Radio Silence

Sorry for the long stint with no real posts.  I have had a bunch going on but I really don't know how to talk about the most important thing that has been going on.

Just before Christmas my mom had a bit of a health scare, the result of the health scare was a full hysterectomy.  Standard procedure for this type of thing is to check for cancer.  During that check they did find cancer and not just any run of the mill cancer but a really weird, rare, aggressive form.  My mom is currently starting round two of her four rounds of chemo treatment.  More than anything I want to go home and be with her, take care of her, do her grocery shopping and clean her toilet.  But that's not what she wants.  So for now I am here, praying, hoping, wishing that everything will turn out all right. That she will come out of this even healthier than she went in.  That I will have my mom for years and years to come.

But for now I just have to wait.

What I can say is my mom is amazing, brave, strong, and optimistic.  If anyone is going to make it through it will be her.

I love you Mom!

"Healthy" Banana Nut Bread

Woke up to spotted bananas - you know what that means - Banana Nut Bread Day!!!  

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1 pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup applesauce

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs, beaten

3 overripe bananas, mashed

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2.  Lightly grease and flower a loaf pan.  

{We don't have a loaf pan so we use a cake pan and it still turns out great.}

3.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

4.  In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce and honey.

Sir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.

5. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; just to moisten.

Add walnuts

6.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

7.  Bake in preheated oven (turn down oven to 170 degrees C when you put the bread in) for 50 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Let bread cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool on a wire rack.  

This recipe is so easy and Alessandra can help quite a bit.  I put the bananas in a gallon sized ziploc baggy for her to mash while I mix the dry ingredients.  Then while I'm putting the wet ingredients together I give her the walnuts, in a sandwich baggy, and the ladle so she can bang on those until they are "chopped".  Between those two tasks she stays pretty busy for most of the dry and wet combining.  She then helps to grease and flour the pan and do the final combining of wet and dry ingredients and adding it to the pan.  It's a pretty fun activity for us and the finished product is sooooooo yummy!!!

Charmian

Hopeful

Expats (expatriates) can be from Australia, England, America, China - anywhere really - as long as they are living outside of their native country.  There is this crazy thing that happens with Expats - our relationships run on overdrive.  We tend to connect more quickly and oftentimes more deeply than you would when making relationships back at home.  You may think this is wonderful, and frankly that part of the expat life is wonderful, but more often than not there is an expiration date on these relationships.  So here you are making these really good friends and then they turn around and go back home.  Obviously you try to keep in touch but the relationship inevitably changes.  It's heart breaking and it's happening again.

Our good friends; Chris, Rachel, and Iris are headed back home.  I am so upset, and come tomorrow when Alessandra asks to play with "My Isis" both she and I are going to be upset.  UUUGGGHHH!  I am not looking forward to tomorrow.  Hopefully today's going away party at Bobolinos sticks with Alessandra for a long time.  Hopefully Chris, Rachel, and Iris come back for a visit soon.  And hopefully we can make it to England for a visit.

You will be missed my friend!  Safe travels and see you soon!

Hopeful,

Charmian

Kinder Karneval Parade

On Saturday we braved the crowds to go check out the Kinder Karneval Parade with some of our friends.  All of the schools "compete" to out do the other schools with costumes and themes and do a parade down the Kö.  This parade is way more mellow than some of the others so we figured it would be a little more our speed.  When in Germany at the Karneval parades if you yell "HELAU!!!" you are showered with sweets, treats,and other goodies.  And just like at Halloween, Alessandra figured that out pretty darn quickly.  

Just about everyone dresses up for Karneval, so we put Alessandra in her horse costume again.  This time however we layered her snow suit underneath - true Colorado-Halloween-Trick or Treating-Style.  The added padding definitely pushed her costume out of the cuteness spectrum and into down-right ADORABLE! 

 

The finishing touch I added, which looking back was quite silly because nobody saw it, was a cute little horsey mane up-do for Miss Alessandra Mae.

 

Charmian

A big thank  you to Bethany Handel for all of the great parade pictures.

Karneval Fiesta

We had a little fiesta to celebrate Karneval (for all of my American buddies think Mardi Gras).

The girls wore costumes, made/decorated paper plate party masks, 

ate some yummy pizza and cake, and did a little dancing.  

The mamas stole a few bites of pizza, pieces of cake, and enjoyed a bottle of chilled sparkling wine.  

We had so much fun.  

I was amazed how well Alessandra did during the mask making with all of the big girls.  She actually focused in on her mask with only a few distractions the whole time the big girls worked on theirs.  

As our little party was coming to an end the sillies were definitely coming out hence all the giant grins.

To finish off the evening the girls took turns pushing each other in the play stroller.  You would have thought they had just been given the hottest new toy/game the way they were running and squealing.

 Charmian

Sunshine & Puddles

Worst Haircut Ever!!!

I really wanted to get a haircut so I'd look nice for our anniversary but unfortunately my hairdresser was out.  So instead of waiting until she was in I opted to get my haircut with someone else so I'd have  it done for my big day.  BAD IDEA!!!  I have the worst haircut I have ever had.  Now, I may be exaggerating a bit but it is the worst haircut I can remember having in a REALLY REALLY long time.

I never understood what people meant when they said a good haircut could take ten pounds off your face until I got a bad haircut.  The new girl spoke English but not very well.  So I told her what I wanted, I showed her with my hands what I wanted and I even showed her a picture.   Everything was going fine and then, just like that everything changed.

I have a very wide jaw and a big face.  I'm not complaining but I can't have my hair end at the widest point in my face or it makes it look even wider.  Well, that's exactly what she did.  She cut it about two inches shorter than I asked/showed her.  UUUGGGHHH - just like that, in one moment, I put on 10 pounds.  The bad haircut didn't end there she cut my bangs really short and choppy which may be in style - I don't know because I don't keep up with that kind of thing - but it looks like Alessandra cut them.  So, it not only is not what I asked for but what she did doesn't even look nice.

Oh Well - hair grows.  But I have to say after this haircut I am seriously thinking about growing my hair out a bit.

Charmian

Gum Gum Water...

...and other adorable Alessandra sayings I don't want to forget.

Gum Gum Water - Sparkling Mineral Water

Tomeeya - Banana

Blankie - Blanket

Paci - Pacifier

Solar - Stroller

Seat - Chair

Sep Sool - Step Stool

Mo - More

These last few are pretty obvious but they show how much of an opinionated chatter box she is.

This way! This way!

Sit!  Sit!

Wait! Wait!

Uhh... Ohh... - Right after she's done something she knows she shouldn't.

AAAAAAAhhhh!  Help Please!  

As if by saying please somehow takes a way the fact that she just screamed at me.  

A-sandra do it ahhh me!!!

Wait fo it... Wait fo it...

This one is accompanied by hand motions that would make you think she was trying to tame a bull.

No Eat Dinner Me - No Mom, I'm not hungry, thank you for asking.

No Mama, Real ____ - If she wants a different kind of something.  

For example I offer her a breakfast 'cookie' she will say "No Mama, Real Cookie"

I Do It!

You + Me =

1 Decade

315,633,480 Seconds

2 Kids/2 Dogs

3,652 Days

3 Trips to Italy

1,545 Trips to the Grocery Store (apx.)

4 Cars

5,260,558 Minutes

5 Nights in the Hospital

87,675 Hours

6 Homes

12 Countries

7 Backpacking trips

521 Weeks

8 Cellphones

11 Jobs

9 Weddings - Friends & Family

120 Months

10 Years

10 years ago today I married my best friend!  We have seen many joys and struggles and yet through it all our love has grown.  I am the luckiest women in the world to get to travel through this life with you.

I love you Jon!

Happy Anniversary!

Charmian

Christmas Tree Ladybugs

This year when we brought in our Christmas tree we had a few ladybug, tag-alongs.  Alessandra found them and has quickly become obsessed with finding more Christmas Tree Ladybugs.  It has been about a week since we took out the Christmas Tree but it hasn't stopped Alessandra's hunt.  We were just wrapping up a skype call with my mom when Alessandra grabbed the computer, unplugged it, and carried it over to the patio door.  I asked her what she was doing and her response. "Lookin' for my Christmas Tree Ladybugs with Gommy"  So sweet.

Charmian