Trier

So my Mom says, "It's been a while since you posted a blog..." Which means, "Do a blog soon!" Therefore, I had to make Mike take us somewhere so I would have something blog worthy to post.:)

These are just a couple of pics around the house. I got my hair cut, and yes, added some bangs. It's quite a change--we're slowly getting used to it. Mike and Jonas were listening to some tunes.

Trier is a town just an hour or so up the road. Many people go there as one of their first outings in Germany, but for whatever reason we just went this past weekend after being here for a year.

This pretty park was right outside the garage where we parked. There was a fun playground for the kids, but we didn't want to spend 30 min at the park right when we first got there. Thankfully, we navigated by the playing children without any tantrums. We did have to stop at a pond where the ducks were though.











Trier is on the Mosul river. So we walked along the river a bit. We saw some fish. They looked pretty big.



.











There were several big cathdrals. Although we only went in one of them.





This was the main square in the shopping area.



There were a couple of ruins. This was a castle I think.






One of the main ruins is the Porta Nigra. We drove by it, but we didn't get to see it when we were walking around town.

Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned it on here, but I'm pretty sure all of my readers (all 5 of you) know that we are expecting another baby on April 25th. I'm 12 weeks pregnant right now. Everything's been great so far. I usually have easy pregnancies. I can say "usually" since this is the 3rd one in 3 years. :) We are excited.

Pumpkin Fest

If you are looking at this blog, you may also want to check out the 2 below this one (Jonas' first haircut and Sept. pics). I posted all of them today!




Today we headed about 45 min down the road to the Hitscherhof Farm Festival. They had arts and crafts, local food and wine, a corn maze/labyrinth, hay castle, pumkins, and pumpkin food specialties. It was fun. The boys are getting old enough to really enjoy stuff like that and had a blast. Ezra's favorite part was the hay castle. I think Jonas really enjoyed the pumpkins. My fave was the pumpkin cheesecake, and Mike liked the giant pumpkin.














Ezra is always less than thrilled to have his picture taken. You can see how strongly he feels about this subject in our family picture on top of the giant pumpkin. Ezra is concerned primarily with running and climbing. Especially when there are giant pumpkins to scale.




Atop the giant pumpkin.




Jonas in the pumpkins and Ezra in the hay.





Ezra in the pumpkins and Jonas in the hay.












This video shows Jonas demonstrating his walking abilities around the pumpkins.


Ezra sliding down the hay.


Jonas sliding down the hay.


Ezra doing a belly flop into the hay.

Jonas' first haircut

Jonas was not a huge fan of his first haircut. We thought the first one would be easy because he wouldn't know what to expect, but the second the clippers started buzzing, his bottom lip went up and he let loose with the tears.




He looks like such a big boy now. Since he's walking and bulked up a little, he and Ezra look so much closer in age.

September pics

Ezra contemplating a flower/weed.


Jonas in the back yard.

Ezra in his jammies. He likes to stand on his head in the computer chair. He also recently learned how to do a somersault on the floor.


Trying out Daddy's boots.

This video was taken several weeks ago but I wasn't able to upload it. This was about the time he was walking about 50% of the time. Now he's pretty much a full time walker.

Pictures for Mike

My keeping up with the blog is so much more relevant to Mike when he's gone. He's requested more pictures, so these are mostly for him.

Our Bible study group (and also good friends) had a BBQ/rib competition on Wed. Mike was so sad to have missed it. This is Jonas and Evan chilling at the picnic table.










Jonas crashed on the way home from the gym this morning. If he takes a morning nap at all, it can't be longer than 15 min or so. So I just put him on the couch in hopes that Ezra would wake him up eventually. On the contrary, big brother went and got a blanket out of the drawer under the TV and tucked him in. So sweet!











The other day, I walked into the kitchen and beheld this sight. Well, not exactly this sight. When I walked in the first time, Jonas was gnawing on a tomato he had dug out of the produce drawer. Yes, our fridge really is that tiny. It's German. We have an American one in the basement to hold the overflow.

Here is another picture from the BBQ. Those silly Staffords (Janet and Shawn) and Jeremy. Everyone was stuffing their faces with some awesome ribs.








Hello tonsils!











Ezra was "tickling" me with a twig and thought it was oh-so funny.