I know it's been a while...

Sorry. I've been kind of busy with my new obsession...

SCRAPBLOGGING!

Tips for easy reading

I changed the background again...I can't seem to settle. I know this one is very hard to read. Just click your mouse and scroll over it, it will highlight and be easier. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To our family and friends all over America!!

We had the opportunity to record holiday messages for our families courtesy of the Soliders Media Center! They are so awesome to do this FREE OF CHARGE every year. Here are the ones on the internet. We also recorded one for Houston, but I haven't found it yet.

Kansas City

San Benito TX

Flippin, AR -recording guy got a good laugh on this one!

Austin, TX

The Austin message will be aired:
Friday, December 12 between 11:00AM and 12:00PM
and Wednesday, December 17 between 5:00PM and 5:30PM

I haven't heard about the others!

Love y'all!~h & s

Another great day in Mannheim!

One of the larger units came home Friday. Not the rest of the one whose advance was posted last week, a different one. I know it seems like we have had and will have an awful lot coming home lately. The reality is that about 85% of our Soldier population was deployed for most or all of 2008. So, this is a lot. But it never gets old or ordinary. It is an awesome sight and while it lasts about 5 minutes from the moment they walk in to when they dismiss, it moves me and fills me with joy.

This is an MP unit. Here is a story about their return: 18th . It's been a hard 15 months. 15 months away, and as many losses. The lady in the purple top with the dark hair is a friend and fellow FRSA who has held this unit together in more ways than anyone can count.

Signs lining the entrance of post.

FRSA Erin hands out flags for the arrival hooplah!

I thought this was so creative! The I Love You, Dad is colored in cammo! They usually have stuff in the arrival area for children to do, the wait is often up to 3+ hours. Flag coloring was a big hit.

The 76th Army Band

Sweet baby.

A friend and coworker from old job and her kids waiting on husband/dad...

Here they come!!!

Formed up

National Anthem

Dismissed and balloon release!

Happy reunions!

Holiday Trimmings

ok...not of the Christmas tree...of my hair! I just could not deal with the static and tangles and hard water damaged hair anymore! I like it, it suits me. :)

Czech it out!

We had a wonderful time in Prague over the Thanksgiving weekend!

We arrived in Prague Thanksgiving day at 10:30am. That day we rode the subway, got our bearings, checked into the hotel, ate at TGIFridays, yes it was awesome! Then we rode the tram and walked around the city, drank some hot chocolate (that was literally like a melted candy bar), saw the Astronomical clock and walked over the Charles Bridge at night. We watched some guys cut hard candies, and went through a couple of shops. We ate dinner at a great restaurant in town, and then meandered back to the hotel.

We got up Friday, had breakfast at the hotel (as we did each morning) and went to Prague Castle, which in itself is a day. There we went through the tour of the castle (with the help of an audio guide) saw The Old Royal Palace, the Story of the Prague Castle, Basilica of St. George, Golden Lane (tiny houses around the perimeter of the castle), the Prague Castle Picture Gallery, the Monastary of St. George National Gallery, and St. Vitus's Cathedral. We arrived about 9:30 and left after 2pm. McDonald’s for late lunch, and then walked around, through Old Town Square, through Wenceslas Square, tracked down a David Cerny sculpture, wandered a little more and then had pizza for dinner at Einsteins Pizza very near the hotel.

Day three was full of Museums. We started at the Mucha Museum, which I LOVED and Stephen also enjoyed, then a tour of the Communism Museum, which was really interesting, on to a Salvador Dali exhibit (which was also accompanied by a Mucha exhibit-bonus!). We had a hot dog snack (which was pitiful) and walked around through the Old Town Square Christmas market where we had several Staroceke Trdlo(s). They are these yummy rings of dough wound around a metal rod, rolled in a cinnamon/sugar/ toffee/almond mixture and toasted over a fire and then rolled again in the mix! DELICIOUS! The day ended with dinner at El Hombre...the usual mediocre not really Mexican food we've found around Europe. Not BAD, per se, but NOT Mexican food!

Last day, we checked out of the hotel, and left our luggage there while we made one last trip to the bridge, walked around the city, took more pictures and then went back to retrieve our luggage. From the hotel, we walked about 50 yds to the tram, rode to the metro station (where we had McDonalds for lunch) and then took the subway from Andel to Mustek to Dejvicka-end of the line where we picked up the 119 bus to the airport! We were a little early, and the plane a little late, but we eventually got home.

It was a great trip.

David Cerny sculpture hanging in a shopping area.

Changing of the guards at Prague Castle


St. Vitas Cathedral

The Astronomical Clock


Charles Bridge

It's kind of a pain to upload 200 photos here...so...if you are interested in more:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=11pcpqol.avvkf3mx&x=0&y=-qhtz5s&localeid=en_US

And here is a video of the candy cutting guys. I was so impressed by this!

Coming home

The advance party has arrived! :)
They came in three waves. A few one day last week, then Tuesday a group in the morning and another in the evening. GOOD TIMES!

The first group:

The General and Brigade Command Sergeant Major entertain babies while we await the arrival of the bus:

Morning group:

Mingling once they are dismissed from formation:

It's good to be home.

This dad just met his son for the very first time.

Single Soldiers are assigned barracks rooms and receive keys. They don't know that the spouses of their unit, the rear detachment, and the FRGs/FRSAs have been making their rooms homier with snacks, toiletries, bedding, welcome home signs, and notes of thanks. :)

Afternoon group march in:


In formation, the General actually had each one say his/her name to be recognized individually. This won't happen in a main body with hundreds of Soldiers. So it was kind of neat to get to cheer for each one.

See those squares hanging behind them? Those are the quilts of 2 out of 4 companies. (the others are further down) Every Soldier has a square on the quilt of his/her company.

A few of the people there for cheering and support have Soldiers returning with the main body. How awesome that they would come and welcome home some, knowing that it will still be a while before theirs will walk through that door.

This weekend and next week starts the build up to get ready to receive the rest! YAYE!!!

Sevens

I got this little survey a long time ago and kept meaning to put it on the blog. I emailed it to myself, and just today found it in my old mail. It was dated September 9. So here goes:

Seven things I can't do:
Speak any language other than English
A flip flop
Play any musical instrument
can vegetables
make anything from scratch (this is bad)
make myself throw up (ewww, gross)
run marathons...yet (maybe one day I will)

Seven things I do well:
scrapbook
love
write
plan and list make
blogging
read
sleep

Seven things you might hear me say:
"What’s on tonight?" – regarding the television.
"UGH! I hate AFN!" – response to answer to question above.
"I wish I had some cake."
"We don't have to work tomorrow" (I say this Fridays, Saturdays and eves of holidays. it is more a song than a statement).
"STEPHEN!!" (followed Guess What or Come here)
"Wait, what?"
"What-ever. NEW GIRL" (I don't really say this that much anymore, it's an old AFN spot)

Seven celebrity crushes:
Jason Taylor – Defensive End, Washington Redskins (Dancing with the Stars almost winner!)
Tim McGraw – Country Music sensation
Tyson Beckford - model

This one is really difficult. I might have to come back to it.

Seven things that made me love my husband:
his gentleness
his integrity
his history, that it matches mine
his future, that it matches mine
his intelligence
his friendship
his love for me

Blue Snow

More specifically, the Blue Man Group and snow!

Tonight we went to see the Blue Man Group. We agreed we were glad we went, it was a good time and we enjoyed it. We also agreed that it might have been better if we had been able to understand the dialogue. Really enjoyed the musical parts, though. Good stuff.

Then, we drove home to find more snow than has fallen since we've lived here. Hoping for a snow day tomorrow! Actually I don't care if it clears up completely, but not somewhere in between so it's not 100% safe to drive to work, but it's not a MUST to stay home.

This is why I love Country music...

Because it reminds me of the things I love. Excerpts from some songs that remind me:

lightnin' bugs
riding with the windows let down
the sound Of a cooler slushin' on the bed 'a yo' truck
the sound of real country music
the stars Every single one.
--Sounds So Good, Ashton Shepherd

"Jack and Diane"
Livin life with no sense of time
After graduation and drinkin goodbye to friends
And I go back to watchin summer fade to fall
Growin up too fast and I do recall
Wishin time would stop right in its tracks
Every time I hear that song, I go back, I go back
We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives
Takes us to another place and time
So I go back to a pew, preacher, and a choir
Singin bout God, brimstone, and fire
And the smell of Sunday chicken after church
And I go back to the loss of a real good friend
And the sixteen summers I shared with him
Now "Only The Good Die Young" stops me in my tracks
Every time I hear that song, I go back.
--I Go Back, Kenny Chesney

A little bit of chicken fried (steak that is)
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up
Sweet tea
And my house it`s not much to talk about But it`s filled with love.
the sunrise
the touch of a precious child.
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly, let it ring.
Salute the ones who died
The ones that give their lives so we don`t have to sacrifice
All the things we love.

--A Little Bit of Chicken Fried, Zac Brown Band

A New Mary Kay Consultant

Are you a Mary Kay Cosmetics fan? Just a quick public service announcement for all my readers! My cousin Kristy Kay is now a Mary Kay Consultant!

Feel free to browse her website and click what you need. :)

http://www.marykay.com/kschwartz/default.aspx

Almost 15 months later...

Last October, we said Tearful Goodbyes to a battalion in our community. These are Soldiers we know, many of whom I welcomed to our community shortly after we arrived here. Single Soldiers like Lori, married Soldiers like Jay's wife, husbands of Marisa, Crystal, Deanna, Christy, Jessica, Nancy, and more.

Today, I helped to put up yellow ribbons and get barracks rooms ready for the single Soldiers of the advance party to come home. The unit will come home in 3 movements. Advance, main and trail. The excitement, anxiety, nervousness and anticipation is evident in those who have held down the homefront for all these many months.

The time seems to have flown by. But I haven't been raising kids by myself. I haven't been glued to my phone waiting for a call from downrange. I haven't counted the days until his/her R&R leave or devoured monthly newsletters hoping for a photo or mention of his/her name. My time wasn't spent sending care packages, comforting kids who miss their mom/dad, or dealing with behavioral issues brought on by a missing parent. I haven't reached over in the night and found the other side of the bed empty. (or occupied by a child who has wandered in)

What have I been doing with my time? Watching the spouses (and friends/collegues) of deployed Soldiers be strong, and brave, and courageous. I've seen how they get to their breaking point and find a way to go one more day. I've seen them reach out to others, use resources available, and find ways to cope when they have hit the wall. And I have watched many of them grow and mature and thrive and go on with their lives because that's what they do.

It's an incredible thing to be a part of, and I am truly blessed to know both the Soldier and the Family members of the 44th, and the US Army. :)

"Süßes oder Saures"

I'm not taking pictures because it isn't so polite to take photographs of people you don't know here. But I just have to say that while I'm not huge into Halloween (I know, the posts below suggest differently, but that's all part of my job) this has been one of my favorite things about being in Germany.
Trick or Treating, and Halloween as a "holiday" is a new concept here. Not all neighborhoods do it, but they do it here in Bürstadt, and it is so fun! We ran out of candy very quickly the first year, not for a while last year, and I do not expect to run out this year. The kids are so cute. They make their own costumes, like we did as kids. Well, I guess their parents make them, but what I mean is that there aren't a lot of store bought ones.
Oh, and when I went to get my clown costume, the lady asked if I was going to a German or American party. I said American. She said, "oh, then you can be anything you want!" And then proceeded to tell me how here they don't do that. They are all "wampires or vitches" (heehee) because you know their Vs are Ws and wise wersa! hahahaha! I'm so funny.
Also, SB got home JUST as the first PACK (of about 12 kids) were getting their share of the "sweets or sours", and one asked if that was his costume. His uniform. And then another thought he was the Polezi (German police). The ones who know that we are Americans before they ever set foot on the porch are very careful with the Thank You, enunciating it clearly, practicing their English.
too cute. This I might miss.

Bde Family Fun Run!

I'm not sure how many of these people actually RAN. I did not. I walked, you know...so the other family members wouldn't feel left behind. Yeah, that's why. ;)

Later, back at the brigade...our Star Wars maniacs paused for a photoshoot!