Delft, Netherlands

One of the towns that we visited while my Mom was here was Delft, Netherlands.



Very cute little town that reminded me of a smaller, quieter Amsterdam.



It is home to the blue and white Delft pottery.  I thought I was going to buy a piece as a souvenir until I realized that they like their pottery more than I liked it.  A small little ornament here was 40 Euro.



So instead I bought a pair of old wooden shoes from an antique store here (the store might have just made them look used but I like to imagine a little dutch girl wore them).

I couldn't convince my mom and Brian to climb in this big wooden shoe with the girls.



Beautiful church in the main square here.



Another view of the main square.



Having to start pulling out the hats.



This time last year we had snow so I can not complain.  Plus I love to find new hats for the girls.



There were beautiful Fall leaves all over the city.





Sidney is definitely in the monkey see, monkey do stage with Carolyn.  If Carolyn does something then Sid needs to be right behind her doing the same.



Lovely day and the perfect day trip.

It's that time of year...

I LOVE Christmas season in Germany.



Last Friday evening we headed over to Aachen for our first WeihnachtsMarkt of the year.



I was thrilled to eat Flammkuchen (yummy flat bread pizza) again and



the girls were equally as excited about their hot chocolate and the fact that merry go rounds will be on every corner for a while around here.

Soccer Awards

I almost didn't put Carolyn into soccer for the fall because I was worried about the weather here (bad momma).  But we were lucky and had a mild Fall in Germany.  She really loves playing and has improved so much in her last two seasons.

(I love this look I am getting from her.  She is making this half smile in all of these pictures.  I think she was a little nervous about standing up in front of everyone and receiving her trophy.)



Carolyn and her soccer coach.  She is so proud of that trophy.



Carolyn's soccer team.  The little boy beside her is who she says she is going to marry.  Yes at four she is already telling me who she is going to marry.  Her poor Daddy.



One last cheer and she will start back in the Spring.



Just a picture of Sid from that day.  She gets carted around to all of her sister's activities and is most of the time such a trooper.

Dreams come True

Last Halloween I had my big costume debacle where Carolyn's didn't actually come in until after Halloween.  Yes I still have not gotten over this.  To insure this wouldn't happen again when we went home in August I took the girls to the Disney Store and let them pick out their costumes.  

My favorite memory from Halloween is whenever they would put them on they would prance around our house singing "Dreams come True, Dreams come True."
 
Here is a picture right before we headed out to Trunk or Treat at the Army base near our house.

Crazy O'Donoghue's

Finally finishing up my Ireland pictures.  Our flight out of Dublin was very early so we decided to stay there on our last night.  We had to take a family photo in front of our little beach by where we stayed in Kinsale.



We hated to say goodbye.



This foggy weather will always remind me of Ireland.  I got full use of my rain boots here.



On our way out of town we stopped by the other Fort that protected Kinsale Harbor, Charles Fort.



This one was much larger than the one by the apartment we stayed in.



Photo Op for the Citadel Grad.



He got his work out in that day.  The fort was definitely not stroller friendly.



Love this little face!



One of the things Brian wanted to find in Ireland was a Donehue Pub.  When we were walking around Dublin our first day here we found this place.  Well it is not exactly spelled the same but definitely in the same family.



We decided to eat our last meal in Ireland here.  It was definitely a grittier pub than we had been in before.  You know where you walk in and everyone turns and looks like who is bringing their kids in here. I wanted to explain our last name is Donehue...we have to eat here. Fun Times!

Ring of Kerry

Luckily the day we did the Ring of Kerry drive in Ireland it was cloudy but not foggy.  So we could actually see the beautiful coastline.



We would drive a little bit.  See a cool place stop..



Brian would find some kind of sea critters to show the girls.



Lots of photo opportunities



This is soo Sid's smile.  It is sometimes hard for me to capture this one.



Right after we stopped at the beach below one of the wheels of our car got stuck in a ditch.  Thankfully with pregnant woman pushing and Brian gunning the gas we were able to get unstuck.  Always an adventure!



It was worth it stopping at all the little beaches along the way (even if we got stuck) because of the fun Carolyn had at each one.  She is the most inquisitive little girl and finding all the little sea critters at each one was right up her alley.



I feel like the pictures do not do this area justice.



I recently put up a travel wall of pictures in our house.  Looking back at pictures of Sidney when we first moved here makes me a little nostalgic.  She has turned into such a little girl.  While my mom was here she used the word "intense" to describe Sidney and I think it is so spot on.  When she is happy she is intensely happy and when she is upset everyone knows about it.  Everything she does she does full force and I love that quality in her.



Another beach along the drive.   Brian says that this is his happy place (in reference to my Cinque Terra happy place).  I find it amusing that he thinks he needs a happy place to go to when I am in labor but I did give him some nice scratches when Sidney was born.



Carolyn is always such a Daddy's girl.



This drive was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.



An attempt of a family photo using the camera's timer.  It was funny how many times it took us to get this picture.  We have lots of pictures of me running to get in the shot.

Catching Up

Can it really be halfway through the month of November??  I have yet to finish sharing our Ireland pictures and we did celebrate Halloween around here.  I will catch up with my pictures one day.

My mom came out for one last visit before Baby D gets here last week.  We visited several towns, she got to sit in on Carolyn's dance class and meet my German OBGYN.  In Germany they not only do an ultrasound, but a 3D ultrasound each doctors visit so she kind of got to meet her latest granddaughter.    Of course the week went by way too quickly.

Can you see my baby bump in this picture?  O Yeah I am in my last trimester!