One Great Day

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...

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!

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

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

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

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

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!