New House Decorations

Jay and I have decided to add a few more decorations to our house. I have a party coming up here, so want the house to look good.

We had a huge open wall and never knew what to put on it. When Christmas came, we had the tree there so the wall was covered up. Once we took the tree down, it looked extremely bare. We went looking last night at several different stores and were out again today. We finally found something we liked and got it up on the wall.

We also put our new finished sign up on the wall this morning. The sign looked great, but it needed something else. I had in my mind that I wanted a string of berries. We looked when we were out today and finally at the last store I found what I wanted.

Throughout the past several months, we've slowly been adding different trinkets to fill the place up. Here are the few pictures, some things new, some things not!

We have one more things we would like to go, then should be completely done with our place. We want to get something up on the wall above Jay's new bench. We have to find something that can withstand extreme temperatures and won't get faded with the sun. We're still looking!

I Love it!

As soon as Jay got home tonight from another week in Vilseck, I put him to work. Last weekend we painted a board. It had all week to dry and tonight we added the words to it. I got theis vinyl art piece from mom for Christmas. These letters are supposed to be put straight on to a wall, but that means in three years, we would have to take them off and throw them away. To make sure they last, we decided to put them on a board. I love how the final product turned out. Tomorrow it will make its way to the wall! Yeah!

Yeah for Thrift Stores!

I went into our thrift store on post to buy a book that I've been wanting. While I was in there, I decided to browse around and see if I could find any great finds!!! Well... I DID!!! I found this perfectly new tupperware!! I was just telling Jay last weekend that I wish I had more storage containers, especially for cookies, bars, etc. I have small ones for left overs, but nothing to make scotcharoos in. Now I get need to make some cookies to fill it!!! Even better, it has a bright pink lid! : )

Kindness goes a Long Ways

I was shown today that a little kindness really does go a long way. I had lunch with a friend of mine and she was telling me about a situation in a different troop. A husband asked his wife to come pick him up when he got back to post from being in Italy. The wife doesn't have a license, so can't drive. The husband didn't care and said to come anyway. If the wife got caught, she would lose her Army ID and sent back to the states. So, she called her FRG leader for a ride. Her leader said her job isn't to be a taxi company. This is true, but we are supposed to help in finding rides for people. The lady must have gotten mad since she wasn't getting any help. I guess this couple is having some major problems between the two of them. Anyway.... as I was driving home, I received a call from a lady in my Bible study. She needed a ride tonight, so I said sure. Then she asked if she could tell me something. I said sure, I would listen. She explained the exact same situation to me, but from her point of view. This was the lady that my friend was talking about. How crazy!!! So... I figured I would help her out of a jam this one time and I said I would take her to pick her husband up. It's going to be late on Saturday night, but she needed to see Christ at work. This lady needs a lot of prayer as her marriage if rough and she doesn't have many friends. I know as an FRG leader we're not supposed to fall to people's needs, but there are times when I feel that Christ wants us to show his love. I found that very apparent today!

Another example... The another FRG leader and myself have been working to get our bank accounts switched. It takes a lot of people to sign papers, write memos and ok the situtation. We have been into a lady's office several times trying to get this stuff figured out. This lady is usually not a very nice lady. People hate going in there because she is very harsh with them. I had to go in today because she messed our paper work up. The other FRG leader was in yesterday and ended up having a yelling match with her. I went in today and we did just fine together. She fixed all my paperwork and got everything ready to go for me. She said she would turn it in and let me know when she gets it back. I even got a smile!! Once again... give a little kindness and you get some back!!

A girl needs her own Toolbox!

I have decided that every girl needs to have her own toolbox. I'm lucky enough that Jay lets me use his tools. I've needed them several times. Just this week, I used Jay's hammer to crush Oreos for the crust of my cheese cake. I also used his pliers to pry a can open. My can opener wasn't working, so I poked a few holes in the lid and used the plyers to bend it open. It looked like a scarey mouth! Especially since it was a can of cherries. It looked like the mouth was bleeding! I just thought it was a kind of funny!!

The Bench is COMPLETE!!

Jay came home this weekend and we spent Sunday painting! We used our leftover brown paint from our walls to paint the bench that Jay built. He's had it done for a few weeks, I just haven't gotten around to painting it. We also painted another piece of wood that I am going to put words on. Hopefully we'll get that done next weekend! I can't wait to put it up on the wall! I have a party here in two weeks and need the house in tip top shape!

Looking like Iowa!

This past week we had a beautiful day of snow!! The flakes were huge!! But thankfully, the temperatures didn't compare to those in Iowa. The day started out with little pellets of ice. It then turned into huge snowflakes. They were light at first, but then were full and thick. A few hours later it turned into RAIN! We had a beautiful spring rain shower. Didn't know we could have all of this in one day! But it was great feeling like I was back home! I sure do miss the snow!

Lots to say, but not enough time

It's been a week since I've been on here. Everyday I've thought of something I need to put on here, but haven't had the time to do so. This weekend I took several pictures to put up, but still haven't been on. I thought for sure I would get to it today, especially tonight when I had the house to myself. But... it's approaching 11:00 and I have school tomorrow. So... another day gone and no new exciting news posted. Within the next couple of days, I will get it up here! Be on the look out!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I sure did!!

Food Creations

It's been a long Saturday as Jay's been sitting at the table the entire day studying for his test on Tuesday. He came home Thursday night from his class to spend the weekend with me. I worked at school on Friday, so he spent the whole day studying. I came home and colored a picture because I couldn't do much else. I had to be quiet for Jay. He got tired of studying by 7:00, so we watched Happy Feet. It's a pretty cute movie. When Jay's laying in bed, he always rubs his feet together; he does it without even thinking about it. I always tell him he has happy feet.

Jay busy studying!

We slept in this morning (which was absolutely wonderful). As soon as we got up, Jay hit the table again and has been studying the entire day. He took a break to run to the grocery store with me, but that's about it. In the mean time, I had fun looking through cook books all day. I'm trying to brainstorm more things to make with meat, especially hamburger. I was also looking for a healthy dessert that I have to take to my coffee group this week. I found a few options, just need to decide on one. I've spent the past several hours in the kitchen making interesting concoctions. I made a spaghetti pie and a butter cake. We had the spaghetti pie for supper and it actually tasted really good. I was impressed. I think Jay was a little nervous to eat it, but he's surviving. I frosted the cake in blue frosting, thanks to Jay's suggestion. We'll eat that later tonight. I'm anxious to see what it tastes like. I love cooking random things. I just wish I had more people to feed. My spaghetti pie was enough to feed at least 8 people. I put most of it in the freezer for later. With Jay being gone, I definitely won't be able to eat it all. If anyone feels like flying over here for some of my fun filled recipes, I'll be waiting!!!

My butter cake!

Empty Nest

It's Sunday afternoon and Jay's gone. He left today for 5 weeks of Mortar School in Vilseck, Germany. He's hoping to be able to come home on the weekends. I'm sure hoping so!! It's only been three hours and I already miss him!!

Something I learned... life isn't about having the cleanest house or making a full course meal everyday. It's about being with the people you love most. When Jay and I started our life together here in Germany, I was bothered by the towels left on the floor and the piles of clothes left in the bedroom. Instead of being mad about it, I realized I should be thankful for the wet towel on the floor because that means Jay is home. (He's good about his towels now!!)

This morning, Jay had all of his stuff in the hallway that had to go with him. We could barely walk through the hallway without walking on clothes.

But now he's gone, the hallway is clean, and I miss him! I would rather have the hallway be a mess!! (Of course this is all in perspective. I still want my house clean AND have Jay home!!)

Ice Skating!

Yesterday, Jay and I went with Dan and Sandra to go ice skating at the hockey rink in town. Dan is going on a field trip with the sixth graders and wanted some practice before hand. I hadn't been on the ice since 8th grade and it's been since high school for Jay. It took us a couple laps and then we got the hang of it again.

This is the only way Jay could figure out how to stop. But it always worked!

After awhile, Jay decided he needed to get fancy. In this video he was trying to spin in a circle. You can see how successful it was. He got it figured out by the end.

He was also showing us how he can cross over when turning. He was turning into a speed skater!!

After we went ice skating, we went to the movie Marley and Me. It was a pretty good movie. It had me in tears, but still good. It made me want to have a dog, but unfortunately that can't happen over here. No room to keep it outside. When the movie was over, we came back to our house and I made homemade pizza. Then we played a card game called Flexx. Overall, we had a great day. It was our last day together, so glad we could do all that we did!

A Homemade Bench

Jay's been working on building me a bench for our little area outside of our door in the stairwell. He is missing his work space, so took over the spare bedroom. We have saw dust all over the house, but that's what vacuums are far. The bench is turning out great! The past couple of nights Jay has been sanding it down and glueing on a few pieces on the front to give it all a good look. Once he's done with all of that, I get to paint it. He's also planning on building a plant stand for the stairwell. That hasn't been started, so not sure if it will get done until the summer. Ohs wells. Too cold out there for a plant right now anyway. Here are a few pictures of Jay's progress.

Getting close to done, but not quite yet.

The "work room" (spare bedroom and hallway)

Visiting a Cousin!

This past weekend, Jay and I traveled to Nurnburg and then down to Munich. We spent Saturday walking around the city of Nurnburg and seeing all the sights. We didn't visit a whole lot of spots because it was SO cold. We ducked inside several times just so we could feel our feet again. We were still dealing with jet lag from our trip home, so were in the hostel early. We played a game of Catan and then hit the hay. But then we layed there until 2:00 in the morning because we couldn't sleep. I guess we were still stuck on Iowa time.

This is a huge fountain, but it wasn't working since it is winter.

There is a small ring on the fountain. If you turn it three times, your wish will come true.

The next morning we woke up and continued on to Munich. We met up with Jay's cousin Jess and her friend Ben. We hung around Ben's apartment for awhile, had lunch at an Italian restaurant, came back and played a couple games of Blokus. Then it was time for the drive home. We had a good day! Thanks Jess for letting us take up your last day with Ben!

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year Everyone! We hope this next year brings you many blessings!

We spent the evening in Bamburg, Germany. We started by playing Apples to Apples and Catan. Around 10:00, we went outside to shoot off some fireworks. The people's house we were at was right in the market square. Outside their place was a big open space where a lot of people were gathering. We had two bags full of different things to blow up. Jay was in heaven!!! We stayed out in the middle of the square until 11:45. We still had a lot fireworks left, but it was getting too full out in the middle. Everyone else also brought their share of fireworks and were shooting them off. There were fireworks shooting sideways down the street and small little explosives being thrown into groups of people. So, we went and stood against their building so we could see what was going on and get out of the way. Midnight was absolutely crazy. It was a chaos of people and fireworks. We went inside around 12:15 and watched the rest from the window. To end the night, we played a couple rounds of Rock Band. Neither of us had played it, but have heard a lot about it. It was fun, but it took too much concentration at that time of night after a long plane flight. We had a great night and we're too excited when we got home that it took us a couple of hours to fall asleep! Well worth it!

In front of the Christmas tree in the Market Square

Before the excitement began!

View from the fourth floor

Even I got to shoot a few off!

We played with some sparklers too!

Deep in concentration playing Rock Band.

What a Wonderful Christmas

We had quite a wonderful Christmas this year. We went back to Iowa for a week to spend time with our family and friends. The time definitely went too fast, but we enjoyed every second of it! We spent four nights with each family, playing games, talking, watching Christmas movies, and simply taking it all in. Here are a few pictures from my house.

Opening presents on Christmas morning

Playing Catan with my brother and sisters

(Dad was trying to figure it out)

On one of the last days we were home, I had five friends come down from my school last year. They came for dinner and spent the afternoon with us. We had a great time and I am so glad they made the long drive down. This is the first day of our trip that I realized that we have to say goodbye to everyone again. That's the one bad thing about going home... we have to go through the dreaded goodbyes.

On the morning that we were leaving, my sister had to head back to work early. She was the first to go and started the tears for us all. I love you Nicole!! I was doing good on the drive to the airport and even at the airport, until they announced that our plane had arrived. Then again I realized that I had to leave. I know I'm supposed to be a grown up now, but I sure do miss my mom and dad. I had a tough time letting them go. I definitely couldn't handle living this far away from them my whole life. These three years is hard enough. I love you mom and dad!!!

Nonetheless, we are so glad we had the opportunity to go home. It will be two years before Jay goes home because he will be deployed next Christmas. I plan on making a trip on my own before then, but I sure wish Jay could come. We don't regret anything we did last week. It was so great and I wish we could do it all again! We are so blessed to have the family and friends that we do! Thanks everyone for making our week so wonderful!