Pack her UP

The week before we started our pack out Brian's cousins Robbie and Palmer came to visit us.  It was great to have them here and they definitely were a nice distraction to all the craziness that was about to happen in our house.  The girls loved having family around.  I think they forget just how much family they have back in the states.  Brian and I both have a large extended family.  I can't wait for the girls to get loved on by everyone in a couple of weeks.

Brian took my camera with him on one of their adventures and this is the only picture he took.  That is our friend Jon in the picture with them.



The Thursday before our pack out instead of doing the many things that we needed to do, we headed to the Sittard market with them and bought our supper.  It was so fitting that our last meal in our house (well our house as a normal house) was what the girls call a "Daddy Picnic".



Then the movers descended upon our house like bees and if something was out they were packing it.  This ended up being the main stresser for me making sure everything that needed to be hidden to not get packed stayed locked in one of our closets or our bathroom.  I don't know how many times during the course of our pack out one of the girls would have a break down over not being able to find a toy that wasn't supposed to go on the boat. The girls got a kick out of all of our stuff got to go on a boat to make it to Alabama.

The other stresser was watching my stuff being taken out the window and put on this elevator thing to be carried down.  They would pack it slam full and I just had to stop watching.



Especially when the last day they went out our top window.  I think Brian and I said "it's just stuff"  to each other way too many times during this whole process.  But that is the truth and the movers really did a great job with all our "stuff".



Since we are doing an overseas move everything gets crated.  We ended up having 13 of these things.



The movers looked like they were playing Tetris with our boxes as they tried to cram each crate full.



Carolyn was in school and Sidney was able to go play with friends on all the days of the craziness but Payson was a nice distraction for Brian and me.  Good thing we have a big enough bathroom that we were able to put her in here for her naps amongst all our stuff we were trying to keep hidden.



Baby Boy was there too.  (Brian and I have almost decided on a name but still for right now we just call him baby boy or brother).



I am 27 weeks preggo here.



Our stuff should take about 2 months to get back across the pond which is why we went ahead and packed out now.  We are now living in our house with the lovely Schinnen temporary furniture that they provide for us.

Mango

Since Payson is constantly on the move now I sometimes have a hard time getting a good picture of her.  I snapped this the other day while we were outside enjoying the nice weather Germany has finally given us.

She is 15 months here.  Brian has nicknamed her "Mango" from a Saturday Night Live skit due to her sometimes sassy behavior.  You will try to hand her something or say something to her and she will promptly turn away from you in a dramatic fashion.  This nickname has stuck and we all call her Mango from time to time.  I am a little worried about our 10 hour flight with her.  She is not a child who wants to sit still for long.  Here's to hoping the Army of snacks that I plan on taking with us and other things to keep her entertained work.

Love her sweet little innocent smile she has here!

SIX years

Carolyn's birthday fell over the weekend in between the movers packing up our house.  I can't believe that she is SIX!  She has been such a little trooper with this move.  Her school year runs until the end of June so the only major issue she has had has been leaving before their school field trip.  I lived in the same town my whole life so sometimes I feel guilty that she has to say goodbye to all of the great friends she has made this year.  But I know that she has seen more than the normal six year old and this move is only going to add to her character.

She is such a loving little girl.  She doesn't meet a stranger and her teachers say she is the one in her class who gets along with everyone and is concerned when another child is upset or in trouble.  My little peacemaker. She loves animals and what she would like most in the world is a dog of her own.  We have told her that she has to wait at least a couple more years.  Which her response is when I am a grown up can I get as many dogs as I want?



Since our house was full of boxes we told her that we would celebrate more when we got to Atlanta.  She was very excited about her new (some might say loud) sparkly shoes and tiny puppy that she wanted.



Last year Carolyn's hair caught on fire when she blew out her Birthday candles, which explains her look of fear in this picture.



She was very happy that she was able to do it this year with all her hair intact.

Egg Hunt

Just some pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt that they had on the NATO base this year.  Tried to get a good picture of the girls before we left but it wasn't happening.  I love Carolyn's pose here though. Sassy Girl!



Sidney with her buddies Finley and Jonathan.  To look back at pictures of these three when we first moved here and now is just sad.  They have grown so much!



Carolyn and Kennedy.  Since Kennedy moved with us from Oklahoma to Germany, Carolyn naturally thinks she should be moving with us to Alabama as well.



Payson had just started walking right before this.  I had visions of her walking around looking for eggs but all she wanted to do was sit and try to get into the chocolate.



She did try out the Euro Swings for the first time.



She was not so sure she was a fan of them though.  I love Kamryn's face in this picture.  It's like she is saying "What is up with her?"

Moving Limbo

We are caught in a "moving limbo" as I like to call it. Our lovely van is on it's way to Atlanta, our house starts getting packed out on the 19th, and our plane tickets have been bought for our flight home.  Our time here has gone so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was anxious about moving overseas and now I am anxious about moving back. I feel like I am caught between things I will miss about living here and things that I can't wait for when we get back.

My obgyn - Here in Germany every doctors visit I get an ultrasound. I love getting to see the baby each visit. However I am pretty sure, or at least I hope, that my obgyn in America will wear deodorant...in Germany not so much. Nothing like a pregnant nose and no deodorant.

Carolyn's school - Carolyn loves her teachers and has learned so much this past year. She has come such a long way from the start of the school year and I love that she had the opportunity to go to school with so many other nationalities. However, I will not miss having to pick up Carolyn. The school has no pickup line, so to pick up my child I have to park my car  in the neighborhood by the school, get all the girls out of the car, and go all the way into the school to get her. It might not sound like a pain, but believe me it is a pain.

The Food - Brian and I have several restaurants here that we are going to miss. I love the laid back approach to dining that Europeans have. I will miss Sittard square where our kids are able to run around while we eat and just all the people watching that one can do while eating in the square. However, my pregnant self can not wait to eat some really good Mexican food and Chick Fil A and the list could go on and on...

Our Friends - We have made so many good friends here. This is the hardest part for me about leaving here. It does make it easier to know that all of my friends are either moving or will move eventually as well.  The Air Force is a small world and I have a dream that we will all end up back in the same place again. Plus I can't wait to see family and friends that we haven't seen in a while.

The Wine - Why I decided to get pregnant my last few months in Europe I have no idea. HA! The place where it cost me more to order a coke than a glass of wine. Sighhh. On the other hand, I had no clue how much wine my husband had been buying for us to bring home. We are shipping close to 400 bottles. I am super excited about our wine collection. (and with 4 kiddos I am sure we will need a healthy one)

The Shopping - I feel like I have gotten so many unique treasures while living over here. I really love everything we have bought and am praying that it all makes it across the pond safely. Though, it will be nice to be able to run out to a 24 hour store for some tylenol when needed and not have to hunt for certain grocery items like we have to over here.

I guess I should just start getting with the moving program because whether I am ready or not it's a coming...
Here's all three girls working out their moving stresses and doing their version of dancing while playing our Wii Just Dance game.  Or maybe I should say watching them do this helps me not think about my moving stresses.

Polish Pottery

I left the girls home with Brian and went on a pottery shopping trip the first weekend of March.  I took pictures while I was there but somehow they got erased from my camera before I uploaded them.  O well, the area of Poland we were in was nothing to write home about but



I do love all the goods that I came home with.



A closer shot of my new plates.  After visiting over 20 stores, I decided to do mismatch plates from one store and I love how it turned out.



A closer view of one of the designs.  Each plate is hand painted and I love all the details.  You can see in this picture where I didn't get all the sticker off of this one though. :)

Chamonix, France

For Carolyn's winter break in February we headed to Chamonix, France for some skiing, and just to enjoy the beautiful Alps one last time before we leave Europe.  Payson was able to add Switzerland, France and Italy to her list of visited countries.
(I think that it is funny that in her little life America is not on the list yet.  Completely off topic of our trip, but something I would like to remember is Carolyn's fear that they are not going to let Payson back in the Unitian States (this is how C says it). She keeps saying "but Mama she was born in Germany so she is German." I have promised her that we don't have to leave Payson, everyone is coming with us. (HA!)



Anyway back to our trip... We went with two other families: the Barker's (who went with us to Greece) and the Pehrson's.  Both of these families are from Utah and what I would call skilled skiers.  I would not place this title on us South Carolinians.
This was Brian's second time snowboarding and although I skied growing up it had been a while.  Brian was able to snowboard most days and really enjoyed it. He only had one really bad fall and luckily it was our last day here. The ski school that they offered for the girls required you to go all week and we thought that this was just a little too much for them. Luckily Nicole worked with them in our driveway up to our house and on one of the bunny hills that was close by. I wish I could say that the girls picked it up right away but I wouldn't call them naturals. Despite this, we definitely want to keep skiing and next time putting them in ski school will be a must.

This was the view from our Chateau. Just Gorgeous!





Our driveway that the older girls skied down.  Carolyn actually did better in our driveway than on the bunny slope which was not as steep as this.





How many can you fit into a tub?



Sidney somewhat sharing our IPad.



This was the cutest little table that looked like it was just made for Payson and Meika.




We built a fire most nights and the kids had a ball roasting marsh mellows one evening.



Payson likes to wear her food.  Silly Girl!



One morning Nicole and I went up the mountain for, unfortunately, just a short time.



It was beautiful up there and I kind of wish I hadn't been pregnant. Like I said, I hadn't skied in a while and I just didn't feel quite comfortable on the slopes with Baby Boy in my belly. O well. I know Brian has the bug now, so it will not be hard to convince him of another ski vacation. After hearing our friends talk about Utah, it is on our list of places we want to visit.



I am pretty sure this is a picture of the hill (or at least it looks like it) that did me in and made me decide it was time to call it a day. :) It is so postcard picture pretty though!



The girls gearing up to go down the bunny slope.





Nicole and Adeline going up on the pulley system. Carolyn kept saying that she wanted to go down the mountains behind them.



We took a day trip to Italy while we were there and visited the town of Courmayeur...




where we did what we do know how to do very well.  EAT! We stopped at one restaurant and got the best prosciutto and potato appetizer and



of course Hot Chocolate.



Then walked around some more until we found this mom and pop looking pizza place. I swear pizza in Italy taste better than any other pizza. I crave this!



Payson enjoyed her first Italia pizza. The waiters loved her here, calling her bella and making her squeal each time they past her. She definitely hammed it up!



We got lost on our way back to our car that day, which wouldn't have been bad because of the beautiful scenery but Brian worked off his pizza pushing our double stroller up and down the hills of this town.



I loved this little day trip part of our vacation.



On Valentine's Day we put all the little kids to bed (luckily the Pehrson's kids are older) and the adults were able to go out for a nice meal that evening. We found a great restaurant in town and had a wonderful meal complete with snails, frog legs and fondue.



I still have several day trips I want to do before we leave but this was our last big trip. I am very thankful for all we have gotten to see while living overseas. Here are some more of the beautiful scenery from this trip.