Moran Family Fun

Day 27 - If you ever want to find Madison, she's usually here at the piano playing one song or another.  In the last six months, maybe longer, she has really started to take off with her piano skills.  She will play and play and play a song until she has it perfected and memorized.  I've bought her a few piano books this year so she has more to play than just the music in her lesson books.  We've all enjoyed hearing her play the themes from Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean as many other popular songs.  The most recent book we've gotten for her is  a book of Christmas songs and she already has most of the songs learned.  Sometimes I wish she wouldn't play so much because it just adds to the noise level in the house, but I love seeing her improve and develop her talent for music.

Day 26 - We went to our first REAL Christmas Market of the year in Bernkastel-Kues.  It was a great day in a seriously beautiful town.  So here's some of the pictures I took at the market; I definitely needed more than one picture to capture this day! Most of the buildings around the market were half-timbered like these.  The building on the left is a giant Advent calendar, the windows are numbered one through twenty-four Most markets have at least one ride for kids, and this one was no exception.  The promise of a couple of rides at the end of the day is a great incentive for good behavior from the littlest ones. The market wasn't confined to just one square but instead was spread throughout the center of the town.  It was fun to wander up and down the little side streets and explore.  At the very end of one street, through a large arched doorway, we found this beautiful castle model being guarded by a wonderful variety of nutcracker soldiers. ...

Day 25 -  I made this fun little hat (is it a hat?  I'm not sure because it doesn't cover an entire head) for Samantha.  She refused to model it for me but Emily was happy to humor me.  It was a quick, easy, fun project that I was able to complete in less than half an hour and made using things I already had here at home - felt and ribbon.   It seriously cute on Sammy's little head, but I think it will quickly become a dress up hat.  A hat that doesn't do much to keep you warm isn't exactly ideal in the wintertime.

Day 24 - We don't have a theme for our Christmas tree as far as color or anything, but I do like it to look as if everything just goes together.  Before we decorated the tree this year I went through our box of decorations and got rid of the ornaments that have seen better days or that I just don't really like and without meaning to I sort of did create a theme for our Christmas tree.  The majority of the ornaments that made the cut and got put on the tree this year are red, white, or silver.  There are a few other things here and there, but overall when I look at the tree I see those colors. This is a little bit of a continuation of the picture and post from day 23.  Every cute girl in our family (so all the girls in our family, including me) got to choose a new Christmas tree ornament on Wednesday.  I mostly liked the choices the girls were making at the store.  Madison chose a red and white felt stocking with a little bear inside.  Emily decided o...

Day 23 - We finally finished decorating the rest of the tree today, the day before Thanksgiving.  I have to say that I've felt kind of guilty decorating before Thanksgiving this year.  The rest of the house will have to wait a little longer, but the kids were really anxious to get that tree decorated.  As we were putting on the decorations the three older girls were excited each time they would find one of "their" ornaments.  They each have a few ornaments that they've been given or have made.  Natalie and Samantha were feeling left out because they don't have any special ornaments to call their own.  My first thought was that we should go down to the craft area and make some ornaments with them right away, but since Jared told me yesterday that he thinks I have a problem and need to spend less time being crafty and sewing instead we hopped in the car and went to the store so each of them could choose an ornament of their own.  I set a limit ...

Day 22- Since we weren't going to a Christmas Market last night and had all that time to be at home, I talked Jared into getting the boxes of Christmas decorations out of the attic.  Many of our neighbors have already started decorating for Christmas since Advent starts this weekend and I've been itching to follow their lead.  Last night we got the tree up and put together and the lights on the tree, but that's all we accomplished before the girls needed to go to bed.  Here's what happens when you don't have the entire day after Thanksgiving to decorate the house, but instead just one family night to decorate: The rest of the Christmas things are strewn all over the living room and the next day the whole family will be together to decorate isn't until Friday.  So much for my great idea.

Day 21 - Our original plan for Family Home Evening last night was to go to the Kaiserslautern Christmas Market. It was going to be the first market of the year and it's one we always enjoy because of the children's bakery and the amazing Kindergluhwein. Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be and we'll have to go to the Kaiserslautern Market some other day. Madison and Abigail were both home sick from school yesterday; Abigail with a fever of 104* and Madison with pneumonia. I offered to stay home with the sick ones and let Jared and the rest of the girls go to the market, but Jared in all his wonderfulness came up with an even better plan. We could have our own Christmas Market here at home. We had bottles of Kindergluhwein in the basement, a waffle maker, and it's easy enough to go the little market in Wallhalben and buy anything else we'd need. So Jared started making the waffles while I drove to the market to get bratwurst, brotchen, applesauce, and ...

Day 20 - When Emily wants to have wavy/curly hair (more than the wavy/curly hair she already naturally has) she asks me to braid her hair at night before she goes to bed.  I usually do a french braid going down each side of her head, but this time I decided to try a few more.  When she woke up in the morning she really, really wanted to take the braids out because "I look like that guy from Karate Kid."  Once Emily mentioned it, I could totally see what she was talking about.  Emily's many braids So maybe Jaden Smith has more braids than Emily, but I can totally see what she's talking about

Day 19 - I didn't take a picture on Saturday, but if I had it would have looked like this.  I spent most of my day at the Frankfurt Temple with my sweet husband.  It was the best kind of day.  The girls stayed home and we were gone for most of the day but I didn't worry about them even once because they are such good girls.  I am so grateful to have a temple close by.  We have always had a temple within two hours since we've been married and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we always do.

Day 18 - The Adventkranz, or advent wreath, is a German Christmas tradition.  An advent wreath isn't the sort of wreath you hang on your front door.  Instead, it lies flat and has four candles resting on it.  For each of the four Sundays before Christmas you light one candle, so by the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles are lit.  I'm worried I'm not really describing this very well so I'm going to just move on now.  Ever since we moved here I've wanted an Advent wreath, but I worried that they were too Protestant, or German, or just too something.  Anyway, this week I went to one of my favorite places, the basket factory and found an advent wreath that was a little less traditional and that I really like.  It's a metal star with the four candle holders for advent.  I brought it home and I still liked it, but I thought it could use a little something to make it less plain.  I went to our local market and bought some artificial pin...

Day 17 - Twice a year we have a junk day here in town. People put out whatever they don't want or that is too big to fit in their trash can. For the two or three days before actual junk day people slowly start moving their junk to the curb, piece by piece. At the same time, large white vans start circling the town and taking anything that is still in decent shape or has some value. I love looking for treasures in other people's trash as much as the next person, but these vans are kind of creepy/scary. They park in a field between our town and the next during the night and spend all day looking for treasure. The first year we were here we knew about junk day, but we didn't know about the people in the white vans. We almost lost a bike that wasn't junk because one of the girls left it out in the yard. I'm just glad I noticed and was able to communicate that the bike was certainly not junk. Here's Samantha on junk day standing over the big pile of junk ...

Day 16 - We didn't move very far, but we did move everyone in the house to a new bedroom.  When we first moved into this house almost three years ago things were different than they are now.  At the time we saw our house as a four bedroom with a toy room in the basement.  Now we see our house as a five bedroom with no toy room.  Since before Abigail was born we've had a toy room and have always really felt the need for one.  It made it easier to have one place for the kids to play and their rooms stayed neater when the toys were somewhere else.   But now we've finally come to the point where we have less toys than ever before and there's really only two kids who even play with toys anymore.  That was the reason for the organization I wrote about in this post , to get us ready for the big room swap.  Now our old basement toy room has become our new bedroom.  It's like a cozy little cave and it is, according to Jared, so freakin...

Day 15 - Again, not quite a photo today but another video.  Last month I started going to Natalie's kindergarten once a week to teach English songs to the kids there.  Earlier this month, a news station was at the school filming for a piece about the street where the kindergarten is.  They were especially interested to learn that there are so many American kids in our kindergarten and wanted to learn more about how things work between the American and German kids.  They filmed part of the music time I did with the kids and then interviewed me about the kindergarten and the kids there.  I had kind of forgotten about it until a German neighbor sent me the link to the piece, which aired on Tuesday this week.  If you want to watch the piece and see a little of the beautiful town where I live go here to watch.  If you want to skip all the German, I'm somewhere around the five minute mark and after that you can see the back of a cute little blond girl, our ...

Day 14 - Jared always seems to be tired these days.  His life is busy and full and I hope I'm doing enough to take some of the stress I'm sure he's feeling away.  There's work, school, church, and family taking up his time.  I love Monday nights because it's the one night a week I can be sure that we will all be together.  Tonight after Family Home Evening, okay during the activity portion of our Family Night, I looked over and saw Jared asleep on the couch.  I had to take a picture of this because I wanted to make sure to remember two things; first, that Jared is an amazing husband and father who is constantly working on one thing or another for the people around him and he never really gets enough rest; and second, that Jared can sleep anywhere and through anything, even our loudest family moments.

Day 13 - Samantha loves to play the piano.  After I teach her a lesson she practices like crazy all day long and then the next day tells me that she is ready for another lesson.  I think it's great that she likes to play so much, but I do have one problem with how she plays piano.  Instead of reading the music, she memorizes her songs and plays by ear.  She will sit at the piano and figure out her own songs as well as her older sisters piano pieces.  She recently learned how to sing The Wheels on the Bus - she's a little behind on American songs for little kids but she knows lots of German ones.  Yesterday she told me she was ready for a lesson, but I wasn't ready to teach her one so she sat at the piano and started picking out the notes for Wheels on the Bus.  She even added in a fun little bit where she plays an octave up.  I continue to be impressed by Samantha and how easily she learns new things.  Instead of a picture for today, I have a...

Day 12 - Here's Emily just twelve short years ago . . . And here she is today - our birthday girl! This was another day where I took more than just one picture so this post will be heavy on the pictures and light on text.    Everyone was excited to celebrate with Emily, especially Samantha.  She wanted to be the first to wish Emily a happy birthday so first thing this morning she made this sign and put it in the hallway for Emily to see. It says: I love you.  I hope you have a great birthday.  Love, To: Emily    From: Sam Emily asked for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  I was a little disappointed she didn't want another doughnut cake because they are so easy, but chocolate cake is yummier. Making her wish; she got all the candles out in one try and seems to think that makes the wish stronger After cake it was on to presents.  Emily gave us a very specific list this year.  She outlined everything sh...

Day 11 - Maybe I took more than one picture today, but there was a lot of fun going on in the backyard that I wanted to document.  This week the leaves all started falling so we spent some time in the backyard raking. The leaves before we got to work - you could barely see the grass anymore. Almost done!  Jared and Abby adding the last of the leaves to the pile. Left to Right - Emily, Madison, Natalie (with eyes closed), Abigail, and Samantha with the humungous pile of leaves in the background Once the leaves were all raked up it was time to have some fun . . .  We buried Abigail in the leaves - here she is busting out of the pile like the crazy monster she is

Day 10 - Last night Jared, Abigial, and Emily played Scrabble together. I love when Jared spends time with our kids and I know they do as well. I know it was frustrating for Jared at times because the girls kept using little short words, but Emily and Abby loved spending that time with him. Post-scrabble happiness/silliness  

Day 9 - It was parent teacher conferences at the Elementary School this week. Jared and I went in to meet with Abigail's teacher and it was an interesting conference. We have had almost no communication from Abby's teacher this year. Usually her teachers send home a weekly email or newsletter, but there's been nothing to let us know what's going on at school. She's even gone on two field trips with her class and we have gotten nothing from the teacher (except the initial permission slip) to let us know the plans for the day, what she would need to bring, or what she couldn't bring on the trip.  Anyway, I wasn't sure what we would hear and learn about Abigail at school when we went in for the conference. I don't mean that Abigail is not an amazing kid, but I always worry about her behavior when she's out in public. We've recently heard some less than glowing reports from her Primary teachers at church so I didn't know what to expect. ...

Day 8 - November brings with it the best weather of the year, sweater weather.  I love sweaters!   They're warm, cozy, comfortable, and soft.  Today I bought the best socks ever.  I love them because they are like sweaters for my legs.  Want to see? They're warm, cable knit, over the knee, and absolutely lovely

Day 7 - Natalie has a interesting idea of what clothes look good together.  Here's typical morning: Me: Natalie, I picked out a pretty outfit for you.  It's on your bedroom floor. Natalie:  Mom, that is not pretty.  (The tears usually start about now)  No one at school will be my friend in those clothes! Me:  Fine, if you don't like it pick out your own clothes!  I'm going to get myself dressed. (20 minutes later) Natalie:  Mo-om! (that's mom in two syllables, for those who don't speak 4-year-old) I'm ready for school! So I go to see what's she's wearing and it usually looks something like this... Peach polka dot shirt with plum skirt, crazy multi-colored striped tights and green ballet flats.  I guess since she has all of these items individually, it's okay to put them all together? Natalie: Mom, my friends are going to LOVE my outfit!!

Day 6 - The end of another Sabbath day in Germany.  I love Sunday and the chance it gives me to step back and focus on the important things in my life.  

 Day 5 - Either Madison is really tall or I'm really short.  She's up to my forehead these days and pretty soon she'll probably be taller than I am. This is us yesterday - do you like her eyebrows? This is Madison in first grade and look, the eyebrows are the same! Madison might be growing up on me, but she's still the same sweet girl she's always been.  I love you Madison!

Day 4 - I love living in Germany because there is beauty all around me.  This week the fall colors have been absolutely spectacular; so glorious that the scenery is distracting when I'm driving places.  I know the leaves won't last for long, most of them in our yard have already fallen so I wanted to take a picture before they all blow away.  I snapped this photo as I was driving to the base today - fields of flowers, farmhouses, and fall leaves make the long drive go by much faster.

Day 3 - Tuesday and Thursday nights I'm taking a public speaking class.  It goes right through dinnertime so this vending machine is my new best friend.  Last night I had a rice krispie treat for dinner, yummy but not so filling.  I think I need to start packing a dinner.

Here's my picture for day two of the challenge - the part of the dashboard that I see while I'm driving our car. Our van has been a good car. It gets us where we need to go and it doesn't make too many mysterious noises. Yesterday we make it to 100,000 miles in this van and it only took 4 years and 4 months. We spend a lot of time in the car! I knew we'd be hitting a mileage milestone yesterday, so I brought the camera along when I went out to run errands. Instead of pulling over to take this picture I did the safe and smart thing and just tried to hold the camera steady while I was driving. I figured I had a mile to get the picture before the odometer changed to 100,001 miles. So you can all see my speed and the oncoming traffic in this picture and that makes me like it even more. Here's to the next 100,000! It's hard to see in this picture (because of the flash) but at least all those 0's at the end are visible!

My friend Stephanie posted this 30-Day Challenge on facebook yesterday and I immediately knew I wanted to join the challenge - take a new picture each day in November and remember the big and little moments that make up your life.  I think the idea is to publish your pictures via facebook, twitter, etc. but I'm just going to put them up on here.  I'm looking forward to seeing what my life is like in pictures. Here's yesterday's photo.  The girls spent a ton of time after they came home from school sorting and trading their Halloween candy.  It took me back to when I was a kid and how half the fun of Halloween was going through the candy afterwards.

Another Halloween has passed and this year was a great one.  I think that last year we did too much Halloween and by the end of it we were all ready to be done with the holiday.  This year we kept things more low-key with the church Trunk or Treat one evening and trick or treating here in the village on the night of the 31st.  It was just the right amount of costumes, candy, and fun and we never strayed into the too much territory that we found ourselves in last year. Samantha was also a princess, but not any particular one.  Her hair was gorgeously curly, but unfortunately it didn't last for long.  She came home with the most candy because she was a hard worker at the Trunk or Treat and went round again and again. Emily made all of her costume this year with things from around the house.  Those wings are old tights, two hangers, and a cut up lei. Emily was the only one who wore two dfferent costumes this year.  The cowgirl...