Layne's Party

Layne had a great turn out of friends at her 7th birthday party at an indoor fun park called Yabadoo. As I wanted her to have fun with her friends and kept up with all the other details of the party, I didn't take any pictures of them playing. The only pictures are of the cake cutting and singing. She overall had a great birthday celebration, loved all of her gifts, and picking out party favors for her guests.

As for Layne's cake, I took the decorative napkin and drew freehand the little princesses on tracing paper, then shrunk them onto copy paper. I colored them in and placed contact paper and a popsicle stick on them to make them more sturdy. Layne colored in the castle coloring page and I placed it on a piece of cardboard and then placed contact paper on it as well.

Down Memory Layne-Birth to Seven

Layne has grown up and oh how quickly. Here are a few photos and a video to see how she has changed.

Happy 7th Birthday Layne

WOW! Layne is now 7 years old. She has blossomed into a loving, caring, and creative girl who loves her family and really loves puppy dogs, loves to draw and color, and be helpful with her brother and sister. She is happy at school and enjoys learning and being with her friends. We are blessed to have Layne in our family. She is a treasure and a joy to be with. Her 7th year will be an adventure and we await many new memories to cherish for 2009.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We had a wonderful Christmas, here again in Germany. It was great to see the kids excitment and watch them open up gifts. Brenne even got into opening gifts and was very enthusiastic with her toys. We thank all our friends and family who provided us with wonderful gifts. Each gift showed us your love and appreciation for our relationship.

My favorite memory this season was singing Christmas songs with the kids in the car. Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph were their favorites. Liam loved Feliz Navidad. We also enjoyed making festive crafts to decorate the house. It warmed my heart to hear them request the 'Christmas Story' of Jesus' birth be read almost every night before bed.

As the 2008 year ends, I am thankful and blessed for the many cherished and precious memories that have been created with Layne, Liam, and Brenne. I thank our family and friends who have kept in touch with us and shared their lives and happenings. With the new year, 2009 will bring us many new adventures and stories to share. So Happy New Year to all, cheers to a great one!!!

Brenne's First Birthday

Brenne had a great birthday celebration. Due to Mark's work schedule we had cake and sang 'Happy Birthday' on Wednesday. Then on her birthday, December 11th, we had more cake and opened up presents. Brenne was very much 'into' the birthday cake and loved opening gifts. She is a very happy girl who is very curious and energetic. She gets very excited when she interacts with Layne and Liam, as well as others she is comfortable with. She takes to unfamiliar people well and prefers to be walking whenever given the chance. She also loves to babble her own language and sounds. She loves to listen to music, move her body to the beat and will even sing. We are very blessed and thankful to have her in our family and that she is healthy and happy. She is currently 18 pounds and 28 inches tall.

Brenne is Walking

Brenne has really gotten a grasp of walking around and starting to speak her own babble language. She started out taking a few steps and of course figured it out with time. Here is a short video of her walking those steps in larger quantity. She also loves to hold her baby doll, so towards the end she is rocking it to a lullaby and giving her a 'love pat' hug.

Rothenburg Christmas Market

Our day was spent relaxing after Thanksgiving, but late afternoon we took a 2 1/2 hour drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber to the famous Christmas Market and home of the Kathe Wolfahrt christmas oranaments/decoration store. The little market sparkled with lights and the half-timbered house/buildings were beautiful to see. We enjoyed walking around the store and seeing all the wonderful Christmas decorations that were made by various artists. We made a few purchases and explored a few more of the shops and vendors. It was well worth the trip and my Mom was very excited to have seen such a beautiful little town (so were the rest of us). We were so taken in by the market that we only captured one picture in front of the large nutcracker.