Oma and Opa's visit

This has certainly been the summer for visitors!  Sam's parents came in May and early June.  Friends from Florida came a week later for 10 days.  Sam's sister and family are coming in August and his aunt will be here in September.  We're really enjoying our guests so far and look forward to the others who will be coming. 

Elly LOVED having Oma and Opa here.  Oma is so great with her and has more stamina than anyone I know.  She would literally play with Elly for hours at a time and didn't seem to tire of it.  Elly loved spending time with them and loved the fact that Oma had a seemingly never ending supply of chocolate in her purse :)  I would hear Elly say (quietly so I couldn't get on to her about it) "Oma...what's in your purse?".  Knowing full well that she had chocolate in there, but not wanting to be bold enough to just ask for it.  One day I was driving and looked in the back seat and there was Elly with a mouth full of chocolate wearing all of Oma's jewelry. She was always asking to wear her rings and bracelets.  It made her feel like such a big girl I guess :) 

Having such a great time with them here made it harder on Elly when they left.  When Oma left to go to Bad Kreuznach to see her family Elly really cried and kept saying "I miss she!" (I love how she gets her pronouns confused!) It's so hard to explain distance to a three year old.  She doesn't understand why we can't see them more.  I wish we all lived closer so she could grow up with her grandparents nearby.  That would be ideal in my world.

We did enjoy having them here though. They arrived the day before Elly's birthday so they were able to be here for her party.  The day after her birthday we went to Legoland.  Opa wasn't feeling up to it so he stayed at home.  Elly had a blast, of course.

This is the very first ride Elly has done all on her own.  I was so nervous to let her go on it because she was on this "horse" by herself and it went on a path out away from us so we couldn't even see her for most of the ride.  My girl's growing up though because she did great and LOVED it.  I wish I would have gotten a video of her when she first got on it.  She kept giggling.  It was so cute!

Here is Elly waiting her turn to ride a car around the track.  She could not get the hang of steering and giving it gas, so...she kept running into the curb. She would get stuck there until the girl running the ride came and got her back on the road and 5 seconds later she would hit the curb again.  I don't think the lady was having too much fun with it, but Elly was so tickled every time she hit the curb.  She would hit and start giggling.  This is another time I should have taken a video.

One day we went out to the monastery close to our home.  It's called Kloster Bebenhausen.  We love it there.  It's so peaceful and beautiful.  We've been there many times, since we take almost all our guests there, but we still enjoy it. It's also where we had our maternity photos taken, so it's kind of special to us. 

It was a really hot day, so Elly had fun playing in the water fountain.  I loves these pictures :) 

There were about 10 of these round rocks.  I have a picture of Elly on each and every one of them.  She had to have me take a picture each time she sat on a new one.

 

She gets the best seat in the house :)

A day trip to beautiful Rothenburg o.d. Tauber.  Love that place!  Elly loved this huge teddy bear :)

Mother's Day 2012

I am so blessed to be called "Mama" by this little girl.  I'm so thankful I've been given the opportunity to experience motherhood.  Such a challenge and yet so rewarding. I love her!

Another beautiful town that we love to go to is Esslingen.  Such a beautiful place!

This swing was in the park in Esslingen.  I think Elly could have gone to sleep in it.  We all took our turn swinging in it with her. 

A family of beautiful swans.  Love this!

I just love to watch Elly play.  I could watch her for hours.  She's like a little kitten.  We were waiting for a train in Esslingen and everyone was talking, but I was taking pictures of my sweet little girl.  She was being silly and checking things out. Taking off her shoe and just being a busy 3 year old.  I sure love her!

While Sam's parents were here we had some good friends come visit.  Jerry and Heide have been friends of Sam's family for years and it just so happened that they were in Germany at the same time.  They visited us here once before when Elly was just a few months old.  It was great to see them again.

Another day Oma, Elly and I met some friends at the zoo.  I love having a season pass there.  It's such a nice zoo and a great place for Elly to run off some energy.  Of course I had to check in on the baby gorillas :)

Elly with her little friends, Maddie and Sammie.

Love this!

Sam's Mom spent the last week or so of her time in Germany in Bad Kreuznach visiting her friends and family there.  Elly really missed her Oma and so Sam suggested we go up one weekend and go on a Rhine river cruise with her.  We didn't tell Elly we were going to see Oma so she was really happy to have a bonus day with her.  We missed the first boat so we had some time to kill waiting for the next one.  This nice playground area was near the boat dock.

Finally, we got on the boat and Elly went right to the window by our table and sat there watching the other boats go by.

There are so many castles to see along the Rhine.  It was really beautiful.  It's amazing how castles can actually become mundane once you've seen so many.  We still really enjoy them though.

The boat stopped in one town and we all got off.  Our plan was to get some lunch there, but we didn't realize that was the plan of everyone else too.  It looked like several boats stopped there and all the restaurants were flooded with people.  We were told by one restaurant that they could not serve us in the time we had. We ended up just getting an ice cream and heading back to wait for the boat's return.

While waiting for the boat's return Oma, Elly and I walked down to an area where Elly could play in the water for a few minutes. 

When we got back on the boat Sam and Heide managed to get a table on the top deck.  The sun had finally come out after a very chilly morning.  It was beautiful, but I was concerned about the sun on Elly's head and I didn't have a hat for her.  Thankfully, Oma had a scarf which helped keep the sun from baking Elly's head.

Feeding Baby :)

Kisses for Daddy :)

This is the boat we were on.

Leaving the hotel the next morning Elly hitched a ride on the suitcase :)

Our sleepy little girl knocked out on the drive back to Stuttgart. 

We really enjoyed having Sam's parents here.  I always wish we lived closer to our families.  I would like nothing better than to live close enough so Elly could have them all in her life.  We don't though so we'll take what time we can get :) 

Elly's 3rd Birthday ~ 9 May 2012

It's so hard to believe that my sweet little girl is already 3 years old.  She is so sweet and precious and the love of my life.  Over the past year Elly has really grown to love Dora the Explorer.  It was the first TV program that she ever saw.  Her first 2 years she didn't watch any TV and then at one point she started talking about Dora.  I asked her where she had seen Dora and she said at PWOC.  I guess they played a video of Dora in the childcare room and that was her first introduction.  After checking it out I came to the conclusion that there could be much worse than a cute, chubby little Hispanic girl so I bought a couple of Dora DVDs and that increased Elly love for her. 

It just seemed natural then to plan Elly's 3rd birthday with a Dora theme.  Elly loved to tell anyone that would listen that she was having a Dora birthday with a big pinata.  Of course, I had to do what I could to make her little dreams come true. 

This is what Elly's mornings usually look like.  She loves to watch Dora while eating her breakfast.  This was the morning of her 3rd birthday.  Seemed like the perfect way to start off her Dora birthday celebration :)

Sam's parents were scheduled to arrive the day before Elly's birthday so I planned to have most everything done at that point so I wouldn't be too stressed.  A couple of weeks earlier I made Elly's birthday cakes.  I made one of Dora (which I wasn't too happy with) and another one of Boots, Dora's sidekick.  Sam took Elly out one day so I could get the cakes decorated.  I don't think I could have finished them while answering Elly's non-stop questions.  I never knew I would be so critiqued as a Mama.  Literally just about everything I do has a question attached to it.  I can't seem to do anything without her seeing it and asking about it.  Anyhow, here are the cakes I made for her birthday.

I had the cakes in the freezer until the morning of Elly's birthday. She hadn't seen them so when I got them out of the freezer I let her see them. She loved them, so that's all that really mattered.

Sam took Elly and his parents out for a couple of hours in the morning so I could finish up last minute details and get the house cleaned. On their way home they stopped and picked up a bunch of balloons I had ordered for her birthday.

Elly was dressed and ready for her party to begin. She was so tickled that friends were coming over to celebrate her birthday with her.

We had a very simple menu. Sam grilled hamburgers and brats and I rounded it out with some side dishes. Very simple and easy...just what I wanted.

Our wonderful neighbors got Elly a bubble machine so the girls were helping her get it set up.

Sam and Aiden manned the grill.

The big pinata!

 

Elly, Maddie and Sammie eating at her little table.

The is the only picture I managed to get of Elly getting ready to blow out her candle.  I was too busy to get pictures :(

Time to open some gifts!

The last gift was a tricycle from Daddy and Mama.  She had a difficult time at first getting the hang of steering and peddling at the same time, but just a week later she was a little pro at it.

We had such a nice time celebrating Elly's 3 years.  She just gets sweeter with each passing year.  We are so blessed to have her as our little girl.  I thank God daily for giving her to us to raise.  We sure do love her!

Easter 2012

Easter is always a fun time. Last year Elly and I were in Alaska which was so nice.  I loved spending Easter and Elly's birthday with my family.  This year we were back in Germany and had fun with the activities available here.  Child & Youth Services always has an Easter Egg Hunt the Saturday before Easter.  You never know what the weather is going to be like and this year is was very cold.  I met up with my friend Kim and her little girl Sydney and was thankful she had an extra jacket for Elly because the wind was blowing and it was very cold as we waited for the Egg Hunt to begin. 

Elly and Sydney were comparing baskets

Elly kind of got into gathering eggs.  She still wasn't that interested in it, but after some encouragement she got several in her basket.

She wasn't sure what to think of the Easter bunny at first, but when she realized Sydney liked him and wanted to be near him she warmed up to the idea. It looks like she's still trying to pull away in this picture though :)

Kim, Sydney and us with the Easter bunny

Family picture with the Easter bunny

Saturday evening we colored eggs at home.  This was the first time we did it as a family.  The first year Elly wasn't into it and then last year her and I were in Alaska.  We had fun and Elly enjoyed it.

Easter morning I had Elly's baskets set up on the table.  Mom sent her a basket too so it looks like Easter basket overkill, but it didn't all come from us :) 

Chocolate!!

Ready for church!  I planned on getting her a new dress for Easter this year, but realized the dress she wore last year still fit her.  She had worn it only once (last Easter) and so I couldn't really justify buying a brand new dress when she had a perfectly good (and beautiful) little dress just hanging in her closet.  And she certainly didn't mind!

After church Elly was going through everything in her basket.  Checking it all out :)