Catching up!

Well I have failed at something I was determined to do....Keeping this blog updated with our travels and family happenings.  I guess I could say that so much happened that I couldn't keep up!  It is the truth.
Sarah is a 7th grader this year and busy with all her classes, including German.  She is swimming on the Kingfish Swim Team once again this year and doing great.  She is a natural swimmer.  She looks so graceful in the water.  She works really hard at making 3 practices a week (each 1 1/2 hours long) and then 1 or 2 meets a month.  Sarah also plays the piano and is amazing at that.  I think she is amazing at whatever she does.  She is also doing tennis with her siblings once a week.  Can you see why I have no time?  And that is just with one child.
Kate is busy drawing, writing, and crafting most of the time.  I love this about her.  She is also playing tennis and the piano.  Kate is such an easy person to be around.  I was just looking at her the other day and noticing what a beautiful person she is.  Inside and out.  She is kind of quiet, so she is a little mysterious.  Not because she is quiet, but just stays a little to herself.  She loves to play at the park or outside with her friends.  But she has no problem entertaining herself.  She is doing well in school too.
Tyler is excelling in school as to be expected.  He just changed teachers to accommodate his advanced math class.  It was too bad they didn't catch this error in the beginning, but he has transitioned just fine.  He still loves to play Legos and spends most of his free time doing this.  Tyler is a fantastic boy, but he knows how to push my buttons.  He is a picky eater and is very particular with his clothes and other such things that he often frustrates me.  I have to go out of my way to please this kid every day.  But he is trying new foods and working on not letting everything bother him.  He loves to tease his little sister Megan and of course this drives me crazy. I am always reminding him that Megan is nearly 4 years younger and she doesn't think as critically as him.  He hates it when she doesn't believe him and he will say UH-HUH and Megan will say UNH-UNH.  It goes back and forth till I tell them to go do something else.  They so love each other so much, and Tyler is very watchful of Megan.
Megan is a joy.  I will cry a river when she goes to school next year.  She is loving and so helpful.  She is by my side all day long and is a mom in training.  She is doing Joy School this year and I love being a part of that.  Megan loves to do anything with anyone.  She plays trains, babies and rides her bike.  She can ride without training wheels (but prefers the ease of training wheels).  She plays well alone and prefers to spend her days helping Mom and playing babies.  She also loves letters and spends her free time writing her friends notes.  She loves to bake with me and we often make cookies, muffins, and cupcakes!
Landon is 15 months old.   Oh I love this boy so much.  He is still not sleeping great at night, but getting better.  He loves bottles with milk.  He loves and insists on feeding himself everything these days.  I hate this, but he loves it.  He is good at throwing food everywhere.  He can go up little steps without holding onto anything and his balance is getting better and better.  He climbs the stairs all the time, but does not go down.  I am grateful for this because these German stairs are scary and dangerous.  He just makes loud noises when he wants to go down and no one is around.  Then I go running so he doesn't attempt it and fall.  Yesterday in the car he said DADA and MAMA for fun with me.  He waves hi, claps his hands, and dances whenever you say these words.  He is a heavy little guy.  He will eat about anything.  He has traveled the world in a few short months of his life and is pretty easy going about it.  He just got his molar about a day ago.  Here is to being able to chew food!
Most importantly , he loves to go for walks and be outside.  My kind of person!
As for me....I am well.  I seem to never have enough time to do all that I desire, but it all works out still.  I have to remind myself to not be too hard on myself.  I am busy raising children and they are my main focus.  I think of hiring help all the time, but in the end I know I am happier just doing it myself.  There are many days I am mopping floors and folding laundry late into the evening, but I know this is life and everyone else is doing this too (at least those with 5 kids). I was a mother's helper for many years, so that is why I dream of the same help.  Steve and I are able to go out about once a week and this is my favorite time.  I am able to go running every now and then and I still love that.  I am reading books in my free time and I never tire of a good book.
Steve is busy with work and church.  He seems to enjoy serving in the bishopric.  I am grateful he has this opportunity to grow.  His schedule is light and he is home most days by 5.  He leaves in the morning around 6:45.  It is nice to have him around so much.  Steve went to a training in the states and thought he might get nostalgic about seeing our old home and neighborhood, but he didn't.  It is a good thing and lets us know we are in the right place for us right now.
Steve and I are loving living here, but we are exhausted already with traveling with 5 kids.  The opportunity is priceless, so we will continue to plug along for 2 more years.  We just returned from 2 1/2 days at Paris Disney and 2 days in Paris.  It was really fun.  We toured the Louve and saw the famous Mona Lisa.  We took a bike tour and saw the Eiffel Tower.  The kids loved going around Paris on bikes.  We survived riding the subway and walking many blocks.  Paris is only 4 hours from our home.  Steve and I hope to return by ourselves one of these times, and take the kids again one day to see Versailles and climb the Eiffel Tower.  There is just never enough time to do it all in one trip.

I vow to work backwards and catch up on our summer travels.  Summer was wonderful and we went and did so much and enjoyed all the places we traveled.  We went to Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Belgium, France, and of course traveled in Germany.  I have so many blessings in my life. I realize how blessed I am.

And this just happened as I am typing this.  So cute:
Megan is playing with her friend Violet and they are asking each other, "Where do you really live?"  She answers I am from the United States in her little 4 year old voice.  Her friend exclaims so excitedly, "That is where I am from too!"  Then Megan says dreamily, "I love that place.  I can't wait to go back,  I miss my friends."  I love the priceless experience these military kids are getting living here in Germany.  Their minds are opened up to the world around them.  Lucky kids!