Holiday Baking!

OH SO CUTE!!!

We got more snow!

The preferred mode of travel for kids this snowy day! (Now Kalynn wants one because she is "so very, very, very tired Mommy.")

This daddy lost his rider! Oops!


Yeah... I enjoy this!

Stylist to the stars!

Marco was on a roll this weekend. He broke out a cache of black hair care products and healthy dose of confidence and took to hair styling. He not only washed and blow dried Kalynn's hair... but he also put a chemical relaxer in my hair (oh no he didn't). Kalynn had fun modeling her blown out fro before bedtime.






Forget about seeing pictures of my hair... it ain't gonna happen.

Yay!!! We finally got enough snow for Kalynn to play in!

It was supposed to snow starting last Friday. Well, we got a light dusting Saturday and scattered flurries Sunday in our area despite some areas have tons and tons of the white stuff. Kalynn was really disappointed because she wanted to throw snowballs. Last night we went to a Christmas Bazaar at her school and on the way home we corralled enough snow with our feet and hands for Kalynn to palm a snowball (think 25% snow; 75% dirt/leaves/grass/mulch). It was all we could do but she called it a snowball anyway and happily threw it at me. There was no snow in the forecast for this week so we left it at that. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to some real, tangible snow... enough for SNOWBALLS!!! We were excited. I dressed Kalynn warmly for school (ok, I forgot to put her snow pants on her so I had to drop them off at school later) and we headed out for our trek. I was pelted by more snowballs than I have ever been and loved every icy hit!

He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!

Kalynn got to mail her Christmas wish list to Santa! She apparently wasn't happy with the plain envelope so she decided to embellish it herself before we mailed it. It is going to the North Pole. What is funny is that she obviously thinks that as soon as she mailed it, it was "delivered" because when she woke up from her nap she said "I'm ready to open my presents now." She said "I sent Santa the list". Anyway, she is supposed to get a letter back from Santa. She will like that I am sure.

Don't play "dodge" with a city bus!

This morning after I returned from Marktkauf (one of the nearby grocery stores I frequent) I sat in my studio to get some internet time. While I was surfing I heard an ambulance. This is nothing new because from time to time I hear one while it is on its way to some location not close to me. This time I kept hearing the siren. I was going out to do some more shopping (this time for Christmas stuff for Kalynn). Well, I go to get in my car and finally realize why I kept hearing the ambulance. Just a few meters from my house a city bus has hit a van. It was a mess, not because the accident was horrible but because the double long bus was blocking our narrow street and already 3 other buses were stuck on either side of it. It was kinda funny watching the people around the corner at the bus stops that had no idea what had happened impatiently checking their watches. Of course I was probably the funny one walking to the scene of the accident with my camera, lol. I am still nosy after all!!

Permanent License

Back in September I wrote that I had gotten my temporary driver's license and was awaiting the 'real' ones. Well, they finally came last month. I had to turn my temporary 'paper' license in to get my plastic one. I feel so sPeCiAl now!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is not a big event here in Germany. Since Kalynn goes to a German kindergarten, I did not expect any type of celebration nor any children to be in costume at school like they do in The States. Well, they didn't disappoint! So, one of my American friends here in Germany and I decided to have a small party for our children (along with another American friend) since we don't know how the whole "trick-or-treat" thing works here. The party was so much fun. Three 3 year olds and two 9-month old children were a perfect size group. We had games, coloring, painting, and of course eating. Since I coordinated all of the games, decorations, treats, prizes, and use of my home... I did not have to cook a thing. If you know me, you know that is a good thing. (hehehe)


I was also surprised by the number of German kids (and teens/adults) that did come to our door. Here is a picture of our first trick-or-treaters.



Each time they came to the door they would sing a phrase in German. I could not make out what it was but since I did not want tp in the trees or steamy bags of dog doo on the steps, I just smiled and gave up the goods! You can see more pictures of the party in our photo gallery. Hope you scored lots of candy!

Decided to try my hand at writing an...

eBook! Most of you know that I sell fabulous (if I may say so myself) hair accessories in my online store. One of the pieces I sell is called a Wrapped Peppermint Candy Ribbon Sculpture. This single item had the most fans of any one piece in my store at the time so I decided to create an eBook with instructions on how you can make your very own. Here is Kalynn modeling the final product.



If you are feeling crafty and want to try your hand at making these delightful pieces of hair candy, just click here for My eBook!. If you make one from my eBook yourself, I would LOVE to see it.

Update to the "fire stick" crisis

So, I went to school to pick Kalynn up and I found the @#$% stick where I tossed it yesterday. It was broken, water logged, dirty, and limp. I "presented it" to Kalynn as she was getting her bike (and mumbling something about looking for her stick). She lit up like a Christmas Tree and said "Oh Mommy, you found my fire". You have got to see this thing. Nothing special but she knew it on sight in all of its broken/water logged/dirty/limp glory! I'm not Mom-zilla for the moment.

Ever argue with a 3 year old?

Unfortunately, it is 8:30 in the morning and I know already that it is going to be one of those days! We got up this morning to get ready for school. Everything was cool until we walked outside to go. Kalynn's bicycle is parked next to our steps... no problem so far. Every morning she pulls it onto our walkway, removes the plastic cover we put on her seat to keep it dry (aka - hotel shower cap... you know the ones housekeeping leaves in the bathroom but you never really use but find the need to pack anyway... maybe that is just me... ) then she climbs on to head for school. This morning she caught a SERIOUS attitude because she could not find her 'fire stick'. Huh? It was still early for me so I am trying to figure out what she is rambling on about until it hit me. Two days ago she came home from a walk around the neighborhood with her Daddy with a long piece of wheat/grass/grain looking thing. Apparently the way it was made resembled fire to her. She took it to school yesterday in the sack on her bike. I told her to leave it on her bike because I did not want her to take it in the school. No problem. It was raining pretty heavy when it was time to pick her up so instead of walking I drove the car to get her. I put her in and then went back to get to unlock her bike to put in the trunk. I tossed the grain thingy and shoved her bike in the trunk (all while getting wet). She never said anything about it. This morning she must have remembered. It is rather chilly today so we are standing outside freezing while I try to explain to her that she is going to have to go to school without her 'fire stick' because there is no 'fire stick'. She at first refused to get on her bicycle. Then I did the "1-2-3" count (you know the one where the kid thinks that if she doesn't comply by 3 something is going to happen). She unwillingly climbed on the bike by 3. Then she just slumped down on it as if to say "Well I'm on it but you didn't say anything about riding it". I give the bike a little push to get her going like I always do. It just goes off to the side into our "welcome" banner while she is still slumped on the handlebars. I'm getting cold and ticked right now. I abruptly grab her and sit her up on the bike which scared her so now she is screaming bloody murder and producing some pretty impressive crocodile tears to match. She is pedaling slower than molasses flows on the way to school. I am pushing and fussing. Then I try to just keep walking when she falls behind so that she would just catch up to me. Not working much there either. I end up having to stop or go back and get her. (I REALLY hate that stick right now)! About 3/4 of the way there she said to me: "I can take care of myself at home. Mommy, can I just take care of myself at home?" Apparently "No" was not the right answer because after that I had to push her on her bike the rest of the way to school. No I need a time out!

Another tub time funny!

Bath time continues to yield some funny things from the 3.5 year old adult that lets us live in her house. Tonight Marco went to get Kalynn out of the tub. She has a tub full of toys/junk and listens to stories on cd while she plays. Apparently tonight she wasn't quite ready to get out and a bit annoyed by Daddy's intrusion. Marco came in to let the water out of the tub and she said: "Could you please not bother me. I'm in my office!"

I'm just going to leave that one alone!

What do you think?

So last night Kalynn was in the tub for bath time. Unfortunately she has given up her midday nap (*>>>insert tears here<<<*) so she is not getting as much total sleep. Well, last night she could barely keep her head up while in the tub. At one point she was resting her head on the side of the tub. Marco runs to get the camera. Meanwhile she "wakes up" a little. We ask her if she is sleepy because she is yawning quite a bit to which she replies- "I'm not yawning... I'm just stretching my mouth!" Now that is funny!

You be the judge. Is she sleepy or not?

'Drizzly'land 2008 - Paris, France

As mentioned before... we are back from our adventure in Paris. We were there for 5 days and there was light rain for most of the day, each day, hence the term Drizzlyland! That did not stop us from going to the park everyday. The park opens at 10:00 am but if you stay at one of Euro Disney's Resorts (which we did) you get the two extra "Magic Hours" and can go at 8:00 am. We were still getting up/having breakfast at that time so we made it to the park around 10:00am each day, stayed until 2:30 pm or so, took the shuttle bus back for a nap, and then went back to the park until closing. It was great. Kalynn mostly rode the same rides over and over. After being afraid of it at first, the "It's a Small World" ride became her favorite and we ended up riding it about 5 times a day. That was okay because it was probably the one ride that never had a wait time. It was a pain to have to walk all the way around (through the miniature small world building and back to the front of the ride) each time but after a few times one of the ride attendants recognized us as 'regulars' and she let us get back on without having to exit the ride area. SWEET! She later recognized Kalynn on the teacup ride too! Her other favorite rides were Dumbo and Sir Lancelot's Carousel.



This year marks the 15th anniversary of Disneyland Paris so each night the characters held a "Candle-abration" outside of the castle. In celebration, Cinderella's castle was adorned with beautiful candle lighting for the night time show. I only wish I could have captured how spectacular it looked on camera. When it lit up, it was a WOW moment for us.


It was cool hearing all of the different languages people spoke at the park. It seemed that the majority of the folks we heard were from the UK, Australia, or France. No matter the language, there was some serious child spoiling going on at Parc Disneyland and the Nestola family (*cough, cough*... Marco) was not different. It started the first day. Our flight out of Munich was 2 hours late so of course Daddy had to buy Kalynn something at the airport while we waited. Okay... not too bad... just a small stuffed cat. But since our flight was late, by the time we got to Paris (just in time to catch the last bus from Charles de Gaulle International Airport to our resort) it was too late to go to the park so of course Daddy had to go to the resort gift shop to get a few compensatory items. And on and on the trend continued. I have to admit, though, that it was hard not to indulge because it was such a magical time, drizzly rain and all.





You can see lots more photos in our photo gallery and check out the video on our homepage!

We're back...

We just got back a couple of hours ago from Euro Disney in Paris, France. Stay tuned for an update and pictures!

Oktoberfest in Munich

Well, it is that time of year where the beer steins are running over, and over, and over! Oktoberfest is in full swing. We decided to attend with another expat family we know. Marco even dressed the part, he shelled out the money for lederhosen (and looked darned handsome in them too, I might add). Kalynn finally got to wear her dirndl that her Opa bought for her awhile back. (Maybe I will get a dirndl for next year...) They looked so adorable together so I was happy. Kalynn was just happy to be going to Oktoberfest with her best bud Joshua. They were so cute holding hands while walking to the U-bahn and while on the train. We didn't stay long but it was still a neat experience. (I will spare you the tales and pictures of all of the drunk people we witnessed! All I can say is...WOW!).

Thats a load of garbage!

Literally! Today is one of the many "trash" collection days that I have yet to keep up with. The reason is, Germany is HUGE on recycling so we don't have just the one size fits all 'trash can' to worry about. At home we have 3 different bins for different types of trash and they each are picked up on a different schedule. Today (and I think every Friday) is Restmüll day. This is the black bin that apparently everything else that has not been already sorted goes into. Uhhh, simply put, it is the rest. This could include diapers, napkins, hygiene items, gum, cigarette butts, paint, dirty packaging, wallpaper, etc. The Bio-Tonne is for kitchen and garden biodegradeable type waste. Egg shells, leftovers, grass clippings, weeds, cat litter, and the like go into the brown Bio-tonne container. (Ewww, cat turds and roses, not a designer fragrance I want to smell). The third container we have is Papier-Tonne. This one is for waste paper products. As long as the paper products are not heavily soiled, this one is pretty easy to master.


There are also 'community-type bins' for collection of other waste. On either corner of our street are about 4 bins for different colored glass and metals. I don't know how frequently these are collected but it pretty cool watching the crane lift these huge container up to empty them into different spots on the back of the massive truck. Also there is a container for old clothes. This is distributed to the poor. Unwanted household objects such as old frying pans, curling irons (that reminds me... I sooooooo need a perm), mixers and such are "recyclable bulk waste", and are taken either to a local recycling center. It is no wonder the landfills here are so small!

Heck on Wheels!

With the exception of the first day, Kalynn rides her bicycle to school everyday. She loves it. She is getting better at manuevering and such. She still has some work to do by way of paying attention to where she is going. She has a habit of looking in a totally different direction than she is riding. So far she hasn't taken any spills but I know it is only a matter of time. She likes to put the lock on her bicycle when we arrive at school. She is a creature of habit and parks her bicycle in the same spot everyday. Today there was another bike in "her" spot and she tried her darndest to get her bike as close to "her" spot as possible.

This week, so far, is not going as smoothly as her first week back as far as tears shed. She has cried both days when I dropped her off. Most of it is 'show' (remember I told you she is a true drama queen), but then she gets so worked up she makes it all too real for herself. She doesn't cry for any more than 5 minutes, though. And... here's the thing... she cried both days when I picked her up because she didn't want to leave yet! I am waiting on that happy medium.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

This morning Kalynn and her daddy sneaked off to the Munich Aquarium while I yielded to sleep. (I love that he lets me sleep in on the weekends!). They left at about 10:30am and I waved to Kalynn as she passed by our house on the 140 bus to Sea-Life. Of course she got to bring home some souvenirs (her daddy is, afterall, tightly coiled around Kalynn's tiny little finger). Nemo and a shark were her whimsy of choice today. These tiny little plush animals will hold a very special place in Kalynn's life for about 37 minutes I am sure. Notice she is wearing the tutu that she did not want a day or so ago. She loved wearing it to the aquarium and being "the only princess there". I think that every little girl should own a tutu. They are so cute and fun and makes 'em feel special. Who can't help but smile at a little one in a tutu?

Tutu cute!

Okay, I had to share some things that were too, too cute today. Recently I told Marco about a friend of mine that has a daughter that just turned 3. My friend said that her daughter tells her all the time "Mommy you're looking good today!" and that that always seems to come at the right moment. Well Kalynn has never done this before. In fact she is quick to tell me that my hair is "a hot mess" more times than I care to hear. Well, apparently my dear husband wanted me to feel good so he was with Kalynn downstairs while I was upstairs coaching her to say something like 'I look pretty today'. Obviously the trip upstairs was a bit taxing on her memory. She marched up to me and said... "Mommy, you look round today!" Well, at least we all got a good laugh out of that one. I politely said, "Yes, Mommy is round. Round is a shape. Therefore Mommy is in shape"! (A desperate attempt to downplay the obvious, lol).
The other tutu cute item I wanted to share is this precious little tutu I made today. I made it for Kalynn but being true to her tiny little fickle self, she decided she no longer wanted a tutu. "Give it to Didem" she ordered. By the end of dinner today she was talking about HER tutu. Did I mention she was fickle and darn cute!