I'll bet you're thinking the gelato led to having to do laundry, right? Well, not exactly. It's just that these are the two experiences I'm posting on this time because they were significant this week.
First, here's pictures from our Mercedes-Benz Museum outing - was that really just last week?! Sheesh! Click on the picture to see it bigger.
I am happy to report that of the four days we were home in the hotel all day, three went very smoothly according to my new survival plan incorporating fun and learning time with the boys. Ahhh, what a difference a plan makes! Ryan and I have been asked to speak in church next Sunday on how to avoid the pitfalls that keep us from achieving our goals and goal setting. Hmm, funny that this very topic has been on my mind a lot more than most new year seasons!
GELATO
First of all, YUM! I now prefer gelato to ice cream any day! On Friday afternoon I took the kids down to the mall for a walk about and to hopefully get Morgan to sleep in the sling. Besides being quite the anomally of a troupe, we rode various elevators within stores and within the mall, we rode the escalators, and we got gelato cones at the end. I always feel like I have to have on a cute outfit with hair and makeup on when out w/ the kids here because we're so conspicuous! Between McKay walking like he owns the world or having a complete tantrum and Morgan being such a lil thing, I always see people watching us closely and I'd hate to look as bedraggled as I feel inside most of the time!
Back to the sweets - - ordering the gelato really demonstrated once more the stark difference in Easton and McKay's personalities. I told them the flavors they had to choose from in the showcase. Easton promptly told me he wanted the bright blue one which was bubblegum. (I remember trips to Baskin Robins as a little girl where I always ordered bubblegum ice cream because it was bright and colorful too, not necessarily because it tasted the best. It did, however, have bits of bubblegum to chew on and every kid loves that!)
So Easton had told me what he wanted so I could tell the cashier. Then Easton stood back and let me handle it all from there. McKay, on the other hand, saw what Easton was ordering and had to have the same. But he didn't tell me, he took it into his own hands - no middle man here! He looked right at the cashier lady and started ordering her to get it for him. She got this big smile on her face and one of the other cashier ladies came over to see this pint-sized dictator. The cashier started messing with McKay by pointing to other flavors and saying "This one?" to which McKay would matter-of-factly order, "No, 'dat one." After the fifth time of this, McKay started to raise his voice and the ladies were stifling their giggles. I don't know how much of this was his 2 yr old self and how much of it was his true personality, but I'd heavily wager it's the latter!
Laundry
I have now made three trips to do laundry on base. After a long day of running errands all over Stuttgart yesterday in preparation for moving into our apartment this week, I took our two overflowing laundry baskets, Morgan, and the double stroller to carry it all to the launderette on base. It was my first time driving myself to this base and I totally got lost because the on board GPS took me to dead end streets of the same name I was trying to reach. Luckily, I found my way due to little cds tied to random tree branches close to the road. I'd noticed and commented to Ryan about these cds on the branches on previous trips to this base. They reflected brightly against my headlights so I thought I must be getting close and wanted to do a happy dance when I finally arrived!
Each visit to the launderette has been eventful so I haven't minded going - besides, it's pretty nice having all your clothes washed, dried, and folded at once! Each visit, I end up chatting with one or more ladies and learn new things about the area because we're all relatively new to the area. Each visit, I'll ask a random lady to hold Morgan while I fold my clothes out of the dryer because that woman has been watching and cooing over her or has outright asked to hold her! Each visit, one item I'm laundering gets scorched by the ultra hot dryers no matter how low a setting I put the dryer on. This time it was Morgan's car seat bunting sack which makes me so sad! Rather than being this wonderfully soft fluffy coccoon, it's now rather rough and scratchy in most places. And to add insult to injury, Morgan had a complete diaper explosion right after church before we got home. Why couldn't this have happened yesterday afternoon before I did the laundry run . . . oh well!
My other complaint about last night's laundry outing was that I'd forgotten my coat with my cash. I'd remembered my bag of quarters and had the perfect amount for the five loads I had to do so I thought I'd be safe. However, in setting the dryer to the lowest heat setting, the clothes didn't fully dry so I brought home four loads needing to be hung over night to finish drying. That's a lot of fun in a small hotel room! Everyone else at the launderette last night was scrounging for quarters so I couldn't bum any off them. Ah well! The trip had some good points too!
I was chatting with a woman named Piper from outer Philly last night at the launderette about school choices (International School, German, or Dept of Defense schools on base). She was quite the chatter and an economic development journalist for a business journal. She was also the baby holder of the evening. A young family came in while I was putting my stuff in the dryers. As Piper and I were chatting about Virginia, the young mom who'd come in asked where in VA I was from. When I said Leesburg, she just laughed because it turns out that her husband and Ryan are in the same group at work! Ryan and I had heard from the moving company that there was another young family from Leesburg being hired and moving for a GD job the same time we were and this was them! To meet them at the launderette was quite a coincidence to say the least! They have two little girls - three and 2 months. It'll be fun to get to know them better!
Alright, this week's adventures: 1) Move into our apartment and out of the hotel! Hip, Hip, HOORAY!!! 2) Track down a used fridge/freezer, washer/dryer, and temporary items like beds/bedding to last us the week or so until our household goods shipment arrives!!! The end is in sight and that sure is exciting! Then my posts can be about fun discoveries in my new village!
Sunday, January 11
Monday, January 5
A new day in my hotel life!
First Monday of 2009 and we’re getting some beautiful snow!!! Usually Mondays are known for their rough starts to a new week but ours has gone pretty well! I’m not so much a New Year’s resolution type because it’s a bit too large scale for me. I have large long term goals in mind and just try to break them into workable chunks I guess. I’m more of a short term week by week goal setting type of gal.
One of my goals was to better utilize my time in the hotel with the boys for fun and learning. I’m reading a great book by the entertaining LDS self-help author Merrilee Browne Boyack, entitled The Parenting Breakthrough: A real-life plan to teach your kids to work, save money, and be truly independent. Totally worth the read!!! I hear her other book Strangling Your Husband Is Not an Option is pretty good too and we enjoyed hearing her discuss this topic at a couple’s conference a few years ago.
Essentially, Merrilee and her husband have created a master list of things they want their kids to learn and know for each year of their life. It includes personal care, spiritual goals, household indoor and outdoor chores, financial skills and so on. Lots of great examples and she keeps it entertaining.
My post last week about hotel life with young kids helped me visualize our days here differently. This morning, even though I’d been up way too late catching up on emails and posting here, I was determined to make a better effort. I staved off game time and after I fed Morgan, I put her in the sling while I had the boys help me tidy up. Morgan fell asleep as I buzzed around and I actually ate breakfast before 10am! I said to myself, “Self! Great Day!” (If you’ve had Dr. Kearl at BYU for Econ 110 or are a Copa Cabana gal, you’ll totally smile at that!)
Next, I pulled out the Hooked on Phonics box and had both boys doing it with me. We reviewed all Easton’s letters and sounds which he thought was rather boring – old hat you understand. We did have a lot of fun a bit later acting out each word that Easton read – hat, sat, pat, tap, cap . . . Easton was whizzing through these but it was something to do and fun to start at the beginning of the book so I could see where he’s really at. McKay was with us for about 1 minute and then I had him coloring his book. That lasted maybe two minutes for him until he decided his crayons made good rockets and away he went!
Easton finally got his game time while I fed Morgan again and finally got McKay in the shower again by letting him hold the shower sprayer. Last week he suddenly began defiantly refusing all coaxings into the shower and this was NOT good on so many levels! But today he had a fabulous time spraying everything in the shower!
I started lunch – their favorite mac’n’cheese with hotdogs and even got them to eat some fresh broccoli first! VICTORY!!! I got a kick out of finding McKay reading his favorite book in the hallway while he waited for lunch.
Now Morgan’s napping, Easton’s playing a bit more games, and McKay is racing his hummers as he tries out the various surfaces in the room (tile, carpet, beds). Soon we’ll go for a walk around the hotel so the boys can run and I can check out the gym and sauna. And yes, we’ve been here three weeks and I’m just now swinging by the gym not even to work out! It’s pathetic but good I’ve never paid for a gym membership in my life because it just wouldn’t get used!
We’ve also got to track down a screwdriver to get their new cars out of their boxes from Christmas! We’d called down to the front desk to see if a screwdriver was available on Christmas day. A minute later, the receptionist asked if we meant the screwdriver alcoholic drink! We had a good laugh over that, us sober Mormons! Finally we were able to help her find out what we really meant and she said the maintenance guy wasn’t in. I hope we have better luck today!
And I need to wish my Nana a Happy Birthday! The picture above from my sister Lorry's bridal shower aptly shows her funny ways. She loves to sing little ditties and playfully banter back and forth with my Dad, her baby. My favorite memories of her are from when I would stop between jobs one summer at her house for dinner. She’d make me my favorite ham and cheese sandwich and we’d chat and laugh. Then she’d always make me eat a Klondike bar and Papa would try to make me drink a soda which has never been my thing. It was so fun to have their full attention all to myself, but Nana seemed to really enjoy doting on me and I ate it up!
One of my goals was to better utilize my time in the hotel with the boys for fun and learning. I’m reading a great book by the entertaining LDS self-help author Merrilee Browne Boyack, entitled The Parenting Breakthrough: A real-life plan to teach your kids to work, save money, and be truly independent. Totally worth the read!!! I hear her other book Strangling Your Husband Is Not an Option is pretty good too and we enjoyed hearing her discuss this topic at a couple’s conference a few years ago.
Essentially, Merrilee and her husband have created a master list of things they want their kids to learn and know for each year of their life. It includes personal care, spiritual goals, household indoor and outdoor chores, financial skills and so on. Lots of great examples and she keeps it entertaining.
My post last week about hotel life with young kids helped me visualize our days here differently. This morning, even though I’d been up way too late catching up on emails and posting here, I was determined to make a better effort. I staved off game time and after I fed Morgan, I put her in the sling while I had the boys help me tidy up. Morgan fell asleep as I buzzed around and I actually ate breakfast before 10am! I said to myself, “Self! Great Day!” (If you’ve had Dr. Kearl at BYU for Econ 110 or are a Copa Cabana gal, you’ll totally smile at that!)
Next, I pulled out the Hooked on Phonics box and had both boys doing it with me. We reviewed all Easton’s letters and sounds which he thought was rather boring – old hat you understand. We did have a lot of fun a bit later acting out each word that Easton read – hat, sat, pat, tap, cap . . . Easton was whizzing through these but it was something to do and fun to start at the beginning of the book so I could see where he’s really at. McKay was with us for about 1 minute and then I had him coloring his book. That lasted maybe two minutes for him until he decided his crayons made good rockets and away he went!
Easton finally got his game time while I fed Morgan again and finally got McKay in the shower again by letting him hold the shower sprayer. Last week he suddenly began defiantly refusing all coaxings into the shower and this was NOT good on so many levels! But today he had a fabulous time spraying everything in the shower!
I started lunch – their favorite mac’n’cheese with hotdogs and even got them to eat some fresh broccoli first! VICTORY!!! I got a kick out of finding McKay reading his favorite book in the hallway while he waited for lunch.
Now Morgan’s napping, Easton’s playing a bit more games, and McKay is racing his hummers as he tries out the various surfaces in the room (tile, carpet, beds). Soon we’ll go for a walk around the hotel so the boys can run and I can check out the gym and sauna. And yes, we’ve been here three weeks and I’m just now swinging by the gym not even to work out! It’s pathetic but good I’ve never paid for a gym membership in my life because it just wouldn’t get used!
We’ve also got to track down a screwdriver to get their new cars out of their boxes from Christmas! We’d called down to the front desk to see if a screwdriver was available on Christmas day. A minute later, the receptionist asked if we meant the screwdriver alcoholic drink! We had a good laugh over that, us sober Mormons! Finally we were able to help her find out what we really meant and she said the maintenance guy wasn’t in. I hope we have better luck today!
And I need to wish my Nana a Happy Birthday! The picture above from my sister Lorry's bridal shower aptly shows her funny ways. She loves to sing little ditties and playfully banter back and forth with my Dad, her baby. My favorite memories of her are from when I would stop between jobs one summer at her house for dinner. She’d make me my favorite ham and cheese sandwich and we’d chat and laugh. Then she’d always make me eat a Klondike bar and Papa would try to make me drink a soda which has never been my thing. It was so fun to have their full attention all to myself, but Nana seemed to really enjoy doting on me and I ate it up!
Sunday, January 4
Errands & Mercedes Museum
You realize you’re a responsible adult when . . . you choose to run errands on days off instead of having last minute tourist getaways. We still did the tourist thing this weekend in Stuttgart, but mostly ran errands, Easton’s least favorite word lately.
I feel like Panzer base is my second home lately since we were there twice this week. Too bad there’s not a salad to be had among the four American eateries there! I’ve never eaten at Popeye’s before, but the boys love their biscuits, mac’n’cheese, and chicken strips. I love that Panzer has the aforementioned playground for them to run around in! Easton, however, always has a story to tell of someone not being nice or making bad choices like saying bad words. Lovely, but this is the real world and our little protective bubble life has to be burst now and again - usually for my sanity.
This trip to Panzer was to find out about their cell phone options and grab a few things at the PX. Ryan’s been feeling so disconnected without his iphone up and running to check stuff online and read emails. My disconnected feeling is also related to not being online as much as usual but also because I miss my chats and playdates with girlfriends! I sure had it good in Leesburg that way! Hey girlfriends – we’re on Skype so we can still do our chats for free!
I got to go to the commissary (grocery store on base) for the first time Friday evening. There was a young mom we kept running into on each aisle. I was holding Morgan and this other mom started up a conversation with me because she too had a baby about the same age. Her kids were at home and she joked about how pathetic it was that a night out on her own was there at the commissary and she'd actually put makeup on to come. She was super friendly and we laughed at what us young moms do for fun when we get the chance to be out on our own. I so wish I'd taken her name and number/email because she was a kindred spirit! Being around military bases is such a different mom crowd than the Leesburg suburbanite moms, but this gal was a breath of fresh air! I half expected to see her at church today!
Saturday we went to the amazing Mercedes-Benz museum here in Stuttgart. I haven’t been a big museum goer since my time in Jerusalem study abroad. This museum was fabulous because you really felt like you saw and learned everything you wanted to. It’s only been open since 2006 and was the most user-friendly, high tech museum I’ve ever been in! Everyone had headsets on and you roamed from the top of the museum to the bottom traveling down through the history of cars and the world. If something looked interesting to you, you pushed a button and listened to the speil. If not, you walked on by at your own pace – I LOVED IT! It was fascinating how this German company views its history so tied to trends and events in the US. My Grandpa Bob has always had a Mercedes as long as I can remember so I felt a bit of a personal connection. Ryan took pictures on his new phone, but it’s charging and not cooperating for me so I’ll post those later.
The kids did pretty well after I threatened them with their lives on the first level. (Just kiding! Thank heavens for computer game time bribery to keep him in line!) Easton had been trying to climb one of the walls and a guard came and scolded me and him. Shortly thereafter Easton sat in the stroller most of the time wishing it was all over. He stated that he didn't like cars anymore, only video games. McKay wandered around but sat and stared down the center of the museum each time Ryan and I stopped to view the 10 min movies on each level. Both boys loved going inside a tour bus one level so there was at least one highlight for them.
Morgan made things interesting for me because she wanted to eat upon arrival. Right after I’d finished feeding her, I discovered there were many much better spots I could have chosen within mere yards. I keep forgetting how conspicuous I am with such a young baby! Add nursing into that equation and it's even more interesting. Oh well, I do my best!
After a few hours at the museum, we headed over to the Red Cross furniture store and IKEA. Luckily, the military housing office loans out furniture so we should be able to get beds until our stuff arrives sometime in February. We also hear they’ll loan us a fridge and washer/dryer which is good. There’s so many things I’d wish I’d known to plan for in this quick move! We’re so sad the dollar is not doing so well to the Euro – it makes living on the economy here expensive! This week it’s like $1 to 1.40 Euro.
So we headed to the Red Cross store and IKEA to check out the couches. I think two good general rules of thumb are to never hit an IKEA on Saturdays OR with children who are now very accustomed to jumping on furniture to amuse themselves due to cramped hotel living! A store associate scolded us for McKay’s shoes being on one of the couches. Try explaining that to a 2 yr old who hasn’t had a nap but needs one desparately! The IKEA was so incredibly packed that we left with headaches and a resolution to never do that again!
We recovered at home that evening and enjoyed a quiet day at home today after church. We seem to have a pretty friendly ward and there are lots of children the boys’ ages which is great!
Here’s some pictures Ryan took of our soon-to-be apartment before the painters did their job this week. Our ground level apartment is the most eastern of our village and surrounded by open fields, farmland and walking paths.
I feel like Panzer base is my second home lately since we were there twice this week. Too bad there’s not a salad to be had among the four American eateries there! I’ve never eaten at Popeye’s before, but the boys love their biscuits, mac’n’cheese, and chicken strips. I love that Panzer has the aforementioned playground for them to run around in! Easton, however, always has a story to tell of someone not being nice or making bad choices like saying bad words. Lovely, but this is the real world and our little protective bubble life has to be burst now and again - usually for my sanity.
This trip to Panzer was to find out about their cell phone options and grab a few things at the PX. Ryan’s been feeling so disconnected without his iphone up and running to check stuff online and read emails. My disconnected feeling is also related to not being online as much as usual but also because I miss my chats and playdates with girlfriends! I sure had it good in Leesburg that way! Hey girlfriends – we’re on Skype so we can still do our chats for free!
I got to go to the commissary (grocery store on base) for the first time Friday evening. There was a young mom we kept running into on each aisle. I was holding Morgan and this other mom started up a conversation with me because she too had a baby about the same age. Her kids were at home and she joked about how pathetic it was that a night out on her own was there at the commissary and she'd actually put makeup on to come. She was super friendly and we laughed at what us young moms do for fun when we get the chance to be out on our own. I so wish I'd taken her name and number/email because she was a kindred spirit! Being around military bases is such a different mom crowd than the Leesburg suburbanite moms, but this gal was a breath of fresh air! I half expected to see her at church today!
Saturday we went to the amazing Mercedes-Benz museum here in Stuttgart. I haven’t been a big museum goer since my time in Jerusalem study abroad. This museum was fabulous because you really felt like you saw and learned everything you wanted to. It’s only been open since 2006 and was the most user-friendly, high tech museum I’ve ever been in! Everyone had headsets on and you roamed from the top of the museum to the bottom traveling down through the history of cars and the world. If something looked interesting to you, you pushed a button and listened to the speil. If not, you walked on by at your own pace – I LOVED IT! It was fascinating how this German company views its history so tied to trends and events in the US. My Grandpa Bob has always had a Mercedes as long as I can remember so I felt a bit of a personal connection. Ryan took pictures on his new phone, but it’s charging and not cooperating for me so I’ll post those later.The kids did pretty well after I threatened them with their lives on the first level. (Just kiding! Thank heavens for computer game time bribery to keep him in line!) Easton had been trying to climb one of the walls and a guard came and scolded me and him. Shortly thereafter Easton sat in the stroller most of the time wishing it was all over. He stated that he didn't like cars anymore, only video games. McKay wandered around but sat and stared down the center of the museum each time Ryan and I stopped to view the 10 min movies on each level. Both boys loved going inside a tour bus one level so there was at least one highlight for them.
Morgan made things interesting for me because she wanted to eat upon arrival. Right after I’d finished feeding her, I discovered there were many much better spots I could have chosen within mere yards. I keep forgetting how conspicuous I am with such a young baby! Add nursing into that equation and it's even more interesting. Oh well, I do my best!
After a few hours at the museum, we headed over to the Red Cross furniture store and IKEA. Luckily, the military housing office loans out furniture so we should be able to get beds until our stuff arrives sometime in February. We also hear they’ll loan us a fridge and washer/dryer which is good. There’s so many things I’d wish I’d known to plan for in this quick move! We’re so sad the dollar is not doing so well to the Euro – it makes living on the economy here expensive! This week it’s like $1 to 1.40 Euro.
So we headed to the Red Cross store and IKEA to check out the couches. I think two good general rules of thumb are to never hit an IKEA on Saturdays OR with children who are now very accustomed to jumping on furniture to amuse themselves due to cramped hotel living! A store associate scolded us for McKay’s shoes being on one of the couches. Try explaining that to a 2 yr old who hasn’t had a nap but needs one desparately! The IKEA was so incredibly packed that we left with headaches and a resolution to never do that again!
We recovered at home that evening and enjoyed a quiet day at home today after church. We seem to have a pretty friendly ward and there are lots of children the boys’ ages which is great!
Here’s some pictures Ryan took of our soon-to-be apartment before the painters did their job this week. Our ground level apartment is the most eastern of our village and surrounded by open fields, farmland and walking paths.
Thursday, January 1
A day in my hotel life
New Year's Eve . . . we’ve now been hotel folks for three weeks so we’re over half way done! HALLELUJAH! I’m seriously usually about to go insane by 10am most days and yesterday provoked actual tears. In fact this morning, I’d reached my limit and glanced at the clock which read 10:23am. Thankfully, life is made of moments and those moments pass. Before I forget, I’m providing a snapshot of today.
Around 8am, Ryan got up and ready for work which means the boys are awake and immediately want cereal pronto! Ryan heads off to work and Easton has already finished his cereal while McKay is inevitably playing with his and making a mess. I am convinced McKay only asks for cereal because Easton does. McKay continues to graze for the rest of the day.
With the dawn of a new day, Easton knows he has a fresh 30 minutes of Xbox game time and begins to beg and I give in - - it’s too early to argue. By now I’ve dragged myself out of bed with the hope that I can do a quick pickup of the room before Morgan wakes up and the cleaning crew arrives. They have typically been coming around 9:30 but sometimes they knock as early as 9! I could do the pickup at night, but bedtime is usually such an ordeal that it’s better to get everyone dressed within the pickup routine.
Easton will get dressed and then finish off McKay’s mostly uneaten soggy cereal to which McKay goes ballistic. I usually redirect McKay by sticking him in the shower while Easton finishes his precious game time in peace and I pickup and pull myself together for the day.
If I don’t redirect McKay specifically, he is into something. He’s figured out how everything in the kitchen works, even the burners and oven for example. In the last 15 minutes, he’s jumped from bed to bed trying different acrobatics, played in the drapes, used a package of diapers on the edge of a table as target practice for his pillows repeatedly, flushed something down the toilet (?), figured out how the air freshener spray can works, taken the battery pack off the xbox remote and inadvertently paused Easton’s game which brought squeals of joy and sorrow between the two parties, and ripped the garland off our makeshift Christmas tree. Everything he does has an element or possibility of destruction! And that was only 15 minutes of the day!
This morning, McKay figured out how to pull the trash can over to the bathroom sink and stand on it so he can play in the water. If we were at home, this would not be a good thing but we’re in a hotel, so play away my little cherub - - without creatively plugging the drain with towels to overflow the joint! I think we’ll just call this period of McKay’s day “water time.”
McKay does crack me up in how he phrases things and gestures a lot with his hands while he's talking. He flattens his hand, all fingers are straight and together like a fan. And he is my cheerleader saying, “Good Job, Mom!” as I drove the streets of Germany for the first time this week. YAHOO!
Morgan will have started to squawk by now so I’ll plant myself near wherever McKay is to feed her, always wishing I’d eaten breakfast. This is when all heck breaks loose everytime!
Inevitably, the boys begin to fight and times outs are plentiful. Easton is now bored for the day because his xbox time is up. McKay is ready to be rowdy but Easton is in pout mode and wants to make everyone else miserable too. They’re hopping from bed to bed, playing tag, and wrestling which means someone gets hurt or they start to tease each other so someone is screaming. Poor Morgan will probably have indigestion for life from all the interrupted feedings! I’m sure she’ll survive just like my 8 siblings survived Chad and me!
I’ve got to rework this part of my morning and after writing this I’ve decided how to switch it up a bit. Blogging just might have saved our lives!
(A quick shout out to my good friend Camille who made this onesie for Morgan and McKay has one too!)
The challenge after Morgan is done eating is how to make sure she naps good and long! She’s been taking her naps in her carseat in the darkened bathroom hallway which is as far from the boys’ craziness as I can give her. I’ve usually succumbed to movie time for the boys at this point so she can fall asleep and I can recover. Today we pulled out Easton’s Hooked on Phonics (which he can earn more game time doing) and I may try to start the younger version with McKay. I packed it as a sanity measure and it just may come in handy although it does require my involvement. Another one of today’s sanity measures was to take pictures all morning with the kids as you can see.
Ryan gets home around lunchtime right now and then we’re usually off on errands for the whole afternoon. Today he had to get his discount gas card at one of the bases so we decided to grab lunch there, let the boys play on the indoor playground, do laundry, and grab a few things at the PX (like a Kmart) – fun for all! As we were talking about our plan, Ryan said, “I need to go get my gas card.” And McKay piped up, “I want Madagascar!” (the cartoon movie) We got a good chuckle out of that!
One way Germans celebrate New Year’s is to set off fireworks! In Germany, many stores sell fireworks for the three days before New Year’s and you can legally fire them off from midnight to 2am. We’ve been hearing them for a couple evenings now and Ryan’s been so excited to fire some off. Once we announced to the boys to put their shoes on to do fireworks, McKay would not stop hollering, “I make fire!” We took the boys to one of the rooftops of the hotel and did sparklers and lit off a prepackaged box of fireworks. I was so scared we were going to get in trouble!
Easton was scared of the sparklers but McKay finally warmed up to them and loved it! Both boys clung to me while Ryan set off his box that lasted a minute shooting up some pretty fun ones that exploded up high. By the end, they were laughing but McKay was scared to death and crying to go back home at first. All the way back to our room McKay was begging for more and he finally stopped when Ryan asked who wanted to bake some cookies. Hahaha!
Around 5pm, we realized the plaza outside our window must be hosting a party tonight because Top 40 disco tech music started blaring. Luckily, from 7-11:50 they played wonderful classical music and then folks from the snazzy restaurant below and young people in the area decended on the scene for fireworks! We opened our window wide and had the best view ever! There were people setting them off from roofs around us and others shooting off their own down below all over the city - it was fabulous! The US should do this because the 4th of July just isn't enough for this pyro family!
This concludes what became a very long snapshot of a day in my hotel life. Happy New Years!
Around 8am, Ryan got up and ready for work which means the boys are awake and immediately want cereal pronto! Ryan heads off to work and Easton has already finished his cereal while McKay is inevitably playing with his and making a mess. I am convinced McKay only asks for cereal because Easton does. McKay continues to graze for the rest of the day.
With the dawn of a new day, Easton knows he has a fresh 30 minutes of Xbox game time and begins to beg and I give in - - it’s too early to argue. By now I’ve dragged myself out of bed with the hope that I can do a quick pickup of the room before Morgan wakes up and the cleaning crew arrives. They have typically been coming around 9:30 but sometimes they knock as early as 9! I could do the pickup at night, but bedtime is usually such an ordeal that it’s better to get everyone dressed within the pickup routine.Easton will get dressed and then finish off McKay’s mostly uneaten soggy cereal to which McKay goes ballistic. I usually redirect McKay by sticking him in the shower while Easton finishes his precious game time in peace and I pickup and pull myself together for the day.
If I don’t redirect McKay specifically, he is into something. He’s figured out how everything in the kitchen works, even the burners and oven for example. In the last 15 minutes, he’s jumped from bed to bed trying different acrobatics, played in the drapes, used a package of diapers on the edge of a table as target practice for his pillows repeatedly, flushed something down the toilet (?), figured out how the air freshener spray can works, taken the battery pack off the xbox remote and inadvertently paused Easton’s game which brought squeals of joy and sorrow between the two parties, and ripped the garland off our makeshift Christmas tree. Everything he does has an element or possibility of destruction! And that was only 15 minutes of the day!
This morning, McKay figured out how to pull the trash can over to the bathroom sink and stand on it so he can play in the water. If we were at home, this would not be a good thing but we’re in a hotel, so play away my little cherub - - without creatively plugging the drain with towels to overflow the joint! I think we’ll just call this period of McKay’s day “water time.”
McKay does crack me up in how he phrases things and gestures a lot with his hands while he's talking. He flattens his hand, all fingers are straight and together like a fan. And he is my cheerleader saying, “Good Job, Mom!” as I drove the streets of Germany for the first time this week. YAHOO!
Morgan will have started to squawk by now so I’ll plant myself near wherever McKay is to feed her, always wishing I’d eaten breakfast. This is when all heck breaks loose everytime!
Inevitably, the boys begin to fight and times outs are plentiful. Easton is now bored for the day because his xbox time is up. McKay is ready to be rowdy but Easton is in pout mode and wants to make everyone else miserable too. They’re hopping from bed to bed, playing tag, and wrestling which means someone gets hurt or they start to tease each other so someone is screaming. Poor Morgan will probably have indigestion for life from all the interrupted feedings! I’m sure she’ll survive just like my 8 siblings survived Chad and me!I’ve got to rework this part of my morning and after writing this I’ve decided how to switch it up a bit. Blogging just might have saved our lives!
(A quick shout out to my good friend Camille who made this onesie for Morgan and McKay has one too!)The challenge after Morgan is done eating is how to make sure she naps good and long! She’s been taking her naps in her carseat in the darkened bathroom hallway which is as far from the boys’ craziness as I can give her. I’ve usually succumbed to movie time for the boys at this point so she can fall asleep and I can recover. Today we pulled out Easton’s Hooked on Phonics (which he can earn more game time doing) and I may try to start the younger version with McKay. I packed it as a sanity measure and it just may come in handy although it does require my involvement. Another one of today’s sanity measures was to take pictures all morning with the kids as you can see.
Ryan gets home around lunchtime right now and then we’re usually off on errands for the whole afternoon. Today he had to get his discount gas card at one of the bases so we decided to grab lunch there, let the boys play on the indoor playground, do laundry, and grab a few things at the PX (like a Kmart) – fun for all! As we were talking about our plan, Ryan said, “I need to go get my gas card.” And McKay piped up, “I want Madagascar!” (the cartoon movie) We got a good chuckle out of that!
One way Germans celebrate New Year’s is to set off fireworks! In Germany, many stores sell fireworks for the three days before New Year’s and you can legally fire them off from midnight to 2am. We’ve been hearing them for a couple evenings now and Ryan’s been so excited to fire some off. Once we announced to the boys to put their shoes on to do fireworks, McKay would not stop hollering, “I make fire!” We took the boys to one of the rooftops of the hotel and did sparklers and lit off a prepackaged box of fireworks. I was so scared we were going to get in trouble! Easton was scared of the sparklers but McKay finally warmed up to them and loved it! Both boys clung to me while Ryan set off his box that lasted a minute shooting up some pretty fun ones that exploded up high. By the end, they were laughing but McKay was scared to death and crying to go back home at first. All the way back to our room McKay was begging for more and he finally stopped when Ryan asked who wanted to bake some cookies. Hahaha!
Around 5pm, we realized the plaza outside our window must be hosting a party tonight because Top 40 disco tech music started blaring. Luckily, from 7-11:50 they played wonderful classical music and then folks from the snazzy restaurant below and young people in the area decended on the scene for fireworks! We opened our window wide and had the best view ever! There were people setting them off from roofs around us and others shooting off their own down below all over the city - it was fabulous! The US should do this because the 4th of July just isn't enough for this pyro family!
This concludes what became a very long snapshot of a day in my hotel life. Happy New Years!
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