Take Luck from the Woods

Christmas 2009

2011-01-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

This past year has been a crazy roller-coaster ride. This picture is from Garrett's home away from home in Balad, Iraq (leave it to Garrett to make a port-a-potty and dumpster look good!). He left us in December for a 6 month deployment which was extremely difficult for all of us. We dropped Garrett off at the airport and I felt like a gutted fish. We were fortunate enough to get to go to Utah and be with family for Christmas--I don't know how we would have gotten through Christmas alone. With dad gone, the boys especially needed all the extended family around. Grandpa Bohman helped Sam and Jacob make frames for scouts. I helped Mason make a birdhouse. By the time the birdhouse was finished, not one of the pieces we used for it was an original birdhouse kit piece--I had managed to break them each during construction and my dad had to cut new pieces, using the old pieces I had split as patterns. This is why dads are supposed to be there to help with these scout things. Luckily, Garrett is home now to help Mason with his pinewood derby car. We tried to stay busy with snowmobile rides in the backyard, trips to see the Elk at Hardware Ranch, movies and cousins, cousins, and more cousins. Dan and Julie came to visit too and we had so much fun playing games, bowling, El Sol and Panda Express (we sure miss American restaurants!). We missed Garrett so much and broke down quite a bit, but had the support of family to help us through the holidays. It was over too soon and we were back on the plane to Germany. The thing that kept us going was knowing that Grandma Bohman would be coming to visit in April. I don't know how soldiers and their families coped with deployments before e-mail and skype. Through skype it was so nice to see Garrett and talk face to face (almost).

The New Year and Resolutions

2011-01-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

Joseph brought home a worksheet from school today, outlining his New Year's resolutions. They have inspired me to make some of my own resolutions.

Joe's resolution for school was: Do recess. His personal goal was: Play video games more.

I can see now that I've had it all wrong--the purpose of resolutions is to make achievable goals. No more guilt, no more ridiculous flights of fancy--it's all about attainable.

My goals for the upcoming year:

Make chocolate a part of every meal.

Drink 3 cans of Coke zero a day.

Wear sweats more often.

Show up to church during the opening song and walk to the the front pew.

Resist vacuuming the cars.

Sleep more.

Let the kids play more video games.

I'm feeling better already. I think this new plan can really work for me.

More Belgium

2009-11-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

Brugges is definitely a place I'd like to see again--the brick houses with quaint little stairstep roofs, the canals, the cobblestone streets, the lace, the tapestry, the chocolate--need I say more? We explored the town on foot and then took a break on a boat ride along the canals. Garrett and Grandpa got up early and stayed out late to get the perfect shots. Grandma and I slipped away from our boys for a covert chocolate fix--too bad the chocolate tasted so good that we forgot to get rid of the evidence. We were also told we had to try the Belgian waffles (thanks for the tip Paul)--which were fantastic, but a darn good thing they don't come with the nutritional information or I think we might have talked ourselves out of it.
We might have felt sorry to leave if we weren't heading to Etretat, France....

My favorite memories of Brugges, Belgium

2009-11-27T00:48:00.000-08:00

On the 26th of July we traveled to Brugges. The most memorable event involved Grandpa trying to get Joseph in just the right spot for a picture, knocking his glasses off, and Grandpa swimming in the Canals of Brugges, in the hopes of retrieving said glasses. After nearly an hour of combing the silty canal bottoms we finally made Grandpa get out of the frigid waters and a kind elderly Belgium couple loaned Grandpa some dry clothes to make it back to the hotel. Grandpa felt like such a, in his own words, "Schmuck" for the accident, but couldn't help have his spirits lifted when Joseph sang him a song he made up entitled "Grandpa is my friend!" the entire way back to the hotel. Joseph spent the rest of our weeklong trip in cross-eyed, near blindness, but he continued to sing Grandpa's praises. Joe couldn't be happier that he had to get new glasses because his new pair is red, his favorite color. However, if anyone finds Joe's old glasses in the Canals of Brugges, I'll give you a dollar. We love you Grandpa, thanks for the memories!

Mason's Baptism

2009-10-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Mason was baptized on Saturday, July 25th, the day that Grandpa Bohman flew in to Stuttgart from Utah. Things just didn't go right from the word go--to make a long story short, the font had only an inch or two of water in it when it was time for the Baptism program to start and many of the key players were M.I.A. Usually, it doesn't take much to send me over the edge, but I just felt a really peaceful feeling and knew that Mason would get baptized that day and the rest of it was just fluff and didn't matter. Garrett and Bishop Jones took Mason back by the font to measure his feet and see if the water was deep enough to completely immerse Mason. Garrett, who was cool as a cucumber, said he was prepared to just lay him all the way down in the water, to make sure he got completely dipped. Mason was pretty nervous that it was going to be too shallow, but Grandma Bohman did a great talk about baptism that let the water rise just enough to make it perfect. Despite everything, Mason's baptism was a great experience for all of us. After the baptism, we waited and waited for Garrett and Mason to come out. Finally the Bishop signaled me to go check on them. I asked Garrett what was taking so long and he said he'd been waiting for Mason to come out and had finally gone back to the dressing room again to discover that Mason had decided to take a nice, long hot shower in there! The Bishop told me later, he thinks it's the first time that shower has ever been used. Afterwards, My dad spoke about confirmation and listening to the Spirit and how that is one of the special characteristics of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson that he uses to help other people. Then, the Bishop talked. He said that at Mason's interview for baptism, he had asked Mason what Mason's favorite primary song was. Mason immediately started singing and sang the entire song of "Shepherd's Lullaby" (a Christmas song). We love you Mason! Ever since Sam and Jacob turned 8, you have been waiting to be old enough to be baptized and worked to understand what that means. We are so proud of you!

A Short Jaunt to Switzerland

2009-09-05T00:39:00.000-07:00

Garrett and I spent a few days away from the kids and work and went to, where else, Switzerland. The first picture is in Luzern--beautiful there. The Lion sculpture was carved out of the rock and reminded me of Aslan. It wouldn't be a Wood trip if we didn't spend atleast one night sleeping in the car, and we kept with tradition. The next morning we took a tram to Oeschinensee and then hiked to the top of Blümlisalp, which I have been told by expert opinion, is a dang far long. It was beautiful, complete with Swiss cows and cowbells, mountain goats, and old people atleast 30 years older than we are that left us in the dust. It looked like the geriatric hospital was having a field trip and they were all wasting us. It didn't help that I was unprepared, as usual, and had only brought 2 power bars and a package of mentos for an all day hike. By the time we reached the top our joints were killing us, but it was a gorgeous view. There was a restaurant right on the top of the mountain that is restocked by helicopter daily. We were so famished we spent about twenty dollars on 2 small cheese and pickle sandwiches and a bottle of apple juice, but it tasted delicious! The hike back down was really rough because Garrett's knees nearly gave out (his dad just had double knee surgery--something for him to look forward to in a few years), he was sunburned really badly and his allergies kicked in, full force. Little old grandmas were hiking down the mountain faster than we were. We almost hadn't bought the tram ticket round-trip, but were so grateful that we did as we hobbled towards it only 2 or 3 minutes before it shut down for the day. Hallelujah, we made it!

Grandma is Here! or Here Comes Santa Claus

2009-09-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

My mom flew in to Stuttgart on July 19th, Sunday morning, and the kids were so excited they had a hard time sleeping the entire week before. We were so excited to see my mom. She is so wonderful. If we had stayed in our house the entire time she would have been as happy as can be, just to be with us. Her only request on coming here was that she could see a concentration camp. Don't worry, I've harrassed her plenty about the psychological implications of someone who only wants to see concentration camps when coming to Europe. Luckily, she sat by a psychologist on the plane and got to work a few of these issues out, free of charge I might add. Grandma stuffed her suitcase with surprises for all of us and it felt like Christmas. One of our favorites was the gum she brought. When Grandma used to visit in Iowa the first thing my kids would ask as she got off the plane was "Do you have any gum?" Apparently they've led a deprived childhood. The pictures here show some wood puzzles my mom bought for each of the boys to put together. Each piece edge was numbered up to about a kabillion, there was one small picture with numbers showing how each piece interlocked. We spent a few futile hours attempting to piece the puzzles together and finally came up with a better idea. The second picture is us burning the puzzles to make s'mores--a much more satisfying project. After a mere 24 hours in Europe, Garrett and I abandoned my mom with 4 kids and took off to Switzerland. Thanks mom!

First Things First--Happy B-day Mason!

2009-09-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know you've all been on pins and needles for the past few months, waiting for my next blog and it's finally arrived. Mason had his birthday on July 13th, his very first one he had to be in school (German school got out on July 30th). If you think his cake looks disgusting, you're right. He wanted space legos fighting on the top and 1 chocolate, 1 ice cream and 1 strawberry layer with chocolate bars cut up on the top. I decided to add the strawberries, which actually made it taste worse. Mason made bank in the Bionicle department for his birthday. Sam gave Mason a turtle he had sewn in school and a Twix candybar (I'm so jealous--I think the turtle is adorable.) and Jacob bought him 2 lego sets--what good buddies.

Now I'm going to gush about Mason, so if you're not a grandma you can skip to the next post. When Mason was born I was so excited because I got to hold him. Sam and Jacob were immediately whisked away and I didn't get to see them again until the next day and holding them was also restricted. It was so wonderful to have a baby that I could hold and cuddle and I wasn't afraid to break. He's always been very easy going and my little social child. From the time he was a Sunbeam, he knew everyone's names in primary and would say "hi" to each person, by name, as they entered the primary room. Now in German school, he has made many friends because he's so good at reaching out to other people. When we lived in Logan his best friend was our neighbor Bob; they shared a special connection. Mason has also made good friends of our German neighbors here--Rose and Klaus, Oma and Opa. He has worked hard to learn German and does very well. Sometimes I wonder if Sam, Jacob and Mason were really supposed to be triplets because Mason is determined to do everything that his big brothers do. I decided to start my boys with piano when they turned 8, but Mason was begging to take lessons and I knew he was ready, so I started him when he was barely 7 and he is doing really well. Sometimes I forget Mason isn't as old as his twin brothers and I expect the same things from him, but he is determined he can do whatever they can. One of my favorite things about Mason is his loving heart. I can count of multiple hugs from him throughout the day and he will look up at me with his twinkley eyes and big smile and say "I love you mom. You are so beautiful". When music is playing he'll come up to me and ask me to dance in the kitchen. We make a great dance couple--Mason says we're like Hagrid and Madame Maxine, a truly stunning couple! We are so blessed to have Mason in our family. We love you Mason!

Just Another Day--Banantarific!

2009-06-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a slow Friday night at the Wood house. We started out with a gig that our band, "The Oneders" played.

I had to take this picture of Mason in his Hawkeye sweatshirt before it magically disappears. He's worn it nearly every day for an entire year and it shows--the cuffs are frayed, the yellow is perma-dirty, two bleached streaks run over the pocket; between that and his patched jeans and holey socks (where do all the holes come from?), he is looking like the poster child for some sort of relief organization. Look how tall he is getting. He looks alot like his Grandpa Bohman, to me. We're so excited that they are going to come visit us for Mason's baptism in less than one month! Can we fast forward up to then? This is Joe with his characteristic photo"smile". He is sporting his monkey jammies which he wears day or night. If he finds out we're going to be home for a few hours, he considers it worth his time to put on his monkey jammies or Superman jammies, complete with cape.

Jacob made dessert for us tonight, his own creation entitled "Bananta." If, by some unforeseen miracle, others out there acquire a taste for Bananta, Jacob made it first and we'll sue you for the rights. The recipe is:
6 or 7 cups of vanilla icecream

1 1/2 cups orange Fanta soda

1 chocolate bar, diced in small pieces

1 banana

*secret ingredient

blend above ingredients and eat. I haven't "acquired" a taste for bananta yet, but I don't like mushrooms either. Periodically I try mushrooms because they seem like such a fancy, distinguished food, but, alas, they taste nasty. The secret ingredient for this batch of bananta was 2 very, very old once hard but now soft with age, butterscotch candies. Jacob loves adding secret ingredients. I really have to be careful if I'm not watching when I'm cooking because Jacob will climb up into my spice cupboard and start adding whatever strikes his fancy with some disastrous results. Jacob is my experimental cook. Mason is my little chef--he loves to cook with me and does really well.

The other day I was walking Joseph to school and we saw a European Marten. It casually walked across the street and up into the forest behind our house. Joe and I both thought about Gwin in "Inkheart".

If you look closely at the picture of Sam, he is using a fork attachment on his pocketknife to eat his eggs. These days this newly acquired pocketknife with spoon and fork attachments accompanies Sam to every meal--I can't complain since he washes it everytime.

A few nights ago Jacob got out of bed to discuss a pressing question he couldn't get off his mind: "If dad was twice the size he is now, would it be far if he threw a boulder, like Fezzik in the Princess Bride, an eighth of a football field?" Who can sleep with important thoughts like that buzzing around in your head? I think Jacob should write story problems for math books when he grows up.

Whenever we get a chance we eat outside--fancy meals, like koolaid and hot dogs.

I just re-read what I wrote. What a bunch of random thoughts, one banantarific day.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Garrett returned from his one week "patient safety" conference in Virginia and we're so glad! Jacob said "I forgot how funny dad was until he got back. He's really funny." Apparently it had been a long humorless week with mom. Yesterday Sam asked what language they speak in Virginia--it made perfect sense when you live here in Stuttgart and are a few hours away from a completely different language in nearly every direction. We played Monopoly today, which truly showed Garrett's love for his kids. He hates Monopoly with a passion and he bought the game as well as some other fun American toys for the kids while he was in Virginia and actually played the game with them--to the very end--4 hours later. Of course, he won. I had the kids answer some questions all about dad that I thought the grandmas would love, so if you're not a grandma, you might get bored with this next part.

You make a great dad because:

Sam--because you earn money for the family and you take us mountain climbing so we can take pictures.

Jacob--because you take us camping, you take us to take pictures, you take us to the movies, and you give us chocolate cake (i.e. Bill Cosby)

Mason--because you buy us cool rocks and knights on vacation and you let us stay up until midnight when we go camping sometimes.

Joseph--because you tickle me

My favorite thing to do with dad is...

Sam--go camping

Jacob--go to the movies

Mason--go camping and to the movies

Joseph--play Candyland

Dad's favorite food is...

Sam--chocolate fondue

Jacob--tacos

Mason--supreme pizza, no anchovies

Joseph--hamburgers

If dad could go anywhere in the world it would be...

Sam--Switzerland

Jacob--England

Mason--hiking

Joseph--taco bell

Dad's favorite movie to watch with me is...

Sam, Jacob, Mason--Lord of the Rings

Joseph--Star Wars

Dad's favorite color is...

Sam and Jacob--red

Mason--green

Joseph--black

Dad says I'm really good at:

Sam--building with legos

Jacob--being creative

Mason--playing basketball and drawing

Joseph--watching Star Wars

Dad's favorite time of the year is...

Sam and Jacob--his birthday, because at Christmas he has to buy stuff for other people, but on his birthday he just gets stuff and on Father's day he doesn't get as much stuff.

Mason--Christmas, because it's a time of the year where everyone gets along

Joseph--Father's day because we give him presents and stuff like that

Dad's favorite vacation was:

Sam--going to Italy with just mom

Jacob--going to France and taking pictures of "that" bridge (when we asked Jacob which bridge it was he said, "You know, the one with water running under it." We asked him to give some more details because we were still confused and he said "It was also the one with cars driving over the top of it."--clear as mud!)

Mason--Six Flags (he really digs Wonder Woman)

Joseph--Germany

When I grow up I want to beat dad at...

Sam--chess

Jacob--community service (yes, he really said that!) and lifting weights

Mason--bowling

Joseph--Guitar Hero

I love dad because...

Sam--he helps us with our German and takes us hiking and he decided to go to the Father and Son campout instead of camping in Switzerland

Jacob--he tells us good jokes, he cares for us, he takes us to the movies and takes us hiking

Mason--he takes us to places to take pictures and he does what's best for us

Joseph--he's a good Candyland player and he took us to France

One Great Day

2009-05-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to get to go to the Frankfurt temple today. Our young men and women attended this afternoon and the adults did an earlier session. Garrett was on call, so he couldn't go, instead he stayed home with our boys and 2 extras that we have on loan right now. I can't say how much I appreciated him watching 6 boys all day so I could go. It's been over a year since I've been able to go and I can't express the feeling of peace and comfort I felt as I sat down. My friend Leah and I were rushed, of course, to make it on time and a kind older man temple worker said as we entered, "We were waiting for you". As we hurried to get to the first room he said "It's o.k. , we've got all the time in the world." and gave us a big smile. I hope that's the kind of person that I turn out to be like when I grow up. I knew I needed the spiritual recharge, but I was overwhelmed by the feelings of just being there. Thanks for the great day, Leah. What a blessing to have a temple two and a half hours away and a husband who will help me get there!

You're in the Army Now...or What the Government is Doing with Your Tax Dollars...

2009-05-30T11:40:00.001-07:00

Have you heard that song "Woah, you're in the army, now!"? We seem to hear it all the time here, in Germany. Being in the army we get to view, firsthand the actual usage of your tax dollars, which is particularly troublesome at times. Garrett brought a microwave to work to use in his office for lunch. The first time he pressed start it flipped the breaker in his office (or should I say the closet which he shares with two other dentists). Now, normal people would just go down and flip the switch, however, when you're in the army, you, as a dentist, are not qualified to deal with the delicate technical issues of breaker switches. Therefore, Heidelberg, the dental military headquarters in Germany, was called and informed of the situation. A technical wizard from Heidelberg (a base an hour and a half away) was informed that the electricity had been compromised in his office. The said technical wizard was given leave to drive from Heidelberg and stay over night (how can one be expected to drive the three hour round trip to Stuttgart and back and flip a switch in one day?), receive additional "away from home" pay and finally restore power to a dark and microwaveless office. "Woah, we're in the army, now."

Memorial Day Camping...in Provence, France!

2009-05-28T01:29:00.000-07:00

We wouldn't be real Americans if we didn't go camping for Memorial Day Weekend, even if we did drive to France to do it! This was our first trip to France and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. For years I've heard about the rude French and how they hate Americans, but the people were kind and the the landscape reminded me alot of Utah--a perfect combination. Our time at the campground proved once again that boys are content with rocks and sticks. Joe and Mason played with wooden "light sabers" and Sam and Jacob played a game of baseball. Everywhere we looked we saw beautiful bridges and aquaducts, like the one Garrett and the boys are standing in front of. We went swimming at a lake, hiked and swam in waterfalls, swam at the campground pool and played fussball with a new French friend.

We were a little disappointed to find that the famous fields of lavendar hadn't bloomed yet, but the red poppies were absolutely gorgeous. It reminded us of a more well kept Italy--quite the Mediterranean feel. We read that the French spend more of their income on food than anything else and I can't say we blame them, after trying some delicious French pastries. Each of us thought our own pastry was the best (Of course,mine actually was the best!).

What Wood family trip would be complete without a short trip to Switzerland on the way home? In Switzerland we did some hiking and enjoyed the fairy tale scenery. Garrett is wondering how he can get a permanent job in Switzerland. It's definitely our favorite place to be in Europe.

Chim-Chiminey-Chim-Chim

2009-05-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the chimney sweeps came to clean our chimney and I had to take a picture of their outfits. It must have been 80 degrees here and they still wore the traditional chimney sweep outfits--all black with a heavy black, gold buttoned jacket and top hat. If you see them in town the guy is twisting the chimney cleaner-thing (resting on his right shoulder) around and around--it must be like twirling the umbrellas in Seinfeld to drum up business.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day I bought my mom and mother-in-law the latest book from "The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. I know, I know, we're in Germany and I send a book from Amazon.com--how lame, but all three of us truly love this series. I highly recommend these books. Some of my favorite people have told me that they "couldn't get into it" or that it "was boring" which illustrated personal character flaws that I am working on forgiving. I love you guys, but are you kidding, these are incredibly insightful, clever, humorous and morally sound literature which give us insight into the heart of Botswana and its people. Let's not be so shallow, shall we? Anywho, imagine my delight when I received a package for mother's day from my mother (she always gives us, her children, presents for mother's day. Isn't she cool?) which contained the entire series, including this most recent addition. Between the Lindt chocolates in my room that are screaming to be eaten and my new book, I might not sleep tonight!

So I just realized that I didn't tell you a whole lot about my whole little family and what they did for me for mother's day. This was the first year that each of my boys did something for me for mother's day. I got a card (which I couldn't read--it was all in German) from Mason and a card from Jacob. Jacob also made me a weaving project at school. It was done on nails on a wooden board with string which he has since "borrowed" back to use as a trampoline for his lego guys and Sam made me a heart ashtray, and Joseph has been picking me flowers all week and telling me happy mother's day. Garrett and I made homemade Greek pizza for dinner and listened to Elvis songs. I love cooking with Garrett because he likes to experiment with whatever spices he can find in the cupboards-- I'm much less exciting. It was a great day!

Snail races--the new spectator sport

2009-05-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Rain, rain and more rain...I'm having flashbacks from my childhood in Washington state. Everything here is incredibly green, but the rain has been pretty constant for the last few weeks, with intermittent sunshine. So what do boys do when they're bored inside, but everything is soaking outside? They invent games, like "Snail racing" This is how it works: When it rains, all the snails come out of hiding and the boys walk around the yard, looking for the prime competitors. the put the snails in a row, and they're off--I think they're off, no, maybe they're sleeping right now. For added fun they like to put obstacles in the way, like sticks or rocks. To cheat, they put a wet sponge out and the snails seem to triple their speed across the wet surface (which is still incredibly slow!)

In the winner's bracket Jacob's "Old Timer" tied with Mason's "Garrett". Sam's "Shift" won the obstacle course. Sadly, Joe's "Darth Vader" had an off day. After the boys finished racing the snails the first day, they took a black Sharpie marker outside and wrote their initials on the shells so that they could find them in the next rain. They've continued to do snail races nearly every rain. If that gets boring, what else could they do? Invent a new game, we like to call it "Snail stacking" How many snails can you stack before your pile falls over?

P.S. can you believe that I could figure out how to change the backgrounds? What's next, using the Ipod that Garrett bought me 2 years ago? It's a technological miracle! Thanks Angie!

Happy Birthday Sam and Jacob

2009-03-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that Sam and Jacob are ten years old. Last night I kept thinking about ten years ago--discovering I was pregnant with twin boys, having the boys 2 months early and their month in the NICU. Bringing the boys home and not sleeping for a good year. Going in to get them in the morning to see that one or the other had rolled over to the other side of the crib and was laying his head on his brother's chest. Hearing them babble to eachother. Having the fire department, police and all our neighbors out looking for them when they decided to play hide and seek one day. The end of naps when they both worked together to push their chest of drawers over during nap time. Waking up to find the boys had managed to climb up on the kitchen counter and reach the bag of 1500 dum dums on top of the fridge and had systematically taken the wrapper off each one and given each a single lick before moving on. Taking Sam to the emergency room for a bump on the head and the twins being separated for a few hours, then the boys running to eachother, arms outstretched down the hall "Sajjy!" "Jatob!" for a big hug. The boys getting on the bus to go to their preschool because they did so much twin talk and couldn't stand being apart. Sam and Jacob starting kindergarten and Jacob tapping on his classroom wall, sure that Sam could hear him in the classroom next door. The boys taking Tae Kwon Do and Sam helping Jacob at home to learn all the moves. Listening to the boys in their room talking late at night as they lay in their bunk beds. Spending hours jumping together off the roof of the shed to the trampoline and back again. Working on a tree house using our neighbor's sapling, much to his dismay. The boys getting baptized and putting their arms around eachother. Creating havoc at scouts together while mom was the den leader. Braving a new school in a foreign country together. Helping eachother with German homework.

Sam and Jacob are very different. From the time they were born we could easily tell them apart and we've had our fair share of brother fights, but for some reason they were meant to come together--maybe they needed eachother to handle me as a mom, but we feel so blessed to have them in our family. Sam's cute laugh that comes rumbling out in a "Huh" and Jacob's grin ear to ear. Sam literally climbing the walls and Jacob's boats constructed of paper and straws and a roll of tape. Hours of lego creations. Thousands of hugs. We love you guys!

The beatings can now begin!

Jacob requested a strawberry cake with vanilla frosting. Sam requested chocolate lasagna (that would be my choice too). Both of them wanted army men on their cakes--atleast that was the same!

About a week ago I told Sam he could choose the dinner for his and Jacob's b-days--he chose spaghetti and meatballs. I told Jacob he could choose their breakfast--he said he'd make me a list. This is what he had on his list:

Pancakes, butter, syrup, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, hot chocolate, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, ice cold pineapple, wild cherry Coke, and bacon. Well, we indulged the child and he got everything except raspberries, which I couldn't find in the stores.

One of my friends from my German language class is Chinese. She brought me a Chinese birthday candle. It starts out all closed up and then when you light the first candle, it lights the rest of the candles and opens up the flower. The heat sets the flower spinning and plays "Happy Birthday" over and over and the grand finale is a fireworks display coming out of the middle of the flower. It made trick candles look amazingly dull. Thank you to our Grandmas who sent us so many wonderful birthday presents!

Moving up in the World?

2009-03-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, this is what our driveway has looked like for the past 6 months--2 minivans in the driveway. Our van got to Germany about 2 months after we did. In the meantime, we bought a used van to get us all around. I know our German neighbors must think we're whacked in the head to drive two minivans with the price of gas here--and we wholeheartedly agree with them. Since the arrival of our second van, Garrett's been scrupulously checking the German ads for a good deal on a car. Finally, Garrett found a ten year old stationwagon that he bought from a Bosnian. Some Bosnians had to do some extra work on it under the table to pass inspection, but today Garrett got it registered. When I think of an old stationwagon I think of this:

Hip, hip, hooray for the better gas mileage to come!

My dream car is a white Jeep Wagoneer with wood panneling.

So, anyone interested in buying a minivan in Germany?

Leprechaun Madness

2009-03-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

On St. Patrick's Night Eve I considered feigning ignorance about the whole day since Germans don't celebrate it, but my motherly guilt took over and I did our traditional "Leprechauns Gone Wild" stuff. St. Patrick's day morning my kids always wake up to see green foot prints somewhere in the house. This year, not only did the Leprechaun pee in our toilet and forget to flush, he took a bath in the sink. He also turned the milk, muffins and eggs green. We had the added bonus of Jewel and Andreas Weigand sharing in the fun. We get to have them with us for 11 days, and my kids are loving it.

Every year we put a trap out in the hopes of catching the Leprechaun. The trap consists of a box propped up on one side with a stick and decorated with pictures to entice the Leprechaun inside. We haven't caught one yet, but each year, he leaves us some gold coin chocolates. The pictures changed a little this year--in years past the kids have drawn pictures much like Joe's this year--a leprechaun friend, pot of gold and rainbow. Their salesmanship techniques have really improved--this year Mason drew a girl leprechaun to entice her male counterpart, Sam added a sign to his pot of gold that reads "frei (free auf Deutsh) gold" and Jacob lost the battle with mom--he wanted to do a leprechaun lady in a bikini, so he settled for the same old tricks as before. Again the Leprechaun foiled our get rich quick scheme, but left us some chocolate Euros!

Waiting out the Winter

2009-03-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

The weather here has been miserable--nothing to compare with the cold of Iowa, but cold and slushy snow and the last time I saw the sun shine was last Thursday. Every time it starts snowing again we all groan--when is Spring coming? Friday was another yucky day. I took the boys and 2 of their friends, Andreas and Cristofer to a huge Home decor store that has the hugest "McDonalds Playland" in it upstairs that you can drop your kids off in and go shopping without them and the cost?--It's free! This concept wouldn't work in Utah for obvious reasons--too many kids and we're all too cheap to buy anything, but here with an average of 1.3 children per couple, I'm the exception to the rule. So, I got the perks of doing my "turn" of having friends over and they all played at the playland while I looked around and then found a comfortable chair and got my book out and read. Next confession: I'm reading a book entitled "Faberge's Eggs". It's about the Romanovs, Russia's last czars. You could call it my "Princess Di" obsession. I don't know why but I am fascinated by the Romanovs and Rasputin and that whole thing. I was telling Garrett about how Rasputin was poisoned, shot, beaten and finally drowned to kill him and Garrett's reply was classic if you've seen Disney's Anastasia--he asked "But what about the bat, did he get killed too?" Second confession: I bought a package of Cadbury Creme eggs from the army base and ate them all by myself while I read. I've always loved Cadbury Creme eggs, but I have to admit, I was so disappointed when I bit into it and there was no toy surprise in the middle. We are huge Kinder Eier fans. Kinder Eier are chocolate eggs with a toy surprise in the middle (the cheap man's version of Faberge eggs, I guess). We've bought little shadow boxes for each of the boys' rooms that they put their kinder eier toys in. The eggs are kind of pricey, so they only get them for special occasions. Still I have to admit that I get as excited as they do for the cheap plastic toys they have inside.

I've been pretty worn out lately and my patience level is dangerously low. I'm taking a German class every weekday from 8:30 to 11:45 and I really love it--I'm learning so much, but it leaves absolutely no personal time which I've realized I'd gotten very accustomed to. My class has 1 Syrian, 2 Italians, 3 Turks, 1 Tunesian, 1 Spaniard, 1 Peruvian, 1 Romanian, 1 Pollock, 2 Phillipians (that's a book in the Bible--I must have spelled that wrong!), 2 Chinese and 1 Hawaiian. The only language that 1/3 of the class has in common is broken English. It's fascinating that so many people around the world speak English. I finish class and hurry to pick up the kids from school. Mondays we do piano lessons. The first question people ask is "Is Garrett teaching them?" When I tell them that I'm teaching them they always respond that they didn't even know that I played, which is about right. I'm really not that good at piano, but for now they haven't passed me up, so I'll do it, since a good price for a piano lesson is $25 here--I get sick to my stomach every time I think about $75 a week for Sam, Jacob and Mason which would be $300 a month. My sister-in-law, Jennifer teaches piano in Utah and I'm betting it's not that lucrative there. I only wish I was good enough to teach other kids and make some money! Jen Fletcher taught my kids piano in Iowa and now that I know the going rate I think we royally ripped her off. Sorry Jen! A big thanks to Dan and Julie who got us the clavinova as a wedding present--the best features are the volume control and the headphone jack--wonderful inventions for frazzled mom nerves. All the boys are doing really well and loving it. We go pretty slow, but they don't hate it yet and that's huge.

On Friday we got a package from my mom--yeah! I've just gotten into quilting and my mom sent fabric and a quilt magazine. So exciting! Fabric here is about $10-30 a meter. Yuck! Everytime I start cutting fabric for a quilt I think about what my mother-in-law Julie said a few years ago while she was making a quilt for my sister-in-law Shanna: "It's funny that we take a perfectly good piece of fabric and cut it up in alot of pieces to sew it back together again." Too true.

The next guilty pleasure--listening to "Wicked". I've listened to it so many times that Jacob said this morning "Don't play that again mom. The songs just keep going around and around in my head!" The rest of us still like it. Garrett's favorite song is "Defying Gravity", Sam's favorite song is "Popular". I have too many favorites--definitely worth getting the soundtrack. I've already decided that whatever money I get for my b-day (yes, it's not until August!) is going towards seeing it here in Germany with Garrett. I'll have to work a little harder in my German class!

My final accomplishment lately is learning how to put pictures from the internet on my blog. Those of you who know me well know that I have a Technology Disorder. Just last year my friend Shayla taught me how to e-mail more than one person at the same time and how to "reply all" instead of just "reply". These were huge steps for me and I feel I can rest at ease knowing I have made my technological improvement for this year with these pix on my blog, pardon my smugness, but I'm a genius.

Hopefully this winter will end soon. The very first bulbs bloomed in my neighbor's yard and my sweet boys picked them for me. Do you think he'll notice?

Some noteworthy drawings

2009-02-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

Joseph drew the following picture the other day which I have titled "A B". Let me explain what he said to me. The picture that I have drawn an orange circle around is a giant bee. (We've been really into giant things lately like giant squid.) A man--I've circled him with blue, sees the giant bee and yells (in the green circle " A B", and then shoots a bullet at it (in the purple circle). Joe was so proud of himself, he said, "Look mom I wrote 2 words!" It was too cute.

The second picture was done by Mason. We are working on getting Sam and Jacob's Gospel in Action goals started and done within the next month since they turn 10 in March (yes, I know that they should have been working on this all year, but where is the challenge in actually getting things done on time, when you could really make it a difficult, trying experience). Today we did a goal where they read D&C 89 about the Word of Wisdom and had to teach it to someone else--we decided it would be Joe. Mason hates being left out of the older boy scene, so he participated too. The boys drew pictures to explain the Word of Wisdom to Joe and what it was all about. Mason drew 2 guys at the top of his picture--the one who obeys the Word of Wisdom is happy and smiling. The other guy is throwing up! Need I say more?

Because if anyone sucks, it's me.

2009-02-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been pretty whiney to my sweetheart--let's just say he's had to put up with alot and then he not only continues to do all the wonderful stuff he usually does, he steps it up a notch. So I'd like to say, even though he'll probably never read this "If anyone sucks, it's me." Two days ago I was so sick with the stomach flu I lost ten pounds in one day. Garrett got the kids ready for school and took them and then left work--he never skips out on work--at lunch just to pick up the kids and then took them to an overpriced indoor waterpark all day so I could rest without them waking me up. He brought pizza home for the kids for dinner and got them in bed. Yesterday I had a huge group of women over for Bunco and he watched our kids and my friend's kids, so we could have girl time. Did I mention I ruined his 4 day weekend last week making him do stuff around the house while I was being uptight about what my bunco group would think of my house? I'll just stamp a big "L" on my forehead right now. Then, he woke up early this morning with the same thing that I had 2 days before. Did he get to stay in bed all day and whine and moan and carry on? No, he's at work today feeling like crap (literally), and I'm feeling like a total shmuck. It's funny because whenever I choose to complain about someone doing something that bugs me like say, being judgemental, it always comes back to hit me in the face, that it's really my problem. So, let me repeat my new motto: if anyone sucks, it's me.

Our Favorite Pix from Prague

2009-02-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

Clearly when we travel, different things hold the interest of our children and this blog is dedicated to highlighting those differences.

While Garrett and I were in awe over this absolutely amazing clock tower in Wenceslas square in Prague, our boys found this more interesting.......a Stretch Hummer, of course! (pix by Jacob)

Garrett and I loved walking across the Charles Bridge, built in the 1300's and the boys took pictures of....these swans and numberless ducks (pix by Jacob)and pigeons (pix by Mason)! I loved walking the streets of the Czech Republic and seeing all the Russian influence which reminded me that in my lifetime this country has gone from a closed Communist regime to now, when we didn't even show our passports at the borders. The weather and architecture reminded me of its dreary, ominous history. The architecture reminded my boys of...

....the Lord of the Rings' Black Riders.

Finally something we can all agree on...TGIFridays! We saw so many American chains in Prague--KFC, Little Caesar's Pizza, you name it. The food was excellent, but the service needed help--our waiter tried to rack up an 1800 Euro bill on our credit card! Luckily the credit card company caught it. I guess you have to expect something like that from a country that makes words without any vowels. We all made good memories of Prague, even if the memories are different for all of us--the boys put pillows in their shirts at the hotel and did a little WWF. Jacob loved teasing me about the elevator plummeting us to our death, because it looked pre-Stalin era, truly an antique in the worst sense of the word. And of course, a super-duper highlight--Mason lost a tooth in Prague--and the tooth fairy paid him in Crowns (KC). Now I have to fess up that some of the really great pictures on this blog were taken by my boys--initially I put mine in and then they showed me the pictures that they had taken and they were much better than mine. They must belong to Garrett.

Recent Wood Funnies

2009-02-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

So I just finished reading "The Host" and take a look at the back of Joe's neck. Should I be worried?

The other day, in his sweetest, most loving voice Mason said, "Mom, you're a really good mom--I mean, I don't know of anything you should have to go to jail for right now." (I think the "right now" part is key--it could go either way in a day or two from now!)

Jacob told one of our friends, Jewel Weigand, that Garrett was gone this week to teach spies how to do their own dental work so that when they're undercover they can do it for themselves. Jewel asked yesterday, "When does Garrett get back from teaching the spies to brush their own teeth?"

The other night Garrett came into the kitchen to polish off some cake I'd made a few days before. Sam came in the kitchen and Garrett said he was sorry if he'd eaten all the dessert and the boys hadn't gotten any. I said it was o.k. that the boys had eaten a different dessert. Garrett asked Sam what they'd eaten and Sam put on his saddest face and answered, "It's o.k. you ate all that cake Dad, we kids shared a cookie for our dessert!"

Can you see Joe's Spiderman slippers (Hausschuhe auf Deutsch) in this pix? The other day he asked me "How do you say Hausschuhe in German?" I have re-soled his Spiderman slippers two times already. I've never had a kid wear his slippers so much to wear them out twice and still demand that I fix the old ones again instead of just getting a new pair. Every other kid at his school leaves their slippers at school--he insists that we bring them home each day and take them again the next morning.

Our first witch baptism

2009-02-06T06:35:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, the 10th of January we got to go to our very first Hexentaufe or witch baptism with our good friends and next-village-over neighbors, the Weigands. Each year the equivalent of the village Lion's club does an initiation for new pledgers where they are baptised by immersion (we of course couldn't support it if it was done any other way!) in a farm manure spreader full of semi-warm water with buckets of dog food, real chicken and goose parts, feathers, and other unmentionable wastes. Here I must add that these "lion clubs" are sometimes referred to as drinking clubs which may be the only way they can pass through the initiation ordeal and then return year after year to wear their quaint dresses (yes, the men too) and scary masks for hours in below freezing weather. The Hexentaufe is the start of Fasching, a Catholic tradition which was explained to me as a month you try to sin as much as possible before repenting during Lent. If I've explained this incorrectly, that's how a Catholic explained it to me, and besides, it sounds more interesting that way! Anyone up to celebrating Fasching?

First Time Photographers

2009-01-03T01:50:00.000-08:00

We spent yesterday in Switzerland, taking the boys on their very first photo shoot. Our fingers nearly froze off to bring you these excellent shots. We hiked to Boelchenflueh, trying to get above the fog, but didn't have any luck. Then we went to Aarau, a city Garrett served his mission and took some pix there too.

This street canal and tree pictures were taken by Fantastic Sam.

The archway and clock tower pictures were taken by Marvelous Jacob.

The city buildings and Garr and me pictures were taken by Awesome Mason. Mason took a picture of us while I took a picture of them!

Joe's picture is the snowy forest one at the bottom--pretty good for a less than one megapixel fisher price camera!

What we've been up to..

2009-01-01T03:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone! We miss you all and wish we could be with you. I thought I'd share some of what we've been up to over the Christmas break. The boys each painted one of the nutcrackers to the left and I love them. From left to right they were made by Jacob, Sam, Mason and Joe. Each year I have them make an ornament for our tree and someday when we have enough I'm going to make an "Island of Misfits" tree with just their ornaments. They are truly my favorites.

For Christmas Eve we had cheese fondue which was so delicious and we're going to make this our new tradition every year. We were sure to eat German pickles with it because, as all good Germans know, Pickles help you digest the cheese. We decided that we would get up at 7:30 on Christmas to open presents, but the kids weren't allowed to come upstairs, so from 7:30 until 7:45 we got a minute by minute update for what time it was until Garrett and I pulled ourselves out of bed. We started the German pickle tradition--you hide a pickle ornament on the tree on Christmas morning and the first one to find it get to open the first present. Jacob was the lucky winner, however, the tree was roughed up enough by the extensive search and seizure that it later fell over and broke nearly every glass ball on our tree. Maybe I'll have to make the pickle super-obvious next year to avoid catastrophe. The boys got cameras this year and are excited to go later today on their first personal photo shoot. Jacob and Mason got scooters and Sam got a skateboard and Joseph got 2 clone trooper costumes and blasters as well as all of them getting alot of legos. They had a great Christmas! Garrett is sporting the rag-quilt that his boys made him, which may explain the chagrinned look on his face. If you look up at the fondue picture you'll notice we are drinking hot chocolate out of real teacups--between the painting, the tea parties, and the sewing I've heard Garrett say many times, under his breath something like "What a bunch of Faeries!" I'm as pleased as punch--who needs girls anyway? Come on, they are saudering and carving wood at school and watching Jaws, light sabering and playing air guitar non-stop at home, so it's got to be a little therapeutic to have a tea party once in awhile, right?

The day after Christmas we went to some hot mineral pools with the kids. I'd include pictures, but they were nude pools. O.K. I'm just kidding, but lucky for us we did get to see alot of old men in banana hammocks and old women with hairy armpits in bikinis. Other than that it was so fun to relax in the hot tubs. I had to include this pix of my kids in their super-cool duds before we went to the pool. We're stylin'! On the way there I was giving my usual lecture about how we were going to a German place and they're not used to alot of noise or kids so we need to be quiet and behave and then Joe put in his two cents worth, "And if a German talks to you, you just stare at him until he goes away!" We were cracking up--this tactic must have worked for him before!
We've had fun putting a Lord of the Rings 1000 piece puzzle together. Of course, our usual luck is holding and if you look at Gandolf's beard you'll notice we are missing a piece--must be business as usual at the Wood's house.

Mostly we've just hung out together and eaten junk food and watched movies. Here's a picture of our glasses club. Jacob has them, but never wears them anymore, he says he sees better without them. Last night we went to our first German New Year's Eve party and had so much fun. A little before midnight everyone goes outside and lights fireworks--not just sparklers, but the rockets that you see at the big fireworks displays in the States. You can turn in any direction and watch an amazing firework display light up the sky from Germans' houses all over the valley. Other than Mason almost getting his foot blown off by a firework, we all had a great time.

We hope you all have a great New Year and spend some quality time doing the important things!

Medieval Christmas Market in Esslingen

2008-12-06T01:02:00.000-08:00

The Friday after Thanksgiving we took the kids to the Medieval Christmas Market in Esslingen. Our favorite part was the fun Medieval Carnival Games. The picture below is Mouse Roulette. You put your money on the colored spot over the mouse hole that you think the mouse will go in. Whoever guesses right gets a prize. We also got to watch some medieval minstrels play on bagpipes--pretty cool, but so loud!

One of our favorite Medieval games was where they set a real egg in a carved out spot of a wooden stump that was about 10 feet away from you. They gave you some heavy metal balls and you tried to smash the egg by throwing the metal balls and hitting it. These last 2 pictures of Joe and Sam are hard to make out exactly what they're doing, but Joe chose to throw "Chinese Stars" and you try to get them to stick in the logs and Sam is throwing axes at logs and trying to get them to stick in. Mason threw stars and Jacob threw axes also. It was a boys paradise. Thank heavens OSHA hasn't seen this Christmas market--they might think it was dangerous or something to give sharp metal objects to children between the ages of 5 and 9. The guy who did the axe throwing booth was so awesome, giving the kids extra turns and making a big deal out of all their direct hits. I think he liked it that the noisy Americans cheered so loudly that they brought extra customers to his booth.

A Serious Santa Oversight

2008-12-06T00:47:00.001-08:00

Today is St. Nikolaus Tag--Santa Claus day. Last night children in Germany put their shoes on the front porch and then Santa came and left either sweets in their shoes, if they've been good, or straw in their shoes if they've been bad. It was evident to Garrett and me that they'd be getting straw, an especially harsh punishment for Jacob who has severe hay fever. Best case scenario it would be a 50/50 mix of straw and treats. However, due to an unexplained Santa oversight they each received a large bag of wrapped German chocolates. In the picture Garrett is video taping this rare phenomenon of Santa stupidity. The only thing we can figure is Santa was unaware the previous renters had moved.

Days that drive a mother to strong drink...

2008-11-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day to drive an otherwise teetotalling mother to strong drink. Immediately following the boys' school we drove to Jacob's psychiatrist appointment for his ADHD medication. After about an hour and a half there, we drove to Patch base to send our family Christmas gifts to the states. It was a completely hellish experience. I waited in line for a good half hour only to get to the front of the line and have them tell me that I needed to fill out customs forms for each package I was mailing and one of the boxes with exterior writing needed to be completely re-covered. With 4 kids sort of in tow I went back, to fill out customs forms. Jacob and Mason were messing around with the retractable line tapes and pushing eachother, Joe was running around, bumping into people, grabbing the flag (this is a military base and I was expecting someone to throw a major fit any second) and cutting the post office packing paper with a pair of scissors he found on one of the desks. When I tried to get him to sit and discipline him he started wailing and screaming and kicking and then playing the limp dishrag and the whole works. He wouldn't sit still and left his designated time out area to blow his nose and wipe his eyes on the--you guessed it--the flag. He was so naughty that Sam told me he heard a woman in line tell her daughter that Joe had mental problems and it wasn't polite to stare! Between desperately trying to control Joseph and trying to get Mason and Jacob to stop messing around and mailing 7 packages the Southern postman at the desk kept looking at me pityingly and said three different times "Maam, you have your hands full." I nearly killed my children in broad daylight with witnesses in a government building. The day didn't end there--Joseph and I had eye appointments which Garrett had to drive us to because they were going to dilate my eyes. After 2 1/2 hours at the eye doctor and then looking for glasses which, by the way, cost $600 for Joe and me we decided that the day had reached its capacity for pain and anguish and I "called in blind" from the dilation and skipped the young womens' activity. The bottle of wine in the picture was a gift from our German neighbors who came over on Sunday to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with us. I thought about sending it to the Bradfords to christen their fancy boat with, but after yesterday, I might have found a better use for it!

Halloween--German Style

2008-11-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

The night before Halloween our ward had a party with the German ward that meets in our building. Sam was a Punk zombie, Jacob and Mason both wanted to be Indiana Jones so we had two Indiana Jones' and Joseph was Iron Man. Garrett dressed up as Edward--I mean a vampire.

On Halloween we went with our friends, the Weigands, to Legoland, only an hour and a half away--are you thinking of visiting us now? Poor Garrett had to stay and work but we had the entire week off--every six weeks the German schools get one week off. We had a great time riding on the Bionicle rides, the Dragon castle and many more rides. Also, seeing their huge lego display of Europe.

Can you believe this castle below is made completely of legos?At Legoland they completely understood our lego needs, down to the last details. I had to take a pix of these WC signs--they were just too funny.

The boys also loved visiting their gift shop where you could put together your own special blend of legos and buy them by the kilo. Truly a dream come true for my boys who plan to design legos when they grow up! It was so cold--mostly just I was freezing. The boys even rode some of the rides that splash you which was truly crazy--we'll have to come here again in the summer when it's enjoyable to be splashed. As you can see, we barely escaped Lego Land but are more than willing to dare to do it again.

Kindergarten auf Deutsch

2008-11-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me the other day that I haven't written anything about Joseph's kindergarten (preschool) experience. Joe goes to preschool which they call kindergarten in our little town. Above is a picture of him in front of the school. Kindergarten in Germany costs differently depending on how many kids you have--the more kids you have the less you pay--a concept that would be highly accepted in Utah but not especially lucrative! (Negative population growth has some benefits!) When I told them that we have 4 kids, they were astounded and unsure what to charge us. They had to look it up in their "kindergarten bible" and it turns out that if you have 4 kids then preschool is free. I think this is the first time in my life when having more children has actually cost me less. The kindergarten is so incredible. They have one room with pegs on the walls and gym mats on the floor so they can climb the walls and tumble. Above Joe is sitting in a small mirror house. They have two indoor play houses and a wood working area with real tools, including saws! The one (three don't) teachers who speaks English put my mind at ease when she explained that they can't use the woodworking tools until they receive proper safety instruction. What are they thinking giving saws and hammers to 3 to 5 year olds and telling them to play nice? Luckily for me, the English speaking teacher, Sabine, hasn't had time to instruct Joe so all his appendages are still intact, for the time being. Outside they have another incredible play area in "the garden". I don't know how much German Joseph is picking up, but Sabine informs me that the other children have learned the word "No", which they tell Joe whenever he is breaking a rule or they don't like what he's doing--apparently quite often during the day! Joe's claim to fame is a pair of Spider-Man slippers he got for his birthday--they have Spider Man's head sticking up out of the slippers near the toes. They don't make slippers like that here and since all the kids are required to wear slippers or "house shoes" while inside, the other kids love to come and feel Spider Man's head. The kids are also fascinated by his American snacks, his Star Wars t-shirts, and his Shrek crocs. Oh no, I've turned into one of those moms that buys the hideous clothes with characters all over them.

On the Monday before Joe's birthday, his school celebrated their Laternenfest. Each village does their own Lanternfest with the small children. Joe got to help make a paper lantern at school then they put a real--yes, real candle in the--what?--yes, paper lantern--and let the 3 to 5 year olds carry them around the village while they sing songs and fall over their own feet and hopefully don't start anything on fire. Our friends, the Weigands, suggested that we use special lantern flashlights attached to a pole that you can buy at the local drugstore. One or two other kids also used this method, but most all of the other kids had candles--and they scold me when I don't put a hat on Joseph to bring him to school! All the boys had fun with our flashlight candle. They would blow in the lantern and Joe would turn off the light from the switch on the pole, like they had blown the candle out, then Joe would turn it back on a few seconds later. It was really confusing some of the other little kids to see a "candle" that could turn off and on--those American kids are so weird! The last picture is super blurry but I thought it was pretty cool to see Joseph and the lanterns surrounding the fountain in our little village. We had a great time at our first lanternfest.

Are you missing some socks?

2008-10-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen the movie, "Mousetrap"? This weekend we've been living it. Friday the smell of death was so strong in our kitchen we knew we were going to have to take the kitchen apart until we found the Rat. It started out in a very careful, organized manner but quickly escalated to a frenzied hunt as we found rat poop behind cupboards and found stockpiles of our stuff. We found 11 of our socks, and 2 dish towels and a pair of boxer shorts from the previous tenants, behind the cupboard next to the sink, but still no rat. This morning we continued ripping out cupboards (which may never go back the same way again!) and finally found the dead rat and its main lair. A few more of our socks and alot more of the previous tenants' clothes were in there, along with a toy car, a marker, a colored pencil, a note I'd left for myself with a telephone number I'd been looking for, candy wrappers galore and more rat poop than the average farmer sees in a life time--oh, and a dead rat. I didn't include a picture of the beast so as not to scare any younger blog-viewers, but it was bigger than the Bradford's Rodney by a long shot. Two big garbage bags and one big bottle of bleach later, I'm still not seeing an end to the vermin's disgusting lifestyle. Atleast the smell is almost gone! Our own path of destruction and mayhem has clogged the kitchen with drawers and cupboards and every cleaning supply imaginable. I think we'll eat out tonight.

Real Germans and Real Germany

2008-10-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Garrett was gone in Garmisch, Germany all week last week for a dental conference. When he came home he surprised the boys with real German hiking sticks. Now they can be real hikers. When Germans do things, they go all the way--it's all or nothing. No one here would dream of owning a motorcycle without a complete matching leather outfit, boots and helmet. When they pick apples or pears in their own yards they put on a special overcoat just for picking fruit. The other day I did step-aerobics and then decided that while I was good and sweaty I'd go out and mow the lawn in my shorts and a fleece jacket I threw on as I walked out the door. After mowing for awhile I felt someone's eyes on me. I looked up and saw my neighbor just staring at me. I waved at him and he waved, but had a troubled look on his face and just stared--I knew I had made a social faux pas, but had no idea what it was. Later I talked to another neighbor and he went on and on about what I wore to mow the lawn! Even graffiti is an all or nothing kind of thing. Look at the house below--totally graffitied. It's amazing, but some of their graffiti is actually so involved it really looks like artwork. In the same town as the graffiti masterpiece you'll find quaint centuries-old houses.

We took these house pictures today in Tubingen. It seemed a little odd that Garrett got the day off for Columbus Day, but the boys had school. It was so nice to only have Joe with us for the afternoon as we walked through the old city. We ate lunch next to a statued fountain in the center of the square and watched people at their little tables sit and talk and people watch. We felt so German. I think I've found my second favorite food, next to chocolate. We ordered Doner Kebaps, a Turkish specialty, from a little stand. Kebaps are made from lamb turned on a spit. You put them in a pita with yogurt, onions, tomatoes, cabbage and the next thing you know you've eaten the whole thing. Heavenly! Are we enticing you to come visit? Good!

"Yours is Glorious Country, Honeychurch!"

2008-10-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

There is no other word for this Fall in Germany except glorious. On Saturday we went for a walk in the woods behind our house and later that day hiked with Joe and Mason to the Urbach waterfalls only about 25 minutes away while Sam and Jacob went to a birthday party. When I got home from the waterfalls I realized I hadn't taken any pix of the actual waterfalls, only the trees surrounding the falls, but they speak for themselves. Once again, I must say that my brilliant husband needs his own photo studio--his pictures are much better than this! Sunday afternoon we went for a drive through the countryside to look at leaves and ended up in a grape vineyard. It was so picturesque that I decided to try the luscious-looking grapes. I now know where the term, "Sour Grapes" comes from. I think my face still hasn't stopped puckering.

The boys each wanted to take pictures too. This is a picture Sam took of us in the grape vineyard. Last week they all wanted to work for the LEGO company. As of this morning, they have each told me that they have decided to be photographers. This doesn't include Joe of course who is still holding out for a "Darth Vader's Apprentice" position.
I've corrupted my children. I picked an apple from a tree in one of the orchards we were photo-ing, and let them do the same. It'll probably come back to haunt me since they fertilize the trees with "natural" fertilizer and I'll probably get Giardhea---again.

German Rats Prefer Wonder Bread

2008-10-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

We're finally settling down in our new house in Neuenhaus (-redundantly a town name which actually means "New House"). We've had plenty of excitement in the past few weeks that has kept us busy and since my boys have told everyone they meet, I may as well tell you. We've had an unwanted house guest or guests--a rat. I woke up one morning a day or so after we moved in and walked into the kitchen to see our new loaf of bread from the army grocery store ripped and scattered across my kitchen counter. While wondering which of my darling children was to blame I noticed nibbled holes in the bag. I have to give a disclaimer--I never buy Wonder Bread. I'm no health nut, but I grew up on wheat bread and Wonder Bread just turns into a sticky gluey substance on the roof of my mouth that I can't swallow down. I only bought Wonder Bread because they were out of the American wheat bread at the store and my children seem to lack the mature taste buds required to appreciate real bread--German bread! Anyway, there was my Wonderbread all over the counter and a perfectly delicious loaf of German bread, untouched sitting right next to it. I am forced to draw the conclusion that German rats are gluttons for refined flours and gluey substances on the top of their mouths. A few mornings later we woke up to Mason yelling from the hallway. He said he saw the rat run down the hall and go into a hole under our built in cupboards. In the picture he is demonstrating just how long the rat's tail is. We placed traps with chocolate, peanut butter and cheese, but other than the Wonder bread, which we did, unfortunately, buy and leave out again, the traps remained empty. We finally bought rat poison and I think that did the trick as we have had no further attacks. However, every time I look at our cupboards I think we must have a rat, rotting away under it. To my embarrassment, everytime the kids meet someone the first thing they say is,"We have a rat in our house." As I am unable to produce a corpse, I can't convince them that it is dead and if it's not dead, to shut-up about it anyway!

I talked to our landlord and she said because we live so near to the forest, we'll get alot of woodland creatures around. On the bright side, look at these pictures that are literally out our backdoor. The picture below that looks like a super-duper cool fort is actually what the hunters use to hang out in when they hunt (and you can see them around all the fields and through all the forests). When I asked what they hunt in this forest I was told wild boars and deer. The fort, the boars, it all sounds a little too much like themovie "The Village".

I know that you're all dying to hear how the boys are doing in school. Well, it's really hard--shocking, I know. We are now accepting prayers on their behalf as they try to learn German! I'm going in on Wednesdays and Fridays to help in their VKL class, it's basically an ESL class, but for learning German. They have kids from Turkey, Romania, Vietnam, England and a few other Eastern European countries in their class. They go to VKL for German and then they go to their regular classes for Math, Sport (P.E.), Swimming and Art. They put Sam and Jacob back in third grade because Germans are further in math than we are. For example, they learn their times tables in second grade! I love their math homework (no, they don't really love any homework at all), it's really good at preparing them for Algebra and really makes them think. The boys also use fountain pens in school. Try that out--it's not as easy as it looks in Harry Potter movies. On Monday and Thursday they have class until 5 p.m., on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday until noon. Sam and Jacob got invited to a German boy's birthday party last weekend and all my boys love to play with Andreas, a good friend from church who also goes to their school. You skeptics out there may wonder about their adjustment, but if you'll see in the picture below, they are making a fort in the forest behind our house in a gulley with an old gate they found out there and a bunch of dead logs they dragged from everywhere. Making a fort in the forest is definitely a sign of well adjusted, normal boys. I am so proud of my boys for working so hard in German school. We're trying this out and working through this as a family and this feels right for us, right now. All our family and friends who agree with us are free to comment on our blog--the rest need not apply! Tschus!

OUR NEW HOUSE HAS A SWIMMING POOL, DOES YOURS?

2008-09-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

So let's not get all caught up in minor details, like our pool hasn't worked since the '70s and has no water in it. The important thing is, it's a pool and you can do lots of things in an empty pool, like pretend to do water aerobics or see how long you can lay on the bottom of the pool. We got the keys to our rental home today and did the walk through for scratches and dents with the realtor and the home owner which only took about four hours to take pictures of all the areas and mark every crooked switch plate or ding in the doors. They are thorough in Germany! Take a look at the boys' bathroom--am I seeing spots? Each of those red circles is an individual circle tile and they cover the walls and floor. The red color doesn't look nearly as bright in the pictures, but let me assure you when you leave this bathroom you see little dark spots everywhere, like you just looked at the sun. Don't be jealous--someday maybe you'll have a a retro European bathroom too.

This picture is our family room. Not much to say except there's a fireplace in the corner. This is definitely the best feature of our new place--the backyard with a grapevine arbor, patio and ourdoor built in grill and fireplace. It's really nice. We're so excited about our arbor and patio I'm sure I'll be blogging pictures of all of us in December, sitting on patio furniture eating burgers in our swimsuits, snowboots and scarves.

These pictures are of the kitchen and eating area. It has more cupboards than I've seen in most German homes and beats our house in Iowa with its 5 cupboards. Does anyone know how to convert fahrenheit to celsius? Our food may be overcooked for awhile.

First Day of School--September 8th

2008-09-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

The first week of school is finally over! I think we're all breathing a sigh of relief. We worried and worried that first day, but when I went to school to pick the boys up on Monday, they were in the recreation room above the lunchroom, playing legos, on the computer and fussball. Sam saw me and said "No!!!" He didn't want to go home yet. What a good sign. Jacob said that the first day they each went around his class and everyone said what their favorite sport was. Jacob said he had said soccer but everyone else had said football (football or fussball is the German word for soccer!). This picture shows the "playground" for the kids, complete with soccer goals and cement ping-pong tables in the back for recess and after school. We were so grateful for the good day they had, even when they didn't finish until 5 p.m. that when I picked Mason up from his class on Tuesday at 12:00 and he burst into tears, I was disappointed. I guess that hoping they truly had been blessed with the gift of tongues and would immediately fit in was probably a little too much to ask for in 2 days. The boys come home from school completely exhausted and don't want to wake up. On Thursday they have swimming each week at a pool right there at the school. We wondered if we needed to buy them speedos for the pool but they said about half the boys wore swim trunks. The boys bring a snack which has to be healthy for their first recess and then they have school lunch on the days they have class after noon. I asked the people in the office if they could bring a sack lunch and they all just stared at me like I was from Mars. Germans are people of routine--if that's the way it's done then you don't change. No one else brings sack lunch so they just couldn't even understand why we would do it. For atleast the first few months we'll play their game until the boys get adjusted. These pictures are also part of their playground--a pond, a pile of logs and snake and alligator balancing beams. Shopping for school supplies was exhausting. Every grade uses differently spaced lined paper, plus there are about 5 different sizes of notebooks for each grade with plastic covers you buy separately to put on each one. From first grade on they use fountain pens, which is definitely a skill, I've discovered. It's not so easy to write with those. It was so overwhelming to be at the store with a school supply list, all in German, trying to figure out what to buy. We've continued to have tears through the week, but I'm hoping that they will start to pick things up soon. One of the Laurels in our ward started German school in 4th grade and she said that by Christmas you know what's going on around you. Meanwhile, on Wednesday we got a key to the garage of the place we'll be moving into and so I've been trying to bring the junk that we've rapidly accumulated over here plus our 45 day shipment into the garage. We bought a trampoline and I used my scrawny muscles to move the heavy box from the apartment basement, into the van and then into our new garage. Tomorrow we get the keys to the house and Monday we're going to get all of our stuff. I'm so excited! It feels like we've been camping out for the past few months and I just crave some permanence and stability. We won't have a phone or internet for a week, but I'll be sure to post some more pix once we get internet again. The highlight of our week was definitely our new Star Wars t-shirts (thanks Grandma!) there aren't too many world-wide catastrophes that a Star Wars t-shirt can't solve when you're one of our boys. May the Force be with You!

Camping and the Matterhorn

2008-09-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

This Labor Day weekend we went camping in Switzerland. The campsites in Europe are really funny because they are super close together. We rented a tent and sleeping bags because we don't have our stuff yet. We couldn't make a fire at our campsite so we had raw s'mores, which were almost as good. Garrett boycotted the s'mores because I'd bought hershey's chocolate bars for them and he said it wasn't as good as the Swiss chocolate--he's turned into a chocolate snob. Regrettably I didn't get a picture of some of the European campsites. They bring their satellite dishes, tables, chairs and even garden gnomes to make their areas feel homier. We packed up on Saturday morning and drove to the Matterhorn where we hiked around the base. The kids were nervous we were going to make them climb up the entire Matterhorn! It was so gorgeous. I think heaven must be just like Switzerland but with all your friends and family from America!

Viva Italia!

2008-09-01T03:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of my adorable boys taking turns holding up the Tower of Pisa. They get those bulging muscles from their dad. We spent August 21st through the 24th in Italy. Enjoying the Italian life--driving fast, drifting over all the lines on the road, sandles and t-shirts and swimsuits and sweat. The kids weren't overly impressed with the incredible architecture. They just wanted to get to the cabin we would stay in at the Italian army base, Camp Darby. Garrett laughed at these "Leaning Tower of Pisa" pictures I took because, as you'll notice, I took the picture so that they are the only things that are straight and everything else is crooked.

The boys got to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. They made a human blockade to protect an Arc Trooper Hut with Yoda in it--their version of a sand castle. Garrett and I were amazed that here we were in Italy and our kids were seeing things we had never seen before--Pisa, swimming in the Mediterranean, vineyards and so much more and our boys kept asking if we could just go back to the pool on the base and swim. Someday they'll think this was pretty cool, but for now, they just want to chill at home with their legos! Sorry kids, we're going to make you enjoy this European experience. On Friday we went to Cinque Terre, a group of 5 Italian towns on the coast that you can only get to by train or by boat. Each of the towns are connected by hiking trails so we hiked between two and then rode the trains to the others. I forgot the boys' swimsuits, so they wore their undies to swim in, except for Joe who had an earlier catastrophe and lost his undies all together. Incidentally, if you're traveling near the Mediterranean and find a pair of boy size 5 spiderman briefs, Joe wants them back. Joe went au natural and fit in with the European kids better than the rest of us, since most kids his age don't wear swimsuits. We really did stand out, being about 15 shades lighter than anyone else. Even the really old people are super duper tanned and lay out on the beach like they're evenly basting a turkey--10 minutes one position, 10 minutes another position etc. etc. The Italian men are super hot with a roll of money sticking out one side of their speedos and a pack of cigarettes sticking out the other side--clearly too many things sticking out!

The Four Food Groups

2008-08-06T01:22:00.000-07:00

I'm a little worried that my readers may be fearing my family is malnourished due to the constant mention of chocolate in my blogs, so I just wanted to reassure you that we are hitting the four food groups: Dairy--chocolate ice cream and hot chocolate; breads and cereals--nougat bits (see pix) a cereal which is crunchy chocolate on the outside with a fudgy chocolate middle or nutella type spread on bread; protein--let's not all be stupid it is called a cocoa bean, right, which, by the way, should also count for vegetables. With all this healthy eating, we occassionally sneak in a dessert, such as a chocolate bar or other such chocolate treats, which really can't be that bad for you if they are milk chocolate (emphasis on milk) and brimming with antioxidants. I think I'll go eat healthy some more.

A Semi-Authentic German Breakfast

2008-08-06T01:07:00.000-07:00

This morning we were celebrating because we have finally got clearance to move off-base, so we had a semi-authentic German breakfast, which includes processed meat like salami or ham with cheese (Emmentaler this morning) on a hard roll (we didn't have any, so we used bread), german yogurt (the kind we ate today actually had little choco-bits in it) with muesli (granola, also a kind with chocolate bits) in it and apfelsaft which is carbonated apple juice. In the picture I'm demonstrating using my very own meat slicer, which, for all you Seinfeld fans, also does a great job evening out my high heel shoes. The real work starts here because it's no easy task finding an apartment to rent in Germany, especially one that will fit 6 people and not cost a kidney to obtain.

3403 Poplarstrasse A3

2008-08-01T03:59:00.000-07:00

"Good night Ward, dear." "Good night June, dear." This is what Garrett and I say to eachother before we go to bed, since the picture of the 2 single beds above is actually Garr's and my room. The first hotel we stayed at in Germany only had single beds and most of the hotels are like this. I figure that's why Germany has a negative population growth right now. All the furniture in our apartment is military temporary furniture, until our stuff comes. They would only allow us to have a double bed for Garrett and me and we decided to continue to explore this negative population growth and keep the kids single beds and give Jacob and Joseph the double bed. It's like "Leave it to Beaver" at our house every night, with more color. Our sponsors, the McLeans let us use some sheets, but because we have such a big family we were dividing the sets up so everyone can have a bottom sheet and then a blanket over the top. Currently Garrett sleeps on Tinkerbell sheets and a leopard print pillowcase! If that's not emasculating, I don't know what is. (Not a homo like one of our dear friends--we won't mention any names.)

We are living at the left, closer end of the building on the third floor (38 stairs up, which is no easy thing, if you're trying to bring in groceries). If you look hard in the apartment building pix you can see the boys at our building entrance.

I included a picture of the towel warmers in the bathroom so you could all get the impression that we're living the high life. They are actually the towel warmers and radiators for the bathroom. The whole house if warmed with radiators. Air conditioning, what's air conditioning? Germans don't use air conditioning period. We're still working on living off-base, in a German apartment, but we'll see what happens.

Just Monkeying Around

2008-08-01T03:08:00.000-07:00

So this is us today, just monkeying around. Mason is wearing his monkey b-day mask (mom, from the card you sent!) and drinking Coke Light (it's diet Coke, but they call it Coke Light here). I'm not sure if you can tell, but the package on the left that Sam is holding is brown sugar and this is the BIGGEST box of it you can get at the Commissary (Military grocery store). I'd shop for it off-base, but they don't even have brown sugar in Germany!

Joe is sporting his new t-shirt. We let each of the boys pick their own new t-shirt because they've been stuck doing so many grown up errands lately. Mason is demonstrating how to flush a European toilet: push the big button behind the toilet. Some toilets have one smaller circular button inside the larger circle button so you don't waste alot of water if you're only going #1. The last picture is the only smart thing we put in our 45 day shipment--all the boys legos. It was like Christmas when they came and since this place we live in is so big (5 rooms) and we don't have any other stuff yet, we have an entire room for the boys to spread out all of their legos. I figured Jacob must have Jewish roots when he had the savvy to tell me, "Don't show our Grandmas that picture or they won't send us as many legos!" The Fletchers and Isaac Bradford are drooling just looking at all the lego possibilities, I'm sure! Sorry Shayla, no pink legos here!

Army Culture Shock

2008-07-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

So, when we planned to come to Germany with the army, I think I prepared myself for the German culture shock I would experience. Little did I know that I would also have culture shock from the army experience we were about to embark on. This is a pix of Garr in his army uniform that he has to wear every day. We call it his "costume" and his beret we call his "bonnet". It drives him insane to put it on all time and always worry about being saluted or saluting, which takes extra time wherever you go. The catch phrase around here is "Hurry up and wait" and that's exactly what we do in the army. Garrett still hasn't gotten a pay check yet but is hopeful of one in August. Everyone said it must be someone elses mistake in the system--not really helpful. I had to promise Garr I wouldn't make him pose for any more pictures for our blog, so enjoy this one, while you have the chance. It's like they say about doctors being the worst patients--he's a photographer and he puts up the biggest stink about having his picture taken. I just can't imagine being stuck in that gear and trying to get anything done and the wool hats are so hot and tight, I've been told by multiple sources. His army green socks go up to his knees and the boots lace up nearly to his calves. He has lots of utility pockets on his costume and we imagine all the other soldiers hiding out in foxholes trying to be as noiseless as possible and then they open one of their velcro pockets to reach for a grenade and the element of surprise is completely ruined. Those pockets are the loudest velcro around. So, I decided that I need to come to grips with my culture shock and stop being in denial that this is really my life so I'll add it to my blog because if it's blogged then it's got to be official, right?

Missing you guys!

2008-07-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

We're missing you so much we're making friends with the cows. Thanks for being such great family.

Revisiting Öschinensee, the Artistic (versus Autisic) Way

2008-07-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, these pix are the ones that Garrett did of our little jaunt to Öshinensee. I was so proud of my little "paint-by-numbers" photos, but these shots are much more enticing to all our upcoming guests (hint, hint).
I will have to further prove our nerd-dom by saying that Garr's second pix, with the sunlight beams streaming down on that little Swiss town remind me of Gandolf riding down the mountain with those horsemen to kill those nasty orkses.

2008-07-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

These are some of the shots that Garrett took at Rheinfalls, Switzerland. For all you non-hikers out there, this is where we would take you--it's a pleasant walk along a lake, up to a castle and down to a waterfall. Sehr hübsch! and sehr easy!

Öschinensee--Home of the 4 Billy Goats Gruff

2008-07-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, the 21st of July we took another trip to Switzerland (it's as if Garrett likes it or something!) and visited this Hidden Lake. Garrett, Sam, Jacob and Mason said it was a really hard climb uphill. Joe and I wouldn't really know because we road a ski-lift type thing there and met them at the top! That's the only way to go. There must have been music in the air because Joe and I sang the Darth Vader song all the way to the top on the lift and when Garr and the other boys got there, much to Garrett's displeasure, I graced them with a performance of "The Sound of Music", "Climb Every Mountain" and "Edelweiss"--complete with the Julie Andrews twirling technique as seen in the Sound of Music, one of my faves. I must admit I'm a closet fan, but have decided to show my true colors. If you had been there you might have sung too in the breathtaking Alps with Swiss cow bells chiming near sunset. We have started a tradition to eat kleine gummi bärchen (gummy bears) and doppel keks (really big vanilla cookies with chocolate cream filling, kind of like the opposite of oreos) when we get to the top of a mountain. Those of you who know me well, know that it's no sacrifice to give up my gummy bears to Garr and the kids, but Joe likes me to bite off the heads and switch them with other bears' heads so they have a different colored head than body, which truly is motherly love if you understand my aversion to all things gummy, except. of course, gum. We did get the chance to all hike down the hill which was nearly suicidal, it was so steep. Any ice at all and you'd be a goner, hiking down those mountains. Lucky for me, I had me billy goats gruff to keep me on the trail. I think Garr needs a new set of knees.

The Cliffs of Insanity

2008-07-15T03:10:00.001-07:00

While in Switzerland, we decided to abuse our children on a hike that was meant for "Expert Hikers with Appropriate Gear Only"--they didn't post that sign until the end of the hike or we never would have done it. We started on a small cow path and ended up 3000 feet up on top of the mountain. We thought we were near the top and that it would be easier to take the Tram down from the top than to try to help the kids down the mountain. If you notice the pix, we are at a spot above all those other mountains. I seriously was worried we weren't going to make it down the mountain, which I had previously thought when Garr and I took Sam and Jacob on the Angel's Landing Hike in Zions--this was a much worse hike than that. Chains were connected to big bolts that were nailed into the sides of the mountain and we had to hold on to them to keep from falling off the side of the mountain. While we were up there a Swiss Rescue helicopter circled and landed at a spot we had been about an hour down the mountain. We were worried that someone in the tram had seen us with a bunch of little kids and called search and rescue, but it turned out that someone--an adult-- had fallen into a crevice in the rock and had to be rescued. What were we doing up there with kids? The boys did an incredible job--they didn't complain or whine once the whole way and they are awesome little hikers. We got to the top and almost were stranded there for the night because we didn't realize the last tram would leave at 7:30 (it was already 7:30 and the Swiss hate to be late, luckily some other hikers tied up the ticket booth and the "tram man" had seen them, so it didn't close on time) and then when Garrett went to get the tickets, luckily Joe was free and they decided not to charge us for Mason or we wouldn't have had enough money. It was truly a day full of drama, so we decided it was time to call it quits and take a breather at home.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-15T02:48:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend we went down to Switzerland and it was gorgeous. Even more fairy-tale picture book towns than in Germany. We stayed off the autobahn (we didn't have a pass for the Swiss autobahn and it costs extra to drive on Austria and Switzerland's highways) and just drove through the small towns on backroads and I"m telling you that's the way to go. If you notice that some of my pictures have just randomly increased in their artistic composition, I have to tell you that I've stolen the ones that actually look nice from my better half and the other kindergarten-looking ones are mine. I remember getting my film developed last time and going through the pictures thinking "Did I let the kids use my camera?" Imagine my surprise when I realized all the pictures with people's heads cut off were my fault! I can't remember the names of the places--I'll ask Garr and amend this blog later. The pix with Garrett and the boys is on a ferry boat across a lake. It was really beautiful. We got to see some of the apartments he lived in when he was a missionary and walk down quaint little streets with flower boxes in all the windows. Some tips for all you soon to be European travelers--don't forget to bring water with you because it costs a fortune to buy--more than the alcohol and don't drink too much water or you'll have to use the bathroom which costs money. You have to put coins in a slot before the door will open. If you're standing in line, stand uncomfortably close to the person in front of you or they don't think you're in line and people will cut in front of you. I don't care what kind of whacky diet you're doing, eat the chocolate.

Here at Hollenzollern Castle

2008-07-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

so, here we are at Hollenzollern Castle, we may still look shell-shocked or perhaps just jet-lagged. We got to Germany on Tuesday and fought falling asleep. We're all working on adjusting to Germany--it feels like we're in a foreign country, if you can believe it! We visited the castle with our new friends, the McLeans, on the Saturday after we arrived here. Garrett will be working with Steve McLean at the dental clinic. The bottom picture shows our little Kings, Sam, Jacob, Mason, Joe and McLean boys--Cole and Kade. The McLeans really have been great to help us transition--thank you, thank you, thank you! Despite the excitement of our adventure and and beautiful places we get to see we still miss our friends and family so much--it feels like we're a half a world away. Oh wait, we are!

My Graduate

2008-06-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is my sweetie, all grown up and graduated! It's been a long road, but he made it. Garrett is the smartest guy I know. His good friend, Angie, needed to know the words to Gilligan's Island theme song and her husband, Steve told her to call Garrett because he was a "plethora of useless information". Either way, he knows it all. I love you, Good job Dr. Wood.

2008-06-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

Garrett graduated from Dental school on June 6th. Here are a few graduation pictures. The top one is with some of his good dental school buddies, Matt Bryner,Ray "Sting-ray"Cherry, himself, Thor Thorson the 5th, and Spencer Smith. We were so proud of him. We took the pix in the scrubs on his last day of clinic. I don't think he'll miss his cubicle that much! THe bottom picture is with our good friends and neighbors, the Bradfords. We will miss them and our other good Iowa friends so much. Our experience in Iowa was wonderful and I can say that this was 98% because of the wonderful friends we made. We love you guys!

2008-05-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

It was such a gorgeous day today. Garr's and my catch phrase for a day like this is "Go outside!" If my guys could they'd be playing video games or watching t.v. 24-7, but we push them out the door as much as possible and once they're out, they forget they wanted to be inside.

2008-05-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

Mason lost his third tooth today at his friend, Alexander's house. He was tough and pulled it out all by himself. His other top tooth is looking nearly ready to go too. I think he's just trying to make some money--he mopped the kitchen floor this morning before school for $1 and he probably figured it wasn't worth it when the tooth fairy gives him $2 a tooth (Garrett says it's inflation because he used to get $1!).

Road Rash

2008-05-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of Jacob's injuries from our Memorial Day bike ride. He was riding along just fine and then I think a twig got stuck in his spokes and his bike fell over and his body skidded on the ground for about 5 feet. His stomach got pretty bruised and cut up too. I think he's proud of his war wounds now, even though they're still pretty owie.

The Trampoline as a Sport

2008-05-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

These are my crazy boys and our neighbors, Noah and Isaac, doing what they love to do best--jumping off the shed onto the trampoline. It's pretty cool to watch them jump from the trampoline onto the roof of the shed and then climb up it like spiderman. I like to refer these and other sports such as jumping off the swingset onto the trampoline or out of a tree onto the trampoline or making a basket in the basketball hoop from the trampoline "white trash sports". We aren't so great at the traditional sports, but give us a backyard, a trampoline and alot of boredom and it's amazing what we can come up with.

2008-05-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

These are my cute boys around Valentine's Day. My first blog didn't really tell you much about us, so here goes:

Sam is 9. He loves riding his bike, putting legos together, reading Beast Quest books, playing with his friends and is a huge help to me. I'm pretty sure that within the next month or two he will be stronger than I am--he works out on the swing set and trampoline everyday. Jen Fletcher has been teaching Sam and Jacob piano for the past school year and they are both doing well. Sam has especially loved it. His favorite song's lyrics start out "There's a place in France..."--you fill in the rest! We have to tell him to stop playing sometimes! Sam was reading a book recently without the light on in the room. Garrett came in and told him to turn the light on or he wouldn't be able to see the words. Sam said, "Well, I'm on page 143, so you tell me if I can." He's always looking for another book to read because he is such a speedy reader. Sam's gone secretive on the girl front, so we aren't quite sure who his main squeeze is right now. He loves playing with Noah and Isaac Bradford, Laura and Lincoln Fletcher and anyone else--he's friends with everyone. Last Friday my boys all came home to tell me they had a pizza party. It was a pizza party for student council. It was kind of fun this year because Sam, Jacob and Mason were either voted in by their class or chosen by their teacher as the student council reps for their class, so it was a little Wood boy family reunion at student council meetings, and let me tell you I'm sure that they had a major sway in some very important issues, like after-school popsicle sales.

Jacob is 9. He loves playing Star Wars legos video game, putting legos together, drawing, playing with other peoples' dogs, riding his bike and jumping on the trampoline. When he gets older we hope that he marries Laura Fletcher, his best friend (her mom Jen helped me enter the world of the blog-thank you, thank you , thank you!) Jacob was in a skit for primary on Sunday and he was supposed to show a bad example of being a brother. Sam came up to him and said, "Hey, I just won my baseball game, can I tell you about it?" Jacob said "Sorry, I'm listening to my music right now and put on head phones and starts singing really loudly "I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day!" I could feel the color rise in my face--maybe a little too much guitar hero is going on at our house, but who's to know for sure. Jacob's the only kid I know who has understood adult humor from about the day he could talk. He's constantly cracking us up, which you'll see in tales to come.

Mason is 6, but he wishes he was 9 like Sam and Jacob. He picks things up so quickly and is driven to keep up with his brothers. He is an especially good artist and loves to ride his bike (he was the first one to learn to do it!), play on the trampoline and play with his friends. Mason is always good for a hug. He's always doing thoughtful things for us, like he made a bead necklace for Garrett and me to share. I wore it yesterday and told Garrett it was his day today, but somehow he must have forgotten about it in his rush to get to school--don't worry, I'll make sure he wears it tomorrow! Mason is also always good for telling me how beautiful I am, which I will take any time I can hear it. His best friends are Isaac Bradford and Alexander Swack. Mason wants to learn to play the piano, so I told him I'd try to teach him. We'll see how it goes. He is motivated enough that he may just be able to get by on my shoddy teaching skills.

Joseph is 4. He was a little upset when we told him that his next birthday he wasn't going to be three again, but had to move up to 5. Joe loves Darth Vader and likes to practice is vice-death neck grips and electrocutions, like the Emperor. He spends a great deal of time practicing his light saber skills, which are surprisingly realistic. When he isn't dressed up as a super villain or superhero, he is playing with "his guys"--a large collection of star wars action figures or super hero action figures. Joe was walking through the room when Garrett was playing guitar hero the other day and saw that Garrett was "The Devil", one of the characters on guitar hero with read skin, horns, a pointy beard, no shirt and jeans. Joe said "Yes, I love the Devil!" We are working on steering him away from bad guys, but they always seem cooler. Anyone have any cool angel action figures? When he grows up he wants to marry his friend, Lorili Thorson and have his other friend, Devanee Smith as his girlfriend. Maybe he'll be a polygamist, or he might just have to share one of his girls with his other friends, Jace Cherry and Isaac Fletcher.

Garrett is finishing up Dental School at the University of Iowa and will graduate on June 6th. He did some major surgery on a "tumor" on his arm last week and I'm still worried that his use of dental material on his arm may cause the whole thing to get infected and fall off. For a day after he had done it, you could see a white spot around the stitches and then white streaks shooting up his arm from the slice and dicing. I didn't realize he'd take the title "Doctor" so literally in every sense of the word. He's actually done alot of work on my teeth and I've been impressed--I hate going to the dentist--and now I can be a big wuss and he still loves me. We are going to Stuttgart, Germany around the 20th of June to do a 4 year payback to the army for dental school. We are so excited! I'll give you more news to come.

Well, I hadn't intended to be so wordsy, but it was fun. I'll close like I'm in the army, they always close all their voicemails or e-mails with "Have a blessed day!"

2008-05-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in Pella, Iowa. Last year we visited a week too late and most of the flowers were dead. This year we visited with my mom, the last week in April, and most of the tulips hadn't bloomed yet. I promised my mom that next year we would do a real European tulip town experience!

2008-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's hard to tell but this isn't a real photo--Mason drew this picture of (l to r) Mason, Jonas and Tess. He felt bad he didn't win the ISB&T art contest like Sam and Jacob, but his art teacher chose 2 pictures per grade to be displayed in Barnes and Noble and Mason was the lucky artist. We especially love it because he is so attached to Jonas, his adopted cousin. For those who don't know there are some custody problems and Mason is really worried. Every prayer he prays that Jonas will get to stay with Andrea and Paul. My boys used to ask if Tess was coming and it was a toss up whether they were more excited about Tess being there or Andrea and Paul. Now, Jonas is first pick, Tess is second pick and Andrea and Paul are taking a very distant third place. Sorry guys!

Happy 11th Anniversary

2008-05-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

It was our 11th anniversary on May 17th and we still kinda like eachother.

First time blogger

2008-05-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is my boys with their cousin Jonas. We like to teach them early to give blessings--j/k --they all had to touch Jonas' nice fuzzy head for the picture.