Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas. We loved staying home and being lazy all day. 

He's fascinated with the tree!

I love this picture.

I think he was tired of me taking pictures in this one!

He had red velvet cake...

Christmas Party and a New Baby!

About 2 weeks ago Justin and I went to his company's Christmas party. I got to meet some of his friends and people he works with, it was really fun. They had secret santas going on, and also a Santa that came and gave gifts to all the kids. When they called Tommy's name we brought him over to sit on Santa's lap, but he was too scared. I don't think I've ever seen him so terrified! I have it on video so I'll see if it will upload. Here is Tommy getting his present.

     

And here he is running away with it, probably to show his friends. There were two little girls there that followed him around and kept hugging him and trying to hold him, it was cute. 

Our friend Angela had her baby, she's so cute!! Take a look at Elaina Orr. ♥

             

Justin's 24th Birthday

Yesterday Justin turned 24! We went out to a Greek restaurant and had a good time. Tommy had his first sucker and loved it, except he wasn't swallowing, just letting it sit in his mouth. So needless to say he was a slobbery mess. (But still cute, of course.)

Justin was very impressed that when he woke me up at 5am that morning, the first thing out of my mouth was happy birthday. I'm actually surprised myself, I forgot my own birthday last August!

So Happy Birthday Justin, I love you! I definitely don't know what Tommy and I would do without you. I couldn't have found a better person to share eternity with! ♥

Tommy's Best Friend

Tommy spent the day with his best friend Luis yesterday. They had so much fun together. They went to the daycare in our town and played with all the neighborhood kids. I don't think Tommy has ever had so much fun! He absolutely adores Luis (sometimes I get a little jealous!).

We're thinking of putting Tommy in the daycare a couple days a week for 2-3 hours, so that he can learn German and play with the other kids. It's the nicest daycare I've ever seen, and the ladies who work there are so nice. They know English pretty well, a lot of Germans bring their kids to learn English. 

I'm using Rosetta Stone to learn German. I've learned simple sentences, and it gets easier and easier to pronounce as I use it. It's a complicated language, but Rosetta Stone is amazing. I learned simple sentences from the very first 1/2 hour lesson! I think the hardest part is the spelling. 

As you can see Luis loves to take care of Tommy, it's the sweetest thing. He has a brother coming in April and I think he will make an excellent big brother. He's 2 1/2, I just can't wait to see what Tommy is like at that age. We can't believe he's almost 15 months already!

Tommy does Laundry!

I was doing my makeup the other day, and noticed Tommy taking clean clothes out of the basket and putting them in the washer. It was so cute I had to get it on video, but as soon as he noticed me, he stopped! I think he's been watching mommy pretty closely! 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was fun! We had our friend Angela over. She spent the night so we could get started on the turkey bright an early, but her and I ended up staying up all night so it was really hard getting up at 6am. Luckily she's 8 months pregnant and can't sleep anyway. :) She is a great cook. It was a great day. 

Tommy is walking! He surprised us by just getting up and walking across the room, totally out of the blue. He just decided he was ready I guess. We went out to dinner the other night, and Tommy was playing with the people sitting around us. He would wave and say "hi!", then hide his face with his hands. We had a few people come up to us to play with him, it was so funny. 

We have been having so much fun here in Germany, we are so thankful to get the opportunity. And we are very thankful for Justin's job. It's been a wonderful financial move for us. Justin is getting promoted really fast and he and I are both able to go to school without student loans and fees. When Justin gets released from the army, he will be able to get the career he's always wanted. It was a huge risk for him to join, but we are so happy we made it.

Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful for what you have, so count your blessings! ♥

Fun in the Snow!

Should have been a video, but here's some pictures.

I'm not able to upload videos for some strange reason, I've been trying for 2 weeks! So here are some pictures instead of Tommy today. I video him every couple of weeks, then put them all onto a DVD so we'll always have them. He grows so fast it's hard to document it! I don't like the pictures because it's hard taking them without blur because he is constantly moving! So here are the best ones. Isn't his smile contagious?

Halloween

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. Justin didn't have to work much, and we went to a HUGE costume shop and had fun looking around. We couldn't find anything in Tommy's size (which was surprising because the place must have had a thousand costumes) but we eventually found a reindeer outfit that he already had and it looked really cute on him. 

                            

We baked some sugar cookies and decorated them together, while taking turns greeting trick or treaters and handing out candy. Our neighbor came by with her son and as soon as Justin opened the door, he dumped his candy bag out to show him how much candy he had. He's become Tommy's best friend. When Tommy sees him he gets so excited and will even hug him. 

Tommy had so much fun seeing the other kids and eating cookies. After he went to bed Justin and I stayed up and watched What Lies Beneath. It's tradition in my family to watch a scary movie on Halloween. Justin was a big baby and had to shut his eyes a few times. But I love him anyway! :) We look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Holidays are really fun in Germany.

For Tommy, with Love ♥

One thing in this world is always true,

I will always be here to comfort you,

my love you for you, it has no end,

I'll guide you, teach you, and be your friend.

Many thoughts go through my mind,

where are the answers I cannot find?

will I have strength to carry on,

teach you life, and right from wrong?

I'll be there when you scrape your knee,

look for monsters you're sure you see,

read to you before you sleep,

my heart is yours, for you to keep.

This world is such a beautiful place,

take your time, there is no race,

go to college and save your money,

and plan for times that won't be sunny.

I love you more than words can say,

with you I will always stay,

forever you'll be my baby boy,

my hope, my strength, and greatest joy.

Tommy's Happy Birthday

Today was Tommy's first birthday!! Despite it raining outside, he had a blast. Unfortunately, daddy was working all day and he won't be done until tomorrow morning, but Justin did get to come home for breakfast, lunch and dinner so we squeezed his party in. I just can't believe our baby boy is one years old. It seems like he should only be a month or two at the most, even though we both feel he's been in our lives forever. I can't remember life without him. He keeps us busy every second of everyday (except for when he's sleeping) but he has brought us more happiness than we thought possible. After getting married to Justin in 2006, I didn't think it could get any better. Tommy proved me wrong! 

So now Tommy is officially formula free. He eats what we eat now, and I've had an easier time because I'm not making a lot of bottles throughout the day. He is a really good eater, and his favorite things to eat are string cheese, any type of pasta, and carrots. When he is full he shakes his head no, and when we say "Good boy Tommy!" or "Yaaay!" he claps his hands. He is such a smart kid. We are so proud of him. 

He took his first steps without us holding his hand a couple days ago!! We caught it on camera, so I will be posting it if my computer lets me today. Our upstairs neighbors came down and gave Tommy some warm gloves, and jacket and a talking book (that will drive me crazy until it runs out of batteries...) and we got him a soccer ball (so he can be like daddy), a CAT caterpillar, and some mini cars. So far he likes them a lot, he will even let me leave him in his room to play for a few minutes. Usually he follows me everywhere, so I was surprised! 

We are now excepting donations to the "get our family to Germany" fund!! We miss all of you!! Enjoy Tommy's birthday videos and pictures! (:

Tommy Dances!

Tommy dances anytime he hears music, it is so cute!! So we turned on some music and tried to video it all without him getting distracted with the camera. He is so much fun!

Tour Of Bamberg

Today we had a tour of the city we live in, which is Bamberg. It is so pretty! We had so much fun, and tried to get as many pictures as we could. I'm not very good at putting them on here, so this might be messy! Some of the pictures are from a cathedral close by, it is so BIG!! We were blocked off from most of it, but we got to see the main rooms and see where the pope who built it over 1,000 years ago is buried. 

We're settling in pretty well. We have a house off post, which we like because we get more of a european experience. We have a garden that we planted (it took forever pulling all the weeds out and planting new things in it!) We have roses, raspberries, strawberries, sprouts, and herbs in it, and it looks really nice. Our neighbors are so much fun, they don't speak English well but we talk pretty often. The people here have been extremely nice to us, and we've been able to pick up a little German. It's a really hard language!!

So we got a car last weekend, which we needed really badly. It's nice getting around on our own now. We've made friends with a lot of people, and we're really loving it here. Winter is coming though, and it's started to get cold. It hasn't rained here for 2 years, but it might this year. I hope so, I hear it's no fun without snow because all it does is rain.

Enjoy the pictures!

More Germany pictures

Okay I couldn't fit all the pictures into one, so here are some more! :)

New Pictures!

Here are some pictures of my birthday and our first days here in Germany. We're doing really good, we move into our permanent place tomorrow, we've been staying in a hotel since we arrived here almost 2 weeks ago. We're ready to have our own place again, although housekeeping is nice! :)