MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Most of you have received my Christmas card. I wanted to wait to post these til after I had sent all our cards out. (For those of my friends overseas, you get to see what our Christmas card is before you receive it. How fun for you!)

I wish I could have had all these pictures I'm posting on my card. The kids were so dang cute. Spencer was the hardest to get on camera, but not cuz he was being naughty. It was because all he wanted to do was watch the cars race by. We had to catch him right as the car was passing.

Enjoy these pictures and we hope you all have a great Christmas!

18 MONTHS-OLD

Last Monday I had the biggest epiphany. Spencer is 18 months! Do you know what that means? He can go to nursery at church! Woohoo! That is a huge milestone for me, even though he's really not that bad of a baby at church.

How is it that my little (big) baby 18 months? But what a cutie he is...He's my little boyfriend and I totally dig him!

Here are a few things about him...

1. He weighs 32 pounds, is more than 1/2 the height of his sisters, wears a size 6 diaper (most toddlers stop wearing diapers at size 5) and is the same size as his 3 and 4-year-old cousins. He's just so cute though! :)

2. He has had a full set of teeth for about 5 months now.

3. He walks, almost runs, all over the place. He definitely fits the meaning of why they are called "toddlers." He looks like he is toddling back and forth when he walks.

4. He hates sitting in his stroller, but loves his car seat.

5. He loves escalators. Could go up and down them all day, which much to his benefit, his sisters love them too.

6. He has the most serene, yet inquisitive nature about him. He's very quiet, mostly cuz he's exploring the house or his surroundings. He loves to watch people and animals...and he isn't destructive. He'll walk over to something and gently touch his finger to it. My mom doesn't even have to worry about him being in the same room with all her ceramic nativities and Christmas decorations.

7. He is such a daddy's boy. He is a completely different person when Brian is around. It was especially notable during this trip when Brian wasn't around for the last 10 days. Then when we went to pick him up at the airport, Spencer has been all giggles and very clingy to Brian. It's very cute (and secretly I LOVE IT!)

8. He loves, loves, loves to read books and his favorite toy is the wooden beads on the wires that I thought no kid ever liked. We even found a miniature one and I made sure I found a place for it on the plane even though it didn't fit anywhere.

He has the funniest quirks about him. I was trying to capture all of them on camera but I figured I might as well post before I had them all. Here are a few:

1. He will drink his bottle without hands! (Yes, he still drinks a bottle. It's my saving grace on the planes and wherever we travel. My dentist brother-in-law is probably shaking his head. Awww, come on...everyone else still has their kids on a pacifier. No judgments, ya?)

2. He "skis" everything. He'll find two of something and if they slide on the floor, he'll put two hands on it, get on all fours and ski around the room. From DVD cases, to books, to toys, to CD's...anything that will slide. Watch this next video.

3. He loves the colors orange and blue. Random, I know. But anytime there is a toy that has different colored blocks, rings, etc., he will pull them all out of the bucket and find the orange and blue ones. 

(I just remembered why I stopped writing this. I think I wanted to post a video but my videos weren't uploading. I don't think I want to go back and find it.  Plus, I think I wanted to post more of his quirks but this is good for now.  This gem was definitely fun to find. :) )

Christmas Cards, Christmas Cards

Yay! It's that time of year again. Remember how much I love Christmas cards? I love them. And I love sending them. Heather just braved our family and the German cold/rain to take a photo shoot of our family for Christmas cards. Can't wait? I would give you a sneak peek...but you'll just have to wait. Email me your address if you want me to send you one.

Here's our picture from last year...

Happy exchanging!

SO SAD RIGHT NOW...

Heather just got on a plane to fly back. I'm so sad right now cuz she was here for over two weeks.

Wow. What a fun time we had. She is a ball of fun wherever she goes. Not the obnoxious kind. Just a natural part of her that rubs off on people. I was constantly feeling guilty that I am so un-fun and didn't have enough for us to do. haha. She totally deserved a vacation though, just to sit back and do nothin! That girls works harder than I can even imagine.

We had such a great time. My brother Harrison was here at the beginning but had to fly back. I was sad to see him go too. He hasn't ever been to Europe before and will be going on a mission soon. I'm so glad he was able to have a last hurrah for awhile!

I surprised him by taking him to Italy for his birthday. He kept saying he wanted to go but I told him it was too expensive and not feasible to fit into the 10 days he was here. I found $10 tickets on Ryanair to Venice. We had a great time. Harrison...please get your pictures developed. I need to see what kind of pictures turned out on your throwaway cameras.

We also took a trip to Paris. It was quite cold, but we had a good time nonetheless. The last day we were there we were so bummed cuz everything was closed, including the catacombs and the Palace of Versailles. But leave it to H&H to find fun in it. We left them to go exploring off on their own and they went running around Notre Dame plaza singing french songs, eating at a cafe and people watching. Heather...PLEASE post the videos. They are hilarious.

Some German things we did was take them to the Black Forest, riding down the Rodelbahn, going to a Christmas Market (amazing...google them...my favorite part about christmas over here), and shopping in downtown Wiesbaden.

While Heather was here on her own, we went out to dinner in a small town at a fun restaurant, she helped me clean out my closet and put outfits together to get some more style, drank probably 4 cases of Diet Cokes WITH ICE (she made me buy a whole bag of ice cuz she was going through withdrawals), saw "New Moon" with Xoe and Xanthe, got addicted to Gossip Girl and Arrested Development (yes both of us hadn't seen them yet), slept in for hours, contracted strep throat (just heather, not me) and experienced German's amazing healthcare system, talked me into starting Alli pills, and made amazing food and dinners. Fun times, fun times! Oh, and did I mention making 3 batches of our amazing chocolate chip cookies (including one batch that turned out chocolate CHOCOLATE chip cookies, since we only had chocolate pudding) and 2 batches of German Pancakes with Butter Syrup. F'amazing!

I had such a great time with her. She was so helpful around the house...helping with Spencer, doing dishes and cleaning, as well as helping the girls with their homework, letting them have sleepovers with her and making Christmas crafts. I told her that she and her soon-to-be husband should come over and live with us! She could be my au pair. :) Wouldn't that be fun? But then we both realized that I would want her to go places with me, rather than watching the kids so I could go. haha. Oh well. I'll just have to talk them into coming over as part of their honeymoon!

Pictures...I don't think I'll post any right now. I started to go through pictures to post but they're all Heather's pictures which I'm sure she'll post soon. If not, I'll post some. She posted many of them on her Facebook account. So, when she posts on her blog, I'll just point you over there.

Miss you Heather and Harrison. (Oh and Harrison, if you get this...don't be jealous, but Heather just texted me to say she had a whole row to herself on the long flight over.)

It's a good thing I get to see them this weekend (the kids and I are flying back to the states for a month). I'm off to pack!

MERRY CHRISTMAS present to everyone who reads this!

To: My Family (and friends too!)

From: Someone who is SO not-"2009"

Ya, I am not on Facebook! Not because of some high horse or strong opinion against it. I just really didn't have time AND I don't know how to manage the time I do have. But now, I'm trying, cuz I know I miss out on seeing pictures, and my family misses out on mine. So, Merry Christmas to all y'all who have, on countless occasions, given me a hard time for being "behind the times". I'm sure now that I've signed up, everyone will move to some other site! haha. Oh well. Can't wait to start connecting with everyone!

Merry Christmas! This is my present to you. I am now a Facebook member. And let me know if you can't find me on there. Email me so we can be "friends" (even though we already are!)

Love,

Christy