Abby's Brithday, Part 3

After Shopping, Abby and I came home to a decorated house, pizza, gifts and cake!!!

Some things about Abby

• she has no idea how old she is, sometimes she says 2, sometimes she says 5...
• she can write her name, and is learning to write her numbers
• her absolute best friend is her sister, Emma
• she LOVES to play with babies
• we are always waiting for the way she says things
• she thinks she has really long hair
• she loves coffee!
• she sleeps with 42, 000 stuffed animals
• she is a night owl, stays up late and loves to sleep in
• at gym class  she is only kid that listens
• she is always upside down on the couch
• she is very emotional when she watches movies, she has cried at Madagascar, Game Plan, Ponyo among many others
• she has to pee everytime we sit down to eat dinner
• she loves the stroller, she has seen Europe from the stroller!

Abby is definetly one of kind, we can't believe she is 4!!! Happy Birthday Abby, we love you!

Abby's Birthday, Part 2

Every year, I take the kids whose birthday it is, shopping, they get to pick where they want to go and it is just me and them, they love it!  Abby decided she wanted to go "downtown" to get some clothes, one of our favorite stores is H & M so that is where we went, and then of course we had to hit a candy shop on the way out, and then to Abby's favorite store Rofu Kinderland to get her sister Emma something, the whole time that girl just wanted to get something for her sister!! She is such a sweetheart. Oh, and another thing we got to take daddy's SMART car which is always fun!

Next up, Abby's Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday Abby!!!

Out little girl is 4 today!!! As soon as she woke up this morning, we said Happy Birthday and she responded with "mom, are you serious, is it my birthday?"  Here are some pics of our  morning, she wanted to go eat at the bakery so we went to Wasgau and got her favorite, cheese pretzels!!!

More pictures to come later...every birthday Mom takes the little one shopping, just me and them and they pick out their present, so later on this afternoon, Abby and I are going  shopping, she says she wants to go downtown and get some clothes!!!  Should be fun!

-Darcy

Noah...a Smith or a Rios???

Ok, so Sergio and I are having a little debate over Noah.  We all know that Emma looks exactly like Sergio and Abby is more me, but lately I think Noah is starting to look like a Smith but Sergio thinks he is a little Sergio, now don't get me wrong he acts EXACTLY like Sergio but I don't think he looks like him, so we are taking a vote, let us know who you think Noah looks like!

German Night!!

Tonight I decided to brave making some German food, I mean we have been in Germany for almost 3 years I think it is about time I make some of the food!!! So we had Jagerschnitzel and my kids favorite Spaetzle.  I got both recipes off www.foodnetwork.com and then were both delicious.

This is the breaded pork loin (thin) breaded basically in flour mixture, egg wash, and panko/cracker mixture

This is the Spaetzle batter (super easy to make), and you are supposed to push the batter through a colander into boiling water.  however it wasnt working for me..so I just put the batter in a baggie and cut a small hole in the corner and dropped the batter into the water that way.  

Me, frying the spaetzle after it is boiled. 

The finished product, it was sooo Yummy, I forgot to show the gravy but it too was super simple to Make!!!

-Darcy

Girl Scout Derby Race!!!!

Emma had her first Derby Race yesterday, she didn't win any prizes, but she still had loads of fun, because she made the car HERSELF, when we got to the race the battery on my camera died!!! OF COURSE!!! But I did get a few pictures of her car before the race...

That is all the pictures I have for now...trying to get others from other parents!!!  OH, and we did find some awesome dining furniture yesterday!!! Not sure when it will get here, but at least we found something! Today we are off to our last  European Bazaar, I will try to take some pictures of all the cool things that they have! Oh, and the sun is shining today, YEAH, hopefully it will be a good day!

--Darcy

Stuff...

Hello Everyone,

Well I haven't blogged lately because nothing really has been going on here...a lot of staying at home, watching the olympics, sewing, a few visits to the backyard, but other than that nothing...I did make these adorable dolls for the girls, I saw the tutorial on modabakeshop.com and thought they were so cute, so I ordered my fabric and finally got it this week, it was a fun project because the girls got to pick out the fabric for the dolls' clothing, and the fabric for their bags, they actually did a really good job, and I have a lot of leftovers to make more as gifts...

ok so maybe no pictures, I can't figure our how to get them on here from our new IMAC...Sergio will have to fix that. (ok, kinda fixed it, formatting is all off--will fix that later)

Abby Playing with them when we went out to eat!

Well, Today we are headed off to find a dining room table, we REALLY need one, we are a family of five and only have a table that will fit 4...not working too well...we went to Belgium last Friday because they are SUPPOSED to have an awesome furniture store there, so we drove 1 1/2 hours in the rain and get there, totally did not look like the picture and a lot of the furniture was marble, marble couches, marble tables, and lots of glass...not really our style, so today we are headed to a furniture store here that we love and hope to find something.  After that Emma has her Girl Scout Derby Race!!! She is so excited she painted her car herself...we will post pictures (hopefully) later today!












I Hope everyone is having a great weekend and hopefully I will post some pictues later today!

-Darcy

Fasching!!!

Monday was a holiday so Sergio didn't have to go to work, so we decided to go to a Fasching Parade in Mainz, Germany which is about 45 mins from our home.  Fasching is a very big thing in Germany.

"Fasching is Germany's carnival season. It starts on the 11th day of November at exactly 11minutes after 11am and ends at the stroke of midnight on Shroud Tuesday - often referred to as Fat Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). Fasching is more or less a Roman Catholic and Christian Orthodox celebration and most Protestant and non-Christian areas do not celebrate it"

Anyways a lot of people get dressed up like Halloween, there is lots and lots of drinking, a parade with floats and people throwing candy, etc, etc...We have never been to a parade and thus this being our last year we decided to go, however it was extremely cold and snowing, not usual (this year winter has not been good)  we decided to go anyways, everyone wore 4 shirts, a sweatshirt, tights, leggings jeans, a couple pair of socks, etc, etc..and we were still cold, well except for Abby because in Abby style she stayed in the stroller the whole entire time covered up in  a blanket.  We didn't stay for the whole parade because poor Noah was shaking he was soooo cold.  Emma had lots of fun and caught some cookies and candy.  Here are some pictures of  the parade...

Before the parade, freezing our butts off!!!

-Darcy

Father-Daughter Ball

Time for the annual Father/Daughter Ball on Ramstein AB Germany!!! This year Abby got a chance to go her and Emma were so excited to go!!! (Sergio wasn't able to take many pictures because the battery went dead on the camera!!)

Entering the Ball!!

 

They had a nice dinner, they ate cupcakes, they met a prince and princess, they danced, according to Emma and Abby they made Daddy bark like a dog and act like a ballerina, and they did the Cha Cha.  They had loads of fun and came home with a crown, a purse with bracelets, and rings, and necklaces.  They were so exhausted and had lots to talk about.

Noah and I just hung out at home, we made a puzzle, played grocery, had grilled cheese and cheetos, and watched Barney.  It was nice just to have the two of us.

-Darcy

BURN!!!

Sergio FINALLY got it!!! After all the crap and jokes he does to everyone else, they finally got him at work.  We had a alot of snow this last thursday night, on Friday the kids and I went to visit Sergio at work, and while we were visiting him, all his wonderfull co-workers were doing this...

                                        HA HA HA HA!!!! I love it!!! (they did help him dig out!!

COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!!!!!

Well this past week has been full of coughing, kleenex, Doctor's visits, medicines, disinfecting and many sleepless nights!!!

It all started last Saturday with a trip to the ER...Abby had fallen two days earlier in the snow and was complaining of her arm hurting, well on Friday night, ALL night she didn't sleep crying that her arm hurt and was running a fever. So...I googled it (because Google knows everything!) and it said that she may have an infection in her arm and should see a Dr., well since it was the weekend the office was closed the ER was our only option, Sergio had to work, so I had to take all three kiddos to the ER during cold/flu season.  What was I thinking!!!!  Well 5 hours later, and about 7 xrays, Abby has an ear infection (even though her ear didn't even hurt and she hadn't had a cold--I didn't like the Dr. very much)  and a sprained arm, so we got her all wrapped up and out the door we went. At this time NONE of my kids were sick.  The next day Emma starts coughing, a nasty cough followed by a very stuffy nose, they Abby starts coughing, ALL week I did nothing but give medicine and blow noses!!! And sense I am a bit of a germaphobe I followed them around with Lysol to make sure Noah and the rest of us didn't get sick, because everyone with kids knwos being sick yourself while taking care of kids is not fun at all, well that didn't work...

Thursday night I awoke at 2 am to the sound of Noah crying and something that sounded like barking...it was Noah coughing and he had a fever, needless to say Sergio and I took turns that night and no one slept.  He was also holding the right side of his head near his ear and saying "owe, hurt"  so another dr's visit was in order. 

First I have to explain the whole Dr. thing here in German, there are about 50,000 americans here and 2 SMALL clinics, so if your child is sick, you have to call for an apt the morning that your child is sick, if you want an apt you better call right at 7:00 am when they open otherwise you will probably have to go to the ER.

 So Friday morning, at 6:59 am Sergio dials the clinic, he is on hold for over 20 mins, finally he gets through, ALL the appts for the day are GONE!!! and there is NO WAY I am goingback to the ER, however they were able to get us in to see a German doctor, Dr. Schmidt whom we have been to before and we like, only problem we have to be there in an hour and Sergio couldn't help watch the kids, so....off to the Dr. again with all 3 kids!!!!  Turns out Noah has the Croup, tonsilitis, and an infection in his gland under his right ear, so...off to the pharmacy to get German Antibiotics and Steriods for his cough!!!  So for the next two days Emma and Abby are feeling better however Noah is feeling worse!!! UGH, it is neverending, more nose wiping and trying to get Noah to cover his mouth when coughing, and of course more disinfecting. 

                                           This is how Noah looked for two days, he had this
                                               look on his face like he was going to sneeze!!!

Well it is Monday and everyone is starting to feel a whole lot better!!! Thank GOODNESS! We are all ready for spring or maybe a vacation somewhere warm.

On another note, still no word on where we are going we are playing the waiting game, for now it looks like it could either be, Omaha, Las Vegas, Miami or Dover, Delaware.  This time around it is a little different because Sergio is having to apply for jobs rather than just being assigned a job, so that is why it is taking a little longer to find out.  But when we do find out I will let everyone know!!!

We hope everyone is staying healthy!!!

--Darcy