Moran Family Fun

Christmas Markets play a central role in Jared's love for Germany. The Advent season officially began this weekend and Jared has planned a different market each weekend. Because Jared was on call this week, our first Christmas Market this year was close to home, in Kaiserslautern. It might be a smaller market compared to the some of the bigger cities and it was COLD, but we really enjoyed our visit and here's why: The Kinder Backerei was indoors, heated, and free. All the girls were given a big rectangle of cookie dough, cookie cutters, and sprinkles. Once the cookies were all cut out and sprinkled they went into the oven while we sat and talked and enjoyed being out of the cold. When the cookies were done we had four huge bags of cookies to bring home PLUS the scraps of leftover dough to make more cookies at home. The food was hot and delicious. We started our day with some crepes sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, then we enjoyed heart shaped waffles on a stick (wafflesicles!...

Emily was soooo excited to be turning eleven - much more excited than she was about turning ten. Her birthday this year was pretty simple, just a quiet celebration with family. Emily wanted lumpia for dinner and cheesecake for dessert. There was a little stress when I realized the deep fryer had somehow died since the last time I'd used it, but I just cooked the lumpia in a frying pan instead. It was a little messier but they turned out just right. I also didn't factor in the time cheesecake needs to chill after baking and before eating so we ate cake around 10 pm instead of right after dinner. Emily's friend Aubrey came over to celebrate with us and then spent the night. Aubrey is a sweetie who all our girls like. Natalie and Samantha run up to hug her every time we see her. She is such a great friend to Emily. It was really nice for our super social Emily to have a least one friend there to party with. We love Emily so much and here are eleven reasons why: 1. Emily is eve...

Veteran's Day was also St. Martin's Day around here. Last year I wrote about the story behind this German holiday HERE . Anyway, I really enjoy St. Martin's Day. The story is sweet, the lanterns are beautiful, and it is so nice to walk through the streets singing songs with our neighbors and friends. This year I bought little kits from Samantha and Natalie's school to make our lanterns for the celebration. We made an owl, a cat, a hedgehog, a bee, and a bear. They were really cute and pretty easy to make, but they did take some time to put together. Samantha and Natalie learned some St. Martin's Day songs at school and Samantha actually had a speaking part in the play. Her line was: Da braucht er dich, Da braucht er mich, Die Grossen und die Kleinen. I think it means - He needs you, he needs me, the big and the small ones. She did a really good job and I was so happy that her teachers included her in the play; it helped to build her confidence when speaking German. ...

Three straight days of Halloween fun and craziness was more than enough for me. I am so ready to move on to the next big thing! I feel this way every year, but the girls will never agree to just skip Halloween. This year everyone knew what they wanted to be pretty early - in order here from biggest to smallest: witch, Glinda the good witch, Belle, cheerleader, and little witch. The costumes were ready and then, suddenly, everyone changed their minds to (also in order): hula girl, indian, robot, woodland fairy, and kitten. I guess I didn't care too much because they each found their new costume on their own. I was only responsible for hair and makeup. The first night they got their costumes on and we all gathered in the bathroom to add the finishing touches. It took a while for all five girls and was pretty crowded with six of us in there! Natalie didn't need anything besides her costume - the wait was apparently so boring that she fell asleep on the floor. Once we were all set ...

Samantha lost her first tooth today. It has been so, so wiggily for about a week now but she wanted to wait for it to fall out by itself. No pulling or yanking allowed! This morning she came running into the kitchen with her tooth into her hand and said, "Mom, I was using the potty when I felt something on my tongue. So I reached in and guess what I found? Guess Mom, guess! My tooth!! It fell out!!!!" Yeah, it was pretty much the highlight of our morning. And doesn't she look so adorable with that little gap in her teeth?

This year, for the first time ever, we had a little pumpkin carving party. I really don't like carving pumpkins, or maybe I really don't like cleaning pumpkins out. The carving itself isn't all that bad. But the seeds and slimy guts are not my favorite thing. However, I put that aside and got four pumpkins ready to be carved. Jared found really good directions and tips for the actual carving as well as templates; which were perfect for us non-artsy types - we could just trace! The carving party began right after dinner and was so much fun I think we will be repeating this fun activity every year from now on - including the cinnamon rolls for dessert! Natalie and Jared made this one. What that means is that Jared did all the work and Natalie ATE the raw pumpkin pieces that Jared cut out. Samantha and I made this awesome owl pumpkin. Samantha was mostly there for moral support and encouragement as well as to put the candle in place once we were finished. Abigail was one sp...

A Trampoline, that is. The girls have been wanting a trampoline for a while now. I think they finally figured out that Jared and I weren't going to buy one, so they bought their own. Emily took an old applesauce jar and wrapped a new label around it that said 'Trampoline Fund' and just like that the spare change started rolling in. Unfortunately, even with mountains of nickels and dimes it was going to take a long time to have enough cash for a trampoline. But then we found a trampoline for sale for just $75 and the girls had already saved enough to buy it! So on Monday Jared and I went to pick up the trampoline from the friends that sold it to us, and then we brought that baby home and set it up. Natalie and Samantha played on it all afternoon and when the older girls came home from school they went straight to the back yard and bounced until dinnertime. Our backyard is now at least five times more fun than it used to be.