Trip to Denmark

Last weekend we took a trip up to Denmark to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday and to bless Nyah while we were there and my whole family was gathered. Friday Nyah, Ty and I packed the car and got everything ready and then when Laney was done with school picked her up and drove over to pick up Ben from work. Then we drove up to Rostock and got a cheap hotel room and stayed the night. The next day we got up and took the ferry across to Gedser. The kids were first nervous about taking the ferry but loved it once we got on there. This is Laney and Nyah chillin' on the ferry.
The view from the ferry looking towards Denmark.
Looking back towards Germany. The whole ride took about 1 hr and 45 minutes.
Oldemor with all her great grandchildren at her 80th birthday party.
For my grandma's birthday my mom did an AWESOME job at putting together a medley of songs that had special meaning to my grandma. It was really fun to sing and we are still walking around humming the songs here at home. :D

The birthday party was at a restaurant where we ate till we could've rolled home. The kids had fun too - eating, chatting, coloring, and playing outside with sparklers and bubbles. It couldn't have been any better.

The next day - Sunday - we blessed Nyah in Ballerup ward. Ben did a great job even though Nyah started crying! After the meetings we had a little luncheon for the family and really enjoyed just being with everybody athind chatting and visiting. This is Oldemor Winnifred with Laney and Erin. Laney, Ty and Nyah in their blessing outfits. Oh what cute kids I have!! :D
The Blesser and Blessee.

(the next pictures were taking with my camera and so the quality is not that great. Somebody forgot to pack the charger to the camera even though it was on her list....dang it!)
After the blessing we headed over to Wendy and Quentin's house....about a 3-4 hour drive. The next day we just relaxed and enjoyed spending time with the Cullingfords. Laney went to school with Erin and had a lot of fun. Later that day we went down to the harbor to catch crabs. Ben has been dreaming of doing this since he heard about it and luckily it was everything he ever dreamed it was going to be. We could hardly pull him away from there again. If we hadn't he would still be catching crabs in Augustenborg harbor. The kids loved it too. When we had to go back Ty starting bawling and said over and over, "I want to live here!!!"
So you take your long piece of string and attach a clothespin on it. Crush a muscle so the slime is exposed and put it on the clothespin. Lower it into the water and wait for a crab to grab it. Pull it gently up a little and catch it with your net.
Quentin holding one of the crabs.
In Ty's case you just take a net and catch all the jellyfish you can find. He loved the jellies....even holding them! And his aunt loved him enough to reach in the bucket and grab the jellyfish for him!!!! After that he got more brave and got them himself. He is now known in our family as "the jelly-man". (Ben wanted me to let you all know that the white jellyfish are non-poisonous...)
Here's Ty releasing the jellies back into the water.

And Erin, Joshua and Quentin releasing the crabs back into the water. The next day we packed up all our junk and drove back home. But we had so much fun in Denmark and loved spending time with our family. Thanks everybody for everything!!!!

Starting 1st Grade

First day of school. She was very excited but also very nervous. But everything went well and she had fun except when she had to take the bus home. The bus was 35 minutes earlier then what they had written on the paper and there were several places where the bus stop could have been. But...we found each other and after crying it out and reassuring her that everything was okay we went home.

Here she is outside her new classroom.And sitting at her desk on the very first day of school. What a big girl we have. I can't believe she's already in first grade.

...but wait there's more....

The kids got to try their hand (or lungs) at glassblowing.

We hurried outside on the days when the sun peaked out from behind the rainy clouds.
Nyah started smiling at us all the time.
The kids brought out their (and Ben's) remote controlled cars on those sunny days.

And That Was August 2010

As usual the pictures are in the reverse order. HA! Well, the Cullingfords were going down to visit my mom and dad and decided to drive to our house first and spend a day and then continue on to my parents' house. It was so much fun to have them here and hope they come back soon. WE went with them to see a volcano that had some basalt pokey thingies that looked really cool. Quentin was nice enough to haul all 4 older kids up the stairs while Wendy, the babies and I stayed behind. Unfortunately after they came back down, Erin took a little tumble down a hill and got scratched up pretty good on her back.
The next day the Cullingfords went to Playmobil land and from there continued over to Frankfurt. Ben was lucky enough that he got a couple of days off so we also could go to Frankfurt. On the way there we stopped in Aschaffenburg and walked around for a while. It was really pretty and we enjoyed ourselves.
In Frankfurt we went and saw some cool 'walls' that were made out of little sticks and twigs and then water runs down it to extract some of the salt out. It looked really cool and your lips tasted salty after awhile. There was also a really fun playground that the kids loved.
While we had all the Gram grandkids gathered in one spot we tried to take some pictures. It was a bit of a challenge to get all the kids to look, smile and look normal at the same time. HA!! After 1/2 hour or so the kids had had enough. :D
Joshua, Liam, Laney, Erin with Nyah and Tyler
Stick wall hahaha

Close-up of the wall of sticks with water running down it.

Aschaffenburg. Walkway next to the Johannisburg castle.
For some reason I really like this picture.
Johannisburg Castle
The beautiful View.
Walking to the castle
On the way to Frankfurt. Ty was grumpy and Laney was just pretending. :D
So we were all eating breakfast and suddenly we hear Ty yelling, "Dad, I want some cereal will you grab it for me 'cause I'm going to the bathroom?" Sure Ben says and goes to grab it, open the cupboard and sees Ty squished in there next to the cereal. That boy sure makes us laugh.
The basalt volcano things. :D
The view from the volcano.
The Cullingfords brought the kids a really fun liquid chalk machine thing that squirts it out and some really cool looking chalk. So the kids had a lot of fun playing with it outside.
Erin with the chalk machine.
Laney and Joshua
Ty and Joshua
The babies. Liam was so cute and just wanted to touch Nyah. It was really cute.

We Like Photo Shoots at Our House....

I wanted some pictures of the kids on my bedroom wall so I forced them to pose for me while I took pictures of them....actually I forced Nyah and Ty....Laney could have kept going all day....haha







Outtakes!! Here are some that I WON'T be putting on the wall....hahaha
Look at Ty's mouth.
What is with that boy and his tongue?!?!?! Seriously ALL...THE....TIME!!!
She's taking after her brother...
Hee hee hee Nyah looks so funny in this one!

Laney Lost a Tooth

About 2 weeks ago Laney finally lost her first tooth. She has been so excited to loose some teeth and has been wiggling that bottom tooth forever it seems. So finally one Saturday when she was twisting it all around Ben tried to trick her and asked if he could feel it. Of course he tried to yank it out but the little bugger was too slippery. Laney screamed and Ben came in the bedroom laughing and said, "Now I know why my Dad always used a piece of paper towel to pull them out." After that Laney of course wouldn't let Ben "feel" her tooth anymore and Ben tried to talk me into pulling it out. I didn't think I had a problem with loose teeth but suddenly they just look so gross to me and now I suddenly understand how my Dad feels and why he never wanted to see my loose teeth when I was little.
So Ben kept bugging her to let him feel her tooth again. One time I heard Laney yell at the top of her lungs from her bedroom, "ONLY WITH ONE FINGER!!!!" hahaha
Well, Ben went downstairs to get in the shower and I was in the bedroom with Nyah. Suddenly I heard Laney running out to the bathroom and then running back to her room. But she didn't say anything so I figured she was okay. Then a couple of minutes later she comes in my room and flashes a tooth-less smile at me and tells me that her tooth fell out.

Nadja - "Did you pull it out?"
Laney - "I don't know"

What?? How can you not know if you pulled out your tooth. Anyway, then she told me that she had twisted it and suddenly it had come out. So now we have 2 toothless kids.

Nyah - 1 Month Old

*She is getting good at holding her own head*
*She is very alert*
*She will follow us with her eyes*
*She rolled over about 4 times from her belly to her back - not sure if I should write it in her baby book or if it was a fluke*
*She smiles at us now*


*Laney calls her "the little stick of cuteness*
*Every time Ty sees her he smiles, laughs and says, "she's just so cute"*


*We are all in love with her and can't get enough of her*