April is Poetry Month

Hey I am joining my friend Laura in the challenge of writing a poem every day of April to celebrate April the month of Poetry.  Would anyone like to join me on a fun journey of getting out of the closet and getting down those thoughts of yours.  I would be interested in hearing all of yours.  I am going to have some fun with this :)
 No judging!!  :)

Soufflenheim France

The outlet mall we stopped by on the way home and got some good deals at MANGO

Me

Sarah Haynes

Crystal Chu

Jennifer Shay

A Pottery Shop

my crock pot I got.  It was the least expensive one I could find in all the shops. It is very cute I think :)

These four crock pots came without lids because there was some blemish on them and got them on sale. :)  Fun Fun!!

The girls

A pottery wheel

Me and Jennifer

All of the buildings had so much Character.  I loved it!

I had the best hot cocoa I think I have ever had at a little bakery and cafe in town.  SO YUMMY!!!  I had to stir the thick fudge like chocolate into the creamy milk.  Incredible! :)

Me and Crystal

Our lunch... I think it is a mix of German and French and something else

This was my "salad".....Yeah, don't expect too much lettuce....I think I had 3 pieces underneath all of that cheese.  The sausage tasted like bologna. 

This was a cresant like bread with Veal and chicken and gravy

THis is what the ceilings nad "walls" looked like inside the restaurant.  Pretty cool.

Sarah and I

Vanilla Eclaire

This pottery shop had BEAUTIFUL pottery but TOO expensive.  My favorite was the pitcher on the top row center....It cost $35 Euro.  I just was not willing.

More of the decorative town.  Every beilding had shutters and each one was unique to that building.  Very Charming :)

At one of the expensive pottery stores there was vines for sale for 3 Euro for a bundle.  So I got some :)  I will put them out on my patio.  It would be cool to make it look nice.

This pottery store had my favorite designs but they were too pricey for my taste.  But if I ever have money lying around ;) I will be sure to come back to this store.  Haa haa!

The people were nice for Europeans and everyone's yard was beautiful.  Very groomed and pretty.  You can tell spring is coming because most of them were working in their gardens.

It was a really fun and nice day with the girls.  We were all so tired from it all.   It turned out to be Lovely weather too.  It was supposed to be raining the whole time but we had some sunshine in there.  So that was my first experience with France

Emma 2010 BBC movie

I found a BBC production of Emma that just recently came out that I really enjoyed.  There are 3 seasons, which makes up to be about a 3 hour show.  Just make sure your on the season and the episode in order.  Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFejgx-Rt_w

What a week!

This is how I decorated a wall of ours.  I really like it.  An artsy simple look.

Clothes Pins

My Jean board with our siblings, grandparents, and cousins on it so we can see them all the time. :)

My Birthday cake me and the boys made

I got a guitar from my amazing husband.  I am excited to learn more and to start playing again.  Gideon is really interested as well so we might get him one as well....we shall see ;)

This is my friends daughter Anna in the picture.

This is me after driving 4 hours round trip on Tuesday to Frankfurt Airport as a family and finding out our dog isn't there....This is after a while because there was a lot of frustration and tears in between

This is me the next day driving another 4 hours with kids and getting my dog (Big Smile!)

The story behind the pictures....

Well I guess we will never know for sure what exactly happened because my dog doesn't have the cool ability to talk like one of my boys favorite shows (Martha speaks)  So I will give you my side of the story. 

 Akina left Boise on Sunday and stayed the night in Minneapolis at some "doggy" hotel.  The next morning she flew down to Atlanta and sat at the airport until her plane took off at 4 pm.  She was then supposed to get on the plane and be in Frankfurt the following morning for me to pick up.  So our family were in Frankfurt and managed to find the import building to get our papers at...  on our way to the building we came to a gate and drove up to it.....well we were supposed to go to the registration office about 50 yards back and we then had cars lining up behind us.  We then had to back up and get out of the way turn around and get to registration.....Humiliating ...Yes :)

So we got to the building and I went in and told them my name and he comes back to the desk and said," I am sorry but your dog is not here."  "WHAT??!!"  She didn't get on the flight.  I was devastated.  First off I didn't know what happened to her, I was frustrated because I did not want to make the drive and go through the craziness with out my husband the next day and just so sad.  The same thing happened to 2 cats too I guess.  We got the paper work and left.

We found out where I was supposed to go the next day and were off back home.

So we made some calls and come to find out the baggage people in Atlanta Forgot to retrieve her from the pet section to be put on the flight so she spent over 12 hours waiting at an airport to board a plane.  GRRRRRRR!!  So She stayed in Atlanta and I called and checked on her and she was fine.  So we followed her tracking information but they never scanned her to say she was "on board" the flight and so I wasn't sure if the same thing was going to happen AGAIN and just prayed she would be there.

So the next trip, Wednesday morning we left at 5am me and my boys, Joseph was at work, and we drove two hours to get to the Airport.

So we were almost to the airport and I missed my exit.....Oh no!!  There wasn't another exit for MILES!  I ended up in some town and got turned around and just prayed that the Lord would help me find my way back and get off at the right exit.  I did with the Lords help and made it to the Pet Lounge where the retrieval process started...

So after lots of paper work we had to walk down the road to customs and imports but it is all fenced in on the side walk and they have these revolving doors that you get a pass to scan to get though.  Well the guy told me to let my kids go through first because of the tightness and then scan again and go through.....I did that and it wouldn't let me scan again....Yes my kids were on one side of the fence and I was on the other.  "THE SCENE" ~  It is a big sidewalk with a fence running down the center.   My kids side of the fence there was a big bus stop and a truck stop and BUSY.  My side not so much....I was stuck.  My heart sunk and I didn't know what to do.  The card wouldn't let me through and my kids were helpless on the other side.  Well a nice man came to the rescue (on the kid side of fence)  He had me push a button and I told them my situation and they let me pass....(SIGH!)  I was grateful!  

Then at customs they had someone painting the inside and they had carpet padding all over the floor in the lobby area.  So while I was doing Zoll (customs) My boys were wrestling and laughing and yelling on the floor.  They even got an audience of Zoll personnel.  I was grateful to hear " Oh just let them, Its OK"  Good, A break :)  

 So we got back to the pet lounge and were able to get our dog.  So grateful!!!  and we headed home.  THe boys have been giving her tours of our home, been playing with her and just loving her.  They really missed her and it feels good to have her back with us.

 So that concludes the Adventures of the Jones for Today but Tomorrow is a new day :)

Playing on the plasma cars

Fasching...A German Holiday

 So we went to a Fasching parade here in Oberkail with a group of our friends who live in that community and got a taste of German Celebration.   WOW!  I couldn't believe all the drinking and smoking that was going on.  Earlier that day we went grocery shopping and on our way home were talking about smoking and drinking and the Word of Wisdom.  Well we got First hand of those two things in our parade.  Fasching is a mixture of Halloween and Marti Gras but we were in a town where it is not a full blown marti gras. (thank goodness of course)  You have to go to special towns for the ...Other.  They passed out candy to the kids and Drinks.....Yes I said Drinks; shots to be more exact to the adults.  You have your "shot" glass and they come by and fill it up.......Yep!  Us Mormons just cheered the floats and danced to the music Sober Thank you :)

The line up of the Kids

Bridger Gideon, Kaleb, Anna, Seth, Alyssa, Sadie London, and the Miller kids

One of the cool floats....They had a "Bar" on the end where they served drinks from an actual faucet

The "cowboys" in Europe

Most people were dressed up to see the parade.  I was amazed to see the majority in Western wear.  It made me laugh.  They must be really impressed with the Wild West.

The bar on the back of the ship 

My two little rascals enjoying the candy that was never ending in their laps....Poor Gideon was getting cold.....I should have never suggested sandals from the options of footwear to wear....  I will makesure they wear something more weather appropraite next time

Yes this is a "Munk" with a beer in his hand  Everyone in the parade had beers or stronger drinks in their hands.

My cute lil' Unicorn

My cute lil' Dragon

Waving at the people

THe huge mess that we all left behind.....No one picks up the garbage they just leave it all until the next day.  They just party and drink after the parade and clean up later..... It was hard not to find a broom and start cleaning

So when we got home we told Daddy all about our ventures at Fasching.....We then had a word of wisdom lesson and pictures of your liver and lungs on drugs and alcohol....Yeah, it is good to be healthy and strong.  It was amazing and eye opening to see how much things are engrained over here.  Everyone drinks and smokes it seemed like.  Teens, adults and even sugar jello shots for the kids.  I am just so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to teach me to keep my body clean from drugs, alcohol and other things that can harm it.  I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father I can pray to and ask for help when I need it and that my prayers are answered.  I am grateful for America and for the way we do things.  It makes me miss it when I go to things like this.  But I am grateful to be able to participate and be apart of something as well to learn more and become more aware of what is out there that i need to teach my children about and how we can learn from those things.  It was a fun parade to go to with our friends.  I was even a Persian Princess.  I am just grateful for what I have to teach me right from wrong. :)

Homeschool'n and party'n to Welcome Home Daddy!!!

~Our Homeschool Section~

This is our A for Animal week and we are making a barn yard to learn about Barnyard Animals

So I made homemade glue and it worked pretty good

Recipe: from http://www.familyeducation.com/

3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon white vinegar

mix in Small saucepan and bring to rolling boil 

In a seperate Small bowl mix 

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup cold water

slowly add to saucepan and continue to boil for another 2 minutes

 and Voila you have glue. :) 

Our Cool Barn :)

How our barnyard turned out

Daddy Came Home!!!!  Yeah!! 

He is so Handsome!!!  He was away for 17 days at training.  We sure missed him!

This is us trying out our new lawn mower we ordered on Amazon.  It is a Fiskars Momentum.  It is a Reel Mower and we love it.  It works great.  No loud noise or fumes and no gas or oil.  (It really isn't warm enough to mow the lawn yet but we wanted to try it out.)

Our little picnic in the yard that we had to move to the patio due to the cold wind

Gideon Loving life!!

Bridger eating and loving life :)

They opened their Birthday presents early and got plasma cars.   (We are celebrating mine of course, Bridger's and Gideon's Birthdays in March so Daddy will be here to celebrate with us.) We went for a walk and they are starting to get used to them.  They are really fun and will hold up to 250lbs.  Even Joseph and I had races around the kitchen and living room last night.....So funny!  :)

Putting them together

Crossing the Autobahn

I Love you!!

Playing inside and having FUN!

Even going under the table was a fun obstacle

After we went for our walk we went Bowling which we promised the boys we would do when Daddy got home.  The scores were.....  Gideon 120  Bridger 106  Camille 102  Daddy 68  :)

Nothing like having your kids beat you at Bowling!

The weather has been Beautiful!!   March has sure come in like a lamb here.  The sun is shining and it got about 50 degrees today.  Joseph and I got a date tonight and saw the new Chronicals of Narnia.  We enjoyed it.  WE are shipping our dog out on Sunday from Boise and we will pick her up in Frankfurt Tuesday morning.  We hope all goes well and we will be able to find our way.  We are so happy to be together as a family.  I love my husband so much and I am so grateful for his attitude and spirit that brings so much happiness into our home.