#ThrowbackThursday! Children Grow Up So FAST!

Hi Everyone it's Thursday here so here are some pictures of my little ones when they were really little. I hold on to them so much I don't want to think of the day when they won't need me as much. Them showing independence is great and shows they're developing well, however it still makes me a little sad. My three promises that they will never leave the nest. I think my husband and I will be like the Cosbys where they want their  grown kids out, but they always welcomed them back if they needed somewhere to live for a week or year…but I think I will secretly happy about it :-) 

Question: How do you cherish every moment? I try to do little fun stuff with them. Do things as a family A LOT so they know the importance of family. Sometimes I take some time alone and think about what I love about them all and individually. They really made my life so much better!

My daughter as a newborn

My oldest as a newborn

My daughter is a day old

My youngest as a newborn

As you can tell I couldn't choose just one!!!!! 

Tips For Buying Halloween Costumes for Military Members Overseas

Well folks, it's August so it's about that time to start thinking about Halloween. Yes, Halloween. When you're overseas you have to prepare for holidays well in advance. My husband and I were shopping at the commissary and we noticed that there was Halloween candy out! So yeah it's time to get on it. 

I've lived overseas for 9 years and of 5 of them, I and the kids went trick or treating at Halloween. What I learned is that if you're not so crafty (like me), you must buy your Halloween costumes well in advance. If you're one of the lucky ones who can sew and make their kids' costumes from scratch.....GOOD FOR YOU :P lol I'm not hating, I promise. Ok, maybe I am.

I made my son's costume when he was 5 and whilst trick-or-treating, he made me promise to never ever make another costume for him again. My daughter loved her cat costume and still remembers it to this day. My son has nightmares about his however.....dang where did I go wrong.

As I am scouring through pinterest looking for costume and decorating ideas, it struck me that maybe I should share with my fellow military families, the newbies at least, my experiences with Halloween costumes. I had plenty of time to get things totally WRONG. So learn from my mistakes! Trust me. Living here in Japan now hopefully we learned our lesson!

TIP #1

Make sure your kids are totally sure who/what they want to be by early-mid September. There aren't a lot of great choices at the PX/BX and if there are any they're whisked away with a quickness like anything else that's awesome overseas. And people often buy multiples of the same dang costume and they only have one kid! 

 So look online now in August, like me. My daughter wants to be Frankie Stein from Monster High and my boys want to be Mario and Luigi.....again. But of course they outgrew last year's costumes and they wore their costumes all day everyday so they look too tattered to wear this year anyway if they were to fit well.

(www.buycostumes.com)

TIP #2

In the last couple years I've lived in Germany they extended their costumes choices from clowns, 'indians', witches, princesses, and cowboys to way more mainstream choices. I saw a few different costume choices at stores, but there aren't nearly as many choices as there are in America. They don't really do Halloween like Americans do and I am sure the Japanese don't either. Though in Germany it's definitely becoming bigger and they have the AWESOME Fasching in February.

(I bought my son this Iron Man costume shortly after the Ghost-Gate 2010 to get a head start on Halloween 2011, however he wore this to his Kindergarten's Fasching Party)

TIP#3 

Order before mid September because even online they run out of costumes and the orders may take longer because the high influx of orders coming in! If you live off base you can order from costume sites from stores in that country. For example, while I was living in Germany, I used amazon.de and amazon.co.uk often but there aren't a lot of choices, even if there are, it's still extremely expensive from my experience.

TIP#4

If you don't want to buy a costume,  make your own. There are a lot of websites to get tips from. My daughter was a cat in 2010. I just bought black tights, a black tutu, a friend of mine made ears which she glued to a headband and my daughter loved. www.parents.com have a lot of tips that I've used. From cakes to costumes they have a lot of fun easy DIY projects that I like. I love when easy and DIY are in the same sentence, don't you? But if you want something a bit different, make sure you know what you're going to do and buy any missing supplies in advance, because crafty things also move fast at BXs/Craft stores on base. Look off base but make sure you know where to go. You can also buy accessories online, but again, make sure you plan ahead.

(my daughter going for seconds on treats)

TIP#5

If ordering from Amazon and you're ordering in September or October (eek) make sure you order from Amazon and not another company. It'll take alot longer. Just order from the outside company directly, it's usually faster unless stated otherwise.

TIP#6

Walmart, Party City,  BuyCostumes, Target (it depends sometimes they do not ship some costumes to APO addresses for whatever reason) and Amazon ships pretty quickly. But shop around because there often deals where'd you wouldn't expect!

(Costumes purchased from www.walmart.com however the boys want to switch it up this year and it's ot available on walmart this year so far. Keep looking out, though!)

TIP#7

Have FUN!!!!!!!!! And make sure your kids know you get 10% of the candy loot since you're doing all of this work and all.

 

Hope this was helpful! Have a great Halloween!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Heidelberg Castle

I've shown you all a few glimpses of where I live. I live in the town Leimen which is just south of Heidelberg. Almost regularly, preferably by the tram, I love to visit Heidelberg. Here are some pictures from the weekend. I will dedicate Wordless Wednesday to my town and Heidelberg for the rest of my time left here. I am also in the process of making a video. But am not ready to show that as we are so busy preparing to leave. Not much time left now!

I first visited the Heidelberg Castle in 2004.
From wiki: The earliest castle structure was built before AD 1214 and later expanded into 2 castles circa 1294; however, in 1537, a lightning-bolt destroyed the upper castle. The present structures had been expanded by 1650, before damage by later wars and fires. In 1764, another lightning-bolt destroyed some rebuilt sections.





























Hope you liked the photos! Have a great day!

Farewell Germany Pt 2

This is a bit of series: the first. I intended it to be. I am a quiet person, but when I start talking, I don't stop. I'm quite self-conscious of that and prefer to  judge er observe quietly.

Anyway, I left off the last post about my first few years in Germany. Those were spent in the military. I met my now husband in the last few months of my military career.

He's 9 years older than me, and taught me a lot about myself. I was basically going down a downward spiral.  Yes, mom....I am airing some intimate details of my life sorry. But maybe someone can benefit (for blackmail or otherwise) from these tales. I am not going to be all cliche and annoying, but he was definitely an integral part in me creating a new version of myself. Finally learning how to cook, pursuing my dreams of being a June Cleaver wannabe. It was nice and almost overwhelming to have someone support almost everything I wanted to pursue.


I am not going to say that I became this perfect little wife after marrying my husband. I still had my moments that I am certainly not proud of. Like all humans, no marriage is perfect and ours most certainly isn't. But what makes a good or healthy marriage is not giving up on the person. There were times when I wanted to leave and he as well, but we always made the other sit down and listen to the other instead  of talking at one another. Last summer our marriage had an "aha" moment. We finally discussed key factors draining our marriage. And it was so overwhelmingly good. It felt like the slate was finally clean afterwards. Though during the discussion there was a lot of tears, but we learned exactly each others feelings, no longer attempting to predict what they really were.

OK I went off tangent a bit. But this has everything to do with my growth while in Germany. Learning to let go of guilt, mistrust, ego, and other psychology shit.

So like giving birth to my three beautiful children, my husband made a big impact on my life and my love for Germany. If it weren't for us living in the boonies, I wouldn't have known how amazing Germany is beyond the bars and clubs LOL for real. We went to fresh markets, bakeries, got to know our neighbors and was hungry for more culture. We got the wonderful opportunity to stay in Germany but we had to move. That's my next post.

First of many farewells to Germany

I've lived in Germany for 8.5 years.

Never thought that'd happen.

I dropped out of college and joined the Air Force 9 years ago.

Never thought that would happen either.

I always had expectations of myself. I thought as a child that I would stay in my home state of Maryland and work in a inner city school, helping underprivileged children gain a better education. I always had in my mind that I was going to make a big impact on the world. Pretty ambitious, huh?

Do I think that's in the cards for me now? I don't know. I'd like to hope so. Let's get to the point.

My point is, life throws curve balls constantly. We are currently awaiting notice of where the hell we be for the next four years. This wait is stressful and annoying.

What makes this wait less annoying is the fact that I live in Germany. Meaning, while I wait there is so much exploring and soaking in all the things I love about living in Germany. Whenever I go back to the states, what stands out the most is what I love about Germany. I love the US, but as a military spouse living in Germany, there are so many opportunities for me to live out my dreams. From being a stay-at-home mom while going to school, to being able to go to a different country at least once a month!

I am going to miss living here. I grew up here you can say.

I arrived here Friday, August 13, 2004. I lost my debit card that day and was broke for the first week and a half of my arrival due to lack debit card! LOL.

I partied too much, was the other woman, then befriended the other woman, got my heartbroken a couple times, saw the great and others, and saw the the worst in others but mostly myself, had a baby, found a great group of people who are my friends for ever and met and fell in true love with my now husband. There is a lot more, but my mother reads my blog now. All of that in my first 2 years living here. That's why I can say I grew up here. I experienced a lot in a condensed time.


Never thought I would lead the life of a Maury Povich guest all in my first two years living in Germany. I look back at those days often with a lot of coulda shoulda wouldas but I am not pressed over that.

So I am thankful for the many bad times that plagued my first few years in beautiful Germany. This is the first of a few farewells.

Fortunately I do not have any pictures on hand of that time. And if any of you do, please do not share LOL. Unless it's a cute picture :-)

I tried to access my other photos but my photobucket account isn't working.

Berlin with the Family

Our first trip of 2013 is to one of my favorite cities, Berlin. While in my little Military dorm room 8.5 years ago, Berlin was one of THE cities in Europe I had to go to. Not just because it's in my host country, but it just seemed so busy, full of culture, young, alive. Everything I wanted from the city I'd choose as my residence. I did visit Berlin in 2011 with just me and the little ones, and we definitely saw the rich history and the quaintness as well as its eclectic characters whom loves my little characters. This city has so much to offer. Museums, Aquariums, Playgrounds everywhere, indoor parks and of course one of the most famous zoos in the world for children and children at heart, to art (on one of our walks we saw at least 3 art galleries full of people) fashion (we happened to be there for Berlin's Fashion Week), environmental conscious, full of universities and research facilities, not to mention an alive nightlife, delicious food, all while not putting a big hurt on your wallet.

 As I went with the kids some of the adult-things I didn't do. This is a great city for a romantic/fun weekend for sure! We  stayed next to Checkpoint Charlie for 3 cold, sunny, fast-paced days. We ate very well, and did a lot of exploring. With families I highly recommend tour buses, especially during the cold months. Most public transports are stroller friendly. In the year and half since we last visited, I noticed more elevators on the ubahns! Not to mention, from our personal experience, we noticed most people were family friendly as well as the establishments we went to. Berlin is definitely pro family!

Ok on to photo and video-palooza

We went to about 5 restaurants, but the video shows two of our favorites and our Starbucks breakfast with the best cheese cake! The first restaurant we went to on the first night is called Glashaus Restaurant in Kreuzberg Berlin. It was soooooooo good. I got sauteed shrimp with tomatoes and lettuce. Normally whenever I order shrimp, for some reason it tastes off. But this shrimp tasted fresh and DELICIOUS. My husband got a Epigram which was a trio of meat. Liver, Pork schnitzel and steak, my daughter got a Berlin Currywurst, my son got steak with potato croquettes and green beans. The service was amazing and it's forever in my kiddos memories. They talk about it everyday!

Photobomb!

We also went to a Chinese Restaurant in Charlottenburg. In Berlin Chinese restaurants have buffet specials after 6 (from what I saw the last 2 times I was there). On our previous visit, me and my three went to a great restaurant with a nice buffet and great service. We were going to go there, but went to another as it was so cold and we didn't want to walk too far. Turns out we made a great choice. Kids loved it so much and again friendly service and a great view.
Here's a video of the fun

Eating In Berlin from Sommer Jones on Vimeo.

Some Pictures:



This picture was taken across the street from our apartment. Which is close to many famous landmarks and the subway station (ubahn). At a great rate we stayed comfortably at a wonderful location. Checkout the website if you're planning a trip http://www.go-apartments.com/




The famous Aquadom


Inside the Aquadom. First you go to the Sea Life Aquarium then to the Aquadom in the building across. Inside the Aquadom, the guide speak about facts about the Aquadom all in German, though. But it's pretty cool to be "inside" amongst the fish.



Berlin Wall Memorial--Also apart of the city guide hop on and off bus!  Which is good for 48 hours like London's.








Inside this tower is a revolving restaurant! Someday!




 Check out my Flickr page, easily accessible from my sidebar for more pictures!!!!

Dunkin Donuts! How can I forget!!! They are all over Berlin!

Oh and we also ate at a Mediterranean restaurant across the street from our apartment Called Mediterranean Kuche!




We LOVE Berlin and it gets better with each visit!!! So go as many times as you can!

Also Grumpy kid on a bus:-)