buongiorno.

To help pass the time during my mom's visit (haha) we decided to visit Roma!
It.was.awesome.

David had a few (read eight) speaking engagements during the time my mom was here -- they were timed terribly but when work gets in the way of life... we get back at it by taking leave to Italy :)  So, David went to Venice for work for a few days and then met us in Rome for the rest of the week to explore.  While he was in Venice he was able to walk around the islands for a few hours and admire some of the rather invested costumes from carnevale (the classy mardi gras, so it seems).  Here are some of his pictures from his day there.

 

 

 

Us ladies flew to Rome and met David at the apartment we were renting for a few days.  The day we arrived my mom unfortunately did not feel well so she layed in bed for the whole first day while we walked about taking in the beauty of the ruins around town and seeing the colosseum (about 3 min from our apartment!).  After the girls were safely tucked in, David and I went on a date!  It was a fun few hours of just having a classy dinner in Italia and drinking delicious wine and catching up from his time away.

The first full day we had scheduled a tour of part of the Vatican.  It was very overwhelming and we were soaking in as much as we could in the 1.5 hours we had with a guide - what a beautiful place with more history and art than we could absorb!

Trying to focus and take it all in... while David manages both crazy girls :)

After our tour inside we moved onto Saint Peter's Basilica where we shortly walked through on our own and took our time in the courtyard in front of the church where the Pope addresses the people.  Again, so beautiful and so much unique art to appreciate.  

And, what's it's REALLY like traveling with two toddlers. It's not easy or always fun but you just have to make it happen if you want to see and do things :)  Isn't he da man?

Thankfully, as the day progressed, my mom was feeling more and more like herself and was able to really start to enjoy Rome too.  For dinner we went to a little hole in the wall restaurant down the road from our apartment and took our time eating and talking.  Norah gets a little crazy at restaurants so David was kind enough to head back a bit early so she could run around our apartment while my mom and I stayed and talked.

Near our apartment.

On the second day we started off with some scrumptious cappuccinos!  I had three or four in one day (probably not the best for the bod but it sure went down easy!).

After that great start to our day we headed off to explore the most well known colosseum.  It was really neat to see the inside of it and learn more about the details of the games and the building itself.  The small museum inside was well done and helped us understand a part of the sequence of history surrounding the building and the land it was on.

The half covered ground shows where the area's "floor" was and underneath it was a maze of rooms and halls and cages for animals.

Gelato was next on the list... one of three times David was able to enjoy it (only two for the rest of us)!  Gelato is really really good, if you haven't been able to try it, you should take the plunge.  And again, for dinner, we tried another small hole in the wall place near our apartment.  There is a lot of amazing pizza to be had and anywhere you go... they seem to really know their pizza (of course)!

The colosseum is just above Norah's head.

The best way to travel with kids... the Ergo. They are happy to be close and can't get away and we have our hands free to hold each other's too!

Our third day started off with some exploring of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum where many ruins lie untouched.  We were able to walk through some of the old parts of Palatine and "see" what the old city was somewhat like.  

Inside Palatine Hill area.

After the hill we walked towards the Pantheon to this wonderful open square where there was so much life!  Music, dancing, art and lots of tables outside!  It was a gorgeous day to enjoy another cappuccino at a cafe.

We stopped by the Pantheon, then had more pizza (outside!), more gelato and then all rested back at our place.

The Pantheon is behind us.

Italy is so lovey dovey :)

During the girls' naps my mom and I went out to the little boutiques and shopped around (had another cappuccino, of course) for some unique finds. We both ended up with a scarf and I even got a dress (super duper on sale!). So fun.  Once the girls were up we walked over to Trevi fountain where the crowds were big and the fountain was beautiful.

We weren't that hungry but we tried to get some food at two different restaurants and got kicked out of one and left the other because the servers was incredibly rude. It was sorta a flop of a night for food and we got a pizza (again) to go for the girls and me and my mom and David stayed at the second place and had a beer!  We flew back to Germany in the morning to cold weather and a bit of snow.

Rome was so wonderful - my favorite place we've been during our time here so far.  I would go back if we have time. 

my mama.

Sorry for our absence lately!  We've been enjoying the company of my Mom!  After two and a half weeks she had to unfortunately get back to her real life :)  We already miss her and she's not even back on the US soil.  We had a great time showing her off to our few friends and around town... we even took an adventure to Italy!

While she was here she visited our church (twice), MOPS, my sewing class, walked around Nanzdietschweiler, hiked up to an old castle, visited the german kindergarten Norah has a spot in (woohoo), gave her a tour of the AF base and all it has to offer us from home, she was a huge help in potty training, read books, watched movies, tried wine, made sweets, shopped (food, Aldi, Polish Pottery & clothes) and ate a lot of yummy food!  It was all so fun... and now it's all quiet and normal.  We're so thankful she came and did life with us for a while.  We love you Mom!

My Mom's bag came FULL of loads of stuff I either requested from the states or fun gifts for the girls!  As she unpacked the girls got into it all :)  Evelyn's sporting my mom's hat (that she made), Norah's new sweater and a new skirt!

 Uncle Aaron sent this fun gift for the girls... an iPhone!, a purse, sunglasses and a camera... they LOVE it.

Our local grocery store - Netto.

 On a VERY cold day we drove over to the Mosel river and hiked up to Burn Castel to see the view of the river and city below.

 

 

 

 Playing around the house :)

 And then... the potty training started!  Norah chose one of the two seats we bought her - so happy!

 

 Then she got her cute body back into those cute panties... and went potty on the toilet... a lot!  She's also had her share of accidents but each time she's peed on the pot she's asked to go.  On a day that David and I weren't around she went 9 times and each time she asked to go.  We're sooooo proud of her!

 Showing Nana & Daddy around the kindergarten.  We're not sure if Norah will be going but the teachers at the kindergarten think she should start now!  Kids here can start at 18 months and get socialized and learn how to deal with other kids but... it's 5 days a week (half days) and I'm not sure I want to give up my time with her yet.  As of now she's scheduled to start in the fall.  We're have more direction by then of what we want for her but obviously she loves it there!

 My sewing class!!!  I'm having a blast and learning so much.  This is the five ladies in the class learning about a ruffle foot :) Love it!

 I tried my hand at making pretzels...I thought, why not.  And they were so good!

 Playing at the park :)

 The girls and their Nana (in the two newest and cutest sweaters) - she's so talented!

 A stroll around Nanz... this is what the signs look like when you're leaving a village. My mom thinks the slash is pretty hilarious. 

 One of Norah's best shots :)

It's always so much fun to have visitors and to share with you all our good times! Already looking forward to the next visit with you Mom, thanks again for coming. Love you.

my barbie oven.

I am the PROUD user of a new oven!!! I can't claim it as mine since we rent but I do get to celebrate the sparkling new oven and help break it in :)  I could not be more excited!

You see... many of the American's that I've met here affectionately call their oven their "Barbie oven".  When I heard the term, it totally fit since well... the ovens seem to be a good size for Barbie.  My old German oven didn't fitting my cookie sheets, some of my glass cookware and definitely would not fit a turkey for Thanksgiving!  Most things are smaller here and they make great use of the small spaces.  A bigger oven is a huge blessing, especially for someone that is really enjoying baking and cooking (Me!)!!

My old oven wasn't sealing properly and so things weren't cooking right and it was very old with no broiler, only one rack and just basic.  Our wonderful landlord decided it was well worth the investment to order the house a new oven.  So, can I just brag a bit?  Okay :)  My new oven ROCKS. It came with a convection button (works like a charm), a grill feature (who woulda thought?), a special setting just for cooking pizza (it's like the manufacturer knows us!) and with two racks and two special trays for pizza or cookies!  Yup, things taste better in my new oven!  Thanks for celebrating with me.

fun, random stuff.

We had our final social worker visit this week!  We hadn't met the social worker before the visit and we weren't nervous per se but, we also hadn't been having the best week with Evelyn.  I think she's been teething a bit and therefore super ornery and throwing (a lot) of extra facedown on the floor tantrums.  To be honest, I haven't been the most calm or patient mother.  It's been more than challenging me this week - motherhood I mean... well, and just finding that extra love and tenderness for Evelyn that I don't naturally (always) have yet.  It's only by the grace of God that I get to be Evelyn's mama and I want to cherish that everyday but... it's a journey and there haven't been any "we've arrived" moments (yet).  Needless to say, our last post placement visit is over and it went well.  We have one more report that we'll write for the Korean ministry and then we will apply for Evelyn's certificate of citizenship (even though yes, she's already a US citizen and she has a US birth certificate).  The process is close to done (on the paperwork side)!

An update on Norah and the toilet :)  She randomly (first time since we tried to potty train) asked to go on the toilet - she already had her pants and diaper off so I thought, what the heck?!  Then, she proceeded to poop on the toilet!  WHAT?! Yup. Then, I was confused and didn't know what to do - besides do a happy dance and praise her for the big "deposit" (and my mother-in-law calls it)!  So, after filling David in and deciding to see if she mentioned it again the next day we said nothing and she didn't mention it either.  Then, today we picked her up after church from the nursery and they said, "oh yeah, Norah went potty on the toilet"!  Ummm, okay!  Well, she obviously wants to - again, we knew she knew how to control her bladder but didn't want to when we asked her to but... we are going to be traveling in about a week. So, we reluctantly report that we are waiting until we return from our travels to see how the visits to the toilet turn out :) Is not letting her go when she asks going to wreck her desire? I hope not!  We don't want to let her go here and there and let her think it's okay to chose randomly - we want all or nothing so we're not letting her go on the toilet until we're home again.  Aren't you glad for that update?! :)

We had pizza, twice, this weekend. It's covers a lot food groups (right?) at least one was homemade!  Hey, at least we feed them!  Haha.

And, thanks sweet Melissa for this Liebster award :)

Liebster in German means dearest, beloved, or favorite, 

and it is for bloggers with under 200 followers.

How fitting right?  A German award?!

The girls think Wall-E is funny! And it's so cute.  

Fun in the tub... painting with shaving cream and food coloring a few weeks ago :)

And, my mom is coming this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I got.

a little (german) home improvement.

It's taken us a little bit but we really do feel at home in our home!  Before we could even relax we got the go ahead from the landlord to fix a little something on our walls... the color!  I mean, look at what was on there before... bleh!

Wait, did I mention it was sponge painted yellow - bonus for the sponge paint!

Depending on how bright the sun was - the walls just got more vibrant.  Now, call me Debbie Downer if you want, yellow walls are cheerful after all... but nope, we couldn't take it.

About three weeks after the girls and I arrived here we got to work - in the middle of unpacking too. We decided that during the chaos was as good a time as any!  We picked up our primer and paint with some translation issues and away we went.  After priming and starting on the trim - we got scared!  The grey we thought we picked out was more like charcoal.  Quickly David ran to the store and asked them to add white but, that's a no go - we would have to spend 50 more euro on a whole new pale.  Instead, we bought the cheaper white pale and added it to our grey.  

We love the color (a small hint of blue) and feel so relaxed in our new living room!  Yes, I'm still working on the blank canvas and yes... in that picture above Norah is playing with a panty liner - what the heck - she found it during the move (a new one!) and it entertained her :)

And, because I love them and you think they're pretty darn cute too - here's a fun one from the week of painting. Me and my girlies cuddling on the couch!