Muffin Tin Monday and Ballet

Today was a new day! We tried Muffin Tin Monday (thanks Brenda for passing on this wonderful idea) and Ava had her first ballet class. Muffin Tin Monday is basically when you let the kids eat out of muffin tins. I don't know why we didn't start with muffin tins a long time ago instead of the silly kid friendly plates. The muffin tins are perfect portions for kids and nothing fell out of their tins onto the table. Brilliant!

Ava enjoyed her first ballet class. She didn't care for all the stretching and focusing on her arms. When we left she asked her teacher if she would be just twirling on Friday at the next class? Then in the van on the way home she said that next year when her name is Rose, she will be able to twirl like the ballerinas on tv. Ava has this obsession with the name Rose. She thinks that when she turns six we will change her name to Rose. Her baby dolls are all named Rose, she wants a dog named Rose, and best of all.... she can't understand why my friend Amber (she's expecting) doesn't want to name her baby Rose if she has a girl. Her newest idea is that Miss Amber could name her baby Rose but call it something else. GEEZ.... Miss Amber why not????

Switzerland

We spent our weekend in Lucerne, Switzerland and had a fantastic time. I was fortunate enough to find a hotel that would accomodate our larger family in one room that was just outside of Lucerne and situated on the lake. The only bummer was that we couldn't really see the views of the Alps because it was snowing and overcast, so I am hoping to make it back to Lucerne someday when it is a bit nicer outside. On our way home from Lucerne, we stopped at the Rhein Falls. The Rhein Falls is the largest waterfall in Europe and although it isn't the Niagera Falls it is still beautiful.

Here ar our pictures:



My favorite picture of the kids at the Rhein Falls. They enjoyed playing in a little bit of snow that fell.

Charlie and the kids in front of the falls.

Markplatz area of Lucerne. So pretty!

The Chapel Bridge in Lucerne. This is an old foot bridge that was originally built in 1333, but burned down in 1993 and was later rebuilt. The stone water tower in the center of the bridge is believed to have been a lucerna (or lighthouse) giving Lucerne its name. Now the stone water tower serves partially as a souvenir shop for Lucerne.

My German Baker

Jordan and Ava had an exciting and fun weekend with our neighbors. On Saturday morning Jordan headed over to their house and joined in their bi-weekly bread making. It is an all day affair! Jurgen (pictured with Jordan) prepares the dough in a commercial-size mixer (it holds probably 20 times the amount my Kitchenaid mixer bowl holds), lets it rise, and then bakes it. The best part is that he bakes it in an old-fashioned wood stove that is outdoors in a shed. Very tasty!!!
Jordan had a blast kneading the dough and shaping it into braided loaves with Jurgen's children. This will definitely be in his memories for a long time. He came bouncing back over to our house with his bread hot out of the oven and then our whole family chowed down on it!
Ava is still a bit young for the bread baking and given the language barrier issues, I felt it was best that she didn't participate quite yet. After Jordan was finished, she was pleased do go over to their house by herself and play with their little girl who is 7 years old.


And here is a picture taken on our front porch of our little town, Waldenbuch. We have a nice view of the church and it is calming to hear the church bells ringing daily.

This one is the front of our house. I thought I was escaping the stairs when I moved out of our stairwell apartment in Wiesbaden. Instead, I wound up with more. We have one set outdoors to arrive at the entryway which is on the first floor. Then we climb another set to get to our primary living space (the kitchen, living room, dining room) and a third set to the bedrooms! Yikes!

Please, February 9th come faster!!!

Beckett is still sick and I am about to lose my mind! Not necessarily because he is sick but because the clinic we go to is understaffed and overbooked. In order to get a same day appointment, Charlie has to line up at the clinic at 7:00 am and wait in line until they open at 7:30 to get Beckett an appt. The other option is to head to the ER, which I try to avoid because of the obvious language barrier.

Luckily, Charlie was able to get Beckett an appointment and we headed to the clinic this morning. When I say "We" I am talking about me, Beckett, Ava, and Brady. As soon as we got there I could tell it was going to be a rough day at the clinic because they booked the appt. in Brady's name and were giving me a hard time about switching it back to Beckett. I called Charlie to verify that he made the appt for Beckett and he assured me that he did.

We finally were called in to see the doctor and of course... his ears look like a war zone. The doctor's actually word was battlefield, can you tell he is in the Army? Problem is.... Beckett has been diagnosed with acute ear infections SEVEN times in the last 4 months and we have exhausted every different type of antibiotic that can possibly be used on a 10 month old. The doctor wanted to send me away.... but I pleaded with him to do something because Beckett isn't sleeping, is extremely fussy, and I feel terrible for him. So, we opted for a shot of antibiotic in his leg. Even though it may not work, but I am praying that it holds him off until he is seen by an Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist. This is where the February 9th comes in!!! The earliest appointment we could get with a German ENT was February 9th and I made the appt a couple of weeks ago. The American doctors say that he needs tubes in his ears, so I am anxious to see what the specialist has to say.

Today's pain continued though because apparently the clinic couldn't tell me who was suppose to administer the shot. At this point, we had been there over 2 hours. I had two cranky preschoolers that wanted to go home and Mommy was ready to cry. I always bring crayons and coloring books for Ava and Brady, but they can only color for so long. I was fortunate enough to get some parenting advice from a young, female, Army private that worked in the clinic. She told me that I shouldn't let my children lay on the waiting room floor to color because it was dirty. I asked her if she had ever played in the dirt outside as a child because honestly where else could they color after 2 hours in the clinic? The dirty floor was the last thing that I was worried about that point and my kids are generally good at washing their hands.

Story to be continued..........

we head back to the clinic tomorrow for round 2 of the antibiotic shot. Maybe things will be less confusing for the clinic.

Keeping up with my Resolution

I am taking a short break from blogging about any Bailey happenings as I hold to my New Year Resolution. I have been in the process of uploading all of my photos to Snapfish so that I can order them and get them put into albums. A lot has happened over the last year and I am embarrassed to say that I haven't uploaded or ordered any photos in at least 6 months. It is a bigger task than I expected... we have over 2,000 new photos that needed to be uploaded to Snapfish. After I finish my project I plan to upload at the end of each month and promptly order them. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!

Ava Madeleine Bailey

January 6, 2004 8lbs 7 oz and 21 inches

January 6, 2009 44lbs and 45 inches

Ava is 5 today! I can hardly believe that it has been five years since we brought our baby girl into the world! Five years ago that her Daddy first called her "PRINCESS" for the first time! And a princess you are! You were born at Fort Wainwright, Alaska and it was COLD! If I remember correctly... it was about 42 below zero on the 7th of January when we brought you home from the hospital. You have grown by 35 pounds and 24 inches!

Looking back..... in 5 years you have lived in 6 completely different places, you have become a big sister twice, you've taught yourself how to ride a bike and tie your shoes, you've proved to Mommy and Daddy that no matter how many brothers you have you can hold your own while wearing a princess dress, tiara, and dress-up shoes that you can barely walk in, and lastly... you have brought us a lot of joy and laughter as we have watched your personality blossom into the fun little girl that you are. I can hardly believe that in 8 months we will be sending you off to Kindergarten and how you remind me of that fact at least a couple of times a week by asking, "Mommy, how many more days until I start Kindergarten?" I am not ready for HALF of my kiddos to be in school. I cried and lost sleep over your brother starting Kindergarten and my Grandma told me that Mothers always cry when their first starts school, but I am not so sure that will be the case for me.

Happy Birthday Sleeping Beauty! I have to say, "Goodnight Sleeping Beauty" to Ava every night at bedtime or she will cry to Daddy when he is kissing her goodnight that I forgot to say it!




Daddy and big brother, Jordan holding Ava during her first week at home!
Ava sleeping on her first day home! We took you back to the doctors when you were 4 weeks old because you hadn't woken up yet! After having Jordan (who never slept and was very colic-y) we were convinced that there was something wrong with you. Daddy would come home from work and clap in your ears and you would sleep through the whole thing!

Getting ready to blow out your 5 candles for your 5th Birthday! We celebrated a little early because Grammy and Grampa were visiting for Christmas.

Mommy and her Princess!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's officially 2009 all around the world!!! This year is the first year that we have never watched the ball drop (or at least have it on the TV in the background). In Alaska we used to watch it hours earlier than midnight in AK... but here we celebrated the New Year 6 hours before Eastern time. The kids enjoyed local ROBBY BUBBLY, a non-alcoholic kids beverage that they affectionally called Kids' wine. They thoroughly enjoyed drinking it out of their wine glasses and were bouncing around from the sugar later in the day!

To our surprise, the residents of our little village of Waldenbuch were really whooping it up for their New Year celebration. They go ALL OUT with tons of fireworks that started on the 30th of December and continued for 2 days. At midnight the church bells rang for about a half hour and we watched quite a show of fireworks. We live on a hill overlooking the village so we had a great view and I have to admit that it competed with some of the better fireworks that I have seen back home on the 4th of July.

I haven't posted much because my parents are here and we've been busy! On Christmas Day we never left the house so the kids stayed in their jammies all day long! It was fabulous. I had to share a picture of our 80 dollar Charlie Brown tree! Originally the tree cost $40, but due to the fact that it had an extremely small trunk we had to go out a buy a 25 euro tree stand that would hold the tree up! I will do some more posts later about our adventures while my parents have been visiting.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!