Jessi gets baptized

On November 29, the youngest child in my family entered the waters of baptism. Jessica was so excited. Her friend, Claire, who isn't a member of our church, was able to attend. Claire is two days younger than Jessi and I met Claire's mother in the German hospital were we gave birth, eight years ago. It was very special to have her there to witness Jessi's baptism. 

The baptism and confirmation were performed by her father. We were so happy to have many members of our ward in attendance despite it being a holiday weekend. 

It was a wonderful day and we are so proud of Jessica. 

Two bunnies, one dog and a tragedy

While Arnie was on TDY to Djibouti two weeks ago, three new members were added to our household. It happened like this. Prior to Arnie's departure, he and I discussed the possibility of getting a dog that had been advertised on the local Facebook page. It turned out to be somewhat of a scam as the lady wanted $500 for him. This was disappointing to say the least. I had been missing LT as of late and it sounded like a good thing up until she told us the price. So thinking that there wasn't going to be a way to get an adult, already trained dog for a reasonable price, I was excited when my friend presented me with an alternative for free. She needed to rehome her two rabbits really badly. She has three kids under the age of five and a two year old Great Dane aptly named Atlas that pretty much caused these rabbits panick attacks everyday. The two older girls loved the rabbits immediately and so I jumped at the idea. By that night we had Beau and Compass (the girls renamed them from Scratch and Anna), safely at our house. However, everything was not all roses and sunshine. The bunny formally known as Scratch was also aptly named as there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't get attacked or scratched by him. I just don't get along with rodents. 

Malia lamented that the bunnies were a poor substitute for a dog and I had to agree.  So image my surprise and joy when another ad for a dog needing a new home came up just hours before Arnie was to get home. This time the price was mentioned up front and was very reasonable. So I went ahead and inquired after the dog not really thinking I was going to get the dog. I was wrong and by the end of the day, we were being Nala home with us for a trial week. There was some initial concern about our other pets as Nala had picked up a guinea pig in the past but after observing her, she didn't seem to want to even enter the rooms with the rodents. Unfortunately, we were proven gravely mistaken in our assumption. 

Two days after Nala came to be with us, Bethany came home late in the afternoon to find her beloved pet of over four years, Ereth, the guinea pig, dead on her bedroom floor apparently killed by Nala. The sight of Bethany holding Ereth and keening is not something I'll forget anytime soon. Our hearts are so very sad   We lost both of our pets just scant months after moving here. 

In spite of this tragedy, Bethany has been able to find it in her heart to allow Nala to stay with our family.  She has a lot of healing to do yet but I know that she is on the right path. The bunnies are now in her capable, loving hands and we hope that they will eventually calm down for her just like Ereth did all those years ago. 

Pillowcases

Grandma Hammari sent some fabric for each of the girls and a cool pattern for a pillowcase. I hadn't had a chance to help them sew them until the day of parent teacher conferences. Arnie was at work so we were hanging out at the house. The pattern was really easy and both Malia and Kaitlyn did their own sewing. The pillow cases came out very cute and large enough to fit Jessica in. During the course of the project, these pillowcases were capes (prior to being sewn all the way), ghost costumes, bags to carry lots of things, and even a sack for racing. It is nice to have such creative children. 

Jessica turns eight

On November 10th, Jessica Rose turned eight. She was so excited. She has wanted to be eight for such a long time because not only do kids in our church get baptized starting at this age, but girls 8-12 attend Activity Days, a fun personal progress orientated program especially designed for that age group. 

She got a horse cake for her birthday that was baked by Malia and decorated by me. The fun thing about this cake though is something you can't see in the picture. Jessi wanted a "funfetti" cake (a white cake with sprinkles baked inside) but the commissary didn't have that kind of mix when I sent Malia and Jessi there to buy it. So, thinking outside the box, Malia got a white cake mix and a thing of sprinkles. It worked out beautifully albeit a little heavy on the sprinkles. 

Jessica's favorite thing lately are these TY Beenie Boos stuff animals. Basically stuff animals with huge eyes. Malia made Jessi's day by getting her one of the biggest Beenie Boo we've seen. 

Bethany gave Jessi this really odd anime movie called Howl's Moving Castle. A redeeming feature of it is that Billy Crystal plays the voice of one of the characters. Other than that, it makes no sense. 

Kaitlyn got Jessi a set of cool Legos. 

We got Jessi something that she has been begging for, a watch. She now can tell what time she needs to come in from the playground instead of relying on her friend's time telling skills. She is thrilled with this and loves to announce the changing of the hour. So much so that I could probably put her up on the wall and call her a cuckoo. 

The pumpkin festival

The Pumpkin Fest in Ludwigsburg is one of the many "must see" things in Germany that we didn't get to do last time. It is held on the grounds of the Ludwigsburg palace, which in and of itself is a must see. It is a massive palace with extensive gardens including a fairytale garden.  We went for the festival this time though and everything pumpkin/squash related. We went with Brad and Angie and their kids and another couple and their two kids.  It was a trick to get them to sit for two seconds for a photo. 

There were sculptures made from a plethora of different sizes and shape gords and squashes. 

There was a huge area of hay to roll around in. The kids loved this and built little Arnold a nest to sit in. 

There was a ton of food all made from pumpkins or squash. There was spicy or sweet pumpkin seeds (Angie's son, Arnold, loved the cinnamon ones). There was soup, drinks, and even fries made from pumpkins or squash. We really enjoyed the squash fries. 

Not pictured is the prize winning largest pumpkin which looked to be the size of a lazy boy recliner. 

All in all, we really enjoyed the fest and look forward to next year when we can do it again. 

Halloween

Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun here as it was a teacher work day and the girls had the day off. Arnie had to work unfortunately but we tried to not let that get us down. 

First thing we did was get the flu shot. Ok well that wasn't fun but apparently necessary here to attend school. 

Then we went to Legoland. Legoland had a special going that kids in costume got in free. That didn't really matter to us as we have "jahrepasses" or year passes but it did make this trip a whole lot more crowded. We ended up going on only two rides. 

The girls got to build some working electronic Lego sets at the workshop though and got a diploma for finishing it! 

One thing the girls had to have this time was French fries in the shape of Legos. Mission completed!

We got home just in time for trick or treating. Arnie carved an old watermelon that had been sitting on our counter for ages, instead of a pumpkin. It was a huge hit with the trick or treaters. 

The girls got to be creative with their costumes. I told them that they had to earn money by doing chores if they wanted to buy costumes at the store.  I had plenty of work that I would gladly pay them for. So what do my kids do?  They go to the craft room and create their own costumes!  Desperation is the mother of invention, I guess. 

From left to right, Kaitlyn is a Japenesse school girl (inspired by anime cartoons), Malia is some kind of princess fairy (don't ask me about the hat), Bethany is a 60's biker chick, complete with a beehive hairdo (which I learned how to do thanks to my friend Google), and Jessica is a cat, complete with cardboard ears duct-taped to a headband with pink paisley duct tape. 

Lot of candy was collected in a short amount of time here at Kelley as most people congregated in the parking lots of their buildings and the bowls of candy were in a conglomerate. Our building attempted to have a potluck at the same time and the bowls of candy were interspersed amongst the food. This caused some confusion for the kids collecting candy. One girl got really excited thinking we were handing out chicken wings and even got so far as getting a plate before someone stopped her. Imagine being disappointed because you just got candy instead of chicken wings. Poor thing. :)