Counting Down to Forever

In 1998 on borrowed internet, little did I know that I'd met the love of my life. I lived in Brownwood, TX with a friend out at the lake. I was using ICQ at the time, and I did a search for guys who lived in Europe, and I ran across an individual who lives in Paris, France. How intriguing, I thought. PARIS. Ooo la la. The Eifel Tower, a French accent... berets, paint brushes, oui oui, non? So we talked. I found out he was a red beret in the military, and he sent me this gorgeous photo of him in his hat, with these spectacular eyes - and I fell in... obsession. Not love. Nope, I was only 18 at the time, what did I know about love. But I was talking to someone on the other side of the world, every day, and I liked it!

Well, in 2000 I joined the military, and I lost touch with him. My borrowed internet went away... and by the time I did get another computer, I'd forgotten all about my French crush. My life twisted and turned, and by 2002 I'd become a single mother. Shortly after that, while sitting in my apartment, I turned on my laptop and thought of old chat buddies that I could send a message to. I took a stab at Frenchy's screen name, and I guessed right! He wrote back, and even more... he'd remembered me!

We continued to talk... My obsession returned, as I envisioned a bachelor in Paris who was intent on staying single due to bad luck in love. I was out to win his heart! In October 2005, Nicolas flew to meet me in person for the first time. I remember all too well that first sight. He came through the airline gates wearing these horrible red shoes (they smelled worse than they looked) and European button-fly jeans :P And for the love of God, I thought the guy didn't like me. He kissed me on the cheek instead of greeting me with a Texas sized bear hug. (How was I supposed to know that kissing cheeks was the French greeting???) By the end of his two week visit, we were inseparable. When I took him back to the airport, I returned to an empty apartment... there were lines on the carpet where his suitcase sat, and I traced them with my finger and just ached for his presence. I'm assuming the void stretched across the Atlantic, because within a month, he was back. 2 more weeks for Christmas. . . We'd exchanged 100 I love you's via text messages and email.

During my deployment to Diego Garcia from January-May 2006, I found out I'd be moving to Germany. What a WONDERFUL blessing as it would put me closer to him. When I landed on European soil in August 2006 - he was there. He commuted every weekend through November until he quit his job to be with me permanently. Then on December 29, 2006 we were married. In a small ceremony at the Rathaus in Speicher, Germany - his mother and sisters were with us, as well as the German/English translator. (and Stevie!)

This past 3 years has been... indescribable. We've had some extreme highs, and some crappy lows. We've fought over taco sauce, shared a new baby, played Santa Claus, stood in for the tooth Fairy... cleaned up puke, changed diapers... More importantly, we've remained each others' best friend, lover, confidant... We can live separately, together. He makes me whole. There is no thing GREATER than being married to my Nico.

So with this my love, Happy Anniversary. Thank you for an extraordinary three years. I look forward to kissing you at midnight on New Years on the same streetcorner in Baarn that I've kissed you the last 3 years... I look forward to more magical number 3s *wink wink!* May this be the third of so many more anniversaries, as we continue counting down to forever. I love you.

Extreme Home Makeover (continued)

Ahh... Day 5 of our efforts and we're starting to see a small finish line. We've finished the ceiling, painted the windows, painted the base boards, and we're finishing up the stairwell on the first 3 floors... Patricia took on the task of wallpapering the living room, and she's done with the majority of it! Nicolas and I took about 3 huge bags of empty bottles to the recycle center earlier today (just one of many items that needs to find a new home hehe) All in all, I can say I'm pleased with our teamwork and I think the project is turning out nicely!

Nicolas and I spent yesterday morning emptying out the kitchen of old groceries and rearranging a bit to open up the small space (I'll put up pictures of that later) But it's nice to be able to do dishes while seeing people outside the kitchen now! A refrigerator used to block the view, but we moved it.

Anyway, a few updated pictures of our progress :)

Constance painting in the stairwell

The view of the stairwell from the bottom floor... (it's prettier in person)

Patricia adding her magic to the outside of the windows!
The first coat on the ceiling... we were worried!Nothing to worry about :) it looks FABULOUS!

Patricia works on the wallpaper. Nothing like fake bricks :)
Ava found the important tools for the job...
Nico autographed his work
The freshly painted window frame
The new wallpaper and ceiling combined!
Sophisticated eh?Still so much work left...

(whose bright idea was this anyway?)

Extreme Home Makeover (the before)

As promised, updates on the extreme home makeover in France. For those who don't know about it... my mother in law has a 4 story townhome in Pithiviers, France that she's lived in FOREVER... With forever, comes the need for some trashing, some recycling, some repainting, and re-wallpapering! We've scavenged a few helpers, and our efforts have begun. THIS is the gift we've promised our dear mother (in-law) for the holidays!

First, the foundation paper on the ceiling...

Corentin is way too excited about this!

Good Nico! Elbow grease!

Ava's trying to figure out painting of the baseboards...

Don't let French people take a break!

The little helpers stop for some dinner...

Gingerbread cookies with Grandma
So she (not me) threw a paintbrush at his head! There was blood!
The homeless gather at bedtime!
(Unfortunately, this form of extreme isn't what I'd been envisioning... I've got OCD and would rather just trash the whole house and buy all new stuff!! BUT, I'm learning how to love the "old" stuff while trying to find a new place for all of it... hrmm, ALL of it. ;))

All the Trimmings

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the holiday trimmings right?

The last two days I've toted my camera around and played the doting mother who has a 2nd grader that's been highly involved in extra-curricular activities!! Yesterday, I had the privelege of walking with her class to the Bitburg Senior Center so the kids could sing holiday songs to the German residents. What a treat, as I got to see what Stevie has been working so hard to prepare for. And how awesome that the kids were able to learn German songs to sing to these appreciative people. Here are some pictures from that yesterday:

Today I had the honor of attending Stevie's class recital. The music classes from 1st - 4th grade have worked hard... students learning how to play the recorder, violin, and keyboard, while others practiced singing their carols. Stevie's instrument of choice was the keyboard, and she'd come home and practice when Ava wasn't screaming something about it being HER turn! hehe... Stevie did wonderful, standing tall and proud in the back as she played along with her classmates. GREAT JOB baby girl!!
And last but not least... Christmas is about giving right? And well... most of you know what it's like to CONSTANTLY have to give when you've got a younger sibling... Poor Stevie - tries so hard to have HER time, but it's impossible with Ava around. With a little bit of parental influence, and a LOT of ingenuity, it IS possible to play Wii Fit with a 2 yr old. All that's required, 1 Wii controller (without batteries) and a bathroom footstool. Voila! All parties are happy haha!
Merry Christmas! :)

Joyeux Noel!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! My how the season is flying by! Seems like just yesterday we were putting up the tree, and now I've got one week left before we pack up and head to France for vacation with the family. This year, we're performing an extreme home makeover on my mother-in-law's 4 story townhome. She's asked if we could help her repaint her living room ceiling, and the stairwell. BOY do we have our work cut out for us! I couldn't think of a better gift to give a woman who is SO giving though. Anything she asks, I'll do for her.

Well, 2009 has been good to us. I got to experience so much this year... a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, nights out on the town in Las Vegas. I survived my first combat deployment, and my longest time away from Nicolas and the girls since we got married and had Ava. This year has definitely had it's highs and lows... all in all, I'm glad we made it through, and we're together for the holidays and TOGETHER to ring in another New Year.

The girls have conquered their own obstacles this year... Stevie learned how to ride her bicycle, lost a few teeth, turned 7, ended 1st grade and started 2nd. Ava turned 2, started her "school," and now we're beginning to introduce POTTY TRAINING!! It's a really slow process... but every day is another step in the right direction!

Anyway... here are some pictures I took of the girls this morning in light of the holiday season! Enjoy :) May God Bless you ALL through this holiday and may many MANY great things happen for each of you in the New Year. All our love - Nico, Jennifer, Stevie and Ava

Throne Fit for a Princess

So we added a new piece of decor to our living room. . . We figured it was time to introduce a throne to our little princess :)

Well, we actually introduced it when she turned 15 months old...I did the same with Stevie. I had one in the bathroom, and while the bath water was running I'd sit her on it and she'd either use it or she wouldn't. But today we moved the throne into the living room so it would be easily accessible at the last minute... for you see, today was Ava's first day to wear panties!

Ava is officially 5 months older than Stevie was when Stevie was fully potty trained. I'm a little behind in training her because I'm just so... LAZY! But with the few long weekends coming up, I'm going to try extra hard to at least make it more of a habit for her if nothing else.

Here's Ava modeling her first pair of panties. (unfortunately they're a size bigger than she needs... 2T was sold out!) Does that mean we're behind the learning curve?! hehe

Breakin' the Bank

7 years old, and tonight she lost her 4th tooth! (The top one.) We JUST pulled it a few minutes ago, and now she's laying in bed with a paper towel in her mouth, a little freaked out because she can't talk normally anymore. Apparently it's a little weird having missing teeth. I wouldn't know, I can't remember back that far!

Misc, etc!

Looking at my blog, I realized I haven't posted any pics in a while. (Probably cause I haven't taken any... of my own family anyway!)

Here's some random photos from the past few weeks...

I love these little eyelashes...
Nicolas is stoked about ice skating!
Go Stevie!!
Ava was more upset because I wouldn't let her push her stroller out onto the ice :(
Here's the little princess, zoning out to Mickey on TV!