Tree decorating day-December 13th

Our half decorated tree, for Daniel's sake.

Hannah under the tree.

Alyssa under the tree.

Mom and the kids done decorating the tree.

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!!!!!

I thought this video would be appropriate for today.
The girls Cubbies and Puggles classes got together to have a Birthday Party for Jesus.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

The kids with Santa again!!!

We went to a Holiday party at the library a couple weeks ago and Santa was there. The best part is that it was the exact same Santa they saw before at the Tree lighting party. This Santa was also at the library last year when I brought the kids. We are sure going to miss him next year, he makes a perfect Santa!!!

Three Little Monkeys!!!

Alyssa, Hannah & Daniel

November 15th-Raking up the leaves!!!

The girls just love helping Dad out in the yard, but the best part was jumping into the leaf pile.

Daniel's Party!!!

Daniel and his Cars cake.

The cake

Daniel with his balloons!!!

Daniel & Eva opening up a gift.

Daniel & Tracy opening up a gift.

Daniel & Emma opening up a gift.

Alyssa & Hannah helping Daniel open the last gift.

Cake face!!!

Checking out the frosting on his hands.

Daniel digging in!!!
So, Daniel didn't get as messy as the girls did on their first birthdays, but he did enjoy the cake and frosting. The ice cream was to cold for him and he made faces every time he tried to take a bite. I still can't believe that my baby is already one year old:o)

Happy 1st Birthday Daniel!!!

Daniel with all his Birthday presents!!!

Opening his present from us!!!

Opening his MN Vikings football from Grandma & Grandpa G. By the way we just love the Viking fleece suit. I have a picture to post of him wearing it once I get more caught up on here.

Opening his presents from Auntie & Uncle Pete!!!

He loves his cookie monster.
Daniel waited so patiently for me to get his cookie monster out of the box. Unfortunately after about five minutes of him playing with it, cookie monster was swooped away along with the dump truck that we got him by his sisters. We didn't do much on his birthday except open his presents, but that was fun enough!!!

Happy 31st Birthday Daddy!!!

Daddy and the kids with his presents!!!
This one turned out pretty good.

Cake picture!!!
This one not so good:o)

A quick update...

So, we have a crazy week ahead of us. Tomorrow we have MOPS, then the rest of the day will be spent making goodies for the airman on base, we did this last year too. Except last year my sister was here to help out. So this year we are going the easy route making puppy chow, no bake cookies, peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge and banana bread muffins. We are suppose to be making cookies, but I thought it would be fun to switch it up a bit this year. Anyway Tuesday we have playgroup, then afterwards we are going to drop off our goodies. Wednesday we are off to Ramstein for Bill's surgery. Thursday is Daniel's birthday, he also has his one year well-baby check that same day. I'm sure after Daniel's appointment we will be off to the library for storytime. Friday will be my cleaning day as we planned a last minute birthday party for Daniel on Saturday. Then from there is Christmas. And from Christmas we await my cousins visit to Germany in January. After spending two weeks with Brenda the kids and I will be going back to the states with her help. We can't wait to spend four months with family before we head to Texas in June.

The kids with Santa 2009!!!

Santa & Hannah waving.

Santa & Daniel

Santa checking out Alyssa's Christmas List.

Daniel Man!!!

Sitting in the Little People bin chewing on a toy.

Climbing on the boppy.

Taking a snooze with Dad.

I can't believe that my baby is going to be one in just one week:o(

St. Martin's Festival 2009: November 14th

The kids in the wagon!!!

St. Martin

Daddy and the kids walking through Herforst.

Daniel crashed out for a little bit.

Mom and the girls by the bon fire.

Hannah and Alyssa waiting in line for their pretzel donut.

Hannah and her pretzel.
It ended up being a pretty chilly night, so Kershin & Guido invited all of us over to their house. The kids had fun playing with Eva & Erik and Bill and I enjoyed visiting with Kershin, Guido, Bella, & Matthias. It had been quite a while since we had all gotten together. It was a fun night!!!

Wadrill, Germany: Gruenes family history

Bill & the girls

The girls

A little garden area in the village of Wadrill.

The girls in front of the St. Martin fountain in Wadrill.

The church.

We believe this is the year the church was built.
1766

Another part of the church.

The other side of the church.
We were very excited when we found out that Bill's Great-Grandma Lauer (born in 1861) on his Dad's side was from the village of Wadrill, which is only about 45 minutes to an hour from our house. We were disappointed to find out that the interior of the church was being completely redone. The inside looked beautiful, but we were not able to go in to get any pictures. Also there was no one for us to talk to to get information from. It was also a very cold day, so no one was outside. We just stopped into the bakery and the man working didn't speak very good English. We barely got out of him how old the church was, so we decided not to ask any more questions. Bill is going to go back before he leaves Germany to see if he can find out if there is any family still in the area and he is hoping to get some pictures of the inside of the church.

Daniel playing outside...

I would like to ask all of you to keep Daniel in your prayers. He has had a cough now for over three weeks. He had a fever three weeks ago also which passed. This weekend Bill brought him into Urgent Care on Bitburg base, he had a fever with a horrible cough and non-stop crying. He was diagnosed with croup, which is pretty much a horrible cough. They gave him a steroid shot in the leg to help him get over it quickly. He was also given amoxicillin for the start of an ear infection, which he has to take twice a day for 10 days and of course he hates the taste of it. He is sleeping a little better at night, but I'm not sure he is getting better. I called peds today to see what they think I should do as it has been two days since they gave him that shot. I am waiting to hear back from them. I will keep you updated.

Reading books with Mommy!!!

Here we all are again reading books before bedtime.