Christmas Day 2012

This Christmas was SO much fun with Ava and I know it is just going to get better. We didn't do a lot for her since she is still little but she still enjoyed every bit of it. Stocking are so fun and they might be my favorite part of opening presents! Stockings are from here and they are on sale!! 

Ava opening her baby doll which is now her favorite toy ever! 

 Loving on her baby! 

Bryce loves his new kindle fire! He also got an espresso maker (which now makes 8 coffee machines in our kitchen). He LOVES his coffee! I got an ipod touch (now I don't have to use Bryce's), some face treatments, and a new pair of TOMS! :) 

I can't believe I am actually posting this picture on here. I am a hot mess but I want to look back at my blog several years from now and remember this day! 

All of Ava's new goodies! 

 Our Christmas tree this year...Notice the bottom of the tree is a little bare..I had to move all the ornaments up so a certain someone wouldn't get them! :)

After we opened presents, we cleaned up and I started cooking. We had steaks for dinner with potato salad and green beans and banana pudding for dessert! We invited one of Bryce's friends over for dinner (who is single and doesn't have family here) and afterwards, we played a few games of Farkle! Later that night, we skyped both of our families. Hopefully this will be our LAST year away from family for Christmas! This is Bryce's fourth year in a row away and my third. Can't wait to be back with family for the holidays! 

Christmas Eve in Brussels

If you read my blog, you might remember us going to Brussels, Belgium a couple of weeks ago. You can read about it here.

We love Belgium so we decided to go back one last time before we move back to the states. Can't say no to waffles and chocolate! :) We invited a few of our friends to go with us along with a friend of Bryce's from work. She is single and doesn't have any family here and we didn't want her to be alone on Christmas Eve!! We had a blast!

To our surprise, there were a TON of people there! It was so hard to get around with a stroller. Ava did pretty good in the car and slept a lot of the day. She is at a HARD stage right now where all she wants to do is walk and do things by herself. That is not so convenient when we are at a Christmas market with a million people there! 

I had to take a picture of this napkin holder that had Ava's name on it! 

Oh, the infamous waffles! The were delicious, as always! :) 

Next up, Christmas Day! 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Stringer family! 

Christmas Party

Bryce's work threw a Christmas party last night at the SAKS hotel in downtown Kaiserslautern. There had to be a couple hundred people there! We had dinner and played a few games. They did a raffle and we ended up winning a 32 inch LCD TV!! We never win anything so I was really shocked!

The food was buffet style but ended up being really good. It was at a German hotel so I knew it wouldn't disappoint. 

This picture is really blurry but its the only one I got. We sat with this couple for dinner and they had Bryce and I laughing the whole night! 

Ava is 14 months old!

Ava Drew turned 14 months old on the 11th.

Ava, you weigh 17 pounds 9 ounces and 29 inches long! You are a growing girl! You wear a size 3 diaper and wear 9-12 months clothes. Size 2 shoe.

You sleep from 8pm-8:30am. You take 1 nap a day that ranges from 1.5-3 hours long. You eat 3 meals a day and several snacks throughout the day. You eat constantly! You nurse 2-3 times a day.

You are a full time walker!!! It makes this momma a little sad. I loved it when you crawled. Its cute to see you walking everywhere though. You love to be involved in everything that we are doing. If we are at the store, you like to help push the cart instead of riding in it. Now that you can walk, you don't like to be carried.

You are getting so smart and repeating everything that we say! Your new words are "Babe" (that's what me and Bryce call each other so she repeats us when we say it), "bath"(baf), "Bryce", "baby" (baybuh).

You are a HAM! Seriously one of the funniest babies I have ever seen! You love to dance and give kisses and say "HI" in a ridiculously cute, hick accent.

You LOVE your daddy and your favorite time of the day is when y'all wrestle on the bed.

You love playing with your babies. You love to give them hugs and kisses and rock them and saying "shh". Such a sweet little momma you are! :)

Ava you are soon becoming a little girl and less of a little baby! You are the sweetest little girl and I love you to death!!

Brussels, Belgium 2012

I absolutely LOVE Brussels! We have been there twice and plan to go again in a couple of weeks. They have the BEST chocolate, best beer (according to Bryce) and BEST waffles!!! 

The Christmas market was so fun! There was an ice rink in the center of the market that looked so fun to skate on but since we skated the night before, we passed.

We spent a few hours at the Christmas Market before heading home. I love taking road trips and traveling but it sure is nice to be back in my own bed! 

Brugge, Belgium Christmas Market

Warning: Picture overload!

A few weeks ago, my family and a couple of our friends took a trip to Brugge, Belgium! We left on Sunday morning and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get there. We checked into our hotel and then went to Ice Magic.

Ice Magic is a building full of ice sculptures. It was insane!

I think I almost froze to death. That was probably the coldest I have ever been! It was so beautiful though.

We walked to the Christmas market after Ice Magic but first, we had to stop and get some famous fries with some special sauce (mayo, ketchup and onions). YUM!

Bryce and I went ice skating and my good friend watched Ava for us for the majority of the time but Bryce decided to take her out on the ice slush for a second. It was far from slick so we knew it would be safe.

This little church apparently has a jar of Jesus's blood and they put it on display occasionally... apparently.

Oh the infamous Belgium waffle. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture. 

We got back to the hotel around 9pm and I attempted to put Ava to sleep in a pack and play...she was NOT having it. After 30 minutes of her crying, I just put her in bed with me and she actually laid down and fell asleep by me. First. Time. EVER! If you know her, you know she is NOT a snuggler and does not like to be cuddled. I guess that night in the hotel was an exception. Even though I didn't get much sleep at all, it was nice to snuggle with my little girl all night. 

The next day, we went to Brussels to hit up their Christmas market. Since this post has gotten extremely too long, I will save it for another post. 

Thanksgiving 2012

I am way late on writing about our Thanksgiving but better late than never, right?

Since we weren't able to go home for Thanksgiving, we celebrated with our friends here in Germany. I can't believe that this is our last year to celebrate the holidays in Germany! It makes me SO sad! I am really going to miss it here. 

We went to the McMinimy's house for the day and everyone brought a few dishes. We ate a lot, talked, played some games, and had a blast! I'm going to miss our friends! 

All the girls with their babies!

This is Charleston! We thought it would be fun to put Ava's bow on him. Is he not the cutest?

Me and my girl. A little blurry but its the only one I've got! 

Ava is 13 months old!

Ava turned 13 months on the 11th. Her personality has really come out lately.

 Ava, you weighed 16 pounds and 4 ounces (5%) at your 1 year appointment so I am sure you have gained a little since then. You are 28 inches(10%) tall and your head circumference is 17 inches(25%). YAY! We are out of the negative percentiles!!! You wear a size 2 shoe and size 3 diaper. You wear size 9-12 month clothing.

You are a great sleeper! You go to bed at 8pm and wake up around 7:30am to eat then go back down for another 1-2 hours. We got you down to one nap and you usually go down around 12:30 or 1pm and sleep for a good 2-(sometimes)3 hours. You eat 3 meals a day and snack throughout the day. You are always eating! Every time you see food or you see us eating, you say "moooore". You are still nursing 2-3 times a day. I am trying to wean you to cows milk but you prefer me.

You can walk but still prefer to crawl which is okay with me! When you are around older kids, you walk. When you are at home, you usually crawl.

You are a little stinker these days and into everything!! You like to open all my kitchen cabinets and play with the mixing bowls. You LOVE to push the kitchen chairs around the house.

You have started dancing this month every time you hear music. You will bob your head and bounce your legs. Cutest thing ever! You LOVE "The Office" theme song. We watch it almost everyday and every time you hear it, you clap your hands and get really excited!

You are a talker and try to repeat everything we say! You now know the sounds to a dog, cow, duck (your favorite- "kak kak"), horse, and snake. You can say "more", "cross", "trees", "car", "this" (sounds like "dis"), "that" (dat), "cracker" (cakcak), "cookie" (cookay), "nose" (no), "eye". There are lots more but I just can't think of them right now.

You are such a happy baby but you get shy around other people right now. You don't like for us to leave you in the nursery at church but hopefully you will get used to it soon! :)

You are a HOOT and I just love you to death!!! I love the little girl you are becoming!

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day is a special day in our house. Its a day to remember Bryce and all the other service members for what they have done and all that they have sacrificed for our country. I always get choked up thinking about it. It used to never affect me. Maybe because I didn't have a huge appreciation for it and didn't know much about the military. Now that I am a wife to a military service member and am surrounded by the military life everyday, I have a HUGE appreciation for it. I am SO proud to have a husband that serves our country with pride. 

Thank you Bryce for all that you do! Love you!! 

Halloween 2012

I am so glad Halloween is over! I did enjoy dressing Ava up and taking her to get some candy but I am not a big fan of the holiday. This was MY first year EVER to go trick or treating. We just went on base so I knew it was pretty safe. But instead of trick or treating, they did trunk or treating. A bunch of cars lined up and decorated their trunks and passed out candy as the kids walked by. 

I dressed Ava as a little lamb this year! Its a tad bit small but I think it still turned out cute. She was dressed in layers because it was freezing outside! It had snowed the day before so I was worried it would be a yucky day but it ended up being a pretty night! Yeah, it was in the high 40's but that was warm compared to what it was the day before! :)

Bryce had to work on Halloween and didn't get off until 10pm so we ended up tagging along with some friends of ours. Aren't they cute?!?!

 Sweet Charleston! 

We attempted a group picture of the kids but the babies were NOT having it!

This is one of the trucks when we went trunk or treating! They went all out this year!

They served hot dogs and drinks! There were a TON of people there!! To the right of this picture, they had an outdoor movie for the kids! So fun!

I was SO sad Bryce missed out on all the fun! When we were done, we did take him some candy so I think that made up for it a little bit.