Moran Family Fun

We live in the country and that means farms, manure, open fields, etc. We love it here because it’s so beautiful but one side “benefit” of our location is spiders. These are not little spiders; they are huge spiders that leave me and the girls running and screaming. Usually Jared takes care of any that we see in the house but he was working when we had our latest spider attack so it was up to me. Thankfully the kids were all asleep in bed so they didn’t see me shaking! First I called Jared for some moral support and then I set to work. (And then I took a picture so I could show Jared that I wasn’t being crazy, this really was a big spider.) I considered vacuuming it up but I was worried that it wouldn’t really kill it, only trap it inside the vacuum cleaner. It was on the wall almost at the ceiling so I got out my Swiffer floor cleaner and used that to squish the spider. It took me about five minutes to work up the courage to do it. After a few misses I finally got it! My heart was pou...

So I've thought at the end of each day this week, "What happened today that I can write about in the blog on Sunday?" And every day I would think, "Nothing." That's not to say that we have done nothing this week, but just that there weren't any big moments where I thought it should be commemorated with a picture or even a mention in our blog. It seems as if life is like that, mundane and routine one week, and exciting and crazy the next. Abigail and I made a Leprechaun Trap for school. She was to design and make a trap for her class. Then they would leave the traps out overnight and see if they caught any leprechauns. We got a shoebox and covered it in green paper. Then we decorated the inside like a comfortable leprechaun house. We made a bed, a welcome mat, and for good measure we put a little pot of gold next to the bed. Then we wrote a note on top of the box that said "There is gold inside this box!!! I am not kidding!!! It is all for you s...

This week was pretty routine, with the exception of Jared being out of town for the week. He was asked to go to Buchel, a small base about two hours north of here. The base at Buchel was having an exe rcise to practice their defenses at the base. Jared and two other guys from the base were tasked with playing the "bad guys" during the whole thing. In my mind that was a cross between capture the flag and laser tag. In reality, Jared didn't end up doing much of anything. Each day they were given a time to report, each day they did report and were told that they really didn't have anything for them to do. So Jared and his guys hung around the base there, they went to Spangdahlem one day (where we were stationed from 2000-2003), and they did some sightseeing in Cochem at the castle and around town. It's Mustache March at work for Jared, that means that everyone who can grows a mustache. Abigail wondered if even the girls grew mustaches and Jared told her, "Some o...

We don't have a bakery right here in town so the bakery from the next town over delivers bread. Every Tuesday and Saturday the bread truck drives through town and blares its horn to let everyone know that fresh bread is available. For us, it's better than the ice cream truck. The kids listen for it on bread days and as soon as the hear the horn honking they grab their euros and start running. If they can't find it right away they just follow the sound of the horn. This week they ended up going to the other end of town, but they caught the bread truck and came home with delicious fresh baked pretzels for everyone. At the elementary school they celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday this week with a ton of activities. On Monday Madison and Abigail both had green eggs and ham in their classrooms. On Wednesday Abigail walked to the base library for more Dr. Seuss fun. They read books and had books read to them by the Cat in the Hat! Friday was the big party for Abigail's classr...

This week was my thirty-first birthday and Jared and the girls took good care of me! It seems like I can't possibly be in my thirties already, but I'm so blessed to be where I am in my life right now. I have a wonderful husband who does sweet things for me. We have five beau tiful , sweet, and funny daughters. For my birthday this year I asked Jared to bring home doner kebabs ; they're a Turkish sandwich a lot like a gyro. The meat is cooked on a spit and then shaved off onto toasted bread and it's delicious. It's just one thing that we missed about Germany and are excited to be able to enjoy again. In the next village there is a great bakery and Jared ordered my birthday cake from there. It was a huge chocolate cake with the best frosting. I had a slice on my birthday and again the next day for breakfast! I also got a lot of chocolate from the kids for presents so it's been a chocolaty week. Abigail's school had a big first grade concert on Friday and Na...

Samantha has been making some friends at her new school, and one of them is apparently named Sponge Bob Snow Hat. Sam isn't sure of his actual name, but she calls him that because he always wears a Sponge Bob hat. Samantha has also been talking about another friend, Your Highness. I thought it was just another quirky Sammie nickname, but she told me that even the teachers call him Your Highness. I finally made the connection and figured out that this boy's name is Johannes, which sounds a lot like "your highness" to a four year old! So she's working on this whole language thing, but it's coming along a little slowly with some bumps along the way. Most days she is happy to go to Kindergarten, but some days she is not. It is difficult for her to not be understood, she is used to always being listened to here at home! It's Fasching t ime here in Germany. Fasching is the German equivalent of Mardi Gras and during the celebration there are a lot of parades, p...

This week Natalie swallowed a penny. She had been playing with it and then she started to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she told me, "money, mouth, gone". Which is Natalie for I ate a penny! After determining that she could still breathe we took her to the ER to see what they could tell us. Natalie had her first x-ray and I got to see the penny in her stomach. The doctor told us to expect it to pass in a day or two, so Jared and I had the joy of being on poop patrol. All week Natalie has been talking about the money in her tummy, even though it's gone now! On Monday we made another trip to Ikea to purchase some furniture for the empty room downstairs. We had done our shopping online first so we knew exactly what we wanted to get. Jared worked a mid shift Sunday night so as soon as he got home (around 8 am on Monday) we got in the car and he slept while I drove. For those of you who have gone to Ikea before you know that you have to assemble your furniture when you...