The Latest

Our big news this week is we moved out of the hotel!!!  Hallelujah!  We were there just one day shy of four weeks.  I was starting to go a little nuts-o.  We did pass the time at the hotel the best we could...

We stared longingly at the frozen playground outside our window, wishing for spring.  Doesn't look too inviting, does it?

Started the potty training process.  This was my tactic to get C up on the "throne."  Every time she got up there, she got to dress up as a princess.  But only if she got up there.  It has worked like a charm.  

We spent an afternoon creating "wall art" to brighten up our room.  

And the girls created a lot of crafts on display in the window here.  

And speaking of the wall art... I thought this was too cute:

Every painting I created (which is of the finest artistic quality, believe me) Em wanted to duplicate EXACTLY.  And she made no pretenses about it.  She wanted to know precisely what I was drawing and insisted that her drawing be EXACTLY like mine, down to the order of every color.  I was flattered.  So here are her copycats: 

Not sure what green vegetable she added to hers there... maybe a green pepper?

And to top off our lovely stay at the hotel, the day we moved out, C was running down the sidewalk with her hands in her coat pocket, and tripped and fell.  She couldn't catch herself, so she basically fell onto her face onto the pavement.  It was the saddest thing I've ever seen.  The whole side of her face was scraped up including a bloody and fat lip.  Ben has a great pic I'll have to post when he gets back.

So, no, we were not sad to say good-bye to Panzer Hotel.

We have since moved into an apartment on Robinson Barracks, which is on the complete other side of Stuttgart.  We are currently waiting for our permanent quarters, which will still be about a month away, but we are happy for the time being to have a little more space.  

And one of the perks of living on RB is the awesome playgrounds!  This playground will be right outside our permanent quarters.  Emily went down that slide about 15 times.  She loved it!  C still has some convincing to do.

And sadly, I spent Valentine's Day at the hospital, because the dang military health clinic here is impossible to get an appointment with.  I've been sick, so Ben took the girls on our first grand adventure, a ski trip in the Black Forest with friends from Monterey staying in Belgium (are you still with me?), while I stayed back at the apartment to recuperate.  Poor me.  Sniff.  Ben did get the lovely flowers and of course we improvise with the vase since we are still awaiting our household goods.  Hopefully the next post will be slightly more exciting!