Princess & the Pea Video

Hey guys, The video we took of Cadence in her play is too big for my blog, but we have it uploaded to our website if you want to check it out. It's darling!! Here's the link to the video on our website:

http://www.pottershome.com/Pottershome/Videos.html

Dust Bunny

This week, Cadence was given the opportunity to be in the base children's play. The Missoula Children's Theater comes every summer & for one week they put on a "drama camp" for all kids ages 6-17. This year's play was "The Princess & the Pea." They held auditions on Monday (the 6th) & by the end of auditions they had the cast picked out & Cadence actually got a part. She got to be a dust bunny that lives under the Princess' bed. She had rehearsals all week long & then on Saturday was the live performance. She had SO MUCH FUN!! She now wants to be in every play she can. She loved being on stage in front of the audience & she did a wonderful job. She's adorable. I will post video a little later so watch for it!

There's Nothing Like Throwing A Pie In Your Hubby's Face!!

Today was Major Shearer's (a dear friend of ours) going away Squadron BBQ. It was for the whole family. Trek has been working hard trying to get it all ready. He was tasked with putting it all together. He even got a bounce house for the kids to jump in. It was a lot of fun. Well, one of the traditions at these BBQ's are the pie-in-the-face contests. Everybody votes throughout the BBQ on who they would most like to see get a pie in their face. Then the top vote getters have to go in front of everyone for an auction. The person stands forward & the crowd then bids money on the pie. Whomever bids the highest amount for the pie gets to throw the pie in the person's face. However, the person nominated can "buy" his way out of the pie & in that case, he gets to pie anybody he chooses in the face. All the money goes to the squadron for more squadron parties.

The girls were getting restless & I was getting tired, so I began to leave as they were announcing who was being "pied" today. I literally pivoted my foot & did a 360 when I heard Trek's name get called out. I had to watch!! This was great! But then my wheels started turning....oh how I'd love to throw a pie in his face. Not that I'm mad at him or anything, it would just be fun. (I know, what a mean wife huh?) I immediately ran to my purse & looked to see how much money I had. I had a lousy $10. That was nothing in these contests. I was a little bummed when I noticed the other Lieutenants pooling their money together in a corner. I ran over to them & asked if they were putting it on Trek. Of course they were. I handed them my $10 & asked if I could do the honor. The MC of the whole thing saw me & turned to Trek & over the loud speaker said "Ooh..Potter, you've got your own money going against ya!" The bidding began & the LT's won with a bid of $85! When the MC asked who was going to throw the pie, they pointed to me & everybody started laughing! The MC turned to Trek & asked "Do you want to buy yourself out?" He pulled out his wallet & I yelled "There's nothing in it...I've got it all in my purse!" Everybody laughed more after that. I had won.

The pie consisted of a crust, applesauce, whipped cream, & chocolate sauce. It was SO MUCH FUN! There really is nothing like throwing a pie in your hubby's face. Poor guy was disgusting. Taya would just point at him & say "Ewww!" He's a good sport. Love you babe!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Another year rolls around & I'm another year older. I'm 28 now! Can you believe it? TWENTY-EIGHT!! I still remember when Trek proposed to me as if it were yesterday! I was NINETEEN! Man, time flies. I can't believe it.

My day was just like any other day. As you have kids, you don't have much time for "special celebrations" for yourself. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Cadence gave me a beautiful picture she drew early in the morning when I was getting the kids ready for breakfast. It was a picture of me (in a wedding dress, I think) & when I looked at it, I had to laugh. I had saggy boobs, there were bags drawn under my eyes, & she had drawn wrinkles all over my forehead. I asked her why I had wrinkles & this is what she told me: "Because it's your birthday & you're old now!" I pretended to frown & said, "You think I'm old?" Her response: "You're old, but at least you're not old enough to DIE yet!" That made me feel MUCH better. Out of the mouths of babes!

I took Lorien to German school & then took Taya, Bladen, & Cadence on base for the play auditions. The base is doing a "drama camp" for kids this week & they are doing the play "The Princess & the Pea." The auditions were from 10-noon, so I spent the first hour holding down the 2 little ones while Cadence did her audition. It was so darling. They had her say her name & age excited, sad, angry, with attitude, & very happy. I had to leave at 11 to go pick up Lorien & because of a bomb scare at the PO (yes you read that right....there was a package with TNT in it on our base.) I had to go the long way to pick up Lorien & it nearly took me an hour to get her because of the base lockdown. But I made it back just in time to hear that Cadence had gotten the part of a "Dusty Bunny" in the play. She was thrilled. I was so proud of her.

Then my friends surprised me with a Happy Birthday lunch at Subway. My friend Julie made me the biggest cupcake I've ever seen before & then they bought 2 big cakes to share with everyone. That was a fun surprise that really brightened my day. Thanks ladies.

I didn't get home until almost 4 because of errands & what-not & then it was time to start dinner. Trek got home around 6 & we ate. He sent me upstairs while he wrapped the presents my mom & dad, & Cari & Justin had sent. Then it was time for me to come down. Trek is so cute! He made me a 3 layer cake out of ding dongs. I laughed SO hard. He had a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia (my favorite) in the center surrounded by ding dongs. There were 24 candles lit as they sang to me. I asked him why 24 & he said that that's how many came in the package. I just laughed. He's so funny.

After cake, I opened all my presents. I got all sorts of fun things...lots of clothes, some super cute shoes, a purse, cookbooks, a baby food maker, & some jewelry. I always look forward to opening my "open me last" present from my friend Nancy. Her & I are both jewelry fanatics & she always sends me a special piece of jewelry for my birthday. It's the last gift I open. It was in a velvet brown jewelry box this time & Lorien was SO funny! "Look Mom, She bought you a ding dong!" Trek & I laughed so hard at that. This year she sent me a gorgeous antique Emerald with diamonds pendant. Yes, that's a real emerald. It's HUGE! It's so beautiful!

Trek & the girls got me a day at a spa here in Germany. Trek feels bad because he's so busy at work that we really couldn't "celebrate" my birthday fully, so he's taking Friday off so I can go to a spa & have a foot rub (my favorite) & a full body massage...away from the kiddos. I love my kids, but I'm really looking forward to some quiet time. I loved every single thing that I got. Thank you ALL for all the wonderful gifts. I have the best friends & family in the entire world. Thank you for making my day SO special!

Backyard BBQ

Happy 4th of July from Germany!!

This year we celebrated by having a huge BBQ over at our house. We invited anyone & everyone to come over who didn't have plans for the 4th. We totally thought that people would be going out of town so we didn't expect to have a whole lot of people. Well, much to our surprise we stopped counting at 85 people. Holy Moly! It was SO MUCH FUN!! The more the merrier in my opinion!

Trek & I bought all the meat & drinks & thank heavens we bought enough to feed 100 people (just in case), & everybody brought a side dish or dessert to share. I also made a yummy jello salad that looked like an American flag (see picture) & a fresh strawberry pie (which totally got scarfed down before I could even get a picture.)

I spent the day before making cute little napkin rings out of those red & white striped peppermints you can buy & put together 70 sets of silverware with napkins & candy rings. They turned out pretty cute.

The food was great. People brought cakes & potato salads & chips & all sorts of fabulous food. Taya loved the cupcakes, of course.

And what's a party without games? We did a hula hoop contest (I did terribly, but Cadence did pretty well), a water balloon obstacle course, & a water balloon toss while the kiddos played on the slip'n slide! Then after everything we went & watched fireworks at the base. I hope everyone else had as great a time as I did.

Dressing for the Occasion

Well, as you know yesterday was the 4th of July. And as you also know, I LOVE to dress for the occasion. And my poor little children are forced into doing the same. I had SO MUCH FUN dressing them from head to toe in classic RED, WHITE, & BLUE!! Aren't they darling?

New Outfits, Happy Smiles, & Naps

Oma & Opa sent a package with new outfits for each of the kiddos. The girls got matching Minnie Mouse T-shirts with Pink capris & Bladen got a cute Mickey Mouse Hawaiian outfit. Bladen was all smiles in his new attire. He smiles a LOT lately. It's so darling.

And then poor Taya could hardly make it through lunch. I don't know what we did to wear her out, but she fell asleep in her little high chair. Poor baby. She looked so cute.

We be 'JAMMIN'

So with over 10 pounds of strawberries, what's a girl to do?

MAKE JAM!!!

This was the first time I've ever attempted jam before, but these strawberries were so juicy & ripe that I made 10 cups of strawberry jam in 30 minutes. How cool is that? And I only used up 4 pounds. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a fresh strawberry pie, & the rest we'll just eat as snacks. I love strawberries! Don't you?

A "BERRY" Fun Afternoon!!

Today was "Explore the Eifel" day which meant Trek didn't have to go to work, as long as we did something fun in our area of Germany. So, we went to the strawberry fields in Wittlich & picked strawberries for an hour. The girls were so cute & it was fun to see their personalities come out in the "fields."

Cadence was hilarious. It was fun for her for about a grand total of 10 minutes. "Mom, it's hot out here! I think I'm done!" Then after 30 minutes (20 of which she sat in the air conditioned van) we heard her yell, "Okay everybody, it's time to go...we've been picking for hours! I think we've got enough strawberries!" Trek & I were laughing SO hard.

Lorien was a trooper. She never got tired & she had a blast the whole hour. She stayed with me or Trek the whole time & would pick the strawberries from the same patches we were. She just wanted to "chat" while we worked together. She is my hard worker. Although, I think she might have eaten more strawberries than she actually picked. She LOVES them.

And Taya was so cute. She just followed us around wondering what in the world we were doing. We kept showing her our strawberries, but she could care less. Finally Trek forced one into her mouth & you should have seen the reaction. Her eyes got big & a huge smile grew on her face. I've never seen that kid so determined in my life. She started digging through those bushes like there was no tomorrow. Every time I looked at her, she was shoving another strawberry in her mouth. She threw down her basket almost immediately....after all, who wants to put these things in a basket when they can go directly into your mouth?

The strawberries were by far the best strawberries I had ever tasted in my life. They were so ripe & so red & so beautiful. They were perfect in every way. In one hour's time, we had picked 10 pounds of beautiful strawberries. It was so much fun to work side by side with my wonderful husband & little girls.

Taya's Obsession...SHOES!!

Taya loves to play in everybody else's shoes! She is always SO determined to put shoes on & walk in them no matter how big they are. She's a cutie for sure!