The Showalter's European Adventure

Almost caught up

2012-01-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

I am almost all caught up. I only have December left to do. I am sorry if the pictures are so small I meant to make them bigger. You can just click on them and it will take you to Flickr to view them. I still have to upload all our pictures from Rome to Flickr and then I can blog about them. I hope you all are enjoying the blog. I will try harder to keep it updated once I get caught up I will give you all an update on our day to day activities. This new year is starting out very busy I only hope I can keep up. Well enjoy your week Rick is TDY again so it is just us girls he will be home on Friday hopefully in time for the girls first basketball games.

Paris France 2011

2012-01-16T11:09:00.001-08:00

Paris France 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

Ok I am up to Paris almost caught up. Lets see Paris what a weekend. When we asked Bella what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to go to Paris. So off we went on Thanksgiving morning it is about a 6 hour drive from our house to Paris. So we started early. Our first stop was the palace of Versailles. That place is amazing no wonder France almost went bankrupt building it. It is massive we toured the palace and the grounds. We will be going back in the spring to see the grounds completely open all the fountains were closed for winter. It took us hours to see the whole thing. We then arrived at our hotel it was really foggy so we couldn't see the Eiffel tower the first night. The second day was an adventure we got up early and walked to the subway it was right at morning rush hour and as we were boarding the subway Rick and the girls got on but I didn't the door closed right as I was about to get on. It was a good thing we just talked about what stop we were going to get off at. the next train came 2 minutes later and I met up with Rick and the girls. We did a lot on Friday we went to the Champs de Eylsee they had a fabulous Christmas market the girls went Ice skating road a huge ferris wheel and we shopped. we went to the Arc de Triomphe and Rick and the girls went to the top. We could barley see the Eiffel tower it was still to foggy. Next we went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus De Milo while the Louvre was impressive it really didn't have my taste in art. I got to see my favorite artist when we went to the Orsay to see the impressionist. Finally on Saturday the sky was clear and we could see the Eiffel tower. The first stop of the day was the Orsay so I could stare at all of the Monet paintings they have then we were off to Notre Dame I haven't been in many churches in my life and that is the biggest one I have ever been in so far (at the time of this trip anyway) The girls got to feed the birds before we went in I was little grossed out watching those birds eat out of there hands but they loved it. It is a good thing I always carry hand sanitizer . We were going to go to the top of Notre Dame but the line was to long for Abby to handle so we left and made our way to the Eiffel tower. Once we got there and got in line it took us 3 hours to get to the very top and back down. I will not be doing that again when we go back. It was dark by the time we got to the top and seeing Paris all lit up was gorgeous. I took an amazing photo of the tower all lit up ( I am just a little proud of myself). So after three exhausting days of walking all around Paris we were all ready to go home. I didn't get to do some of the things I really wanted to do like take a cooking class at the cordon bleu or go to a few food specialty shops so they are on the top of my to do list for our trip back in the spring. Bella said she had the best birthday ever. We asked Abby what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said she wants to go see big ben so I will have to plan a trip to London for this summer.

Garmisch Germany 2011

2012-01-16T10:37:00.001-08:00

Garmisch Germany 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

All this updating is hard. I am glad I have a good memory. I am up to Veterans day. We took a trip to Garmisch Germany. We met up with our friend Alana who used to live next door to us in Kansas. We were taking care of her dog Anyo while she was deployed well she moved to Italy so she met us in Garmisch to get Anyo. The drive to Garmisch was interesting we couldn't see much it was really foggy. The first day we were there Abby was really sick and I had to take her to the emergency room luckily for us there is an Army post there so they all spoke english it was a German hospital though. After the hospital trip I took Abby back to the hotel for a nap and Rick and Bella went to explore a gorge. The next day the fog was all gone and we could see the mountains they were beautiful. Alana and her son got there it was really sad to give Anyo back she became part of our family we had her for almost 15 months and I still miss her. We spent the next day going up to the Zugspitze it was amazing the view was fabulous. we even got to go sledding. We also went to the Linderhof Palace we took a tour inside but they wouldn't let us take photo's I will say it was a strange palace the grounds were all closed up for winter we would like to go back in the spring when everything is reopened. It was a fun weekend and it was good to see Alana again she even watched the girls for us and Rick and I went to a nice dinner. Garmisch is a beautiful area and we can't wait to go back.

Oktoberfest Munich 2011

2012-01-16T10:11:00.001-08:00

Oktoberfest Munich 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

I turned 40 in September and for my birthday I wanted to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. Of course I was warned by everyone that it would be crowded and crazy but I didn't care I wanted to go at least once while we are here. So off we went. FIrst we drove to Vilseck Germany to meet up with friends so we all can take the train to Munich. It is a 3-1/2 hour drive to Vilseck from our house but with the traffic and construction it took us 6 hours to get there. It didn't seem like a good start to our weekend. Well the next morning we go to the train station at 7am and the train is packed we had to switch trains to get Munich and that train was also packed none in our group had seats we had to stand the whole way there. Once we arrived in Munich we weren't sure which way to go so we just followed the crowed in the wrong direction for a little while but once we finally found the fest grounds all was forgotten. We enter the biggest crowd I have ever been in. Of course all the beer tents were full so Rick took the girls on some rides and then we found a seat in a beer garden. Once we found a seat I stayed there all day drinking beer. We only stayed 5 hours we had to leave to catch the last train back to Vilseck which left at 6pm. The train ride back was miserable. The train was so crowded and hot no one got seats and the kids were so hot and crabby when we had to switch trains nothing was open there was no where to get a drink or even use the bathroom we had about an hour wait for the train when it finally arrived everyone was so exhausted and Abby was so crabby I felt so sorry for her. It was an experience that I probably won't do again but hey you only turn 40 once and I am glad we did it. The next weekend we went to Stuttgart's Oktoberfest and that was a great time not so crowded and you could actually move around with out saying sorry or excuse me every two seconds and there was plenty of room in all the beer tents. I won't go back to Munich but I will go back to Stuttgart.

Pumpkin Festival 2011

2012-01-16T09:51:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin Festival 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

The girls and I went to pumpkin fest in Erbenheim. We met up with some new friends and the girls had a great time. They of course had to climb to the top of the giant haystack first so they were covered with hay the rest of the day. They love horses so a pony ride was next then lunch. I had the fried pumpkin and dip. Bella had a bratt and Abby of course had PB&J from home. We shopped around after lunch and I bought a bottle of Pumpkin wine. It was a fun day and we can't wait to go back next year.

First Day of School 2011

2012-01-16T09:39:00.001-08:00

First Day of School 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

The first day of school is always exciting the girls were excited and very nervous to be going to a new school. Because we live off post the girls go to Hainerberg Elementry school on post. Bella started the second grade and her teacher is Miss Dolit. Abby started First grade and her teacher is Mrs. Hoehn. Rick and I drove them in and walked them to their new classes. They had a great first day. When I picked them up Abby had a Schuluete a cone filled with treats. It is a German custom for the first day of school. The German school system starts at 1st grade so all the first graders got one. Abby was excited to get home and see what was in it. Since I am updating this blog I will tell you that both girls love their teachers and are doing very well and they have made lots of new friends.

Freizeitpark Lockmuhle

2012-01-16T09:28:00.001-08:00

Lockmuhle, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

The Lockmuhle is a little amusement park. It had a lot of rides that you had to work yourself. The weather was perfect. The girls had a great time riding the rides and beating me at mini golf. Going here was their reward for being good at the Roman ruins. We will defiantly go here again it was a very fun day.

Roman Ruins Bad Homburg

2012-01-16T09:23:00.001-08:00

Roman Ruins Bad Homburg, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

In September we went to these great Roman Ruins. It was very impressive. The original part of the fort was built in AD 90. It was very spacious and the girls enjoyed running around the grounds and climbing the steps to the sentry post they marched back an forth like Roman soldiers would have.They had a fabulous museum and it was amazing to see some of the things they found I was most impressed with the hundreds of keys there was a whole pile of them. We finally came to the conclusion if Rick and I want to go see things that the girls might not be interested in we have to do two things in one. One for us and one for the girls so after the Roman ruins we went to a little amusement park called Lochmuhle.

Black Forest Trip 2011

2012-01-16T09:14:00.001-08:00

Black Forest Trip 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

Our next stop on the Black Forest route was Staufen Germany. We stayed the night in Staufen in a cute little Gasthaus (hotel). Rick hiked up to the Castle in Staufen while the girls and I hit the flea market. We left Staufen and headed to Freiburg Germany. Freiberg was another great city. Freiburg's sister city is Madison Wisconsin so of course we had to take a picture with sign. Freiburg has little canals all around it so we bought the girls these little boats everyone floats along it was the highlight of their day. Along our drive through the Black forest we stopped for many photo opps and of course we had to go to the Cuckoo clock museum. Our final stop on our trip was Triberg we hiked to the waterfall it is the highest one in Germany.

Strasbourg France 2011

2012-01-16T08:48:00.001-08:00

Strasbourg France 2011, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

Labor day weekend we took a trip to the Black Forest. Our first stop was Strasbourg France. Strasbourg is a fabulous city. It is only 2 -1/2 hours from our house. The historic city center is an island with a huge church. great museums and wonderful restaurants. We spent half the day their on our way to drive the Black Forest route. The girls and I went TDY with Rick in October to Strasbourg for 4 days. The girls and I had a great time exploring and shopping while he was at work all day.

Finally I am updating the Blog

2012-01-12T04:16:00.000-08:00

I know it has been forever since I updated this blog with our European adventures I had a good excuse my computer was broke. That excuse was only good for a couple of months I have no excuse for the rest of the months. So I am going to take this long weekend and upload all the photos from our trips and blog about them. So check back next week to see what has been going on with the Showalter's.

Computer trouble

2011-10-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

Ok I know I said I would keep up with this blog and I will as soon as I get either a new computer or this one fixed. I can not up load any more photo's on to my Mac until I get rid of some of the 18,000 photo's I already have on it. When Rick gets home from his TDY I will try and update this blog with his computer he has all the new photo's on it. So check back soon and you will see some great photo's from the Black Forest and Oktoberfest in Munich. We are headed to France for a few days next week so hopefully by the next weekend I will have updated.

River cruise on the Rhine

2011-09-19T02:10:00.001-07:00

River cruise on the Rhine, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

We finally took the river cruise and it was a perfect day. We left from Rudesheim and cruised to St Goar. It was a beautiful sunny day. we saw a ton of castles and castle ruins. When we stop at St. Goar we hiked up the hill to go see the Rheinfels castle. Abby and I wanted to take the trolley but Rick led us astray and we couldn't find it. So up we went and of course when we got to the top here comes the trolley boy was Abby mad. We had lunch at the castle then toured it. It was pretty cool and they views were amazing. We didn't have much time for anything else in St. Goar we had to catch the return cruise back to Rudesheim. When we got back to Rudesheim the wine festival had started so we sampled some wine and had even more food. The girls had a great time. We can't wait to finish the cruise in the spring.

Fansanerie and Taunus Wonderland

2011-09-18T22:26:00.001-07:00

Fansanerie and Taunus Wonderland, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

We live about 15 minutes away from this little amusement park called Taunus Wonderland so we took the girls there and they had a great time. I am not sure how old the park is but it is very interesting. They have rides that you have to operate yourself. There is one that you have to pedal with your feet I went on it with Bella thinking she would pedal me around but she couldn't reach the pedal's I wont be doing that again. The day started out very nice then it started to rain and thunder and lightning so we had to leave. It was a fun day we will definitely go back there again.
there is also a free little petting zoo close to our house it is called Fansanerie the girls love going there. They have lots of animals to feed and room to run around. Both places are great to go to on nice days now I just need to find a place to go when it rains and it rains here a lot.

A little Natural History and some good friends

2011-09-12T21:52:00.001-07:00

Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

We were very excited to spend time with our friends Paul and Dana Molnar and their kids. We were stationed together in Alaska and haven't seen them since. They were in Germany visiting Paul's parents and we were lucky to spend time with them. i say lucky because they are great people and they speak german. We went to the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt together. The girls had a great time with there kids. It was a great little day trip we learned how to use the subway and had a great dinner. Thanks Paul and Dana for sharing your vacation with us. Lets not wait 10 years before we see each other again.

Our first vineyard

2011-09-12T21:39:00.001-07:00

Balthasar Vineyard, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

We live in the Rheingau area and there are vineyards every where. We went with some friends to the Balthasar vineyard so they could check out there vine lease and pick up there wine. I enjoyed the view and wine tasting and the girls enjoyed running through the rows of grapes. You can get a vine lease at the is vineyard for 3 years 10 years or 25 years our friends kids have a 25 year one. With the vine lease you get your name on your vine you can participate in harvesting the grapes and a couple of bottles of wine a year. The wine was great I think Rick should get me a vine lease for my birthday.

Finally a home to call our own

2011-09-08T12:41:00.001-07:00

Our house in Germany, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

When looking for a house we had a couple of must haves. It must have off street parking ( my car is way to big to leave on the street or even drive down some streets) It must have a yard for the dogs, and it must have a dish washer. Well we found what we thought was a perfect house. Houses in Germany aren't like houses in the states there are no closest and some houses don't come with built in kitchens and some don't even come with light fixtures like ours. We had to purchase 21 light fixtures so off to IKEA we went and bought the cheapest ones we could find. It took Rick forever to install them our walls and ceiling are concrete he was not a happy man. The girls love the house and we have a very quiet neighborhood the only time it is noisy is when the girls are outside playing. It is a little father from post and it take Rick on average 45 minutes to get to work. We are still settling in and hope to make it a comfortable home. I will try and get photos of the house with our stuff in it. The only thing I hate about our house are the spiders that keep getting in they are huge and when I told the landlord he said there was nothing to worry about this is not Australia and to just use the Hoover on them. I of course was not happy with his comment, but the Hoover does come in handy once you get it plugged into the transformer to make it work.

Our Accidental trip to Koblanz

2011-09-08T12:21:00.001-07:00

Koblanz, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

We did mean to go there but we wanted to go on a cruise on the Rhine but got there really late. Rick says we took the scenic route. So since the cruise was out so we walked around town. We came across this enormous statue Of Emperor Wilhelm II. If you want to know more about him google him I did not go up in the statue it was way to high off the ground for me. The Castle at the top is Marksburg Castle. I will blog about that castle later. It was a great trip to Koblanz and we will take the rhine cruise there next summer.

Trip to Mainz with German head start class

2011-09-08T12:07:00.001-07:00

Mainz, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

Rick had to take a German head start class as part of his in processing. His class had a field trip to Mainz so the girls and I tagged along. We first went to the Bahnhof to learn how to take the train anywhere you want to go. Then we went to the Roman cellars it was a very nice place a lot of history we were 7 stories below ground. There were what seemed like miles of bottles and all the barrels are originals. We even sampled some sparkling wine. Mainz is a very nice town not far from wiesbaden. We really need to get back there and explore the city more. Enjoy the photo's

Arrival in Germany

2011-09-08T10:17:00.001-07:00

Abby celebrating her 6th birthday in lodging, a photo by pshow242 on Flickr.

Our arrival in to Germany went smoother than I thought it would even though we were 2 hours late and the dogs were in there kennels along time. When we arrived in Frankfurt we had help with our luggage and our dogs. We did have to wait a while for the bus to wiesbaden. When we got to the welcome center our sponsor was there waiting for us. Billy took Rick and the dogs to a boarding kennel (the hotel didn't have any pet rooms for the first 2 days). Billy's wife Claudia took me and the girls and all our luggage the hotel. It really was a big help having them.The next few days were busy for Rick as he was in processing. We celebrated Abby's 6th birthday in the hotel with cupcakes and bowling. She didn't even say anything about a big party she thought moving to Germany was her present. We finally got to look at houses around day 10. There wasn't much to choose from but we finally found one in Taunustein. We were in the hotel for 30 days before we could move in. It was a nice hotel but being in a one bedroom room with all of us and the dogs got real old real fast. We did take some day trips while we waited for our house and I will post about those next. I am adding a picture of Abby with her birthday cupcake and her present of living in Germany. LOL:)

2011-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Let's try this again!

2011-09-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

Ok people I am back. I am going to try and keep up with this blog again. I will try to give this blog equal time that I give Facebook. So what is happening in the Showalter house. Well I know all of you know we moved to Germany in June and we are settling in nicely. The girls finally started school. This summer was the longest summer ever. Bella is now in the 2nd grade and Abby is in 1st grade. They both like school so far (it is only the second week). Rick is busier than ever in his new job (job title to come as soon as I ask him). He will be taking a few TDY trips this year even a few back to the states which is good I can send him shopping. I am hoping to use this blog to keep all our family and friends updated on adventures while we are here in Germany so check back and see what is happening. I am working up loading photo's of some of the things we have done so far. Give me few days and I should be all caught up. Enjoy you week

Blame it on Facebook

2009-04-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

I am blaming facebook for taking up all my time and not leaving anytime to blog. Really it has been 4 months since I last blogged about our lives. So this is what has happened. In Feburary Rick went TDY to Ft Lewis Washington and the day after he left I got so sick I had strep throat again. When I finally recovered I got the house ready and put it on the market. I took about two weeks to get an offer that I gladly accepted. So our house is sold we close on April 27th the packers come on April 22 and then we move in to Temporary housing on Ft McCoy until June 22 then we are off to Kansas. Rick got home from Ft Lewis on April 7th and we are in the process of getting the house ready for the movers. We are hoping to lighten our load we are sure we are going to be over our weight allowance and we are getting rid of a few old this that I am tired of moving around. The next few weeks are going to be a little crazy around here and I will try to post more on this blog and not let facebook hog my time.

Digital Scrapbook

2009-01-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Sea World 2008

2009-01-14T07:37:00.001-08:00

Sea World 2008
Originally uploaded by pshow242

First off I want to thank Anheuser-Busch for there continued support of our US troops. There salute to heros program is great soldiers and their families can get into any of the Anheuser-Busch parks for free once a year. We have used this program 4 times we have been to Sea world San Diego twice a Sea world in San Antonio Tx and a Sea world in Florida. The girls love Sea world. Bella's favorite part is feeding the dolphins. We really did have a great day the weather was perfect and the park was not crowded at all. We enjoyed the dolphin show and the girls loved all the rides. We did not see the Shamu show this time the girls had a hard time sitting through the dolphin show. This is my last blog about our trip to california I need to get started on the new year before I get really behind again. Enjoy

Hollywood

2009-01-14T07:20:00.001-08:00

Hollywood
Originally uploaded by pshow242

I think it is time to finish Blogging about our trip to California. Rick wanted to spend a day being a tourist on Hollywood Boulevard so we did. There were a lot of people dressed up as characters or Actors. Some of them looked pretty good others were not so good. It was fun just walking up and down the Boulevard looking at all the stars. We were there only a few hours but we had a good time.

Laguna Beach California 2008

2008-12-30T11:00:00.001-08:00

Laguna Beach California 2008
Originally uploaded by pshow242

California part 2. My brother Sam invited us to the beach with him and his girlfriend Kathy and their daughter Natalie. Natalie is 4 years old and we were meeting her for the first time she is so cute and the girls and her got along great. It was a great day for the beach it was sunny and warm. Bella even went in to the freezing cold pacific water for a little swimming Abby of course wouldn't go near the surf she was content to play in the sand. It was low tide at the beach so we go to explore all the tidal pools. The girls loved all the sea creatures we discovered. I think their favorite were the star fish. We hung out all day we even drove a little further down the coast and watched the sun set at Dana point. I think some day I would like to retire by the beach I just haven't decided which one. The california adventure will continue. We were there for 11 days we have a lot to write about.

Disneyland 2008

2008-12-30T07:55:00.001-08:00

Disneyland 2008
Originally uploaded by pshow242

Well here is our update on our trip to California. We drove Rick's big truck there or should I say Rick drove I did not drive 1 mile of the trip. I don't like driving Rick's big truck it is way to big for me. Well back to our trip. It took us 21/2 days to get there. We arrived to clear sunny skies and high's in the 70's. I was in formed that Lacrosse got about 8 inches of snow right after we left. I was glad we left when we did. Our Adventures in California started out with a trip to Disneyland it was a great day with beautiful weather. The girls had such a great time meeting all the Princess's we must have spent the first 2 hours just in that part of the park. My Friend Robyn and her daughter Rylee joined us at the park and we all had a great time. We got there right when they opened at 9AM and by 5PM the girls were done. We didn't even stay for the parade. I think Rick was a little disappointed he didn't get to go on as many rides as he would have liked too but you know it really is all about the kids we had fun watching them experience it all. Of course I have to thank my brother Philip he got us in to Disneyland and California adventure for free with some family passes his wife and her sister work for Disney. We probably wouldn't have gone otherwise the price for one day at both parks is so outrageous for our family it would have cost us $356.00 for 8 hours at the park because the girls couldn't handle more so thank you philip. Enjoy the pictures of our free trip to Disneyland. The next installment of our vacation is coming soon.

Bella's 5th Birthday party

2008-11-24T10:22:00.001-08:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by pshow242

My first born is 5 why does that make me feel so old. Bella wanted a scooby doo birthday party she decided on it the day after she turned 4 she already has next years planned as well. It was a great party all her cousins came and her BFF Jenna from school even got to come. Rick decorated the house with the decorations I made using my new die cutter. I made the cake it took me two days but it was worth it. The cake turned out exactly as I wanted. We played two games pin the dog tag on scooby doo and we had a bone toss game. The kids had a blast. For the good bag my friend Ruiz ann custom made the scooby doo embroidery and I sewed the little bags we used old blue jeans I think they turned out super cute. Every kids got a scooby doo face mask they were a big hit they were all crawling on the floor acting like dogs. Well that is it for this update. I am not sure when I will be able to give another update we are going on vacation to California for 2 weeks. Have a great thanksgiving.

New update

2008-11-02T15:28:00.001-08:00

October
Originally uploaded by pshow242

Well October is over I can not even believe how fast time is flying by. This could possibly be our last October here in Wisconsin. The girls had lots of fun playing in the leaves that Rick raked up I had fun taking their pictures. Halloween was super fun Rick and I carved the pumpkins for the girls this year they picked the hardest designs of course but I think they turned out pretty good. We went trick or treating at my Uncle's house again this year with my cousins we had a blast the girls were so cute and my Uncle was hilarious he was all dressed up real scary and he would sit very still until the trick or treaters came and then he would scare the pants off them. Abby was scared of him until he took the mask off then she was fine she even told him to put it back on so she could be scared again silly girl. I added the picture of my roses to make my mosaic even Rick and the girls brought them home one day they wanted me to have something special. Isn't that sweet. We have been very busy these last few weeks friends of ours from Alaska are here visiting and we have been having lots of fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures if you do leave comments I like comments.... Bye for now

All Summer Long

2008-10-18T16:38:00.001-07:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by pshow242

Here are the pictures from this summer please enjoy them it took me forever to upload them....

What the Hell have I been up too!

2008-10-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well let's see. I have been to busy reading everyone Else's Blog to update my own. I have been too busy buying things for Bella's Birthday on EBay. Of course I have been to busy taking care of the girls. There is that enough excuses or what. OK I will update you on everything that has been going on in the Showalter house. Bella is now in PreK and she is doing pretty good, she likes it most days. Abby and I go to a tiny tot program at the park & rec twice a week and she loves that. Rick has been super busy at work they have a huge unit here training and he pretty much works everyday. Thankfully that unit will be leaving soon though. I have been really doing nothing just being super lazy about my blog. I will post a few photos from the summer but I will not blog about the whole summer I am just moving forward with this blog so I wont procrastinate anymore. It is Fall and I love Fall now if I can only get out an take some pictures of the most gorgeous trees. Well here are some photos so you don't forget what we look like. I promise to update regularly from now on.

I suck at blogging

2008-08-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well here I am finally updating my blog. So sorry I have been so lazy. My excuses are I was on vacation to Alaska, I got a new computer, and I have been super lazy. So there I have posted something new now every can stop complaining. I will post something with a little more info about us and what has been going on all summer. I just have to organize my photos to upload. So I will see ya later

Bubba's Birthday

2008-05-24T17:01:00.001-07:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by pshow242

Ok so his real name is Ethan but when you are only 2 and are as big as a 3 year old and wears 4T clothing you get the nickname Bubba. Bubba's birthday party was last weekend and it was a construction theme party it was really fun and of course I made the cake. My cousin Marcy and I started planning this party months ago and we came up with some great ideas. For the treat bags we used orange sand pails with shovels attached and little orange canvas bags in side the pails. The pails and shovels were for a game they played Marcy took a plastic pool filled it with wood chips and hid a bunch of little toys in it and the kids had to dig the toys out who ever had the most won a prize. I also went to home depot and asked to buy there little orange aprons they have for the kids day projects but I didn't have to buy them they gave me 8 of them for free. So we took a group picture to send them a thank you. The party was fun Ethan got lots of great new toys the one we gave him was the best (JK) we got him a water table because he is a boy who loves to splash and make a mess. The one thing I really hate about the Army is living so far from family so while we are here we are always going to have the best birthday parties ever.

Mini Vacation May 9th-12th

2008-05-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

We took a mini vacation to Galena IL. We have a time share there so we invited Rick's cousins to join us. We live 3hrs and 5min from Galena and Rick's cousins live 3hrs and 6 min from there so we thought it was a great idea for them to join us. Galena is a tourist town for adults but we had fun with our girls and his cousin who also has girls (3 under 3) had a great time too. We spent 2 nights there then Rick and I and the girls went to Wisconsin Dells for a night. We did lots of swimming. Bella loves to swim and loves water parks. Abby finally likes to swim and kind of likes water parks. It was also mothers day we went to breakfast and I had fabulous eggs Benedict without the meat of course. When we arrived at the Kalahari water park resort I was not feeling great I had a fever and super sore throat so Rick let me take a 2 hour nap while he took the girls swimming so at least I got to take a quit nap for mothers day. In the end the girls had a great time and Abby let Rick take her down a water slide. It was a fun weekend and it was great to see our cousins again.

Marble painting

2008-05-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

I saw this art project in a craft book I bought at Sam's and I also saw it on my friend Tommie's blog. It took me forever to find marble's but I found a whole bag on clearance for .50 cents so that made me happy. The kids loved this project, Bella really loved when she shook the pan to fast and the marble went flying across the room. I hope you all enjoy their master pieces.

Sick of being Sick

2008-05-14T17:24:00.001-07:00

I am really sick of being sick! I have strep throat again yes I did say again it has been exactly 1 month since the last time I had strep throat oh and I had it a month before that time too. What is going on? It is crazy, I never had strep throat as a child I was never sick as a child but this last year I have had strep throat I am sure 5 times I also had Pneumonia and my gall bladder out and a breast reduction(well that was by choice) My kids are sick every month, we have been to the Dr. more times in the last year an a half that we have lived here than the whole 5 years in Texas. I am sure my Dr. thinks I am a hypochondriac you should have seen the look on his face when I went in yesterday I told him I had fever and a sore throat he said well most colds start out that way but I'll give you a strep test anyway, well you should have seen the look on his face when it came back positive does he think I like to drive for 45 minutes to get there because I had a little sore throat come on I knew it was strep. He said well maybe we should think about taking out your tonsils. What is there to think about take them I do not want them anymore. My kids have and I am not kidding have been to the Dr. at least once a month since we have moved here. Isabella had 8 ear infections last year they finally put tubes in her ears in Nov. and took her tonsils and adenoids out she hasn't been sick since oh but wait now I think she has a UTI so we will be going to the Dr. tomorrow. Abby for sure has been to the Dr. every month, It was May 3 and she had fever I was talking to a friend about it and she said well it is a new month I took her in on the 5Th and she hand foot mouth virus she got from school that was Fun!! she also went to the Dr. yesterday because she has an infection in her middle finger that was fun too. Abby also had about 7 ear infection last year and got tubes put in her ears. I really don't know what is going on around here. I am taking them out of school at the end of the month so maybe we can have a germ free summer and not spend it in the Dr. office. You should see the size of our medical records. My cousin said today after I told that Bella may have a UTI she said god can't you get a break. I guess not she also said it was a good thing we have good insurance No Kidding!!!! Abby will be going back to the Dr. on Monday for her annual heart check up she will have an echo done in the morning at one hospital and an afternoon appointment with ped. cardiologist at the other hospital. Cross your fingers it all goes smoothly and that they wont have to sedate her for the echo. I will let you know how that turns out. Oh I guess I should mention for those who might not know Abby has atrial septal defect and pulmonary stenosis I wont get into medical terms basically she has a hole in her heart and her pulmonary valve isn't open all the way. Last we were told that she would need a patch on the hole when she turns five and the pulmonary valve was doing better it was a completely different diagnosis than what the Dr. in Texas said so I guess we shall see it is different this time. well enough about our medical troubles I must go now I need to upload photos so I can blog about our wonderful weekend. TTFN

A day with Papa

2008-05-01T10:59:00.001-07:00

A day with Papa
Originally uploaded by pshow242

Last Saturday Rick took the girls for the day while I went out with Marcy and some friends. He took them to the children's museum and they had the best time. When they were done at the museum he took them to this old fashion ice cream parlor for some ice cream cones. They both had cotton candy ice cream and they thought it was the best. On a side note Rick said when Bella was getting her face painted he said that was the longest he has ever seen her sit still. Rick was so awesome to take the kids out for the day.

A day with Mom

2008-05-01T09:56:00.001-07:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by pshow242

I haven't updated this blog in over a week. I have been busy. To recap the week. Tuesday's and Thursdays the girls are home all day so we try to do work book pages,art projects and a trip to the library. This week we painted and made cookies. The girls love to help me bake. Bella says she wants to be a chef like me. As long as she doesn't go into the military like papa. I just learned how to make these picture mosaics from my friend Tommie it was super easy. Thanks Tommie well enjoy!

MUD BUGS

2008-04-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday we went to a crawfish boil is was so much fun and Delicious. The kids had the best time. There were a lot of kids there for them to play with and they had a trampoline with a net so Bella played in that almost all day. The crawfish were perfect it is a lot of work to eat it but we ate a ton of it. They made about 100 pounds of it. Bella loves it but Abby only ate like 2 she just wanted to carry them around all day. It was my first crawfish boil hopefully not my last.

Bella got a hold of the water hose when no one was paying attention to her and she made a mud puddle that her and Abby decided to play in. They were having so much fun in the mud we couldn't stop them . They had to have a bath at our friends house before we left.

Rainy Day Project

2008-04-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

It rained all morning on Saturday so we did an indoor art project. We made marbled paper using shaving cream. The kids loved it. They had so much fun mixing the colors together. It was a super easy fun project. Abby freaked out when she got shaving cream on her hand but Bella just played in it with no problems. Enjoy the pictures.

Squash Book

2008-04-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in my craft room working on a project when I saw this little book I made for Rick for Valentines day. I thought I would share it with you. My friend over at 3 Army brats in pink thought I should put my scrap book pages on here for inspiration but I don't have time to work on full pages. Actually I do have time it is just that I am a little far behind and I find it hard to get motivated to catch up but I will soon. Here it is this little book when it is all folded up it a 4inch square when it is open the pages are 6x6 I have made a few of these before they are super easy and make great little gifts.

Wonderful Day

2008-04-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day! Isabella had a Dr. appointment with the Allergist, Rick was able to go with which was nice. I had to take Abby to school today because I didn't have a sitter she went on a Field trip to the children's museum she was there for about 1hour and 15 minutes and it cost me 40 bucks (that sucks) but what can you do. Anyways Bella's appointment went great we found out that she is not allergic to anything. So we are taking her off her meds. Bella has been on 4 meds a day for allergies since she was 2 some times I really don't understand Doctors. After Bella's appointment we went to lunch at this great place in Lacrosse called Rudy's it is a drive up restaurant where they serve you on roller skates it is super yummy and have the best Root Beer floats. The weather here has been so nice when we got home the girls played out side for the rest of the day.

I am going to post every week this weeks tasty treat. This week I made a super yummy key lime cheesecake with a raspberry sauce. If you would like the recipe just leave me a comment and I will email it.

What a weekend

2008-04-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

Wow what a weekend. It all started on Friday when I woke up very sick so after I took the girls to school off to the Dr. I went. (I must say having a civilian Dr. has been awesome here I will so miss that when we move.) Anyways I have strep throat again well actually it is the same strep throat I had 3 weeks ago but since I did not finish my medication it came back. I will always finish my medicine from now on because this sucks. When Rick got home from work on Friday Went straight to bed that was at 6:30pm. Saturday I was feeling better and Rick had off all day so we just hung out. Now I am feeling fine so today Rick also had off we set off on a fun family day. We went to breakfast the girls had there favorite chocolate chip pancakes they were huge and Abby ate them all. We did some shopping ate lunch at pannera and went to the park. Isabella ran in to some friends from school and they had the best time. When we finished at the park we went to Chucky cheese. The girls had an absolute blast today they wish every day could be family fun day.

Our Thursday

2008-04-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today I took my girls to the library for the first time they are 4 and almost 3. Does that make a bad mom that I haven't taken them before today? Well I will tell you why I haven't taken them before today I do not have quite children. To my surprise they were very good luckily for us the children's section is in the basement part of our library and we were the only ones there this morning. I let them pick out two books each which took forever they keep picking books we already had. They thought the library was so much fun. We will even go back next week.

Rick made it home on time tonight to eat supper with us we had a Mexican fiesta chicken chimichangas , beans and rice. It was delicious! Abby of course wouldn't eat it she hates Mexican food which confuses me because she is my kids and I could live on it. For dessert I made some mini funnel cakes using pate a choux paste. Rick deck them out for the girls with chocolate syrup and whip cream and we can't forget the sprinkles they were so yummy. The girls loved them and of course made a mess.

My first post

2008-04-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. I think this is going to be a great way to keep friends and family updated on our lives. We are a busy family but not to busy. I should have plenty of time to keep this blog updated. Hey if my friend over at 3 army brats in pink has time I have time. My friend Tuesday update has a great blog so I will get some pointers from her so I don't bore you to death. As stated in my profile my husband is in the military, he has been now for almost 11 years and we are currently stationed in Wisconsin which is great because I have lots of friends and family here. I get to spend a lot of time with them and we have tons of fun. Although poor husband is too busy at work he has no fun at all. The girls love it here they have lots of cousins to play with. The girls are both in preschool right now and Bella will be starting PreK in the fall. We still have our two old dogs (they are 10) Princess and Aurora. Although they are old dogs they act like puppies most days. I hope you like my blog if you have any tips on how to make it great let me know.