Halloween

Ok so this is the cutest mouse I have ever seen!  My mom sent it to me in September, and I just had to pick costumes for the other two, to go along with Isla Mouse.  I just can't get over those cheeks.

So we went with the Knight, Princess, and the Castle Mouse.

Eyeballs and Frankencups for the Ward Halloween party...my eyeballs won for most creative dessert!

Getting a little braver this year...

Who says a dentist can't have fun on Halloween?

We couldn't decide whether to trick-or-treat in our village, or on base.  Trick or treating has only recently gained popularity in Germany.  So not everyone does it.  We were afraid we wouldn't get any houses in our tiny village.  So we decided to check out the scene on base. It was a ZOO.  We should have just turned around after running into the traffic jam trying to get on base.  Only we physically could not turn around on those tiny roads!  So we just went with it.  They did more of like a 'trunk or treat'.  And they had a bunch of carnival games going on.  The kids had a blast.  The parents, well, I think we'll just stick to our village next year.

Sawyer's really getting into this bean bag toss.  It makes me happy.

The Sunday before Halloween...complete with orange shirt and pumpkin tights.

Visited the bakery on Halloween morning.  The kids were excited to see that they had 'americanized' some of the pastries for them :)

October

The month of October was pretty much spent moving into the new house and getting settled.  (Let's be honest, we weren't feeling settled until about 3 months later :))  Besides unpacking, we spent some time exploring the new area, visiting local flea markets, spending time with family and new friends, and of course preparing for Halloween (more about that on the next post).  Nathan and I were also given callings in our new ward.  I was called to be the Young Women's Secretary (SO excited about that!), and Nate was called to be the Scout Master.  The Ramstein Military Ward was split back in May, so there was a lot of work to do in getting the scouts chartered, organized, etc.  He has been working hard these past few months and has gotten a lot accomplished.  And I am loving getting to know the Young Women in our ward.  They are a great group of girls.  

I also finally got Isla in for her 4 month well-check (about 4 days shy of 5 months).  She was doing fabulously.  She is really such a sweet girl, other than that she hates riding in the car.  We are all looking forward to the day that Isla can be happy in the car!  But otherwise she is a very happy and mild-mannered baby.  We all love her to death.  And she doesn't seem to be quite as anxious to move around as her siblings were, so we are grateful for that!  Here were her 'almost 5 month' stats:

Height: 25.39 in (71%) (i think he measured wrong...no way she is 71%)          

Weight: 13.34 lbs (24%)

Head: 23%

This was in the Temporary Housing on base.  They were in there for a good 15 minutes just cracking up together. 

Sawyer is such a boy.  Here we are at the TLA playground.

...more earthworm exploration

Just enjoying the view from his new bedroom

Sawyer LOVES Isla.  He will be mid-conversation and suddenly notice Isla in the room--then immediately jump to coddling her.  He is also trying to be helpful with Isla, which lately has included even trying to take her out of the crib for me.  Yikes!  We have lots of talks about what is 'helpful' and what is 'dangerous'.

Eating Brats at a flea market in Homburg

Up on the farm roads behind our house...really beautiful views up there

When we found first found the listing for our house, we joked about living in a village called 'Fockenberg'.  Well, that joke has become a reality folks.  Our humble village-->Fockenberg-Limbach.  About 200 inhabitants.  Kind of the boonies, but we love it.

Kids got tired of riding their bikes on the way home...

Nate was trying to get ready for his PT test.  Sawyer couldn't handle all the hills on his little go-cart, so Nate semi-pulled him.  And also decided to stretch himself by pushing the girls at the same time.  

 tired little girl at the BX

Exploring the new house

My cousin gave us this little bouncer while we were staying at Trudy's...it was a lifesaver

 Our new 'Little Caesars'...much yummier, much more expensive ;)

Sawyer asked for the 'fat cow' milk at the commissary one day...I hadn't even noticed the graphics, lol

A view of our village.  We live up on the top right-ish, but kinda set into a hill there so you can't see our house in this picture.

There is a little wildlife park not far from our house.  We got a season pass.  They have some random play structures for the kids too.  Its a fabulous place for a walk.

Kinda hard to teeter-totter with goats

Towards the end of October, we had a visit from my Aunt Gabi, and my two cousins, Kirstin & Annika.  It was so fun to have visitors!  They came bearing gifts, as usual!  We had such a fun day...lunch, the wildlife park, cake.  Annika brought her kids along (at my request!).  Marlon is 5, and the twins are 3. My kids love playing with them, despite the language barrier.  Unfortunately, between the 5 of them, this was the best picture we could gather.

And another attempt at a group shot before they went home...crazy kids

The wildlife park has a huge bird exhibit.  The bald eagles are pretty impressive.

Sawyer waving to the bald eagle during one of their bird shows

Nate was trying to hang a medicine cabinet for me, but the metal hooks were too long or something.  So he got out the trusty angle grinder, and per my request, put on the gas mask for protection.  Pretty hardcore.

I am so blessed!

The Robot Park

Somewhere in the middle of all of the house-hunting, we promised the kids that we would go to Europa Park.  Sawyer still remembered it well from our visit last summer.  He always called it the 'robot park'...I guess that's what Europa sounded like to him.  We felt so bad dragging the kids all over the place and never having any fun.  So this adventure was definitely earned and appreciated!  We all had such a great time.  There's something so fun about doing stuff like this with just my little family.  After our full day at the park, we drove to my Aunt Gabi's house to stay the night.  They live only about 20-30 minutes from the Park.  I stayed up late hanging out with Gabi, Helmut, my cousin Kirstin, and her two kids.  It was fun to catch up with them.  The next morning (Sunday) we had breakfast and then went over to my cousin Annika's house to say hi.  She has 3 kids who are about Sawyer and Violet's ages, so they all had a blast together while we talked.  After our visit with them we headed north, caught the last hour of church, and went home.  It was an enjoyable (and exhausting!) weekend for all of us.

Sawyer got a kick out of this peeing statue by the bathroom

Sawyer LOVED the swing ride this year

They thought these skeleton firefighters were hilarious.  Sawyer saw a 10 yr old boy doing bunny ears in the picture before it was his turn.  I guess he thought that was pretty cool.

I can't remember what she was pointing at, but I love this face!

Nathan took Sawyer on one last ride before the park closed, while I headed back to the entrance with the girls.  They love their one-on-one time.  And Sawyer was pretty excited to get the fire sword that he'd begged me for last year.  I had convinced him to get a much more normal looking sword, but he still regretted not getting the fire one.  So much to his approval, we now have both :)