Spangdahlem's Cutest Baby

Reese was in the cutest baby contest on base today and naturally she won....let's be honest, with my kid in the competition no one else stood a chance. I almost felt sorry for the other little girls in her category, but almost only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades not in baby contests.

Now I've already received a lot of jokes at my expense for entering my child in this contest but I must say that it was nothing like that toddlers and tiaras show on TLC so cut me a little bit of slack. And I really don't care what rude comments Amber Kincher might decide to make, Reese won $75, a bunch of balloons and some books, plus it got us out of the house and doing something instead of idly sitting by waiting for Nate to finally get home.

It actually was a really fun little contest, Robyn and Max, and Eric and Jakob came to root Reese on in her quest for total baby domination. There were 4 different categories, and while Reese would've won even if there had been only one category I think it was nice for them to give some of the other kids a chance this way. They had to model one seasonal outfit and a costume of their choosing so Reese chose summer and wore her adorable 4th of July sundress that we purchased for her to wear when she picks up daddy, and then she was a lifeguard for her costume. She strutted her stuff across the stage and went right for where the photographers were, she even smiled while she did it.

(Reese getting ready to take the stage for the first time)

(Good thing no one knocked her down for the cornball look on her mom's face)

(working it for the crowd)

(walking past the competition to claim her first place price of $75, I imagine she's thinking how many cinnamon twists from taco bell that money can buy)

In other news.....Nate is still not home, he gets pushed back further everyday so while he should be home "soon", soon is a relative term and so we'll have to wait and see how soon soon actually is.

The Fields of Arenrath

The fields around our house are currently filled with mutated looking sunflowers, I've never seen such a large face on a sunflower. Today Reese and I decided we'd take a walk into the fields and bring along the camera and tripod so we could have some fun.

After we explored the sunflower fields, and had gotten our fill of them, we saw a field of corn so we went over so I could show the ears of corn to Reese.

A Misleading Scene

At first glance, this photo looks like a picture of two sweet children playing together. The little boy is clearly enthralled with the uno flash machine in front of him, while the little girl has looked up at her mother for a photograph. If only film, for the sake of my story we'll still refer to that little sd card as film, could capture what is truly lurking beneath the surface of this photo. The little boy truly is a sweet little boy entralled with the uno flash machine, this is my friends' kid Jakob whom I picked up from daycare today for his dad because his mom deployed today and his dad's work schedule is a little hectic for the next few weeks. Jakob came over to our house and happily played with toys and smiled and laughed and did everything one would expect a sweet little boy to do. No, the hidden story in this photo is not Jakob, it's the little demon on the right. I don't know how she manages to suck her horns back in just before I take a picture, it's as if she's mocking me, saying "no one will believe you mom, I look too sweet on film." But, those big blue eyes and blond curls are hiding a truly sinister little girl underneath. She knows that she has me against the ropes right now and she's just waiting to land her final blow. This week has just been one of those weeks, probably the first time since Nate left where I feel on the verge of breaking down, and instead of my sweet little girl smiling at me and bringing me back to a happy place she's been the one trying to break me. Last night we had an activity at the church and truth be told I was very excited to have her go down to the nursery and play with the other kids, I'd been carrying her around a bunch of stores all day and I was ready to have a few hours of adult time but of course my usually "happy to play with anyone" child must have sensed that I needed a moment to myself because she screamed and cried and they brought her back upstairs to me where I got to wander up and down the halls rocking her because I had taken a whole car full of people to the activity and couldn't just leave because she was being bad. Then when I got home and sat down to relax and talk to Nate on the computer my computer got a fake virus, which is the short version of how some popup that looked like something real that was saying I had just gotten tons of viruses but was really scam to download this fake virus protection, luckily I got everything fixed and didn't fall for buying fake virus protection but none the less it wasn't a very relaxing evening. Tonight I was looking forward to going over to a gathering for Nate's shop but Reese was acting so bad that I knew I'd just end up sitting in the corner of someone elses's house trying to get Reese to change back into the sweet little girl I know in love instead of getting to have a fun night playing cards with friends. In all honesty, Reese has been very out of sorts this week, she usually is a very happy child so I'm just hoping that whatever has her upset this week will pass so that we can make it peacefully through the homestretch til daddy comes home.

The Bar Has Been Set

At the end of August, Sharon and a friend came from Maryland to visit me out here in Germany.....so to all you college friends who haven't come to Germany yet you better start making plans. Reese and I drove over to the train station in Luxembourg to pick them up after they had spent a few days in Paris. Reese settled right in with them and was immediately climbing into their laps, especially after Sharon gave her finger puppets which is still one of her favorite things to play with. While they were here we went to Idar Oberstein and saw the church in the rocks. Apparently the story goes, and I'm sure Bettina will find some inaccuracies in the version I was told since Idar Oberstein is her hometown, that there were two brothers who had castles on the top of the cliff, they got in a fight and the one brother pushed the other brother to his death. As penance for killing his brother he built the church on the spot where his brother died. Well we hiked up the hill to the church and it was really cool, there's an exit in the chapel where you can basically be between the church and the rock and walk between the to out to a little lookout spot. After we saw the church we hiked up the rest of the mountain to see the two castles. All that is left of one of them is some ruins, I imagine that one belonged to the brother that was killed.

[Our group, minus Chris, on the street getting ready to hike up to Felsenkirche (church in the rock)]

(Reese and I inbetween the church and the mountain)

(On our way up to Burg Bosselstein and Schloss Oberstein, the two castles)

While they were here, I also took them to Marksburg Castle, which is said to be the best preserved castle on the Rhine, and Trier because everyone that comes gets to go to Trier. Then they spent the weekend in Belgium at the formula one races and Sharon had to work on base the rest of the time before I took them to the airport on the 2nd. We were sad to see them go but luckily I have Sharon hooked on Europe now so I know I'll be able to coax her in to coming back out again soon.......I can't say the same thing for a certain other college roommate who chose to go on an alaskan cruise instead coming to play in Europe.

Sergeant Crandall to You

Back in May Nate took his test for promotion from Senior Airman to Staff Sergeant, this was his first time taking the test so while he felt prepared he was still worried. Many people have to take the test more than once because things like your time in your current rank in your time in the air force are counted in your score so the longer you've been in the lower you have to score on the test to pass the cut off. Well the test results came out a few weeks ago and Nate scored high enough to earn his promotion. We were very excited to find out that he made it his first time and are excited for him to be promoted to staff sergeant some time around the beginning of the year. So here's to Nate: Reese and I are so proud of you, we knew you'd make it and we can't wait for you to get back home to us so we can celebrate properly!