Santa Came to see us!

We had Santa come and visit our home on Friday night. Reilyn was hyperventilating when she opened the door and Santa was there. She was literally shaking. Santa knew her name and what she was doing in her life-- she thought that was pretty cool. She asked Santa for the Little Mermaid DVD, and when she opened the present he brought her she was hysterical! It was a lot of fun. We had some friends of ours come over with a little boy Reilyn's age. They were so funny to watch. The last picture is of them doing their "dance of joy." Merry Christmas!

I watched little Jack, my friend's little baby, yesterday. He's about 6 weeks younger than Kedric. I had to take a picture of them together. So I got a little taste of what having twins would be like! Well-- anytime that I would hold Jack, Kedric would cry. He was jealous! :) It was funny. I don't think I could have twins-- and all the respect to you Heather! I want to see more pics of Eva and Maya. I'm glad your lights are on. Only a few more days until Christmas! We have our Ward Christmas party tomorrow night. I'm the Activities Chairperson (without a committee), so we've been busy getting that ready. I think it will be a good one. James gets to go out on Satuday and be "Santa" with his young men. They are going to deliver some boxes of gifts to some families in our ward. Reilyn is getting really excited about Christmas. This will be a fun year with her. Kedric is getting bigger and bigger! He has the biggest tummy. He's been trying to sit-- but his stomach is so big- he always falls back. He's starting to laugh and loves to smile. He loves Reilyn and gets so excited to see her. We're having fun with her. We'll talk to ya on Christmas!! Love ya all!



One of Reilyn's better pictures

Pictures and Blessing

We blessed Kedric on Sunday, and it was a little sad not to have family there- but we had some friends come from out of town. It was cool- in the blessing, James talked about how he was named after his two great grandfathers, and that he should look to them and the examples they are/were. This pic is just in front of our church.

Hey-- I only have two more days left and I will be holding a new little baby. It's kinda sureal to think about it that way! We're getting excited. Reilyn can't wait. Although I have told her that her baby brother is going to need mommy alot, and she just cries and says, "But I need you a lot too!" I'm trying to get her used the idea. She started preschool last week and loves it! She goes three times a week, for 3 hours. She gets to bring show and tell, and they do a cooking activity once a week. Last week, they made fruit salad, and had all the kids help cut the fruit. Her teachers told me that she was pretty scared to hold the knife, and decided to just watch. I guess we've taught her to be a little too cautious?! She one of the youngest in her class-- but she loves it, cuz she likes the older kids better.

We miss everyone so much, and wish we could see you all! James has been asked to be the seminary teacher in our ward, in addition to his Young Men's President job. There are only two English high schoolers in our ward, so they'll have seminary on Tues and Thurs afternoons. It's kinda weird to be in such a small ward and having to have 2 callings. I think it is officially a branch now. We only had 3 American women in RS on Sunday! And one of them was a missionary! I think that is how it is going to be though. Well, there's a little update. The next time we post-- we'll have a picture of little Kedric on here. Love you all!!

Reilyn's Birthday

I've added some pictures from Reilyn's Birthday party from last week. We had a "Messy" party. The kids went to town on the finger paints, then we had them make playdough. Some of the little kids weren't to thrilled about this one. We had a pinata-- which was the hit of the party. In order to break it open James had to help Reilyn, and ended up throwing her to the ground while hitting it-- so she sat there cying while all the other kids were hoarding the candy! It was sad-- but you couldn't help but laugh. After her party was over, I was talking with Reilyn, and she said, "How old am I now mom?" I told her she was three, and then she broke down, and said, "I don't want to be three, I still just want to be two and a half!"

Our trip to Prague

Kim deceided to visit us while she was in Europe. We decieded to go to Prague. Reilyn was really excited to see Kim. Czech is a different country. You could tell that it comes from a very repressed history. When we were driving through the country side. There was a different feel from the other countries that we have visited. It was really dark and dreary. It was really ruin down. Prague is a very beautiful city. I have not seen anything like it. It took us a couple of hours to find our hotel. Mapquest is not the way to travel in Europe. It does a good job getting you to the city, but once you are there you are on your own. It said our hotel was in this little field. We finely found the field with no hotel. We asked another hotel where it was and they gave us directions. Other then that the trip was awesome. Prague should be a must see for anyone that is coming to Europe. Here are some pictures. This is the famous clock in the city square. It is one of the first astronomical clocks.

This is Mary's Cathedral in the city square. It looks like a witch castle at night.

This represents the fall of communism. It is a man holding on a pole.

This is the goverment castle it is biggest in Europe.

This is a tower that goes over one of the bridges. There are a ton of bridges. They are very proud of their bridges.

Stuttgart and the Black Forrest

Last weekend, we decided to take a quick trip down to Stuttgart and see the Black Forrest. It was beautiful, and reminded us of home. We went on a hike (well, it was a hike for a pregnant lady and a 2 year old) down to the Allerheilegen Falls (All Saints falls). It was a stepped waterfall that wasn't too full, but it was pretty.

We also went to the famous Mercedes Museum. It was pretty impressive with 9 floors that lead you through the history of the first Mercedes to where they are now and giving a history of what was happening in the world at the same time. We stayed in a little town outside of Stuttgart and went into the center of the town for dinner. At the time they were showing the World Cup games on several big screens in the middle of the marketplace. There were several people out watching it. It's been really interesting to see the World cup buzz in Germany. We have never heard the German's so loud and rowdy! It's been fun to see them have pride in their country and wave their country's flag without hesitation. Usually, you don't see German's wave their flag (especially not like the USA). In the past people have past judgement on those that do, thinking that they must be a Natzi or pro Natzi. So it's been good to see them have so much pride in their country.

This week James is in Switzerland for boy Scout camp. He says it's beautiful. We miss him already, and he's only been gone for 2 days!

I've been starting to feel the onset of the last trimester. It's been pretty warm here with no A/C, and therefore, my feet are swelling up! Ugh! I'm scheduled to have the baby the last week in September. I will be having a scheduled C-section. I recently heard that they keep the mother and baby in the hospital for 10 days after a C-section. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I think I will miss Reilyn too much!

Well, I will add some of the pictures of our trip below:

Is this the car of the future? I'm not sure if a person can even fit into it!

What do you think? Is this a real horse inside the building?

Reilyn's favorite was the bus of course!

It's a Boy!!

We went to the doctor, and found out that we are having a little boy! We're excited. You should have seen the look on James' face when we found out. The doctor was doing the ultra-sound, and in his Italian/German accent said, "I think I saw a little wee wee." Well this just made me start giggling, and so my stomach kept bouncing up and down. James and the doctor were telling me to stop, so they could make sure, but I just kept giggling. Well, I finally calmed down so they could make sure it was really a boy. When we left the doctors office, James stopped to do his little excited dance of joy. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

Easter Pictures!

The base had an Easter Egg hunt, this is Reilyn before the hunt standing in front of the field of eggs! She was so excited.

Reilyn getting all the eggs she could-- she found 26 eggs!

They had a "Kinderfest" with a bunch of blow up toys for the kids. Reilyn loved it. She kept going and going and going.

Reilyn just finished going down the slide, and ready to go again.

James was getting pretty worn out-- but he was having a blast too!

We had a good Easter. We did miss rolling the eggs down the hills with my family. Reilyn loved finding all the eggs all over the house. James got frustrated because his Easter basket was hidden, and he couldn't find it for a while. We told Reilyn the Easter story, and it's been fun to watch her learn and enjoy learning. We've realized how well she remembers things. When I was putting Reilyn to sleep on Easter night, she told me, "Mom, I love Easter!" That's when I knew it was a good Easter.

Our family is growing another two feet!!

If you don't understand the title-- we are expecting our second child! We are very excited about this, although- I'm not really looking forward to the being pregnant part, but I guess you have to take the bitter with the sweet!

I'm due in the begining of October. I've been sick, but not as bad as I was with Reilyn. I think I'm starting to get over all the sickness part, which means that the heartburn, and shortness of breath are on just around the corner. I actually was able to see an ultrasound of the baby earlier this week. I have a German doctor that I think will be very good. He is seeing most of the expecting Americans now. The Army hospital in town is starting to shut down some of their departments, and the Labor and Delivery floor will be closing in June. I will be delivering at a German hospital- which makes me a little nervous because they don't really have the luxurious birthing/recovery rooms that America does.

Spring hasn't come to Germany yet. It's still kinda cold, and we're looking forward to the refreshing days of Spring.

Several of the military units are being transferred to other areas or countries, and in turn several of the bases will be closing down this summer. Many of our friends will be leaving, and we're a little nervous about how empty it will seem here. In our church ward, we will be one of five american families after this summer. It will be very small and we're deciding that we should really start making an effort to learn German, not "just enough to get by..."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and a fun New Years. We have enjoyed being together as a family, and it's been nice to relax during the holidays. We missed all of you back home, and getting together with the family. It's been nice to keep in contact with our families through webcams! Technology is awesome!!

On Christmas Eve, we went to a small German church and listened to the mass in German. We sang the songs that we recognized, and just enjoyed the rest of it. It was fun. When we were driving back home, we were telling Reilyn that Santa is going to come that night. As we drove up to the security on base, there was an older security guard that had a big white beard and a jolly smile. I pointed to him to show Reilyn that it was Santa. He saw us and waved to her. He stopped us so that he could give Reilyn a piece of candy. Reilyn was so excited! It was perfect timing.

Christmas morning was fun, especially since Reilyn is understanding Santa Claus now. She got excited about each present and wanted to play with each toy after she wrapped it. James kept giving her more to unwrap-- so she didn't know what to do. But she definitely has had fun this past week with all of her new toys. James was able to have every other day off, so it was fun to have him home to play with us.

New Years was fun because we were able to see how much the Germans celebrate it. They light off fireworks well into the early morning. There were fireworks going off everywhere you looked, and the church bells rang for about 10 minutes after midnight. It was a celebration. On the way home we saw some German's still lighting off fireworks, and so I waved to say Happy New Year--- they just looked at my like I was crazy. Oh well!

Happy New Year to each of you!! Love to all!