European Adventures-Part 1

As stated in my last post, I left for Europe on May 20th with my Oma, Opa, and my cousins Jo and Mimi. Now, May 20th seems to be a lifetime away! The trip was so full of fun and many MANY friends and memories were made :)

 

Bear with me, as I am planning on doing the trip in several different posts, first of all so it doesn't become a huge bore to you, and secondly, so it doesn't take me as much time! This first post is about the trip there and the first day we spent in Germany.

 

Our flight left in the evening, but we left for the airport around 2 from Oma's house. At the airport Opa had passes for all of us into a lounge. We just hung out there for a while, snacking and walking around, until it was time to go to our gate.

 

Oma and Jo in the lounge.

 

We met a really nice family at the gate. They were from Iran and had a little boy, probably around 7 years old. Later on the plane they asked if we would trade seats. The plane had 3 sets of 3 seats, instead of 2 and we were on the right side at first. They traded their seats in the front row of the middle set of seats where there was a TON of legroom!! It was a great deal for us! We got a meal pretty soon after taking off and the rest of the trip we watched movies, read, slept, or talked quietly.

 

 

Yum! (not.)

 

Oh...and we (meaning Jo), managed to break the magazine holder off the wall in front of us. It was hard to keep from busting out in laughter, but somehow we managed to only giggle a little bit. Might have had something to do with the incredibly grumpy man across the aisle from us...

 

 

Almost there!!! We arrived in Frankfurt at 9 a.m. local time and went straight to the hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton connected to the airport. We had to wait a while for our rooms so we "enjoyed" a cappuccino while we waited. We quickly learned that an American cappuccino and European cappuccino are two VERY different things...blech.

 

 

 

After resting for a few hours we walked around the airport a bit, just looking in different shops. I got my first souvenir there!

 

 

 

Making fun of the exit sign in the airport...it actually just looks like he is running into a wall.

 After shopping around we went back and played some scrabble.

 

Wednesday morning we had our first truly European breakfast. It isn't near as good as what we had later at the Pfister's or at Antioch, but it was a good first breakfast! We said goodbye to Oma and Opa's friends at the hotel. Since they stay at that hotel 2 times a year they have some people who know them well and take care of them.

 

Me, Enver, Mimi, Jo, Ahmed

 

Well, this may take more posts than I thought! Hopefully you aren't already bored, although I promise the trip gets MUCH more interesting!

 

 

 



 

 

 



 

Auf Wiedersehen!

 

It's FINALLY here!! Today my Oma and Opa will be taking the three musketeers to Europe. Adrienne (Jo), Miriam (Mimi) and I are first cousins all born in the same year within 6 months of each other. We are all super close, so it will be an even better experience with them by my side! We will be in two different countries while over there; Romania and Germany. We are leaving for the airport in about an hour and a half, and I had to find something to do with myself to avoid getting sick from excitement!

 

Random Fun Fact: Oma and Opa are my grandparents on my Dad's side. Oma and Opa mean Grandma and Grandpa in German. It started before I was born after their first or second trip to Germany.  They taught the grandchildren those names and ever since then they have been called Oma and Opa!

 

 As you can tell, I am SUPER excited, but I am also relieved that I am done with all the packing. My room was a DISASTER while I was trying to pack. It could have been mistaken for an area destroyed by a tornado...

 

 

Once I started putting things into the suitcase I could think of a hundred more things I could possibly need. I finally had to take some clothes out so I wouldn't over-pack. We will have our own little house while over there with access to a washer and dryer, so really, I only had to pack for 1 week. Thankfully my bag is only 37 pounds, so I have plenty of room for presents (and lots of them!)  without exceeding the 50 pound limit.

 

 

I have my big purple backpack stuffed to the brim with delicious snacks (cappuccino mix from The Homestead!!!) , books, and, unfortunately, schoolwork.

 

 

I will be gone for 18 days, which will be the longest amount of time I have ever been away from home. I am not usually one to get homesick, but I will be ready to see everyone again! Mom keeps saying to me, "What are we going to do without you?"  I told her she should just be happy for a break from me ;)

 

On a different note, June 2nd happens to be this darling and adorable girl's birthday! I am sad that I will miss it, but I think she will enjoy a birthday present from Germany or Romania! She is the baby of the family and is turning 14. AHH! How did that happen?! Seems like yesterday that she was just my baby sister, and now she is almost taller than me. I am so thankful to have her in my life. While we don't always get along, I couldn't do without her!! Love you Mary Lydia!

 

 

In less than 24 hours I will be shopping in Frankfurt Germany!!!

So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen!

 

 

 

 



Mother's Day

What better way to spend Mother's Day than with all the mothers (at least the one's close by!) that have touched my life and made me who I am? Each of them has been such a wonderful example to me of how a Godly woman should be. Even though they all have different personalities, they have shown me how to live and love in God. 

 

 

The mothers present: Aunt Mary Beth (Aunt Bess), Oma, Grandma, and Mom

 

To celebrate these beautiful women, my cousins and I made dinner for them and out families. For dinner we had an Italian theme. I tried out a new recipe, Eggplant Spaghetti, and Jojo (check out her blog dancetothemusicbyjo.blogspot.com) and Kim made regular spaghetti for those who don't like eggplant.

 

 

I saw the recipe while in the waiting room at the dentist's office on the Food Network. It looked good so I looked up the recipe when I got home. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but Mom and Grandma said they loved it. Bread with oil, salad, and applesauce completed our Italian experience.

 

 

Our little kitchen was full with all the daughters helping out! We had an additional helper as well...Betsy! She is my cousin from California and is visiting us for a few days. We sure appreciated her help in the kitchen! I think after preparing this good meal for a large group all of us felt even more thankful for the work that our Mothers do for us.

 

 

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and company!

 

 

The dish washers :)

 

 

 

We had a fun little surprise when one of the kids noticed the Good Year blimp floating past...it sure isn't a usual sight around here!

 

 

Jo and Oma playing cards... For the rest of the evening we played games, relaxed, talked and had an all around good time.

 

 

Grandma, Mom, Betsy and I all played Uno with Isaac. Uno is his favorite game. He loves to make people draw four. He also enjoyed telling Betsy who to skip!

 

 

 

 

 

After everyone left, Mom sat down with her book. Gram, Betsy and Dad all opened up Words with Friends on their various electronic devices and they have been playing it since then. Judging by the disgusted exclamations coming from the living room, Betsy is beating them both!

 

That completes this wonderful day! Today I just couldn't help thinking of how blessed I am to have a mother who is so founded in her faith. Sadly, this is not how the majority of families are. It is also a good reminder to pray for those families without a mother, for whatever reason that is. All I know is, I appreciate my mother and all she does for me and my family.

 

Thank You Lord for my beautiful Mom.

 

 

Spring in Swing

As the thermometer steadily rises so does the excitement and activity around the Lehman household. Today after church we gave ourselves a break from all the crazy activity and took the time to just enjoy spring.

 

We have a flowering crab apple tree right outside our living room window. The past few days it has been simply GORGEOUS to look at.

 

 

Mary and I just walked around outside, taking pictures and enjoying the warm weather. We stole a flower off the tree for Mary's hair :) Notice the short sleeves and shorts...we are definitely excited for summer time!

 

The water was cold, but we did wade around in the creek for a little while. I just love this picture of Mary because I caught it when she wasn't really posing. She was right in the middle of a giggle :)

 

 

I have such a beautiful sister <3

 

 

Bare feet!!! Tis the season where shoes become foreign.

 

 

After taking pictures with Mary I went in search of Isaac. I found him reading books on the couch. We try to get him to look at books more often, and it usually doesn't succeed. This time he started looking at them without any prompting. He just couldn't resist the Sesame Street book sitting in plain sight :)

 

 

I did convince him to come outside, though. His favorite things to do in warm weather are jumping on the trampoline, playing basketball, and riding his bike or Mary's scooter.

 

 

I must confess that Isaac does not enjoy climbing trees, probably because he is extremely lacking in balance and coordination. I had to help him up and he informed me that it "wasn't safe."



 

After playing outside and taking lots of pictures, we came inside and enjoyed a perfect warm weather refreshment: pink lemonade. It was nice to spend a lazy afternoon doing whatever sounded fun. There aren't many of those available right now!!

 

 

 There are only 15 more days until I set out for Europe for 3 weeks with my Grandparents. I will be super busy trying to finish up school before then, so this will most likely be my last blog post until then!

Have a blessed week and get out there to enjoy spring!



Corn Dogs with a Twist

If you love making new and fun foods, keep reading! For my birthday I got a Baby Cakes cake pop maker (as stated in my last post.) After a little research on how to use it, I found a TON of cute recipes...muffins, cake, and yes, even corn dogs. So today I thought I would do a quick little how to...

I started with my preheated and lightly greased baby cakes maker and...

 

a Cornbread mix. Of course, you could always use homemade cornbread. For the sake of time, I just used this. Follow the directions on the back of the package for mixing it up. When you are done the mix should still be lumpy. It is not a smooth batter.

The next step depends on what you want your corn dogs to be like. First you microwave any type of hot dog (here I used cheese hot dogs) until they are really warm. Here is the part that is up to you...you can either cut the hot dogs into big chunks like I did OR you can cut them into little bits and mix them in with the batter. If you cut them into chunks like I did, do NOT mix it in with the batter.

Next you pour a little less than a tablespoon of batter in and place a chuck of hot dog in the middle (unless you went for the little chunks mixed into the batter). Once all the little cups are full, shut the top and wait for about 3 minutes. When 3 minutes is over, open it up and you have some delicious corn dogs!! Take them out with the little fork that comes with the Baby Cakes maker and let them cool a little on the rack! YUM!

 

 

Um...I can't figure out how to rotate the picture (yeah, I'm that hopeless with computers) so you will have to look sideways for a bit :)

Happy Birthday to Me...and Woody :)

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted anything on here! I finally got some help on getting pictures, so I am back in business.

October, besides being the beginning of my favorite season, is also the month of birthday excitement. Woody and I share a birthday month and our birthdays are only separated by 5 days. I just turned 17 and Woody turned 15. Both of us thoroughly enjoy our birthdays and we spent both of them very happily.

On my birthday I had a day out with Mrs. Potato Head. We got a relatively early start and headed to the nearest mall for a day of shopping. We took our time browsing clothes, crafts, and Bath and Body Works. We then headed to McAllisters Deli for a delicious sandwich and soup lunch, followed by a bowl of birthday cake ice cream...YUM! Of course, this was all done amid laughter and good conversation. Then that night I headed up to Minnesota with my church young group. Thankfully we only drove 4 hours that night! So besides the terrible hotel we stayed at that night, I had a fun filled birthday!

Since I was gone with the young group all weekend, I celebrated with my family on Monday night. That is when I got all my birthday presents...

I got a REALLY cool bulletin board made by my cousin (check out her blog: dancetothemusicbyjo.blogspot.com), a couple really cute picture frames, a pillow for my soon to be redecorated room, and a Baby Cakes cake pop maker!!!! (and more...I just realized I pretty much got spoiled this birthday!) Since our birthdays are so close together, Woody and I open presents together every year. Woody's favorite gift is the light saber he got from our aunt...he takes it with him everywhere!

 

 

One more birthday down the hatch! Thanks to all my family for the wonderful gifts, cards, and birthday wishes!

Rockin' the Extra Chromosome

My little brother, Woody, was born on October 10, 1997. He was by no means an ordinary newborn. Woody was born with Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is caused by an extra 21st chromosome. In other words, Woody was an extraordinary newborn. Born five weeks early, he was teeny tiny, weighing only 3 pounds, 7.5 ounces.

He never let his size get in the way though! As a toddler he liked to run...run...and run some more! Curiousity was never lacking. Someone was always nearby to make sure he did not wander off, or get into something he shouldn't! Even though he can be a wild man, we all love him "heapies and gobbies," as he would say. :)

About Woody

 

 

Woody loves the beach, just like our whole family! This picture was taken in Florida in 2002. This is still where you will find him on the beach...right by the edge. He has never liked to go all the way into the water at the beach, but he loves to get his feet wet!

 

Obviously that doesn't effect him in the pool though! Woody could swim for hours nonstop and he loves to swim underwater.

 

As you can see, Woody and Jessie are really close in age. When they were this age they were often mistaken as twins! Even now they are the same height, weight and they still look similar.

This picture was take in 2007. Woody LOVES to ride the mower. He isn't allowed to drive, but he sure loves sitting on the front for a little ride down the street. Every time I mow he sits outside and waits for me to finish so I can take him wherever he wants to go.

 

This is obviously a more recent picture, taken last year. Woody and Slinky are the best of friends...or at least Woody would like to think so! Sometimes Slinky just endures the "lovies" that are dealt out by Woody.







 

 

The last little tidbit I will share about Woody is the most important, at least to him! This is a picture of "Barney." When he wears this hat, don't forget to call him Barney or there will be trouble!! He got the name Barney because the hat looks similar to that of Barney Fife's from the old TV show, Andy Griffith. Don't you see the similarities? :) Andy Griffith is another one of Isaac's favorite past times.

 

 

 

That all said, Woody is a huge blessing to our family. He has taught us so many lessons about love and acceptance. I don't know what we would do without him! He is truly rockin' that extra chromosome! :)