Little Miss Aubrey

Well, we've gotten past the point of counting weeks so now we just say she's three months old. Amazing! Our little Miss Aubrey is filling out quite nicely. She's all smiles and likes to blow bubbles. She is so chatty and loves to gurgle, coo and chat with anyone that gives her attention. It's way cute.


We put together the swing that arrived just a few weeks ago from our stuff that was in storage in Auburn. This was the first move where our stuff arrived to our new home by air, land and sea. So our previous baby things arrived by land and boy were we glad to have the extra baby swing and chair. It's nice to have something for her to sit in on each level of our house. And she seems to enjoy her little spaces as well.

Especially with her binkie!

News from New Jersey!

And finally a post on our life in New Jersey!

We handled the flight back to the states quite comfortably. Ah..the joys of business class. Thank you PwC! We flew in safely to Newark and the boys enjoyed checking out the cockpit.

Well, we have to say that we are really liking New Jersey. We like our ward and love our little neighborhood and we have a great feeling about Aaron's school. We have been so busy with this transition, mostly due to the fact that we moved into an older home and we have so much to do around the house. It's been great to be back in the states and enjoy the comforts of endless choices at the grocery store and all the conveniences that shopping has to offer.

We are definitely enjoying our east coast experience! We went with my mom to the Statue of Liberty and to a Mets game. We had to go and support the Padres. It was neat driving to Shea stadium. We drove right through parts of Manhattan to get to the stadium. Not sure when we'll make it out to New York but we plan to go soon.

We're looking forward to the start of school. Aaron's case manager is really on the ball. We already had a visit at the school and Aaron seems excited. We're still looking for a preschool for Connor. We're on a few waiting lists so we'll see what happens. Poor guy. He keeps asking me if I've found his school yet.


Our ward has been very welcoming. Aaron already has his first assignment. He gets to read a scripture in Primary in a few weeks. We have lots of boys in our primary so Aaron and Connor fit right in and have already made lots of friends.

We are currently working on getting estimates to remodel our bathrooms, kitchen and basement. We are totally ignorant when it comes to home improvements...real home improvements...not just changing hardware on the cabinets. :) So hopefully, everything will go well. We'd be happy to receive any lessons learned from those of you who have experienced home improvements. We'll have to post before and after pictures! I'm tempted to enter our kitchen into a contest. I think it would have a good chance!

Well...on to other news. Aaron finally lost his two front teeth. It's been so funny to see him without his tiny little front teeth. Aaron is eight and he's lost a total of four teeth. Most of the kids in his first grade class lost their teeth and most of them are a year younger than Aaron. I guess he just didn't want to let go of his baby teeth.




Aubrey continues to grow. She's our little darling. I will do a post for her very soon. I need to take more pictures first! So more to come...

Goodbye to friends and a few other things we'll miss...

We enjoyed being with friends one last time for an ice cream party. Below is the Familie Schaub.

Koko, Nikolaus, and Phineas, and their nanny Millie. Aaron is sitting with Koko's cousin.

We also celebrated Luise's birthday. Luise was our babysitter and was sort of like a little sister that we couldn't resist teasing.

Here are the boys with our friends the Hecklers, Rachel, Claire and Jack.

Jack and Connor were in preschool together. They were quite energetic buddies!

What a group hug!

Connor with his buddy Aidan.

Things we will miss...feeding spaghetti to the animals at the Waldau park.

And feeding spaghetti to ourselves...spaghetti eis that is...at our local italian eis cafe in Bad Godesberg.

We will definitely miss our strolls through Bad Godesberg.

Here's a picture of a german Konditerei...pastry/cake shop. The germans make simply fabulous cakes!
Of course we will miss many other things like our traveling adventures in Europe and playing our favorite german games with friends but we plan to keep doing both in the future!

Legoland Deutschland and Schloss Neuschwanstein

We just couldn't leave Germany without seeing the Neuschwanstein castle aka the "chitty chitty bang bang" castle to the boys. And on the way there, we stopped off in Ulm and spend the day at Legoland. It was so neat to see all the cool models of European sites that we have actually been to! Hamburg, Venice, London, and Neuschwanstein were just a few of the models. Grandma came along for the ride and we had a great time. The boys had a blast in the little water park and we even found an almost lifesize model of Thomas the Tank Engine.










Picture perfect Neuschwanstein Castle

We enjoyed a horse-drawn carriage ride up to the castle. We waited and waited for our turn to go into the castle. There were so many tourists and lots of americans. The boys did pretty good on the tour with exception to the adult size slippers that kept slipping off their shoes. After touring the castle, we walked up to the Marienbrücke to get a view of the castle. It was really neat.

Aubrey's Blessing and Aaron's Baptism

The first picture is of Mike and Aaron before Mike baptized Aaron. The next picture is of Mike holding Aubrey just before the baptism. I didn't get a picture of Mike in his suit and tie with Aubrey and so I just snapped a picture of the two of them before the baptism. The third picture is our family again before Aaron's baptism. The fourth picture is of Aubrey sleeping during the luncheon after Aaron's baptism.

Our last Sunday in Germany was a very special day and one that we will always remember and cherish. It makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it. It was the day that we had to say goodbye to the dear members of the Gemeinde Bonn. Mike and I look back with much gratitude for the opportunity we had to get to know such wonderful church members in Bonn. We were very grateful for the opportunity to serve. Mike served as the ward mission leader and I taught and planned activities with the young women. Mike was way more busy than I was. Not only did he have lots of church meetings but he also often had discussions and appointments with investigators some of which he spoke spanish. Even though it was very busy at times, we look back and see how the Lord has blessed our lives. Our ward made us a very special book filled with pictures and notes of gratitude. It makes me cry when I read it. Anette presented it to us at the luncheon after Aaron's baptism. It was so amazing to be in a ward where everyone is unique and you feel needed. It was so surreal saying goodbye. While last Sunday in our new ward was wonderful, it was also weird to once again be in a ward where there are so many families just like you. In one small moment I wondered how we will fit in. But we always manage to find our way. It always starts with seeking out the game players. :)

Summer Celebrations

Well, we've had a fantastic journey this summer! We are now in New Jersey and we will be in a hotel for just a few more days. The idea of moving into our house this week is really exciting to us especially after being in temporary housing for almost 7 weeks. July was a busy month for us despite being on summer break. A visit from Grandma, Aaron's birthday, road trips, and our last Sunday with our ward in Bonn are just a few things that kept us on the go last month.

Aaron and Connor at our favorite aquarium in Duesseldorf, Germany.

Mike and Aaron enjoying some fourth of July fun. We got together with some of our other American friends in Bonn. In Germany, it is not unusal to see these sparklers on top of birthday cakes. They are sold by the party supplies. They worked out perfect for our little celebration.

Connor was hesitant to join in the fun but eventually warmed up to the idea of holding a sparkler. As you can see by the picture, he was still rather cautious about it and insisted on holding the sparkler outside while standing inside.

Aaron celebrated his 8th birthday last month. He was really excited about his birthday this year. We had a few of his cub scout friends and church friends over for a pizza party. The kids had a good time especially when we played musical statues.

Aaron watched on as the kids danced and danced. Here's a videoclip of some of the fun.