Reichsburg Cochem

A pit stop on the way

 The view from the bridge of the town of Cochem

 Looking down into the Mosselle River

Advice if in Europe...Try to avoid stairwells.....They smell of human waste... Just FYI

The castle

 

The view

Me and Bridger Boy

Inside

Our dog went along for the tour

The dining hall

The Beautiful windows

The other side of the castle view

Gideon and Daddy

 Water well goes down 50 meters

Village of Cochem

Very TIGHT streets

on our way home along the Mosselle river

Vinyard after vinyard.....This is Wine country for sure!

Yep rolling hill after rolling hill of grapes

Coolest contraptions.  The vineyards are on hills here and have these rail chairs with basketts for getting up and down the hill while pruning, attending or harvesting

It really is amazing at the vastness of vineyards around here......I thought marsing and fruitland had a lot of vineyards...Ha ha ha I was wrong.

Sick Buddies

Well Bridger wasn't sick but was having sympathy headaches and fevers for his Brother so he could be like Gideon.

Nothing like your dog to comfort you and give you company

 Bridger really liking his "paper towel" cloth

 Pretty Akina

So poor Gideon started getting sick on Wednesday and had a fever and ear ache on Thursday.   He was up all night long with pain and all I could do was comfort not much else.  Friday morning his ear drum burst and his ear was full of blood and other fluid.  Gideon was relieved of his pain and I thought was on the mend, (that is after doing much research to know if he was going to be alright)

  Well by the time friday night came around his fever was back and his ear hurt.  We did a family outing to a castle and got him fresh air on a nice day but he was so tired that he wanted held all the time.

  So Sunday morning I took him into the hospital here in Wittlich.... well I actually went to Bitburg first but they don't do pediatrics so I had to drive to Wittlich to see a doctor.  Poor little guy slept in my lap most of the time and was whimpering the rest while we waited in the waiting room (one of my Haiku poems is about).  He got a blood test to make sure of everything and found out his body has a yucky virus and his ears have a bacterial infection so we got the anibiotics and got him home.  So we were gone doing that from 8am till 1pm.  It was a long day.

  We came back and watched conference and he was still hurting.  We gave him his meds and he slept all night long.  Today he is more himself but is having a really hard time hearing with all the gunk still in his ears....( or at least I hope that is what it is)  We have to speak loud to him or he wont hear us.  So that has been what we've been up to but we are grateful he is on the mend and free of pain now.

Day 2 3 4 of Poetry challenge

(Gideon has been sick all weekend and this was me waiting in the Dr's office for a check up so we could get him feeling better)
Poem #2

Hiaku 1: Sick

Hot and tired boy

asleep on my lap, waiting

for relief to come

(My camera, need I say more)
Poem #3

Hiaku 2:  Click

Open the shutter

capture the light passing through

remembered always

(We went Saturday to a castle in Cochem and they had a witches tower where they put women who they thought were witches.  The crusades were during the dark ages and so I wanted to write something about a perspective of this period but with hope and light in the end)
Day #4

Couplet:  

A Castles View

Castle up on your hill

how do you make the people feel

With towers filled with your fears

and walls of stone that echo the cheers

Of mighty men on a crusade

of lonely women who are made

to feel the pungence of loneliness

and children to be raised fatherless

Dreams are shattered and people morn

waiting for a new day of life and love to be reborn

A new day comes with rays of sunlight

giving passion to the soul to give one last fight

for what is left of their hearts on a string

piece by piece they fit together to bring

Hope they found along the way

to rebuild their lives and homes and stay

In this beautiful place, green and strong 

along a river that sweeps away the wrong

light on the horizon, an army marching along

singing and cheering a welcome home song

Tears flood the valley with joy and bliss

reunited again, embraced in a kiss

Castle up on your hill

how do you make the people feel

A town united and strong once more

riches and glory you share and pore

upon your people who now trust you

life now, has a beautiful view.

Celebrations!!

St. Patrick's Day

A trail leading to....

............Yummy Treasures! 

Us

The Boys' Birthday party (celebrated early)

Coming down stairs for their surprise 

Whoooo

 The fan's streamers

 The decorated kitchen

The Balloons 

And the Birthday Boys and their Mommy 

 A guitar!

We are excited to learn to play

Drums! 

Our band :) 

 Oh Yeah!

Trains that go on their own....Gideon's request

Making our dinosaur cake

This is Red claw and his brother if any of you are familiar with the never ending land before time series :)

We used craisins for the spikes, chocolate chips for their teeth and strawberry syrup for the volcano.

Gideon jamming out.....Yes those are headphones so we can do multiple lessons at once :)

Projects

Finishing our animals for our barnyard.  We cut out cardboard animals and painted them and then put clothes pins on them for the legs.  Fun Fun!!

 

I was watching our good friends kids and they saw a butterfly fly through the yard and they came up with an idea on how to attract more butterflies.  Make Butterflies.  So we got the scissors and paper and markers out and I put sugar, red food coloring and water in a pan and we surrounded it with these Beautiful butterflies.  If you were a butterfly you would totally stop by.. Right!? :)

The kiddos...

Seth, Bridger, Caleb, Anna and Gideon.

Fun Times! 

Joseph finished my other bench to my table and it looks Great!  Now I will look for some stools during yard sale season to put along the other 2 sides.  I love my Table.  Thanks Babe!!

Haircuts!!  We love it when the boys and my man look sharp...didn't get any photos of my handsome man but you can imagine :)

Cute Bridger Boy

Bridger waiting for Gideon to be done while munching and pondering

Cute Gideon

Yes the picture says it all!

I am officially 5 weeks along and I am full term on December 2 2011.  We feel so blessed with timing because Joseph will be back for just a month before the little one comes.  Lots of little tender mercies have me so grateful lately.  Every little bit helps build my testimony that I do have a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows me and hears my prayers and I am so grateful for this knowledge.  I am so grateful to be able to have children and what a blessing they are in my life.  I love being a mom and look forward to eventually being a mother of 3. :)

My first poem of the month....Tangled

Poem #1
Tangled

Tangled dangled in front of me
Bought it, Brought it, home to my three
Laughed when I saw her swinging from a tree
Cried when I saw Flynn set her free

Of all the animated fairy tales that are and will be
Tangled is by far the best to me.