Mother's day and everything in between

I first have got to say that my husband is so cute.  I come home to find a message mowed into the lawn 'I Love You' I saw it right off.  It was fun to see that then he wrote a message in our bathroom with dry erase marker that said this...'I love you this much..... and drew a line across the mirror, shower and window and then said oops I ran out of room, you get the idea.... I love you so much!'

Thank you Joseph for doing the little things that make me feel loved.

Here are some lilacs in our yard.  They remind me of my Grandma Edna for whenever we went over to her house in the spring she would have a ton of them blooming and we would pick them and put them in vases for her, us our moms and it seemed to always be around Mother's day. :)

I let the boys do it even though the aftermath caused for a rope to pull the branches back up but when your limited on cool bushes to play in I had to let them this once.  They are so cute!

the forest behind us with a sunset glow

We made side walk chalk paint this week and it was GREAT!!  Just make a watery base with Corn starch and water adn food coloring and put it into cupcake pans, cut some sponges adn let them play and paint in the drive way.  Love this!!

We went for a walk the other day along the Kyll river and here are some shots of the boys :)

Here is Bridger on his bike that he loves to ride now.  They got all ready for bed and I said let's go for a walk because it was such a nice evening.

Gideon and Daddy

the beautiful clouds and sun rays.  We heard Cuckoo birds on this evening too.  They sound just like the clocks just a bit faster.  I love to hear them.  I think they only just pass through for I only hear them this time of year and only like 1 or 2 nights of it.  They are an evening song bird.  It is really cool.

Wipe-out :)

All Smiles!...notice the dandelion in daddy's pocket.  The boys LOVE to pick flowers for us.  I love that about them.

riding down the street

pretty

A rainbow

Well the boys went on their first Father and sons outing and forgot the camera.  Lets just say I was a little devastated about this.  There first time all doing something without me and didn't get pictures :(  But that is OK.  They made memories.  I asked the boys what there favorite thing was and they said getting warm by the fire. :)  They went to Luxembourg for their first Father and Sons near the WWII cemetery I went to for Memorial day last year Memorial day 2011  They were doing a service project of cleaning all the headstones.

The boys came home early because Gideon on Friday afternoon split open his foot by being run into the fence by a friend.  In between his pinky and ring toe he was pushed where the rail of the fence was jammed into his foot and caused quite the laceration.   We are trying to take Care of it without getting stitches.... So far it is getting better.  We wash it with peroxide (to get the junk) then vinegar (kill bacteria) and then rinse it with rubbing alcohol (to help dry it out)  We let it air out while he reads and then bandage it up for the day and repeat in the evening.  So far still good.  

This is what I did Saturday morning waiting for my house to not be so lonely.....

Enjoyed our wonderful gift of nature.

This is a picture of Rapeseed or Mustard seed flower (they look the same)

A cute lady bug

Wheat starting to head out

a cute bench... That is something I love about Germany.  There are trails everywhere for walking and biking and in my case going for a country drive and they have benches in the best spots with the best views.  Love it!

View over Dudeldorf

Some cows I met adn let me pet their noses....They are rubbery and wet.....Guess that means they're healthy

Hunting shack (these are everywhere)

Our secret spot.... Love this spot.  It overlooks the base in the distance with just rolling farms in between.

Spangdahlem

cement bird house

Walking up to the lane to the chapel for the Spangdahlem Cemetery

It is so funny to me how when the weather gets nice I can't contain myself for all the things I want to teach my kids and school them but during the winter when it was dark and gloomy I had a hard time just getting motivated to do a lesson.  

I did some subtraction with Bridger yesterday with cubes and math problems and he did great.  He likes me to make an outline of the letter or # with dots and then he goes back and traces it.  He was loving it and getting it.  He loves looking at the ABC's and writing them down on his whiteboard.  He is getting so big and I am starting to see that hunger for knowledge coming from him.  It always seems to be right around 4 years old with my boys.  I am excited to see what we will do in home school this year with him.  He loves to ride his bike now and is liking soccer more too.  I would like to put both boys in a camp this summer to get more of a feel for it.

I got the book 'Puff the magi dragon' from the library and taught them the song that I learned when I was little. The boys sing the song all the time now.  It is so cute.  I had never realized how sad it was till I got the book with all the words.  I like how the book portrays that the dragon finds a new friend in the end.  The art work is beautiful too.

Gideon loves Reading!!  He is reading a chapter book right now called Flat Stanley and is already over half through.  I asked him about the book and if he was comprehending it and he was.  He loves math reading and science.   He loves to ride his bike and play Frisbee and soccer.  They both impress me each day with their abilities.  We are going to register Gideon for 1st grade this year.  He is excited about that.  I just hope I can get him up and do all the things before school starts at 8am.  I think I could use tips on this part.  Any and all are welcome :)

Joseph has started a German class through the AF university.  He seems pretty excited to learn more German.  I hope I can learn some from him too.  He is training this week for a 21 gun salute and it sounds like they want him to be the guy to be the announcer and welcome everyone there.....I will keep you informed on what happens and hopefully will capture it on video too.  It is supposed to be next week.

I love being outside but lately it has been chilly.  I used some of my home grown cilantro this week in my guacamole.  It was yummy.  I had to cut back all the lettuce because the beetles and slugs got to it.  So hopefully I will figure out a way to keep them away.  Our peas are about a foot high now and our strawberry plants are getting bigger too.   I finished the Harry potter series and enjoyed that.  It is funny to see the European influence with drinking at a young age and how the schools raise the kids and the parents just see them for Holidays.  But besides that it was a fun read.  I just read Star girl too.  That is a good book.  I love all that is stands for with being who you are even when people persecute you for it.  That is a good read.  

Joseph and I went to go watch the Avengers on Saturday night for our date but they were sold out so we drove around the country side which was nice.  We then came home, borrowed a movie from a friend and watched it at home.

For Mother's day the boys in my life made me a cute video.  Thank you boys and Joseph, I love you too!

Customize an ecard

I had the missionaries over for Dinner and we had it BBQ style.  We had a big tinfoil dinner cooked on Briquettes of meat and potatoes and watermelon, chips and dip, .....Pretty simple but good.   I long for warmer weather.  I love being outside and feel the suns warmth on my skin. :) HHHmmmmmm.......