Halloween Night

(She loved pulling out the pumpkin guts)

(She went and grabbed a movie while Nate and I were still carving and this is how I found her when I walked by)

(We had to bribe her with suckers to get a picture of her with the headpiece on)

(She was totally in to the whole trick or treating thing)

(Enjoying the fruits of her labor)

Trunk or Treat

Our ward trunk or treat was last night and since Reese and I weren't in Vienna like we were supposed to be I rushed around that day to put costumes together for Nate and I, of course Reese already had one ready to go for Halloween. Reese was being a clown so I got some stuff to make Nate and I clowns to and then grabbed some curtains to drape over the car to make it look like a circus tent and bought a bunch of balloons so Nate could hand out candy and make balloon animals, the kids had the option of a worm or a snake. Reese was naturally the super cute and sweet clown I was supposed to be the nice clown and Nate wanted to be an evil clown but somehow we both turned out looking evil, some people even said I looked more evil than Nate. We all had a lot of fun, Reese started getting the hang of trick or treating towards the end and though she refused to say anything she would lift her bucket up for people to put candy in it and then smile big. Nate enjoyed doing his creepy clown laugh as the kids walked over to his car and the fact that he never had to leave the car or actually socialize with anyone over the age of about 10 was a big bonus in his mind. We ended up winning the best decorated trunk contest so we're already plotting out what we're going to do next year so that we can retain our title.

The Mother and the Father

My Mom and Dad arrived in Germany on the 16th and we didn't even let them drop their stuff off before we were off on our travels. We picked them up at Frankfurt and then immediately drove down to Nurnberg where we went to the Nazi Documentation Center and Rally Grounds and then wandered around the old town. The next day we drove on to Dachau, which is just outside Munich, to tour the Concentration Camp and then continued down to Garmisch where we stayed at the military resort Edelweiss. Neuschwanstein Castle is less than an hour away from Garmisch so we drove over there and walked up the hill through the snow to see the castle. After we walked up, Nate, Reese and I left my parents up there to do the tour while we walked back down and enjoyed hot chocolate and cheesecake. Besides the castle we just spent our time relaxing at the pool and looking at the beautiful snow covered mountains until we got in our car for the 6 hour drive back home.

When we got back from that trip both my parents came down with the 24 hour flu that Nate and I had had a few weeks previous so we just spent a few days at home while everyone recovered and then we spent a day in Trier, also known as the spot everyone will go when they visit because not only is it the oldest city in Germany but it's also about 20 mins away. We also ventured off to Cologne so my parents could see the cathedral and take Reese to her always favorite aquarium and zoo. Finally that weekend we went off to the pumpkin patch that I had been very much looking forward to. I was a little disappointed that we didn't need to go hunting for a pumpkin in a field, instead they were all washed and ready to go but they were still piled up and you had to move them around so I guess that counts for something, plus there was a corn maze and some hay bales to play on so overall I was pleased that Reese got to at least have some kind of pumpkin patch experience.

And now for the story you'd all have been waiting for if you'd have known to be waiting for a story. On Monday morning my parents, Reese and I flew out for what was supposed to be a four day trip to London and Vienna....for Reese and I it ended up being a two day trip to London. When we arrived in London and got on the bus to go into the city Reese was happy, that is until part way through the ride when she immediately became unhappy and began screaming, screeching and attempting to through herself onto the floor of the bus. Nothing would calm her, though I eventually managed to at least quiet her by feeding her nearly every snack I had in my bag. The screaming and screeching continued throughout London. We went to the tower of London and while my parents visited the armory I let Reese exercise her legs and wander around, if I tried to hold her hand she would throw herself on the ground screaming, if I picked her up she would try to throw herself from my arms screaming, if I put her in the stroller she would arch her back and scream in an attempt to get out. Eventually I parked her in a corner facing the wall and let her take some time to herself while I sat next to her on a bench and watched people try and figure out where the screaming was coming from. It took all my energy and every game and scrap of trash in the stroller to keep her quiet on the subway, at every restaurant she would try and throw things on the ground and screech so we spent most our time wandering around outside until our food came and then quickly scarfing it down before the screaming began again. The only thing that made her happy was if I would let her run around wherever she wanted doing whatever she wanted, not exactly going to happen. The next day was looking up, she hadn't thrown any fits yet and had enjoyed playing on the steps outside Buckingham Palace, she had even sat nicely for lunch without throwing things. When we got on the bus for the ride back to the airport so we could fly on to Vienna I was armed with snacks and activities but as soon as the bus doors shut the screaming and screeching began again....and it was a long bus ride with the traffic. I was actually beginning to be concerned that there was actually something wrong with my child, I was thinking that perhaps her appendix had ruptured and her body was filling with poison or perhaps she had all of the sudden gone blind and was now so scared because she couldn't see anything and had no clue where she was, maybe she had even broken a bone, these were the things that in my mind would cause my usually happy go lucky child to behave in this way. As soon as we got off the bus, and I apologize to all the other poor people on the bus but at least they could see that I was trying to calm her down, she stopped screaming. I rushed in to the airport as my parents and I were worried and had decided to fly home instead of continue our trip since it seemed as if she was somehow hurt. When I got to the counter I found out that while I paid 5 euros total to fly to London it would cost me 220 pounds to fly home. I told my parents there was no way I was letting them pay that much money so I forced them to continue their trip while I backed up and plopped down my credit card. She was an angel the rest of the journey home. I have my theories as to why she acted like she did, I won't bore you with all of them and yes I know that part of it was just her bursting through the invisible gate of the terrible twos. Since we got home she's had a few screeching fits that have immediately been squashed, it's much easier to squash one of these fits at home than it is on a crowded bus, but overall she's been more demonic than usual but more herself than she was in London. I told my friend when we were out that I was going to get an exorcist to try and get out the demon that had inhabited my child then I looked at Reese and said "Eseer (her demon name) get out, leave my baby alone" and just like in the movies Reese started screeching and arching her back...I think I'm on to something with this whole demon inside my baby thing.

Legoland Deutschland

While Nate was still enjoying his "post deployment reintegration time off work," we decided to make the four hour drive down to Legoland. We stayed at the hotel they had there at the park which was cute because there were little lego people all over the place that Reese was the same height as. It was pretty cold down where Legoland is so Reese was a little "moody" about it but overall she seemed to have a good time. Her favorite part was going to the Atlantis exhibit which is basically an aquarium with lego people inside of it.

(If you click on the collage it should enlarge it so you can see all the pictures)

Meet Manfred

I've been meaning to make this post for awhile and figured it was better late than never for the world to meet Manfred Nink. A few weeks before Nate came home our friends Tyler and Stephanie moved in with Reese and I for their last 10 days before they moved back to the States. One night we decided we would go to Trier for sushi, this happened to be day 120 of Nate's deployment and at the time he had no news as to when he was coming home so I wasn't having the best day. When we drove over to Trier there were political posters up everywhere for the upcoming elections and we were having a lot of fun trying to decide who was our favorite. The signs all looked almost exactly the same except for the person on it and everyone seemed to have the same odd not quite smile on their face. We immediately decided against the red haired lady and as we were discounting the smirky guy because he looked shady our eyes caught sight of Manfred Nink. It was awesome as Tyler and I both saw his poster at the same time and became smitten with the fact that he was the German candidate for us. We saw a few more of his posters during our trip and as we were leaving we decided we HAD to have one. I told Tyler that if we saw another one I would pull over and just as we were leaving the city we saw one on a street sign so Tyler jumped out, grabbed Manfred, and we were off. It made me feel so young again to be participating in a sign adoption and relocation program. When we got home we made a photo story of Manfred's time with us. (Stephanie and Manfred discussing politics over breakfast) (Reese playing with Manfred) (Jakob getting in some Manfred time)

(Tyler introducing Manfred to American T.V.)

Nate Came Home...and a bunch of other stuff happened

Nate came home on September 28th and Reese and I are so happy to have him back with us. We were told we could pick him up at the hangar at 5:30 but their plane didn't end up landing until 5:45 and then they had to go through customs, have their bags randomly searched and then reclaim their bags before they could come meet us. Needless to say this took a really long time to accomlish for over 200 people so we didn't get to actually see him until 7:30. So since we'd been waiting in the hangar for two hours Reese, who had already started coming down with a cold that morning, had fallen asleep and when all the commotion began she was startled and didn't exactly give Daddy the best reception. Okay truth be told she screamed and cried as loud as she could and didn't want him touching her or me, but by the time we got home she had settled down and decided that he might not be so bad afterall. It took her a few days more before she fully warmed up to him and let's face it she's a hardcore Momma's girl and that's not exactly just going to go away, but things are going well between the two of them so I'm pleased.

(Reese running around in the hangar waiting for Daddy to come)

(After 132 days in Iraq, Nate is home)So far we've spent Nate's time off from work hanging around our area and being sick. Reese came down with the flu Monday and that was the first time she's ever truly vomitted so it was a little scary for me but we just spent the day laying on the couch together watching movies. Then Wednesday night I started in with the flu and by Thursday morning Nate was right there with me. Poor Reese had to spend another day watching movies while her Mommy and Daddy laid on the couches groaning, I'm trying to figure out what parents did before Disney movies. We were supposed to leave for Legoland on Thursday morning but since Nate and I were both sick we called and were able to change our reservation to Monday so we're looking forward to going there and then rushing home to get things ready for my parents arrival on Friday.

In Reese news, she's learning new words everyday and understands so much of what we say that I can't actually believe it. If you ask her what a cow says she says moooo, only it comes out sounding closer to boooooo, I personally think she's trying to tell me what a ghost cow says. She can say dog and tell you that a dog says woof and just tonight she started telling me that tigers and bears say rawr. Whenever I ask her to get a book she gets the animal book and we sit there pointing at animals and making the noises, it's pretty cute. Tonight she finally said I love you, it melted my heart and I didn't want to stop hugging her. Five minutes later I told her I loved her and she said "I love you" and then Nate told her he loved her and she turned to him and said "thank you." I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to hurt myself, she has such great comedic timing.

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.