Christmas 2008

This Christmas, we have a lot to be thankful for!

Brady is out of the Hospital, Keira is speaking German almost more than English, and we are in our new house with a nearly completely built kitchen!

We spent Christmas Eve with good friends (The closest to family you can get without blood) The Wrights. Thomas and Carolin came down, Gabriele made a fantastic dinner, and Stuart put up
a lovely tree. Dirk and Julia were there, as well as Dirk's father Wolfgang.

The kids wore the clothes that Oma sent, Keira loved the dress that Oma made, and it got many compliments.






We first ate a delicious soup that Gabriele made, then got to opening presents with the Wrights. Keira's favorite gift was a cash register from Julia and Dirk, while Brady really enjoyed the train set from Thomas and Carolin. Heather and Chris got an egg cooker, a water boiler and a sandwich maker. With such fantastic tools, who need expensive kitchen appliances!? Chris also got a transformer, so he can finally plug in the xbox 360 and PLAY!


After presents, we sat down to the second course of Roast Beef, vegetables and salad. It was delicious! Of course Brady and Keira didn't want to sit still for long, when they had all new toys to play with! After dinner, we had (for the first time) English Christmas Pudding... the kids weren't fans, but Chris and I liked it.

The kids weren't the only people playing, Thomas we getting as much fun out of the train set as Brady, while Carolin and Julia were reliving their childhood with play dough fun! After a while, Dirk, Carolin, Heather and Chris played a round of Genial (Which Dirk claims to be the champion, But Chris took the title last night!) And at the end, it was 10pm! Brady fell asleep on the couch, and Keira was not too long behind in the car. We took them home and put them to bed, so they would be ready for round two in the morning!

On Christmas morning, Santa brought Keira a little store, and Brady a Geo Trax station! Brady was so enthralled, he didn't want to open any of the presents under the tree! Keira was ready and willing to tear open every box in sight though. Keira got a very fun leapster, While Brady added to his geotrax set and got his own laptop! The morning was filled with playing, then eating breakfast, then playing some more. Even Chris and Heather got in with playing xbox for a bit. Heather and Brady took a nap while Keira watched Sleeping Beauty (which is MUCH better in it's digitally restored fomat) and we all got to speak to Oma for a few minutes.

Today is a day when we're missing far off family and friends, but they are all here in our hearts and we think about them (YOU) often.

Here are a few more pictures from the day, Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Life without internet

Hello!

We are settling in, unpacking and really enjoying our new house. For the time being, we have no internet though- so updating weekly or getting on skype is difficult.

This week,
Brady got a "pseudo Croup" chest cold and had to take some prednizone and stay out of school for a few days.

Keira has been enjoying the idea of, and reality of the "advents Calendar" and all the chocolate it brings. She's also been speaking german on a regular basis, conversationally to anyone. She even speaks to mommy in German, then translates it to English for Daddy.

Heather has been home with Brady, taking care of him whilst getting over the flu, unpacking and trying to get the house looking like a home.

Chris has been building the kitchen, and enjoying his new endeavours. He's met some people, is getting along well, and has been invited by another Dad from the kindergarten to hang out sometime.

Coming up though- we have a BUSY week with parties next week.
Saturday the 13th, the party at the Kindergarten for the kids.
Wednesday the 17th- Heather's work party
Thursday the 18th- Heather's class party
Friday the 19th- Another work party
Saturday the 20th- Caroline's birthday party

When school lets out on Friday, Heather's off for 2 weeks! Hopefully we'll have internet by Christmas, so we can skype with family and friends.

Our New house

We have successfully moved into our new house here in Germany! It is a three bedroom, 1 1/2 bath duplex. (Sounds familiar doesn't it? But this one has a carport!)

We've put our things in, but the boxes aren't unpacked yet. We built our dining room table, and four chairs that we got from Ikea. Chris is working on building our beds this week, and we're going to work on building the kitchen by the weekend.

The kids are sharing a room, and loving it. They've had no choice for the past few months, and have grown to expecting each other in the room, so they want to keep sharing. Really, Brady and Keira are growing into "best friends" as Keira put it.

This week, Brady also went to his first birthday party, and when he finished he said "It was all GIRLS!" Because he was the only boy. He had a great time, spoke German and played with his friends from school.

Keira is blossoming with German! She is taking to having full conversations with Heather, Julia, and anyone who'll respond in German. Brady is still taking it all in, and tries a word here and there.

The next couple weeks will be hard work in the evenings, trying to get everything together before Christmas, but hopefully the 2 week break will be relaxing. I'll post pictures of the house ASAP.