Foto Friday ~ Neil's journey to Germany

www.flickr.com

Click on this picture badge above to see all of Neil's pictures. And if you take a peak, be so kind and leave a blab . . . he would appreciate it! :c)

He is home!

Neil made it home late late Thursday night. He went in to work Friday morning (*groan*) but came back around lunch. It was then that the kids got to see their daddy and boy were they excited! So was I . . . :)

He said things were really expensive in Germany. But he did still did manage to bring home a couple of gifties. I took pictures of all of them, but some are on one camera and others on another and I just don't have time to download it all, so for now you just get to peak at a couple o' things.

He knows how I like to journal, so he brought me back a really nicely bound red journal with a church symbol on the front of it which is the symbol for Hamburg (speaking of, I had no idea that Hamburg was it's own state, did you? Same with Berlin! You learn something new every day!) And then he also got me . . . drumroll . . . why of course, ketchup! It is room service size because he just couldn't find a regular one in the market (granted, he only tried one store, but at least he did try.) It says Heinz on the front, but everything else is written in German. It's very ketchup cute.

He also brought me back some chocolates which are chocolate covered marsipan. I didn't know people actually chose to eat marsipan . . . I thought it was more for looks? It tastes ok. To be honest, I have had better, but then again, I've never had marsipan, so no, I haven't had better! (*rolling my eyes at myself*) The texture is just kinda weird. But the chocolate part is quite yum. Notice the missing piece?

Daddy brought back Noah a "foot ball" as they call it in Europe, but to us it's a soccer ball. He loves it. What boy wouldn't love a ball?!

For Maia he got her a Steiff animal. No, not a bear (I wish!!!), but it's a donkey (or a horse, maybe??? See for yourself!) and sooooo cute! The Steiff bears started at $125, and that was for a 3 inch size! Luckily the one he chose was just $35 and that was the least expensive animals. Wowzers! I knew they were pricey but not THAT pricey. I told him thank you for not buying her one of those! It's just fun, though, to now have something with the Steiff button on it! (And we even got a cool little Steiff box to boot!) See . . . isn't he cute? We call him Mr. Donkey. Original, eh?
Luckily, I made Neil take the camera. He got only 40 pictures and 5 of them are of the same pose, with Neil standing in front of an old church in Hamburg taken by his German friend/co-worker who wouldn't stop snapping the shutter. But hey, at least he got some of my hubby in Germany! When Neil went to Japan he had one picture taken of himself and that was standing in front of an upscale store (Louis Vuitton or something?). It could have been shot in New York City or Chicago! (ha!) So at least he does have some of himself with surroundings that look like he could be in Germany :c)I'll share more of his pictures later, again, when I have time. Since he has been back, I've burried myself in my work. My list is an 8x10 page long of orders and work to-do's. It's pretty overwhelming, but at least I do have work. I'm thankful for that. Now if I could just make time stop for a day or two or three, then I'd be doing good. But since that's not possible, you probably won't see me much this week. Noah also starts school this week and well, there's just a lot going on. So hold the blogging fort down for me and I'll be back soon.

P.S. We found a new church that we LOVE. We fit in the moment we walked in and Noah did as well. At our old church Noah would never leave our side. Here, he wanted to go with the rest of the kids to Sunday school. I'm already signing myself up for Bible studies and small groups. Woo-hooo! I'm just really excited. This is a huge burden lifted off of us. Phew.

P.P.S. Lots and lots of new stuff at my VWC blog. Probably a lot more to come this week. I'm also going to stop sending out emails to clients and will be posting my specials and such at this blog. So, if you're interested, visit the site frequently. And here's an example of what you see at that blog if you've never been . . . . . . weddings, bellies, and children, oh my!

Thanks, . . . . and toodles!

Today's jabber

I'm really not even sure what to talk about today. Maybe I will just share the nonsense in my head? Oh what fun, eh? Oh well, bear with me.

First, something exciting . . . sorta. Neil, get this, stayed in the same hotel for two days as THE ROLLING STONES! As of yesterday when I talked to him, Neil hadn't seen any of them, but his boss did!! He saw them driving away in a Mercedes with people and paparazzi chasing the car with cameras! How insanely crazy is that?! I think it's pretty cool minus the fact that Mick Jagger could be my grandpa, but who knows how I would act if I actually saw them in person, because my excitement level sure rose when I met Willie Nelson, and of course now, he is my all-time favorite. (*giggle*) They preformed in concert in Hamburg and I looked up tickets on ebay . . . the starting price was $300 a pop. Um, no thank you. Dad, how bout you?

Exciting news here in Illinois, well, for our family, that is. Hubby comes home tonight!! He just called and he's boarding the plane in London. I can't wait to see him. Maia and Noah talked to daddy yesterday on the speaker phone and they both were really excited. Maia's answers to all of Neil's questions were "yesh", "yesh", so Neil said "is your tongue purple?" and she answered "yesh". He said, "I knew you'd answer with that". :c)

The week actually hasn't been that bad. It helps when you fill your week up with a busy schedule. Yesterday we took the kids to a new aquatic center nearby and that was really fun. Noah had a blast yelling constantly, "look at me! Look at me!" I got some pictures but they are on Leann's camera, which I hope to get tonight to start downloading. But then we headed over to my good friend, Mike Judge's, studio. I got to see his new kick-butt place (they just redid the entire place) and visit with him and Nora. Noah hung out with Tyler, their grandson. It was so nice to see them.

Not big news to you, but to me . . . We had about 50 broken down cardboard boxes just laying outside my back door. We had been taking a handful to set with the garbage each week. It would have taken us months to get rid of all of them, so my friend, Leann, came over and we carried all of them to the curbside and the garbage TOOK ALL OF THEM! You know how nice that feeling is to get rid of garbage that has just been laying around?! It was like a huge weight lifted off of me. That was worth noting, right?

I'm not usually a Kohl's fan for clothes or shoes, but I was there earlier in the week looking for towels and wandered into the shoes, and found some really cute Adidas running shoes I liked. So I bought them, for, get this, $34.99! Is that not a great deal for these?Sunday we are trying out a new church. They are suppose to have an amazing children's program, which as we all know, is a must. A great church overall from what I have heard. Very similar to the one we left. I already know a few girls that go there. I'm excited to find a place to call "home", to make a network of friends in a church, and a network for my children, so I hope this is the one. I'll be updating Monday!

I have so many pictures I need to update ya'll with. I also have tons and tons of work to do since I haven't done a single thing all week (well, really for 2 weeks now that he's been gone for about that long total), but I am going to try really really hard to get both my work and play photos done this weekend. Wish me luck. Send some positive *get-your-work-done-Val* vibes.

My weekend starts today since Neil is not going into work tomorrow, so happy weekend, dear ones!

Read to me, Daddy.

So far, in my 4 years of being a mother, my favorite thing ever, is to see Neil read to the kids. And, being that he's a world away right now, and we're missing him so, I thought these pictures would suit well to be shown right now. Every night before we put the kids to bed, one of us or both of us, read to them in our bed. They look forward to it, and so do we. Come Friday night, he'll get to read to them again. . . and that time just can't come quickly enough. I'm just now going to bed and he's probably just getting up. That's just so . . . weird to me. I could never be a military mommy. Kudos again, to those who are. You rate high on my list of admiration.P.S. That's a sticker on Maia's chest :c)

This, that and a new telly?

I talked to my far-and-away husband this morning. Man, he sounded tired! He's been sight-seeing today in order to stay awake. He said he and another guy visited a church built in 1420 (!!!). For $10 they could walk to the top of the church and see the city. So they did it. All 160 steps. And he said when they got to the top, you could see the sky, and that's just about it, because there were 30 ft walls around the top!! Why in the world they didn't tell them that before he went is beyond me, unless they did tell them that in German and Neil responded with a "I-have-no-idea-what-you're-saying" smile, which is most likely what happened. (Love ya, honey!) I made him take the small digi cam with him, so I'm hoping he got some cool photos of an old German church wall! (At least he can say he did it!)

(Check out the churches, I found pictures of them!)

Tonight mom and dad invited us over for dinner, so we're heading over there after Maia gets up from her nappie. Mom made hamburger stew (mmmmm...one of my old childhood faves!). Noah is very much looking forward to spending time with grandpa. They wrestle and play basketball and climb rock piles, all things mommy doesn't do so well, so he's really looking forward to that. (I'm refering to dad when I say "he" -- ha!)

Tomorrow we're going to Leann's to play at the park in the morning before it gets too darn awful hot outside (it's suppose to be 100 here all week). Then Wednesday she and I are taking all 6 kids to a water park, which you could call me a little kid because I am so excited about it!!

One evening I am meeting with a client in another town so she can put in her order and then another night I'm meeting with a different client for the same reason. And then Thursday mom is coming over here an we're going to our local Farmer's Market which is from 3-6 in the evening. I love our downtown here, so I'm looking forward to that, too, if the heat doesn't bite us in the butt.

Quickly the week might be over and then Friday I see my hubby again, and hopefully bearing chocolate, wine and ketchup in a tube. :c) Yippee-yay! (And check this out, it's a tube of ketchup and mayo mixed in a tube! I hope he can find this one for me, but he'll have to get two because I will have to try it, too!)

Ok, so I am looking at getting something electronic for our kitchen. We don't have a single TV or radio in our entire upstairs. Our upstairs consists of all the bedrooms, 2 bath rooms, the living room, dining room and kitchen. And no TV. TV really isn't a necessity for me, except for when American Idol begins again or my favorites, Gray's Anatomy, LOST and The Office. So . . . I have some time to find a TV or something of some sort.

We considered an under-the-cabinet TV/radio for the kitchen. And we did buy one. But it's too big in length. It comes out about 3 inches from the edge of the cabinets making it look a little weird and making it very awkward to work around. So we're taking that back. I'm sure they make them smaller . . . maybe?

I also thought about buying an iHome. Anyone have one? They have them at Target this week for $88! That is a steal! Even if we didn't put it in the kitchen, I would probably put it in our bedroom. So having that would make us a little more technologically savvy, and something I could hook my ipod up to. I still want a TV. Even if it's 7" (which they do make). I just can't decide what makes the most sense.

We don't have a whole lot of extra space in our kitchen. For once we have counter space and I don't want to take it all up with big "things". Already my mixer takes up a whole lot of room, and I'm even contemplating putting that somewhere in storage because I only use it once a year (at Christmas for my cookie-making extravaganza). So what to do, what to do? Do you have a TV in the kitchen? If so, how big/small? What kind? Do you like it? Any recommendations for me? It is another thing on my to-do list for the week but I have no idea where to even start.

Off to Germany . . . with random pictures . . .

I think Neil was home 36 hours before he had to leave again this morning for, this time, Germany. The thought makes me want to cry.

It was hard for him to leave us, especially since his babies were crawling all over him and asking where he was going and if they could go with him. It's hard for him to say "not this time". Especially when he just did it earlier in the week last week. We'll see him again Friday morning or late late Thursday night.

I'm trying to think of things for us to do. I'd really like to get out of the house this evening, but I'm not sure where to? It seems like the only options with this almost-100 degree heat, is to go shopping or out to eat. Not that I want to pass those options up, but (to be truthful) I don't need anymore restaurant food for a while (I ate way too much already over the weekend and last week) and I don't need to shop anymore because Lord knows I've already spent too much in the past few weeks on the house.

Since I don't really have anything to talk about but to whine about Neil being gone again, I'll share a couple pictures, how's that?

So about a week ago, our good friends, Randy, Vickie and Chloe visited us at our new pad. We got this darn cute picture of Noah (a baby doll), Maia and their good friend, Chloe.
Then, as you know, I shot a wedding last weekend. Heather caught a couple pictures of me "in action" at the wedding. So here they are, for your enjoyment ;c)I'm playing with my camera's adjustments. Oh the joy of a digital camera. I actually loooove having options although they can get overwhelming at times!
And this is me talking to the groom. Sojin is yelling for a family member to come up to the front. That is Sojin's mother in the beautiful pink dress. She and Paul's mother wore the most amazing gowns (click on the picture and you can see it better). Everything about this wedding, down to the beauty of these unique dresses, made that wedding one of my best.
And then Heather and I at the wedding (between the wedding and the reception outside while we're waiting on the bride and groom to exit). We seem to take a lot of self-portraits of ourselves (no we aren't vain, just bored!). . . we sometimes have lots of down time to play, and whether it's quickly stopping at McD's for a double cheese, putting our feet up with an H2O in the car or just taking random pictures, we always find ways to make our down time enjoyable!

That's it folks! I hope to start getting to more of my house and moving pictures up this week when I have time during Maia's naps or in the evenings when the kiddos go to bed. Happy week to all. Wish me luck in making it through. I just keep thinking of all the military moms out there who do it for months or years at a time. I can't imagine, but when I do try to, it puts it all into perspective and I just sit back with thankfulness knowing that he's only going to be gone 5 days. That's nothing compared to what it could be. (God bless those mammas!)

P.S. I did send Neil to Germany with a camera and 3 orders. To bring me back German ketchup (if there is such a thing, and most likely, there is!), German chocolate and German wine. Isn't it funny how it's always something EDIBLE?! Ah well. The enjoyments of life. Gotta milk'em for all they are worth, right?!