Santa found us

Santa brought Macen several Star Wars toys and Macen was so excited!

Macen also got several of the cars from Cars 2 and he did a little dance.

Dad and Macen putting together the Republic Gunship

Maddox actually didn't do half bad opening some of his presents.

We had a perfect Christmas! The boys opened presents, we spent time with family throughout the day, Macen got to play with his new toys and we ate a lot. Oh and it was pretty darn warm outside - that was a present from Santa just for me. Ha ha! It couldn't have been any better.

Opening presents from each other

Merry Christmas

Another holiday, another attempt to stick a baby in something. I wish this one hadn't turned out blurry because his smile is so stinkin' cute here.

Gone Fishin'

Not a good day for Jingles

Looks likes Jingles got on the wrong side of a Star Wars fight. He got tied up with the bad guys.

But then he got revenge and tied them all up!

Let's just say these days highly amused James :)

5 months

Boy what an active little guy we have! He is turning himself around while on his stomach. He can roll back over onto his back now so we really never know what direction we will find him in. I don't think it'll be long before he is crawling. He can push himself up pretty well and get on his knees for a short amount of time.

He is still enjoying his cereal and is mostly only waking once during the night. We had to do a little training for that last time he was waking but not getting himself back to sleep. It only took 2 nights before he got it and even better, we found a non cry it out method that worked well for us.

He is a very happy baby and we love that. There is nothing better than having this amazing, innocent little guy smile at us all the time. He has noticed the cats more and more so that has been fun. Now that we have all our things, he has gotten to play in the exersaucer and he loves it - lots of things to chew on with those teeth coming in.

Middle of the night meal

Jingles got hungry in the middle of the night and fixed himself a meal...spaghetti with marshmallows and fruit snacks.

Guess who was so.not.impressed?!

Macen sat down at the table to drink his chocolate milk, glanced up at Jingles when I mentioned it and then went right back to drinking his milk. Not a care in the world, not even a double take. When I pressed on he stated elves don't eat.

Guess Jingles is going to have to step up his game!

Sugar Angel

Jingles played in the sugar last night making angels.

Tree decorating

Macen loves Christmas time and loves decorating the tree. He even said he wanted to add candy canes this year. As we finished hanging the stockings he exclaimed "This is going to be the best Christmas ever". We have to agree with him. Maddox is here with us and James is not deployed. We are so excited to wake up Christmas morning in our own home and all together finally.

Jingles has arrived!

We were out of town for the weekend and when we returned home, Jingles was hanging out in the Christmas tree. He put it up for us while we were gone since we had been concentrating on unpacking so much. He left a note for the boys and let them know they have to be really good so Santa will find them on Christmas.

God Bless Rice Cereal

Maddox has been waking 3 times a night but only eating once. So in effort to curb those other 2 wakings, I started him on rice cereal. I wanted to wait until he was 6 months but he has been showing alot of interest when we are eating and with everything we have going on, I need sleep. Haha! It has eliminated one of his wakings so it has helped and he enjoys it so much.

Sorry for the blurriness - taking them one handed while he was eating.

Barcelona pics updated

Hooray!!!

James just got word our household goods are in the states!!!!! It's possible we may have it by the end of this week. Next week is worst case scenerio. What perfect timing for us! We were just discussing today how long we were going to hold out until we bought a tree and some stockings so Santa could find us.

So excited!

We have a home

We got into our new place yesterday. We rented site unseen and we are pretty pleased with the house. It was nerve wracking but thankfully we were already familiar with the town so I knew what areas we wanted to live in.

Now we just wait for our things to get here.

We have not adjusted to the time difference yet. Well Maddox has for the most part but he sleeps alot already so it was pretty easy for him. The rest of us are struggling but I think after today we will be set. We were running all over yesterday getting things down so we didn't get a chance to recover any. We are making time today though.

Due to the lack of sleep, I made a 5am Wal Mart run this morning. Probably the best time to go since it was completely overwhelming. Lots and lots of choices! I found some new things that the commissary didnt have in Germany though so it was fun.

American Macen

Is now in America. We landed in the good 'ole US of A yesterday.

For those of you who don't know Macen has claimed his name is American Macen or Macen America for months now. He got this from being in German kindergarten and they were discussing America.

We are tired and have to hit the ground running at least for our first day here but hopefully we'll get in some recovery time soon. Both boys did excellent on both of our flights. Maddox had started doing lots of crying on our return trip from Athens and going to and from Barcelona so I wasn't looking forward to a long flight with him. I imagine having his own seat helped - him and I both got our space. They could not have been any better and we had a pretty pleasant trip back to the states.

Frankfurt Christmas Market

One of the big things we wanted to do since coming to Germany was go to a Christmas market. We had heard so many good things about them to include the food and gluhwein (warm wine). James was gone for last years and I was newly pregnant and worried morning sickness was going to kick in any day so I didn't travel to any. The closest ones would have been an hour away. Since we got the airport this morning and we aren't flying out until tomorrow, we decided to take the train to the Frankfurt Christmas market. It didn't disappoint.

On our way....

We got to the Frankfurt airport this morning via an early, early morning bus. Myles' travels have not started well. First he was dropped from the top of the pile of lluggage. Thankfully he was in the hard carrier. Then his carrier popped open while James was trying to get himself and cart of luggage in a small elevator. Again thankfully James caught it before he escaped.

We fly out first thing tomorrow morning. Hard to believe the time has come.

Barcelona, Spain

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Spain. We were smart and selected a warm location with a Hard Rock of course! We had perfect weather and couldn't have asked for more.

                                                                          Hard Rock

Water fountains at the square near Hard Rock

                                                                     Hop On, Hop Off

There wasn't anything we absolutely wanted to see in Barcelona other than Hard Rock and the beach so we decided to do the Hop On, Hop Off bus to see the sights. Barcelona is a very modern, updated European city who appears to like architect. It's really beautiful!

                                                        Christopher Columbus monument

                                                                            Aquarium

Or as Macen kept calling it - the fish museum. Macen was very excited to go here and enjoyed it.

An arena where bull fighting use to take place. It is now converted to businesses and retail shops.

Barcelona is known for their hot chocolate so of course we had to sample it. It was the thickest hot chocolate I have ever had. I wasn't sure if I should drink it or use my spoon so I did a little of both :) They serve it with a couple of soft, sweet biscuit to dip in it. Fantastic!

Cable Car over the harbor

Next we took a cable car ride out over the bay to get a view of the city from above. It was amazing to see the Mediterranean Sea from this view.

Lunch

Barcelona serves tapas which is kinda like appetizers in small portions. So we ordered a selection of them to get a taste of Barcelona! Our table was full of food that James and I enjoyed.

The beach at the Mediterranean Sea

This was a highlight for us since we like the water so much. We had great weather for it and I was able to capture a picture for our Christmas card from here.

Macen enjoying the waves coming in and running from them.

Maddox in a little dip that had been dug out by someone. He had on a onesie with jeans over it. I was still finding sand in his diaper the next day.

Macen willingly went into the water with James. It was a little chilly but he enjoyed it. He doesn't like his clothes to be wet but a couple of waves caught the bottom of his rolled up jeans. He didn't mind at all though.

Christmas Market

Nothing like leaving the beach and going directly to a Christmas market while eating gelato. I guess that is the way they do it in Barcelona. It's certainly a different story in Germany :) We had watched them set up some of the market the night before so we return since we had not been to a Christmas market over here yet.

Macen getting into the spirit!

These last 2 were taken in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona which has become very touristy. We ate dinner here, did some souvenir shopping and then enjoyed some gelato and covered waffles. In fact, we enjoyed quite a bit of gelato while here!

We had a great time! Barcelon is a beautiful city and we couldn't have asked for more in our last European vacation.