I love Oberstaufen

too too TOO much to say about 4 wonderful days in a favorite place!
but I need to say this, the photos below, starting with "us" begin on Saturday, and end on Thursday "looking out our bedroom window"-a little backwards, but at least I got pictures!
enjoy!

us

more family two

more family

family two

family one

our thanksgiving table, at the Mediterrano, Oberstaufen Germany

thanksgiving with child three

thanksgiving with child two

thanksgiving with child one

night...from our bedroom

bad hair...but...us

part two of the view

part one of the view

proof

the Patton pose

and he's done

taking off

getting ready

the Preston

our sledding hill RIGHT outside our room

Broken ankle Doodle...SLEDDING

close up

Ben Ten snowboarding...and...crashing

the Doodle

us

Thanksgiving smiles from Mr. Ben

an almost family photo...Preston was in the gym, we went into town

looking out our bedroom window

umarmen und lieben
Happy Thanksgiving
essie

still tootin'

Doodle Bug comes home today, with the paperwork for this:

"Junior Leadership Seminar (JLS) is a DoDDS-E sponsored 6-day event for 7th and 8th grade students. The vision of JLS is to prepare and develop positive leaders to become effective decision makers and visionaries in a global society. This activity identifies and develops leadership skills in students that allow them to return to their schools and implement a service project at the school. The goal is to prepare our future leaders of tomorrow.

Each year over 100 students throughout Europe, who exhibit leadership skills, are selected by their schools to attend the Junior Leadership Seminar."

She was nominated by an 8th grade teacher!!
She's in 7th grade!!!
And...naturally...
SHE
DOESN'T
WANT
TO
DO
IT
yup...she says she doesn't want to go away for a week...
to a resort in Germany-
where she is empowered to make the world
our world
HER world
a better place.

oh my stars this child will be the life and death of me!
so so SO proud of her, I am-
completely stymied, by her reluctance
completely awed, by her goodness
completely humbled, by, her

did I mention that I love my daughter?
she is everything that I was too afraid to be
the possibilities for her are open and endless

umarmen und lieben Dolls
Momma

quickly

the snow came down down down last night...
I needed it.

Work for Team Leader has taken a turn that has just pissed me off.
I can say that because this is my blog.
BUT
that's all I can say.
We'll get over it, because we are US.
Me and Him.
Always US.

and it snowed...
a sign from above perhaps,
when I needed one?
my sign?
can't hardly be a coincidence-I get it Dulce.
I'll get over it, because I love Team Leader, and I KNOW I don't have to love his office. (Lucky Me!!)

Oreo LOVED the snow and on his walk this morning I took pictures, which I'll post later on-he WAS too funny!

Last night I found this blogger, through an expat blooger I've gotten to know, and like her I had to share her words.
You must read this post about love.
It is the raw, true story of how love changes life and transcends death.

Love.
I love my husband-fiercely-so much so-so very much, so
I love snow, love love love it when it snows
I love.

is that a bat signal?

a bat signal of say 30+ something?!!

birthday wishes are going out to
ROBIN!

with hugs and love,
from deutschland,

batman

yay for you Doodle Bug!!

super-de-duper week continued...

yesterday I was admin for my 3 administrators who were all at a district wide conference. I love our office staff-could not ask for a better, nicer, all around wonderful group of folks to "steer our ship" through each school day.

my littles were wonderful for the sub, which always makes for a better day, although I'm now more than 100% convinced that there is a whole lotta crazy in some of my parents.
seriously.
some of these parents need to decide WHICH battles to pick and WHY.
It's a long long road to high school, and, picking fights with the office and teachers in FIRST GRADE...you've got to be kidding!

today, Biggers went to school, hoping to repair the 61% he had in one class with the (now) completed work in hand that his History teacher had assigned, um, wait for it,

2
weeks
ago.

I'll post photos of him when he isn't in the doghouse.
Rest assured, he IS alive, barely!

Doodle Bug was in a MUCH better place, as today was all about the doodle...
now I know this might be too much, but her father and I never got accolades like this for academics in school -sports, yes- and we did think we were pretty well rounded.
For us (essie and Team Leader)
For the time (late 70's and early 80's)
But Doodle...
Doodle is
100% balanced
school, sports, friends,
100%.
She gets it, always has, and after today, we know she always will:
*Principal's Award for 4.0 GPA
*Creative Thinking Award from the GT teacher
*Student of the Quarter from the 7th grade team (teachers)
*Captain of the Volleyball Team

THAT is how to start the school year!

Benzilla was there, who has just gotten into the math book he has worked SO very hard to finally begin, and his comment for the morning:
"Dollie has really worked hard, hasn't she Momma?"
totally making his being there even more special...

So, now that I've basically compared our sons to our daughter, understand that I do
really do
LOVE THEM ALL but this is my blog afterall, and,
today was all about shining Dollie's halo!
HOWEVER, before I sign off for today, one photo of the smallest Harrison, after a day at the groomer, notice please his blue and white striped SCARF!!!

enjoy!

umarmen und lieben all!

With Ms. El Sayed the prinicpal

Our Girl!

Ruthie (our extra!) in yellow, laughing and hiding from me
Dominique (on the other side of the cafeteria...I know, I need to take a picture taking class!)
Julia

julie, lori and e, this is for you:
4.0 GPA, athlete, tall (whoa tall, taller than TL in fact), sweet, nice, kind, and all we could want for in the first boy...I still can't wrap myself around THAT part of parenting, but I trust her and I have to say, that I like him.

and so the week JUST keeps getting better

I go to school and see my littles...
it's as if I've never left:
"Mrs. H-so and so hit me..."
"Mrs. H so and so was running down the hall..."
"Mrs. H I'm going away until after Christmas and Mommy says it's your job to make sure I have all my work before tomorrow."

that little nugget coming from the child in my class who
IS NOT PASSING first grade.
yup.
failing first grade.
thanks in great part to her mother, who,
never sends her child to school
has NO structure in her house,
thinks it's acceptable for little girls to THROW the 'tude at adults like NO ONE's business,
("I'll stare atchu any way I want because my Mommy says I can...")

nice
monday
morning

Later...one of my little boylies decides to pretend
(thank G-d for small miracles here)
to pee into his peach tea bottle during snack.
seriously.
he did.
and when I wrote it up and sent the discipline referal to my boss...
I inadvertantly wrote TEAM LEADER's name in the blank (they are both Anthony...a simple mistake made by a woman on meds-that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

my boss laughed and told me he thought I was messing with him when I sent the email.

nice
monday
afternoon

wait...still not done yet...

heard over the intercom at school:
"Mrs. H, you have a phone call in the office."
twice.
this is NEVER a good thing...

I run to the phone, call the office and hear our secretary yelling:
"E-call the middle school-it's your daughter!"
my cell phone rings.
It's Nurse Julie...from the middle school.
(Really, we ALL do call her Nurse Julie-she is one of the sweetest school nurses I've ever known-you would call her Nurse Julie too!)

"Mrs. H...I think Dollie broke her ankle today in gym."

umm.
WHAT?

And so it went...
from a morning
to an afternoon
to a night (it was 8pm when we got home, with only a splint, b/c orthopedics needs a call from the "Sponsor" (Team Leader) in the morning to set up an appointment)
of totally MONDAY-itis.

crap-o-la
crap-o-la
crap-o-la

can ya say it with me?!!
ergh.

how you get one ear pierced or the one where sick children should be at home being taken care of by their parents

bitter I am.

I have been at home since Wednesday...sick as a dog.
I made it to school for half a day on Thursday, but by 12 noon, I was in the car, on my way to my sick bed.

sick, sick, sick.
Our german doctor put me on antibiotics-which basically meant she thought I was dying-because overhere, antibiotics aren't the first line of resistance. It is the "cold and flu" season right now, but I know where I got this, and who I got this from.

For the record, if I say it once, I'll say it a million times...if your child isn't feeling well BEFORE school starts, they AREN'T going to miraculously feel better as the day wears on!!!
SERIOUSLY
I am so so SO tired of parents who send their kids to school sick and then get pissy with me when I call and say
"Little Suzy just threw up, come and get your kid!"
trust me, when I say, your negligent attitude regarding parenting is only going to make me look at you twice, AND, with s scary hairy eyeball.

ergh.
sick I am.

On to the story of the single ear pierce, which goes something like this:
the birthday gift was pierced ears from Preston's buddy.
the two of them...getting pierced ears
when the boys got there they were surprised to find that the money Kevin had
for both sets of ears
would only cover the cost of
one ear
per
boy.
yup...that's right
one ear each.
In the end, that's what they did, one ear each.

We have told the boys that we will take them back to get the unpierced ears, pierced.
and...
for the record...
for my friend e...
I did have a thermonuclear meltdown when the birthday gift for the Doodle was pierced ears. She was 7 then...
and I wasn't sure she'd be able to keep on top of it...
and I was a spazz.
(e, that was for you!)

time to go take my meds for the day and get ready for school tomorrow-
umarmen und lieben
essie

gooooo Doodle!!

waiting for me in my inbox today was a different email from the middle school...

I opened it.

this is what I read:


Dear “Student of the Quarter” Parent,

Congratulations! Dollie has been chosen by her team teachers as an outstanding example of what an ideal student should be. Peers of your child will recognize this honor as placing your child in a special category of Heidelberg Middle School students—those who not only consistently put forth their best efforts, but also strive to be good citizens.

Could she be simply the best?!
absolutely!!

Halloween...2 weeks later

still catching up...

Ben was WWE wrestler Jeff Hardy...complete with dyed red hair!

Dollie and her girls made us SO proud by going out as Gangstas...nice.

the biggest news of the night...
yes.
that IS Preston's ear.
Kevin got Preston's ear pierced...notice I say EAR rather than EARS.
Kevin got one earring and Preston...he got the other

catching up

e got all over me and said I needed to post some photos...like yesterday.

home sick...I find the time to actually get them up.
enjoy!

field trip to the german farm across the autobahn with Mr. Ben


learning about "kurbis" (pumpkins!) all those boxes behind the farmer...chock FULL of onions, potatoes, and/or pumpkins!!

tomatoes!

believe it or not...15,000 individual lettuce plants, waiting to be harvested!





the farm has it's own restaurant on site, we got to have a wonderful lunch, complete with loads of entertainment courtesy of Ben and his Boys!





umarmen und lieben
essie

the sound of the glass ceiling...breaking

I went to bed last night anxious, and, hopeful.
Not a good combination for a worry-wart like me.
I couldn't take the waiting.
and waiting.
and waiting.
It was killing me.
So I went to bed.

I woke up this morning at 5:25...6 hours ahead of the east coast.
Roughly 15 minutes before President-Elect Obama made his magnificent victory speech.
A magnificent victory speech delivered in the same park where, 40 years ago at the Democratic Convention, riots broke out.
The significance of that location wasn't lost on me-or anyone in my family for that matter-my father said that was the beginning of the unbearable bipartisan divide that our country has been held hostage by in the years since.

My family.
Who I called, immediately afterwards, to share in the amazing moment happening before us.

It was a morning for us that we took in
minute by minute,
word by word.

I got to school and saw my colleagues
smiling
laughing
celebrating!

And then the children came flooding down the first grade hallway.
The joyful sound of small people-
"Obama"
"He won"
"Obama is"
"the first"
"Black President!"

"He looks like me."

He looks like me!
I thought my heart was going to explode-
all the promise-
all the wonder-
all the potential-
all in the beautiful little faces,
the culturally diverse spectrum of our future.
So small, yet so vital...

All day I was brought back to my own familial happiness-thrilled for my own children-thrilled beyond my wildest dreams
our son who will vote in his first presidential election in 2012,
our daughter who already has political plans of her own,
our youngest son who believes that all world citizens...people...all should be free.

With the splinters of glass on the floor around us, tonight I know that with hard work and a belief that anything IS possible, anything can happen.
anything.

I hope that in this administration, these beautiful visions of our future can find
inspiration,
joy,
motivation,
hope,
all these things and more.
"Guten Morgen Mister President! Machten Sie die Welt Besser!"
(the headline on one of our German newspapers:
"Good Morning Mr. President, You make the world better!" )

umarmen und lieben
essie

we did it

the country has spoken-

we did it!

Here she is...

Miss Ellie Belle!

Last year she was the cutest little cheerleader an Aunt could ask for...this year, our girl is rockin' the Pirate look!

Happiest Birthday wishes to our number one niece!
Ellie Paige

We hope you got your birthday box, and the presents were fun-more gummie candies are on the way! We love you SO much honey, and know that this year will be a fantastic one for you!!!

xoxoxox
Aunt Essie, Uncle Tony, Pres, Dollie, and Ben

Get out

and VOTE!!!
No matter what you do today,
DO NOT miss this opportunity.

You owe it to your chldren.

Go VOTE

ps

happy birthday to

*e*

yay you!!!
xoxox
me

just a thought

"Your life is an occassion.
Rise to it."
~Mr. Magorium

umarmen und lieben
essie

change

today i mailed my absentee ballot back home to virginia.
i sent it, express mail...
i smiled afterward, as it crossed my mind, that in a funny way it was one last campaign contribution i was proud to make.

before the big mailing i let any, one, h'son kinder who wanted to watch-watch-as i placed my vote
respecting privacy is important...
the parenting and civic teachable moment, even more so and in the end,
one did.

she's an amazing child-i've known that always-forever and ever in fact.

"mom...that vote just might be the one vote that changes the world."

honey-for you, and all the children of the world, i truly hope it is.

umarmen und lieben, zeiskeite!
momma

fifteen is MY life

he's up there in that thing the germans call an amusement ride...
(it had 4 bars of seats, making a square, riders sat so they could see the terror on one another's faces...or the faces of their PARENTS who were safely on the ground.)

















and here, he's swinging DOWN, (I am not in the photo because I am having a heart attack and Team Leader, Doodle Bug and Benzilla are calming me down with wine...a big big glass of wine.)















holy mess.
someone get me my drink.
my big, tall drink...I love that part of German amusement parks.
umarmen und lieben
essie

paradigm shift

it's time to smile.

I've been posting A LOT of esther-mind-soul stuff.
the writing really helped me get through a tremendous personal loss.
It did.

I loved blogger for that-what huge shoulders, carrying the weight of my pain for me.
Then I started getting emails, facebook comments, so many people wanting to know who this wonderful child had been?

Suddenly, it wasn't just blogger picking me up and dusting me off, it was all of you.
There were moments, laughing until the tears ran down my face-
There were celebrations, joyful moments-
There were movie marathons, hysterical moments-
There were reasons to smile...

So, I'm smiling again.
Like Miranda said to Carrie:
"You'll laugh when something is funny."
There's been puhlenty of funny lately.

It's time to start each day embracing the smile...
Ending the day thankful for the smile...

umarmen und lieben to all my smileys out there-
(loving and missing you!)
essie

Naturally

In typical "me" fashion, my camera wont upload photos right now.

In typical "me" fashion, my camera DIED when I started to take photo of Pres, blowing our his candles. We will have to re-inact his bday event for posterity later.

Team Leader and I think he had a great birthday weekend...

Skate Park ALL day on Saturday. HOURS upon hours of skating...he has the bruises to show for it, he's trying to create some kind of skateboard trick that I can't do justice describing.

Hockenheim with his boys Saturday night...late night...3am before his head hit the pillow.

Back on post for Happy Cake, steaks on the grill, presents, cards, friends.
All for him!
Tonight, Team Leader and Hillbilly are taking Pres and the boys to a concert.
That's apparently what you do when you are 15.
That, and talk talk TALK about getting your learners permit when you go back to the states this summer.

sigh.
our boy is 15...

wow.

15

October 5, 1993 is the day.
My life stopped being my own, and new life became the center of my world...

Preston turned 15 today.
Team Leader and I keep turning to one another, arms open, needing a hug-
physical reassurance-
a touch-
our baby is 15.

I think we're both in shock.
It's hard not to be-we don't feel like time has blown by us...
but it has.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!
We love you!
Momma