NEW YEARS EVE

For New Years Eve this year we hung out at the Briggs' house. We enjoyed lots of video games, a delicious spread of appetizer-type food (and decorating cupcakes), GREAT company, and then all the fireworks Kusel had to offer from the Brigg's balcony. This was the first year the little Briggs' children got to stay up until midnight, and it was quite exciting. We left shortly after midnight and everyone slept in until almost 11 AM on New Years Day!

Playing GamesCupcake DecoratingThe Sparkling Grape Juice Toast at MidnightFIREWORK WATCHING!

Christmas 2008

Christmas morning! We opened presents and had a yummy breakfast. After we played with our new toys for a while we got ready to head over to the Phillip's house. We have been friends with the Phillips for over 10 years now and were so thankful to be able to spend the day at their house enjoying yummy food and lots and lots of fun!Sarah's big gift this year was cold, hard cash to put toward the many, many things she wants. We hid the cash in gum - very sly.Noah's big gift this year was an electric guitar. He is really excited to begin lessons, but don't worry he's not giving up piano!Micah's big gift this year was a Nintendo DS. He was very excited to fianlly have one of his very own!Phantom got lots of treatsHanging out at the Phillip's house. We had such a nice time.

Christmas Eve 2008

On Christmas Eve we attend a candlelight service held at our chruch, Trinity Reformed, in Landstuhl, Germany. After the service we come home and open the last item on our advent calander and our stockings. It's so cute because every year the stockings on Christmas Eve hold the same thing, the yearly Hallmark ornament the kids receive, but they still always get so excited. After the church service I had a friend grab a family photo by the advent candle.This year Sarah got a little snowman jamming on an ipod, Noah got a guitar, and Micah got a little bear reading stories with Daddy-bear. We ended the evening with egg-nog and fudge. Nothing like giving the kids a HUGE sugar rush and then sending them off to bed to try and sleep before Christmas!

The Eve of Christmas Eve

Tuesday we went over to our good friend's, the Briggs', house for a wonderful spaghetti dinner. It was a really fun, relaxing, evening and a great way to start the Christmas Holiday. The food was delicious and the company sweet.

The Feast

The Friends - even Phantom came along and had fun playing with the Briggs' Newfindland, Tsunami. He is just a puppy, folks - still growing!!

Irish Dance Christmas Party

We had a great time at Tir na nOg's Christmas party held at the Dubliner Irish Pub in Ramstein. It was a great time of feasting, dancing, and hanging out with all Sarah's dance friends. The boys had a birthday party to go to, so just Dad and Mom took Sarah. Sarah was so excited to give her dance instructor, Mary, a hand-made bag that Sarah made for her (above). There was a lot of fun dances and also lots of time to hang out with all her good friends.

TRC Ladies Christmas Tea

Tonight we attended TRC's annual Ladies Christmas Tea. It was a lovely time at Noele's house. We had to cut the evening a little short because the icy roads made us anxious to make it home safely. Lots more pictures on facebook if you care to look through them.

Noah's Christmas Piano Recital

Noah had a Christmas recital at the Burg Lichtenberg Castle. This was a special recital because his current teach, Mrs. Kellie Edick, is Pcs'ing later this month. SO it was a nice way for her to say goodbye to her students. She teamed up with another piano teacher so there were about 15 performers. It was a nice time and the kids all played very well. I know the video isn't the best, it is from Sarah's little Sony digital camera, but at least you can kind of see Noah play. Noah and his teacher. We've only been with her for about 6 months, but she really has been good for Noah. We will miss her.
Mrs. Edick's piano studioThe whole crew, including the other teacher and her students.

Home School Christmas Party

We had our homeschool Christmas Party today. It was held at the skating rink. Here are a few pictures from the fun festivities. Where is Sarah? Home sick on the couch sleeping. Poor thing. Micah did a little skating, but he was more interested in the crafts - espeically the cookie decorating, but he consumed his creation too fast for me to capture on film.Noah and his cookie creation. I especially like the kool-aide mustache Noah is sporting.Micah and his good friend, Noelle, hanging out at the craft table.Micah, sticking pretty close to something he can hold onto.Noah and his good friend, Noah, hung out the whole time. They had fun skating and raiding the dessert table.This is my good friend, Bobbie, and her son, Ben, who also happens to be one of Micah's very best friends.

Cub Scout Christmas Party

Tonight we had a Christmas party for Noah's cub scout den. It was a joint party with the other Weblos I den. We had crafts, pizza and treats, a magician, and a gift exchange. It was a good time and the boys all seemed to have a great time. Micah shows off his candy cane reindeer craft, and a good shot of his toothless grin, he has now lost both his bottom teeth.The scouts and siblings crowd around to watch "Mysterio: the not so mysterious magician". He was funny (direct quote from Noah)Noah and some of his fellow scouts waiting patiently for the gift exchange.Sarah and Daddy hanging out at the party.Merry Christmas from Den 8!

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

The Holiday Season 2008! Here is one of many posts documenting all the fun events, parties, and occasions that we involve ourselves in. We got our live tree from the cub scout tree sales again this year. We had to decorate it in shifts though, because the older the kids get the busier we are participating in all their different activities.

This is our advent calendar for this year. Tonight was Micah's turn to open the box and place the contents in the scene. We are doing a cute little Playmobil winter scene with Santa this year. It seems a bit more festive than the Knight scene we did last year.

Micah giving his best brooding face while decoratting the tree.

Phantom can not figure out why there is a tree in our house (that he cannot mark!) and why all the furniture is rearranged. He has a certain corner of the couch he likes to sit on, and it has been moved now. WHY?! Why did you move my corner??

Sarah came right from an Irish Dancing gig, so she is still in her costume.

This is the only picture we have of Noah. Sorry it's out of focus.

Rob and I attended his squadron's Christmas party. These are some pictures one of his co-workers took. The girls in the bottom picture are some of Rob's co-workers. Nice kids! We had a good time.

Oireachtas Rince na hEorpa

So, for all those not involved in the crazy world of Irish Dance I am going to write a very brief explanation of the feis Sarah competed at, as best as i understand it. I learn something new every time she dances, so this is really just my best guess at the moment.. In the European league (?) she dances at there are 4 levels: beginner, primary, intermediate, and open. In the lower categories there are 5 main dances you compete in. You keep dancing in these dances until you "place out" of them. In order to place out you have to achieve 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place with at least 11 dancers competing. Once you place out then you don't have to dance that dance at competition anymore (at the beginner and primary levels at least, which is where Sarah is dancing right now). You can dance the primary and beginner level at the same time and if you place out at the primary level it automatically places you out at the beginning level (if you haven't already). There is also a Traditional and a Trophy dance, team competitions, and other things I am forgetting.
Anyway, Sarah went with 3 goals, she wanted to place out of her beginner reel, her beginner traditional or trophy, and at least 1 primary. Well, she made at least 2 of those goals and then some, even taking FIRST PLACE in one of her PRIMARY dances! The whole school did very well and some of our dancers even qualified for the World competition in Philadelphia in 2009!!
I have a ton of pictures, and uploaded a lot of them to my facebook page. Sarah will also update her blog with a more comprehensive explanation of exactly how she did. Here is just a sampling.
Some of the dancers that were staying at the Holiday Inn in Leiden on Friday night.
Saturday morning Mary gives some last minute tips and advice to the students competing in the first dances. I love these pictures because of the look on Leisha's face. Mary has had a tough year with her health and we are so glad she is doing so great now. We were all so happy to have her back with us and at this feis, and Leisha's face just says it all. I also love the aerial shot with all the curly headed wigs.It was really neat for Sarah to have her Dad come and watch some of the feis. He didn't stay the whole time because it's pretty boring with lots of waiting around. He took the non-dancers back to the hotel to swim and play. He did get to see her dance, and he stayed for the first set of results and watched her take 2nd place in her easy reel, one of her last beginner dances that she needed to place out of.Sarah did really well. She placed in almost every dance she competed in, placing out of at least 4 of them. I have a TON of pictures - but here she is taking second in her beginner easy reel and FIRST (!!!) in her Primary slip jig. She competed against dancers from schools in Italy, Austria, France, Holland, and Germany to name a few.On Sunday it was Hannah's turn to compete. She dances in the next level age group, so her dances were the second day. Sarah had one dance with her - a 2 hand reel. You can not take any photographs of the actual competition, but I snapped some shots while they were practicing in the basement, with Mary looking on giving some last minute tips. This is devouring pizza on the ride home Sunday night. We all drove together in the Briggs big van. It was a great time, and we are so proud of all the dancers, especially Sarah!