Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas, but missed too many of our family members! We had Stella, Erik and Anneliese. Bec and I worked the 23rd and 25th--mine were 24 hr shifts and were notable for lots of babies. My better part worked the night shifts. We converted to European Christmas tradition and did the Church program at 1800 followed by Dinner, then presents. We stuck one bit of Americanism in there by allowing old Santa Claus to come a bring a residual present during the night for the children. We did not allow anyone out of bed before 0900! I had to go to work at 1100. We enjoyed our "new room" immensely.

Christmas Market

After Stella arrived, we went to a couple of Christmas markets on the Weinstrasse in Neustadt and in Diedesheim. Neustadt was cool and Diedesheim was fabulous--one of a kind. It had all sorts of arts and crafts and made us think totally of Katie. We decided we must go there every year and hope to take Katie there next Christmas. So, may great ideas for an Ar-tist'. The town is a very old and very small town and the market was huge through windy cobblestone streets. It even had a ferris wheel. Only problem was that is was about 16 degrees Fahrenheit. I froze to death!! We ate a lot of food and had a great time. For the future, I hope for warmer temps and lots of Euro to buy lots of food!!

Christmas Concert

Back on the 14th of December, we went to a free Christmas Concert in our little church here in Gimsbach. The church is from the year 1747, so a few years older than our barn. It has a very cool little organ in it, pipe organ of course. The concert was in 2 parts, first being a German choir with organ accompaniment. It was tre' cool. The second was an acappella choir from a University in Poland. They were spectacular. I am going to try and add a bit of the closing combination song, Silent Night.

Jack and Heidi

Here are Jack and Heidi and Anneliese Dec 07. Jack just got a trim and is quite cute and good smelling after his shampoo and trim. Heidi, the old lady, is doing well walking with the walking cane for the blind. She enjoys her food well and is currently doing well finding the liter box again--so we are proud/ happy!

Scheune at Christmas

Here is our 8 foot pre-lite old man Christmas tree. I love just plugging the thing together and having the lights on it already!! We actually wanted it taller out in the Scheune, so stood it on a wooden box we had discovered down in the basement.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We had 2 big dinners this year, our first being in New York with Scott and Elizabeth. We had such a great trip. I think Rich didn't get all the pictures and video he wanted to in the last post- yet, we'll work on that. We all- Anne, Erik ,Rich and I took a military hop(meaning FREE)) from Ramstein to Baltimore , this involved 8 hours waiting in the terminal waiting for a flight to get to Baltimore- but we did eventually get on and it was like a normal commercial flight with movies, food and all. Anne was thrilled that it was not like our first hop experience with no windows, backward seats, lots of noise and no food! We rented a car--with GPS- a life-saver- and spent the first night in Baltimore and then drove the 5 hours to Groton the next morning. We had such great time. Nathan is talking all the time , repeating everything he hears and is generally the cutest , smartest grandchild we have ever had! After a great 2 days with Liza, I took off to Utah to surprise Katie at her art show- if you haven't seen it go to Casey's blog and check out all the details, he also wrote a lovely tribute to Katie and her art. Kathy picked me up and helped me surprise Katie, she thought she was meeting Kathy to give her a personal tour and I was waiting around the corner - we really surprised her, she was very excited to see me and it was a lovely moment. That made all the airplane time worth it! I got to be there for her final reception and her radio show and I also got to meet Curt - Stephanie's boyfriend. They seem pretty enthralled with each other, and despite threatening him with a five page questionarie from her father he seems determined to stick around and we'll get to see more of him in Dec when we all come to Utah.It was a quick trip, not long enough to see everyone, but so worth it to see the girls and what they are up to. I left Utah on Thursday and got stuck in Chicago overnight because of a late flight out of SLC. I got back to New York Friday morning and then we left to come back home on Sunday.We made the last possible flight out before Rich was off leave ,AWOL and would have to buy tickets! We did have enought time to buy Nathan his first Lightening McQueen car and teach Liza how to knit. Scott took us on a personal tour of Cornell and Rich and the kids had a great trip to Palmyra and church history sites.
We flew back and forth with guys coming home from and going to Iraq, it was quite sobering. The great thing was the crowds waiting at the airport to cheer for these soldiers coming home, there were big school groups, people with flags, signs, ballloons and alot of cameras. I'm glad to see that even if people are opposed to the war they are supporting the troops and the sacrifices they are making. It was so awful seeing the guys saying good-by to their families and then getting on the plane with them wondering how many will be coming back thru Landstuhl wounded. We have busloads coming here everyday.
Our Thanksgivng here was just us, but Anne made us personalized menus and place cards and the kids helped cook, clean up and get out Christmas decorations that day too so we had a good day. We are so thankful for our wonderful family and all the great things they are doing, they make us very proud and pleased.Wish we could have had a house full of family for thanksgiving, you are all invited for next year!

Family Gathering with Nathan at the Piano

Sacred Grove

Here are a few pictures from the Sacred Grove. We had a wonderful visit there and a great experience with the sister missionaries to the log house and frame house. We met an senior couple missionary from Sutherland, Utah. It was a very special experience and wonderful spirit there.

Thanksgiving at the Johnsons in New York

Here we are at our observed "Thanksgiving" at Elizabeth and Scott's in Groton. We had a wonderful time together and wonderful food.

Halloween

Here is Halloween 07 pictures. Anne is Ms Bow Beep and Jack was a cross dresser as her sheep. I was a marathon runner with my medals. I did not take my most precious medal, the one that Katie made for the night marathon in Marburg.

Recital Pictures

Here are photos of the recital that I did not have time to post last night. It was a very nice deal. Erik was exceedingly kind and happy to be there and support his sister...

Anneliese's Recital

Anne's long awaited recital was today. I thought it was a great success. We went out to carbo-load at an Italian restaurant afterward.

Rich got started and has really gone to town making our blog, this is much easier than I thought it would be so now we are up to date! We seem to be obsessed with the house, it' been a long year, but today they put in the last window so our renovating is DONE and we are enjoying the new space. Dad told us to put up pictures of the whole house so Rich did it right away. Check out Rich's running blog- Gimsbacher runner- he has a mileage tally, after he saw Casey's total he had to make his own. He is also going to add a baby total of babies he has delivered, so we have to go back a bit and count up and then go forward from there. So I guess we'll think of more fun stuff to add and can keep up with everyone now!

Erik and Anne's Rooms

Anneliese's room is the one with the frilly canapy. Erik's with the sleigh bed--only thing we have not an antique. Built in closet is one of two in the house--cherry wood and quite cool.

Granda Jeffery said folks had said we should put some pictures of the rest of the house--so I did. This is quite fun really. Hope all are interested..mildly.

Our Bedroom

Here are different views of our bedroom. This room was the living room during the first year we moved in as it is the biggest (was before the Scheune), but it is on the second floor--which was weird to traipse up through the laundry room to get to the living room. SO, we switched placed. But the piano (weight 2000 pounds) remains there until it dies. So, I can play at night time in my room.

Dining Room

This is the dining room. We have 4 large Schranks in there. Two are Weinschraenke (Wine schranks) from a vineyard with carvings about Rhine wine and Mosel wine. They are really for the glasses only. The blue dishes are a small portion of our collection of Villeroy and Boch Burgenland dishes from the flea market.

Living Room

Here is the living room in the 1830 end of the house. Notice our old blind cat, Heidi.

Here are Katie's bowls and a little wagon we got from Teo.

Anneliese Nella Jackson jumping on Mom's new exercise ball.

Scheune

Inside the Scheune during the decoration process--cutification.

Main Entryway

Inside the entryway... We put back on the doors when we were able to move the "Monster" antique up to the new loft in the Scheune.

Grandpa Jeffery and Rich during Berlin Marathon

Here I am during the middle of my 38th marathon and the 8th Berlin for me. Berlin is my favorite for sure.

Erik's Dog House

Erik and Grandpa working on his "dog house". They got the front window in and Erik subsequently put in the back one. Of course, during this process we acquired a table saw and a nifty Black and Decker drill. We could use Grandpa around for a year! Of course, Grandma made the best apple cake I have ever eaten!

Here is the view of the Scheune looking toward the street when we were looking at the house. The lady in the leather is Frau Schleppi. We have tried to name several pets after her subsequently, but the children did not buy off on it.