Happy New Year!

Jesse and I wanted to let you know that we arrived back at our home in Germany on Thursday this week (Dec 30) It is good to be home and we hope that we will soon whip the jet-lag! It is New Years eve and we are trying to keep each other awake. We know that at midnight our quiet little village will become what will sound like a war zone and our friends and neighbors take to the street to shoot off their collection of fire works!

So where did 2010 go? Here we are ready to embark on another decade! Whew! We are thanking God this evening for another year of blessings...good health, supplying all our needs and more, a new grand daughter, my mom turning 95, spending Christmas together as a family and so on. These are just a few of the many blessings that come to mind tonight.

We want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and all God's best in 2011.

Shawna's house

A relaxing evening at Shawna's house...enjoying a movie together! We have spent a couple of days here with Shawna and now are hoping to head back to Germany this afternoon (29th). We are both ready to go home after the long 2 1/2 month time away. Most of the time was spent traveling...visiting friends/family.

Last Days in Seattle

It was not easy to leave the Wilcox home on the eve of Christmas Day but our time there came to an end. We were able to stay at a hotel close to the airport with Shawna that night and flew to DC early the AM of the 26th.

Very special that Shawna got to work a flight to Seattle on Christmas day. She got to spend a couple of hours with us that evening!
When Chiara was asked what she wanted for Christmas her immediate answer was always 'a purple bikini', which she noticed on a little girl in one of her books. Well, thanks to her mother and some on-line research, she got it! Here they are also wearing matching head bands(gifts) for those cold days of winter.
Opa and Chiara sharing a snack at the new little table and chairs.
Reading books together...
Looking at Christmas e cards together on Christmas morning.
This is what happens when a two year old is on her own...thankfully the lipstick was mostly on the lips!

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Chiara 'reading' to Graci!
Graci is so much fun!
Jesse and I gave the girls an early Christmas present... the Fisher Price manger scene. Chiara has played with this for many hours already. (Notice the cat in the tree...cats do climb trees you know!) It has been so special to see her 'play out' the story of Christmas...even though the Kings are 'Queens' and Joseph was 'Daddy' for several days. Mary, Joseph and the baby went missing one day and caused a bit of panic in the house. However, they were soon found in one of Chiara's many purses. (We have all discovered if something of ours is 'missing' it is most likely stored away in a purse, cart or other play item!) The following photo was taken by Chiara!!

It has been a long time since I have taken the time to post something. I have more pictures of our HMA trip which I am going to save until we get back to Germany in January. I have skipped ahead to the present for now and perhaps after you see the pictures below you will know why. We are thankful for the time we can spend with our family in Seattle.

Helping wrap GG's Christmas present!
Relaxing with Opa!
Early morning story time with Oma.
Sisters!
Everything a little girl could ever wish for!
Pretending to sleep! Ha!
Dress up night!

Visit with Tyler