mid-december happenings/happiness.

To kick off the first half of December we hit up a few Christmas parties... and even got one decent picture of the two of us, I like it!  We had a great meal with some of David's co-workers at Kusel Castle that evening.

The girlies posing for me because I made Norah's skirt from fabric my Grandma gave me, and Evelyn's wearing a shirt my cousin Kyleen gave me... special clothes :)

Each day of December until Christmas our village does an Advent window.  A family volunteer's to host each day and they decorate one window and light it up at 6:30pm usually with a poem (which we cannot understand) and/or musik and then serve cookies and beverages - gluhwein is the top choice, yum!  This was the only picture I got but it shows how many people come each night, it's so fun to see your neighbor's out and talk with them for the annual event.  We are considering joining in the lighting next year.  After the lighting then they opened up their garage and had tables and lots of treats at this house. You can see my Dad holding Norah as they eagerly await the lighting.

So, my parents came for Christmas!  What a major blessing!!  Everyone was taking in the beautiful tree and too many gifts for the little chicas :)

We took a night away back to Rothenburg for their beautiful Christmas markt.  Here are a few beautiful pictures us enjoying, bratwurst, bakerie, and the beautiful decor of Rothenberg at Christmas time.

My parents are so fun!

  Käthe Wohlfahrt stores/truck.

 

 LOTS of meat to choose from in Germany!

 I have to say, one of the things I've come to love here is the Apotheke (pharmacies).  The pharmacists that work in them are so helpful and always have the most natural options for healthcare. I love it.  When we were in Rothenburg a few of us came down with a nasty cough so we stopped at the local apotheke and chatted with this darling man and he hooked us up with some great cough drops, even for the kids!

 German stores and homes decorated with Christmas gear, beautiful.

 The girlies playing.

A very German thing to do is window decor, especially in the villages.  Since there is virtually no yard the windo eansamble is very important and usually beautiful... inside and out.  These are winter flowers that last throughout the cold and then in the back you see the orchids peaking through (VERY popular here, we only have 5 in our house!)

 Famous intersection in Rothenburg oh der Tauber, beautiful December weather too!

 One last family pic... Frohe Weihnachten!

thankful in bavaria, take 2.

Last year, we ventured down to Garmish-Partenkirchen in Bavaria for Thanksgiving.  We had such a good time, we decided to go again this year!  Luckily, this year we were joined by some good friends of ours, which made our celebration of thanks even better.

Daddy and his girls at Turkey Dinner.

The Rigsby's (one of two families we enjoyed spending time with)

Norah and her friend Trinity on the jumpy castle provided by the hotel!

Half-awake Ev during our 4.5 mile walk around Lake Eibsee (FYI: 2 hour walks take 4 hours with 7 kids).

The water was so clear!

Our good friends the Gehmans.  We were reunited with them this past summer, as they lived in CO with us!

Nice shot, David!

half way around the lake... why didn't we bring a stroller?!...

Norah on her first pony ride!  She was so excited...until she had to get on the horse!

At the Innsbruck Christmas Market!

The markets are so beautiful, they just make you fall more in love!

Innsbruck, Austria... with a silly three year old.

(eating our way through) bruge, belguim.

Bruge, Belgium is just about a 4 hour drive from our house so we took advantage of a long weekend to get away.  The four of us had a delicious time eating our way through Bruge and relaxing a lot, too. We rented a cute little flat in the city center and just took our sweet time to see the main shopping and touristy areas.

We always start our mornings off with pastries and kaffee or cappuccinos. We don't understand when friends here in Germany complain and say they miss Starbucks when there is some of the most amazing coffee surrounding us... even in our neighbors' homes!

 A windy picture of me in the main town square :)

 We loved the architecture in the city--this was the big clock tower in town.

 Two of my loves during a canal tour we did through the city.

There were lots of horse drawn carriages through the cobblestone streets. I think mostly for tourists getting tours but it was beautiful to see and hear the horses "clip clops" through the streets.  Can you see the character in the buildings?!  So beautiful.

Bruge is famously known throughout the world for their hot chocolate, waffles and for being the birth place of french (or should I say Belgian) fries - and Belgium is known for good beer with quite high alcohol content (10-12%).  So, the above picture is David about to pore the liquid chocolate into the steamed milk to make the hot chocolate - so amazing!

On a tour of the only brewery in town.  It was also a historical monument and one of the higher points in the city with a great view, even though it was raining.

This is a cute bouquet outside of our flat - all crocheted or knitted flowers :)  I took it as I thought of my mom but really it's just cute and there are so many artistic one of a kind things like this around Europe.

 Walking to dinner down a dark alley... some of the best finds are down those dark alley's!

 Snuggles and dress up time at the flat.

Again, love the architecture... and the random lady. The fabulous peaked homes and buildings were really beautiful to see all in a row.  Many of the buildings were from different time periods too which made it all the more unique.

 More famous hot chocolate and a pink cupcake like Pinkalicious :)

Famous fries... oh such a healthy weekend.

filling our tanks.

We were very blessed in fall to have our very own Taylor Reunion, European style!  One of David's floor mates at Taylor University and his lovely wife are missionaries in France.  They came over to our neck of the woods for a few days of R&R.  We had a blast reconnecting with them, meeting their two beautiful sons and sharing the joys/sorrows/frustrations/excitement of living in Europe.

The Shorb's trip happened to coincide with Halloween.  Neither of our families are huge Halloweeners, but we hit up the base for some free candy just to experience it all.  A few observations: kids wear some scary costumes (and our kiddos certainly shed a few fearful tears---what a strange "celebration"); David looked really good dressed up as an Airman, me as a cowgirl; and Norah and Evelyn are cute princesses everyday of the year, but especially on Halloween when they don't cost any more to dress up.

 At least Rupunzel was there to soften the scary for Norah!  What a great outfit!

Living in the biggest community of Americans outside of the US, it was nice to be able to bring the Shorbs to "little America" on base.  However, we ventured out into the German countryside and went to a wild park where there are moose, deer, all kinds of birds of prey, pony's and peacocks!  Here is Norah feeding a donkey.

Norah's new boyfriend, Kayden.

The goats that live where the kids park was :)

The moose, taking a break from their mating -- which we saw some of... quite strange and exciting.

Trying to get Norah to feed the eager deer.

Our beautiful friends.

Wrigley taking the cute couple on a walk :)

Thanks for visiting friends and we hope to see you very soon!