Bowling!

For Family Night last week, we decided to go bowling. It's fun to see how much the kids' abilities are improving with age. Neither Joey nor Bailey needed any help this time.

TJ still struggled to hold the ball himself. Luckily, Dad was there to help:

TJ and his dad made a good team:

Erick and I competed too, but I was too busy playing with this boy to remember to take pictures of the adults. David was our cheerleader:

Final score. Dad whooped us all with Bailey coming in second. Joey and I tied for last. We all had a good time, and finished off with ice cream for everyone:

A year in pictures: Week 27

Friday 11 March

In patron housing at the Frankfurt Temple. This is one of those many moments that Bailey said, "Mom, take a picture of me." So I did.

Saturday 12 March

These are two of my favorite men in the world.

Do you raise your eyebrows when I call the smaller one a man? Well don't. The last time Erick had to leave us for some extended training, he told TJ that he would be the "man of the house."

TJ lived up to his title: being especially helpful, avoiding fights with friends and siblings, picking flowers (clover) for me, and making sure I receive lots of hugs and kisses in Daddy's absence. What a man!

Sunday 13 March

Meet Mario (he's the big one).

At work, Mario is a Platoon Sergeant in Erick's company. Many people find him intimidating, even scary.

Today, he and his wife Nicole had us over for dinner.  It warmed my heart to see his fatherly side as he fed his son Lucas. I had to snap a picture.

Monday 14 March

I took this picture as a follow up to the last. It's not much different, but I let my German stylist have some fun with the color. I am still planning to grow it out, but I'll try to have some fun with it and keep it shaped and styled as I go. 

Monday 14 March

We had an FRG bake sale today at the company building. These are some of the fabulous women who volunteered. This is Boyana, Amber, Michelle, and Natalie. We had even more ladies help out behind the scenes doing the baking. It went very well. Thanks ladies!

Wednesday 16 March

After preschool, I could tell TJ was tired. I told him to go upstairs, go potty, and go to bed. Since I didn't hear him playing around, I assumed he had listened to me. A few minutes later, I went to check on him. He was too tired to make it to the bed.

Yes. This is the dirty bathroom floor. No. I didn't move him.

Wednesday 16 March

Joey attends activity days (provided through our church for children ages eight to eleven) twice a month. Tonight the kids put on a play for their parents (two plays actually). Joey was a gun-slinging saloon girl. I can't remember the name of her character (I'll add it to this post when I ask her). I love that the saloon only served lemonade. She was a hoot!

Here is a shot of her with the gun:

Private post

I have posted on the private blog: http://erickinthearmy.blogspot.com/

Würzburg

I did not take this picture. I borrowed it from Wikipedia. But I wanted to show you what we saw from the freeway on our way to Frankfurt. When we saw this, we knew we wanted to stop and visit:

Here we are standing in front of the Würzburg Residenz. It is not the same building as above:

It is a palace that was built in the 1700's for the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn (that's a mouthful). It reminds me a bit of the style of Versailles.

Because we arrived late in the afternoon and we wanted to see a fortress up on the hill, we did not tour inside of the Residenz:

We walked around downtown for a little while, and we came across this old statue of a man and a horse. We couldn't stop laughing at the mask someone had put on the man. Do you see it?

Finally, we arrived at the fortress on the hill. It is the Fortress Marienberg. It was the home of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg for nearly five centuries, before they moved into the new Residenz.

This is the entrance to the fortress:

This is the Scherenberg gate, which was added along with a wall that encircled the entire place in 1482:



The wall:

TJ and Erick trying to play with a ball:



This tower is bigger than it looks in this picture. The kids were excited to see where the "real" Rapunzel was kept (ha ha):



Bailey took a turn with the camera so that I could prove I was with the family on this adventure:

My beautiful family:

Since Erick and TJ were unable to budge a previous "ball," Joey thought she would show them up:

TJ found a hole in the wall and climbed in for a picture:

We had a fantastic time in Würzburg, but there were many things we didn't see, so we will be back...

A great pick-me-up

This weekend, Erick and I finally took time to attend the Frankfurt temple. We arrived late Friday evening. The temple was beautifully lit. This is not my picture, but I stole it from here because none of my night-time pictures turned out:

We were able to get patronage housing onsite. It was very affordable. This is what our room looked like:


This book was in the room. It gave detailed instructions in several different languages. It explained the "house" rules, gave check-out information (you clean and vacuum your own room after occupancy), explained where to find the cafeteria, gave locations of nearby parks and restaurants, and much more:



We went with Mary Anne and Dusty. We watched their kids while they spent time in the temple. Then they watched our kids while Erick and I did the same. Dusty and Mary Anne were a lot more fun than us (according to Bailey) because they took the kids out for a walk and had lots of snacks. :) As you can see, the kids had a great time:



Here is our little family in front of the sign at the entrance to the temple grounds:



Being inside the Lord's house with my husband was a great pick-me-up. It was nice to have a peaceful moment to contemplate our lives. I am so blessed with an amazing husband and beautiful children. I know that God lives, and he loves me and my family. He has a plan for me. I am so grateful that I was able to be married "for time and all eternity" in God's holy temple. There is no "'til death do you part" in our eternal family. Knowing this helps me feel great peace when I think of the dangers Erick may face in the years (and deployments) to come.  This site sums up my beliefs regarding families pretty well.

Here are some pictures that I took during the day:

A view of the Frankfurt skyline:





Stay tuned for pictures from Würzburg...

A year in pictures: Week 26

Friday 4 March

Today was TJ's Fasching party at his German school. He dressed up as a fireman for the Fasching parade. He played games, and ate yummy German food. It was a good day.

Friday 4 March

Since this is my journal of sorts, I wanted to remember the decorations that were up all over TJ's school. These Germans certainly know how to party.

Saturday 5 March

This is the last thing you want to see when you look out your window.

Our neighbor's daughter, who is also Bailey's classmate and friend, was injured and had to be rushed to the hospital. She has been in our prayers. We hope she recovers quickly.

Saturday 5 March

On a lighter note, I opened TJ's bedside drawer to find this. Snowman-shaped marshmallows. He was not happy that I had discovered them. I guess he was planning ahead for his midnight snack.

Sunday 6 March

This Sunday was stake conference. (For those who don't know LDS-lingo, a stake consists of several wards or congregations within a designated area). We do not have a building large enough to house the entire stake, so we held our meeting in this auditorium.

I sang with the choir up on the stage. It was fun!

Monday 7 March

Joey is finishing up her music theory homework. Piano lessons are held on Tuesday right after school, so often the girls are scrambling to finish Monday before Family Home Evening.

Tuesday 8 March

Today, the American elementary school celebrated Fasching. They had an outdoor costume parade. Bailey held TJ's hand throughout the entire parade. They were super cute together.

To see more picture of this event, read the post below or click here.

Wednesday 9 March

TJ likes Chocolate.

I like TJ.

Thursday 10 March

Mary Anne is cooking zucchini fries. I think they are my new favorite snack. I can't stop thinking about them.