The Good, the Bad & the Cutie Pie?

{Landon: September 2012 enjoying a spoonful of peanut butter. These pictures have nothing to do with this post. Just thought I'd include some cute Landon photos.}

These past few days have been a bit on the difficult side for me on a very personal level. But one that I got through with the help of my incredibly amazing family and friends! I honestly couldn't have made it without them! (So thank you!!) 

I think that's to be expected from time to time...situations that come up to test our strength, growth, limits and helps you to stay focused on the truly important things that matter in life. (Like the same family and friends that got me through it!)

Here is the short note I posted on Facebook regarding this difficult time:

"When life catches you off guard and throws you to the ground (or sometimes into a ditch!)...sure makes you see the big picture and appreciate your blessings. Today I am very thankful for my husband: who loves me and our children more than life itself. Who is always always there for me! I really lucked out marrying my best friend! And I'm very thankful for my amazing friends: that support and love me no matter what! They make me laugh when I'm sad, strong when I'm weak and hopeful when I feel all alone. I love knowing I have true friends out there (that know I'm there for them too) and have the most incredible husband ever - to carry me through the happy and sad moments in life!"

I really try to focus on the positive no matter how hard things get. 

So I will be okay. :)

On a good note...we sold our van. Finally! 

Making it so we're only car-less for about a week.

And on another very good note...General Conference starts tomorrow! 

(You can find it HERE)

This seriously couldn't have come at a better time than now. I've been looking so forward to hearing some spiritual enlightenment from our living Prophet today and other amazing church leaders all week long! And this year, we will be making some delicious cinnamon rolls to celebrate the event and our time together as a family. I can't wait!

Shields Family Pictures: Frankfurt Germany

We now have beautiful updated family photos! Woohoo!! :)

Every year, it is my mission to get them taken - and these didn't disappoint in the slightest!

We unfortunately scheduled to have them taken on one of the coldest Fall mornings yet - but for the most part, we got through it without too much pain. Haha!

Fall is probably my most favorite time of year! I love all of the changes in color on the trees and the falling leaves. We were scheduled to have them taken just the day before but we were surprised with rain. Going to Palmengarten was out. Bummer! But there's a nearby park that I love to run around and take the kids to right around the corner from our house so we didn't have too walk far. It worked out nicely. Kids were a bit on the whiny side along with some teenage attitude to boot - but my friend that took our pictures brought a bunch of fun things to entertain and distract them with: bubbles, puppets, party blowers...including a little running around and an impromptu leaf gathering and jumping party. I'm so glad I know not to expect a perfect photo session. It just doesn't exist! We managed to have fun though!

I can't post my very favorite photo yet (as it's being used for our Christmas card this year) but I will post some more of my absolute favorites! So many turned out so nice, despite the cold chill! I was pretty impressed! Many thanks, Anastasia, for capturing my family so beautifully! xo

I love my family! xxoo

Aubrey {12}, Jocelyn {6}, Andrew {3}, Landon {18 months}

"Back to School" Dinner

In honor of the Shields' children starting another year of school, we adapted the lovely tradition from NieNie to have a "Back to School" dinner to celebrate the event. I had so much fun with this! The girls really enjoyed having this special dinner made just for them! :)

After coming up with the dinner menu, I printed it off and inserted it into a frame for the sideboard where the food was going to sit. I also thought some crayons placed around a candle with a ribbon would be a nice touch to go along with the school theme. 

 Dinner: Corn Chowder Soup, Sliced Ham and Herbed Cheese Rolls.

 I also printed off some cute prints and framed them for each daughter to be displayed in their rooms. This year's school theme we are going to focus on is: (Shine Bright and) Choose Right.

 Dinner seemed to be a success! Most wanted seconds but still saved room for some delicious Caramel Apple Bundt Cake. Mmm! So good! It was definitely worth the effort!

Here's to a great year of school, girls! Have fun and choose right! We love you and are SO proud of you! xo

{Jocelyn (5) Kindergarten; Aubrey (12) Seventh Grade}

Happy ONE YEAR in Germany!

One year ago today, we waved "goodbye" to our sweet friends and family as we set foot into a new country we'd be calling home for the following 3 years. Definitely a hard time. But it just got better and better with each passing day. Well, for the most part. We still have moments of homesickness. We love it here though. The food, markets, pretty laid back lifestyle (a lot slower paced than what we were used to in the States!), trails to walk and run on, the incredible amount of history and it's beauty...so much we have come to love here! It really is hard to believe a whole year has already gone by! We have soooo much we still have yet to do and see but boy have we been having a good time - meeting some amazing people and developing lasting friendships, creating some great memories and simply loving life (besides some occasional bumps here and there)!! I'm excited to see what this next year brings. Year #2 in Germany...here we come! :)

{our family on the fourth!}

Our first year in Germany, we have (to name a few):

*Eaten some really good food!

*Seen both Frankfurt area zoos

*Met some awesome friends who have made this journey bearable and worth it

*Gone to the Alps twice

*Found our ward family at church

*Had my brother and his family stay with us over Christmas
*Been to not only Germany but to England, The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria 

*Seen Pres. Uchtdorf in person during his visit to Offenbach

*Been to the Black Forest to visit friends

*Seen a handful of castles

*Gotten our first speeding ticket
*John's been to Turkey & France for work

*Gone to Rudesheim and rode on the cable cars above the vineyards

*Took a trip to Wurzburg for Mother's Day

*Went to Heidelberg for my Birthday

*Ran in my first race

*Stopped in Stuttgart for a brief moment to see John's old neck of the woods

*Started learning German

*Experienced 2 emergencies....thankfully both didn't require immediate hospital care and no stitches were needed

*Gone to the Frankfurt Christmas Markt and LOVED it!!!

*Had our van working and not working I don't know HOW many countless times

*Got our German drivers licenses

*Had my new sister and her husband come stay with us for a day

*started the ride of John beginning his Masters Degree program

...and many more!

(many I need to still write about!)

We look forward to having more family and friends come visit us and see Germany!

We love and miss you all!

Easter 2012

 {The day before Easter, I walked to Rewe with my girls to get some flowers for our dining room table. I was thinking more like Lilys or something but they only had this or dark roses left to pick from. This sweet little plant ended up winning!}

Have you ever had a holiday that wasn't stressful or hectic? If so, you are my hero! I think in most cases, holidays tend to get a little crazy with all the hustle and bustle going on - even when you try to prevent it from happening. I would love to say that our Easter was amazing - and in ways, it still was! Friends joining us for dinner, talking to family on the phone and knowing the true meaning of why we celebrate Easter was the amazing part! The not so amazing part however was so many of us waking up in bad moods which lead to a few disagreements throughout the day and tears shed, it being really cold outside and kids not cooperating for a few pictures and Landon hurting his finger which resulted in us missing Sacrament meeting at church. You know, just normal daily stuff. :) But we definitely made the most of it and did what we could to still have a fun and enjoyable day as a family. In order to do this though, we had to simplify some of our plans which turned out being a huge blessing! Us girls forfeited painting our nails and doing them another day instead. We didn't dye any Easter eggs. And I didn't make homemade cinnamon rolls. And a few other things. Simplicity at it's best! I don't like a lot of stress so this was nice to cut some fun things out of our normal Easter festivities and be okay with it in order to have a calm and functional family. A baby keeps things busy and us on our toes a lot anyways.

The kids woke up to find their Easter baskets. We ate breakfast and then got ready for church. Landon sliced his finger pretty bad on what I have no idea and it took quite a bit of time to get that sucker to stop bleeding! And just in case anyone was wondering....a band-aid and a 12 month old does NOT mix too well. That band-aid didn't stay out of his mouth or on his finger for very long! I know, surprise surprise! :) So as I mentioned, we missed Sacrament meeting. I was completely bummed about this to be honest. I love being able to take the Sacrament and hear the speakers and testimonies shared. Especially on a day like today! It was so easy at this point to have everyone hang up their Easter clothes and stay home but I still had to be at church to teach a primary class. Andrew's Sunbeam class actually. My friend teaches his class but her and her family were on vacation so I gladly accepted to fill in and teach for her. We may have missed Sacrament meeting, but boy was it nice to still be able to go and attend Sunday school. It completely lifted my spirit to be there, to see so many friendly faces and to teach 3 wonderful three year olds (which the little girl was the only one to stay in her seat! This also doesn't surprise me! :) Hard age for little kids to hold still in their seats longer than 2 minutes. In fact....not a lot surprises me anymore these days)! :)

Once we got back home, we found out that the Easter bunny had stopped by while we were at church and left a ton of eggs throughout the house. (AKA: John got upstairs faster than the rest of us and planted eggs as fast as he could)! :) We figured that if we hid them any sooner, let's say last night? Jocelyn would have had a field day. That girl sneaks sweets any chance she can get! So back to the Easter egg hunt. Kids went crazy racing around the house. Aubrey was generous and helped the others find some that she had already spotted. Or even gifted a few of hers to them. She's so sweet and helpful! Landon threw one of his recently developed tantrums on the floor! Haha!! With him being child number four, it doesn't get to me like it used to with the others. Now we're like, "be my guest....acting like that is not going to get you anything!" :) He then crawled (and sometimes walked) around and found some low to the ground eggs which Aubrey quickly opened and broke up some Robbins Eggs for him to devour. He was happy after that! Honestly, who wouldn't be? It was pretty fun watching them search and find their eggs.

We then changed over into some comfy clothes, put Landon down for his afternoon nap, kids played and helped tidy up for our company and John and I got things started with the dinner. Ham, homemade mashed potatoes + gravy, mixed vegetables, rolls and a salad. Our friends, another Marine Corps family, brought a delicious cake and some drinks. Their kids are close to our kids' ages - for Jocelyn and Andrew anyways. Their daughter is going to be in Kindergarten with Jocelyn this coming year and their son is a year or so younger than Andrew. (They also have a baby that is about 10 months younger than Landon who will one day be buddies together!) All four of them got along really well like they did when we got them together for the first time at the playground a few weeks ago. Their family is super nice and are expected to be here as long as we are. We're pretty happy about that! :) I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to forget to take a photo of all of us adults. But the kids are plenty cute, so they make up for me forgetting! :)

As the night began to wind down and our company left for home, we made a few calls to family to wish them a Happy Easter. This 9 hour time difference can be quite hard to reach everyone! We didn't get to talk to a lot of them which made us sad but we at least got to talk to a few. Got the kids into their pajamas, talked about the real meaning of Easter (Got some strange looks from Andrew like: "What? It's NOT about candy and the Easter Bunny?" And this one came from Jocelyn: "Is the Easter Bunny real or fake?") and then we watched an Easter video on the churches website called "He Is Risen." It was a good end to a sort of not good start to the day. I am very thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ! That he paid for our sins and died on the cross so that we may all live again. That He was resurrected. That He lives and loves us and wants us to be happy! I have so much to be thankful for!

Especially my family!

Happy Easter!