What A {Love}ly Day!

Just thought I'd take a moment to tell you guys how great our Valentine's Day was yesterday!

First off, the night before, I made some heart-shaped, chocolate-covered rice crispy pops for Sina's teachers at school, and sent along some store-bought treats for her little friends at school.  I was inspired by a post on this awesome blog and received lots of positive feedback on how they turned out!

Looking back on my childhood, I can only remember getting Valentine's from friends at school when I was in the first grade.  I remember making a card box and then collecting cards from friends in class.  Sina's not even two, and is in a toddler room at daycare, and already received her first few official Valentines.  How cute is that?  She came home with lots of candy that mom and dad will have to eat!

I was feeling the love all day at work too.  I mean, it was raining Valentine's Day candy and treats all day long.  At work, I'm an Executive Officer to one of the primary staff officers for our Command.  Executive Officers are always dubbed "XO", so how cool was it when one of my senior officers dropped in with a basket of treats his wife made saying, "XO, what's with all these treats I have here with your name on it?"  Get it?  Tons of the treat bags were labeled "XOXO".  Yup, that's me, a bundle of hugs and kisses :)

We didn't have any big plans to go out for dinner.  We really just wanted to spend the night at home relaxing.  So, I whipped up a wonderful dinner for all of us.  Chicken Marsala....yummy!  Click here for the link to the recipe I used.  Since I couldn't find Marsala wine anywhere, I used some white wine I had at home.  I served it up with some sauteed brussel sprouts.  Dee-licious!

We all exchanged gifts during dinner, Sina included.  She received a teddy bear and a new movie (educational, of course).  I got Malu a Vitamix.  He'd been wanting a blender for a long time and I wanted something that would last for years.  Let's hope the Vitamix is exactly everything it's supposed to be, because it cost a pretty penny.  I have to admit that I've been wanting it too, so we can pretty much call it a joint V-Day gift.  I personally didn't want anything big for Valentine's Day seeing how the sewing machine I wanted so badly a few months ago is still in its box in our room and the fancy-do camera I got for Christmas has barely been used either.  Still, Malu got me the Breaking Dawn, Part I, movie that I wanted as well as some chocolates (hmmm....do you think we have enough chocolate to last us the next few months?).  The movie was the perfect close to a perfect evening.

After dinner tonight, I put the many cards received from friends and family from all over on top of one of our bookshelves in the living room.  It's a lot of cards!

We feel so blessed to love and to be loved.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!  Tomorrow is our Friday.  Another long weekend.  Woo hoo!!!

Football Fan!

Finally back on the up-and-up and wanting to start catching up on this blog (and reading my other favorite blogs too)!  Both Sina and I are feeling tons better, thank goodness.  Just a short one tonight, seeing how it's almost midnight on our side of the world.

If you've been following us at all, you know that Sina has become quite the football fan.  Although we don't necessarily follow college or professional football closely in our household, we love the game.  Sina went to her first couple football games in the fall, thanks to our local high school team and LOVED them. 

A few weeks ago, she learned to throw her arms up in the air everytime someone says "Touchdown!"  It's so adorable.

Her Uncle Vaea (Malu's little brother) is currently playing college football in California and aspires to play professionally one day.  Malu was able to pull up some of his game highlight clips online and Sina was happy to join him.

 We kept telling her, "there's your Uncle Vaea!" and she'd say "Co-co" for Uncle.

She kept saying and signing "ball" and did the touchdown move a couple of times.

So not only is she a big fan of football, she's a big Uncle Vaea fan too.

We're so proud of Vaea and how hard he's working to pursue his dream.  We love and miss you!

Tomorrow's Friday you guys!  I can't wait for the weekend!  Nothing planned right now...just wanting to stop working :)

Pumpkin Festival @ Ludwigsburg Palace

Warning:  Picture Overload!

On my last post, I talked about the fabulous Ludwigsburg Palace.  Well, every year (late September until early November), the palace holds an event called Bluhendes Barock, or Baroque in Bloom.  Baroque refers to the architectural style of the palace as well as the gardens and I believe when they say Bloom, they're referring to the fall harvest.  

Part of this event is the annual pumpkin festival, which takes place in the gardens and behind the palace.  There is a place within the gardens called the Marchengarten, which is essentially a fairy tale garden that is quite the adventure for the little kiddos--Vaiosina included.  There was a boat ride, "magic" water fountains, Rapunzel's tower, and all kinds of exhibits that portrayed our most beloved childhood tales (i.e. Pinocchio, the Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel).

I believe every year, the same dinosaur theme is used throughout the grounds.  There were all kinds of dinosaurs covered in pumpkins.  Speaking of pumpkins...I have never seen so many different kinds of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes.  I mean, there must have been hundreds from all over the world.    I especially enjoyed seeing all of the colors.

Of course, what's a pumpkin festival without your pumpkin-themed foods.  As soon as we got there, we smelled pumpkin seeds being honey-roasted.  The first thing Sina said was "Mmmmmmmmm!"  We had pumpkin bratwurst (Amazing!  You could actually see the seeds in the sausage!) with brotchen (bread roll).  We also had pumpkin-potato pancakes with applesauce and gluhwein (which is spiced, sweet red wine served hot).  Yum-o!  And of course, the token beer tents were out there too.

I mean, there was tons to see and do.  There were animals (tons of apiaries, goats, and geese), a facepainting booth, a pumpkin carving booth, pumpkin carving artists showing off their skills, and shopping tents (where I bought pumpkin wine).  There was even a fire pit, which was nice because it was a bit nippy that day, as well as a live band.  Life was especially wonderful that day.

Anyway, there are tons of pictures, so I'll just let them do the rest of the talking.

Holy huge pumpkins!

The entrance to the Marchengarten!

Boy, was she excited about the boat ride.  As we waited in line, she repeatedly said, "row, row, row" as each boat passed by.  So cute!

This really hit the spot!  Gluhwein and Pumpkin Potato Cakes with Applesauce.

She LOVED that fire!

Rapunzel's Tower.  You can't see it, but off to the tower's left side is a long braid hanging out of the window.  The place was beautiful!

We decided that Sina has become too much of a liability.  And T-Rex looked hungry!

A neat water fountain.

Another palace across the street.

The back side of the Ludwigsburg Palace.

We are definitely going to make this an annual event for our little family.  I hope you all enjoyed a small taste of Germany.  With the holidays quickly approaching, we'll be showing you lots more!

I Love Fall!

I love everything about fall.  The cool weather, wearing sweaters and layering, the leaves changing colors, hot chocolate and pumpkin spice coffee (thanks to Keurig K-cups!).  Last week, after getting home from Berchtesgaden, we took a late afternoon stroll along the many trails in our neighborhood.  Actually, every part of Germany (that we've seen) is laden with walking/biking trails and people are always out and about...even in the rain.  What's especially nice is that there are biergartens and restaurants along all of these trails, so it's not unusual to be deep in the woods and come across a nice, quaint place to stop, rest and eat.  Anyway, we probably walked for almost two hours along this trail.  It was beautiful!

Sina wanted to get out of her stroller and walk with her daddy.

~LOVE~

~LOVE LOVE LOVE~

~REFLECTIONS~

~A BEND IN THE ROAD~

Not really sure what this was, except for the obvious fact that there were a dozen or so figurines mounted on this tree stump.  It was kind of creepy.

Another thing about fall....FOOTBALL!  Well, really, I don't follow college or professional football, but I like to watch it whenever I have the chance--even if it's pop warner football.  The nice thing about being at a small post is that the community is very tight-knit.  So when the high school has it's homecoming game...everyone on post is out there.  That was yesterday...and we had fabulous fall weather.

Sina just loves being out on our football/soccer field.  We take her out there from time to time for picnics and just to roll around.  I knew she'd love being there, so we laid out a blanket, had some snacks and watched the game.  Well, sort of.  Sina was more interested in the crowd, danced to the band music and, played in the grass along the sidelines. 

I enjoyed a frito pie and Sina enjoyed her baby goldfish and raisins.  From time to time we curled up together in our fleece blanket because of the cool breeze.  Heaven!

In a few hours Malu will be home and we'll be enjoying some baby back ribs that I have cooking in the crockpot!

That's another fall thing...comfort food!

Happy Sunday everyone!  And have a great week!

Vacay w/the Parentals: Day 1

I'm finally getting around to posting about my 10-day vacation with my mom and dad.  Part of the reason why it's taken so long is because I've got a zillion photos that I need to go through and I'm trying not to overload each post with them.  The other part is that I've been way too lazy.  In any case...what a vacation!  It totally went by in a flash and, as I mentioned the other day, I am still trying to recover from it.  As a matter of fact, I informed my boss that I needed leave from my leave!  I mean, when your parents only have 10 days in Europe and there are bunches of places you want them to see, it can make for an exciting but exhausting time.

I mean, the day that they landed, we hit the ground running.  Seriously.  They arrived in Stuttgart at 0900...and off we went.  After the airport, we dropped off their bags at the house and Malu too, because he had to go back to work.  I immediately rushed them off to Panzer Kaserne to get them registered as visitors and then stopped by the PX for a few things.  After that, I figured that since we were nearby, I'd take them to Ritter Sport Chocolate Factory so that mom could stock up on the chocolates she wanted to bring back home with her.

Here we are at the entrance to the Schokolade (or chocolate) store...

My mom reacted kinda the same way I did when she entered--like a 5-year old going to Disney World for the first time.  She seriously didn't know what to do and it was funny because there were a million flavors in there, but she seemed to kept picking the same flavor in all sizes (hazelnut).  I had to help her throw some others in her basket.

Um...I don't think she went overboard at all.

There's a cafe adjacent to the store with outdoor seating and lovely landscaping.  We had to stop for a few pictures in front of the pretty flowers.  My parents were lucky.  Pretty much their entire stay in Europe we had beautiful, sunny weather.  Sunny days are a rarity, in Stuttgart at least. 

No kidding...that evening, we departed for Garmish-Partenkirchen--about a 3 hour drive away.  We took off after Malu got off from work, but first stopped by for dinner at our favorite spot (where we love to take our visitors)--the Schonbuch Brau Brauhaus.

We wanted to kick off their visit with a fabulous German dinner (Swabian style).  This restaurant serves a fantastic dinner-for-four, complete with steak, pork, bratwurst, oven potatoes, sauerkraut and cheese spatzle (cheese noodles).  They were impressed and we totally chowed down!

Here's my daddy enjoying his first beer in Germany (well, first one in a long time.  The last time he'd been in Germany was in the late 70s when he was stationed here.)

I had to play with this photo just so you guys could see us.  It was kinda dark in there.  See our buffet-style meal?  Yummy!

Right after that gigundo meal, we were on the road.  Thanks to my dear hubby, we made it to Garmisch safely and in good time, considering how late our trip started.

As I'm closing this, I'm missing my parents so badly and wish that their stay didn't come to an end so quickly.  But I have tons more great moments to share with you guys.

More on Garmisch next time!

Family...

I've been amassing photos since we lived in El Paso; even more so when Sina came along.  Since I knew we weren't going to be there long, I didn't want to waste time printing and framing photos.  Now that we're here in Germany and will most likely be here for the full 3 years, I figured I could actually start decorating the house with personal family photos.  Along with the ladybug drawing I had framed, I had this one of our little family done as well.

The picture was taken when Sina was 6 days old (here is the post with all the other pics).  I found the wall decal on amazon.com and I am so happy with how it turned out.  It is hung at the hallway entrance that leads to our bedroom, Sina's room and the guest room.

I love this saying.  Our story began when Malu and I married 4 years ago (we celebrated our anniversary this past weekend!).  Even then, we were our own little family--just the two of us (well, 3 if you count Lucy).  Since then, more chapters have been added to our story to include buying a home, two deployments, multiple moves (too many to count), and most importantly, the arrival of our beautiful baby girl.  Not only that, we have the invaluable support of both our families at home and the Army families we have come to know and love over the years just because we had to move from post to post.  Our families have enriched our story in every imaginable way and make celebrating our anniversary each year extra special.

I didn't get to write this on our anniversary.  I was too busy making a big stink about Father's Day :)  But it was a great day.  We spent the evening having some of the best Thai food I've had in a long time.  Who would've thought that would happen here in Germany?  Anyway, Happy Anniversary to my partner-in-crime, my bestest friend and my sweetest love.  Here's to many more anniversaries to come!

Down & Dirty

We didn't really have any big plans set for this weekend, despite it being a 3-day.  We kinda just assumed a "go with the flow" stance and it's been working rather nicely.  The weather hasn't been especially great so it's been nice just hanging out at home.  We've also been logging a lot of nap-hours and catching up on some movies (old ones).  I mean, we haven't been in a theater since Sina was born.  We don't even know what's playing in the movies these days.

In any case, yesterday we finally made our way to the mall not too far from here.  I haven't been in much of a shopping mood, at least for myself.  Anytime I go anywhere, I'm buying stuff for Sina.  Yesterday, I found her her first pair of Nikes.  I figure since she's getting a lot of mileage on those cute chubby feet of hers, she might as well get some good support.  Later in the evening, after putting Sina down to sleep, Malu surprised me with a dinner by candlelight---leftover homemade macaroni and cheese, some wine (it surprisingly went well together) and some Dave Koz, which we even danced to for a little bit.  It was all so sweet...we closed the night by watching Dinner for Schmucks, which was hilarious!

Today was much of the same, just doing little things around the house.  It was cold and rainy out, so we didn't feel much like doing anything.  When the weather started looking up, we headed out to Panzer to change the oil in our car.  Since this installation is small, the car care center is always booked weeks out.  So instead of waiting, Malu thought it best to change the oil ourselves at the auto crafts center--and he was determined to have me learn how to do it.  Yup, that's right...we got down and dirty over there. 

And my mom will probably kill me for posting this picture of Sina just hanging out with us in the bay, but what the hey.

We had her out of the car and set out on the garage floor and was as curious as ever.  Don't worry mom...the bay door was wide open.  Fresh air all around.

Changing oil is just messy work.  I can't say that I promise to change the oil myself from here on out. I guess in case of emergencies......and don't tell my husband!

Anyway, we just finished watching When in Rome (yup, finally getting to it), which we both enjoyed.  We enjoyed some freshly-baked brownies while watching it!  Yum.

Thank goodness we have one more day to chill out.  What a special day it will be...

It's Father's Day,

our 4-year Anniversary,

and Auntie Jewel's birthday (as well as my darling cousin, Wenonah's birthday).

Again, no big plans.  Sometimes those are the best kinds of days.

~~~~~~~~~~

On another note...I just wanted to share two pics of the custom framing I had done on a picture that I'd won from Maria over at Personalized Sketches and Sentiments.  I won the drawing of my choice months ago and I naturally chose a ladybug for Sina.  Well, I went over to the arts and crafts center on post to have it framed.  The framing shop has been backlogged for weeks and after waiting over a month, I finally got it back and Maria has been waiting for me to show her the results.

You can't really see it, but the entire bug is drawn out using Vaiosina--our daughter's full name (here's the story on her name).  It's amazing!

Here's another view of the picture hanging up in Sina's room.  She's got this cozy little nook in there where we've put the hideaway couch.  Malu usually reads to her here.  Don't make fun of my dyslexic placement of her alphabet wall art.  I was trying to copy what was on the package to the decals, and then realized I should have just put them in alphabetical order...duh.  Still looks neat though.

Well, I loved how the picture turned out and it fits so nicely into her room.  I only wish that I didn't hang it so high.  Realizing that she has something new in her room, Sina practically broke her neck staring at it.  I think that means she likes it.

If you haven't seen Maria's work...go to her blog and website and check it out.  Not only is she talented, but she's got a beautiful family and is one of the sweetest bloggy friends I have.

A million thanks to Maria!