big bash. We had so much fun!