Washington DC~ a visit from Grammy Marion and Aunt Sue

Grammy Marion and Aunt 'Grammy' Susie came to visit us while in D.C! They came Sunday night. We got to hang out with them all day Monday and Tuesday. We went shopping at Potomac Mills the first day. Luna was shopping around with Aunt Suzie when she said, "I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad Grammy Marion's here. But I'm even more glad I'm here". LOLOL! The kids got to go swimming both days at their hotel. They got spoiled by their grammy and aunt....and loved it. We had a great visit with them!

We made it! (to D.C.)

We made it here! Chad and Lolly picked us up from the airport in two separate cars to fit us all. It took a few days to adjust to the time change and three days of migraine but we are now on schedule.

It made my day when I saw this creature on the tree in their front yard the first morning we were here. The cardinal is my favorite bird!! Not only are cardinals beautiful and have a beautiful song...they are mates for life.


Happily reunited with the cousins!





Sunday we took a tour of the West Wing of the White House with Chad. Here are a couple photos.







The Formal Dining Room.....

30 November (Wednesday)

Today, Luna was getting ready to go to her friends house. She got her ballet shoes and said, "Carla will say these are so chic". And I said, "Oh yeah?" Then Luna said, "chic means ballet shoes". Three years old and she's already using the word chic. They must use that word at her at school when talking about her clothes. This is her third play date in two weeks with a different girl. They just love Luna. :)

I went jogging again this morning with Pace. It was a harder run than last time. But it feels good when I'm done. I ran 5 miles. Pacey did really good. I need to get the Weather Shield for him since it's so cold out and going to get even colder!

Elee and Josiah had popcorn day. They have it once a month. They brought it home in a paper bag. It totally reminded me of Bagel days when I was in grade school. They would sell bagels for $.25 each. I would always get salt or cheese. They were so good! Prices have changed! Just for popcorn it is .$50 a bag.

Dad and Deb's visit!

Finally, a blog of my folks trip in October.....

October 1st through the 15th Dad and Deb came for a visit! The first day they got in, we went to Cologne for my half marathon. We stayed in probably the best hotel by far that we've stayed at in Germany, the Pullman. We received a free upgrade and ended up with two suites. Which was perfect with having the kids. The marathon went great and I ended up doing an average 9:45 minute/mile pace. After there we went to Dusseldorf for some lunch.

From there, we came home for a night and Dad and Deb left for Prague. Richie dropped them off at the train station in Wiesbaden. They got to the Frankfurt airport to realize that we had booked them the wrong dates for their trip. They tried changing but everything was so expensive so they finally found our number and was able to call me. They got a taxi to the house around 3pm. I changed their tickets to leave that day again only this time with the right tickets. Richie was gone on a work trip for the week, so I piled the kids and the car and dropped them off at the Frankfurt airport. They had a great time and it was worth all the hassle in the long run. They loved Prague!

They got back late Thursday night. The next Friday morning we went to our old town Langenseifen and to Bad Schwalbach. It was a nice drive in the hills. We got out to take a walk in the fields behind out old house. It was so cold! Then we went to Bad Schwalbach and went to a Backerei for some brotchen.

On Saturday, the 8th, we piled up in the car and all 8 of us drove to Amsterdam. It was a fun trip but there are just so many people there! We went to the NEMO museum which was a neat science museum for kids. Dad, Deb, Josiah and I went to the Vincent VanGogh gallery too. That was probably my favorite part. It was especially cool to see Josiah listening to his headset, telling of different paintings. He was the only kid there and he would kneel down in front of the painting and take notes. So neat.








After that, Dad and Deb left for Brugge, Belgium by train while we drove home. They came back the following Wednesday night. On Thursday, we went to the Aukum Thermalbad and wine tasting in our neighborhood after we picked Luna up from Kindergarten. That night we also took dad out for his 60th birthday! Daniela came over and watched the kids so we had a really nice dinner! It was so cold but we sat next to a heater and sat outdoors and it was actually perfect! On Friday, Dad's birthday, we went to Josiah's soccer game which they won and Josiah scored a goal! After the game we had cupcakes and ice cream. We had the Balls of Fury Tournament while they were here too. Which was a blast! They left the next morning.

It was a wonderful visit and seemed so short since they traveled while they were here. It was my dad's first time to Europe so it's cool that he got to see so much while he was here, AND he went to four different countries!

November 6th, (Sunday)

Last week was such a crazy week. Josiah had some troubles at school which I won't get into on here. I battled a migraine the entire week just thinking and trying to process so many things mentally. It was a very taxing week. Elee got sick and had to stay home from school Thursday. They called me at 8am saying that he puked on the bus. I felt so bad for him. So I picked him up and brought him home, then took Luna to kindergarten a little late. Josiah and Elee had no school on Friday so we had a long weekend too. It was beautiful weather. Yesterday we went on a hike in the forest, and today we went to church & to a playground afterwards to enjoy being outside.

Richie finally bought my jogging stroller! It was the one that I wanted too! I checked all the reviews and it was consistent with being the best jogging stroller for serious runners. It's the 2011 BOB Ironman. Richie was hesitant, maybe I should say very hesitant, to buy the stroller because of the price. And even Richie ordered it for me. Yes, he ordered it (he got up one night from bed to buy the stroller for me). The cool thing was I was able to call Babies R Us and they refunded the shipping (they were having a shipping deal) and also after much finagling I was able to get 15% refunded (since I haven't been receiving the coupons in the mail).

I ran with the jogging stroller last Monday for the first time! It was great! I ran just about 5 miles with it and my time didn't change too much. I think because people saw me running with it, it made me want to run even faster. Running is probably the only time I ever get that competitive spirit. ;) I brought along the camera to take some pictures of one of the areas I run along, along the Rhine River. It was a beautiful fall day and the leaves were perfect golden color. I feel so blessed to live where we do.

4th Annual Ping Pong Balls of Fury Tournament, October 2011

I'm finally putting pictures of our 4th Annual Ping Pong Balls of Fury Tournament. It was great fun having it in Germany for the first time. AND Dad and Deb were here visiting which made it even better! Dad sent us the Robo pong so we have that as well to play with to practice. Our friend Dave (& Daniela) came over and set up professional sound speakers, and hooked lights up above the table. It was awesome!

It was quite cold so we had to get out the blankets to stay warm since we had it in the garage. Top three winners were 'Ghost' P.j., Our neighbor Peter, and Richie 'Rev'. Richie didn't get first place this year so you know he'll be practicing for that!

Thursday Oct 27

I went through Pace's close yesterday and took out the 18 month clothes and put in 24 month/2t. It made me really sad knowing that we're done with the baby sizes already. I just can't believe it. But like my friend said today, it has to end sometime.

I bought fresh COD fillets today from downtown Wiesbaden. I battered it with Japanese Bread crumbs and parmesian cheese and topped it with walnuts, and had green beans and Black Quinoa on the side. Seriously, it was the best fish I had in a long time.

Today Pace said 'yummy' for the first time while he was eating Baklava.

Tuesday Oct 25

Favorite saying of the day:
Luna: "Mom, come wipe my butt!" I go in and tell her to touch her toes as normal. Then she says, "It looks like a cucumber. It looks like Larry" (from Veggie Tales). Hahaha.

Thursday, Oct 20th

I saved Luna half of my pretzel today from my walk with Pace while she was in kindergarten. When i gave it to her she said, "Are you really my mom"?. I said, "Yes, I'm your mom!" Then she said, "You're my best'. ugh. love it.

"Bye mom, love you mom, have a good day".

"Bye mom. Love you mom. Have a good day"! This is what Elee says to me everyday after he gives me a huge hug and kiss goodbye.... before running with his one size too big back pack to the bus stop. Can I push a 'freeze in time' button? He is so sweet. This just melts my heart.

I DID IT!!!! 1/2 MARATHON KOLN, GERMANY

I did it! I finished the race! I set out to just finish the race without getting injured. The first mile or two was difficult. Runners stumbling over and trying to pass each other to get into a pace. It was virtually impossible to get into a groove at first with so many people running. After the first two miles I was feeling good and got into about a 9 minute-mile pace. Then came time that I had to pee. It would've been a lot better had I not had to wait in a line to use the porta-potty. Next time, I'm gonna go on the side of the street. After the stop, it was hard to get back into pace. But eventually I settled into a 9-10 minute -mile pace. The runner in me wanted to push it to my max. I ran the last three miles around an 7:30- 8 minute pace. I just kept wanting to go faster and faster. I felt great. My cheerleaders were there at two places along the run. Elee and Josiah ran along side me for about a 100 meters. It was so cute. At the end of the race, the family wasn't there. I was supposed to meet them back at the hotel. I picked up my shirt, and grabbed a coca cola and Kolsch beer. Nothing like drinking a beer after running a half marathon. It really made me feel like I was in Germany. I came in 285 overall for my age group. I think there might've been about 10,000 runners there? My time was 2 hours and 8 minutes.

We went to Dusseldorf for Lunch/dinner after the race. Very cool walking area with lots of places to eat really good food. They are famous for their Altbier. So we had to get that of course.

My foot still bothers me, but today, my whole body is sore so I'm not noticing it too much.

28 September

After lunch time, Luna said, "I want to paint machen". I thought it was so cool! machen in German means to make, and I believe that's how they would say I want to a paint. She is just loving kindergarten and enjoys going there everyday!

Had a very relaxing day yesterday since I didn't need to go running. The boys didn't have any sports. Very nice indeed. We just hung out. We need more of these days!

Three more days until Dad and Deb are here. Wow! So looking forward to it!

Richie's at Oktoberfest right now. He comes home tomorrow. Today they had a table under the tent for about 4 hours. That's a really long time when your're getting beers by the liter!

I packed up all four kids and took Elee to Taewondo and Josiah to his soccer game. Josiah's team lost but Josiah scored the only goal on his team...1-3. Another $5 for Josiah. We told him we'd give him $5 for every goal he scored. He's already earned $25 in just 3 or 4 games! Last game he scored three goals! He really had enjoyed playing now that he is on an American team. I'm glad he's really into and wants to go to practice and to the games. Elee is doing really well in Taekwondo. Last week, Master Seo told Richie, "Elee good boy". That was really cool to hear from the instructor. I've never seen Elee sit so still like that for 5 minutes doing nothing. He's always wanted to do some sort of marital arts. Because he wants to be there, I think this will be great to help him learn self control and discipline in a fun way.

Tonight, Elee has his first sleepover at Liam, Finn and Jack's house. Him and Josiah were so excited to go. We are going over to their house tomorrow to hang out so it works out perfect.

I ran 4 miles the other day. I did 1 mile of serious up hill action. Then another mile of slight uphill. The last two miles were downhill. It was a good workout. I will run 10 miles tomorrow and then the marathon next weekend. WOW! Dad and Deb will be here next weekend too. We are looking forward to that very much!

8 miles!!!!

I ran 8.10 miles today! I totally took my time just to finish without walking. I stopped a couple times to stretch my calfs and feet. Stopped once at a porta potty to go number 2 and couldn't go. Including all the stops it took me one hour and 34 minutes and 45 seconds! It feels so good to have gotten that far, although i wish i had ran 10 miles a couple times. Half marathon is in two weeks!!!!

We had some friends come in from Bamburg last night. They left this afternoon. It was SUCH a nice visit. My friend Sandra and I m et at a worship conference in May. So this was the first time getting together after that AND with the families. The kids got along great. We will definitely be hanging with them again. Too bad they live so far away!!!!!

Thankful to be a Stay at Home Mom!

After I got the boys out of the door for school and dropped Luna off at kindergarten, Pacey and I went downtown Walluf. I put a letter in the yellow mailbox, then we went and got some brotchen. I got Pacey a raisin bread and I got a Kartoffel Kase bread. A potato cheese bread that I haven't tried before. It was pretty good. I hadn't planned on taking a walk but we ended up walking to the Rhine River (just down the cobblestone street). I couldn't believe that I get to stay at home and watch the kids and do this! It was such a beautiful morning. It started to lightly rain a bit, but it was so nice to walk around pushing Pacey in his stroller. I really love moments like that when you can really take everything in and appreciate the gifts that God has given you. I'm so thankful for Richie, and the kids. What a good start to my day!

Josiah's First Soccer Game~ Sept 9th, 2011

Josiah had his first soccer game on Friday and he loved it! His team is called the Comets.

He played pretty well for his first game and he scored the only goal for his team! They lost 1-4 but it was cool to watch them learn as they go. It was really the first time they got to play like that. The coach said afterward that he knows who his offense players are, speaking of Josiah, but that he can't play favorites and that he rotates all the kids to give them a chance. I like that. Especially at their age to learn to play as a team.

So Josiah gets $5. We told him every goal he scores in a game he'll get $5. That's enough motivation for him! It dawned on me while he was playing that I'm an official soccer mom. What in the world???? This can't be! Really!!! It's so weird for me to sit there and watch Josiah play soccer. Oh yeah, and we DO have the mini van.

I ran 6 miles today! I ran it in about 63 minutes. I ran some good hills. I took along some honey in a bag too for the half way point. It was nice to have. Richie ran in the morning before me and he did 13 miles in one hour 41 minutes. He's in great shape. I haven't been running as long and it's going to take me a while to get to where I want to be. I have my 1/2 marathon coming up soon and I'm not ready. I'd love to have a better base but I'm still going to try and do it. 6 miles was rough for me. That was the longest I've run since after having Josiah. Wow! Time to get in shape!

The boys had music lessons today. Elee for guitar. Josiah for piano. I have to order Elee a guitar lesson book. He really wants to play the electric, but he'll have to practice at home on his acoustic. The electric we have doesn't work right. When he gets older and if he still likes playig, then that will be something that we can get him later.

Richie ordered the ping pong table today. We are getting excited for the Ping Pong tournament. We just sent out invites for it yesterday for our 4th annual. It will be on the 15th of October while Dad and Deb are here. Now time to get our costumes ready!

Can't help but thinking I'll be slightly stiff tomorrow....better stretch before bed.











(Alicia and I) Official soccer moms. Woah!!