my brown eyed boy

heard and seen

William:
Last weekend we found a William-sized bike with training wheels for $17. Bargain! William picked it up quickly and finds JOY in riding that thing everywhere. Unfortunately, today riding privileges were taken away. Seems the language barrier is finally entering the scene at William's school and he's taken to biting. *sigh*. Hopefully we can get past this phase soon.

Funny story: While unpacking William found a little framed picture of Nathaniel, taken in his prime days of body building. William showed Nathaniel and said "muscles, daddy! muscles! Oh look (pointing at N's posing trunks)! Daddy has a clean diaper! " haha! We're still working on #2 potty training (TMI?), and we read a lot of this book. My boys have it memorized and lots of phrases from it have entered their daily vocab. Silly.

Cameron:
Little man went a whole day yesterday without a nap and then crashed at 5. He's completely jealous of W's bike-- but poor kid, just doesn't have the leg length yet to work the other means of toddler transportation that we have. (Santa is looking into getting him a balance bike.) He's also very anxious to start school. I keep telling him, "only 11 more months, baby!" He desperately tries to change his shoes and take off his jacket each day with William. It makes me laugh and breaks my heart at the same time. He's so grown up for his very young age! Yesterday we were eating cookie dough and I told him he couldn't have any more because it would give him a tummy-ache. He came up to me 45 seconds later and said "mommy, I want a tummy-ache!" I love the way their minds work. :)

staycation

Last week Nathaniel took Thursday and Friday off to just enjoy some family time. Thursday was our play day, and Friday was recover the house from our almost 2 weeks of being sick and unpacking at the same time. My dearest Nathaniel planned 3 stops for our fun day.... unfortunately only one really worked out. But, it was worth it. Our boys love their animals-- so we went off towards the forest to seek out another tiergarten (think zoo, minus the exotic animals). We're LOVING the mid 60 degree weather out here. Sorry to all the suckers... I mean, loved ones back home still enduring heat.

Bundled up checking out the monkeys. Cameron's latest thing is "I'm scared!" (even though he loved the monkeys. Silly boy).

Twenty points if you know what animal this is.

A picture of Big Squirrel for Poppy.

"A LLAMA!" I can't help it. I love 'Emperor's new Groove'.

This park had such awesome habitats for their animals. For the goats, you put food down a chute that takes it to a platform on the top of the mountain, where ultimately the big bully goats butt everyone else out of the way. I started just throwing the food down on the ground for the lil' ones.

Our crew. *I love the Moby wrap that I'm wearing. It gets Andrew to sleep every time!

We tried to go see a castle too, but it turned out that it is still a privately owned castle and was closed to the public because a Prince was there visiting. psh.

On Saturday we went to a surprise party for our friend. This picture of William looks like he's a little clone of his father!

How cute is he?

Trail Blazer

Already determined to not be overshadowed by his monster brothers-- this boy is out to beat his brothers records in time spent learning to crawl (C and W around 8 mos). Watch out William and Cameron! This baby is on his way to get you, and your precious toys too.

In response to my sister's demand for updates:

Cut me some slack folks, we're a house full of sickies. Pictures taken today for dearest Auntie Cher. Or Auntie tinkerbell, as Cameron called her... or Auntie "Tuck is at Aunt Chur-Dy's house" Cher, as William knows her.

Enjoy the gorgeousness that is my children:

Gorgeous, gorgeous baby. As a lovely woman once called William, but the word now applies less towards William and way more towards this little one: Andrew is edible. Mmm.

Dearest Andrew sleeping. When did he get so big? With my older boys, they couldn't get big fast enough (older=more fun to play with), but with this one-- he's just growing up too quickly. My little angel baby.

"Momma! Take a picture of my firetruck!"
I love this kid. I love his focus and determination. My big boy!
This cherished 'Red' was hidden in the box of train tracks, and was only recently discovered. There has been much rejoicing (and trauma, every time he is temporarily lost again).

My big boys. I found them all waiting for me after I put Andrew down for a nap.
*Sick Nathaniel. For the record, he got a haircut and shaved today. He looks less 'bum on the corner' and more 'dark and handsome' now.*

Like father, like son. I love the giggles!



--Picture from Monday--

Do you see what that is?! It's our STUFF! YAY! See that second box from the left? Yeah... THAT STUFF, actually wasn't supposed to come. That is the stuff we left for storage.
Special times here folks, special times.


---A Week ago Today---

Okay, so my BFF from Highschool listed a post on her blog for being the worst mother ever for not throwing her 1-year-old a birthday party (as she had for her older 3 kids). My poor Cameron didn't even get a blog post, or photo shoot. Ah well, he got dinosaurs and that seems to be healing his wounds. He was so cute, each dinosaur he pulled out, he said "oh wow! tanks mom!". If you haven't seen Cameron (or the rest of my kids) in person lately, You're missing out. They're freaking adorable.

Cameron's mediocre cake. Fortunately it tasted delicious. Also fortunately, a good friend Zadell made him a much more aesthetically pleasing one that we ate a couple nights before this. Little did I know that my lack of energy or enthusiasm for this cake came from an approaching monster sinus cold. Just in time for the moving truck. Don't worry. I shared. The rest of my family was sick by Tuesday. Cameron showed his enthusiasm for his new age and went all out by developing bronchitis. Never fear, we're all on the mend!

Returning from errands

The lone picture taken of my big 2-year-old on his birthday. My sweet boy. I'll be so sad when those stork bites fade completely. Love you, our dearest Cameron. Happy birthday. We're so grateful for your little person and your huge personality. xoxo

It's that time of year....

Can this kid really be old enough for school??? In Germany they have kindergarten from ages 3-5 and then start formal schooling at age 6. William will be going to school 1/2 days, five days a week. I missed him before I even left his sight today. Nathaniel teared up before we left the house to take him to school, I cried at the school, and Cameron cried the whole way home. Bless Cameron's heart. When William was picking out his cubby Cameron was trying to hang up his backpack at the next one. He'll miss William most, I imagine. They're best friends. It makes the madness of having kids so close in age worth it. Just one year and then Cameron can go too.

My bruiser tackling Cameron.

The walk to school. Cameron wants to do everything like William.

I can't help but worry. Worry about the cultural difference, not to mention the language barriers! Before we left a little girl walked up and tried to talk to William. He shook his hands in front of him like she was a disease and walked away. His teacher laughed. I think she'll be great (plus she speaks English, which will be helpful when he needs it). My William can be such a bruiser, but he is oh, so sensitive. It's so hard because I know no one will ever love and cherish this boy as much as his parents do, but I just hope they'll at least recognize somehow what an amazing and special soul he is. He's a good kid.

Happenings

Nothing too exciting happening around here. We finally found out that our stuff is here (as in, in country and through customs)... and we won't get it until after Labor day. Can you say BUMMER? We're tough though. It will have been over three months since we last saw our stuff when it is unpacked (and one full month late-- LAME). Weird. Andrew has outgrown just about every single item I brought with us. It will feel like Christmas to our boys when they get their toys and bikes back. I can't wait! Since we're not unpacking, here's how we're passing the time (tantrums not photographed, but we have lots of those too):

Nathaniel and I hamming it up for the camera for Andrew's first bite of "real" food. He wasn't that into it, so we're putting that on the back burner for a bit longer.

Daddy's shoes have been the popular toy the past couple days.

Hanging out at the park, providing a buffet to the mosquitoes.

Mid conversation.
He's quite the chatterbox these days. Also of note: he's working on his growl and he mastered rolling from back to tummy on his 6-month birthday.

Taken 5 minutes ago. Lunch while lounging in Andrew's bouncer.

Me: William, what do you want for lunch?
William: Bread and mustard.

yuck.

France

There are many cool things about living in Germany. #1 is all of the awesome things to see here, #2 is living less than 2 hours away from France. We did a crazy two-day trip to visit one of our favorite cities, Strasbourg, and then to a few new ones.

The Strasbourg Cathedral. Last time we were here we hiked all the way to the top with baby William! We opted to not do that this time around...

Let's call it a pre-1/2 birthday celebration for the big guy. Not every baby gets to go to France to celebrate! I even gave him a teensy bit of my croissant.

Best attempt at a picture with all three. They were... a bit wired.


The oldest and most famous building in Strasbourg: La Maison des Tanneurs. *Photographer: Nathaniel


Our first day there sweet Andrew didn't get a lot of rest. The next morning, when our big boys were up before 6, Nathaniel-the-hero took them out and about letting sweet Andrew (and mommy) sleep in. Daddy was smart, and had the boys run laps around this fountain at the Place Kleber (Kleber Square) downtown.

Andrew and I caught up with the crew in time for Nathaniel to visit some of his favorite book shops. While I wondered around with the boys William practiced some skills he'll need for his mission in just 16 short years.

Perhaps the best part of the entire trip for the boys was, of course, the street car ride.

C with his beloved bottle and blanket.

The city gate to Riquewhir. Don't mess with this place. Haha, the next few pictures offer a more gruesome view of the city, but it really is a breathtaking (in a good way) city. It's beautiful, charming, and makes you feel like you've just walked back in time somehow.

How can you pass up a tour of the town torture chamber? I did alright until we listened to the audio explaining how they used the things we were looking at (not replicas, actual items!). I was nauseous the rest of the day every time I thought about it. I won't share with you. This is a picture of the entrance to the dungeon.

Sweet William, blissfully unaware of where he is.

An original 12th (?) century kitchen! I thought it was awesome.

Family photo on the ledge of the tower where they'd throw out their dirty water and/or chamber pot contents.

Checking out the wine cellar. You can still smell the stale alcohol in there.

Next town: Eguisheim. It was cool, but we might skip it next time. The coolest part was the amazing Ferrari parked near our swagger wagon. Here are the boys playing in the "non potable water." They ended up soaking wet, but happy.

Break time for Mommy and Andrew. See that awesome red necklace? My dearest friend Amber sent it to me. It's red coral and I LOVE IT.

An itty bitty building that we loved, but couldn't figure out what it was ever used for.

Last city: Kaysersberg. We love loved this city. So much charm. Awesome streets/shops/castle ruins/ravines under the houses... what more could you ask for? A birdnest balanced on an old tower? They have that, too:

A rare and special thing to see.

Hiking up to the castle ruins.

The walls of this tower were probably about 12 feet thick with a narrow spiral staircase (new-- not original) inside. The thick walls are probably the only reason the tower survived while the rest of the castle was destroyed.

View from 1/2 way up.

View from the top. So Beautiful!