What, I have two Four year olds?!!

So, I am play catch up a bit here for October.  We just did so much and we were so busy, and frankly I lost my blogging momentum since we moved back to the States.  

So much overdue, here is the boy's birthday!

I still can't believe they are 4!!

 We have this app on our iphones that our friends got us really hooked on.  It is called Cake Doodle and the kids LOVE it!  You basically bake and decorate a virtual cake.  So when the boys saw me making a real cake they wanted to jump in and help.

It was a blast and they did great!

 The boys requested "Cars" themed cakes this year.

 So I started to run out of frosting, but you get the idea.  I made their first initial into a road and then put toothpick decorated Cars on the road.  The boys were pleased!

 Jack is so grown up!

He loves the birhtday song!

 So the girls found these trick candles and wanted me to put them on the boys cake this year.  I just put one on, but after seeing Jack trying to blow out his candles (we sing and blow in birth order) Hunter wasn't so sure about his turn.  I think he kept expecting the fire to leap of the cake and get him.

Next time no trick candles!

 They were spoiled again this year by some super fun gifts from Aunts and Uncles, and grandparents.

And do they ever know the boys well...

Golf books!

 "Planes" play sets!

 "planes" airplane launchers!

They loved all their gifts so much, but in the end I think they are sports men at heart.

First thing the next morning, while waiting for breakfast, the boys went golfing at our kitchen table.

Happy Birthday to our awesome 4 year olds!!

You make our lives complete and full of adventure!

It isn't the same...but it's still good.

Cuddling with these boys just isn't the same as it is

 cuddling with this little munchkin.

They have grown up so fast, too fast.  Sometimes I miss my baby boy cuddles, and how they would curl up on your shoulder and snuggle and fall asleep.

But, even though I miss those precious baby moments, it is still good...

 We are painting

 cooking...

and having all kinds of adventures with our home pre-school program.

It has been a lot of fun hanging out with my boys, and I treasure every second.

Because I know that too soon the time will come when I will look at my teenage (gasp!) boys and remember (wish for...long for) the sweet pre-school age years.

They are so funny and say the craziest things.  Like everything they don't like is "weird" and everything they love is "awesome".  They can't pronounce the "f" sound, so everything that starts with "F" actually has a "B" sound, like Bace (face), boot (foot) and my favorite one is poopball (football), which for some reason has a "P" sound instead of the common "B" sound.

So much fun, I love my sweet boys and their shining faces!

I am a New Auntie!!!

During all my international moving drama an exciting event happened in my family!  This was pretty big for me, because it is the first baby born to any of my siblings.  I am no longer the single procreator in my family!!

On July 10 I became a new Aunt!

Liam decided to join our family a month early!

This was a pretty crazy day for me, I was doing my final clean and clearing housing that day...so I was going to loose my home phone, my single most reliable means to communicate with my family during important, life changing events....like getting a new NEPHEW!!!

Liam did not check with me before his arrival to make sure it was convenient, (he didn't check with anyone...I know he took his parents by surprise as well!)  He was supposed to come sometime the first week of August, I would be done with moving and our visit to Utah and would be able to come up to New York and help out, ha ha!  Nope, surprise, I was still in Germany.  

It was a very exciting day, and he arrived safe and healthy before I lost my phone connection, so I could call and say congratulations.

Not only is my sister in law and amazing woman, wife and mother, she is also a fabulous photographer.  I stole a few of her shots...hopefully she won't mind, but here is Liam...

Aren't they a cute family?!

 My brother.

I am so proud of him, he took to parenting like a pro.  He was so excited, dare I say giddy, every time I spoke with him leading up to Liam's birth.

He will be such a great dad!

 So, after getting settled, and getting my cars back from shipping, I was able to sneak away from my crew for a quick weekend visit to meet Liam.

I was greeted with this little cutie in an awesome shirt!

(Ignore the hair, I had to leave my home at 4am to catch my flight, and airplanes are never kind to hair anyway...)

 I sure loved these cuddles!

 My brother's favorite stance...rocking Liam to the tune of ESPN.

 So, did I say Liam was my first nephew.

That was a gross mistake on my part.  Meet my first nephew, Bubba.

He thinks he is human and every time attention is granted to someone or something else, he thinks he should be in on his cut.

So here I am, getting some cuddle time with BOTH my nephews.

 Love him.

 Liam and I

I get to see more of this cuteness for Thanksgiving.

Can't wait!!

A Moment to Reflect...my Favorite German Crop...

One of my favorite things about Germany...I say that a lot don't I?  Lets be honest, I loved everything about Germany, even the inconveniences where shopping was concerned.  However, in the spring, driving through Bavaria, is a splash of color!  You either have the purple flowers of lavender, alpha or heather blooming, then after that field of subtle color you are hit by the splash of neon, sunshine yellow that the Rapeseed flower blooms.  It is spectacular, and one of the most beautiful crops I have EVER seen.  If I were ever to decide my calling in life was to farm, this would be the crop I would farm!

Rapeseed (pronounced R-aw-p-eh-seed)

It is harvested and crushed to make Canola oil.

I love it's beauty so much, that I conned our good friends into doing an impromptu family photo shoot.

Impromptu because we had planned it 2 other times, but due to the unpredictable spring, bavarian weather we kept moving it back a day, until it was perfect.  Even then, we only had maybe an hour.  By the time we finished this shoot the afternoon thunderstorms were rolling in, we barely had enough time!  But it worked out perfectly!!

What are they whispering about...

My girls are growing up so fast!

Look at that yellow...neon Sunshine!

 My sweetie and I

 They just make me smile.

They absolutely LOVE their hats!

With the hills of Bayern behind us.

This was literally taken just below my neighborhood.  Our house is on the hill we are facing, so behind the photographer (so not pictured of course...).  So this is the view we have from our front porch and backyard.  It was movie epic, and I miss this view terribly!  

Lazy summer days

We had a few weeks of lazy summer days to fill before school started up again.  Here are some of the things that filled up our time while we first arrived.

We lived in our new house for a week without any furniture. 

It felt like camping.

Being int an empty house with no furniture brings the inner ninja out of boys!

Our favorite Ice cream shop in Charlottesville.

This has been a favorite for 8 years, and we stop to get some whenever we are in the area.

This soft serve frozen custard is the closest thing to Gelato I have found in the states.  It's pretty tasty!

 We had a visitor stroll into our yard one day and spend the afternoon with us.

 Isn't he cute!

 We spent a lot of time at our community pool.  We could just walk to it following a trail that begins at the end of our cul-de-sac. 

 Such a fun pool! and hardly ever busy!!

The boys became addicted to "pop-pops" while in Utah.  It became a favorite afternoon treat!

Mini-golf of course!

 Our furniture came!

Our first Sunday dinner in our new house with furniture!

 The boys moved into bunk beds...I may regret this decision!

 We had one small clear patch before all the tree growth began.  Just the perfect size for our tramp!  We are so relieved, I would have been so sad if we couldn't use it.  It is a favorite activity for the boys!

 Can you see our little squirrel friend on the rail by the fire pit?  He is a frequent visitor, and often hangs out on our deck.  The boys love to watch him from our back door.

It's a much different life then we have been living the past couple years.  We have more free time, more free weekends, without our crazy "got to travel and see it all" schedule.  Matt has started his graduate program.  We see much more of him, which is really nice.  He is usually done with school by lunch time, comes home to eat with us and then studies in our study (master bedroom, ha ha) until the girls get home from school at 430p. His thesis topic has been approved, and when this year of class and writing is complete he will graduate with his Master of Laws.

I think it will be a good year!

Our home for the next year...

We are now living in the lush green hills of Virginia.  It is a nice transition for the beauty of Bavaria.  Our neighborhood is pretty similar to our old one, we are surrounded by a forested area, with lots of walking/jogging trails.  We also have the added bonus of a community pool, which we loved!

It's officially ours (for the year)

names on the mailbox!

What a cute little cottage!

I love the front porch!  It is awesome, especially for enjoying summer rain storms!

 So weird for me to have the garage in the basement of the house!

That's how they do it here, previously all our garages had been unattached. 

 Our back yard, which really isn't much of a yard at all.  It is mostly trees and forest, but the kids love to explore in it!  I really like the deck though!!