Emorie and Brenner Enjoy a Summer Evening

Emorie and Brenner are exploring some of the possibilities of playing in the summertime. Below is a video of Brenner trying to pull Emorie. Earlier Emorie was pulling Brenner - it didn't work out so well given the steering of the stroller.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Compass St SE,Lacey,United States

Holy Cow it's Been a While

It's been way too long since I posted anything. Honestly I spend a lot more time posting to Facebook because it just seems easier and I get some interaction between lots of people. The downside to FB is that I can't write much. I'd like to get posting here more frequently as it seems this is probably the best way of keeping any sort of a journal style scrapbook. So here's to my new resolve to updating my blog more frequently.

Just Keep Swimming.... part 2..... CHAMPS

Eindhoven, The Netherlands

February 12-13, 2011

"CHAMPS" is what we look forward to at the end of each swim season. It is the big meet where all the teams come together in one venue. Not every swimmer from the league is allowed to swim, however. You have to earn a slot by swimming an event in a pre-determined "qualifying time." CHAMPS is a big deal and an exciting event. It starts with a Parade of Teams. Each team is announced and then paraded out on the pool deck - similar to what you see in the Olympics. After all teams have entered the pool deck area, the National Anthems are sung. Yes, I said "AnthemS." We have the unique opportunity to be part of a league that is spread across western Europe. Because most of our meets were held in Germany we always had the American AND German anthems sung. At Champs there were others besides the American anthem but uncertain as to which they were, but most likely the European Union and the Dutch anthems. It is pretty interesting and I think it makes the kids feel like they are in sort of a mini-Olympics.

Karter was guaranteed to swim in all 8 events because he qualified in each. At this meet there is a requirement to have two heats of ten swimmers. If only 5 kids qualifiy, then the next 15 swimmers with the closest times to qual. time are "pulled up" and invited to swim. Rylie qualified on her 50m backstroke but was pulled up into 3 additional events. There are also 2 relays per age group and coach assigned Karter to swim in two of those. So he swam 10 events in the two day competition. Mom and Dad were worried about fatigue at swimming so much, but in the end it didn't hinder Karter as much as was initially feared. By the end of the competition he came home with six metals. (See blog posting below) One of his most amazing races was the backstroke, which was a big upset to the competition as Karter outswam THE top 9-yr-old boy swimmer in the whole league and won 1st place. His second best swim was his 200meter I.M. because he was only going into this race with the 7th best seed time, but upset a handful of competetors by pulling ahead and taking 2nd place.

He also walked away from Champs with an elite award: He placed in the top five finishers in his age group for the Pentathalon Award, which compiles their best times from throughout the season in their four competitive strokes and the 100 IM.

Rylie was a little upset that she DQ'd on her first event of the competition (her 100 meter I.M.) because she wasn't on her back enough as she touched the wall to turn into her next stroke. It was a little tough for her to walk away from the event without a medal but Mom and Dad were both so happy with her performance as she took time off of all her previous best times. We are proud of her and know she is a good swimmer. She will work on improving her endurance as this is her biggest downfall. Mom says Rylie likes to take a "Sunday Stroll" when she hits the half-way point in a race. She has good technique in all of her strokes, but tuckers out. We have confidence that with more time and practice that her times will increase and are happy that she has good technique in the water.

The two day event is full of excitement. In the end the Rasmussen kids walked away with medals, ribbons, and, most importantly, with time improvements and pride.

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming....

That's what we do...
WE SWIM !!!

From the beginning of the season...

Until we finish up the season with THE meet we strive for the whole six months...
CHAMPIONSHIPS
European Forces Swim League

We swim with the Heidelberg Sea Lions, a swim team for the children of military service member and support staff in the Heidelberg, Germany (and Mannheim, Germany) area. We started swimming on the team after our move here two years ago.
We start the season with dryland training in August. This conditions our bodies to an intense workout before we are ever allowed into the pool. Then we get to transition from shorts and t-shirts to our swim gear and get wet. Our pool is a 50 meter Olympic training pool near the university in Heidelberg, Germany. Unlike last season when mom would drive us to practice and then return two hours later to take us home, this year she and dad paid for us to ride the bus from school.

Our first official swim was our "time trials" where we swim against ourselves to get a "seed time" (our base line of how our time is in each event.) Our first official competition was in Ktown (Ramstein Air Base/ Kaiserslautern). Our team's first meet was scheduled for a Sunday and since we try to avoid Sunday meets (especially those at "home" when we are able to attend our church services instead), we went to a meet that was scheduled close to us that our team wasn't participating in. Karter qualified for CHAMPS (the end of the year championship meet) during this first competition in the backstroke. We like going to Ktown meets because our friends, The Frandsen's are there. Bailey is a Ktown Kingfish swimmer. And Emorie gets to hang out with McKinna.


We continue to practice and have meets over the six months. We work hard. Some days we are really tired. Some days we don't want to go but do anyways.
We travel. Our furthest event from home was in Lignano, Italy. There was a regular meet on Friday in which we both got to compete. Then on Saturday, Karter gets to swim and 800 meter freestyle event - "Long Distance Champs." There aren't many competetors in this age group because you have to qualify to swim. It is a long swim which requires a lot of endurance. Karter finished in just shy of 14 min:39 sec (he set a team record with this swim)



This year we didn't travel too far from home with most of our away meets being in Ktown (which is just and hour away). We also traveled to Stuttgart, Geilenkirchen (Netherlands), and Eindhoven (Netherlands).


Sometimes we don't do well and other times we do exceptionally good. Sometimes we flat out get a "DQ" (Disqualified) because we did a stroke wrong, didn't touch the wall on a turn, or something else that wasn't correct. That is kind of a bummer, but we know it happens to lots of people. One of Karter's best events, the 200 I.M., was one he got DQ's on four times before he got it right. His times were phenomenal, but he did silly little mistakes (like doing a flip turn incorrectly, or not being on his back enough as he touched the wall). There were meets/events when we took time off of our previously recorded swim time and there were meets/events where we added time. One of Rylie's best swims was when she took off 30 seconds from her 100 meter I.M. She was amazing!

Even though individual improvement is all that is asked of us, our ultimate desire is to QUALIFY to swim in the CHAMPS meet at the end of the season. To do this we have to swim an event in a designated amount of time ("qualification time"), established by the EFSL. If we match or beat the time, then we are part of the elite group that get to go swim at this meet. On our team this year, all team members start swimming with a white team swim cap. As we achieve a qualification time, we were rewarded with a red "Champs Qualifier" swim cap. There are 8 events our age group is allowed to qualify in. We may only qualify to swim one event or we may qualify to swim all the events. As long as you have qualified, you are guaranteed a spot to swim and compete. Rylie's favorite and best stroke is the backsroke. She first qualified with this stroke. Mom and Dad LOVE to watch her swim this event because she ALWAYS has a huge smile on her face. She seems so happy to be in the water when she's swimming the backstroke. Karter's best stroke is also the backstroke. I think we had a really good swim lesson instructor in Virginia because they both do the stroke so well. Karter's first qualification time was with this stroke as well. Karter went on in the season to qualify for all eight events. There were only three kids on the entire team that accomplished this (ironically, they are all 9-yr-olds).

CHAMPS ...Coming Soon in another post ....

Here's a couple of slideshows that show shome of the activity that happens throughout the six month swim season.

Some News Coverage about Swim Champs in The Netherlands

American Forces Network Europe

http://www.stripes.com/sports/records-fall-as-efsl-swimmers-finish-season-1.134699
http://www.stripes.com/sports/records-fall-as-efsl-swimmers-finish-season-1.134699


http://www.stripes.com/sports/swimmers-make-splash-in-efsl-championships-1.99139

http://www.stripes.com/sports/day-two-european-forces-swim-league-championships-1.99141

http://www.stripes.com/sports/europe/europe-scoreboard-feb-14-2011-1.134784


9-year-old boys
Top Scorer – Gregor Heim (SHP) 153 points
100 individual medley—1, Heim, 1:30.33; 2, Benjamin Balla (SHP) 1:35.28; 3, Jack Labadia (V-G) 1:35.94
50 butterfly—1, Heim, 40.18; 2, Haden Diaz (Vicz) 43.77; 3, Balla, 44.77
50 breaststroke—1, Heim, 50.45; 2, Thomas Lennon (SHP) 53.78; 3, Karter Rasmussen (Heid) 53.86 200 freestyle—1, Zach Searight (Wies) 3:01.88; 2, Heim, 3:04.59; 3, Garrison Carrillo (Avi) 3:13.30
200 individual medley—1, Heim, 3:18.44; 2, Rasmussen, 3:29.93; 3, Labadia, 3:32.00
50 freestyle—1, Heim, 35.65; 2, Searight, 36.37; 3, Diaz, 38.10
50 backstroke—1, Rasmussen, 41.96; 2, Balla, 43.14; 3, Heim, 43.86
100 freestyle—1, Heim, 1:22.49; 2, Searight, 1:23.68; 3, Lennon 1:27.04

Eat My Bubbles ....

The water is calm.
The nerves are high.
There's maximum adrenaline pumping.
"Take your mark. Get set. GO."
(Well, it's actually a buzzer, not a "go")

It's Gregor off the block taking a strong lead into the 25 meter mark. Karter's a full body length behind on Gregor's left. On Karter's left is Benjamin, another strong contender in the 50 meter backstroke race. Passing the 30 meter mark Gregor looses some of his endurance and Benjamin seems to be taking the lead. But wait..... here comes Karter.... shooting out into the lead with a strong comeback..... and then.....


BAM!!!! Karter's hand touches the wall ahead of the rest and takes 1st place.

"YES!, KARTER!" mom yells above the crowd of hundreds of spectators.



Karter gets out of the pool and walks past dad who was officiating the race and does this excited, and almost silent, "YES!" (With an excited arm curling motion to assist in the enthusiam.) Feelings of pride and excitment fill each of us in his family and other members of our team as they watched Karter pull of the seemingly impossible win.




Gregor is a Belgian boy who has been almost impossible to beat. He's a big kid and it proves to be part of his secret weapon on swim racing success. But Karter's best event is Gregor's worst and this was Karter's chance to win something over his 2-yr arch nemesis. -- Kids are funny though. In this picture playing the video game in the hotel lobby, he is playing with Gregor (in the green/white striped shirt). They briefly mentioned the competition between them, but that's about it. They were still able to be kids!



This was only one of Karter's many successes during the European Forces Swim League Championship. In order to compete at the event you have to qualify during the swim season. He qualified in all eight of the possible events for his age bracket. He also swam two relay events with some of his fellow team mates. So, in all, over the two day event, he swam 10 races.

His successes include:

1st Place: 50 meter Backstroke
2nd Place: 200 I.M. (which was a huge surprise because he was only ranked #7 prior to the race and he cut off 18 seconds during this race) -- (He also broke a team record on this race)
3rd Place: 50 meter Breaststroke
4th Place: 100 meter Freestyle
5th Place: 200 meter Freestyle (broke a team record with this race)
6th Place: 100 I.M.
8th Place: 50 meter Freestyle
13th Place: 50 meter Fly (obviously this is HIS weakest event)

Vroom ~ Vroom ~~ Pinewood Derby

Last night (Tuesday) was Karter's Pinewood Derby. We have been so busy over the past month or two and we had just not gotten around to doing anything with his car until about a week ago. Since we don't have any of our woodworking tools here in Germany we're at the mercy of the woodshop hours here on post, which are not often enough. So Aaron and Karter headed to the woodshop last Thursday to cut out a car. Surprisingly, the shop managers let Karter help use the tools. That night we headed to the basement of our apartment building and painted the body color. Aaron had to get all creative and purchase an air gun. The paint job looked nice - green with a hint of silver. Friday we headed to The Netherlands for the kids' swim championships and returned late Sunday evening. Monday we kept the kids home for a couple of hours to get caught up on homework and to finish the derby car. Then... Aaron left for a TDY (business trip) to Garmisch. I slapped some paint on the side of the car that says "KAMARAZ" (which didn't look good because I couldn't find my good paintbrushes) - and put some graphite on the wheels. That's all I did to the car.
So, REALLY --- this car was thrown together........
But apparently that didn't matter because his car took 1st Place (out of all the heats, Karter only lost one.)


It was hard for me to get good pictures and video as I tried to do the single parenting thing with a little 2 yr old that wanted to run stand on the track. But here is some of the shots I managed to get:

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We Have a Home in Washington

Hooray for not needing to search for months to find a place to live for the year we will be in Washington. This was the first house I've seen pop up for rent that fit into our time window - available July 1 and we report on August 1. Although it doesn't have the ideal 5 bedrooms that we would like, one of the four bedrooms was actually two bedrooms that the builder made into one larger (long) bedroom.

I wanted to be close to the interstate to help ease the commute time but we decided that the additional commute time was worth getting the kids into a good school. This house is only 10 houses away from the school grounds, which was another reason we decided to go for it. I don't really want the kids riding the school bus -- like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get (didn't want the kids to be forced to sit by someone who might be a bad influence.)

House details: 4 bedroom, double car garage, with a FENCED IN BACKYARD!!!! There is a den/office, a formal dining area (which we have decided we will turn into the music/formal sitting area), upgraded kitchen which opens up to the living room, a walk-in pantry (YES!!!), a walk-in closet in the master bed (YES!!!), a seperate laundry room (SWEET!!! - I hate looking at the pile of laundry that grows on my bathroom floor now), extra shop/storage area in the back of the garage, and a driveway (YES, YES, YES !!!! - no more fighting for a parking space and having others hit our car with their doors.)

We know the home is not exactly what we wanted, but since we are only going to be there for one year, we figured if we could make this apartment in Germany work, we can definitely make this house work.

Preparing Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve eve

A few years or so ago I realized that we were spending way too much time on Christmas day stressing about all that needs to be done. So in an attempt to relax and be able to enjoy Christmas, we decided to start having our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. And to make Christmas Eve day a little less stressful, I start preparing as much as I can on Christmas Eve eve. The kitchen doesn't become a horrific mess and I'm able to spend more time OUT of the kitchen WITH the family. We spend Christmas day together and munch on those yummy leftovers.

So as I prepared some of the items tonight in the quiet kitchen, my mind began to travel between memories and random thoughts. As I prepared the jello for our jello salad, I mixed the gelatin with the hot water and I thought of the memories of my Grandma Chris preparing warm gelatin to drink. I don't know why she did that, but I remember that from my early childhood. (She died when I was 8.) I thought about how grateful I am that Lonnie, who married my mom a few years after I got married, brought a new dish to add to our traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meals (cream cheese green bean casserole - yummy). Although we have an open and loving relationship with Rylie's maternal birthfamily, I wondered about what traditions she would have if she hadn't been able to be part of our family (and so grateful she is part of our family). I thought about my Grandma Nick and how I wished I had been old enough to appreciate her fabulous cooking skills more as to get her recipes - oh how I miss her holiday rolls. I remember her making so many of them and then our family would be the recipients of those tasty treats, which we would pull open and put Miracle Whip and turkey inside to make a roll sandwich. I thought of how much I enjoy candied yams the way my mom made them and laugh to myself that I'm really the only one who eats them in my family now and think that none of my siblings cared much for them when we were growing up. Mom's red jello salad with whipped cream and bananas - the one that's so simple but I just can't seem to replicate quite the right way. My mind really did wander in so many unrelated directions during my time in the kitchen tonight as I cooked and listened to Christmas music.

I love the smell in the house from the pies that I've just taken from the oven and I look forward to tomorrow when we will enjoy the smells of the roasting turkey.

I wonder what items my mind may have forgotten as the traditional holiday meals. For now, as they are the only ones I remember from my childhood and use today are:

• turkey


• whipped mashed potatoes - added butter and milk during whipping and then topped with gravy Mom made from the turkey drippings


• green pistacio salad - made with pistacio pudding mix and cottage cheese and crushed pineapple (I don't know that Mom did this, but I add Cool Whip to that mixture to add a bit of sweetness and fluffiness)


• Cranberry Juice mixed with 7-Up


• Red Jello salad - Strawberry/Banana jello - then mixed with whipping cream (which we always used the whipping CREAM in the small carton, and then mixed with powdered sugar and some vanilla), sliced bananas, and marshmallows


• candied yams - cut canned yams, butter, brown sugar, pineapple, with a touch of lemon juice - then baked and topped with miniature marshmallow - just enough to melt them and then a quick browning from the oven (oh, and a during a previous stressful Christmas Day dinner prep, I have actually forgotten I had the broiler on to brown the marshmallows and caught them on fire)


• I love stuffing, but I don't recall having that as I was growing up


• A new addition to our family holiday meals - Lonnie's green bean casserole - melted cream cheese mixed with some sugar & garlic powder, then mixed with the beans. Top with bread crumbs and bake.


• Rolls - and none will EVER compare to Grandma Nicholls' Parker House rolls (Even if I had her recipe, I would never do them the way she did.)


• Pumpkin pie - always made from canned pumpkin and adding spices. Then topped with whipping cream that we whipped ourselves (from the carton with powdered sugar and a little vanilla extract)

That all seems like a lot, and it is. I just hope I've remembered everything from my childhood memories. I hope that I am helping form memories and traditions for my kids that they will enjoy following as they grow up and have their own families.

Continue down the blog... we've updated

I know most of you are coming because of the "Big News," but don't forget to scroll down to see the latest few postings to include Rylie's accident and Brenner's birthday.

We Have Big News!!!

This has been a long time coming. Army writing tells me to put the bottom line up front, but I want to tell a story first.

In July 1988, I enlisted in the Army. The Army has been good to me and my family. I cannot say enough about how much I appreciate the people with whom I have worked and the organizations in which I have served. It has been a fantastic ride. Janelle and I saw a lot of beautiful places before the kids arrived. And we have seen a lot more beautiful places with the kids. It all culminated with our tour here in Heidelberg, Germany.

As time moves along, the moves become more difficult. With Janelle and I doing it on our own it seemed like an adventure every time. Then we had kids. The moves were at first somewhat of an adventure, if not a bit more complicated. As our oldest two children got older, they started to get upset about moving away from friends or having their friends move away from them. Schools changed every couple of years. Neighborhoods changed. Everything about how we live changed every time we moved. The adventure is still there, but it is largely overshadowed by the challenges we face in terms of friends and lifestyle.

For years we have been toying with the idea of retiring from the Army. I first considered it when we moved to Fort Lewis, WA. Then I was offered a job at Fort Carson, CO. We seriously considered retirement at Fort Carson, but I was offered a job I could not refuse in Charlottesville, VA. I planned to retire after our assignment in Charlottesville, but I was offered another job I could not refuse in Heidelberg, Germany. That one was made all the more irresistable when Janelle said she was willing to do it. So for the past five years we have been meaning to make our current tour our last. Three tours after we first started considering it, we are finally ready to retire.

With each of our moves we got further and further away from our families. It was hard on Janelle and I, the kids, and I'm sure very hard on Grandmas and Grandpas. For a long time, maybe 19 years, I did not seriously consider the cost of my career on my wife and children. That all started to change in Heidelberg.

Rylie is a girl who loves to be around people and loves to learn. She preferred to be in school versus summer break. Now she does not like to go to school and would leave here tomorrow if she could. School has been a horrible experience for her in the military community here. Her first teacher was a bully. We got her moved and her new class turned out to be a classroom full of bullies. She has changed significantly and we can see the emotional toll this tour has taken on her.

Karter has actually done better in school here than he did last year. His teacher at school made all the difference. However, he has had multiple problems with bullies this year also.

Emorie started showing her displeasure with the military lifestyle when her little friend Ava moved away in the last couple of weeks. She was very displeased and told us she did not want Ava to leave.

Brenner just doesn't care yet. :)

In addition to our kids' experience in Heidelberg, my continued career would certainly involve a deployment immediately or very soon after this tour. I would not have minded a deployment or even multiple deployments earlier in this conflict, during the first Gulf War, or one of the many other operations that have gone on since I enlisted. Now is a bad time for my oldest son. It certainly is never a good time for any of our kids. But our son, who will be 9 next month, is at a fragile point in his life. He needs a father's guidance for the next couple of years.

A lot of things have happened over the past couple of months to encourage then reinforce our decision to retire. My understanding of the sacrifice my wife and children have made over the years has been made more clear to me. I knew that Janelle understood I was in the Army when we married. But I never considered that she really didn't know what she was getting herself into. And I never thought about the fact that my kids didn't even get a chance to consider if this was the type of life they wanted. I can't express the gratitude I have for them supporting me and putting up with this lifestyle for so long. I finally started to see that it was time for me to put them before my career.

As I said before, the Army has been very good to me. I have had wonderful assignments that have made being a family man pretty easy by Army standards. But it is still the Army. Moves are inevitable and deployments are likely in today's Army. We decided that our ride is coming to an end.

The exact date of retirement is not clear right now. The plan is that we will retire effective 1 October 2012. With leave and other types of days off, I'll be wearing civilian clothes permanently starting around July of that year. We may even get to come back to a station in the US for the last year or so before I retire.

We are ready for a whole new adventure - hopefully it's called stability! I haven't had to look for a job in a very long time. Wish me (us) luck!

Rylie Picked a Fight with a Softball... And Lost!

While at softball practice on May 10th, the coach was hitting balls to the girls in the field. One came towards Rylie and although she tried to catch it, her mit was not high enough (not a quick enough response for the fast, hard ball) and it hit her in the mouth. Since the field is just across the street from our house, we weren't at the practice and an asst. coach brought her home all bloody. He said they'd heard a loud pop. She had a bloody nose and her lip was split on the inside - not from her braces cutting her, but rather from the force of the impact (kind of like how meat splits when you pound it to tenderize it.) Aaron took her first to the military E.R. which just happened to close 10 minutes before they got there. So he had to take her to the German Children's E.R. From there she was referred to a German ENT E.R. where they proceeded to stitch her lip and take x-rays of her teeth. They said her teeth were fine. I never really got a good look at her teeth because of the swelling until two days later when she said, "Mom, my braces are really crooked." Sure enough, her braces were totally messed up. I got her into her Ortho office ASAP. Unfortuately, her teeth were NOT okay. The two front teeth had come down out of the bone. The ortho and endodontist in the dental clinic were looking at her. It seems we should have had her in immediately after the incident and they might have been able to set her teeth back up into the bone a little better. They tried to do what they could. We were also told it was a good thing she had braces on or she might have lost her teeth all together. So her braces that were supposed to come off in a matter of days will remain for a few more months to help stabilize her teeth. The wires were tweaked in an attempt to push the teeth up into place as much as possible. We have been to the endodontist and he is keeping an eye on them, but he thinks he saw signs that the root is dying in at least one of the teeth. We might know more at her appointment tomorrow. So it will be years of waiting to see the extent of the damage, but she may need root canals soon and possibly even implants later. It is a big waiting game at this point.

Latest Post... Not so recent

My latest post showed a post date in February. I guess it showed when I worked on the post and saved it as a draft. I'm just now getting to finishing and posting it... so it's not so recent. Brenner turned 1 in February!!!

Hopefully I can manage to stay on top of the blog a little better. I like posting to Facebook because I can put more pictures on (and easier too), but I can't write as much on FB so I want to keep both going. I've just been so busy this past year. I'm going to try harder!!

Stay tuned.....
I asked Aaron to post something later today:
WE HAVE BIG NEWS !!!

!!! Brenner turns ONE !!!

I can hardly believe it has already been a year. My baby turned one-year-old. (Mental tears falling here.) Brenner has been such a good, and typically mellow baby. He puts up with a lot in this family. Sometimes Mom and Dad can't pay enough attention to him and most the time there is a sibling manhandling him in one form or another. They love him to pieces, but they just don't know how to keep their hands off him or their faces out of his. I try to tell them that he needs to be on his own to explore and learn, but they must not understand that.
He still has quite the temper and does not like it when someone removes something from his reach when he really wants it. He especially likes anything in the techno-gadget category: remotes, phones, computers, cords, etc. One of his favorite things to do is come try ( and frequently accomplishes) to push keys on the computers when we have them open. When moved out of range, he will let you know he is very displeased by having a fit. He is enjoying discovering his own vocal abilities. He has a high-pitched scream! Living in a four-story stairwell, we have a staircase that echoes... and he loves it. Once we step out our door, he is making all sorts of noises, just to hear himself.
He is my slowest walker. All three of the others were walking pretty well by their first birthday. Brenner, however, is not. The furthest he walked is about 6 steps. He could do it more, but it's pretty apparent by the look on his face that their is a lack of confidence. I contribute his delay to the fact that he has had to be "rescued" off the floor so much that he hasn't built up the confidence to be better at it yet. No biggie though. He'll get there... soon, I'm sure, which will actually be kind of sad for me because he is my last baby and that will be just one more "baby" thing to go away.

As has been tradition, we take the family out to dinner at a place of the birthday person's choice. However, Brenner doesn't really understand that yet AND we are lacking places that the kids would pick to go. So we went to our favorite family place here in Germany and had some of the most fabulous schnitzel.

When we came home, we let Brenner open his presents. Then it was on to the cake. He didn't really know what to do. So when we finally tried to show him to put his hands in it, he started crying. But all was okay when we handed him a fork! Guess he likes to be clean.

Brenner - 9 Months

Alright, so I may not be catching up but I AM actually posting something... Brenner. I was two weeks late taking his pictures because the natural lighting has not been ideal. We've had lots of overcast and rainy days. So, for the first time EVER I actually told Aaron what I want for Christmas.... studio lighting. I don't like waiting for the most ideal lighting in not so ideal conditions. It doesn't even begin to get light here until about 7:30 am and starts to get dark at about 4:30. Add the cold, wet, overcast sky weather and there isn't much to offer for a good portrait sitting.

So two weeks late, here's some of what I managed to quickly snap of Brenner for his 9 month portraits.