California here I come, Back from where I started from...

A couple of weeks ago Andrew and I boarded a last-minute flight to California to attend the funeral of my fabulous grandmother, Mimi (real name Virginia). I had a mini-anxiety attack getting out of the car to go into the airport. I've never been away from my big boys for longer than 22 hours (unless I was in the hospital having another baby... [which I'm not, by the way]). ;) Once on the plane I was okay. It was sad for the occasion of gathering family, but great too. My Mimi was with her "Fritz" again, and we were all so happy for them. To celebrate that, all of Mimi's children and grand children attended the funeral. ALL. Not all the great-grandchildren, but still impressive... and wonderful. We had lots (3-days worth, anyway) of family bonding time. Andrew was adored by all and I got lots of fun sister-time in. Here are... too many pictures, but enjoy anyway. :)

Cowboy Poppy with Cowboy-in-training Andrew

My dad, the horse-whisperer in training...

... And his horse Shadow.

I guess Andrew sees more similarity between Vicky and myself than I do because he was thoroughly fooled thinking she was me for a good 5 minutes (until he heard and followed my voice). My sweet jet-lagged baby was quite the momma's boy. I love him so much!

My baby sister, Dr. Cher.

Momma & her sweet baby.


Newest member of the Hill fold-- Uncle Freddie.

You're gorgeous, Vicky!

Tequila (the horse) reallly took to Andrew. When Andrew tried to push him away, we got this:

yummy baby hands!

Baby of the family, Tabitha-- newly expecting her own baby. Makes me feel so old!

Cousin EJP. Love this kid. He was Andrew's hero.

First riding lesson: documented

Thanks, California! It was fun. I am strangely happy to be back home in my Frankfurt though. :) These are all just pictures from our outing to the stables. I'm bummed I didn't get more of the rest of the sibs-- it was just a quick weekend!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my BIKE

We've been riding bikes almost daily since we got the fabulous bike seat for Andrew. About a week ago I decided to see how William did without his training wheels since he'd been asking to ride a bike "wif only two wheels". He did amazing the first try! By the second night he only needed help getting started moving and by the third night he had it all under control. What a big boy!

You all should love me all the more for posting this far-from-glamorous video of me... but little Andrew is just too dang cute to not share. ;)

chalk

WHY must they eat chalk??

Oh! to have eyelashes like that... this boy will never know how lucky he is. ;)

Park day with Daddy

The marathon that WAS

William running, trying to catch Daddy. This kid can RUN.

About a month ago Nathaniel woke up one Saturday morning and decided that was the day he WOULD run a marathon... in the park behind our house! This man has some serious dedication to his goals! Love him. :) About an hour after he set out the kids and I packed up gatorade, water and some bananas to hang out at the park and be the "fuel station" for Nathaniel. I'd say we did a pretty good job! ;) The kids were done after a couple hours at the park, but we all survived. Nathaniel did it! And now he's tucking that away and moving right on to the next goal... muscles! We all know his chances for success there! :)

Lots of sand castles and burying of feet were done in our 2 1/2 hours... though every 10 min or so one of the boys handed out a water bottle to N.

Thumb-up for the finish!

Oh, the pain!


Great job, Nathaniel. I'm so proud of you! I'm also so glad that you're not planning on any more marathons... ;)

Temple trip

I've been a lazy bum... so there are a lot of pictures to catch up on! These pictures are actually from our May trip to the Temple. When we were married we made a goal to go to the temple each month. Babysitting here is a lot trickier than at home... so, the past two months N and I have taken turns outside with the kids and the other goes in for a session. These pics are from my turn outside. We sure miss our lovely babysitters from home!

yeah... I can't remember what game they were playing. Silly boys

*edited picture* Um. Something tells me this company was not thinking about going global when they picked their company name...

A Good Day

I know I've been MIA lately... I've just felt... uninspired. Today I had an excellent day though-- and thought I'd post just a little photo and gratitude. I woke up, did hair cuts for Andrew and William (Cameron had his last week), cleaned the whole first floor, kitchen, swept, mopped, cleaned the bathroom... and all before 11 when a good friend and her two kids came over to hang out. The five hours they were here were so relaxing! Big boys playing outside in the pool/sprinklers, popsicles, pizza, fresh cookies, and I even got my newborn fix too thanks to my friend's sweet 8-week old daughter.

Andrew really loves this seat-- this picture was before we got moving and he was mid-protest of the helmet. Now he happily puts it on. :)

When N came home from work, he brought in this super cool bike seat that we ordered. C and W love riding their bikes, which leaves me keeping up with Andrew in the stroller. I thought about getting a trailer, but then didn't want to deal with the dog-pile of all three boys to get in it. This was our solution. Super easy to put on, and so. fun. We went on two little bike rides already and chatted for a bit with our neighbors (Americans-- pathetically, after one whole year here I can still only say "I don't understand German" in German).
When we got home I decided to take off W's training wheels and see how he did since he's been asking to try it for a while. He did so great! It will definitely still take many laps up and down the drive way, but he's really doing great. My big boy!
Tonight after getting in jammies I told the boys that they could each have a toy if they pooped in the potty three times.... My timing was intentional... W had assumed "the pose". *ahem*. He heard 'pirate ship' and ran to the potty.... and produced. SUCH a successful day with that boy!!
What a good day. What a good life... with healthy & gorgeous little boys and a loving & dedicated husband. I'm a lucky girl. :)

I promise to catch up on my posts soon... I've got tons of pictures coming YOUR way soon.

Heidelberg Zoo

For Memorial Day we went out to the Heidleberg Zoo. It was really fun! At many of the animal cages they had a cement imprint with a foot/paw print from the animal, which I thought was pretty cool, and there was a pretty good assortment of animals! We really liked some of the habitats, while a few were... lacking. We had a great time!

What a good looking man!

The scar is fading fast!What a gorgeous boy. :)

When we go out I dress the boys in their matching outfits not just because I think they're adorable, but because it's so much easier while looking for them if they're all wearing the same thing!

The boys were in heaven at this sprinkler.