And the best part of making Xs for month after month?

is ripping all of those pages down after Daddy is home again…

Which means it’s also time to start planning for our next milestone event…

I started with January so the kids can remember the day Daddy came home.

Each month has a milestone holiday day or birthday to look forward to.

Just like we didn’t know exactly when Daddy would come home, we don’t know exactly when moving day will be.

So we’ll just keep making Xs and planning for what we do know – holidays and birthdays one month at a time.

This way when we finally do get something official, we’ll be able to add them to our plans!

How do you help the children in your life understand time?

What are your creative methods for helping your children prepare for big changes in their life?

(Oh – and here is a link to the free calendar website we use!)

Do you have any leftover Candy Canes? I am one of those people who HATES to throw things away.
(Which drives my husband absolutely bananas!)  Since they have such a lovely red and white color, I thought hmm…
Can I use them for Valentine’s Day some how?

So today, I broke out the glue gun and started getting creative…

I discovered if you use a dab or two of glue here and here…

They make the perfect heart shape to hang on a garland…

Bring a pretty birdy in from the garden and hang some fabric hearts on the line…

Our wedding cake topper…
“Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.”

Don’t forget to decorate the houseplants… trusty aluminum foil and some garland…

And here is the finished living room decorated for Valentines Day!

(Dya like that faux fireplace? I built mine from a dresser and a coffee table!)

Dont forget the dining room!

After dinner mints are always a good idea!

How do you decorate your home for Valentine’s Day?

Do you have any creative ideas for those leftover Candy Canes?

PS. Those vintage suitcases in the corner? That’s where I hide my holiday decorations!

This post has been linked to TidyMom’s “I’m Lovin it” meme!

And after consulting a few friends, we entered the “Park Plaza Hotel” into our GPS.

Our GPS brought us right to the front door and within 30 feet of the entrance for an underground parking garage.

Here is a gentleman cleaning the floors – I love how clean Europe is!

Parking in Europe is always a challenge.

Mostly because our big American vehicles are not built to scale.

We decided on a corner spot where Seth could park as close to the wall as possible!

Here he is, climbing out the passenger side.

First on our agenda was finding a restroom.

Someone had a little too much coffee to drink along the way. Ahem.

One of the things I learned as a college student traveling in Europe, was where to find a free bathroom.
In train stations, bus stops, and high traffic tourist places, the public restrooms charge a few coins to use the facility.

There is one always predictable exception to this rule:

McDonalds!

Once inside, we discovered a second story corner booth PERFECT for people watching.

People walking by the flower market…

Hmmm what should we buy…

A view of the famous Peter Fountain and Market Cross.

A gentleman selling roasted macaroons…

A mother and child at the base of the Market Cross…

A view across the street…

A group of tourists checking out the sites…

So if you’re ever in Trier on the medieval Main Market Square -

Feel free to stop by our favorite balcony on the second floor of McDonalds.

Their bathroom is free and  highly recommend the view!

Do you like to “people watch”?
What is your favorite thing to do with your beloved? ahem.

The first few days are always a roller coaster ride between euphoric elation to smack in the face reality moments.

The ‘Dishwasher Debacle’ post is one great example of this.

I LOVE that my husband is here to help with normal daily tasks.
I HATE that he does it wrong – er – differently – than I do.

Many times these small simple disagreements can lead to arguments about much bigger things.

After a few days, the stress level starts to increase.
Seth responds to stress by cleaning. (A behavior I have a love/hate relationship with.)

I am starting to feel more and more tired as days go by because I’m not sleeping through the night.
I am thrilled to have my husband home – but I jump out of my skin when he tries to wake me up.

It’s been just over two weeks now and we’re still not communicating very well.
I’m still in the mindset that I need to do things alone.

This is partly because Seth is still getting to know our routine.
He doesn’t know I let William sleep in his batman costume.
He doesn’t know I let Maggie have a sippy cup of milk in the living room at 5am.

He doesn’t know that when the kids get sick at night, I wipe them off,
put them in clean pjs, let them sleep with me in our bed, and clean up the mess in the morning.

It’s just going to take time.
While Seth was away, I had to pick my battles.
And now we have to learn all over again how to parent our children as a team.

This past weekend, we spent some time alone together with our children in daycare.
It was wonderful to just walk around the city of Trier, taking pictures and sampling street vender wares.
I think a whole day of undistracted attention for each other was something we both needed.

In these past two weeks of consciously trying to communicate and problem solve through each little conflict,
I’ve wondered.

How many other spouses feel like they’ve struggled more than their service member during reintegration?

Seth seems to have adapted very well to such a dramatic change.
He is helpful around the house, he is connecting with our kids -
and yet I can’t seem to shake this deployment mindset.

In many ways I feel like the life I’ve created to cope with deployment has been invaded.
I want him here.  I want his help.
I want his advice.  I want him to lock the door every night before bed.

But wow.
Sometimes.
It’s really really really hard to step back… and let him…

Have you ever felt like this before as a spouse?

How long did you feel like you were in deployment mode after your service member returned from deployment?

This is the famous Porta Nigra, which is latin for Black Gate, and was built between 186 and 200 AD.

Although Baumholder is less than an hour from Trier, we’ve never had the chance to visit.

So today I am editing over 200 pictures so I can share more of this ancient city with you.

And to introduce you to a few new friends we made… Meet Roberto and Keith!

You’ll never guess what we bought from their stand…

num num num…

So I’m curious – How often do you travel an hour or more to visit new places?

once a month? twice a month? once every 6 months? Do tell!

Also stay tuned for more pictures and stories this week from our trip to Trier!

all because a few months ago, I fell in love with this picture…

So I decided I’m going to try to take this bridesmaid dress from my sister’s wedding…

and attempt to gather the bodice and the skirt just a little…

and maybe add a little trim along the neckline after I remove the straps…

Wish me luck!

Have you ever given an old formal gown a makeover?

And for my Military Spouses – where do you usually buy your ball gowns for formal events?

I’m not the only one getting creative for a military ball! Check out Mrs Mama Hen’s dress too!

I spent my morning running errands and visited one of my favorite shopping destinations…

a fabric store!

About 10 minutes or so from the Ramstein mall,
this little shop has always had what I needed for my sewing projects.
From thread, to notions, to a wide array of every type of button you can imagine.

For those of you in Germany, the address is: Denisstrasse 22, 67663 Kaiserslautern (Tele 0631-50520)

If you’ve heard of the Toys-R-us/Globus area of Kaiserslautern, you can easily find this little shop.

Just go past the Toys-R-us until you reach a traffic light, make a left, and another left, and it’s on your right!

oh and FYI – they are open on weekends but they do NOT take American Credit Cards!

(Translation: bring EURO. lots of EURO. and what you don’t spend you can splurge at a German Bakery!)

Do you have a favorite place to go for fabric and craft supplies?

Stop by tomorrow and I’ll show you what I’ll be working on in the next few weeks!

no really… it IS going to happen…

I mean it…

and I’m going to finish all of the dishes…

every. single. last one…

hey – who’s snickering way in the back?

Then I will make sure I have enough time to decorate my house with lovely valentine decorations…

Martha Stewart will be proud…

and then I shall completely domesticate these three creatures into fine examples of gentile society…

Yes yes indeed…

Oh yes… and one more thing…

I shall add Nutella to the grocery list…

Yes yes… my beloved scrumptious Nutella…

and I shall pin this idea onto my “Ode to Nutella” board on pinterest.

And we will all live happily ever after in the land of Tir-na-Nog.

The End.

What’s on your to do list today?

How many times a week do you find yourself declaring war on the laundry?

When do you start putting up Valentine decorations?

During deployment I feel a lot of guilt for not being able to stop and just play with my children as much as I want to.

My mind is usually a visual rolodex of images ranging from overflowing laundry baskets
to cluttered countertops with stacks of unread mail
to stacks of dirty dishes and wondering what am I going to make for dinner tonight?

Watching them blow on their HOT plastic oreos ‘fresh from the oven’ I found myself soaking up the moment.
Someday soon, Miss Muffet and Bruce Wayne will be too busy for hats and pearls.
Mommy’s silly Julia Child/ British accent will no longer be amusing.

But until that day, when I am politely invited to tea -
I shall don a bright peach colored hawaiian skirt….
place my biggest garden hat upon my head…
offer my favorite pearl necklace to the hostess…

and do my best to simply savor the moment…
(and take pictures for blackmail on prom night) 

How do you find time to just ‘play’ with the children in your life?

What are your favorite things to do during your free time with family?

Which led me to a website stating that yesterday, January 23rd, was National Pie Day.

WAIT. just. a second.
Did someone forget to send me the Memo?!?!
(or is it under the stack of papers on the kitchen counter?)

So in honor of ‘I forgot it was National Pie Day’ I set my sites on this lovely cucurbit.

Cucurbit is just a fancy schmancy word in Botany speak that means “Squash”.

And so as I wandered along, continuing to slice and dice until I was up to my elbows in yummy pumpkin goodness,
I also decided to document my journey with pictures and upload them to Twitter via Instagram.

And after my lovely pumpkin was steaming itself in the oven, I thought hmmmm…
(with 1/2 cup water at 400 degrees for 60 minutes)

What OTHER kind of pie can I make?

In Pennsylvania, along I-78 there is a tiny little town called Shartlesville.

No more than a main street, this little town is where my Mother worked her way through nursing school,
by working as a cook at the Shartlesville Hotel. One of the recipes she has passed down to me,
is for home-made Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot pie.

So in honor of “We didn’t know it was National Pie Day” -

What is YOUR favorite kind of pie?

Did you learn how to make it from your Mama? or did you learn like I did – in a trial by fire…

Ummm… hunny???  

Could you help me open the windows and fan the fire alarm????

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram if you’d like to see my pumpkin pie when it comes out of the oven!

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