We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! Ours was great! First is a picture of Ezra at the Candle light service. He did very well with the fire. Daddy held the candle for the most part, but Ezra knew it was "hot" (he kept saying that), and didn't try to catch anything on fire. The family picture was taken right after the service. Family pictures turn out much better when someone else takes the picture and there's a funny man behind the photographer waving his arms like a crazy person. Only Jonas was less than impressed.

So that was Christmas eve, and the following pics are Christmas morning. The first on the left is Ezra opening the fire truck that we gave him. I just picked a few of the best ones. Jonas definitely enjoyed the new toys, but wasn't very interested in unwrapping them. He just wanted to eat the paper--no surprise there.

On the right, Ezra displays his new Veggie Tales movie. His favorite! On the left, the boys are playing with the new play cube we got for them. At Toys R Us. Yes, they have one here! Crazy huh? And yes, Mike IS wearing a "Class of '96" t-shirt. I think after 12 years, that shirt is officially old.

I got these pretty angels from Mom and Dad, and a new camera from Mike (that hasn't come in yet). Mike got a new TV, some DVDs, and a few other little things.



Ezra crumbled the cornbread for the dressing. Who says boys can't help in the kitchen? The pics are of him sampling and squishing. I slaved over a great Christmas meal all day. We had turkey, dressing, sweet potatoe casserole, etc. Right as I was putting it on the table, Mike ran to the bathroom to throw up. He had been nauseous on and off all day. Ezra is also in a no-eating phase. So he just had a crescent roll and a banana for supper. So I was the only one who ate my beautifully prepared Christmas dinner. Jonas helped a little with the mashed potatoes... On the up side, Mike is feeling much better today, and we hope to put a large dent in the left overs. :)

I know I said yesterday's blog would probably be the last one before Christmas, but this pictures were too funny, and I knew Mom would want to see them right away.

We got our Christmas package from my parents who sent way too many presents, but so far, what the boys liked best was the box in which they came.

They LOVED playing the peanuts. Don't worry, none of the peanuts were actually consumed by either kid. Even thought Ezra tried to get Jonas to eat some. Most of the time Ezra was trying to feed it to Jonas, or put it on his head.

Just a few pics. Nothing too exciting to report.

Ezra and Jonas in sweater vests. Jonas has some banana on his though...

This was Ezra's Christmas outfit last year. Ezra was 10 mos at Christmas and Jonas is only 6 mos. Yikes! What can I say? The boy likes to eat.This is a failed attempt at a "brothers" picture in their Christmas attire in front of the tree.

It seems that when we take a picture, it's only good of one of us. This is Ezra's good picture. And Mike is ok I guess. My head looks detached from my body...

Since this is probably the last blog before Christmas, have a good one! Sorry I haven't gotten Christmas cards out yet. I ordered them from Shutterfly, and they seem to have gotten lost in the mail. You'll get them, but it won't be for Christmas. :(

Friday was Jonas' 6 month birthday. We celebrated by going to the Dr for a check up and getting some shots. :( We got some more medicine for his eczema. Although it's a steroid, we have decided to try it and his face already looks a lot better. I took this picture of the boys in their red and green flannel shirts. I included the one of Jonas trying steal Ezra's book because it's funny.



We went to the Christmas market in Heidelberg on Saturday. It was so crowded. This is a pic of some nice houses across the river in Heidelberg. There's a cool castle there, but by the time we were close enough for a good picture, it was way too dark to take pictures. We had been through Heidelberg once, and it seemed really cool, but we didn't get to see anything because it was dark. So this time we were aiming to arrive about 2:30 and enjoy the city in the daylight, but didn't get parked and start walking around until about 4:30. It's twilight by that time and dark not long after, so despite our efforts, we still did not get to see very much during the daylight. The picture was in the Christmas market. I'm not sure what these things are called, but in the normal sized versions, you put a candle in it and the heat from the candle makes the top spin. This was a giant one, and there was a food vendor set up inside. I'm not sure if the spinning was motorized or not, but it was still pretty neat.



This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when we went to pick out our tree. The evergreens that they use as Christmas trees here, are not the same type we use in the States so they look pretty pitiful to us with their short needles and sparse branches. But we're getting used to it. This isn't the

best picture, but I wanted you to see what Jonas' shirt said.

And a picture of Ezra playing in the snow.








I bought this outfit for Jonas before he was born. Who knew he would be such a big boy and that it wouldn't fit him at Christmas time. So I just snapped a couple of pics and took it off. We'll save it for the next boy (if there is one...). Also, I included the picture on the right because Mom says that in a lot of Jonas' pictures, he has this totally surprised look on his face. I thought the pic on the right was a good example of that. :) The lights behind him are the Christmas tree lights.

I know there are a few people who have been anxiously waiting to see pictures of our new house. I wanted to wait until all the clutter was gone and everything had found a permanent home. HOWEVER, I've come to realize that it may never get to a point where I could post pictures of a perfect house. I have two children after all...


At this point, there is still clutter, but I feel like that's still well within my rights, having only been occupying the house for less than 3 weeks. If I waited too much longer and there was still clutter, I'm not sure I would have much of an excuse. So here it is; for better or worse.







This is the house from the street. It's a duplex, but all of what you see here is ours. You can't really tell, but the driveway is a steep incline down to the garage. This is from the street looking at our front door. The triangle window is the 1/2 bath, the square window on the left is the kitchen, and the 2nd floor windows are for our bedroom. I especially like the long, up and down window. Skyla loves to lay on the floor and look out the bottom window at the street.



This is ALL of our backyard. The end of the pic on the right and left is where the fences are. Skyla is standing on the patio, and then the rest is grass. It's tiny, but just big enough for Skyla to do her business, and for Ezra to run around in the sun a bit. That is, if it will ever be sunny in this place...

This is just a little piece of the yard that goes down the side of the house to the garage.





If you are walking in the front door, the 1/2 bath is on the right (opposite in the picture), and the kitchen in on the left. As you keep walking straight, the dining room is on the left after the kitchen, (there is a wall separating them), and the stairs are on the right. Then still walking straight, you would go down 3 steps into our living room.



This is our 1/2 bath with the triangle windows. Kind of quirky huh? I love that they even open.

This is our kitchen. We have 3 little pieces of counter space. We are using our tiny German fridge, and put our American fridge in the basement. BUT, there is a dish washer! Hooray for dishwashers!!

On the right is the dining room. There is a 1/2 wall separating the dining room from the sunken living. And our scary stairs are on the left (in the picture). If you thought our stairs in Italy were bad... Also, you will notice a pile of clutter that is waiting to be loaded up and donated, and our coats that don't have anywhere to go yet. Downstairs is the guest bedroom/bath and laundry room. Upstairs are the bedrooms.





This is the living room. The top left pic is taken from the stairs. You can see through the big, double, glass doors to the backyard. Skyla ran smack into the doors, her first night here. Ha, ha. They were very clean...



The couches are on the left and the computer desk and TV(s) are on the right. Yes, we bought a new TV which is atop the entertainment center for now, because someone (Mike) just couldn't wait until Christmas to play with his toy. So we need to sell the other TV and entertainment center. You can also see the stairs that go up to the dining room. Also notice Jonas in his swing and Ezra on the beanbag watching Baby Einstein. :)

This is the laundry room with our FULL SIZE washer and dryer! Yea! Not only are the full size, but we can run them at the same time without blowing a circuit. Hooray!


This is the final frontier: the guest bedroom. It still needs a little work. But have no fear, it will be in perfect order by the time we have our first guests. It even has an attached bathroom. Yea! And a closet? Well, kind of. It has rods to hang things in a little alcove. No door though. Also, even though it's in the basement, it has a window. This is the view. Ivy covered bricks and the snow-laden evergreens in the front yard. Interesting huh?


















Now back upstairs to the bedrooms. This is the master. Don't you love the windows? We are not, however, crazy about the sloped ceiling. Our bed has to go there, because there's obviously no way a dresser would fit, but we have both bumped our head on more than one occasion. I think we're getting used to it though.


Down the hallway to the kid's rooms. Ezra's is the one straight ahead and the bathroom and Jonas' room is on the left, just around that corner.


This is the bathroom with more triangle windows. I don't know if you can tell in the pics, but the ceiling slopes down on either side of the bath, right above the two shelves. I also like that you can sit on either side of the bath. I like the bathroom because it feels like I'm inside a star. Mike isn't such a fan, because he feels like he's going to bump his head (even though he hasn't yet...). There is a seperate shower, and double sinks (Mike's isn't pictured--it's on the other side of the door on the left--which also isn't pictured).

This is Jonas' room. Ezra passed down his old furniture. It will be a lot cuter, now that we can order all his puppy dog stuff to decorate.
This is Ezra's room, with the valence that is ridulously too small for the window, but I insist on putting up anyway.


Well, that's pretty much the house. There's an attic, but that's pretty unremarkable so I'll spare you a picture. One last picture of the kiddos. I just spoiled the cuteness of the Christmas cards, for those of you that will be receiving one. Although this picture isn't on there, this is what they are wearing.