Welcome 2010!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We have reached our one year mark of being in Germany (Dec. 22), for Eric it was October. It has been snowing here quite a bit and it came a lot later than last year, so I think we will being seeing quite a bit of this white stuff well into this new year!

We did not really make any resolutions this year, we never had stuck to them anyways! We did talk about things we would like or want to do this year. I would like the chance to go to another country, like Switzerland or France. We are in Germany so what a great opportunity to travel!!

We are hoping to make a trip back to US for a visit with family and friends, most likely not till the end of summer. We are not making any promises, so much can happen between now and then.

Another thing for this new year; Eric getting promoted! We have have waited too long and he is almost there! I know that he will make a great NCO! We got great advice way back when we both were in Japan; To remember the good NCO's and the not so good ones so we can learn from both. The experiences that were negative and didn't like, to remember that and to not do it when we became an NCO. Of course this doesn't apply to me anymore!

On the flip side, the things that we won't do this new year. I am going to be careful about how "close" I get to Army Wives over here. I had to deal with some bad experiences (still am for a few more weeks till they PCS). It was very hurtful and I will not let this ruin my time here in Germany. I also will not let someone say derogatory things about my husband, my children or myself and let it affect me like it did. I told myself that I would also continue to stand up for my family. I bought a sign this past summer at a bazaar and it fits. "I Have Learned Being With Those I love Is Enough." On the plus side of all this, I know that when they are gone, people will forget what was said.

This time next year (2011) we should know where we will be moving to next. We have some ideas in mind, however; knowing the Army we won't get our hopes settled on any one place in particular! We will also be making some decisions reguarding the time of year we leave. Reagan is doing so well in school that we don't want to have to move her to a new one in the middle of the year again. Also she will be going into the 6th grade and that is middle school here. That being said, we will either try to leave earlier and go to the next place during the Summer. Or get a deferment and leave that next Spring after school is out. Taking into consideration if the next school if 6th grade is still in elementary or in middle school.

The Stock Family wishes everyone a healthy and prosperous 2010!

How Terrible of Me!!

Geez, I went from Charlies 5th Birthday to Halloween and totally skipped putting anything in here about Justin turning 8!!! That is not good! Now it is after Christmas and I didn't put anything in her about Reagan turning double digits! Yep, she is a decade old now! WOW!!

So the last few months in a review!

Ocotober, Justin turned 8 and had a GI Joe Sigma 6 themed party! Only a few friends made it,but we had a blast! Here are two pics!

November: We went to a town called Marktredwitz, about a half hour drive from our home. It has a Harley Davidson Store/Shop! The painting on the side of the building was pretty cool! They spoke great English and didn't mind me taking pictures of the bikes they had! Can't reallly tell it is Germany other than anything thaat had any writing on it!


November 24th: Charlies kindergarden class celebrated their 50th day of school by having a 50's theme. Charlie was the only one decked all out! I had fun! Here is a pick taken at home and one his teacher took!

December 13: Reagan celebrated her 10th birthday with a slumber party. Though due to weather (2nd year in a row), not many showed. We were very excited that her friend Gaitlyn was able to attend! They had a blast staying up till just after midnight watching movies and pigging out on junk food! This year for her cake instead of baking it myself, I bought a plain white frosted cake and just decorated it. Still tasted yummy! Here are two pics from her day! The bunny is a common toy here in Germany, a wooden toy on a long spring and you hang from the ceiling and then you bounce the toy! Gaitlyn got it personalized just for Reagan!

Coming next! Eric and I took a trip to Regensberg!

Halloween 2009

This year was the first one in quite a few years since Eric has been able to go out with the kids trick or treating. In '08 he was in Germany; in '07 he was in Iraq; in '06 he had to work.

The boys costumes were pretty easy, they knew what they wanted to be. Reagan on the other hand had know idea what she wanted to do! Then when I went online to order the costumes, poor Reagan everytime she liked something for what ever reason the store wouldn't ship it APO!! I ordered the boys from ToysRus, they have very quick shipping. I started to look at costumes that I could possibly make for her, can be difficult with the limited things the craft store sells. We decided on an idea and I started picking up the things we needed.

This is what the kids were this year: The boys were Transformers, Justin being Optimus Prime and Charlie was Bumblebee. Reagan was a "glow" stick-figure-girl!! We had fun putting it on!!

Trick or treating overseas is a bit different, like it is anywhere else I suppose. We are allowed to trick or treat from 5 to 7 pm. Eric and I had decided we where going to take the kids to where their school is, there are many homes there. More than where we live and most of them where going to the same place too! Just like the name of the kids school, the town/housing community is called Netzaberg.

It was quite cold that evening and we only stayed out for about an hour before deciding to go get some dinner. Plus this was better since Eric still had to go to work that night. The kids got quite a loot of candy this year. Granted, just like every year, the kids and I eat about an eighth of it and the rest gets thrown out, usually the following Halloween!! I try to monitor the amount of candy the kids get anyway, then with Reagans medicine we are to limit it too.

Here are some pics of the kids!!

1st Day of School (2009/2010)

Wow! The summer is over and the kids are heading back to school! The first day is August 31st, Charlie "official" first day is September 8th.

Netzaberg Dragons!

Reagan is now in 4th Grade and her teacher is Mr. Roberts, she also has Mrs.Walker for Social Studies. This year is the first for letter grades! Reagans class is also on the third floor!

Justin is in 2nd grade now and he has the same teacher as he did last year, Mrs. Driscoll. She got to move up a grade with her students! I think it is great, and she is one awesome teacher!! Justin is on the second floor, the same floor as the main entrance to the school.

Charlie, my baby, is in in Kindergarden now! It is just like all the other grades, Mon-Fri all day!! He has Mrs. Dailo (Die-low), and has quite a few kids that are German! His teacher also is fluent in German too! Charlies class is on the bottom floor, it is only half the length of the school. The Kindergardeners and Sure Start (limited Pre-school) have their own caffateria!

The kids school day is very busy! The school does something called "Specials". What it is are a variety of classes the kids all rotate through throughout the week. They are P.E., Music, Library, Computer Lab, Art and Host Nation; each taught by different teachers, and it seperate areas throughout the school! Host Nation is neat, it teaches the kids about Germany, their cultures and a little bit of the language!

School will be exciting this year!! I do have to say that I am completely lonely during the day! It feels weird not having Charlie home with me!

First day!

Reagan looking at Mr. Roberts!

Justin in line talking to friend Junior!

Charlies 1st Day, getting in line!!

Charlie Turns 5!!

August 25, 2009

Charlies 5th Birthday!

Party theme: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Number of guests: 11 (3 were parents), kids ages ranged from 2 to 7

Planned Pin the Tail on the Donkey (actually they were stickers!)

Took me two different ideas to get Charlies cake to look the way I wanted it too! I seriously need to learn how to use fondant!

Got way too many toys!!

He had a great 5th birthday party!!

One child is behind Charlies head!

Summer 2009 (need to start updating this more!!)

I have seriously been neglecting this blog! Shame on me!!

The summer was just like any other summer really. We did spend quite a few days at the schwimbad (German for swimming pool), it is about a block away from where we live. The kids love it, it is inexpensive, 5€ (about $6 for me and the kids). It has three seperate pools, the deep pool (12m, or 9ft), the middle pool is goes from 1m to 3m, this one is the largest and has a huge water slide, and a small elephant shaped one for the smaller kids. The third pool is a large wadding pool that has things for the wee little ones to play on or with.

Charlie started out on the small slide, Eric took him that first day on the big one (with water wings) and he loved it! By the end of the summer, Charlie was swimming without wings! Justin and Reagan loved the slide, by summers end they were going down it every which way they could think of!! There is one downside to going to pools in European countries; it is very common to see small kids naked. Some are probably around 7yrs old too, but they are the ones that parents are drying them off. There were a few times I had to have the kids turn around, because even I was uncomfortable!

My neighbor had bought a large pool (15' across and 3.5' deep), we spent a lot of time there too. We have so many kids in just a few houses that we had quite a few barbeques.

It got pretty warm here, there were just few days where we were in the high 90's. Usually it stayed around the high 80's to the low 90's. No need for any air condionters (we would have to buy a German one, not cheap either!). I just put fans every where especially the 3rd floor where the kids rooms are. The days are long here, sun comes up about 4:45am and doesn't go down till around 11pm!! Makes it hard for the kids to go to bed! So glad that the German shades/blinds can completely block out the sun! Just not the noise from other kids still outside!

We also had bought a 14' trampoline! Even Eric and I get on it. With it being black, it would get pretty hot during the day, so we usually did our jumping in the mornings or in the afternoon!

We went to the American-German Folks Festival that his held every year on base, which is open to the public (the Germans). It was basically a giant carnival with a huge beer tent!! The kids were big enough to go on the bumper cars, Charlie wasn't old enough to drive though. You know you are getting old when you get bumped, it jars every bone in your body and it hurts!! The older two, Eric and I went on this huge ride! The kids had an absolute blast! Even Charlie (with our neighbors) had fun watching us scream and laugh! Towards the end of the ride, both Reagan and I got a little nauseated!

Funnies thing that happened was when I took the kids through the fun house! I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for Charlie. Going through these huge swinging puncking bags, I get Charlie without getting knowcked over, and I got the hit instead! I am getting too old for this!! We get to the maze, which instead of mirrors it is plexiglass. Very clear plexiglass! Charlie was trying to catch up with Reagan and Justin and ran smack into one and fell straight backwards! Poor guy got a nice red bump on his forhead!. I ended up carrying him the rest of the way. Not fun! The kids and I got to ride in an Army Stryker, that was fun. The boys got the biggest kick out of it! We got to eat crepes and a bunch of other fun goodies!! Reagan got her face painted. That was a very long day!

All in all, we had a fun filled summer!

Wow! It's Been a While!

I hadn't realized that I hadn't put anything on here since Easter! So here is a brief recap on what's been happening!

~Eric got a 2009 Harley Davidson Sportster, dark blue in color! Hit or miss if he rides it, due to rain. He doesn't ride in the rain.

~My friend and neighbor, Melissa, we spend lots of time together. She has three girls, Courtney (6), Abby (4), and Katie (2) we all call her Kitty-Kat! Melissa's husband, Chris, was home for two weeks from Iraq. We all had quite a few BBQ's, played Wii bowling and some other games. Charlie and I were with them and we got to eat our first schnitzel sandwich and pommes (french fries)! Yum!

~Our back yard is now quite full! Eric and I bought a 14' trampoline (enclosure included)!! It is a lot of fun! I am on there all the time when it hasn't been raining! First time, I was shocked at how sore I felt the next day! Guess, I hadn't realized how many different muscles we use jumping on it! Unfortunately we had to put a lock on it, due to some of the kids in the neighborhood. Oh, and apparently I am mean! I have a rule about the trampoline, if a kid wants to play on it, their parent needs to come over. So far, no other kids have jumped on it except Melissa's girls. I just don't want to be responsible if a child gets hurt and their parent didn't know they were on a trampoline. I tell these kids it is the rule, they come back , no parent, but telling me their parent said they could. No deal, no parent, no jumping!

May Day pole!

Abby, Charlie, Justin, Katie in stroller, Reagan & Courtney

May 10th~ Mothers Day was so beautiful! Reagan had made me a cute card. Justin had made me a card and had painted a terracotta pot, full of Hershey's kisses! Charlie got me a card and tried to write his name it all by himself! Eric, like always, gets me two cards, one sappy one and one funny! Melissa got me miniature yellow roses in a beautiful ceramic pot. I have managed to almost kill them! I am slowly bringing them back! It finally has new branches and leaves. I can grow petunias and carnations with no problem, first time with roses!

Spent the day working in my front yard, and helping my neighbor with hers. She bought a fountain and needed help. Melissa's yard is so beautiful and blissful! She won Best Area Yard for 2009! I am happy for her! A lady up the street was competing against her, even bought the same fountain! She didn't even stand a chance as far as I could tell! My yard looks nice too, but I wasn't competing, I just wanted my yard to look nice for myself. I have red and blue pots along the fence line with white and deep purple with white carnations. I also have Petunias, Impatiens, New Guinea Impatiens, Geraniums, Nicotianas and a few more that I have no idea what they are! I found this really neat bird feeder on a stand! I kind of have a theme, birds, with feeders, birdhouses, and a few birds (not real).

May 17th~ My 33rd birthday, just hung out at home for the day. Got some fake hanging plants to hang above the balcony. Don't get much sunshine, and just looks nicer to me. Went out to a restaurant, "Portofino's" with Melissa and her girls. Ready for this? It is an Italian restaurant, in Germany owned and ran by Hungarians! Weather was really nice.

May 29th~ The 506th Military Police Ball. I went to a city "Weiden" (pronounced "Vi-den"), and went to a dress shop to find a dress. They had a very nice selection in all colors! The best thing, they hemmed the dress for me and it was ready in three days! Saved me for having to go to alterations on base and taking forever! The place where the Ball was being held was an hour away from base, and we live another 30 minutes from there! At least they provided childcare. Downside to this whole day is that Eric didn't get off of work and home till 4pm! Then he was scheduled to work the next day, which starts at 4:30am and better yet, first day of 12 hour shifts! Because of this, we didn't stay longer than we had too, actually, until his unit let him leave. We got home just a little after 11pm. Needless to say, the next day was really hard on him.

The Kids~ All three just had dental exams, No Cavities!! Reagan had her palatal expander removed, no more orthodontic care till she looses more teeth and the permanent ones are in. Well in the past 5 days, she has lost 5 teeth! Two in one day, then three just on Friday (6/5). She has no teeth!! Well just the front eight, and her back molars!

June 3rd~ The city we live in, Erbendorf, is celebrating its 900th Birthday! It held a medieval festival in the downtown area. it was so fascinating! Got picture of the kids in a guillotine, not real of course! Got pictures of two men sword fighting, and listened to a medieval band! All the costumes were very authentic!

I am also sorry that I have not been keeping up with this blog! My laptop is down for the time being, so I am on Eric's.

Easter 2009

Easter day here was so beautiful! We couldn't have asked for better weather! The kids had fun, I hid their baskets and had tied a string to each and wrapped it all around the yard. It was like a crazy collision course!

Eric and I even dressed up and had our neighbor Melissa take pictures of us.

We had planned to eat dinner with Melissa and her girls, Eric unfortunately got called in to work. The rest of us had dinner outside! It was so nice and really delicious!

Here are some pics of our Easter Sunday.

Happy Easter from Erbendorf Germany!!

Staatliche Schlosser und Garten

Heidelberg Castle and Garden

Being that this is the first place we have taken the kids too, we only toured the main parts of the castle and the Apotheke (Apothecary = Pharmacy). They did really well and the next "tourist-y" thing we go to, we will see all of it.

A little history

Built sometime around 1214, has housed many Royalties through out the centuries. Has survived several German wars to include World War II. It has been in ruins for many centuries also. It has still survived even after being damaged by lightning! Many people have, through the years have done writings and pictures of Heidelberg castle, such as Mark Twain and French poet Victor Hugo.

Check out this link for some great history and information on the Castle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_Castle

We took well over 250 pictures! Here are some of the castle, and a few with us in them.

1.) Heading onto the Castles grounds (Reagan now gets into her posing).

2.) The turret ruined by a gunpowder blast.

3.) Inside the courtyard of the castle (Eric and Charlie).

4.) Eric and the kids looking at the turret.

5.)The kids looking through a tree in one of the gardens.

We really had a great time exploring here, and will be doing more in the near future! Regensberg will most likely be next.

Updates

I know, I have been awful about not putting much on here lately! Sorry!!!!

The weather has been really nice for a while now! It is supposed to get to 70 degrees tomorrow! I have already pulled out some of our summer clothes. Hey, being from Washington, when it hits 60, its time to pull out the shorts! Although I won't be putting away all the winter clothes just yet! From people who have been here a long time, tell us that this time a year changes constantly. Sunny a few days, then rainy, then could drop drastically enough to try and snow again!! Guess that's what happens when you live on a mountain!

The House - All the boxes are emptied and gone! Yahoo!!! Glad that the packers were able to come back and pick them all up! We also had our furniture and the government furniture all squished in here! Two couches, two chairs and two desks was getting really bothersome! Housing came and picked it all up too! Now I have a living room back, and arranged! Finally getting things set up around the house! The only room that is absolutely completely done is the dining room! Done in my birdhouses again! Really all that I have left to do is put pictures and what not on the walls.

Eric and I went and bought an elliptical! We don't really get a whole lot of options over here, but the Exchange got one that we both liked! The box it came in, we couldn't get it up the stairs to get in the house. We ended up taking parts out of the box and lugging them in! Took a few days for Eric to get it all together, between working shifts. I am all excited about it and come to find out the computer part of it does not work. Eric checks all the wiring, replaces batteries and it still didn't work! Thank goodness for warranties! The Exchange is just going to replace the whole thing versus shipping out for a replacement part. We set it all up, they are to come out with a new one and pick up the defective one. They didn't bring a new one when they picked it up, they told us we would have to go get it. This thing is really heavy! Eric is not happy! I guess when he handled all this, he made sure that they were to deliver another one. He will be speaking with them today! Fingers crossed! Maybe by next week I'll be able to finally being working out on it!

We went to Heidelberg this past Friday. It is a three hour drive! Eric had an appointment in the morning there. A three hour drive for a twenty minute appointment! Luckily I had been looking through a Germany travel guide! With planning on seeing something since we all came this way! We did! We went to the Heidelberg Castle and Gardens.

We are all doing well, save for allergy season kicking in for a few of us! The kids are on Spring Break this week.

Later,
Robbin and family