Moran Family Fun

I think it's safe to say that my birthday this year was much, much better than my birthday last year.  My day started with Jared getting the girls up and ready for school so I could sleep a little bit more.  Before they all left for the day, they brought me breakfast in bed which was, of course, yummy.  I spent the morning cleaning the house.  I know that doesn't sound like much fun, but I love the way having a neat, clean house makes me feel and I wanted that feeling on my birthday.  So I spent some time straightening, sweeping, and mopping before I relaxed for a while.  I was touched and a little bit surprised that two of my friends stopped by during the day to say happy birthday and bring me presents.  It wasn't even noon and it was already shaping up to be a great birthday. Jared wanted to take everyone out for dinner, but I convinced him to stay in so I could cook because, well, I love cooking.  We had my favorite salad, garlic bread, and p...

We had a four day weekend over President's Day and we we planning on having lots of fun during the time off. It wasn't until the very last day of our long weekend that we finally went out and did something.  The weather was beautiful - sunny and not too cold -  so we decided to explore a little more in one of my favorite towns, Dahn.  We didn't all go out exploring though, Madison had homework that she'd put off to the last minute (she gets the procrastinating from me) and Samantha had a play date planned that she didn't want to miss.  But, the rest of us loaded up in the Dragon and headed out for some fun. Our first stop was the Teufelstisch, or Devil's Table.  It's a crazy rock formation in the middle of the forest.  The story is that the Devil was walking through the forest and wanted a place to rest and eat.  He made a table and chair out of the rocks and when he was finished with his meal, he took the chair along with him and lef...

I love IKEA and lots of the things in our house have come from there.  The couches in our downstairs living room, the couch in Madison's room, our TV stand, the bookshelf in our upstairs living room, our kid's dishes, many of the stuffed animals in the kid's rooms, our dining room furniture, and the bench we use to store shoes in the entryway.  I know that IKEA furniture isn't the best quality ever, but for our mobile lifestyle it's been a good choice.  After today, I might not love IKEA so much anymore.  Both our loveseat and our shoe bench have decided to start dying.  The loveseat at least has a warranty so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can get it repaired or replaced.  The bench, on the other hand, isn't even sold anymore and I'm pretty sure we're on our own with that one.   Here's the leg of our loveseat.  Not so sturdy anymore and the arm keeps wobbling around too.  For whatever reason, it's just this leg that's off,...

It's not so cold around here anymore.  After a couple of weeks of consistently below freezing temperatures, it's finally started to warm up.  Yesterday all the snow in our yard melted.  As much as I don't like the cold weather (because it's COLD) I love the way things look when it's snowy.  Having the German landscape covered in snow is so much prettier than how Germany looks today - grey, brown, and a little soggy.  Before everything melted yesterday I snapped this picture of the fountain here in town.  I have loved seeing it get more and more covered in ice each day.  Maybe things will get cold again this year, but maybe they won't and I didn't want to forget how beautiful the cold can be.

Every year for Valentine's Day Jared does a great job of taking care of all of his girls.  This year he got each of the kids a huge candy bar and a sweet card.  He was really proud of those cards because he'd bought them two weeks before Valentine's Day, not on the day before or the day of like he usually does!  I loved seeing all the cards lined up on the table the next morning.   Every girl got a different card that had something special and specific for them.  For example, Abigail's had the word awesome, her special nickname. Natalie was very excited about the chocolate and told us that she was going to eat it all that day.  She didn't quite finish it on Valentine's, but did manage to eat it all by the next day. I love my family and I love having a special holiday to focus on love.  Of course, we love each other all year and not just on February 14th, but it's nice to have a day just to share the love.   Speaking of sharing the lo...

Madison has now turned fourteen and I feel silly for saying this but, where has the time gone?  It doesn't feel like fourteen years.  Four maybe, but definitely not fourteen.  Oh well, time moves forward and Madison wouldn't want to stay little forever.  Truthfully, I don't want our kids to be little forever either.  I love watching them grow and learn and Madison is especially interesting because she's always surprising me with the things she already knows about life.  She's steady and thoughtful and not easily influenced by the people around her.  I just hope she stays that way for the rest of her growing-up years!   For Madison's birthday this year we kept things pretty low key.  It was just the family at home with her favorite dinner, birthday cake, and some presents.  Here's a few pictures of the night. Madison asked for only books this year, with just one exception - Dance Central  2.  She is the best Dance Central pl...

Because Jared is awesome, amazing, and hardworking he was nominated to be the 2011 86th Airlift Wing Volunteer of the Year.  What the means, besides that Jared is impressive, is that we got to go to a fancy military banquet this week.  We got all dressed up, brought Madison along for some extra fun, and headed out one snowy evening this week to the banquet.  It was held in an airplane hanger and, unlike the Air Force Ball , it looked like an airplane hanger.  Especially because there was a huge airplane (a C-130) parked right in the middle of all the dinner tables. We had to get there a little early so Jared could be presented with a certificate . . . and a medal! To really begin the evening Jared and I had our official photo taken and then we lined  up inside the C-130 with all the other nominees and their escorts.  Then, one by one, as our names we announced we all proceeded down the ramp at the back of the aircraft and onto the red carpet. ...

This week we had a military awards banquet to attend and Jared thought it would be nice if we brought Madison with us.  She's usually at home babysitting when we go out, but now that Emily is twelve we have two babysitters, yippee!  Plus, it was just a couple of days before Madison's birthday so it was something special we could do to celebrate with her.  I went out and looked for a fancy dress for her and was amazed when I found something at the first store I went to that would not only work, but would work without a camisole underneath or a little jacket over top.  So, hooray for finding modest clothes without searching forever and ever! Before we left for the banquet I wanted to get some pictures of Madison looking so very pretty.  It was cold outside, but it was also a beautiful snowy day so I persuaded Madison to come outside and smile for the camera. Yes, it was snowing a little and it was quite cold but she was a sweetie and played along Thi...

This week we had some cold, cold, cold weather.  Want to see how cold?   Read this .  Not as cold as Eastern Europe right now, but still pretty cold.  It's below zero at night and in the teens during the day.  Our winter up to this point has been mild so it was exciting to wake up to snow on Monday.  It was less exciting when it just kept getting colder and colder.  So cold that a week later the snow hasn't melted even a little bit despite the unusual sunshine we've been having.  So cold that the fountain in town is almost completely frozen over.  So cold that our van whines and squeals when we start it in the morning.  So cold that I won't even let Natalie wear dresses to school - she has to wear pants instead.  (And that has been such a fight each morning.)  So cold that when I go outside and breathe in the cold air it hurts my lungs. In the middle of all the cold, instead of in the middle of summer or something, or furnac...