Happy Birthday Owen!

We celebrated Owen's 1st birthday yesterday. I can't believe he is one already...it went so quickly. Some things about our 1 year old munchkin:

He loves to walk around with a play hot dog (pictured) or french fry in his mouth
He is a thumb sucker
He is a walking machine
He loves Nutri-Grain bars and black beans
He thinks Easton is hilarious even though Easton torments him constantly
He is pretty much the sweetest thing.

Christmas and thensome

I am playing a bit of catch up here. We spent a week in Germany and then Christmas and New Year's at home in Dublin. Here are some of the highlights:

I don't think this picture gives our tree the size justice it deserves...it was large. Easton got to help trim.


We got our house all ready for Christmas and then headed off to Germany. We were a little scared to go, seeing as neither of us speak a lick of German...and we were planning on driving a lot. It was a great trip though even if we did get stuck for 7 hours in a blizzard.
It was really cold there and one of the main reasons we were going was to see the Christmas markets all of which are outside. We just had to bundle up...

I think Owen still has some pent up hatred toward us for this. He really despised this snow suit thing.
Our trip started in Cologne (Koln). It is a really pretty city. The Christmas markets here are really cool, one especially is right next to this huge Gothic cathedral, The Dom.




We went from Cologne to Frankfurt to see the temple there:

But didn't spend much time there because we were trying to get to Dresden by late afternoon. And this is when we spent 7 hours completing what was supposed to be 3 hour drive. Lots of snow and ice on a downhill and semi's don't mix and thus we were stuck for 4 hours. Boo. But our kids did pretty well and we were alive so to Dresden we continued. Again, didn't spend much time there either since it was all eaten up by the blizzard but we did stop in neighboring Freiberg to see the temple there:


We continued on to Berlin. We did more Christmas Markets and some touristy stuff. We ate a lot on this trip:


Some melted cheese and potato on bread goodness.

Lots of gingerbread.

I didn't actually try these and I am really regretting it.

'Berliner' doughnuts.

We loved the Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie was the American entry/exit tower and the only access point over to West Berlin from East Berlin when the wall was still up. The building is now a museum with tons of pictures, stories, memorabilia, etc. from everything that surrounded the Berlin Wall. It was so interesting. Rob and I could have easily spent 3 hours there but instead spent 25 minutes since we have 2 wee children. Maybe some day we'll go back...in the summer.

Outside of the museum.

Remnants of the wall.
We really liked Berlin and wished we had more time to explore there.

A Berlin Christmas Market

We came back to Dublin feeling a little bit more Christmas-y. Here are a few pics from Christmas:


I like this picture because it almost looks like Easton is being patient and sharing with Owen:


Two of my fave gifts of the season: The Puma's (thanks mom) and the socks (thanks dad and Nancy). I needed them both.


Owen enjoys "fishing"



Rob carves the turkey for our get together:


We missed all of our family but had a nice quiet Christmas.
And just because this post isn't long enough:

Mr. Undies he has named himself.

The kids favorite morning activity. I swear we've never used that thing.


Come and visit us in Europe...you'll have to wear one too when we go swimming!

Happy 2010 everyone!!

The night before Christmas...

Can't believe it's already Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas everyone!








Easton decided Santa would rather have a donut and M&M's than cookies.
Hope he's right...

Happy Birthday Easton

Easton turned 3 today. We had a party that was total chaos. I got no pictures of the party, his presents, the cool race track cake I made, or even of the mess my house was after 9 3 year olds ran wild. Hopefully he will remember the fun time he had! And the tantrum he had as well :)
We love you Easton!

Thankful

Some things I am thankful for:

1.Our trip to Utah where my husband and brother-in-law made a meal for 12 people entirely from pre-made frozen food. I am a frozen food snob and it was tasty.




2.These two


3.My mom is here. Yay.

Here's what other people are thankful for...love this.

Halloween

I will start out with a disclaimer regarding the horrible quality photographs in this post...our video camera apparently takes really lame pics...but it's all we got until we head to Utah next week and buy a new camera. Here are our Halloween pics and then-some:


Peter Pan. Everyone saw him at this church activity and said "oh look, it's Robin Hood." Easton didn't know who Robin Hood was but he sure knew he wasn't him...he kept correcting everyone.

Peter gets his groove on.

Mr. Smee. This was the most of his costume that Owen wore...he wasn't feeling so hot so the bandanna and pirate boots stayed on for about 3.2 seconds.


Captain Hook at the ward Trunk or Treat. He actually did look like Captain Hook even if in this picture he looks like a flower power hippie. We had the Peter Pan theme down and unfortunately didn't get any shots of my 'Wendy' costume...sad.


His loot. Easton keeps taking his candy out of his bucket and putting it in again or switching it to a new location...I think we spend a good 1/3 of our days lately reorganizing candy...and it's very technical...I'm not usually allowed to help.

In sadder, non-Halloween news, our neighbors and good friends the Meade's moved back to the states right before Halloween. Easton misses his buddy Wyatt and I miss my buddy Emily.


Hope everyone had a super Halloween...to all our peeps in Utah: we'll be there next week; let's hang out!

Grandpa and Grandma Nancy Visit Ireland

We had a great 2+ weeks with my dad and step-mom Nancy. We went to London the first part of the trip, they traveled South West Ireland, we went to a World Cup qualifying match and Rob and I got to go out a few times thanks to the grandparents watching our boys. Here are the highlights:

Actually this might not be so much a highlight...we did the sightseeing bus in London...it took way longer than we were told, headphones didn't work, babies cried...it was an experience.

Grandpa and Owen at Buckingham Palace.

Us at Trafalgar Square

This nasty pic of me is for my sister, the cupcake lover...red velvet deliciousness.

Rob and I got to go to Les Mis at Piccadilly Circus and we ate lots of McDonald's. At one lunch we were actually seated in what turned out to be a fancier restaurant than we had thought and we walked out and headed to Micky D's. Cheap, obnoxious Americans. We went to the Saturday Portabello Road market which the guys hated (it was impossibly packed with people) but I kind of liked. My dad and I made a last minute stop to Harrod's. Does everyone know that that store has a FLOOR devoted to Christmas? YEAR ROUND? It was sheer glittery, tinsely, candy caney, goodness. I could have spent hours...good thing we only had 1/2 hour. This picture hardly does it justice but...



We headed to the Dublin City Center a few times:


The boys are a bit camera shy...
And thanks to Rob's work we got to go to a World Cup Qualifier Game...Ireland vs. Italy. It was so fun. The Irish are crazy about their national sports teams so the crowd really made the game. They tied but it was a really exciting match. Here we are at Croke park (the same place we saw U2):


And a few more random shots:


Grandma Nancy and Owie.

And the 4 of us pre-church.

Thanks grandparents for making the long trip out...we had a blast.