Merry Christmas and Frohe Weihnachten!

We had a wonderful Christmas here in Germany. We miss our friends and family very much and can't wait to be home for the holidays next year, but we made the best of things overseas this year. We spent Christmas Eve at a new friend's house. The family is so nice and we met two more great families while we were there. Again, I'm so grateful for the gospel which helps you find family all over the world. We had a delicious dinner complete with roast beef and twice baked potatoes. We watched The Christmas Story and sat around and talked for hours. There were plenty of kids and Jay had a great time too. He still doesn't really play with seems so much more content when they're around him. He also liked all the new (to hi other kids, but hem) toys to play with. It was so fun to watch the Christmas excitement of the older kids. I think Christmas Eve is the only night of the year children beg to go to bed. When we got home we strung lights around our "Christmas Tree" and then read Luke 2 and put Jay to bed. Once he was asleep we put on Jingle All the Way which we borrowed from our friend's extensive movie collection. Always fun to see Arnold in action.
On Christmas morning Jay and I watched Deal or no Deal until daddy woke up. Jay had no idea the day was going to be any different from any other day. When we finally went into the living room we saw that Santa had come. He found us even in Germany. We spent the next little while opening presents. Of course, like any toddler, Jay was more interested in the wrapping paper than the presents. Actually he was so busy playing with a new car in his stocking he didn't even get to the wrapping paper until we forced him to pay attention :) It took until about 1:00 for him to finally open all his presents. I think he's pleased with them. Some of his favorites are his toy car, his two barns, his stuffed golden retriever puppy (which he gave hugs and kisses to for several minutes after opening), and his giant green ball. He really liked the German Christmas chocolate he found on the floor, unwrapped, and ate. We found him sitting quietly in a box one of his toys had come in with chocolate all over his face. He definitely knows what's good.
Mommy and daddy received some great gifts too. Mike got me a jogging stroller! I was so excited that he had remembered what I wanted. I can't wait to try it out. We'll probably go on base with Mike when he works out in the mornings, jog, and then take the car back home. It will be nice to have some wheels. I also was given a nice new sweater from grandma Erickson, an electric razor (I need to shave often and hate doing it in the shower), Jessica Seinfield's cook book Deceptively Delicious, a pretty new scarf, a few trinkets and moula - all from mom and dad. On top of all this there's still another package with more presents on the way. They spoil me too much. From the Connelly's I got a sewing machine!!! Yeah! I'm so excited about it. Over the summer Jill helped me with my first sewing project in years and I had such a fun time with it. I'm excited to see what else I can make.
Mike received an extra controller for the Wii plus a game to go with it, an armband for his ipod, a sweet Spanish sports jump suite (Jay got one to match), a sweater, socks, white shirts (fun stuff), a collection of The Eagles Greatest Hits and money, money, money. With the money from Mama and Papa C & Mama and Papa J we bought a new Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS! We are SO happy to have it. It's a very useful thing to have in a foreign country. Yea for no more printing out mapquests! We feel it was well worth the money and we're loving it already (plus we got a pretty good deal).
After opening presents I baked another apple pie plus my first set of homemade rolls and then we headed out to our second Christmas dinner with new friends. Another family in the ward invited us over for Christmas day. We had a delightful dinner with a roast, almond encrusted chicken, homemade cranberry sauce, and all the yummy foods associated with a Christmas feast. We drank hot apple cider, ate pie, and watched the Forgotten Carols to top it all off. Jay again had a great time. The family has a little boy about a month older than him and they were so cute together! They were both wearing similar outfits, blond and about the same size which made them look almost like twins. Jay had a terrific time playing with some brightly colored balls at the house. He ate plenty, but spit out the green beans we offered him. We tried to show him how nicely his friend Leeum ate them but he didn't buy it. Still refusing those vegetables. I can't complain though, he really is a great eater.
Overall we had a very merry Christmas. One of the best parts was having Mike home for four days in a row. We had a great time just hanging out as a family. And now it's only 3 days until the weekend. I love Christmas time.

Here are some videos from the day...

More from Germany

When we first arrived in Germany Jay was a little nervous. He's a cautious little boy as it is and moving to a new place was a little scary for him. Jay and I arrived in Germany late on a Wednesday night. Poor Mike was extremely sick and Jay was so exhausted and bewildered at the same time that he wouldn't let me put him down in his crib. I lay down on the extremely uncomfortable couch and then lay Jay on top of me, since it was the only way he would sleep. At some point he was well enough asleep that I put him in his crib, but it was certainly not a comfortable night. He woke up more than once and I stayed on the couch the whole night since I didn't want to catch Mike's yucky flu. Not the best way to start our stay, is it? Happily, everything got better quickly. Jay adjusted to his new home nicely, excited by the new place to explore and Mike went to the doctor (first time in 10 years) and got over his sickness. After that things have been getting better and better.
One of Jay's favorite new activities has been pushing around his little triangle. Watch the video to see him in action. We've also taught him to touch his noise when we say, "Toca tu nariz," or "Touch your nose." He also can growl when you say, "Que dice el oso?" He also likes to give high fives. He's such a fun little boy. We're very happy that he's back on his normal sleep schedule too. Phew! The only bad thing is that we don't go on as many walks, so sometimes he goes stir crazy inside all day. We're both happy when daddy comes home.

We're Here!!!

We made it to Germany and we finally have access to the internet again. Wow, life is sure different without technology. We still don't have a functional TV, which is probably a good thing. We have missed AFN though. How can we survive without those high-quality ads? Really though, I have missed seeing all the good Christmas movies that are on this time of the year. Oh well, there are other ways to get into the Christmas spirit. Speaking of which, it is COLD here!! We're remembering what it's like to have cold-weathered holidays. It is REALLY cold here. I mean really, really cold. Maybe we're just wimps after hanging out in sunny Andalucia for so long but I haven't had to wear thermals in a long time. We'll have a white Christmas whether it snows or not because in the mornings frost covers everything in sight. Sometimes it lasts all day. It's actually very beautiful. We love the trees and greenery here. This is another big change from Spain. When we do get out and walk it's very pretty. We can't wait to see what Spring brings!
We live in a very small town, a pueblo really. The neat thing is that it was established in 1190. There are many, many small towns around us. They are about half a mile apart from each other. It's strange because you have to drive through them to get anywhere. They're not connected by a highway or anything. Just little two lane roads. There are several bases close-by. We're about 15 minutes from the closest. It's nice to be able to grocery shop normally. In Spain we only have a small little shopette on base. We have to drive one hour to Rota to get most things, or on the economy of course. I love our apartment. It's perfect for us! It's furnished very nicely and our landlords even decorated for Christmas. They are SO nice. Germans are such warm, accepting people. We are constantly amazed by how much they like Americans. What a difference from anywhere else we've been in Europe. Not that people in other countries aren't nice, but Germans go out of their way to be nice. They actually like Americans and are happy to have us here. SO many people speak English. It's amazing. They are very well educated. In fact we hear their education system is one of the best in the world. We haven't learned too much German yet, although there are a lot of similarities to English. I'm just trying to keep up on my Spanish. I did watch the Little Mermaid in Spanish and I understood most of it. I've also been reading the Liahona, which has helped. I can't stop practicing!
We love our new ward. Of course, we miss our little Spanish barrio too (p.s. check out my cute primary class - there's Ricardo, Maria Isabel, Rocio and Ana Paola). Our new ward is large and is an American ward. There are SOOOO many kids! Jay is in constant amazement by all of them. Apparently there are 42 children between the ages of zero and three. What a nursery! It makes sense when you think about the typical age of someone working for the military. Since retirement is possible after 20 years, most active duty are in the family stage of life. Everyone in the ward has been very welcoming. It's a very transient ward since most people are only stationed in Germany for 3 years or less. They're used to seeing new faces. We haven't received callings yet, but I have no doubt we will. I'm sure there must be a few primary callings open with all of those kids! We've met some really good people through the ward. Isn't it amazing how you can find family no matter where you are in the world through the gospel? We have an invite to a Christmas Eve dinner and a few more for Christmas day.
Last night (at 2 am) Mike went to a new friend's house to watch the BYU Bowl game. By the way... GOOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I woke up at 4 am to watch the second half, which ended up being dissapointing as far as offense goes, but I was happily rewarded to see BYU pull off the win in literally the last seconds of the game. All I can say is thank goodness for Manumaleuna's fingers! Can you believe a 280 pound lineman could have jumped so high? What a thrill! 10 straight wins in a row. GO COUGS!
Well, I better go for now. I have more to post about our fun weekend trip to Hidelburg. That will have to wait until tomorrow though because Jay is begging for my attention! More on him tomorrow too :)

Here are some pics of our place:

Heading to Germany

Jay and I are heading off to meet Mike in Germany very soon. We probably won't be able to blog for a little while, since we won't have everything set up there at first. Mike found us a nice apartment with 3 bedrooms, a roomy living room and a balcony. We're only 10 minutes from base and a close walk to the center of town. I'm still not sure what the name of the city is. It sounds great though, especially because it's where Mike is. We've definitely missed him. Here's a few new pictures of Jay. I caught him sitting on the floor with cookies all around him today. I guess he found his cookies in the diaper bag and decided to spread them out and take a bite out of each one. Smart! I did wonder what all that rustling was. He's getting two new teeth in on top. Poor little guy. Yesterday he was pretty sad. He also took two little steps all on his own yesterday. Of course I didn't catch it on film, but he's so close! He's understanding more and more of what I say now too. When I ask him if he wants a drink of milk, or I tell him it's time for a bath I can tell he really knows what I'm saying. Aren't babies amazing? Okay, I guess it's time I stopped calling him a baby. But that's what he is to me! His new favorite thing is to throw everything he can find into the bath tub. It's become much more fun than actually bathing. Everything goes in from mommy's toothpaste to his socks. He's starting to throw things everywhere really. He loves to chuck his bath toys and stuffed animals around the room. At least they're soft... although I'm not sure I should be encouraging that habit. I guess our quarterback is finally getting his arm. Lastly, here's a picture of what our town might look like. I know this one is close by to where the apartment is. Can't wait to check it all out!

Still Warm Enough to Crawl Outside

We're over being sick and we're SO glad. Jay has been very patient with mommy while she's finished up making some Christmas gifts. We did get a chance to get outside today though. Jay was so happy. It's still pretty warm here. Nowhere near summer-time highs, but warm enough. The sun especially feels nice. Soon we'll be in cold, but beautiful, Germany. Mike says it's very green there. I can't wait to see it! He's working on getting a place for us. We're very excited to join him up there. Jay and I both are missing him. We're doing our best to survive without daddy for now though. I caught Jay jabbering away outside and since I know how much his abuelas love videos of him I decided to post it. Here ya go.

Sick, sick, sick

A terrible cold has been going around and we've got it! Mike is now sick a second time and Jay and I are getting over our first bouts. The cough will probably linger for days. Jay and I received flu shots yesterday, so hopefully they will help our chances of not getting sick again. The bad thing is that Jay woke up at 10:30 pm with a high fever of 102 from the shot. Poor little guy. He just kept whining and whining over and over again. He was so tired, but feeling so awefule he couldn't sleep. After I got him to go back to bed he woke up again at 11:30 pm and wouldn't sleep again until 12:30 am. Luckily his fever had gone down by then. He woke up at 6:00 am, his usual time, but I coerced him back to sleep until 8:30 am. Poor Mike though. He drove for a total of 24 hours in the last 2 days and was sick for half of it with chills. I guess Europe is hitting us hard with all the strands of cold and flu we never had in the States. Well, hopefully we'll all be feeling better soon. The good news is we'll be living in Germany by this time next week! Mike is already there and Jay and I go to join him next Wednesday. We're so excited. Jay is going to miss his friends here, and Mike and I will too, but we'll be back to see them soon. I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us in Germany!
We had a great Enrichment last night. Again, I cannot express how much I love the people in our ward. They wanted to make sure I could be there for our Christmas Enrichment so they decided to set the date early in the month. We had a secret Santa gift exchange. The only rule was you had to make your gift. You could buy the materials but that's all. It was such a nice night. We had a little lesson, watched the nativity story and then each person opened their gift in front of everyone. After the gift was opened, the person who made it revealed herself. I received a beautiful glass marmalade jar with a little embroidered cloth on top that says, "For a special friend." My sweet friend Josefina made it for me. She even wrote the words in English! I made a Family Home Evening wheel for Nancy. She is a wonderful woman too. I had so much fun making my present. I even drilled the holes in the wood to put the screw through. P.S. Here's a little video of Jay playing in the basement. He's crawling in the video, but he's SO close to walking. He loves walking while holding both hands and he can walk holding only one hand too, but he doesn't like it as much. He also stands up spontaneously and even pivots around occasionally. We'll keep you posted.