Rainbows are his FAVORITE thing....

He even asked Santa to bring him one for Christmas. How sweet is that. I told him it probably wasn't going to happen, but without fail the good Lord blessed him with one anyway;D

Hellur.....

OMG I am laughing my ass off. Trent and I were introduced to Madea back in 2001 and I can never tire of her. Here she is in all her glory.

Madea finds out someone's cheating...

Rik needs to needs to listen to this Madea clip:

She is CRAZY!!!

The Phattest city....I mean FATTEST.

Yep, it would be great if according to Men's Fitness my hometown was the phattest ..most rad city to live in, but no it's the other type of fat. LOL San Antonio ranks # 3 as the fattest city. Take a look at the list:
Top Fattest Cities
1. Miami, FL
2. Oklahoma City, OK
3. San Antonio, TX
4. Las Vegas, NV
5. New York, NY
6. Houston, TX
7. El Paso, TX
8. Jacksonville, FL
9. Charlotte, NC
10. Louisville-Jefferson, KY
11. Memphis, TN
12. Detroit, MI
13. Chicago, IL
14. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
15. San Jose, CA
16. Tulsa, OK
17. Baltimore, MD
18. Columbus, OH
19. Raleigh, NC
20. Philadelphia, PA
21. L.A.-Long Beach, CA
22. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
23. Indianapolis, IN
24. San Diego, CA
25. Kansas City, MO
Amazing but very true. Here's a partial list of the top 10 fittest cities:
Top Fittest Cities
1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Colorado Springs, CO
3. Minneapolis, MN
4. Denver, CO
5. Albuquerque, NM
6. Portland, OR
7. Honolulu, HI
8. Seattle, WA
9. Omaha, NE
10. Virginia Beach, VA
Hummm ...Colorado has always been a place of interest for retirement;P Well just food for thought. Now if I could only get my butt off the couch to hit the gym.

Oh my toddler.....what to do???

Is it true...does a teaspoon of sugar help the medicine go down. My little one has a strong aversion to taking medicine. It's a nerve wrecking battle every time. It wasn't always like this though. There once was this perfect magical time where he would just open up his mouth and swallow. Sometimes we gave each other a high five. Other times we praised him and told him how he was such a big boy. Alas, now I question what happened and why the drastic change. We've tried almost everything like sneaking it in apple sauce, flavored yogurt, his juice, putting it on the inside of his cheek and blowing into his face, holding him down by force which is emotional for us and him, and in times of desperation we've tried to bribe him. Lately the usual routine has been to try coaxing him into taking it by himself, but he starts to cry so one of us will swaddle him up while the other forces the medicine down his throat. All the while he is crying and yelling at the top of his lungs. At the same time he is spitting out the medicine we do manage to get into his mouth. Then it usually concludes with him vomiting all over the place because he's worked himself up into an emotional frenzy. I hate that it's become so traumatic for him and us. The experience has become so negative it's no wonder he won't take his medicine.

My sweet little boy I love you so much. Please...oh please take your medicine for mommy ;D Do you have any words of wisdom, advice, suggestions, anything at all to help??? LOL As for the spoonful of sugar...surely I don't think I will try that yet , but one person has suggested that I dip the syringe in sugar prior to giving him his medicine. Who knows????

Quick update...

There are so many things to do and not enough hours in the day.Bear with me, but a bulleted post is all you're getting today:
** I was sick with a cold last week.

** Lesley is having midterms this week in school, so she spent most of the weekend studying.She is also planning to have friends stay over this weekend to help celebrate her 15th birthday. I can't believe my baby is going to be 15!!!!

** Trent and I have decided to pull Noah out of school and home school him again. There are so many reasons why....which I hope to express later, but one of the top reasons is that the flexibility homeschooling provides just works best for our family.

** On top of home schooling I am also going back to school. I am literally starting over in a different career field. From a teaching background I am moving into getting a BS degree in Nutrition. Thankfully most of my basic courses will transfer, but I am starting from scratch in the upper level division courses plus I need to take a lot of chemistry courses that I didn't need for teaching. Ranging from general chemistry to organic chemistry to biochemistry. I am excited, but I also know it is going to be tough. Yes, I'll probably whine at times, need lots of support and cheering on! :D I have a great cheerleader Trent for support though so I know I'll be just fine. I'm betting/praying that we'll get stationed in San Antonio next because the program I'm interested in is at Incarnate Word University. It's a small private catholic school.

** Yesterday we went to see the movie Bedtime Stories. We really liked it. Noah wants a guinea pig with big eyes now. LOL That's definitely not happening...those things bark like little dogs.


** Well I'm off to watch the historical inauguration with the familia. I leave you with the last pics of our Germany trip. An interesting fact I learned about Bavaria is that it is 98% Roman Catholic and on Three Kings Day they write on each others door to bless the homes. Okay hubby's calling Joe Biden is getting sworn in.

Ciao & God bless,
Stephanie

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Fun at the museum....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our final days in Germany....

Were spent taking care of Gabe. After a visit to a German hospital emergency room he was diagnosed with pink eye in both eyes and a cold. He was really miserable and his eyes had a yucky green discharge that sealed his eyes closed. Our military provider recommended the emergency room visit and the German staff helped us out with forms and with their broken English made us very comfortable. Gabe's doctor was very sweet and pleasant...she even shared the same name as my mom! (Carmen) Here are some pics :


My pink eye child

The hospital
Waiting for the doc...

Our lovely doctor (pic taken by Gabe)

Here's another pic of the Olympic stadium we visited

Walking around town looking for a pharmacy

Another gorgeous pic of the Bavarian Alps

Semi-Wordless Wednesday....

I have so many things to blog about, but you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to get a long bulleted post about it all. Until then good night and here are my wordless entries for today.

Pics from our trip to Gaeta, Italy last year around this time:

German guys....and drinks

Just a few pics of my German boys:

and the array of drinks we had as the hubby and I spent some alone time at Zuggey's Bar this evening. The Riesling wine tasted fruity and had the aroma of green apples. One of my favorite white wines. Also Trent likes the German beer that smells like piss...he can drink it as much as he wants I just won't kiss him until he has a mint. And yes there is a cappuccino in that pic.....nothing like mixing alcohol and coffee. I could use an Italian espresso shot right about now though.

Ciao,

Stephanie

Partnach Gorge hike by torchlight.....

This evening Lesley and I went on a group tour of Partnach Gorge. Children under eight were not allowed on this tour so Trent stayed behind with Gabe. { Noah didn't want to tag along} They took us to the olympic stadium Hitler built for the 1936 olympics and we got to see the ski jump area.
Then we hiked by foot 1.5 miles uphill. It was a nice evening walk, but I kept slipping and sliding in the snow. I almost busted my bootay, but thankfully a young man walking behind me caught me before I hit the ground. At the top of the hill we each got torches which we carried through the gorge.


The natural ice formations were so cool.



Afterwards, the group stopped by a local German restaurant to eat dessert and drink hot beverages. I accidently left my euro at the lodge and didn't have any money on me to buy anything so we were bummed out. That changed instantly when I met two Air Force wives who generously ordered us drinks and shared their huge dessert with us. I tried Gluhwein for the first time with them. It is red wine boiled and served warm with spices. It tasted really good and warmed me up. They were both really sweet, the conversation was entertaining, and we hiked back to the bus together. They will be here at the lodge until Wednesday so I hope to bump into them again. This little guy was across our table.....poor thing.

Hopefully, Trent and I can carve sometime out tomorrow to visit during the day. Here's a bonus pic of the kids in the hot tub this afternoon.

Germany part deux.....

Before heading off to the commissary this morning to pick up some goodies, we said our goodbyes to the Fernandez familia who were leaving back to their casa in Ramstein. Afterwards, we came back to the lodge ate lunch and then left to the train station for an hour and a half ride to Munich. The train was one of the cleanest and most comfortable I've been on in Europe. It wasn't difficult to figure out either. Below is just a glimpse of our day in Munich....{I forgot to mention it was FREEZING outside today....}

Gabe taking in the view from the train &

. ...a few pics of one of Munich's shopping districts

Walking around town

Plus as an added bonus.....Voila!!! Lesley and I showing off our ice skating skills in the town center. LOL It was so much fun and I know I'll beat Lesley next time.
{ Jenny when we move back to the states we will definitely have to spend one Christmas in New York City and ice skate at Rockefeller Center ;D }

Road trip to Germany.....

We were up at 4 o'clock and out the door by 5:45 AM. I unwisely stayed up chatting on Skype with my sister until 2AM so I was functioning on only 2 hrs. of sleep. Our drive was smooth and when we entered the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy that's where it began to snow. I just love the snow...probably because I never saw it while growing up in Texas. The drive was very scenic and once we entered the Alps the views were especially great like the one below.

We arrived in Garmisch a little after 3 PM and proceeded to check in and get settled. I just love this resort it is so very relaxing. Here is the lobby still decked out with Christmas decorations. We love to sit by the huge fireplace pictured and rock in the rocking chairs provided.
Here are the boys by the enormous lobby Christmas tree
After settling in we got a bite to eat and went searching for Yesenia and her family. They arrived on the 1st but are leaving tomorrow so we only had this evening to hang out. We met at the pool and while the kids swam Trent & I enjoyed some time in the outdoor hot tub. The temp outside was freezing with snow on the ground, but it was so relaxing. Below are some pool pics.

Yazmine & Lesley

Cristian & Noah
and Yesenia & I. She didn't go swimming.

We swam until ten p.m. then went back to our rooms to change. We met up at the bar downstairs and hung out until midnight. I was too tired to try out the German beer they were drinking, but I had fun regardless. Plus David's beer smelled like piss. As always I enjoyed seeing my high school buddy. Well time to turn in......tune in tomorrow.

Arrivederci.....ciao

That child of mine.......

Finally I was able to catch Gabriel singing in Italian. He is too cute...a sponge absorbing everything in this environment. And so, without further ado...introducing Gabriel my little singing Italian boy. Turn up the volume to hear him.