Happy Birthday Steve!

We celebrated Steve's birthday just the way he likes it, a quiet dinner at home and apple pie. Stefanie was able to call just in time to sing and "help" blow out the candles!

Steve begins his fiftieth year now! Next year we are celebrating the Big 5-0!

Happy Thanksgiving

This is our fourth year hosting our huge Thanksgiving Party and I'm happy to say it was another big success. 36 people sat down to dinner this year and once again we had an outstanding evening. Steve was the hero of the day grilling one turkey and cooking the other in the turkey fryer.

Kip and Steve closely monitoring the turkeys

Steve and Ken ready to carve

Will Luana get to the turkey first?

 We have found the best way to seat everyone. By adding two tables to our dining room table and adding two biergarten tables to our living room everyone can have a seat for dinner. Much of the furniture has to be moved to another room but we are happy it works!

Our "kid" population has dwindled as more and more older siblings are away at school. Another four at this table will head to college next fall!

We weren't quite on top of taking photos this year so only a few to share!

 But I did remember to take photos of dessert!

The best cookie decorator!

This year I repurposed our wine corks from the last 6 years into pumpkins for each family. 375 corks later this is what the end result looked like.

As always we are grateful...

Stefanie Runs a Half Marathon

We are so proud of Stefanie! She has trained since the summer to run a half marathon on Thanksgiving morning! We are so impressed that she stuck to her plan and then pushed through the hilly Atlanta course after training in very flat Bowling Green! We are also super thankful to her Aunt Abby who was her "angel runner" and paced her and encouraged her every step of the way!

Celebrating 50!

Missy & Vanessa

My friend Vanessa and I decided to celebrate our birthdays together this year. FIFTY requires lots and lots of celebrating. Since her birthday is in November and mine is Christmas Eve we picked November to celebrate so everyone could be there! This was tough for some of our German friends, in Germany you NEVER wish someone an early Happy Birthday.  Just never.

Rachel's friend Katie joined us for the party since my Big Three couldn't be there.

Before everyone got there we tried out the photo props!

Missy and her superman!

We told all of our guests to wear black and white and then we showed up in purple! We decided to really make ourselves the center of attention!

The party was on the Ammersee at the wonderful restaurant Fischer. They did an unbelievable job providing our guests an awesome meal and keeping everyone's glasses filled! As a bonus, they have a "winter hut" with a DJ so we were able to dance the night away.  And we did - we didn't get home until 3am!!

Vanessa's son Alain and Rachel did the birthday toast. They did an unbelievable job. It is amazing to me how mature and poised they are at the age of 17.

Of course there were many toasts AND cake and singing! It was a fantastic night!

 A little worse for the wear at the end of the night but totally worth it - we had so  much fun!! And our friend Wendy gets the award for lasting all night with us!

London Fun!

Munich Internation School & American School in London Parents

While we were in London for Rachel's soccer tournament we got to see some past MIS friends and do a few touristy things.  My friend Carol and her family moved to London this past summer, it was so great to be able to spend time with her. My first day there we shopped and explored the area around her home. She lives near Abbey Road and when she realized I hadn't been there we walked by the famous recording studio and album cover spot for The Beatles.

Missy & Carol

Just like The Beatles. (Ha)

Carol and I met my friend Kristin who had also come  to watch the soccer tournament. We had dinner in Soho and enjoyed walking around checking out the Christmas lights. The Christmas decorations in London are outstanding.

Missy & Kristin

The second night I took Rachel and her teammate and friend Charlie out for the night. Students stay with families from the host school. I took them out because Rachel wanted to see the Harry Potter wand exhibit that was in front of St Paul's Cathedral. She and Charlie are both big fans and were not disappointed. I knew I made the right decision when the girls could name the owner of every wand without looking at the signs! Also, we had a delicious Mexican dinner at Wahaca, a trendy and fun restaurant.

My friend Melissa also now lives in London, she came out to the fields to watch the girls play. Her older daughter and Rachel played soccer in middle school together and we were sideline buddies for two years. It was terrific to catch up with her too!

Past and present MIS moms.

Our last night there, we headed out to dinner with Chris and Carol to their local pub. We had a fantastic night with good food and lots of laughs. So much fun to see them!

After the last game on Saturday Kristin had to travel with the team to the airport since she was chaperoning. Kip, Steve and I decided to enjoy a couple of hours in London instead. They did a little shopping with me then settled down to watch rugby in a pub while I soldiered on!