Colton's Birthday

Colton turned double digits on March 11th. I was supposed to be the one to whisk him off to Disneyland Paris for the day, having fun, going on rides and spoiling him rotten. The only problem with my idea was that I had surgery three days before his birthday. I thought I'd be fine to drive the four hours and ride the big rides, surgery or not. I was wrong. I was still super sore a few days later and there was no way I was going to be able to be jostled and shuffled around three days later. So, Sean came to the rescue. He already had the day off from work, so as soon as Colton was done with piano lessons Thursday afternoon, Sean and Colton drove off to Paris. I was so glad Sean could take him, but I really wished I could have gone. Sean was under strict orders to spoil Colton just as if I was there, (I tend to spoil the kids just a tad more than my husband). Sean agreed and off they went. They spent all day Friday at the park and had a great time. They didn't get home til almost midnight. It was soo strange and a bit sad to not have Colton around for his birthday, but they had a great time and we celebrated again when he got home. We celebrate brithdays for at least a week around here, so we had Colton's birthday on Saturday when we got home, then a week later again at a birthday party with his friends. Here he is Saturday morning after getting back from Disneyland:

Colton only wanted Lego's for his birthday. We discovered Lego.de which is awesome! We can order lego sets from the German lego store and they arrive at our door in about three days. Plus its really cool to try to translate the German emails that they send us.

Colton had a cool 'Knight's Training' birthday party the next Saturday with his friends from school and church. Sean organized an obstacle course in the backyard for the knights to work their way through, with Jaxon, the Black Knight, being the biggest obstacle they had to face. They practiced shooting a bow and arrow, threw a javelin, and battled with Nerf weapons.

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Fire Pit

I like our house. So does Mason. The other day, he went around saying, "I love my house. Mom, I love this house. Did you know I love this house?"
Me too, it's pretty nice. One of the cool features about this house is the backyard. I probably won't think it's that cool when it takes me 3 hours to mow it while using a riding lawn mower, but for the moment, I think it's great. About a month ago, Jaxon had his friends Spencer and Dallin over. It was still chilly outside, although Jaxon refuses to wear a jacket on most days, and the boys asked if they could start a fire in the fire pit. Well, they are boy scouts, and the hose extended over there in case things got out of hand, so, ok, sure, you can build a fire. They spent about 1/2 hour trying to get one started. They were never able to get a roaring one going, but it was fun watching them try. They gathered sticks, twigs, leaves, anything they thought would burn well. Jaxon even grabbed antibacterial hand sanitizer because he read "flammable" on the label and thought that might get stuff going. We tried to roast a few marshmallows and hot dogs, but the fire didn't last too long. They had a great time trying and it was fun to see the possibilities for smore-making that are in our future. Mason and Ella LOVED being out there, watching the action. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the pit:


Mason liked eating his marshmallows off of a skewer. Even though he didn't want to waste time roasting his, but rather dig in and eat them right away, he wouldn't just put the marshmallows in his mouth. He had to stick them on the skewer, then eat them off the stick. Funny kid.

Ella Turns 6!!

Princess Ella turned 6 on February 8th. We celebrated a few days early since Sean had to work all day on the 8th and we wanted to celebrate the WHOLE day, so we pretended that Saturday the 6th was Ella's birthday, too. We opened presents, Ella decorated her own cake, and we went to the ice skating rink. Here is the birthday girl with her brothers:



Here's Ella with her cake that she decorated all by herself:



Ella loves dolls and was so happy to get some new ones from her grandma:

Batman and Robin

Mason and Olivia are an amazingly awesome dynamic duo. They are faster than a mini cooper on the Autobahn, more powerful than the Euro compared to the dollar, and able to leap tall bunkbeds in a single bound. I love when Olivia comes over. Cookies are baked, toys are played with, and adventures are had. She helps Mason get in touch with his inner super hero, and fun is had by all.

Finally!!!

Yeah!!! I waited and waited and waited to see if I could finally upload pictures to the blog so I could keep all of you on the edge of your seats to find out what we've been up to the past few months. And, it took forever, but I was able to add a picture!! Which means....I'm back!! I probably won't be able to upload as many pictures as before for each post, but that's ok. So, let's catch you up: In January, Sean and I escaped for 48 hours to London to see a couple of plays. We had a 'Wicked' good time seeing the true story of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the next night we were thrown back into revolutionary times as we watched (and Sean quietly sang along to) Les Mis. It was his second time seeing that one, my first. I am a girl at heart and although I thoroughly enjoyed Les Mis, my favorite was....

Yup, Elphaba won me over. I loved the plot and the twist at the end (go see it, I won't ruin the surprise for you!) and the MUSIC!! I downloaded the music a few days after getting back and guess which child LOVES to dance and sing to the Wicked soundtrack in the kitchen on a daily basis? You guessed it, MASON!! We have been singing 'Popular' so much that it is always running through my mind, morning, noon, night, middle of the night...
Well, Sean and I had a great time and a big shout out THANK YOU to the Turner's and the Creer's for watching our kinder so we could enjoy London as just a couple. Fun. Here we are on the Big Bus tour, driving around London, with Big Ben in the backround:

We went to the Tower of London and took a Beefeater's Tour. What is a Beefeater? Go to London and find out!! Here we are with the London Bridge behind us after touring the Tower:

We got caught in a rainstorm Friday afternoon. The closer we got to Buckingham Palace, the worse it rained. I think the Queen may have been a little bit threatened by our awesomeness and caused the rainstorm in a feeble effort to drive us away. Didn't work. We got drenched, had to go to the nearest department store (thank you Gap) to buy me new boots since my shoes were completely squishy, warmed up with some hot chocolate from Starbuck's, (delicious, I might add), and dried off before setting out to see Wicked. The rain storm made for some amazing views as the sun started to set:


All in all, a fabulous weekend getaway!

Super Heroes

So who do you call when there is trouble in your neck of the woods? Who do you turn to when there is no one else around?





"I need a hero............I'm holding on for a hero til the end of the night........he's gotta be strong.....he's gotta be fast.........and he's gotta be fresh from the fight......................."

(Flashback for all those of you who grew up in the 80's and remember Footloose)


Here are my favorite heros:



No one is messin' with the Burke Household when these superheroes are on duty!

Sibling Affection

My kids love each other. They don't always like each other, but they do love each other. The other day it was heart warming to see Jaxon return from an outing and the other kids swarm him with hugs. I think he was even touched by their outpouring of affection. Usually they are physical, but not in the 'hug and kiss' sort of way. More of the 'attack and wrestle' sort of way. So, luckily I had my camera handy and was able to remember this moment in time, because I have a feeling it will be a LONG time before such outward expressions of affection are displayed.

Can't believe it

Sean and I don't have the best of luck. It's not like we are UNlucky, we just don't really have the best of luck. As long as we and the children are healthy and safe, that's all that matters. When we moved to Germany, I thought we would get a really cool house. Well, we weren't unlucky, we found a house that is big and works well for us, but we didn't find the dream home we were kinda hoping for. When our landlord informed us a few months ago that he is trying to sell the house, we figured we wouldn't worry too much quite yet, and if the perfect house opened up, we would jump on it. Well, since we don't have the best of luck, we have just been patiently waiting and hoping that our house wouldn't sell. A few weeks ago we started inquiring about our friends' house that they are moving out of this month. This house is amazing; basically, my dream German house. I didn't think there was any way we could afford it, so I didn't think too much about it. Then things started to happen miraculously. The house was appraised in our price range, the landlords are amazingly wonderful, our friends who are moving out helped us tremendously, so now, I can't believe the LUCK we are having, because we are moving into a really awesome house. So, allow me to indulge for a minute as I shamelessly brag about the new house and show a few pictures. It is in the quaint little village of Elschbach, about 15 minutes from base. The backyard is the size of a football field. No, I'm serious. There are livestock in the neighboring field: Mason couldn't be more excited. We have a fire pit. The kitchen is BIG. 6 bedrooms. A basement. A pink princess room for Ella. A blue room for Colton and Mason. A new stainless steel refrigerator, a deep freezer, and the best part: A RIDING LAWNMOWER!! So, now, if Jaxon starts up with some pre-teen attitude, I can say: "Go mow the lawn!" and we'll see him in about 3 hours. Ok, Ok, I know, you want to see pictures, so here they are:

The backyard:



Ella in the fire pit:


The living room:

Entryway:

Kitchen:

Mason in his new blue room:

Extra bedroom:

Ella's bedroom with huge closets to fit all her clothes:



Toy Room/Office with door that open to the patio and back yard:

And last, but not least, Sean getting the low down on our new riding lawnmower:

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, we headed over to the Turner's for some good food, good friends and good times. Christy made an amazing assortment of appetizers, I made a few desserts, and our friends the Bowser's made awesome smoothies and salsa. We played some fun games and the kids ran around wildly having a great time. Around 10 pm, we headed outside to start lighting the many fireworks we had all purchased. In Germany, "Sylvester", or New Year's Eve, is a huge deal. This normally quiet, reserved society gets a bit crazy. We started hearing fireworks earlier in the evening, but by 10 things were starting to pick up. My boys LOVED LOVED LOVED setting off the fireworks, especially Jaxon. He turned into a bit of a pyro that night and couldn't get enough of lighting the fireworks. Ella loved the sparklers the best. And Mason? He was cold. And tired. He lasted til about 11, then fell asleep in my arms. Here are the kids having a 'blast' with the fireworks:

Frohe Weihnachten

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.We started out the 24th with some holiday dancing. Mason and Jaxon rocked out to Jingle Bell Rock in the dining room:


We had more snow today so Sean had to spend some time shoveling outside:

Look at Santa's favorite elves:


We spent Christmas Eve at the Turner's, eating the most delicious food in the world and acting out the Nativity story. Here we are eating dinner:




Here's the "kid's table". Look how happy Mason is to be sitting down and eating:


If you know Mason at all, you know he LOVES his juice. A lot. So here he is with his 'juicy' while Sean is downing his favorite 'juicy' as well.


We tried acting out the Nativity Story. Mason refused to be Joseph. He insisted he was Sarah. Still no idea who this Sarah is, but Mason channels her sometimes and pretends he is her. So, we had Mary (Ella) Joseph/Sarah (Mason) some wise men, shephards, and an inn keeper. Guess who played the role of the innkeeper? For which of my children is it NOT hard to be rude and slam a door in someone's face? Yup, the pre-teen.
Here is our cast:







We exchanged presents with the Turner's. Ella LOVED her candy making jewelry set almost as much as Mason loved playing with it too.


And this is how we ended the night, with Colton handcuffed to the stairs with the new set of handcuffs I bought Aedan:

On Christmas morning, our children slept in!! They didn't wake up til after 8:00 am. WOW! Here are our blurry eyed children walking into our family room to check out what Santa left:



Polly Pockets and Princesses were high on Ella's list this year.


We were privileged to have Batman and Robin show up for a few minutes Christmas morning to share in our festivities:



Colton had only one big thing on his list, a Lego castle. His list slowly got longer over those last few months, but this was the one big ticket item he really was hoping to get.


Mason was happy to get a new Batman jacket and some fun Playmobil sets:



Jaxon already got his big Christmas present early, an Alienware computer. But you know me, I couldn't have him opening NOTHING on Christmas morning. So, he ended up with some history books, a computer game, and some board games.