I was busy the last few days, Jan finally found a truck, a 2001 Dodge Ram. Things just don't work out with just one car around here, so I'm really glad we can just get rid of the Honda now , it's not working since June.
We watched the book of Eli yesterday and I was really surprised that you could almost label it a christian movie. I say almost because there is a lot of violence and it is rated R, but the violence is only supposed to reflect the difficult and violent times it plays in. We really thought it was a good movie.
Leeann had her Spiritline (cheerleading) Promo Night on Friday and I can't wait to see her in her little outfit! She's gonna have practice every Tuesday afternoon and then games Friday nights in April and May, I'm really excited and I think she is too!
My mom just had her 4th round of chemo of a total of 6 rounds, so only two more to go and it's over! Her hair can grow back and hopefully she can be her old healthy pre-cancer self again :).
Well, actually it's not completely over yet, she will still have to go through radiation but that won't be a big deal, I hope.
Jan is going back to work this week. I'm a little sad that he won't be able to spend that much time with us anymore but I'm excited too that everything is going back to normal like it was before he left.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Date night
My husband and I used to go out a lot before we had kids, like everyone else does probably.
We still went out at least every other week, probably more after Leeann was born. My parents, my sister and Jan's brother all just lived about 2 hours away and we either drove down to visit them or they came to visit us, so there was always someone there to watch Leeann.
When Leeann was about 1 my sister moved to Kaiserslautern only about 20 min away from us, so we always had an instant babysitter, poor Ute.
Anyway, that completely changed when we moved to the states in 2007. Leeann was about to turn 2 and I was 7 months pregnant with Tyler, pretty much over night there was no more family living anywhere close to us. The closest family was in Tennessee, a 26 hour drive away.
I hated it. I hated the heat, I was used to spending most of the time with two very close friends in Germany, Nadja and Ramona. I met them both in birth prep. class, they were about my age and had kids pretty much exactly the same age Leeann was/is.
We went hiking with our strollers or we let the kids play in the backyard while we watched them and had coffee. We talked about everything and it really broke my heart when we moved.
So there I was in Phoenix in August, pregnant, moody and very lonely. It was so hot that you couldn't go outside until it was too dark to do anything and I had no one to spend the time with when Jan was at work. I felt very sorry for myself. It didn't get better when they moved us in roach-infested government housing.
I started praying and Jan started taking me to church. I found all my strength in God and I realized that this move had been a way to pull me closer to him. And now I'm glad I went through this. I'm not sure I have had the strength for a lot of things if I wouldn't have learned how to cling to the Lord at this point.
On November 14th 2007 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and the first thing he did, before he even cried, was peeing on me, just like his sister 26 months earlier, so the first thing he did was make me laugh, and he still does :)
We have found many great friends here, we got back what we lost and then some. But what we didn't get back was time with each other. After Tyler was born, me and Jan hardly ever spent any time together alone. Babysitters cost money and we just didn't feel like it was important, we were spending time with each other, but the kids were always around.
When he was deployed for a total of 7 months I realized how much I really missed that. So we decided to hire a babysitter every other week so we can have a date night. I need time with my hubby, I don't want us to lose touch along the way. I love him and he is my best friend, I need to spend time with him alone. And what greater gift can you give your children than happily married parents?
We still went out at least every other week, probably more after Leeann was born. My parents, my sister and Jan's brother all just lived about 2 hours away and we either drove down to visit them or they came to visit us, so there was always someone there to watch Leeann.
When Leeann was about 1 my sister moved to Kaiserslautern only about 20 min away from us, so we always had an instant babysitter, poor Ute.
Anyway, that completely changed when we moved to the states in 2007. Leeann was about to turn 2 and I was 7 months pregnant with Tyler, pretty much over night there was no more family living anywhere close to us. The closest family was in Tennessee, a 26 hour drive away.
I hated it. I hated the heat, I was used to spending most of the time with two very close friends in Germany, Nadja and Ramona. I met them both in birth prep. class, they were about my age and had kids pretty much exactly the same age Leeann was/is.
We went hiking with our strollers or we let the kids play in the backyard while we watched them and had coffee. We talked about everything and it really broke my heart when we moved.
So there I was in Phoenix in August, pregnant, moody and very lonely. It was so hot that you couldn't go outside until it was too dark to do anything and I had no one to spend the time with when Jan was at work. I felt very sorry for myself. It didn't get better when they moved us in roach-infested government housing.
I started praying and Jan started taking me to church. I found all my strength in God and I realized that this move had been a way to pull me closer to him. And now I'm glad I went through this. I'm not sure I have had the strength for a lot of things if I wouldn't have learned how to cling to the Lord at this point.
On November 14th 2007 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and the first thing he did, before he even cried, was peeing on me, just like his sister 26 months earlier, so the first thing he did was make me laugh, and he still does :)
We have found many great friends here, we got back what we lost and then some. But what we didn't get back was time with each other. After Tyler was born, me and Jan hardly ever spent any time together alone. Babysitters cost money and we just didn't feel like it was important, we were spending time with each other, but the kids were always around.
When he was deployed for a total of 7 months I realized how much I really missed that. So we decided to hire a babysitter every other week so we can have a date night. I need time with my hubby, I don't want us to lose touch along the way. I love him and he is my best friend, I need to spend time with him alone. And what greater gift can you give your children than happily married parents?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
I'm getting ready to move
And we're not really moving, at least not yet. We don't have orders and we don't have any idea when it will be time to move again. But I catch myself preparing the house and myself for a move all the time.
Is that a military spouse syndrome? Or maybe it's because we moved after 3 years from our last base in Germany, and now we're here for 2 1/2 years? I sort through stuff, thinking about what's worth moving and what is not, every time we make new friends I think "I'll sure miss them after the move." And here is the weird thing, right now moving is not a scary thing for me at all (I'm sure it will be as soon as it gets real, there are movers in my house and I have to say goodbye to all the people who are like family to me). Right now, I'm actually excited to move. It's hard to explain, I really like it here, we have great friends, I love our church, we just moved to Surprise and I really like the house and the neighborhood, I even like the base (although it's a lot smaller then Ramstein of course). I'm not so sure if I like the weather but that's not enough reason to actually want to move.
I think it's just because I know that moving is part of military life and I want to be ready, I don't want to be taken by surprise, so when Jan comes home with new orders I can say "okay" and be actually excited about starting over some place else.
I never liked it when people are complaining all the time, don't get me wrong a lot of people have reason to complain but if you chose to marry someone who is active duty you just have to try and make things work. Right, I say that now, I probably whined my friends ears bloody while Jan was gone.
Anyway, I'm trying, I'm still complaining too much but hey, I'm German, what do you expect :)
Is that a military spouse syndrome? Or maybe it's because we moved after 3 years from our last base in Germany, and now we're here for 2 1/2 years? I sort through stuff, thinking about what's worth moving and what is not, every time we make new friends I think "I'll sure miss them after the move." And here is the weird thing, right now moving is not a scary thing for me at all (I'm sure it will be as soon as it gets real, there are movers in my house and I have to say goodbye to all the people who are like family to me). Right now, I'm actually excited to move. It's hard to explain, I really like it here, we have great friends, I love our church, we just moved to Surprise and I really like the house and the neighborhood, I even like the base (although it's a lot smaller then Ramstein of course). I'm not so sure if I like the weather but that's not enough reason to actually want to move.
I think it's just because I know that moving is part of military life and I want to be ready, I don't want to be taken by surprise, so when Jan comes home with new orders I can say "okay" and be actually excited about starting over some place else.
I never liked it when people are complaining all the time, don't get me wrong a lot of people have reason to complain but if you chose to marry someone who is active duty you just have to try and make things work. Right, I say that now, I probably whined my friends ears bloody while Jan was gone.
Anyway, I'm trying, I'm still complaining too much but hey, I'm German, what do you expect :)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
our last name is very entertaining...
At least it seems to be. It is pretty long, it doens't mean anything funny, it's jutst very long. 15 letters long. So every time someone asks us for our last name, checks our ID to get on base or sees it on a credit card they seem to follow the same little ritual:
1.) They look at it in total disbelief.
2.) They're still looking, trying to make sense out of it.
3.) They start trying to pronounce it: "Rhy...Rie...man...men..schnied...schnay..."
4.)They usually give up and ask:"How in the world do you pronounce that?"
5.)Even if they do not follow the first four steps exactly, that one is always the same:"Oh my gosh, that is one lonoog name!" Really? You think so?
6.)Some of them ask me for my maiden name and then tell me that my husband is lucky to have found someone who will voluntarily deal with that 15 letters every day, lol.
And still we're never gonna change it (well maybe ask us again in another 10 years or so ;)). It's a very old name, we have a fancy crest from the 15th century and Tilman Riemenschneider was one of hubby's ancestors. Doesn't tell people here much, in Germany that's the first thing people ask: "Are you related to THAT Riemenschneider?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilman_Riemenschneider
We saw some of the altars he made and are totally fascinated, especially since they are about 500 years old now.
This name, even if it's a pain sometimes, okay pretty often, is part of our history, of who we are as a family and of where we come from.
So I have to admit that I love it, I really do :)
1.) They look at it in total disbelief.
2.) They're still looking, trying to make sense out of it.
3.) They start trying to pronounce it: "Rhy...Rie...man...men..schnied...schnay..."
4.)They usually give up and ask:"How in the world do you pronounce that?"
5.)Even if they do not follow the first four steps exactly, that one is always the same:"Oh my gosh, that is one lonoog name!" Really? You think so?
6.)Some of them ask me for my maiden name and then tell me that my husband is lucky to have found someone who will voluntarily deal with that 15 letters every day, lol.
And still we're never gonna change it (well maybe ask us again in another 10 years or so ;)). It's a very old name, we have a fancy crest from the 15th century and Tilman Riemenschneider was one of hubby's ancestors. Doesn't tell people here much, in Germany that's the first thing people ask: "Are you related to THAT Riemenschneider?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilman_Riemenschneider
We saw some of the altars he made and are totally fascinated, especially since they are about 500 years old now.
This name, even if it's a pain sometimes, okay pretty often, is part of our history, of who we are as a family and of where we come from.
So I have to admit that I love it, I really do :)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Back to normal, I mean the good normal :)
Things are getting back to normal I guess.
The kids pretty much act like Jan wasn't gone at all, but Leeann gets nervous when he leaves the house, she keeps asking me if he's going back on a plane to "Ghanistan". It's so hard to explain that he's here for now but not forever. Does a 4 year old have any concept of time? Do I get the fact that he's not here for that long? Do I wanna get it?
For now I just pretend there is no such thing as future deployments and enjoy the time together as a family.
Tomorrow we're planning a little trip to Wickenburg. I just love Wickenburg, it's such a small cute town with a lot of little shops and restaurants and we all really need to get out of the house.
The last week was rainy and we had to stay inside for way too long, we all have a little bit of cabin fever. Rainy is an understatement, the backyard and the playground around the corner were totally flooded, you could have gone for a swim on the playground, I'm serious, Leeann would have if I had let her!
Jan is going back to work next week and everything is going back to normal like he wasn't gone at all. I can't believe he was gone for 7 months... Thank God it's over :)
The kids pretty much act like Jan wasn't gone at all, but Leeann gets nervous when he leaves the house, she keeps asking me if he's going back on a plane to "Ghanistan". It's so hard to explain that he's here for now but not forever. Does a 4 year old have any concept of time? Do I get the fact that he's not here for that long? Do I wanna get it?
For now I just pretend there is no such thing as future deployments and enjoy the time together as a family.
Tomorrow we're planning a little trip to Wickenburg. I just love Wickenburg, it's such a small cute town with a lot of little shops and restaurants and we all really need to get out of the house.
The last week was rainy and we had to stay inside for way too long, we all have a little bit of cabin fever. Rainy is an understatement, the backyard and the playground around the corner were totally flooded, you could have gone for a swim on the playground, I'm serious, Leeann would have if I had let her!
Jan is going back to work next week and everything is going back to normal like he wasn't gone at all. I can't believe he was gone for 7 months... Thank God it's over :)
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