Happy Birthday Steve!

Happy 49th Birthday to Steve!   

We celebrated the way he likes to - at home with a steak dinner and homemade apple pie as his birthday cake!

Girls Weekend in Paris!

Our friend Vanessa requested that we celebrate her birthday and life this year in style so we headed to Paris for a weekend!  The shenanigans began before we even boarded!

Our first night we had a lovely dinner in the Marais district.

We spent our daytimes shopping in the Marais, walking the streets and enjoy the delicious food. We shopped at Lafayette, oohing and aahing over all the Christmas decorations, enjoyed the view from the roof and then lunch at Angelina's.

Also we may have had some champagne!

We went to Faust under the Pont Alexander III bridge. It was such a cool atmosphere built into the bridge supports. Then there was a crazy night club afterwards. The line of people stretched all the way down the waterfront.

On Sunday before flying out while everyone else shopped Vanessa and I climbed the tower at Notre Dame, something we had both wanted to do and never had. We had a gorgeous morning for views of Paris!

There was something about this gargoyle that we both just loved!

GoKart Racing and a Football Party

Rachel - ready to race!

While all the moms headed to Paris for a weekend the dads and the kids had their own fun! First they went go-kart racing. By all accounts they had a fabulous time and it was very adrenaline filled!

I'm sure Rachel actually took first!

Then they had an Ohio State - Michigan party at our house. The turkey oil is still good after Thanksgiving so they had a wingfest and enjoyed a closer than it should have been game!  Go Bucks!

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving by hosting a huge party at our house. This is the third year for us and we have so much fun every year sharing this American tradition with our friends!  We maxed out our house this year with 42 guests.

Steve cooks two turkeys, one on the grill and one in the turkey fryer. Both are delicious!

There is plenty of help carving the turkeys by the turkeys...

All the ladies!

 Our kitchen is huge by german standards and perfect for a buffet!

Please enjoy your dinner!

We move most of the furniture out of the room, add two tables to our dining room table and three biergarten tables. Sit down dinner for 42! I love that we can all eat together.

The kids took care of cleanup! This is such a great thing for the adults. We bribe them with first crack at the desserts!

And there is always plenty for dessert...

We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends!

Rachel - Varsity Soccer MVP!!!

Rachel has had a terrific soccer season this year. As captain of the varsity team she has also really shined in her left wing spot. It has been lots of fun watching her play and leading her team. She was rewarded at sports night tonight with the Most Valuable Player award.

We are so proud of her and how hard she works at everything, not just soccer, throughout the season! 

That's Rachel with the ball!

BGSU Visit and Club Volleyball Tournament!

Steve and I really wanted to make sure we saw AJ play club volleyball this year. So when he needed to be in the US the same week as Rachel's longest soccer tournament we made a plan.

I flew into Detroit, where Stefanie surprised me at the airport I was so psyched to exit out of baggage claim and find her there.  We picked up my car and headed to BGSU to collect AJ, then we drove to Hudson for a quick visit with my parents.

We spent the next day running errands, Christmas shopping and just having fun. Then we picked up Steve at the airport and headed back to BGSU. Steve finally got to see Stefanie's dorm room and AJ's apartment too! Of course we had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, if you know AJ, you know this is his favorite place!

AJ's tournament was at Michigan State. It was really great fun to watch him play with his team. There were some exciting games. They went 3-1 for the day although we missed the last game.  The tournament was woefully behind schedule and they didn't play their last game until nearly midnight. We do love watching #4 play!

When the game is close, Mom gets nervous...

The next day they won their first two games and then lost in the finals to take second place.  We were so happy that we got to watch him and his team play. Stefanie even served as a coach the second day.

That evening we had a great time spending time with the two of them, going to dinner and just hanging out.  Things people who live close to where their kids go to college get to do all the time. Yes, I'm a little jealous.

The next day Steve had an early flight but I had a late one.  Stef and I shopped while AJ went to class and then it was one last lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.