Freeze Time

Can I please just freeze time? I love all my kids ages so much right now. I know it keeps getting more fun, but it just goes way too fast!

Meika at 2.5 years

Oh Meika, how I love this stage she is in! Please don't grow up!!

Meika at 2.5 years
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-Has been completely potty trained since May/June. May/June timeframe she still had accidents here and there, but she is pretty solid now. I don't really ever see her go because she just does it herself and is pretty independent about it.
-Has been dry at night time for the past week or so. I am going to make a chart and see if we can go another week or so before I ditch the diaper. She has been napping without a diaper for about 2 months.
-Loves cows!!!
-loves bubbles
-makes me sing "I am a child of god" and "twinkle twinkle" every night to her when she is going to bed. She makes Abe sing "Lead Kindly Light".
-Still attached to her "bear bear" and sadly her binkie at night. I am waiting till after our move to take that away!
-Pretty good eater and will usually eat whatever I give her.
-Is obsessed with riding her bike and is crazy at it. I'm pretty sure she could ride a two wheeler right now if we could find one small enough. I can't keep up with that girl.
-lots of energy
-Has the biggest imagination. She is constantly entertaining herself and playing make believe. I love just watching her play and listening to what she comes up with. It amazes me.
-Likes to cuddle and is pretty affectionate
-wants to keep up with her big sisters
-super easy kid and I can take her anywhere. She is very well behaved and fun to be around.
-starting to get a little sass, but I can still reason with her
-loves dressing up and changing her clothes a million times a day
-Will only wear dresses or skirts

Norah 4.5 years

Norah at 4.5 years old
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-sensitive
-VERY giving and great at sharing. Sometimes her sisters will throw fits and Norah always ends up giving up what she has or sharing something that means a lot to her. She has a heart of gold.
-Likes to get a reaction and can be a little defiant sometimes
-naturally athletic. She is a maniac riding her bike and has no fear.
-Is in her own little "Norah world" and has a crazy imagination
-has a great memory and is always coming home and telling us the german words she has learned at school.
-has quite a sense of humor and is a little clown at times
-gets worn out quickly
-knows what she wants and is very decisive
-will only wear skirts or dresses
-homebody
-loves carrots

Some random conversations I wrote down that I thought were funny:

Norah was asking me what would happen with having a birthday party since we will have moved to Colorado. I told her that of course we would still celebrate her birthday and she could have a party. She asked if she could have a "snow"birthday party. Adeline asked Norah what she would do for that kind of party and Norah said, "Go sledding, drink hot chocolate and get in a warm blanket and cuddle!" Adeline said, "Norah, you can't just cuddle for your birthday party!"

Norah is always super sensitive to smells and has somewhat of a gag reflux. Just guessing… but I think she gets that from me! If Abe tries to hug her when he is drenched with sweat after working out, she starts screaming and running away from him. Sometimes when he is close to her and cuddling or whatnot and talking close to her face, she will get a disgusted look on her face and say, "Ew, your breath stinks!". Sometimes she will even gag a little bit. The other day when driving the girls home from school, Adeline was talking about how they can't bring Peanut butter to school because some kids are allergic to it, but no one in her class is. She explained that some of the kids are allergic to sunscreen, dust, etc. Norah piped up and said, "I am allergic to dog poop smell!"

Adeline at 7 years old

I like to take some new pictures of my kids every time they have a birthday. It took about a month to finally get my act together and haul the kids out to get Adeline's pictures done. I took a handful of Adeline and then I took a couple of the other kids as well. Adeline is quite the poser and was having fun taking pictures. That is until it was getting a little cold and she was starting to act "hangry". My photographer friend Danielle has an amazing field right by her house and she took me down there so we could take some pictures. I wish I always had a field like this around for photo shoots! So happy I got pictures of my kids while the flowers were in bloom.

















Adeline at 7 years old
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-Has blossomed in reading the past year and is now reading chapter books
-Her favorite subjects in school are art, PE and writing. Her least favorite is math.
-She is a little bit indecisive. She likes so many things that it is hard for her to narrow down what she really wants.
-Loves riding her bike and doing anything active
-Leader
-sweet
-She is a very good writer and great at art. I am always amazed at what she has created.
-Loves adventures
-Loves being with friends
-Is usually pretty responsible
-Teachers pet at school. Her teachers think she could never to wrong! I wish she would do the same at home! ;)
-Loves trying to entertain Anders and is pretty good to her sisters. Norah and Adeline are good buddies and are always playing together.
-has a hard time going to bed
-impulsive
-Strong willed
-competitive
-creative
-pleaser
-perfectionist
-Is in to listening to music and loves KidzBop

It is crazy to think that my first born is already 7 years old. She is an amazing little kid and it's fun to watch her grow. While at times she can be a bit difficult to parent (strong willed!), she is a joy and is a sweet heart. She is 7 going on 17 and feels like she is old enough to do what she wants! She is fun to be around and is always game to do things. She continues to be my little energizer bunny and is always looking for something to do and is not ok with being bored. She has all the motivation in the world when it something she wants and will work hard to get it! Adeline, you are a super special girl and I love you so so much! I know great things are going to happen while in our next move to Colorado and you will be very pleased with all the fun english speaking friends you will meet. I think you will be in your element there :)

The local dairy

Down the street from us is a dairy farm. It is owned and run by a guy and his son that have a cute little house right next to it. Peter, the son, does most of the work since his dad is pretty old. He is always friendly with us and is such a nice guy. He lets us go and get raw milk from the cooling tank whenever we want and only charges us 50 euro cents per liter. We go there quite often to get some raw milk for the kids. Sometimes Abe will drink it too, but I am not a fan of the super thick milk! The kids love riding their bikes down there and making their rounds throughout the dairy to see all the different cows. There is one little section with all the calves, one where all the cows are milked and fed, one with the bulls and another with the brand new babies and moms. Meika especially is always begging to ride her bike down there and has a small infatuation with cows. Pretty fitting since we always call her Meika Moo. The other day she begged me to go on a walk to see the cows so I took a couple pictures to document what we do there so the kids won't forget.

Photo shoot with Danielle

I am so overjoyed with the gorgeous photos that Danielle has taken of us over the past couple of months. I loved the ones of the girls and I when I was pregnant, was SO happy I had her do Anders' birth and now am in love with the handful she took of our family with Anders. She did such an amazing job!

Anders at 2 Months

2 Month Stats
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Weight: 4.7 kg or 10.36 lbs 24%
Length: 57 cm or 22.44 inches long 37%
Head: 40.5 cm 68%

Anders' 2 Month well baby appointment proved that he is indeed growing! It is nice to see, because it is super discouraging and stressful at times with breastfeeding. There are times that I feel like he eats well and is consistent and times when I feel like he is not nursing enough and fear that he is not getting enough food. I just have to go with my gut though and since he is pretty happy and is growing, I'm sure it is all good. It's crazy how feeding a baby can be so stressful!

At 2 Months, Anders:

-Loves to snuggle and nuzzle his face into your chest/armpit
-sleeps a 5-6 hour stretch consistently
-eats about every 3 hours, although sometimes isn't interested until 4 hours and sometimes wants to snack often. Not the most consistent!
-smiles
-finally loves his baths
-has small tummy issues, but is mostly happy and easy to console
-has a cute little frown
-can roll from his tummy to his back
-used to hate his carseat, but is getting better at being in it happily
-loves being warm
-has to be swaddled tight when he sleeps
-Is at the start of being very social
-was initially fine when he got his shots, but was super sad and cranky the rest of the day

Kabebs, Ice cream and farewell to the Petersons!

The Petersons have been such great friends to us. They moved here about 7 months after we did and ended up moving on our street. Kelsey and I have a mutual friend that I had met here and we also became fast friends. Our kids would run back and forth to each others houses to play, we would help each other out watching kids, lots of dinners together, borrowing random items from each other, carpooling, calling each other to meet up for ice cream, a shopping buddy, etc. Pretty sure we talked every single day that she was here and were constantly iMessaging each other. Living in a foreign country, it is nice to have a friend live right next to you. We were originally supposed to leave Germany before them to go back to the States, but they ended up getting out of the military and leaving early. It seems like a blink of an eye from when they found out when they were leaving to this point in time when they have already been gone for over a month. I miss them!

10 days before the Petersons left, they were staying in a little guest house. There wasn't a kitchen at their guesthouse and not very much to do, so they pretty much lived at my house for that period of time. My kids loved being able to spend more time with their boys and I with Kelsey. The boys were good sports to put up with my girls and always wanting to play princesses, have makeovers and dress up.





One of their last nights in Germany, we decided to hit up our local Kabeb Haus and get ice cream down the street. It is quite often that we go to both of these places and we have created lots of memories doing so!
Whenever we head to either of these places, the kids always hop on their bikes and take off. We adults usually walk and enjoy each others company while trying to make sure our kids don't get hit by a car and listen to us. I love walking around our little village. It is quaint and filled with beautiful flowers, trees, farming fields, animals, cobblestones, bricks, and unique little houses.











When we go to our local family owned ice cream "shop", the kids pile their bikes right outside the entrance. We go so often, that they know our kids names and dote over them. Adeline loves ordering for all of us in as much German as she can and then we all sit down at a table and socialize while eating our ice cream. The kids try to eat as fast as possible so they can run behind the owners house and play on a fun playground that reminds me of a secret garden. They also love to capture snails and slugs galore. One time when they were playing at the playground behind the ice cream house, they filled up a huge shovel full of ginormous slugs.

































Once we get back from ice cream, the kids usually run to the back of our house to jump on the trampoline while us adults hang out on the street and talk.





Petersons, we miss you! It is weird living here and you not around. I keep feeling like you guys are just on a vacation and I will keep telling myself that for the next month until we move!