Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua

The other night as I was putting Joshua to bed I was telling him his "birth" story and remembering that day and how wonderful the start of his life was...not that it's not still wonderful, but just thinking back on that day...

Three years ago today Tom and I went into the Penrose Hospital after dropping Gregory off at our good friends, Tim & Gentri Settle's house.  We went in, got in the elevator, pushed the buttons and went up to the Labor & Delivery floor for our appt and for me to be induced that morning.  Wow, yeah, it does seem like yesterday, I guess that's how "good" memories are supposed to be :-)  It was an incredibly wonderful day.  We were blessed to have another friend, Naomi Thomas, involved in the day by photographing Joshua's birth.  I remember looking out from the hospital at Pike's Peak and how beautiful it was and I still cherish that in my mind.

Joshua's come a long way from that day.  Even though he's an average size boy, he's grown so much and has so much personality in such a little guy!  He's in the 50th percentile for weight and height, so litterally average.  Just because he is average size-wise doesn't mean he is pushed around...he does his share of pushing around...even with his big brother.  He LOVES to dance and sing and is such a silly boy.  He goes for the guitar or the microphone whenever he and his brother pretend to be a band.

His "best buddy" as he calls him was born a day after him and a world away (in Okinawa, Japan).  TJ is also our neighbor, so the boys get to spend a lot of time together.  In fact, the two boys shared a birthday party at the bowling alley this year.  It was a Bob the Builder themed party and the two boys share a lot of the same friends, so having the party together was great.  The funny part of who all was invited was that there were so many girls at the party!  Joshua is loved by the girls :-)  I can see why, he is a cutie!  That cuteness is easily seen through by me though!  I am continually telling people, don't be fooled by his cuteness, he is a stinker behind that smile.

The things he says are soooo funny!  Like the other morning when he woke up and walked into our bedroom and said, "hi guys".  Or how he sings Jesus loves me, I don't know....instead of Jesus loves me, this I know.  We pray someday he does come to "know" Jesus and that he grows spiritually as well as physically.  In spite of his discipline issues, he is still our wonderful Joshua and we are blessed to have him as a part of our family. 

Here's a pic from the first week of Joshua's life and one from this week (wow, those chubby cheeks that come from me have yet to disappear!)

2012 Cook Annual Letter

Below is the text from our annual letter (also known as our Christmas letter)....some of you may have received this in the mail (others are still waiting on it), and I am sure we missed someone (sorry)...and just in case any of our friends or family are having a hard time sleeping...here it is for your reading enjoyment or sleeping assistance.  
 
As we look back over our blog postings and think back over this past year we realize how thankful we are for the blessing of free health care! This has been a major theme for every month in 2012. We have had at least one visit to Landstuhl / Ramstein for doctor appointments each month, for various reasons. One of the main reasons for the doctor visits was in June we found out that there was a chance that Tom is getting looked at for being medically retired from the military…we are still not sure what the outcome will be, but we are pretty sure that we'll be continuing with the military until Tom reaches his 20-year mark (we're at the 17 ½ yr. mark now). We have been continually praying for God's will in this situation, and we are confident that God will continue to be with us whatever the result.

Even though there have been a lot of medical appointments, we have been so happy to get to hang out with our friends, Jan & Ginger and their kids who live up near Ramstein. It's been so fun having Gregory and Joshua get to know Jan and Ginger's kids since we knew the family when we were stationed at Ramstein several years ago.

We were also so thankful that we were able to make a trip back to the states at the beginning of the summer and to be able to see the majority of our families with our stops in Missouri and Minnesota. It was an incredible time to be able to share in Tom's sister's graduation from Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. It was also a blessing that God provide us a way where we could buy Tom's mom a house in Willard, MO. We also had a good time in Minnesota visiting Roxanne's side of the family. We checked out Judy and Oscars new RV and just enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. Of course the boys had a wonderful time making memories with their cousins in both MO and MN as well as with their Grandma Betty and Grandma Judy and Grandpa Oscar.

Of course this wasn't the only trip we took this past year…there were trips to Legoland, the Stuttgart Zoo, MANY trips to the Rittersport Chocolate Factory/Museum, Barefoot Park and many other places.
Gregory had one of the most extreme changes this year. He started Kindergarten. He went from going to preschool two days a week (for only 3 hours a day) to now going to Kindergarten 5 days a week (6 ½ hours a day). He is in a unique class of multi-grades (K – 2) and loving it. He loves learning, not writing so much, but loves doing math, learning to spell, read and doing crafts/art. Of course he says his favorite parts of school are recess and P.E. So we know he's a normal kid, in case there was any doubt. Gregory has a huge heart of compassion and is a great encouragement to us much of the time. For the first time Gregory was involved on a soccer team with other 4 & 5 year olds. He loved practice, but not the games very much. This was a learning experience and we've since decided to try t-ball or baseball in the spring since he didn't care for soccer too much. Church is a highlight for Gregory each week. He loves doing the crafts that his teacher so wonderfully puts together for the class and he has been learning so much about the Bible and the stories of Jesus.

Joshua has continued to progress in his development and learning. He loves to paint, put together puzzles, and even play on the computer (like his big brother). He has turned into such a social boy and it's so funny to see how connected he is to certain kids. He definitely has his best buddy as he calls him and even wakes up in the middle of the night asking to play with him. TJ and Joshua are best buds and were born a day and an ocean apart, but now we live across the street from each other. Joshua too loves to go to church and sing songs about Jesus. God is so Good and Jesus Loves Me are some of his favorites.

Roxanne has kept busy with what seems to be the "same old things", but at different levels of commitments this year. She has taken on lots of responsibilities with the Panzer MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers). She is in charge of Publicity and seven Discussion Group Leaders (DGLS). She has also been able to attend PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) for Bible studies throughout the year. When the weather was nice she was found at the area parks with the boys and this led to developing more friendships. It was nice to have TJ's mom, Tesha to chat with while at the parks and this friendship has been especially wonderful to have throughout the year. There are too many other women's names to mention so we will leave it at that, but know that there have been many women who have blessed Roxanne with their company this past year (even those who have moved away). She has also been busy with the chapel middle school youth group serving as the snack coordinator and serving the snack to the 70+ students that come each week. Joshua and Gregory get to come along too and they LOVE getting to hang out with the teens each week, so this has become a family event each week.

We are incredibly thankful to be done with our first year here at Stuttgart when it comes to Tom's job. He was required to work one year on the "watch". This meant not having a regular schedule, working long days (12 hrs +), lots of weekends, and missing out on so much. With the job switch he is still a part of AFRICOM but for the first time in our 9 years of marriage he is enjoying his job. This has made such a huge difference for him. He is now working a Monday – Friday job with early hours, but that means being done early too. Tom continues to work on his youth ministry degree with Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) and this semester has been a super busy one with taking two classes AND doing an internship with Cadence Student Ministries. Cadence Student Ministries is the organization that provides the military community with a high school and a middle school chapel youth group. Specifically, Tom has been interning with the middle school youth group doing lots of planning, speaking, leading games, etc. Tom's loves working with youth and cannot wait to do it when he retires.

In regard to Tom doing his internship; we are praying about our future after the military. Tom only has 2 ½ years left with the military until he can retire from the Air Force. We are not sure if God is calling us to work with military youth as missionaries with Cadence Ministries or if we will be youth pastors at a church, or doing something completely different that we aren't even aware of yet. Please join us in prayer that God would direct our steps and make it clear to us where He wants us to serve Him.
We are so thankful that God is with us as we get ready to start 2013. We're praying that you see the hope that is in this promise as well. "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us"). Matthew 1:23

Blessings to you and yours,
Tom, Roxanne, Gregory & Joshua Cook

Merry Christmas 2012

Now that we are fully immersed in this Christmas season, I am going to try to stay on top of it and get a post done before we move on to the next event (before the new year), Joshua's third birthday.  This year has been like many peoples...filled with lots of activities and fun.  We've been enjoying some of the German traditions like St. Nickolaus Tag (Day)...as Gregory woke up in the middle of the night and saw his house shoes filled treats he said "He is real!" and I quickly (as quick as I could in the middle of the night) said, "no, mom and dad are real and we filled your shoes...but you remember the story of how St. Nickolaus used tom come to the German houses and leave treats for the kids?"

We had FIVE advent calendars going (six if you count the activity one we did some days).  Hope the boys remember how to eat a good meal without the incentive of chocolate :-)  I think I can remember :-)  We had christmas parties (youth group one, a small one with some MOPS friends, and even one up at Ramstein with our friend, Jan's youth group, because we happened to be in town and staying in the apartment above the party).  We got to enjoy a Christmas market (without kids), thanks to some great friends, Tom & Tesha.  Somehow we managed to not bake any Christmas cookies and my boys both got to still decorate cookies at two different friends' houses and I got to enjoy cookies at multiple places without the work :-)  So there were many good memories from this Christmas and we all enjoyed the time together.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Fall is almost over

Now that fall is nearly over I feel that I must quickly blog about what we have done, especially now that tomorrow is December 1st.  We were able to find a few corn mazes to take the boys to.  One of the corn mazes we were joined by some friends and this made the maze so much more fun.  We also got to check out the Pumpkin Fest in Ludwigsburg with another friend.  Legoland was a major highlight for us all at the beginning of October.  The sculptures made out of legos were amazing and we all had a fun time in spite of the chilly weather.  And then Tom was busy with a day long retreat for the Chapel Middle School youth group - Equip.  We had a small celebration for Tom's birthday, with his favorite meal for dinner...Spaghetti Carbonara and for his cake I made a homemade tiramisu.  Not too bad for a first try (and with a box mixes help).

Then there was the Pumpkin Drop.  Gregory's school does an annual Pumpkin Drop around the 31st of October.  Each class decorates a VERY large box and fills it with specific varieties of objects.  Gregory's class was marshmallows and popcorn.  Each elementary class is paired with a couple of high school students to do this project.  And then near the end of a school day a ladder fire truck is brought in and 5 grocery carts full of pumpkins are brought in too.  Joshua and I got to watch much of this event with the school.  It was fun to see the decorated boxes (oh and they are assigned a state to help with the themes of the decorations on the box).  Gregory's class was Delaware.  The goal is to have the pumpkin drop into the box and for it not to break apart after it lands in the box.  I think there was only one pumpkin that succeeded and it wasn't Gregory's class, but Gregory still had a ton of fun with this.  Joshua continues even now to almost daily talk about the Pumpkin Drop and how it goes "boom". 

There were a few other smaller activities of bowling with friends and our first decent snow fall (about 5 inches or so).  And then there was Thanksgiving, but that will have a post of it's own.  As always, there's more pics at our shutterfly website.  http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/action/

Soccer Season

At the beginning of this month we finished out our first go around with sports.  Gregory played on a 4 & 5 year old team, the Purple Monsters.  He had fun, but also learned what he doesn't like about soccer.  He enjoyed the practice, but didn't like the games.  He says he didn't like that he couldn't use his hands and could only use his feet and legs.  So this spring he wants to try baseball or t-ball.  We are thinking this might be a better fit for him since it's not as physical or as aggressive as soccer can be (even for 4 and 5 year olds).  It was fun being a "soccer mom" for a season, we'll see if Joshua wants to try it in a year or so...I might get another chance.    

 

My boys are growing up - Gregory

So already over a week ago Gregory started his career as a student.  We found out the Friday before Gregory would start school who his teacher is and what class he'll be in...a Multi-Grade Class (K, 1 & 2).  We had marked the box for Gregory to be put in this class so that if it was "God's plan" for him to be in this class then we were open to it.  Nervous about it, but open to it and besides out of over 100 students, only 14 kindergartners were randomly selected to be in the multi-grade class.  Anyways, so Gregory was chosen.  After the first couple of days we were feeling better about Gregory being in a multi-grade class.  I am pretty sure the "shock" of being at school from 8 - 230 every day and not being with mom and dad during this time was a big source of what we were concerned about.  

Also, we started the common "first day of school picture" tradition and added a little bit more to it by having Gregory write his name and telling me what he wants to be when he grows up.  This will be an item to cherish over the years for sure.  And for those who are curious he wants to be a paleontologist, police officer or an astronaut (and a few days later added a pilot).  Big dream...love it!

Gregory will be quick to tell you that his favorite parts of school are recess and lunch.  He loves the cafeteria food!  I guess I might too if I had THREE choices for a main entree every day.  He loves going to the library, doing crafts (art), likes music, enjoys PE and has made friends quickly (not a surprise!).

So far he has learned to count by two's, learned about syllables and counting them, learned some German (since this is our "host nation"), learned some Spanish (because everyone should know some, right? haha).  Gregory is such a sponge and loves learning, I pray this continues well into his life...actually throughout his entire life.

Another new thing for Gregory is "organized" sports.  Gregory is playing for the Purple Monsters soccer team (a base youth sports team).  This is the 4 & 5 year olds team.  So he has practice once a week and a game on Saturdays for about 2 months.  Today was their first game and it was about 80 degrees outside, so very hot and Gregory was so tired due to the heat so he didn't want to play very much (kind of understandable, but this also shows how dedicated Gregory is to the sport already :-)  He did help his team out some and got to share in the victory of his team winning.  It was fun to watch him and the other kids play today.    

My boys are growing up - Joshua

This week has been full of big "deals" in our house.  In brief...Gregory started school and Joshua got rid of his pacifier.

Joshua getting rid of his pacifier has a little less detail about it so I'll start with this...Tom and I have been saying that Joshua's paci is yucky and trash for quite a while in hopes that he would start agreeing with us and finally on Thursday morning just out of the blue Joshua walked over to the trash can and threw his paci in the trash.  Since I was concerned what bedtime (or naptime) might look like I explained to Joshua that we needed to put paci in a bag to throw it away.  Luckily, Gregory was at school or he would have been asking lots of questions about "what" we were doing.  With Joshua it's easier sometimes since he doesn't need an answer for "why?".  So we got a ziploc bag and put paci in there and then tossed it back in the trash.  After Joshua had walked away and was no where in the area to see what I was doing...I snatched the paci out of the trash and put it away far from Joshua's sight just in case.  We had also told Joshua when he got rid of paci we'd get him a new stuffed Pooh.  He loves Pooh and doesn't have a Winnie the Pooh...he has Tigger, but not Pooh.  Anyways, so I kept talking about how the next day when Gregory was in school we'd go to the toy store and get him Pooh.  There have only been a couple of times Joshua has asked for his "wawa"...don't ask where that name came from...we have no idea!  But I have been quick to remind him that HE put paci in the trash and now he has Pooh because he is a big boy.  We are so proud of Joshua and so thankful this hasn't been as hard as we anticipated.  Thank you Jesus!  Now to move on to potty training...maybe we should wait till he's ready on this too...it might work better :-)     

Here's a picture of Joshua with his new Pooh that he sleeps with.  No more "stinky wawa" as Joshua says :-)

Summer is over...

As always, I've been slacking on my blog, so here's my attempt to catch up.

Our summer was busy, not too busy, but busy enough.  We spent LOTS of time outside, especially at the playground by our house.  We made a few trips up to Ramstein/Landstuhl for doctor appointments.  We (me and the boys) went to a Barefoot Park, where you do just that...walk around barefoot and then you get to experience different feelings on your feet.  We walked on a bed of nail heads, bark, small rocks, large rocks, pinecones, etc.  We walked the shorter path, so we didn't get to walk through the mud or on the polished glass pieces...maybe next time.  We spent lots of time with our friends when we were outside too.  A few times we even played in the water with multiple sprinklers, a medium sized pool, water balloons, squirt guns and spray bottles.

 

Since we've been without A/C in both our van and our car we have not traveled too far...to help keep cool we've enjoyed some YUMMY ice cream (more like gelato) and cold watermelon.

After looking back at my pictures my memory was jogged and I am remembering a few more things we did...we were all involved in VBS (Joshua, Gregory and Roxanne).  I (Roxanne) enjoyed being in charge of a group of about eight 4-year olds.  Gregory LOVED everything about VBS, but his favorite time was "game time".  And Joshua was thrilled to be with his best bud, TJ, for the WHOLE week.  These two boys are a day apart and TJs mom helped out in the nursery...and of course Joshua loves TJs mom too.  This week created some special memories and I hope to continue being involved in a VBS program every year to encourage time devoted to learning more about God.  I can recall many memories from my times with VBS and I hope to let Gregory and Joshua have these special times as well.

At the beginning of summer we spent some extra time with our friends Jan and Ginger up in Ramstein.  We visited the Gartenschau where there is a dinosaur park and lots of play areas.  The 8 kids all had a great time...our two, Jan's four, and Jan's brother's two.  Even though we lived in Ramstein for 4 years we never felt the desire to visit the Gartenschau, but now with kids we knew we needed to check it out...especially since Gregory has such a desire to know more about dinosaurs.

Another adventure we had was going to an Animal Park that's not too far from where we live.  We saw lots of deer, bison, goats, a couple of owls, chickens, sheep, rabbits, moose and a few other animals.  There were some areas where you could pet the animals and you could buy food to feed many of the animals as well.  Of course Gregory and Joshua ended up throwing the food at the animals instead of letting them eat out of their hands...the goats we started with were just to slobbery :-) 

We also had to say goodbye to some friends and this is and will always be one of the hardest things about being a part of the military community.  Some of those friends we said goodbye to were:  Gregory's wonderful Preschool teacher--Mrs. Wilharms and my MOPS Coordinator--Jenny Wilson.
Now that the summer has ended it's time for a new chapter in our lives...Gregory going to school!  See next post for more on this :-)

Belated Father's Day post

As I am catching up on blogging I am thinking about what the "important" things are that I want to blog about and this is one of those important things.  Father's Day!

I know Father's Day was a while ago and I know Tom is not my father, but he is the father of my two wonderful boys and I don't often take enough time to celebrate him and all he means to me and our family, so he deserves this blog (and then some).

This past year he completed his CCAF Degree with the Air Force (this is the equivalent to an AA degree at a college).  I know it's not as big of a deal as a four degree, but it is half way there.  Congrats!

He is also working hard on his Youth Ministry degree with SAGU still while working with the Air Force.  Currently he has a lot of medical issues and he tries hard to not let them get in the way of life, but sometimes he just has to take a break.  And other times he just wants to forget about all the pain and still wrestle around with his boys...they'll only be little for so long (and then they'll be taking their daddy down!)  Tom frequently takes time to play games with Gregory and always makes sure that the rules are learned and followed.  Something that not all kids learn these days.  His passion is ministering to youth and over the past 9 years we've been together I have seen him grow so much in this passion (he might find this hard to believe that it could grow, but I've seen it through the different experiences we've gone through and through the different groups we've worked with).  His passion for God has deepened as well over the 10 years we've known each other.  Of course we all have room to grow in our desire to be more like Christ, but it's been awesome to see how God has drawn Tom to himself and how Tom has developed a deeper desire for Christ. 

I know Tom's not perfect, but I am happy to call him my husband and I know my boys LOVE their daddy and look up to him with everything in them.  All he needs sometime is a reminder that those two boys are watching his every move and they are going to grow up to be just like him (whether he likes it or not) :-) 

Tom I am praying for you and loving you with every step we take together.  Even though Father's Day was a month ago, I just want you to know that you are appreciated every day...not just on Father's Day.  I love you and thanks for being such a wonderful dad to our boys.

Our MAY trip to MO and MN

As usual, I am VERY behind in blogging...feeling like not doing it anymore, but I don't want to give it up for good.  I also don't like when I get so far behind that I feel like I'll never catch up...that's how I feel right now too.  Even though I have all of these feelings, I will press on!  So I hope someone's out there reading my blog and making it worth it. 

Over two months ago now we flew back to the US from Stuttgart.  The flight from Stuttgart to Atlanta was uneventful, thankfully.  And from Atlanta to Springfield, the same.  We had a good time in Springfield.  Time went too quickly as always.  We were so thankful everything worked out for our visit.  God definitely helped put everything together.  We were able to buy the house Betty was living in so she didn't have to move since the people she was renting from were wanting to sell the house.  This was all done in about 45 days, thanks to a great friend in MO who is now a realtor (Michael Cataldo is a great realtor in case you need one!)  We also got to enjoy being there to support my sister-in-law at her college graduation, from CBC.  Congrats!  Of course there were late night chats, enjoying time with our niece and nephews and our boys loved being with there grandma Betty and cousins and aunt and uncle.  We got to enjoy some shopping time at Walmart (which we miss a ton when we are gone!)  I got to see my best friend, Carla and her little girl and enjoy so many missed restaurants!  It's always nice to spend time with family and not have to do it with a phone or computer involved.

After spending a week in MO we flew to Minneapolis.  Once again we had great flights and no problems.  After being there the first night, Tom and I got away for a special night away...just the two of us.  We got some great deals using our airline miles (for our restaurant and hotel).  This was the first night we had spent alone (with no kids and no hospital stay involved) since Gregory was born (so about 5 years).  We were very thankful to Bryan and Raquel for watching our boys...they got a little reminder of how much attention Joshua needs (see my sister's blog to hear about this).  So sorry Bryan!  And then the day after my parents arrived.  Our nephews and Gregory got to spend so much time in grandma and grandpa's new (to them) motorhome and loved hanging out with them too.  We got to see where my sister volunteers (at the MN Science Museum) and see where Dr. Bryan hangs out and "practices medicine" :-)  We got to spend time with my younger brother and his family as well...watching Kirk play some softball, eating and hanging out at the Mall of America and riding rides.  Thanks guys for the fun times.

When all the fun in the USA was done we got back on the planes and made it back to Stuttgart with no problems...only minor flare-ups with Joshua on the 9 + hrs flight.  It was a good time, but jet-lag, really IS ROUGH!  Yuk!     

As always there are lots of new pics at our shutterfly page...  http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/

Happy Birthday Gregory!

Yesterday was Gregory's 5th birthday.  Wow, some days it seems like yesterday we were hurrying to Landstuhl after my water broke and other days I KNOW it wasn't yesterday.  It has been such a blessing to be back in Germany for so many reasons and Gregory is one of those reasons.  Since he was born here, it's so much fun to show him things like the hospital he was born at, the building we lived in where his first bedroom was and so many other things.  HE LOVES living in Germany...funny thing is, he is the kid who would find something great about where ever we live.  He is my encourager, compassionate, smart, active, creative and so much more preschooler (who is more than ready for Kindergarten).

 Gregory picked out a Lego birthday theme quite a few months ago, so I had been combing Pinterest for every idea under the sun and then had to narrow them down to what was actually going to be possible.  So we ended up invited FIFTEEN kids to the party and 13 were able to come.  It WAS CRAZY!  We have a pretty small apartment, so there was very little walking space after all the toys were drug out and with the mom's and dad's which came too...BUT, it was an awesome fullness.  The kids had fun, the parents enjoyed YUMMY food and Gregory ended up saying it was the "best day ever".  So we count it a big success :-)  I made some super yummy yellow cupcakes from my cupcake recipe book from the Cake Mix Doctor books.  They were topped with a homemade chocolate syrup frosting that was easy and yummy, from the same cookbook.  We had pizza biscuits from one of my favorite websites, Onceamonthmom.com and we had a delicious fruit salad (with almost every possible fruit) and there was also dill dip to go with some fresh veggies.  Tom doesn't usually have time or take time in the kitchen, but for this party he was a huge help making the biscuits after I showed him how to make them.

We played two games, I Spy the Lego Guy and Put the Smile on the Lego Guy.  The kids really loved hiding the lego guys and trying to find them.

For decorations I made the birthday banner that turned out amazing...I must confess I didn't design it, just found it online and put it together, so awesome!  And then I had gotten two molds - a lego mold and a lego figurine mold.  So I made yellow lego guys for on the top of the cupcakes, made chocolate lego bars, lego guy crayons and lego soap.

Gregory was INCREDIBLY blessed by all of the gifts his friends gave him.  There were plenty of legos, some Kre-os, a Spiderman car that does tricks, games, a ball and glove and a Leapster 2 (that will be awesome for the airplane ride we take in a few days!).

Oops I forgot one thing about the day before the birthday we all (as a family) got to go enjoy cupcakes with Gregory for snacktime at Preschool.  This was a great start to the birthday fun.  And to cap it all off there was a Kid's Fest on base today, so we got to meet some friends for this and enjoyed pony rides, balloons, games and the Kid's Flea Market where the boys got even more toys they didn't need :-)

So now that the celebrations are done and the house is still pretty decently clean, we move on to packing for our trip to MO and MN.  We will get to be in MO to see my sis-in-law graduate from CBC and then we'll head up to MN where I'll get to see the majority of my family (all except Kevin's family - which we will miss).         

As always there are tons of pictures to show things better than I could ever describe them :-) 
http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday to me!

So this past Sunday was the first time my birthday has fallen on Easter and I believe it is the only time in my lifetime that it may happen.  We celebrated the most important event first, my Lord and Savior's resurrection and then in the evening we celebrated my birthday.  Oh and we even continued celebrating on Monday when we enjoyed my meal of choice, Italian food, from Taormina's in Landstuhl, Germany.

All throughout the week prior to Easter Sunday I had been discussing with Gregory and Joshua the Easter Story.  We had fun with a few different kinds of resurrection eggs.  We made some beautiful stained glass looking crosses (with saran wrap, construction paper, tissue paper and glue).  We also had fun making resurrection  cookies (that had to stay in the oven overnight) and we made resurrection rolls for Sunday morning breakfast. 

We also had a special Easter snack while watching one of the VeggieTale Easter movies.  I took plastic eggs and put snack foods in them and delivered them to the boys in their Easter baskets.  We also did a special Easter egg lunch, where I put each of their meal items inside the plastic eggs and then served the meal in an egg carton to each of the boys.  Both times they had so much fun being surprised with what was inside each egg.

Of course we went to church in the morning and then there were Easter baskets and Easter pictures, Easter ham (which I learned not everyone does to my surprise j/k).  We had a yummy meal and then later in the evening after dinner we had some yummy ice cream cake that Tom & Gregory picked out for me. 

 For my birthday I took a raincheck on my gifts since we are heading back to the states in less than a month, so I get to do some easily justifiable shopping when we are there :-)

So it was a busy weekend, but a nice time to be together as a family celebrating Jesus' resurrection.
And Tom did a nice job helping make my birthday special.  Oh and I almost forgot, but I got BEAUTIFUL flowers from my friend, Amanda.  Daffodils and tulips, very nice spring bouquet.  I was so surprised when she gave them to me last week.

Hopefully all of this rambling will help you understand the pictures if you go HERE to look through them.

Food

So I don't usually blog about thoughts or memories, but I really want to write about this since it's on my mind...so here it goes.

FOOD, there are so many memories wrapped around food in my mind.  As I was making some chicken salad for me for lunch, I was flooded with emotions and thoughts and memories.  So I am going to share some of these memories...

-Chicken Salad-
When we lived in Colorado Springs, whenever Ruth Fravel would have the female youth group volunteers over for a lunch we frequently had chicken salad and strawberry's with Brianna's dressing, SO YUMMY...this week I made chicken salad and bought some strawberry's and dressing...so I will be thinking of so many of you this week, to name a few...Gentri, Ruth, Tabitha, Laura, Katie, Jenni, Susie

-Knepfla Soup-
It's a rainy dreary day here in Germany today and thinking of making some Knepfla soup...this has been a family favorite for a long time, and when I say family, I am thinking back to when I was in college living at home and would make this for me and my mom and dad.  Missing them today as I make the soup.

-Garlic Shells & Cheese-
This makes me think of my incredible sister, Raquel.  I remember sitting at her and Bryan's table in their first apartment in the DC area after they had been married for not very long.  It was one of my many visits to them while I was still single, but got the benefit of traveling so much and spending time building a deep relationship with my sister, who is now one of my best friends.

-Ham-
Since it's Easter time and thinking back to a few Easters ago when we were in Germany the first time...we were having our Easter meal with our friends, Brian & Amanda Collins.  They had baked a ham and were getting ready to serve it up.  Amanda forgot to be careful when cutting the ham and went through the foil pan, so ham juice had leaked EVERY where, including under the oven.  What a mess.  Oh and you'd think I would have learned from someone else's mistake, but no, I know I've done it before and had meat juice all over the top of my glass stove top here in Germany the second time  This might have even been when they announced to us they were pregnant with Emily.  And now this week they are celebrating the birth of their adorable son.  Congrats!

I am pretty sure I could go on and on and on about food, not just because I like food, but because I LOVE the memories food and meals create.  Oh one more from just a couple of days ago...I want my boys to have great food memories too!

The other night the boys were ready for bed, relaxing and watching a movie before bed, "Twas the Night Before Easter," the latest Veggietales Easter movie, from a couple of years ago I think.  I got this great Easter snack idea.  So I got the boys Easter baskets/buckets and got 12 plastic eggs for each of them.  Inside each egg I put different snacks (choc chips, raisins, puff corn, m & m's, etc.).  Then I delivered the baskets to them on the couch.  Gregory (and Joshua) was so excited about opening each egg to find what surprise snack they would get to eat!  When he was done with his snacks he said, YOU ARE THE BEST MOM EVER!  Talk about making me smile and thank God for him.  :-)  This is the stuff that life is made of :-)  Good stuff.

Wilhelma Zoo

So yesterday we finally got out and "did something".  It's been so difficult with Tom working, so many illnesses (or injuries), weather, doctor appointments and Gregory's preschool for us to get out and do something or go somewhere (other than Ramstein--although, that's not all bad since we get to see our friends, Jan, Ginger and kids).

We went to the Wilhema Zoo, here in Stuttgart, of course we picked the PERFECT day to go and we had a blast!  It was in the upper 60s, sunshine aplenty, cooperative kids and lots to see!  Gregory's favorite was the Aquarium (inside the zoo park).  Joshua says his favorites were the elephants and the giraffes.  We went with our friends, Amanada and her two boys (Ethan-4 and Evan-3).  So the boys each had someone to play with and I even got to have some adult conversation while we enjoyed the walking, the beautiful flowers, the fun animals and the kids being cute and crazy.

  We were amazed to see other people we knew at the zoo (from MOPS and PWOC)...I figured we'd hear some english spoken but didn't think we'd know the people who were speaking it :-)

We ended our trip to the zoo with popsicles, which were so yummy on the day that ended feeling so warm!  For more pics click here. or  http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/

Life continues to happen

Just to let you know even though I haven't been blogging, life continues to go on :-)  (in case you were wondering).  Spring is finally here, we are anticipating Easter (and my birthday--on the same day!), there have been more doctor visits (they seem to never end), lots of time at the park, a trip to the newly renovated Ritter Chocolate Factory (and some chocolate shopping) and even a trip to the zoo (more on that to come).

As always, there are pictures to go along with what's been going on in our lives...enjoy!  Here's the website again... http://tomandroxannecook.shutterfly.com/

Science & more

So I feel incredibly guilty for not updating my blog for so long, but now it's feeling like it's impossible to catch up.  We've had snow (no MOPS), science with the boys, Tom working, Tom sick, youth group Leap Year Party.  And of course I've kept busy with being the taxi, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, doing the dishes, trying to keep the apartment picked up (that hasn't gone so well).

And now it seems that Spring is coming or already here (at least for this week)...So that's what we've been up to.

You can find pictures that tell it better than words here...

Sledding on a 1/2" of snow

Today after we got back from picking Gregory up from preschool I felt like being outside a little bit.  So we went up three flights of stairs to head back down and play in the 1/2" of snow.  I wasn't sure if sledding was going to work, but we were going to try it.  This was Gregory's first time sledding and he had a blast.  I can only imagine how much more fun we'd have with more snow and bigger hills :-)  Gregory shared his fun with his brother by letting him sit on his lap to go down the hill. 


I'm calling them hills, but I am not even sure if they qualify for this name...bump might be more like it.  The "hills" I am referring to are in front of our apartment (the slope from the sidewalk to the parking lot)--not too long, or too steep.

 

Without further adieu...below are three videos.  Be sure to listen close to the second video...you'll hear Gregory screaming his favorite Toby Mac song...Get Back Up Again.

Joshua's 2nd Birthday

So with Christmas past, we moved on to Joshua's 2nd Birthday.  There is only one thing this boy is crazy about and it Choo-Choo's as he says so cute!  So I had been planning a Thomas the Train birthday party and my family got the message so well without me sending out a mass email or telling more than my sister (hmmm....I'll leave it at that) :-)  Before Christmas Joshua only had trains from Ikea (along with a few packs of tracks) a train book and a few Thomas bath toys (he hardly ever played with).  Now after Christmas and his birthday, what doesn't he have?!?  He has little Thomas', a Shake and Go Thomas, a motorized talking Thomas, a Thomas dvd, Thomas Megablocks, Thomas Slippers, Pajamas and a shirt and more!  I found a cute idea online for a cake since I forgot we were in Europe, it's a holiday and no one makes short notice birthday cakes!  Whenever I would ask Joshua what kind of cake he wanted he would always answer "blue", so that's what we did a blue and chocolate marble cake.  Last year a friend of mine had the same "theme" for her son's birthday, so she shared their pinata with us and some other items.  That was super nice since it's hard to find much over hear for parties sometimes.

We had a family from church over to celebrate with us.  They are from Colorado Springs and their youngest daughter is in the nursery with Joshua at church and their oldest daughter is in Gregory's class at church.  Kind of funny that the kids we know that are Joshua's age are girls - and Joshua isn't as picky as his brother as to who his friends are (yet).  The kids had a fun time playing and we had a fun time visiting with Jon & Jen.

Now that I've typed all of this I realized, that I described the event pretty good, but didn't talk too much about Joshua, so I think I'll save that for another post.

Here's the cake and the birthday boy...and as always, more pics here... 

 

Christmas 2011

I know Christmas is a distant memory already for some, but we are still celebrating and enjoying it (even though the decorations are put away).  In fact we are still awaiting gifts in the mail :-)  In fact today (January 2nd) we drove past the nativity by the chapel to check to see if Jesus was in the manger still.  Gregory couldn't understand why I said that he might not be there because sometimes people are just naughty and they might steal him.  He said he's just pretend he doesn't do anything, he can't even talk.  I am so thankful that our "real" Jesus isn't like that, he does do "stuff" and does care about each of us.

So back to December 24th and 25th.  I was dealing with a pretty bad kidney infection so I wasn't feeling too much in the "Christmas Spirit".  Tom had to work on Christmas Eve and got home to late for us to go to the church service, so we enjoyed Faith Baptist's Christmas Eve service live online (our good friend Jan Horak is the Youth Pastor at this church and it's the one we went to when we lived up in Ramstein).  This was really neat for us to still "feel" like we were apart of one.  And then on Christmas morning I was feeling pretty bad again, so we decided to take it easy and relax at home.  So we opened our stockings and gifts after eating some breakfast (cinnamon rolls).  Then we had a pretty traditional Christmas dinner (Ham, but not too many extras since I was in so much pain).  Later in the day we watched Faith Baptist's Christmas Day church service (since it was at 4 pm).  The boys enjoyed watching Jan do the kid's part of the service since they know him.  This was pretty neat to watch them listening to a friend share about Jesus and Christmas. 

All in all the day was a pretty relaxed day and finally on Wednesday I was able to get back in to the doctor to get new medicine since the first round of medicine my bacteria was resistant to.  Over a week later I am finally feeling better.  We were worried for a bit that I might end up in the hospital (for those of you who remember, back in 2003 I was hospitalized because of kidney problems).  So we are very thankful that things have seemed to clear up and I am healing fine.

For those of you who are wondering what were our gifts...for me there were clothes, Pampered Chef items, a book, a purse, chocolate and other items.  For Tom, there were cds, books, clothes, dvds, tools and candy.  For the boys...toys, some pajamas, books.