October Pictures

40 pounds

Have to show the 40 pound turkey pictures.  :)

As you can tell, cooking a 40 pound turkey is like cooking a four year old.

First the engineer of the family needs to engineer a container big enough to hold the turkey.  He was a little too happy to use his special heat tape to connect two trays.

It was kinda like Benihana...  We all gathered around the kitchen for the show of getting the turkey ready for the oven.  Paul's brother and his family drove down to spend Thanksgiving with us!  :)  YAY!

Pretty huh?

Legs bigger than the boys head.  :)

Back home!

I went back to Germany.  I got home on Wednesday.  I am happy to be back in New Hampshire.

Last Thursday I flew to Hamburg ALL BY MYSELF.  I took a happy little sleeping pill and slept the entire way there.  :)  I don't usually get flights like that!  It was weird to take my trip because I was super excited to go back to see my friends, but really sad to be leaving my kids.  I spent the entire day kinda bi-polar about the entire event.  I felt so guilty for leaving Poozie ...she didn't really get that I was going to be gone for six days.  :(

Anyways...  I arrived in Germany and it was kinda fun to be back in a foreign country and have it be familiar.  :)  ...and as people shoved past me to get to the shorter customs line it was all just a little too familiar.  Oh yah...

I was also impressed that I could remember the little German that I had learned, especially because when I'm in the States it's near impossible for me to come up with any German words.  As soon as I got on the plane in Boston I heard German and without evening thinking I was able to announce I had the "fenster platz" (window seat).  I had some pretty good German sentences while I was there ...at one store I even asked for printer paper in German!  So there!

When we moved I really missed my friends.  Probably the only thing I missed! When I arrived, my two best Germany friends picked me up at the airport and we went to the mall ...just like we always did.  I got some cash from my German bank account and we ate lunch ...just like we always did.  Then we picked up kids from school ...just like we always did.  Except this time I didn't have any kids to pick up.  :(  It was sad seeing all the kids' old friends and having them ask where my kids were.  I would have loved to have let them come too ...Sierra is still a little irritated with me.  :(  

It was all the same, life went on without me ...as I guess I knew it would.  :)

It was a great trip and I think it helped me with some closure.  After being here in New Hampshire and having left "my normal"...  I thought I missed it.  Turns out I don't.  Sure, I will always miss my friends, but as for the day to day activities...  Nope.  Didn't miss it at all.  Didn't miss German food or German shopping or German restaurants or any of it ...and sure that might just be me deciding what I have is the best, but that's how I do it.  ;)

I didn't NOT like Germany.  I liked it fine.  I just like New Hampshire better.  :)  And I think I needed a trip back to help me realize I'm happier here.  It's a normal life here and way more long term ...and it just seems more real and useful.  Hmmmm....  I don't know if that really makes sense.  :)

AND for the record, Kelly and I made it to the fish market.  That entailed staying up all night long and showing up at the fishmarket when it opened on Sunday morning.  Lesson learned:  Try this in the summer when the fish market opens at 5:00AM...  the extra two hours of waiting for the winter opening time of 7:00AM was the longest two hours of my life!  :)  Thanks for being determined Kelly!  I wouldn't have made it without you!  :)

Hey Ingrid (German one), I have a box of German goodness headed your way!!  I say eww, you say yum!  :)

Shhhhh....

 Sierra and Michaela...  Do NOT show Scotty that his picture is on the internet/computer.  If you do I will take an equally embarrassing picture of you guys and post it to Facebook.  Try me...  This is our little secret.

I almost feel bad posting these pictures because Scotty is at the point in life where he actually gets embarrassed about things, but I figure Scotty might one day find these pictures to be funny.  He was less than amused when he looked in the mirror and discovered what Sierra and her friend had done to him.  I'm not sure what he thought was going on, but he sat there nicely while his sweet, loving sister decorated him.  Poor kid, he's so trusting and sweet.... :)

Potato Chip Nachos

America will always be #1 ...and this is why...

Deep Fried, Potato Chip Nachos.

American Turkey Day IN AMERICA!

The last Thanksgiving we spent in the United States was in 2007...  We were living in Portland, Oregon and had driven down to California so we could eat turkey with the family.  The day after turkey was eaten we drove back to Oregon ...very sad to say bye to family knowing we were soon crossing an ocean. 

We stayed in Portland for a couple more days ...just long enough to finish shoving our things into a shipping container and ...oh, and to realize I was pregnant with Andrea.  We quickly stocked up on prenatal vitamins and boarded a plane to Denmark.  Seems like it was yesterday ...but not really.  :)

Now we are home!!!  :)  ...and I just thought about it, but a few days after this Thanksgiving I will again board a plane and head across an ocean.  This time I (alone) am going for only a few days to meet up with some friends for one last trip to the famous German Christmas Markets.  

Anyways...  This is our families first Thanksgiving "at home" in a very long time and we have a 40 pound turkey in the refrigerator to help us celebrate the occasion.  40 pounds.  HA!  Everything's bigger in America!!!  40 pounds... Geez, it's kinda like cooking Andrea.  I'm not quite sure why we have a 40 pound turkey, but leave it to the MAN to come home with a bird bigger than my four year old.  

(Apparently a friend of a friend sells turkeys and I guess this year they were well fed.  I hope I can eat it though.  Just knowing that it was alive and running around yesterday is a little gross.  Paul is definitely in charge of touching this one.)

...and with Thanksgiving comes Black Friday!!!  ...which for some reason has spiraled into midnight shopping the day of Thanksgiving, but like a good consuming American who is simply doing her part to stimulate the economy, I will take my girls and we will roam the halls of the mall until we decide we can't shop any longer.  Our mission this year... clothes... I think... it seems every time I look at the flyers I have a new plan in mind.  :)  I already spent three hours in a Toys R Us last weekend.  YAY!  :)

AND Christmas lights!  We get to have real Christmas lights this year!!!  Bright, colorful, obnoxious, twinkly, lights ....maybe with some inflatable fabric creatures ...giant glowing snowman, reindeers in the yard...  It's got to be big!  We get to start fresh too.  Currently we do not own a single Christmas light.  This means all mine will match.  Jealous?  :)

Even though I'm having a great time in America, I still miss my friends.  I do have a couple friends here thanks to a great friend who is sharing her friends with me, but I just miss my regular friends.  :)   I will see them soon though!   I can't believe I leave in nine days!  ...and this time I'M the one packing candy, toys, cereal, crackers, and baking supplies to distribute to those in need.  :)  

AND, I also might even get to see my one and only bestest CA friend, Trini, who was there for every one of my children's births; not during, but the next day.  :)  I hope she makes it.  Oh, wait.  She wasn't there for Andrea.  :(  Now I feel like Andrea missed out...  I did talk with Trini on the phone though.  :)  Either way, I'm excited to see her too.  

I think the next few months will be fun.  :)

Rescue Mission

A story I would like to have remembered forever ...to prove my love for Poozie...  or at least my love for Brown Bunny.

Over the summer we drove to Canada... a solid nine hour drive.  On the way back to New Hampshire we had three hours to go when we stopped for our lunch break at a McDonalds in the middle of New York.  We quickly ate, let the guinea pigs nibble on grass, stretched our own legs, and hopped back into the car.

We got home in record time, early enough to spend some time doing nothing before getting the kids to bed!! YAY to us for being awesome road trippers!!!  Only one small detail  ...and I knew it the minute the car stopped.

Bunny.

We left him in New York.

I was beside myself.  One might have thought I had left an actual child behind...  I started tossing things from the car hoping to find Bunny.  The driveway was covered with our belongings and I knew he wasn't there.  He was in New York.

I was devastated.  Poozie had no idea, she was already happily running up the stairs into the house and I was left alone in the driveway ...in tears ...without Brown Bunny.

I did what any mother on earth would have done.  I went back for Bunny.  Paul insisted I call the McDonalds first and luckily I had actually noticed the name of the exit we were at.  I called and they had Bunny!!!!  No, mailing him wasn't an option.  I didn't want Rabbit leaving McDonalds.  I wanted him safe in one spot.  I begged with the woman on the phone to keep him safe and I told her I'd be there in three hours.

At midnight I pulled into the parking lot of the Mohawk Ridge McDonalds in NY.

I stood in line patiently and ordered one Brown Bunny.  The cashier brought him out and it was such a relief just to see him!  As I stood there crying with Bunny in my arms I couldn't even explain to the confused cashier of how appreciative I was for everyone who was involved in the return of Bunny.  I'm pretty sure the customers behind me thought I was nuts.

I got into the car and drove the three hours back home.  Bunny sat on my lap the whole time.  I ate an entire bag of sunflower seeds just to stay awake.

Bunny and I got home at 3:00 am and we crawled into bed.  I slept with Bunny all night.

Bunny was returned to Poozie the next morning ...she quickly grabbed his long, floppy ear and ran off ...with little visible appreciation and zero knowledge of the six hours and $150 in gas that it took to get her best friend back.

Poozie loves Bunny and so do I ...maybe a little too much.  :)

Nana and Sandy came to visit!

I feel the need to report that Nana is fine.  :)

Nana came to see us and in keeping with tradition she brought a natural disaster with her.  The last time she came to visit us she brought a volcanic eruption in Iceland ...with this visit Nana arrived on Saturday and Sandy the Hurricane arrived on Sunday.   :)

We are definitely not in the path of the hurricane, we are about four hours north of it and I was beyond surprised when we got the automated phone call Sunday night that school was cancelled on Monday.  The kids went to bed Sunday night happy they got to sleep in and Nana went to bed happy she would get an extra day of having the kids at home.

Monday morning it was cloudy and a little rainy, nothing that would have indicated "hurricane" ...so we went out for breakfast.  :)  The rest of the day was uneventful, Paul and I split up to do some grocery shopping and Nana played with the kids all day long.  It finally got windy around 3pm, but nothing that I would have imagined would have justified closing school, but oh well...  :)

THEN...  :)  Just as I started cooking dinner the power went off.  Perfect timing!  Now I had a really good reason to NOT cook dinner!  :)  ...but Happy, being the boy scout he is, was prepared.  (Note: Paul is not a boy scout.  I'm pretty sure he is a boy scout drop out, but Scotty just started in cub scouts and so now I know their motto is "Be prepared" ...hmmmm, actually I think it's "Do your best.".  Oh well... I thought I was making a joke.

Anyways....  Happy had bought a generator when we moved here and I didn't even know a normal person would own one of these things.  Up until now I didn't even really know what a generator was.  :)  It's this big thing that runs on gas and it gives power to your house ...or most of your house.  Ours doesn't run the oven or dishwasher and only runs half the lights.  Apparently in New Hampshire you have to take power into your own hands because when the power does go out, it can be out for a very long time.  So when the power really did go out it was almost fun to turn on the generator and make ourselves some power!  :)

Ten minutes later the power came back on.

I had to cook dinner.  Ugh.

I cooked dinner and no kidding, the minute dinner was done, the power went back off.

So we turned the generator on so we could have lights... then we turned the OFF lights to eat by candlelight because it was more fun that way.  :)

We were only without power for a couple hours, but not really thanks to Mr. Generator.  I think the next time we lose power we will hold off on starting the generator on.  Paul was just excited to try out his new toy to see if it worked.

As for the weather yesterday, it was just windy and rainy.  We didn't notice anything hurricane like.  We went to bed Monday night thinking we would have school the next day, despite all the other nearby towns having cancelled.  I woke up at 5:45, checked websites and email and since there wasn't any indication of school being cancelled I woke up all the kids.  As sure enough, as soon I manage to drag Sierra's sleepy butt out of bed the automated phone call comes... school has been cancelled again; this time not due to weather, but due to power outages and road blockages.  So it was 6:10 am and all the kids were awake... it's going to be a long day...  We made some hot chocolate, sat by the fire and watched the news for a while.  Michaela was the only one smart enough to go back to bed.

Currently it's 8:00 AM on Tuesday; it's not rainy or windy and we have power in our house ...as well as four school aged kids.  At least it's another day with Nana.  :)

From watching the news it seems New York has had better days, but here in New Hampshire we are a little wet, but just fine.

14

KE is 14.  I forgot to mention that.  Don't feel bad though Michaela, because as Happy pointed out last night, I'm not a very good blog writer anymore.

Michaela's birthday happened long ago on the 10th, but her main gift was a weekend at a local Anime Convention that just happened this past weekend.  Anime has seemed to have overtaken my sweet daughter's life, but as a result of this new hobby she has made some nice friends who enjoy the same thing; and even better, she has traded aimlessly trolling facebook with writing her own little anime stories.  I'm not at liberty to discuss the content of this stories, much less post them...  something to take up with her on your own I guess!

PS.  On her real birthday she had an away soccer game and didn't get home until late so we took her out for dinner the night before where my little birthday girl consumed an entire rack of ribs!  Oink Oink.  :)

...and if you want to know what an Anime Convention is you'll have to google it, but Michaela and three of her friends had a great time dressed as the characters of Black Butler.  Very cute/amusing.  Her cake was the character she dressed up as...  well, the cake was the character she dressed up as, when that character is a guy.  Very confusing.  I just smile and go along with it ...because what else can I do?  :)  Can you even pick her out of the group??

  
Happy Birthday KE.  ...even though I kinda want to strangle you on a daily basis, I still love you lots.  Promise.

HOLLY in new HAMPSHIRE!

My friends are awesome.  Holly has now traveled to three countries to see me ...four if you count the time she drove across Denmark to help me cook food for our "moving to Germany" party.  :)

I think the last time I saw Holly was when she came to see us in Canada ...I think the last time I saw her husband was when he flew through Hamburg and I met him at the airport for the hand off of a suitcase full of American goodness that Holly had packed special for me.  :)

I totally miss my international friends, so having a familiar face to hang out with was beyond wonderful! ...besides, Holly and Chuck were the best guests on earth!  How many visitors do you know who would show up AND cook dinner for you!  Holly is a great cook so for fun I like to send her pictures of the horrible things I do in the kitchen.  After she got this picture:

...she decided I needed help.  :)  HA!  This was my attempt at being fancy.  Maybe it can be a contest to guess what on earth they are.  :)  I'll tell you later....

Anyways, Holly taught me how to make a great stuffed chicken dinner and we even made our own pizza - including the crust ...like with real pizza dough ...that used real yeast!  I've never used yeast to make anything, much less something that needed "kneading"!  It was fun!  The best part was letting the dough grow and then punching it down.  :)

Holly and I also did some sightseeing.  We went on an adventure to look for "New England Fall Colors".  Apparently people come to New England around this time to look at colorful leaves.  :)   I think the leaves all changed from green to beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows a few days after Holly left,  BUT we did see Covered Bridge #65!!  :)   Apparently people come to New England to see covered bridges too.  :)

Really though, we did see pretty leaves, the bridge was cool, and it was a fun day with just the two of us!

The next day Holly and her husband took off to Vermont, but came back in time to make cookies with the kids. :)  ...and the following day they ended their New England tour with a drive through Maine on their way back to Boston to catch their plane back home.  They are professional travelers.  :)  Love them both!  I'm really glad they came to see us.  Thanks guys!!!  :)

...okay.  The picture.  They are potatoes.  Sad, wrinkly, salt covered potatoes   :(  I tried to make some salt crusted potatoes, but I'm pretty sure I used the wrong salt and I know the egg whites didn't help.  They looked like snow balls.  Ewww..  So salty you couldn't even bite them.  I had to serve them because we had guests and I had to give them something so I rubbed the salt off and tried to wash them off.  HA!  Fiasco.  They were wrinkly and gross and I'd rather never think about them again...  but here I am posting the picture for the world to see.  :)

Operation Candy Corn

Yesterday I went to Target and bought a bag of Candy Corn.

Technically, I bought two.  :)

...and a cute ceramic pumpkin to hold them.

At this time of year, for the last five years, I've begged and pleaded with friends and family to send me candy corn.  This time I bought mine own after hours of aimlessly roaming the aisles of Target while Poozie happily drank her ICEE and munched on salty popcorn.

Life is pretty good huh?  :)  Although I can't brag about America too much ...well I can, but I try not to.   :)  When I talk to my friends who are still "stuck" in Europe I try to avoid mentioning all the American Awesomeness I once again have.  ...I never mention the SB word (school bus).  

I once had to block a friend on facebook after she moved back to the States.  For 100 days she posted "100 things I now appreciate about America" ...so while I was stuck in Germany she was just reminding me about things I had forgotten about!!   It was just too depressing and I couldn't emotionally cope with it.  Then I couldn't figure out how to "unblock" her so I had to "de-friend" her, and then "re-friend" her.  (I'm not very good at facebook) I think I eventually admitted to her about what I did... :)  Sorry again KP!  Still love you and your recipes. 

ANYWAYS....  This year I have access to candy corn and I'm willing to send it to those in need.  After being in Denmark and going through my first European Halloween without candy corn I've decided that nobody should have to do that.  Give to those less fortunate right?  That's what my mommy taught me, although I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking about Candy Corn.

It's now my own special mission to spread candy corn across the world.  My husband will be so proud.  

I'm pretty serious, let me know if you want Candy Corn.  :)

Only rule is that I only send Brach's, original candy corn ...none of that new caramel or chocolate flavored yuck.  :)

YAY for competitiveness

It's not about having fun.  It's totally about winning ...because winning IS fun!

HA!  Sadly it's true, I'm that crazy, competitive parent.  My husband even uses it against me.  "You can't do that." ...only guarantees it will happen.  I refer you to the time I had to ride a bike 20 miles.

One of my most favorite things of all is watching the kids play their sports.  It is probably on my top ten favorite things to do.  I wish I could still play and be a superstar athlete, but those days are over.  :)  HA!  So  now I get to live vicariously through my children ...every goal they score makes me happier than perhaps it should.  :)

I try really hard not to yell too much.  I'm usually coaching and allowed to yell, but as a parent I try to keep it under control.  Sometimes I have to walk away though ...might say something not nice.  :)  At least I know my limits.  :)

Like on Saturday, Scotty was playing his first soccer game and he was goalie (because nobody else wanted to and Daddy is coach.  Coach Daddy is obligated to make his own kid do what nobody else wants to do ...downside of being coach's kid).   Scotty was goalie and there was this blob of kids in front of the goal kicking frantically at the ball.  Scotty ran out and pounced into the middle of the crowd.  He landed plop on the ball and grabbed it.  HA!  Take that other team!!!!  Even at Sierra's last game she made an amazing save as Goalie and people on the sidelines were talking about it...  :)  Times like those make all my time and driving and waiting and money worth it!  My kids kick butt.

...and I'm sure Michaela has some wonderful soccer moves too, but all her games have been "away" so far; her first home game is this Friday.  Andrea.  Oh Little Andrea.  Her soccer is hilarious and dare I say she is destined to be the best soccer player in the family.  :)  She chases and kicks that tiny little "mini-ball" with all her four year old might.  Of course, the very next minute she might be laying face down in the wet grass refusing to play ...but hey, we all have our ups and downs.  I get it.  :)

However, I didn't mean to write about soccer.  I meant to write about Volleyball.

On the first day of school Sierra had team tryouts.  She could choose between soccer and volleyball, but she could only try out for one.  I knew she would make it on the soccer team because I know what her skills are like compared to other soccer players of the same age, she's good, but I had no idea about volleyball.  I didn't know anything about volleyball.  The only thing I did know is that in her school, volleyball is the most competitive sport, 40-50 girls tryout and they only take 12 or 13.

There I was ...stuck in a parenting "situation".  Do I have her go for the "guaranteed team" and be on the soccer team, or have her try for volleyball and perhaps get nothing?  Kinda like Deal or No Deal.  UGH.  Well, I let her pick and I didn't tell her about the fact I was warned about the volleyball team being very hard to get on. I just mentioned soccer teams are bigger.  :)  If she wants something, what right do I have to discourage her or tell her to go with the "safe" choice?

Well, of course she picked volleyball and the try-outs seemed to go well...  She got a letter after the second day of try-outs and I quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road while she opened it.

....She totally made the team!  Of course she did!  I knew she would.  YAY!!!!  She was beyond excited.  This was huge!  Later we learned there was only two 7th graders on the team and she was one of them.  It's more fun to work hard for something and get it opposed to just get on the team because you signed a piece of paper.

I went to her first volleyball game and these girls are Olympic Athletes!  They are spiking and diving and yelling instructions, moving all over the place.  It's insane!  I can't believe how good these teams are!  Sierra's team is amazing.  They play real plays like grown ups and I'm impressed they can even return the balls that are pounded towards their little faces.  Sierra hasn't had a lot of playing time so far, but the season is early and I'm still happy she is where she is.  I think even she will need some time to get accustomed to new level of Volleyball she is playing.  :)

LilyTruck and Buttercup

I'm not going to try and catch up.

It's true.  I'm bored of typing on this thing... yes, I know that my faithful followers ...all 12 of them, are sad ...but don't worry, I'm not quitting.  :)  I'll TRY to keep typing just because I think this is a really cool way to "record life".   Just like the journal my mom always told me to keep when I was little.

What if I hadn't started this blog when we moved to Europe??  I might have forgotten all the things that happened, but now my grandkids can look through and read all my stories.  Just the other day I spent a good two hours reading my own blog.  :)

So although I'm not going to try and catch up I do need to mention that we have two new members of the family.  Buttercup and LilyTruck.  We have them as replacement pets for the cute little hamster Sierra had to leave behind in Germany ...and I just learned today actually, that unlike hamsters who live for approximately one year, guinea pigs can live for up to ten years!  Super.  Lesson learned...  Research life expectancy of any potential pet.

At least we bought used guinea pigs so they are already a year old, but it seems I have seven more years of waking to the demanding squeaks of these two furry piggies.  If they don't get their morning carrot within two minutes of seeing me in the morning, they go crazy.  BUT.  They are cute.  :)

They came to us as Buttercup and Lily, but Andrea wanted to rename them Truck and Bob.  I have no idea why, but the kids compromised.  Sierra fought to keep Buttercup Buttercup and Lily became LilyTruck because when there is food in the case she will run over everything, including Buttercup, to get it; you know, like a truck.

Since they are IN the family now, we took them on vacation ...all the way to Canada.  We set up a little corral for them when we stopped for lunch and they munched on grass and the lettuce from our cheeseburgers.  Needless to say we got some looks from people.  :) Once we had them set up behind a McDonalds in order to avoid the looks, but then a tour bus pulled up and next thing we knew people were taking pictures with our pets.  Someone asked me, in broken English, if they were rabbits.  :)  We let the kids from the bus pet them for a bit ...then we packed Buttercup and LilyTruck up and went on our way.  :)  They were surprisingly good little travelers!!

12 Year Old Bear

Sierra is 12!

 

 A Bear cake for my Bear.  Eww....  :)

Sierra was really excited to have her actual birthday in Canada this year.  Usually we are back in Germany because school starts so early there.  This year it worked out perfect or did it work out "perfectly".  mUm?  :)  We don't know many people in New Hampshire yet so we cashed in on the "instant party" that all the Canada family getting together creates.


Sierra's birthday day wishes were specific.  :)

First off was breakfast at Angels.  It's a diner with not so good food, but it has really yummy milkshakes ...or so I'm told.  :)  We picked up some cousins and wallah...  party!  We even made the waitress put a candle in her breakfast. 

After breakfast we spent some time at the before mentioned "cousins house".  They live on a real farm.  90 acres with donkeys, cows, and CHICKENS!!!  Here are some fresh eggs Sierra gathered.  :)  So cute!  The chickens, however, are not cute... they are ugly as sin.  Oh well.  My sister in law did get me a "How to Raise Chickens" book so I might just try it next year.  Getting eggs in the morning was super cute!

After a short stop at their house I took the girls shopping at the mall.  It was a free for all at the mall, which really meant two hours in Claires (a jewelry shop for kids), and multiple grab bags from another Claire like store.  The girls had fun shopping though and it was cute to watch them browse for hours like good women should.

After shopping we went back to the birthday hotel for swimming.  :)  Eventually every cousin ended up at the hotel!!  YAY!  I thought the cottage was crowded with 12 kids and 6 adults.  Room 170 was even more crowded!  This particular hotel has a huge courtyard with air hockey and pool tables and a few video games.  Our hotel room opens right into the big area so it's perfect for a party ...plenty of room.  Except for tonight when they had a big teachers convention and we couldn't use the area.  Pizza was eaten the room by 12 children  and I wasn't surprised when I found pepperoni in my bed at the end of the night.  :)

For the most part Sierra got some small presents and CASH.  :)  She has been saving for an iPad and she actually had enough to buy one!  She is a happy kid.

I made everyone take this picture for Paul's parents.  Who else has a picture of all of their 12 grandchildren on one hotel bed!  :)

Have fun being 12 Bear!  I love you!!

Scotty is **7**

Look who is 7!  Guess it's a new tradition to have a pancake in the shape of your new age.  :)

...and yes, the new seven year old is drinking a coke with his pancake.  I'm not sure how drinking coke became so important to him, but for whatever reason Scotty has been talking about Coke for months now so he was promised a Coke on his birthday ...and it was his idea to have it as soon as he woke up.  Pancakes and Coke.  Yum.  :)

Scotty's only other request was to go on a "fast" boat ride in Papa's speed boat so while I made countless seven pancakes in an attempt to make the perfect 7 pancake, Scotty zoomed around at the front of the boat enjoying his first day of being seven!  

To celebrate the rest of Buggy's birthday we drove to the Holiday Inn where we have stayed every year ...just so he could swim in the indoor pool and play air hockey.  :)  He swam around for a couple hours and then we went to have dinner with Paul's friend ...which was cute, because it was a friend Paul has had since he was born so I'm sure this friend was at Paul's seventh birthday party.  :)   After dinner we went back to the hotel and had some more air hockey fun.  :)  

We actually had a birthday party for Scotty AND Sierra the weekend before when ALL the cousins were up at the cottage.  Any family event in Canada is a ready made party with kids everywhere!  :)  This trip Scotty bonded with Paul's sisters kids who LOVE minecraft as much as he does.  Hence the minecraft cake...  :)  Scotty LOVES this game.  I don't really get the point, but apparently the zombies come out at night to get you, but they are square-ish zombies so they aren't scary... you defend yourself from the zombies and...  I don't really know, you also grow watermellon and bamboo to make things with on a crafting table ...which you also make.   HA!  I don't think there is a point.  :)   BUT he loves it and tells anyone who will listen ALL about it...  :)  

Scotty informed me that the creeper (green rectangle man) should have had feet.  Yes, Scott....  next time I will put feet on the creeper.

Hey Brett.  Scotty loved the legos you sent him!  I think when we get together next time we should have a HUGE MEGA party for EVERYONE's missed birthdays...  xoxo  Miss you guys!!!

Scotty would have loved to have spent his birthday with his Germany friends and it makes me feel terrible, but all in all, Scotty had a fun day and didn't dwell on what his birthday would have been in Germany.

I did.  :(   Holidays were hard in Europe because I missed my family, but now the events we would normally spend with friends ...like birthdays and ummm... regular ole' weekends.   Those are the hard times now.  I miss my friends.  Europe can still get torn down to make way for another America, but I just want my friends!!  Waaaa!

The last four year old!

My little Poozie is four.  She is the last of the kids to turn four.  There will be no more children turning four.  Four little years of Poozle.  It's been fun AND amusing to say the least.  :)

This was the first year she has had her birthday in the United States.  :(   I guess because out of those four years she has only lived in the United States for five months.  I wish I could have invited all her friends to a big party like we would have done in Germany.  I miss them and I know she does too.  Anyways...  before I cry, let's get back to the benefits of America.

Chuck E Cheese.  Dairy Queen.  Online Target shopping.  Chocolate Lucky Charms.

We went to Chuck E Cheese with our NH friends and then out for ice cream at Dairy Queen afterwards.  Andrea had a really fun time and she was so happy it was REALLY her birthday.  She's pretty good at declaring random days her birthday and demanding presents; so this time we had fun celebrating her REAL birthday.  :)

Here is her Kirby cake.  She LOVES Kirby.  It's all she wants to do ...play Kirby on the Wii.  :)  ...and after the Kitty Cake Disaster last year there was some concern before we cut Kirby.  She told us that, "when we eat Kirby I will cry".  Great.  We talked her though it and promised a picture so she can look at him forever. In the end it was a happy event.  No tears were shed in the eating of Kirby.

Special thanks to Michaela for the consultation on the appearance of Kirby.  Her "constructive criticism" was kinda helpful.  :)

...but not really.  :)