Ho, Ho Holiday!

Oh! What a grand time we had!!

 The Festivus Feats of Strength were enthralling!

 The Surprises left by Santa were Superb!

And the weapons sent from Grandma were leathal!

I hope your holiday was just as fun!

Tum-Te-Tum....The Tree!

Is it wrong to let your kid decorate the Christmas tree and then to RE-decorate the tree after he goes to bed?

Because if it is, I don't want to be right!

Holiday Seasonings

Last week Truman and I dug the holiday decorations out of the closet and proceed to make our home look like Christmas threw up on it.

 I really do love Christmas decorations and it is fun to put them out with the boy. But we do go a little bit crazy with the red and green this time of year. 

Anyway while decorationg our house from top to bottom I found this fun little picture of Trum and I visiting Santa last year. Isn't that just precious? Trum obviously loved seeing Santa up close. 

By the way it was Santa's idea for me to hold Trum and then sit on his lap. It's not my fault if he is a glutten for punishment. All I can say is, it is a good thing this picture was Free!

Every year when we decorate for Christmas Truman pulls out these old Stockings and puts them on his feet. This year he favored us with a little dance.

We call it the Elf Dance.

 

Then he proceeded to show us a Hanuka song and dance that he learned at school.

Aren't we festive?
By the way the videos are only a few seconds long for your viewing convenience.

Part 4

So the trip chronicle continues...

After we checked out Mad King Ludwig's castles the Willis' headed back to their home and we ventured out on our own to explore the Tirols.

Here is the view from our room in Hofen, Austria. Just a little bit beautiful!

Here we are hiking up to the Ehrenberg Ruins, near Reutte, Austria.

Do you see that road? Not the one with cars on it, the other one, below it? That is where we hiked up from!!! I was slightly out of breath when we reached the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped in Innsbruck to see the famous Golden Roof.

While in Innsbruck we saw, perhaps the coolest store ever. Speckeria=Bacon store!! Just bacon, fancy bacon!

And here we are in Hall. Not in the hall but in Hall, Tirol,Austria.

Part 3

Okay, I know that you must be siiiiick of seeing photos of our trip, but we just did so much stuff and my parents want to see them. Right mom and dad? Hello, can you hear me? Are you there Pappy & Joanie???? Anyway here are some more photos.

MUNICH

Asamkirche, Munich

 We are super righteous. We went to church.

Residenz, Munich

Residenz, Munich, Just where all the Royals used to hang out.

 

Try taking 4 kids to an art museum!

Augustiner Beer Garden, Munich. We drank...soda and water.

He fell asleep at dinner. Poor boy, we wore him out!

Here is our little rental car, I later put a dent in the door.

 We left Munich and headed to the German countryside.

A hat at Hohenschwangau.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Pollat Gorge

 I really am trying to limit how many pictures I post on here. 

I really mean it.

November & Stuffing

 Well I thought I would take a little break from posting stuff about my vacation. And instead talk about Fall, November and Thanksgiving.
Look at that picture of the tree outside my window. I LOVE that tree! I look forward to November all year because I know that I will get to see those beautiful red leaves for a few weeks.
Last Saturday we went down to Silver Spring to watch the Thanksgiving Parade and we met up with our friends the Bearmans. It was really fun and the kids got lots of candy. And just in time to! Trum was almost out of Halloween candy!

 Also last year when I posted about Thanksgiving I wrote about my mom's DE-licious stuffing and a few of you asked for the recipe. So if you are still looking for it here it is...
Stuffing Ala Joanie
(Just so you know this is only 1/2 of her recipe. So if you have a small army to feed go ahead and double this.)
2 1/2 cups dry bread crumbs (or cubes)
1 1/2 cups Ritz Cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 oz. can mushroom slices with liquid
Hot Water
-In a large bowl combine bread crumbs, crackers, pepper, salt, dry mustard and sage.
-In a pan melt butter. Add celery and onion, saute until limp, stir in mushrooms with liquid.
-Combine with bread crumb mixture adding hot water until bread is barely damp.
-Now you can pack it into your bird and secure it with foil or you can put it in a baking dish and cover it.
Then heat it for about 30 minutes. I usually put it in the dish and heat it at 350.

Anyway, whether you make this stuffing or not, Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Weeks in October (part 2)

Here it comes...Rowe Trip to Europe Day 3 (or 4 I'm not sure anymore). 

So Jess and Andrew loaded all of their kids, plus Truman and I, plus a lot of luggage in their van and we headed off to Munich to meet Jack. Then we toured around and made Jack act as our guide and translator.

 Currywurst on the street. It actually tastes good but Jack is not capable of showing a normal face in a picture.

 Lederhosen anyone?

I was surprised by how often we saw people wearing traditional clothing. And there were lots of shops selling the clothes as well. And not just to tourists like I expected. 

 Glockenspiel, Neues Rathaus

 

Walking along Kaufingerstrasse or Neuhauserstrasse.

 As you know Jessica and I are really close. But did you know that Andrew and Jack are as well?

 Maybe too close...

 Englischer Garten (just try to translate that!)

 Typical moment: Jess & I trying to get a picture, Jack pulling a face and Trum and Sam wrestling.

 St. Peter's

 Marienplatz

Boys having fun outside the Hafbrauhaus.

2 Weeks in October (part 1)

Well, we went on a trip. Jack had a conference in Germany and my friend Jessica had just moved to Switzerland, and Jack thought it was a great time for us to go. So we went. Why didn't we tell anyone that we were going? Well, mostly because we are just weird that way. But also because at first I was worried that something might happen to prevent us from going. Then we thought it would be fun to surprise our families by sending them postcards from Switzerland the first day we were there. But the night before I left I realized I didn't have anyone's address anymore since our hard drive crashed a few months back. So that was out. So really there was no good reason for us not to tell people about the trip. See, we are just weird that way.
Anyway Jack went to his conference and a few days later Trum and I flew to Switzerland to visit Jess and her family.

First Day: Basel Switzerland

 Ruined Castle near Basel. Trum's friend Sam can see this castle from his school, isn't that awesome! The boys had a blast exploring this place together!

 Look at me. Do I look jet lagged? Because I was. Oh, boy, soooo jet lagged.

 You can't tell from the picture because of the flash but Jess took this picture from the inside of a pitch black tunnel. The boys ran right through it while Jess and I freaked out and thought we would die (or at least fall down) at any moment.

Second Day: Colmar France

 Jess drove us to Colmar for the day. It was so absolutely beautiful! We just kept saying, "Look at this place! I can't believe how beautiful and charming it is!" I felt like I was in a Disneyland town, but it was real.

 Colmar is called "Le Petite Venice" because of this beautiful canal.

 Not everything was wonderful, the boys were getting a little wild. And we were tired of yelling at them and looking like "Crazy Americans" so this is them in time-out.

 Mmmm, food.

Aww, BFF's.

Don't worry there is much more to come. Or do worry there is much more to come.

When Grandmas Come to Visit.

Just so you know. If you come to our house looking for a vacation, you will actually..

Be forced to cheer for our kid, at a soccer game, in the cold.

 Eat at restaurants of our choosing.

 Attend a church Trunk-or-Treat. In costume!

 Let me practice my face painting skills on your face.

 Walk all over town until you're beat and then ride home on a crowded metro train.

(The DC sweatshirts and bags are optional, however.)

 Make some homemade caramel and leave some in a jar for me to enjoy at my leisure.

 Have a child enjoy your company so much that he draws this at your leaving.