It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Merry Christmas!

I didn't send letters with this year's Christmas Cards. Instead I directed folks to the blog.  "Find our Christmas letter at mcrambles.blogspot.com," I said.  I guess I better put up a Christmas letter, huh?

St. Nikolaus on the Christmas Train.

Dear friends, 
2011 has been a good year for us.  The big news is that it's also been our last year in Europe and we move back to the states in March of 2012.  We're going back from whence we came, to Warner Robins, Georgia.  We are excited to be back in the South with its mild weather and plentiful sunshine. As you might imagine the details of moving are threatening to overrun the Holiday season, but for the most part I'm successfully keeping them in a box until the New Year.

We've been so fortunate to be able to do oodles of traveling while living here, most of which you can read about by clicking the country categories on this site's navigation bar, so I won't rehash them here. (I am admittedly months behind in the travel blogging department.  I usually get caught up in the Winter when the weather is so totally nasty that  there's nothing more appealing than to sit inside at your computer, so if you're interested in our ramblings, be sure to check back.)

As far as how life goes when we aren't out seeing the sights....

The boys are 6 and 3.  C started first grade this year. And he loves it.  It was a bit of a transition at first as this is his first year in a traditional classroom, but he's taken to it well and I'm frequently amazed at both the depth and breadth of what he learns at school.  He's at a DOD elementary school in a very small class with a supremely dedicated teacher.  I think we've been spoiled, for sure!  Here's hoping our tansition into the Georgia school system goes smoothly.

This is B's second year in the German kindergarten and he continues to do well there.  He'll frequently announce to me that when he's at kindergarten he's a German kid and when he's at home, he's an American kid.  We're undecided if, when, or where he'll be doing any kind of preschool stateside, but I'm envisioning having to explain to him that he is actually an American kid, 24-7.

D stays busy at work. Which is about all I can say about that, here. He was selected for Major this year and in between his stints here and there "saving" the world is one class away from finishing his Master's degree. We're proud of all his hard work.

As for me, I manage to keep busy with all the typical SAHM things: volunteering at the elementary school, coffee with friends, playdates with pals, and when the weather's nice long walks and bike rides over the beautiful (but sometimes smelly) farm fields.  I'm basically simply trying to soak up every last ounce of atmosphere before we leave.   While I look forward to being back in the USA and  having Publix and Target around the corner and to being able to complete a (as in ONE) load of laundry in under 4 hours, I love village life.  I love being able to ride my bike to anywhere I need to go and am not at all looking forward to reacclimating to suburban sprawl.

This time of year as the boys flip through toy catalogs and wander through stores and tell us all the things they want for Christmas, we try to talk them about Christmas really being about giving, not getting.   (Mercifully, Armed Forces Network doesn't air commercials.  Which stinks at Superbowl time, but is super convenient this time of year).  Local organizations sponsor Angel Trees and we take them shopping for angel tree toys and try to explain to them how fortunate they are that they want for nothing.  It seems that everywhere you turn these days, people are wanting.  Times are hard, for many.  There are lots of excellent charitable organizations out there doing outstanding work to meet the needs of those in need around the world.  If you're considering additional holiday giving, but don't know where to direct your donations, consider some of these worthy organizations.

The Ronald McDonald House  or the Fisher House  which provide lodging to family members of sick children and wounded warriors, keeping families together under devastating circumstances.

Donate Animals  and feed a family.  In most of Asia, rural economies dominate and donating chickens or milk-producing goats can provide a family mired in poverty with both food and longer term income generation.

ENTRUST, an organization founded by an old friend that uses professional mentorships and monetary donations to help local people in Haiti and Honduras create, manage, and grow their own businesses, breaking the cycle of poverty. Their people- helping- people, invest- in- the- community model of giving offers long term hope.

Compassion International:  Sponsor a child; change a life.

We hope you and yours are well this holiday season.  There's not enough time left for us in Europe to invite you to visit us here, but if you find yourself traveling the I-75 corridor in middle Georgia and have time to sit-a-spell, holler at us!

Do you facebook?  If so, friend us.  It's probably one of the easiest ways for us to not lose any of you as our contact information is constantly in flux.

May your 2012 be filled with love, peace, and great joy!

love, The Mcs :-)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I'm a big kid now!

 B's three year old birthday passed a couple of weeks ago.  He celebrated in style with marble cupcakes at a morning Kindergarten party. Then he whooped it up some more that evening with presents, pizza, ice cream cake, and a trampoline jump fest. 

A few months back he and I began discussing how three-year-olds were big boys and didn't need diapers.  He could talk a big game how there'd be no more diapers when he turned three, but he didn't seem all that motivated to follow all that talk with action.   I tried stickers, and candy, books and toys.... nothing doing.  Like everything else this child does, he does it his way.

He woke up on the 4th of  July (6 days post birthday) and simply declared he was wearing big boy pants to Kindergarten and  that's been that.  Looks like we successfully avoided the prolonged pull up phase and we got it taken care of  *before* I ran out of  my pre-paid diapers.

What are pre-paid diapers you ask?

Before we left the states I bought $800 worth of diapers from Costco.  The movers who packed us out, joshed me about filling an entire crate with diapers ( 25 boxes of Kirkland's supreme-- which btw are made by Kimberly Clark and  just like Huggies, if you're a Huggies fan).  The Dutch movers who moved us in asked, "Are American diapers different than German diapers?"  Most of my gal-pals have had a good-natured chuckle at my diaper stash beneath the stairs. And because GK is such a small community, there's been at least one new friend who upon meeting me for the first time, in an effort to put a face with a name exclaimed, "so you're the one who moved over all those diapers!"

Well People: -- 
32 months and 23 boxes of diapers later, I finally did the math. (Yes, I have two boxes left). Those 25 boxes, approximately 4000 diapers, would have cost me the equivalent of  $1500 on the local economy.  Plus, it's hard to get Huggies over here (except at the Commissary and even with coupons Commissary Huggies are more expensive than Pampers at the Real or DM). I'm a Huggies gal through and through, so ultimately would have been paying almost double for diapers I liked less. 

I'm thinking I now have $700 worth of Mad Money to my credit.  Hmmmmm?  Girls trip anyone?

bloggy back up

The PICS are up   (3 years late, but whatever)
the theme today in my house might very well be procrastination. Actually, it not truly procrastination, just that it's too blasted hot to do anything other than sit in front of the fan.  The kiddos won't let me focus enough to sit and read, so this was the next best thing......

If you've ever glanced at the blog archives on the right column, you'll notice it goes all the way back to 2007.  But wait, we didn't move over here until the Fall of 2008?

In the summer of 2007 as a graduation present to yours truly, D cashed in 3 weeks of leave, we deposited C with the grands, and armed with nothing more than a backpack each, German rail passes, a guidebook and a cell phone as an emergency contact number, we hopped a flight to the continent.

The blog was born because we didn't have a cost effective way to check in with grandma on a regular basis and because I wanted someway to preserve our immediate memories.  Although we hoped we'd get stationed over here,eventually--you never can tell with bees--and who knew when/if we'd ever get back.  At the time I was teaching an on-line class, so we had to find a computer cafe every other day for me to check in with my students, so it's not like it took that much extra energy to also blip a note to the blog to keep everyone back home up to date.  HOWEVER, I had no easy way to add in pictures.  BUT, I do now, so  this afternoon I did . . . finally  (btw, in the pic leading off this post D and I are in the Prague Royal Gardens and it is the *only* pic of the two of us together)

 Hard to believe now, after doing Europe with two kids in tow, that we traipsed around sans reservations (sans any real plans, for that matter). The thought : we'd leave home, fly into Germany and then head to Berlin, Prague and Vienna. The reality: we flew to England, via Spain, spent a week in East Anglia visiting Mildenhall, Ely, and Cambridge, plus a day in London. Then onto Berlin and Prague before we headed back to Germany to fly home.We spent 5 days in transit back and forth over the ocean waiting on flights, but since the price was right and the leave plentiful, we didn't mind waiting.  We've seen a lot of Europe since we've been here, but still Prague and Berlin are two of my favs. (Mildenhall too was fortuitous 'cause there's a lot to love about East Anglia, but it's not like anyone ever plans a trip there).

We tell ourselves, now, when we begin to fret that we won't have time enough to do it all while we're here, that before we blink the kids'll be in college, D'll be "retired" and we can space-A at will.  Heck maybe we'll even be lucky enough to score a 2nd European assignment before then and this blog'll turn into the travel blog that never dies.   Who knows?

birthday boy

ZERO, ONE, TWO!

as far as stat's go:  he's now 28 pounds and 34 inches, puts him about in the middle of all other two year olds for height and weight.  If you do the ol', double his height at two thing to predict is adult height, then that means he'll top out at 5'8.

He's got the temperament of a stereotypical two year old: from 0 to royally ticked off in just under 2 seconds. He must do everything himself, except for when he doesn't want to. He knows how to look sheepish when he's supposed to and how to laugh on cue at big brother's antics.  Playdoh, paint, and cars are his favorite pastimes.  Blues Clues and Diego are his favorite videos.

He never stops talking, does a running commentary of his daily activities.  Last week when I went in to get him after his nap, he stopped fussing the instant I walked in the door, put this great big smile on his face and said to me, "I crying mama".   Really kid, I didn't know.  Something tells me he's already figured out how to work the system.


He's a sweet boy, but definitely mischievous.  Fortunately, big brother is a rule follower, so hopefully this time next year, when B finds C and tells him he thinks it would be fun to put all the LEGOS down the toilet, C will have the presence of mind to tell him to think again.  Here's hoping!

reach out and pet a cow

We spent the day today on a family bike ride. You know it's the first bike ride of the season when you've forgotten where all the farm roads go and have to use church steeples and windmills to navigate. Actually, D is far more precise than that. We have a bike GPS (you knew we would). Today's path took us mostly through the Netherlands, over gloriously sunny farmroads and through a nature preserve. We did, however, have to bike *through* a herd of long haired cattle.

We've recently acquired a bike seat for B that hooks to the back of my bike. He joined C in the pull behind trailer behind Daddy's bike later in the trip, but when we encountered the cows, he was still in his open air seat hugging my back, and he screamed with absolutely delight. Turns out he makes a pretty good sheep dog, his squeals encouraging the cows to move along. That's D and C in the pic. See how the road is blocked by cows? B is on my bike behind me. We eventually ended up walking through the trees around the cow conference.

We biked all the way to Schinnen, just to see if we could -- 5 hours and 34 clicks. We stopped for tosti in Oirsbeek and eis in Schinveld; the kinder set even scored a nap enroute (once B joined C in the trailer)

One year ago today

One year ago today we stepped off a plane in Brussels, jet-lagged and exhausted. Last summer, when we found out we were headed to Deutschland, I wrote this, as we were beginning to make lists of all the things we wanted to see and do while we were here. I'm happy to report, we've done all of this, and more.

It's been a good year: Nurnberg, Rothenburg, Trier, the Mosel Valley, Bruges, Keukenhof, Salzburg, Polish pottery, Scotland, and Paris and D's made it to Italy, Greece, and Norway... Not to mention all the many "local" places we've gotten to explore.


I think my favorite local haunt, to date, is Satzvey Castle (although Monschau is a very close second), while my favorite trip is too hard to decide. I've loved them all.

What's left on the list: Bavaria, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Ireland, Krakow, Spain and Gibraltar, Normandy, Switzerland, Nove pottery, Venice, Vienna, and so so much more.

stay tuned........

Baby Book Time-- the first year

At One Year....
He's a skinny little dude. 19.8 pounds (8th percentile, up from 5th percentile at 9months) and 30.11 inches (65th percentile, up from 22nd percentile at 9 months). Not walking yet, but doesn't like to sit still, not even to sit in his highchair to eat. Meals, more often than not, are little tidbits eaten on the go, but as he keeps growing, must be getting enough.


For his birthday we had some friends over to try out Daddy's new grill and the kids decorated cupcakes. I put strawberries all over B's as strawberries and watermelon are two of his favorite foods.

His newest trick is giving five and although he makes lots of sounds, the only sound that functions as a word (signifying a specific meaning) is cawya, which you guessed it, is his word for big brother. Big Brother is awful sweet to him. When B's in his crib, fussing to get out, I tend to talk to him as I walk up the stairs to get him, "Don't worry, baby, momma's coming". Anytime B's awake and begins fussing, C dashes off to wherever B's penned in, hollering to him along the way, "Don't worry, baby, Cawya's coming"

baby book substitute

Maybe I'll start him his own blog, but for now, this'll have to do.
At 9 months, he's moved from 1% on the weight chart to 5%. He's got two teeth, is mastering the mechanics of crawling, and loves to eat finger food, but only if it's mama's fingers doing the feeding. (I tend to hold those slimy foods for him, things like pears that he just can't manage to pick up off the tray, and lo and behold if it didn't take the kid all of about 2 seconds to figure out it was far easier to put mama's finger in his mouth than hassle with it himself).

He has the best fun with big brother; he'll cackle and laugh for the rest of us, but downright guffaws when C comes along. Their favorite game is the scream game. The rules are such: C screams, B screams, C screams, B screams.... pattern continues 'till I tell C to move on. B, of course, misses that directive, keeps screaming, and the whole game starts over again. (*Note* this game is good F-U-N when in the car).

Don't give up

new posts are coming soon --

we've had grandparents a-plenty the past 6 weeks, which means lots of sightseeing and even a grown-up excursion or two. (*Remind me to explain the problems of traveling in Europe with kids, even when your kids are awesome travelers)

in the meantime, if you facebook and haven't yet found me, look me up, friend me, and catch my twitter-esque updates

more later, but until then, a super cute pic I found on my phone recently. Can you believe he was ever that small? ....

Proud to say....

We had baby into the doc's this week for a 7month check up and I am proud to say that he is bigger than 1% of all other 7 months old (so smaller than 99% of them), but the fact that he is actually *on* the growth chart is an exciting development, since at his 6month checkup he was nowhere close to making it onto the curve -- not the optimal growth pattern for a tyke who weighed just a smidge over 8lbs at birth. AND, barring illness we don't have to go back to the doctor until his 9month well check. Considering we had 10 visits in January, that too is an exciting development.

a quick break from travel blogging

I'm thinking.....

If you're gonna claim a leadership role within an organization that holds as a central platform tenet the expansion of social services (and thereby the expansion of government spending), don't you think you have an ethical if not moral obligation to do your part?

Oh yeah, I forgot, hope and change are free.
just spitballin over here......