Well, we have just passed the half way point of our one year adventure. We are very settled into life here now and we will be very sad to leave... Though happy to see you all at home ;-) It took us quite some time to get used to things and for it to feel like home here, but now it has. We are very excited about spring and plan to make the most of our last six months in Deutschland. I am trying to remember all that has happened in the last month since I updated this last.
Some days I feel in control and that things are smooth and some days are rough and getting out of the house is a miracle in itself. I remember one week this month that I was getting ready to go to play group. I was literally chasing after Micah to change her, She thinks it's funny to run away from me whenever I need her to do something. So I manage wrangle Micah down to change her and in the process she steals a toy from Peyton, who then pinches Micah and they both scream over the toy. Micah then starts crying and then refuses to be put down, all the while screaming, "Su Su" over and over until I grab her soother (or Pacifer). I run to bathroom to brush my teeth before leaving, then realize I haven't brushed the girls teeth (which I have skipped way too many times in a rush). I try to hold Micah to brush her teeth, but she wants to stand on the stool like Peyton does. So, I run get the stool and then try to get Micah to keep her mouth open while brushing her teeth. She tries to jump off and run away mid brush. Peyton is a tooth brushing all-star and sits still while I finish off her teeth. So I am running around trying to grab snacks as I have to have things to occupy Micah on our way home from play group, so she doesn't fall asleep and sabotage her nap time later in the day. Micah grabs a kitchen chair drags it over to the counters, climbs up and tries to "help" me make sandwiches by grabbing knives, playing with the microwave, and almost falling off the chair. Meanwhile, Peyton is yelling, "Mom, please come play with me! Please. Oh, please." I then get my purse packed so full that I can't zip it up. I put Micah in her snowsuit (she gets cold too easily with just a jacket on now) and then put on her boots. I get Peyton's shoes for her to put on. Micah grabs one of Peyton's shoes and starts running away and then hucks the shoe as Peyton is yelling at her. Micah is ready, toque, snowsuit, mittens (which will be taken off any minute), and boots. Peyton gets her shoes on herself then I put on her winter jacket, which she hates wearing, saying it's too big. Her shoes become loose and I try to fix them, but she wants to do it herself, she gets frustrated that she can't bend over properly in her winter jacket and takes off her jacket. I am losing my mind obviously. Anyways, eventually everyone is clothed and ready to go out. Micah then says, "I pooped" (her new favourite thing to say), I lay her down take off her snowsuit, only to find it was a false alarm, she may have peed, who knows. Then I remember I should probably try to get Peyton to go to the bathroom first ( I am always forgetting this). We head down the four flights of stairs, carrying Micah, and holding Peyton's hand and everything else. We get outside and go to the stroller we keep locked up in the courtyard. Micah is already flailing to get out of my arms and walk herself. I let her walk to the courtyard and pick up the back of the stroller to click on, so Micah has her seat ready. While I am doing this, Micah bolts for the door and heads through the garage to the street. I stop what I am doing chase after her and bring her back before she hits the street giving me a mild heart attack, once again trying to attach the seat. Peyton is asking for a snack. Micah fights the stroller, arching her back with all her might until I win and she is locked in. Then she acts like it was no big deal and she wanted to sit in the stroller. I give them a small snack for the way, which is already all over the stroller (sorry Jordan). At this point it starts trickling rain, no, I definitely did not bring an umbrella. I put up my hood on my jacket and hope it doesn't pour. Under no circumstances at this point in the day is anything worth taking the girls out of the stroller and walking back up those stairs to get an umbrella. Oh and let's be clear I am late, though the time is not really important. So we walk to the bus stop and I go to buy a ticket, realizing I also forgot the ones I have sitting out at home, but of course the ticket machine is out of order. So, I wait for the bus stressing that today will be the day the ticket police (or whatever they are called) are on the bus waiting to take me to jail for not having a ticket (or maybe just a give me a fine). I made it without getting a ticket, don't judge, I always buy a ticket. While on the bus, there are a bunch of other moms trying to get off the bus before my stop, but can't get out until I get off the bus with my stroller, even though its not my stop. I get super stressed out when this happens, because I always think the bus will leave without me thinking it was my stop. The other women and strollers get off and my stroller wheel jams (as the wheel got damaged on the flight to Germany), I am pushing my stroller and trying to pick it up to move it, but no luck. Eventually the wheel turns and I can lift it back on to the bus, leaving the girls with only minor whip lash ;-) At this point, I get to my stop, walk to play group and try act normal, like it was no big deal to show up. No word of a lie. So, this doesn't happen every day, but I am sure anyone with young children can relate to some or all of this. At night I truly feel I earn the right to eat chocolate and relax. Robb wonders why I am having a nervous breakdown when he gets home and thrust the kids over to him.
Anyways, three weeks after my parents left Robb's mom, Kim, arrived in Germany for a visit. She stayed for two and a half weeks and the girls were in play heaven. I am pretty sure they wore her out by the time she left. Robb was still working while she was here, but had an extra long weekend. The first weekend Kim was here we went to Würzberg to look around. Robb previously went in the summer when we first arrived, but it was a first for me. Würzberg was attacked in World War 2 and 95% of the city was destroyed by bombs in 17 minutes. One of the only buildings left was the church so they took this as a sign to rebuild the city. It is a beautiful city with lots of colourful buildings and the second oldest bridge in Germany. Most people stand on the bridge talk and enjoy a glass of their famous wine, the Dolsons chase after their children, give them snacks, or candies to occupy them, and try to take some pictures where everyone is looking in the right direction... Smiling is too big of a task;-) It was an absolutely beautiful day. Whenever we leave on a Saturday or Sunday, we know it is unlikely that we will find a parking spot when we get home. The funny thing about that is that Peyton will literally be looking out her window and start raising her voice saying look at that huge parking spot, isn't that awesome? The things we find joy in! Peyton also prays for parking spots for us, it goes like this, "God, please give us a massive, huge parking spot, in Jesus name amen." It's really adorable and whenever we get home she offers to do this for us! Yesterday, she came home saying, "Mommy, I didn't even pray for a parking spot and we got one. God just knew we needed one."
The rest of Kim's time we toured her around Wiesbaden, introduced her to some friends, had a snowball fight, ate the largest hamburger we have ever seen, shopped, went for coffee, and played a lot. The second weekend was Valentine's weekend. We went to Belgium for two nights. We left Friday and went to Brussels. Brussels was a difficult city to navigate for us. We mapped the directions out, but every street was only a variation of the name written on the Google directions. We ended up getting lost for almost two hours before we found our hotel. It was as glorious as it sounds, Robb gets super stressed when he's lost, we asked many different people, some not sure, some we couldn't really understand, and some had no idea. Peyton had to use the bathroom and Micah was done with being in the car. You know the usual, I am sure you can picture it in your head. We eventually found our hotel only to figure out we were literally like a few blocks from it multiple times in our two hour detour. Brussels was a really clean city and really beautiful. People were friendly, spoke English (actually many languages), had wonderful food, and chocolate shops everywhere. On Friday, after losing a bunch of time and leaving late, we just had a late dinner and then put the girls back to bed. On Saturday, we were downtown in Brussels for awhile, then drove to Bruges for the day. I loved Bruges and would definitely go back. There was beautiful canals, architecture, swans, and of course, chocolate! We ended up going to a chocolate museum (which we thought would be more like a chocolate factory), but no it was the history of chocolate. This was not a highlight of my trip, but Micah had a good time being chased by me as she caused a little havoc in there. This trip was a little more difficult with the girls. Micah really wants to walk at this stage in her life, but doesn't want to hold anyone's hand and generally meanders in the direction of traffic. On our travels, she is a full time job, but she has fun:-) The goal of our next trip is no longer sight seeing, but a little more beach and play time. The girls have actually been incredible when thinking about what they have been up to these past six months and I am super proud of them. Actually, I am not sure if I have written about this before, but dogs are allowed everywhere here, and I mean everywhere. There are always dogs in restaurants we go to and it has been wonderful because it can entertain Micah for quite some time. She gets really excited and will watch them and sometimes play with them. At one restaurant in Bruges the family who owned the restaurant had a dog themselves and let it roam around. It actually stole my seat when I got up and was begging for my food, not super awesome, but Micah was excited. On Sunday we shopped around a little more and then we dropped off Kim at the train station where she travelled on to Amsterdam for two days. Belgium was a good time with lots of chocolate, waffles, and beautiful sightseeing. I am pretty sure Belgium is number one on Peyton's list solely for the amount of treats she was able to consume in a weekend.
We had a really nice visit with Kim and were so glad she came. The girls are missing the 24/7 play time now that she has gone home. We had a busy two weeks when she was here and were constantly doing something. One of the days before she left, I got really sick and was throwing up the majority of the day, so I was so thankful she was here to take care of the girls, who literally didn't see me until they went to bed at night. It was the worst I have ever felt, so again I was very happy to have help. We were very blessed by her time here and sad to see her go. Kim left this past Sunday.
Now we are just continuing on with our routine, enjoying our friends, and life here. We are still missing everyone from home, but looking forward to our next few months. We are really enjoying our time together as a family as well and the personality that continues to come out in our girls. They continue to make us share stories of their mischief and sweetness every night after we put them to bed and are recovering from the day;-) Robb is enjoying his job and continuing to improve with his German. He is heading away for a week of snowboarding in the Alps with the school and looking forward to this. We are enjoying our church and the relationships we have formed there. Peyton loves sunday school and comes home with something special each week. She has some friends she sees consistently and seems genuinely happy. She is missing her cousins and family at home, but likes FaceTiming them. As usual she is making us laugh and puts on daily ballet performances in her princess dress. Micah is talking a lot more and is so funny. Honestly, you need to watch her for awhile, she is funny. Micah understands everything you say to her and notices everything. She keeps us on our toes, but is sleeping a little better at night now and only getting up once or twice. The two girls are starting to get along a lot more as well and do have some quality play time together each day, they also have lots of quality fight time, but who notices right? We have enjoyed hearing from everyone at home. I will try and write another update after Robb's spring break. Thank you for reading.
Sister loving.
Celebrating Peyton's friend Rylee's birthday!
Heading to church.
Micah needs to have her hair done if Peyton gets hers put up.
Going swimming.
Building our first German snowman;-)
The girls preferred our friend Eva's snowman.
Giving Olaf a hug goodbye.
Pure cool.
Hugging our friend Caleb.
Grammie arrived.
Fashionista!
Beautiful day and view of Wiesbaden.
All of us.
Grammie and Micah.
Our "we love the sun" faces!
Würzberg, on the second oldest bridge in Germany.
We no longer wait until everyone is looking.
This church was one of the only buildings not bombed in this city during the war.
Playing Robb and my favorite game, "nap."
The biggest hamburger ever.
Snowball fight, awesome action shot.
Robb and Steffi
Hannes and Peyton. Peyton decided she loves snowball fights, or at least throwing snowballs, not so much the reciprocation! Hannes is also known to Peyton as the Snow Monster.
Eva and Steffi surprised me on my birthday with a cake and visit!
Grammie and the girls at the park.
Micah with our friend Sarina.
Peyton and Sarina, the two Minnie's.
Love that these two like to snuggle.
Brussels Town Hall
This kid can no longer be contained and yells walk, walk, walk, walk...
Love this picture. Peyton has a stuffie in her scarf, as it is her baby carrier:-)
Waffles really are all they are cracked up to be in Belgium.
The girls agree!
Happy Valentine's Day. In front of the Guildhalls on the Grand Place.
My Valentine's gift, freshly made Godiva chocolate dipped strawberries.
Bruges
The usual family selfie.
Kruis Gate
"I love swans"
Belfry of Bruges
Markt
At the chocolate museum in Bruges, Choco-Story.
Important information!
I have never eaten too much chocolate until Belgium.
So the dog thing in Europe has taken a new low, now they beg at my table in restaurants and take my seat when I get up to go to the bathroom... Awesome.
In front of Brussels Museum.
Hot chocolate made with fresh chocolate chunks to stir in.
Having some Greek lunch before we went home at Brussels Park.
Found a playground finally that was more similar to home.
The Royal Palace of Brussels.
These two walked about a 20 minute walk home like this.
Strollin.
Saying goodbye to Grammie
Playing duckling, apparently.
Gotta love sitting in the cupboards.
This kid is a character:-)
Hipster.
Getting on her ballet shoes.
Our friends Malesa and Rylee.
Held hands the whole way home.
Micah usually puts on at least three pairs of Peyton's underwear then wears a pair on her head as well, just to complete the outfit.
Micah's best friend "Oalla" or to humans known as Koala.
First friend selfie on point!
Micah's first pig tails.
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