The end of Tippy- Toeing

Well ... we have now been to 2 German orthopedic surgeons ... The second one was MUCH better and more clear than the first. The result is: Shelby will have surgery on her feet (achilles tendon) to correct her tip toeing. She will have surgery this Friday on the right foot. She will have to be in a cast for 6 weeks. She will have the surgery on the other foot in 3 months ... I will post pictures after the surgery -- thought you all might want to know ....

Outside of the villa - 3 bedrooms, little kitchen/dining area, and a living room ... quite nice! Devin claims he beat his mom & dad in Badmitton, but, he couldn't have beat dad without mom's help! Did I say the kids had fun shooting balls? Darren, too!

Fun Father's Day Weekend

We took a quick trip to Belgium for Father's Day weekend (Darren had Monday off of work, so we went Fri-Mon.). We went to a Centre Parc (http://www.centerparcs.com/). They are neat places to stay, with little "villas" to stay in and then the Aqua Mundo(indoor water area) and Baluba(indoor play area). We had a blast in the water and racing on the water slides. We also enjoyed a mean family game of badmitton. The kids enjoyed shooting balls at each other and random strangers. It was a great, relaxing weekend. We had fun playing board games at night, and goofing around in the water during the day!

Shirtless Men of Fire!! ???

Devin had to do a project for his English class the last couple weeks of school. They had to invent a singer or musical group, do cd cover, a magazine cover, an interview, and write some lyrics .... Devin invented the "Shirtless Men of Fire" ... don't know where the name came from ... Anyway, we spent last Sunday using Photoshop and getting his magazine cover together. We are pretty lame and don't have many magazines -- we didn't think the scrapbook magazines would have a rock band on the front with an interview, so we went with Reader's Digest. As his English teacher put it, it's pretty "disturbing" ... but he had a good time doing it!

Eigth Grade Graduation

I have to admit - I thought 5th grade graduation in Texas was silly ... so, I felt the same about an 8th grade graduation here in Germany ... OF COURSE my child is "graduating" from 8th grade ... He better be!! ... Well, I just quietly watch and listened to all the hoopla all year and then agreed to go to the banquet. (There are only 40 kids in the whole 8th grade, and only 4 weren't there -- 2 of them were in the states...) Now I have to admit that it was pretty nice. They had a slide show of all the 8th graders, a nice talk by Colonel someone, a nice talk by the 8th grade Faculty representative. Each kid got an envelope with his/her awards, and a frame to put a picture in. They also got a coupon for a free 4x6 picture to go in the frame... of course, Devin, being a little too much like his mother, did not want to be photographed ... I finally convinced him to go get a picture with some of his friends. While they were setting up, I took some pictures - then a different boy used his coupon for the picture. I tried to get Devin to just take a picture by himself. No ... so, I left him so he could go to the "dance" (although it is my understanding that it was more like a "stand around and talk and listen to music") ... The next morning he told me what he did with his coupon... He saw a group of 8-10 girls getting a picture, and when they were done - he got in the middle of them to get a picture!! I was shocked!! Can't wait to see the picture (I'll post it when I get it!)... Here is a picture of him and his friends -- As his friends pointed out, "he's the only white guy in the group!"

TAG!!!

Tag.....How to play this game of tag. Post these rules on your blog. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. 3 Joys 1. My kids!!!! 2. Darren --who could ask for anything more?! 3. Learning new things 3 Fears 1. Losing my family 2. Deployment for my hubby 3. My children getting any sickness 3 Goals 1. To get better at blogging/communicating! 2. Start exercising and lose weight .... constant goal ... 3. Get more family/friends to come visit Germany! 3 Current Obsessions/Collections 1. Digital scrapbooking/crafting 2. Traveling 3. Taking pictures 3 Random Surprising Facts About Me 1. I love Desperate Housewives (trashy I know, but makes me laugh) 2. I have been to 14 (yes, FOURTEEN) different Countries since July '07 3. I HATE seafood, LOVE pizza, MISS Target, Walmart, & Lowe's Tag: Valerie (and anyone in my email list who has a blog & I didn't know it!!)

SOOoooo Proud!!

I am so proud of myself!! I figured out how to add a slide show to my blog!! (guess I might need to actually share my blog soon!) The slide show below is from our cruise we took this May. We went on a cruise to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We started with a day in Rome, then boarded the ship the next day. Headed to Sicily- for a very cloudy, misty visit to Mt. Etna. A day at sea, then arriving in Patmos, Greece. Here we visited the cave where John the evangalist recieved the Book of Revelations, and a monestary built in his honor. The next stop was Mykonos - very pretty with it's windmills and beautiful sunset. The next day was Izmir, Turkey where we visited Ephesus - an old Roman ruin. Then the last visit was Santorini, Greece- BEAUTIFUL! before returning to sea and back to Rome ... We had a wonderful time and can't wait to take the kids on a cruise!