Trick or treat, smell my feet and some poopy diapers too.

Today was Halloween and of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress the girls up.  Mike's schedule has been pretty crummy so I took the girls on base for a little trick or treating which ended in leaky diapers and dirty costumes.  But we never let a little baby poo dampen our moods here at the Krause house!  So home we went, to finish dinner and have some super fun play time before screaming all the way to bed.  Here are a few highlights of tonight and the last few days!

 Maybe just a little cranky from the start...

 Trunk or Treat!

Sweet Nelly-pie

Sweet Sue-bug

Super fun play time in progress 

 Penelope standing all by herself!!

Happy Halloween!

Sunday-funday...or maybe just a relax day.

The last few weekends have been fairly uneventful.  M is tired from the work week and I'm tried from taking care of babies.  So when people ask us if we've done anything fun that weekend it is usually met with something along the lines of "we're just really tired; we're still getting settled; we just needed a weekend at home".  And there ain't no shame in that.  The in-laws are coming for a visit soon, I think we will get our fill of traveling and I CAN'T WAIT!!!  Its gonna be awesome.  Today was a good day.  M is fanatically super excited about UCLAs football season and since the games are usually West coast time, the only time he could watch it was 1:30 am yesterday.  Thats right, he stayed awake until 5:30 am watching football.  Crazy guy.  I knew today was going to be pretty funky getting up for church with a husband who had been awake for 20ish hours straight.  But like I said, today was a good day and it was all kicked off with two sweet little girls who slept in till 9:30.  It was like a miraculous gift from the heavens.  I was, of course, awake at the usual 7 am, but just stayed in bed reveling in the fact that I got to drift in and out of sleep for 150 extra minutes.  Now I know I am lucky to have babies that are not extreme early risers but getting out of bed before 11 has always seemed like cruel and unusual punishment to me; therefore waking up with babies at 7 or 8 is hard for me even though that is a completely acceptable hour to be awake.  I got myself and the girls all ready for church, once we were there, I cozied up to my hubby ready to listen to a great sermon.

Now I didn't necessarily want this blog to be all mushy gushy feelings all the time, my intent was to allow family and friends we don't get to talk to all the time, be able to keep up with our lives here.  Its a way for us to stay connected.  I realize that was silly of me because, now that we are here, I know what an emotional experience it is to move a family overseas.  This is such a coveted assignment, but I still struggle to be happy with it.  I do everything I can to stay positive, I force myself to soak up the unabashed beauty of this country and say things like "think of all the things we'll be able to see".  But when you want a day at the beach or just want a hug from you mom, its hard to convince yourself your lucky being 2,000 miles away from everything you know and love.  People think we're crazy for having a hard time here, but I think what they don't realize is that, we are not on a 3 year sightseeing vacation.  This is life, M has to work from 6 am to 5 pm, I'm home with screaming children cleaning up the kitchen floor for the 5th time that day wondering when I'm going to make close enough friends to have more shoulders to cry on (or laugh with), traveling is hard, its expensive, its not easy hauling 2 of everything around for a weekend trip.  Its hard not speaking the language.  The BX really only sells American things so when your weird German light bulbs go out, which store do you go to and how can you find some one who speaks English well enough to tell you what to do?  These are just a few examples of it being difficult living life overseas.  We have been fortunate to find a church we really like, but building real relationships takes time, which is hard because when you first get here is when you need the most support.  Anyways, after we ate and got the kids to bed, I stood at the kitchen sink crying, realizing how tired and life-weary I am.  And because I have an amazing Father who loves me more than I can imagine, Matthew 11:28 was placed on my heart "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".  It is outrageously comforting to know that even though we feel alone and tired and beaten down by life, our Lord is there just waiting for us to turn to him with open arms.  I take comfort in knowing he is in control and he will carry me to tomorrow.

So like I said, it was a good day.

And now some pictures of the last few weeks and our big 15 month old girls, playing on the couch this afternoon :)

A day trip to a big giant French store called Cora...

Absinthe, the alcohol with hallucinogenic properties is apparently NOT illegal here...French people like the green fairy....

Susan playing Peek-a-boo

Penelope playing Peek-a-boo

I seriously love how much they already love playing dress up with my clothes...warms a mommy's heart

The little computer that couldn't

My computer is broken down again, after all that trouble of appointments at the genius bar and replacing the hard drive myself. Makes me sad. But a new computer has been promised to me as a Christmas gift. Anyways, I'm updating the blog on my phone so please excuse any typos, it's not easy basically texting paragraphs. Any recent posts are going to be short and sweet until poor computer is up and running again. Until then, here are a few pics to tide over the grandparents and great-grandparents

"Ma'am, in Germany you can't run red lights"...

Last weekend we decided we had had enough of unpacking boxes and being stuck around the house, so we decided to take a trip.  When you live in a place like Germany the hardest thing about taking a weekend trip is figuring out where you want to go, there is simply too much to choose from.  This is a new dilemma for us, since we have been living in places like West Texas and Oklahoma ("well...I guess we could spend the weekend in Tulsa."  But who really wants to go to Tulsa? No one, thats who, unless your from Tulsa.  Sorry Tulsa friends).  Like I was saying, since there is so much to see in Europe, you have to narrow your criteria down.  We decided that since this was the first time being out of Ramstein area, we wanted to stay relatively close.  I've been dying to see Bavaria but as much fun as it sounds to drive 3 hours, on a Friday evening, with an exhausted husband and two baby monsters (I promise we use that term affectionately) it just seemed like too much for an overnighter.  M has been wanting to see the Guttenburg Museum so we settled on Mainz, Germany, the perfect distance away.  I booked our hotel room, overlooking the Rhine and was a little nervous that it was just a single room- we got spoiled with the hotel we lived in for 3 weeks which actually had a living room and separate bedroom, it worked perfectly with the girls.  But I figured, we're not the first people to travel with kids, we just gotta make it work.  Friday morning came and I got everyone packed-up, Friday afternoon came and we were finally on the road by 5ish.  I drove out there so M could catch a little nap, now, FYI driving in Europe is crazy.  There are no rules and too many rules at the same time and there are no signs to inform you of these existent or non-exisitant rules, but they do have cameras for you every 30 feet just in case you have no clue what you are doing.  So we get into the city and I'm following our GPS to the hotel, I see a red arrow turning right and see at least the 4 cars in front of me turning ON the red light.  I figured I was out of the loop and turning was perfectly acceptable.  As it turns out, it is not.  M looked at me and said, "I don't think your allowed to do that", and I said "well everyone else was turning too!".  Which apparently means, if everyone else was jumping off a cliff, then yes, I would too. A few seconds later a car pulled up to us trying to get our attention, I brushed them off thinking "I'm only rolling down this window for this weird German if my tire is flat", turns out I'll also roll it down for the German police.  Not knowing what this person was doing, we kept driving for the hotel, and he kept following us...for about 3 blocks to be exact.  Finally he held up a "Polizei" sign and the lights went off...in my head that is, because this police car didn't have visible lights letting me know I was being pulled over.  I explained that I'm an American and am still getting used to driving in Germany.  He told me that in Germany, they don't run red lights...interesting because its the same way in the states...I'd have to remember that.  After talking my way out of a ticket and being extremely thankful I didn't cause and accident, we finally got to the hotel.

We had dinner downstairs overlooking the Rhine and it was of course absolutely beautiful.  The next morning we headed over to the Guttenburg Museum but stopped to walk through the farmers market and the Cathedral first.  Not counting the one in New York, this was the first Cathedral I'd been to.  Having been an Art History minor, and loving every minute of it, it felt like a monumentous occasion for me.  Seeing things that are a thousand years old blows my mind.  I love my country and all, but things that are two-three hundred years old just don't impress the way a thousand year old pure gold cloak the priests wore does.  Anyways, we spent some time in the museums of the Cathedral and marveled at the beauty and the sheer size of the place.  Its amazing to think of the things, the wars, the time these old buildings have passed through.  Allowing my imagination run wild with the history is one of my favorite things about living here.  We walked through the farmers market looking at the flowers, wine, cheese, all the fresh vegetable you can imagine, it was something out of a movie. We spent the next few hours in the Guttenburg Museum until the girls, who had missed both naps at this point, were letting me know they'd had enough.  So I took them outside where they promptly fell asleep and allowed me to enjoy the most amazing peach iced tea at a little cafe while soaking up the sunshine and cool breeze.  It was such a fun weekend, M and I have commented several times that we have been thinking about it all thru the week.  The weekends at home come with a certain restlessness and a feeling of waisting time that should be spent sightseeing Europe.  But in reality, traveling with two toddlers and all the gear that comes with them is overwhelming.  We're thinking one weekend trip a month and we will be doing pretty well...we might need the other three to re-coop.