Burg Nanstein

This weekend we went to visit another local castle, Burg Nanstein. It started lightly snowing as we began the long walk up to the fortress. Although it was chilly, it was nice because we were the only people on the trail.

Burg Nanstein was built in 1162 and was defeated during the Knight's Revolt in 1523. It is quite an impressive fortress and is built on the highest hill in the valley, it's hard to imagine attacking it and succeeding. There are several underground tunnels and winding staircases and beautiful views of the villages below.

Grant is three!

My little boy is three today! Grant has brought so much joy to our family. He is constantly smiling and laughing and being silly. He is a smart and often devious little guy, but his cuteness makes up for it.

What is your favorite color?

Blue

What do you like to play with?

A race car, steamroller, and a truck

What is your favorite food?

Carrots

What's your favorite song?

Child of God

What makes you happy?

God, Jesus and treats

Unstructured play, fostering creativity

The past 6 weeks have taught me the value of unstructured play time.  I tend to be a major multi-tasker and like to have things scheduled and planned out. However, living in a house with no furniture, no television, no computer (at least for the first few weeks) and virtually no toys, has helped me learn to relax a bit and be more flexible.

Not having a TV frees up hours and hours of time available to live life rather than escape from it. Rather than resorting to that in the evening to relax, we cuddle up with books. The boys don't really have any toys and it's been very interesting to see their little imaginations kick into gear.

Joshua has totally thrived on this unstructured time. He is very creative and loves to "invent" things and this free time has really give him the freedom to use his imagination. He takes every cardboard box he can find and creates new inventions with them. He is constantly finding things around the house to balance and build with. The boys go on adventures in the backyard and spend more time exploring outside. Ethan typically spends half the day reading or working on the few school books we have and Grant plays with his stuffed doggie or roams around in the yard. We take more time to go to the park, the zoo, the bookstore and library and just have fun together. Amazingly, I haven't heard the phrase "I'm bored" a single time.

I for one am ready to get back to a schedule and routine, but it has been nice to take a break and just enjoy being together without any pressures or demands. I hope when we get settled in our new home and new schedule I can remember the value of letting their little imaginations run free and allow more unstructured play time.

First week in Germany, Burg Hohenecken

We have been in Germany almost a full week, it sure seems like longer. Jetlag sure takes a toll when you're pregnant, the other three time I came here I adjusted within a day or two, yet I'm still waking up in the middle of the night and needing naps in the day. Hoping my body will adjust soon.

Our car finally arrived however we can't pick it up until tomorrow so we rented a sweet Mercedes (has an on/off feature anytime you put on the brakes it shuts off and restarts when you hit the gas) to go house hunting. We've found some absolutely beautiful homes, only problem is they require a commute which we're not too excited about. We have found one house in the city with a massive back yard, and are hoping to get a deposit put down before anyone else snatches it up. All the houses within city limits are taken a day or two after they're listed so it's been a bit discouraging.

The house that we are hoping to rent is just a few miles away from this Burg Hohenecken so of course we had to stop and see it. There are 3 or 4 old castle ruins right around us but I think this is one of the biggest, believed to be built around 1200. There's a beautiful old church near the castle and it's quite the hike to the top. I was not prepared for how steep it was, but the view from the top was spectacular. The leaves are just changing and we've had unseasonably warm weather, it's just been perfect so far, just can't wait to get settled.

Baby Girl Essentials

Having a girl after three boys will be quite a change for our family and I've been trying to plan all the things I'll need for her. I love to sew and used to sew all the time but frankly boys aren't all that fun to sew for and life just got too busy. The first thing I did when I found out this baby would "possibly" be a girl was to go out to Etsy and order a boatload of fabric (LOVE Riley Blake fabrics!) and I even got myself a new sewing machine since it is going to get a lot of use over the next few years.

Over the next few months I will share some of the fun girly projects I'm making, but first I wanted to share some of my favorite baby girl products sold on Etsy. There are some stinking cute things out there for girls!

Adorable handmade shoes: have you ever seen anything so darling? As soon as these come back in stock they are mine.

Six

My oldest son is six today! I can't believe how time has flown since I held him as a tiny little baby in New Hampshire. He is growing up into such a handsome, intelligent and kind young man and we couldn't be more pleased with the person he is becoming.

What is your favorite thing to do?

Play stack the countries, read, swim and make new friends

What is your favorite scripture?

John 14:15

If you could travel anywhere where would you go?

Germany, because I want to see all the fun places

Who are your closest friends?

Akili, Zuri, Bailey, Ellie, Sophia, Mckenna, Savannah, Chelsey, Bill, Ethan & Aaron

What do you want to do for work when you grow up?

Be a doctor and surgeon

Let the shopping begin!

It's official! After waiting 6 long months we finally found out for sure...
we are having a girl!

I was so happy she cooperated better this time and since the ultrasound tech was 100% sure this time (rather than only 80% sure) she said it was definitely a girl. Phew! I was beginning to have dreams of alien babies ;)

Immediately following our appointment we headed up to the outlet mall in Indiana for our last shopping spree in the United States.








Here is the damage done, although it wasn't all for baby girl, some of it was for her brothers and yes, some of it was for me (I can still fit into regular clothes for a few more weeks...)




And here are the pink results! It's first time I've ever bought girly things and it wasn't for someone else's baby.

the Boys

I took the boys downtown for their last pictures in Kentucky, love these handsome guys!

Kindle Fire + Starfall, the perfect homeschool tools

We just added a Kindle Fire to our homeschool tools/toys and couldn't be more pleased with it (after dealing with a few hiccups that is).

I purchased this for two purposes:
1. So Grant can access Starfall.com without needing a mouse (kind of difficult for a 2 year old to navigate)
2. So Ethan can read his Ambleside Online books

I am most excited about my little guys being able to access Starfall easier. Ethan taught himself to read when he was three using Starfall and it's so much better now that it was then. If you have little ones and you aren't yet using this resource, I highly recommend purchasing the $30 yearly subscription to More Starfall, it is hands down the best educational resource you can get for children ages 2-4. Now my boys will be able to use all the Starfall features without having to sit on my lap while I help navigate the mouse. Yipee!

I also love that almost all of the classical education books we read for school are available for free or very low cost in the Kindle store. Normally I love to buy real books, I dream of having a huge library someday, but for now, especially with moving overseas, the less baggage I have to bring the better, so this is perfect. We can study anytime, anywhere. And we will be doing our "homework" all over Europe.

Now, if you don't yet have a Kindle and you plan on buying one, you'll need to be sure to read the bottom of this post because the new Kindle Fire DOES NOT support Flash, even though they claim to include support and the option is enabled in the browser, it will not work on flash sites. It took me hours of searching before I found the solution that actually worked and was very close to returning this one and trying to buy a used older model. If you're not good with computers- then you better try and find a used first generation kindle, otherwise follow the steps below and you'll be ecstatic when you can view all your favorite educational sites in Flash and your kids won't have to use the mouse!

Favorite Educational/Homeschool iPhone/iPad Apps

I love using educational games to reinforce learning and make it fun. After mastering Shake the States, my almost 6 year old has been enjoying playing Stack the Countries on my phone. I thought it was too advanced for him at first, since it quizzes them on every country in every continent including what their flags look like and capital cities. He asked me for a lot of help at first and unfortunately I didn't know most of the answers, however as time went on he learned by playing and actually completed the entire game earning every country on every continent. The other day he brought me his drawing notebook and showed me the pictures he drew of different countries and states. He doesn't pronounce or spell each one perfectly but still I am surprised how much he actually remembers and retains from playing a simple game.

I usually let each child have 20 minutes of game time a day and often use it as leverage to get them to do things they don't really want to do. Here are a few of my favorite homeschooling apps for the iPhone and iPad. What are your favorite apps? Any recommendations for Kindle/Android apps? I have yet to find any I love...

Ages 2 and under

Starfall ABC's  Free
Counting with the Very Hungry Caterpillar  $1.99
Kids Can Match Animals $0.99
ABC Wheels $1.99
iKnow Phonics ABC's Free
Giraffe's Matching Zoo Free
Alphabet Tracing Free

Ages 3-4

Teach Me Kindergarten $1.99
Bob Books $1.99
SuperWhy $2.99
Preschool Island Adventure $0.99
Park Math $1.99
ABC Magic Free
iWrite Words Free Lite Version, $2.99 Full Version
Numberland $2.99

Ages 4-6

Shake the States $1.99
Stack the Countries $1.99
Teach Me 2nd Grade $1.99
Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader Free
Brain Pop Free
Brain Quest Free
Jungle Time $0.99
ABC Cursive Writing Free

Fun Reference Apps

Chirp! Bird Songs USA $2.99
Counting Bills & Coins Free
Planets Free
Discover Musical Instruments $1.99
Dinosaurs: The American Museum of Natural History Collections Free

Girl or Boy?

This is the ultrasound photo I came home with today. The ultrasound tech said "it looks like a girl, but don't buy pink just yet". I am 22 weeks and have never waited this long before to know what I was having! This is my second ultrasound (the other at 18 weeks) and both times I was told, "it looks like a girl, but it's still too early to tell". 

So...what do you think? Girl? Boy? or alien baby? 

Kansas City, Missouri LDS Temple Pictures

A BIG thank you to Mandi Bailey for sharing these beautiful photos of the Kansas City, Missouri temple! I love the unique perspectives and beautiful autumn leaves. Mandi is so generously sharing her images for free and you may download them at http://freeldstemplepictures.com.

Once I arrive in Germany, get settled and my computer unpacked, I will upload some antiqued black and white versions of these images as well, so be sure to check back in a month or two. Also, I will be unable to photograph any more U.S. temples for at least the next three years. If you live near a temple that I do not already have on my site and have any high quality high resolution images you'd like to share, please let me know! I get emails every day from people who are so happy to be able to display beautiful temple artwork in their home without an expensive price attached. This is a great way to provide a simple yet meaningful act of service.

Dinosaur World

Anthony's parents came out to visit us and we spent a couple days down by the caves. We enjoyed spending time with them for what may be the last time in several years, and had a lot of fun visiting Dinosaur World. Our household goods get picked up this week and next week we find out for sure if we're having a boy or girl!

The Stroller Fleet

No one ever mentions the fact that if you plan on having more than one children you are going to go through a whole fleet of strollers. Meet our newest editions- strollers #6 the Bugaboo Cameleon and #7 the Peg Perego Si.

With my first child I purchase a travel system- a small lightweight stroller that the car seat could attach to and a single jogging stroller. Then baby number two came along and we needed a double. I got rid of both my single strollers, purchased the Graco Quattro Tour Duo stroller and a double jogger. Then baby number three came... We bought an umbrella for the older and the younger two rode in the doubles. Of course I contemplated trying to buy a tripple jogger, but gave up on the idea. I wish I'd kept the single jogger so I could have pushed one boy while my husband pushed the other rather than cramming them all in the double (which we did on several 15+ mile runs).

Bugaboo Cameleon

Baby number four requires a whole new system. The main reason is because we will be living in Germany! I remember my first trip to Germany seeing mothers out for walks, rain, snow or shine with their babies in old fashioned buggies with 4-wheel drive tires that can easily maneuver over cobblestone streets and six inches of snow, Russian-style buntings and adjustable umbrellas. They are certainly a sight to behold.

When I first learned I was pregnant and would be having the baby in Germany I knew I had to have one of those mega strollers. Partially out of want, and partially out of necessity. It would be impossible for me to push my current strollers on European cobblestone streets. Unfortunately, those mega strollers cost a small fortune when you add in all the accessories. Fortunately for me, I found a fabulous local deal that included everything! I just love the little basinette that hooks right onto the stroller and can't wait to join the german mamas strolling down the strasse.

Peg Perego Si

And as much as I love a double stroller, it's just not practical for European streets and metros unless you get the kind where the smaller child his hidden behind or below the other. My kids are too strong willed to sit blindly in the back, they need a view of everything.

Grant however, still needs to be in a stroller. After much research trying to find a small single stroller that would ride well on cobblestones and wouldn't break the bank, I finally found this Peg Perego Si. It's lightweight, fully reclines, has 4 wheel drive wheels that lock and costs just under $200. I LOVE this stroller. It took some engineering skills to figure out how to open and close it, but I was amazed at how well it steers! I can open a door with one hand and wheel it through with the other. If only I'd known there were strollers that were so easy to push! I will never go back to the pathetic small wheeled strollers of my past.

I plan on Baby Bjorning baby #4 as long as possible and by the time he/she (wishful thinking) is old enough to need the stroller, Grant will be old enough to walk. We'll probably also get the buggy board for our Bugaboo so when the older boys get tired they can catch a ride.

I'm also bringing along my double jogger for around the neighborhood, but for city trips we'll use strollers 6 and 7. I really hope we don't have to buy any more strollers in the near future!

Daddy's homecoming

We survived our drive across the country! The boys did remarkably well especially considering how long they sat in the car each day. We are enjoying being back in Kentucky, it's so nice to be back where it is green and rains for more than 5 minutes.

My husband surprised us Friday with a call to pick him up at the airport! It is a full two weeks earlier than we originally anticipated and such a wonderful surprise. The boys were so excited to see him again (although Grant fell asleep on the way to the airport). A year is just too long, it's so nice to know we'll be together for at least the next three years.

 

 

 

Now it's non-stop wrestling and rough housing. I'm just glad they have someone else to pick on now ;)  We are getting really excited for Germany! We've got all our appointments taken care of, now we're just waiting for our government passports and for our household goods to be shipped. In the meantime I'm trying to brush up on my German and take the boys to visit all the fun places we used to go when we lived here.