One of those days...

Today has been just one of those days. I had to peel myself out of bed, muster up as much patience as I could with the girls, had NO motivation to unpack anything and the house is a mess. I feel like I have lost all motivation to finish unpacking. I hope that a burst of energy comes to me sometime soon so I can get everything done and somehow relax for Christmas and be ready for the baby. I feel like the whole baby thing is not real and that it is not going to happen. So, when I think about when the due date is and how NOT prepared I am, it scares me. I haven't even thought of names, there really is no such thing as a nursery at this point and I don't even know where the newborn baby clothes are located. I feel like I have been on auto pilot since we got here and have been going through the motions. No meltdown really... until today. Abe got home from work and I became an emotional wreck. I really want to feel like I live here, but I don't feel like it yet. I am starting to feel more comfortable being an "outcast" and not being able to communicate very well since I don't speak German, but maybe it's wearing on me? Or maybe I am just really pregnant and hormonal? Abe and I went to a US military Christmas party tonight and unfortunately I didn't enjoy it at all. I did know a couple girls that I just recently met, but I did not feel comfortable there or feel like I fit in. Everyone knew each other. It just made me feel more lonely and miss my friends and family. It probably didn't help either that we were told that it was business casual and of course that's what we dressed in. When we showed up, everyone was in prom dresses and I was hands down the most casual sore thumb there. Enough of my venting. I'm sure that things will continue to get better and I have to remember that.

St. Nicholasbaun & Gingerbread houses

Last Friday we had bought tickets for the St. Nicholasbaun- Gillrath Santa Train. After I bought the tickets I was wondering if it would really be worth it because they were a little pricey. I am so happy that we did it. The girls LOVED it. It was a two hour adventure overall. We got to ride on the train for about 30 minutes or so to another little town. While we were riding that first leg, Santa showed up and presented the girls with little bags full of goodies. Chocolate, cookies and of course how could you forget a big piece of bread shaped as a man! We had prepped Norah for Santa and she did really well. She didn't act scared at all and I'm pretty sure she ate 1/2 of her bread man right after she got it. We also got some hot chocolate/cookies on the train. The train was actually really nice, warm (thankfully) and fun to ride on. Once we got to the little town, we got off the train and went to a big tent area that was filled with tables with bread and cold cuts. We also got hot chocolate there and it was some of the best hot chocolate I have ever had. I think Norah would agree :) Santa came up to the front and sat in his chair so all the kids could sit in his lap. After we got our snack and visited with Santa, we got back on the train for another ride back to Gillrath.
















Last weekend we also made a trip to IKEA to get some much needed storage units for our house (Germans DON"T have closets). We were there a total of FIVE hours. Norah was going CRAZY. Glad that's over!



Today we had our friends over and the kids did Ginger Bread houses. While at IKEA, I bought little Gingerbread kids for 2euro each and they turned out really cute. The kids probably ate way too much candy! Every time I gave Norah a candy to put on her house she said, "No, I wanna eat it!" and then would stick it in her mouth. I was going to try and tackle my moms famous gingerbread recipe and actually make them myself, but I am a little intimidated the the German ovens still... plus they are TINY! Maybe next year :)

Step by step

Last Monday we were able to move into our house AND get all our stuff delivered. I guess it paid off living in the guesthouse for so long so we didn't have to live without furniture. Move in day went pretty smooth. The german movers here were AWESOME, especially compared to our deadbeat, idiot movers in Boston (not to be mean or anything). They were so efficient and quick. They even had a big machine that lifted all our furniture and boxes up to the second floor and through our Master bedroom window. We were very lucky to not have too much damage to our furniture considering the awful packing/moving job in Boston. That was a pleasant surprise. The most annoying part was that all our hardware for our nice wooden dining room table was missing and wasn't with the table (just like all the rest of our hardware). Unfortunately we didn't find it in any of our boxes either, so we had no way of assembling it. The next day, the german movers showed up and had found the hardware in a kitchen box that was full with a bunch of paper. Of course the movers in Boston would just throw our hardware in a random box that was 3/4 full of paper! I was so grateful they found it for us!

The girls have been loving having a ton of space to run around, be crazy and make even more messes. I feel like everyday I make a little progress unpacking and meanwhile they are making a huge mess somewhere else I have to go back and clean up. We have made good progress though and are getting close. We did finally get internet and a phone, so that is nice too. We were able to get a free AFN (American Forces Network) receiver from base where we should be able to get a handful of american channels for free with the most popular shows, cartoons, etc. Unfortunately we haven't been able to set that up yet. Weird that we haven't had TV since the beginning of August. I do have some pictures of some happenings the past week or so, but need to find my camera cord first (hopefully by tomorrow) and then I can update more with pictures. But we are alive and surviving. Most of the days I am in my PJs all day unpacking boxes, but oh well. It will be nice to catch up around the house more so I can go exploring and get out... and maybe meet a friend or two. I do LOVE LOVE LOVE our little town that we live in though. We are in walking distance from some cute little restaurants, bakeries and Adeline's kindergarten (preschool) she will hopefully start soon. It is a really cute area. We are about a 3-4 minute drive to the local grocery store too, which is nice.

Now for a couple funny things Adeline said/did today that I sent to Abe in an email while he was at work:

A little bit ago adeline and Norah went upstairs while I was finishing my lunch (they had already ate). Adeline came back downstairs and said,

A- "I put Norah to bed. She needed to go to sleep".
N- "Is she in her crib?"
A- "Yes, I put her in there"
N- "Does she have her blankie and night night?"
A- "yes"
N- " I need to go upstairs and shut the window so she can sleep"
A- "I already did that too".

Sure enough when I went upstairs, Norah was in her crib yelling "Adeline! I don't wanna go to bed!" The room was dark too and she succeeded putting the windows down. Just now Adeline was sitting at the table with me eating one of those waffle cookies. They are really crumbly, so I asked her to please lean over the table while eating it so the crumbs don't get all over the floor. In reply she said, "You are bossy!"
*
She was standing behind me while I was doing dishes patting my butt

A: "Mom, you have a big butt!"
N: "Adeline, it's not nice to tell someone they have a big butt. I don't want a big butt".
A: "Well, you have one!"

Thankful

We had a great Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to be invited over to someone's house in our ward, along with a handful of other families. We had WAY to much food, they kids ran around with friends and had a blast and it was overall a great night. Definitely not the same as being back at home and spending the Holidays with family, but what can we do! In the past 6 years that we have been married, we have only been able to spend one Thanksgiving with Abe's family and one with my family. Other than that, the 4 other years have been spent with other military & families from our wards. Some things I am grateful for at the moment:

-My girls & Abe. They mean everything to me.
-my family & Abe's family. We miss them all so much
-friends
-WE GET TO MOVE INTO OUR HOUSE ON MONDAY!!!!
-I got my car the other day!! A little bummed there is a new scratch they are denying, but thankful I have it.
-For our opportunity to experience life in Germany (as "homesick" as it may be sometimes)
-For Abe's secure job
-that I only have to sleep on this incredibly HARD mattress and flat hard pillows for two more nights... and then I get my own!
-The gospel and our "ward family" here. We have a huge support system just being in the military, but it is amazing the support system in the church. I would feel so lost here if we didn't have church. We have met other families in our church and been invited into several of their homes.

Adeline had a hard time tonight and I am pretty sure she was extremely overwhelmed. She was whining that she wanted it to be Monday so we could move into our house because it has been such a long time. Uh, I agree. 9 weeks of living out of suitcases is NOT fun. Poor little thing. The girls really have been extremely good and patient. Can't wait to be in our house, have our stuff and start getting settled. Once that happens, maybe I can actually meet some other military wives and start figuring out things around here. I still have no idea where to go except for the grocery store, the hospital and the base.

Cologne (Koln)

On Saturday we drove down to Cologne, which was about an hour fifteen minute drive. We went to the zoo there ard it was not a disappointment! They had just about every animal imaginable and it was pretty big too. The girls absolutely loved it. The entire time Adeline kept saying, "Thank you so much for taking us to the zoo!!"





After the zoo, we headed to the Cologne Cathedral. It was AMAZING and humongous. I feel like I have seen some pretty big churches/temples, but nothing compares to this monster. Apparently you can climb the steps to the very top of one of the towers, but we didn't end up doing that for obvious reasons. The one thing that I did not like about Cologne was how crazy busy it was. The Christmas market was being set up, but hadn't even started. Not only were people there to visit the cathedral, I am pretty sure everyone and there dog was Christmas shopping as well. There was a main street with a bunch of shopping on it that we tried walking down. It was so jammed pack that we couldn't move any further with the stroller and turned around.

A little bit about Cologne:
Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria, English: High Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Mary) is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day.
Cologne Cathedral was built between 1248 and 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spire and largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio of any medieval church.






{before we got to the jammed pack part of the shopping street}


One of the things that suck about this huge cities is that there are never bathrooms available. I am having to go about every half hour, so just had to hold it. As we were about to leave Norah says, "I gotta go potty!" Luckily we haven't braved to bring her around with only panties on because even though she is a champ at telling us when she has to pee in the potty.... she is not so good at the pooping part. Even though she is wearing a pull up when we go out, we are trying as hard as we can to keep it dry. SO, thanks to my sister Sierra's suggestion on a travel potty, we were able to set it up in the parking garage and Norah was able to go before we made our trip back home. It was hard to pull her off of it too. She loved it!

4D pictures of the baby at 30 weeks

Here are some 4D pictures the doctor took for me at my appointment this last week. Pretty cute :)

Hoensbroek Castle

On Wednesday we ventured out with a girl I met here to Hoensbroek Castle in Holland. It is only about 5 minutes away from Schinnen, which is an Army base where we go occasionally to do our grocery shopping at the commissary. The girls didn't sleep that much the night before, so I was worried they were going to be terrible. To my surprise, they were completely happy and loved the castle. We were able to tour the inside of it and they loved that too. There was a little hidden room in the top of the castle where a man had hid after the French Revolutionary war, because he was being sought after. They never did end up finding him. Adeline has been a little obsessed with this story and wants to keep telling it and asks about it frequently. Not quite sure if it scared her a little bit or not. She really wants to go back and show Abe though!


{Adeline had a little obsession with all the potty's}