New home in Steinbach am Glan, Germany

Well, we have been living in our new home for almost a month now. It feels good to be getting settled in and organized. There is still some work to be done, but this week is 'finalizing week' as my Mom will be coming to visit us for the month of November. The home is much easier to maintain and it fits our needs much better than the house before.

There is a local park that is within walking distance and the kids rode their bike/scooter, while I strolled Brenne and we played for a little while. There isn't much to the park, but the kids enjoyed it.

Our commute is a little bit longer and with the current construction that is happening in the town before us, Henschtal, we have a longer, but beautiful drive to get to autobahn. The following picture is the view of Leibstal and Quirnbach.

Liam's New Beginnings

Liam started pre-kindergarten at an American Montessori school called the C&K Children's House on September 29th. He was very excited to be there and going to 'school'. His neighbor friend (and son of one of Mark's co-workers), Sammy, also attends the school. This is a new beginning for Liam as he turned 4 years old on October 5th and welcomes his new age with enthusiasm and a strong desire for learning.

He spent his birthday celebration at the on-base bowling alley with friends who work with Mark. He was glad to have a 'real' party with friends. He is very happy to be a big 4 year old boy.

(He is wearing the same outfit in both pictures, but they were taken on different days).

Brenne's first word is....

"Bah-Bah" comes from the lips of Brenne after bye-bye was said to her when Layne and Liam were in bed saying good-night. She didn't say it until she was in her room as I was about to read to her. I immediately took her back to their room and she said 'bah-bah' after Liam said it and Layne said it. It was a great milestone to witness and it occurred on Wednesday October 8, just two days before turning 10 months. She hasn't said 'bah-bah' much since then, but we continue to encourage her.

Brenne is also keeping her balance longer, about 5 seconds and I bet will be taking her first steps this month.

Kid moments

We are just getting into our little routines and enjoying simple moments right now. Layne just loves to ride her 'borrowed' bike after school and Liam really loves to color in his coloring book. Brenne is just happy to be crawling around and pulling herself up where she can. She did climb a flight of stairs recently and loved it. Check out new pictures at our web album site.

Some new milestones

Well summer is over and new milestones are to be reported. Brenne is successfully pulling herself up into a standing position and will make this happen wherever possible. She also loves to roam around outside, of course trying out grass and dirt if she can.

Liam still enjoys all his moments inside, outside and will now be focusing on his writing skills and other pre-school basics. He is spelling his name out loud. His favorite word and color is R E D.

Layne is now a 1st grader and happy to be moving up into more learning skills. She is also excited about learning more german and already likes her new teacher Frau Trefftzs.

Singing to Brenne before born

Here is a video of Liam singing with me to Brenne just days before she is born. I thought it was too cute and I was able to download it for viewing. It is amazing that it has been eight months since Brenne was delivered to our family and how much Liam has changed in less than a year.

Happy Viewing!!

England Adventrue

What an exciting week we had in England. It was a treasure to be able to vacation with our friends and see some beautiful and fascinating sights of England. We stayed at a timeshare villa in Barham, just outside of Dover. The kids had a wonderful time playing with the many other kids that were staying that week in the enclosed courtyard. One hilarious happening was the daily visits from the door-to-door ducks looking to be fed. The kids loved providing the ducks with bread. They also enjoyed swimming and playing some tennis there as well.

The beautiful courtyard

Woods family feeds the ducks

In Canterbury, we walked through a charming little village park on our way to see the Cantebury Cathedral. We did enjoy seeing the "busyness" of the town. We did miss out on seeing the Cantebury Tales sights, but loved visiting the town.

The kids at the Canterbury Cathedral

In Dover, we first saw the White Cliffs of Dover, which were breathtaking to see, as well as walk along the paths. Brenne was exhausted and wanted to exercise her crawling skills, so Mommy didn't get to walk the cliffs. I did sit on a nice spot where I had a beautiful view of the cliffs and channel. Later in the week, we went to the Dover Castle, home of Henry VIII and the WWII secret wartime tunnels. The amount of history we discovered in our tours was very educational.

Layne and Liam at the White Cliffs of Dover

Our family at the Dover Castle

In London, we of course thoroughly enjoyed all the popular sites we could see in two days. We really enjoyed taking the Original Bus Tour so that we could see the heart of London. It was great to view the culture and experience the London Eye, see Big Ben, the London Bridge, Tower of London (which we didn't go inside), Westminister Abby, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the Guards. We even took the underground subway a couple of times. All adventures were enjoyed by all and the kids were great on the times when we had to walk long distances.

The popular red telephone booth

The Woods family (Andy, Kim, Gabe, and Gavin) were a great family to have along with us on our England adventure. This vacation will definitely be one we will cherish and we look forward to exploring more of England at another time.

Many more photos are available to be seen at our Web Album