Writers block.

I feel like my blog has been boring lately.

I feel like I'VE been boring lately.

My mind feels like it moves at a snails pace.

Lack of sleep?  Yes.

Here's a few facts/quotes/happenings that have been going on around here:

-Hallie gave me a hug around my waist yesterday then said, "why are you SO squishy?"  Psht, last time I hug her.  haha.

-I've had mastitis 3 times in the last 10 weeks.  The last time was on Thanksgiving....which sucked.  It's my nursing curse.  If I didn't burn so many calories nursing, it wouldn't be worth it.

-We had parent teacher conferences at Chase's preschool and at Hallie's school last week.  Nothing makes you prouder as a parent than hearing teachers rave about your kids.  Chips off the old block.  haha.  Just kidding.  I remember my parent teacher conferences always had a large focus on my talking in class and rushing through my class work so I could play Oregon Trail.  Remember that game?

-We're leaving for California in a week and a half, I can't WAIT.  It's been a year since I've been home and I really miss my family.  And HB.

-Matt's leaving for the whole week before we leave to California...which makes me a single Mom and lone ranger packer for our Christmas break.  Which makes me want to choke him out.

-I'm living in clothing hell.  Nothing from pre pregnancy fits me (unless you count huge sweatpants) but my maternity clothes are NOT cute on my non pregnant body.  They weren't really that cute on my pregnant body.  Every Sunday before church I throw a temper tantrum and start ripping clothes out of my closet, trying them on, ripping them off, throwing them on the floor, sitting on the edge of my bed crying, rinse and repeat.  Matt (having been through this now with 3 children) makes sure he's ready for church before me and doesn't come ANYWHERE near our bedroom while I'm getting ready.  Then, when I finally join the family (who are usually all waiting for me in the car) he tells me I look nice.  I roll my eyes and call him a liar.  He laughs and drives on.  I hate this justhadababy phase.

-I'm excited for our families to finally meet Paige.  I can't believe this baby that we all love so much has never met the rest of her family. 

-Matt has a masters class every night this week and all weekend....two hours away.  If it wasn't for the greater good of our family and his career, I would also want to choke him out for this.

-Speaking of Matt...I love him.  I count my blessings everyday for him.  He gets up 45 minutes early every morning to juice for our family.  The kids get fresh juice every morning packed full of fruits and veggies and he  makes me a botttle full of it and puts it in the fridge for my breakfast and lunch.  He's pretty amazing.  Plus, he gets the kids ready for school every morning and out the door so I can sleep in.  And he's really good looking. 

-My sister Lara is having twin girls and I REALLY hope they have arrived by Christmas time so I can see them. 

-We are moving to Oklahoma in May.  When I tell people that they get this look on their faces of pity.  haha.  Is it weird that I'm kind of excited about it?  We get to buy a house.  We get to have HUGE diet cokes with free refills.  We get to be within driving distance (ok, a long driving distance) of our families.  A few more reasons:  Target, target, target.

-Ok, update complete for now. 







Sometimes we go to Poland to buy Pottery. Then we go to Berlin.

Since we had never been to Berlin, and we needed to finish off our collection of Polish Pottery, and the two happened to be pretty close to eachother, and our time living in Europe is almost up, we took a road trip.

It was a quick, 3 day trip.

And we had a really good time.

And Paige was a PERFECT angel. 

So were Hallie and Chase.

 

There was a pottery shop in Poland where the kids could paint their own pottery, then they fire it and mail it to you.  They had so much fun painting their mugs, I'll put finished pics of the mugs when they arrive.

Chase pretty much only wanted to paint with the color brown.  Such a boy.

Hallie hard at work.

Here is Matt in front of Reichstag. 

Brandenburg Gate.  While the Berlin stood this gate was in no mans land.  Now it's one of the busiest areas of Berlin (as far as tourists go).

This is a memorial built in memory of all the Jews who lost their lives during WW2.  There was a museum underground, but they didn't recommend bringing children under the age of 12 in (because of graphic pictures) so we didn't get to go in.  Kind of sad we missed that.

Matt standing on either side of where the Berlin Wall once stood.  It was so crazy for me to imagine this city split in half by a wall that people could not cross. 

Some very important history took place at this hotel.  This is were Michael Jackson dangeled his baby over the balcony.

The kids favorite part of Berlin?  The BUBBLES!

This is a memorial in BebelPlatz, where they burned books that were not in line with Nazi thinking. Notice all the empty book cases in the ground.

There was a quote on a plaque by Heinrich Heine’s from 1820 that said: “Wherever they burn books, eventually they will burn people too.”

It's so true.

I loved the Berlin Cathedral.  It was soooo pretty.

Here's Matt and Chase in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Striking a pose in front of the victory tower.  Just proving I was there too.

This is when  you know the kids are done taking pictures.

Why I love Poland:

Aren't they delish?

Hallie's 1st Grade Picture

Wish I would have know the background was going to be grey this year....it was blue last year.

Oh well.

She's still just adorable.

And she INSISTED on wearing my pearls for her pictures.

So grown up.

Preschool Halloween Party

Chase's preschool had a little Halloween party yesterday that they invited the parents to attend.  Since Hallie was at school, and Paige slept the whole time, Matt and I were able to focus all of our attention on Chase.  It was really nice to get to hang out with my little buddy and have him show me around his preschool.  We went to the "pumpkin patch" (the sports field) to pick a pumpkin, then walked back to the preschool (his preschool is on the base, right next to the building Matt works in) to paint pumpkins and have some snacks.

I have found that it's nearly impossible to get a picture of Chase without a weird/creepy look on his face.  This one isn't too bad though.  I also remember my brothers being incapable (still to this day) of having a normal look on their faces for pictures.  I guess it's a boy thing.  Maybe a Powell boy thing.

Getting ready to paint our pumpkins.

I love that Matt works within a few seconds walking distance to both of the kids schools.  It's been so nice to have him so involved with all the kids stuff because he can just walk over from work.

This is a picture of Chase I forgot to post from the trunk or treating on base.  We came across a Captain America poster and had to get his picture with it. I love this little boy.