Karneval!

So February is all about Karneval over here.  Karneval here is just like Mardi Gras only on uncensored, hyped up steroids.  :)  They have plenty of non-offensive, fun loving parades for children and families.  They generally take place on weekdays and in the morning or early afternoon.  But the adult directed parades are all kinds of crazy and attract crowds of upwards of a million people in Koln.  The city we attended the "children's" parade in this past Sunday.  It was tons of fun and the kids came home with all kinds of loot!  Here are a few pictures of our time in the city. 

 

Koln Cathedral, really beautiful to see

 

Smurfs anyone?

 

LOVE the costumes!

 

The kids used their umbrellas to collect goodies.  They were quite the phenomenon amongst the paraders.

 

A taste of evening Karneval happenings to come!

Oh yeah, and the most interesting thing about Karneval to me is that all the Karneval hulla-balloo starts on 11.11 seeing as the number 11 is supposed to be a crazy number.  Interesting to me seeing as 11.11 is the little boy Bean's birthday!  Alaaf!

Been a While

So I know it's been a while (ok, a year more like it) but I am pretty sure no one reads this anymore.  Somehow we let Facebook get the best of us, me included, and we no longer need blogs to follow the happenings on ones everyday life.  I have decide though after reading many new blogs by friends over here that perhaps there are some of you out there who may still check in once in a while.  So, a bit of an update to start me back and then perhaps more interesting things later!

I am still in school.  I am taking online classes through National University out of San Diego for a BA in History.  No career plans for this just something I was close to finishing eons ago so I thought what better time to do it then now.  The classes are only 4 weeks each so it is super accelerated.  Makes it nice to be done with each class so quickly but they are super intensive.  Especially the 400 level classes that is about all I am in now.  :(  Anyways, I am 8 classes in now and have 14 to go.  So I should be done by summer next year.  That is the goal.  I am also in a great running groove right now.  I have signed up for a 10 mile race in Paris in September and am contemplating a 10 mile race in Antwerp in April.

Younger Bean will be starting German Kindergarten in August and is THRILLED!!!  Seriously, the kid can't wait!  It's the same one Baby Bean went too just down the street so he is already familiar with the school and the teachers.  It will be so weird to have an empty house for 6 hours a day...what will I do?  Ha!  I have plenty to do!

Baby Bean is in her second half of Kindergarten and loves school.  She "challenges" herself with her writing and is so proud of how well she reads.  This girl will have no self esteem issues for sure.  :)  She is so petite still yet growing so fast!  Her and Younger Bean are actually the same exact weight only she has him by about 3.5 inches in height.  Same shoe sizes though, really, she's petite!

Mr. Bean is finish up some school in the states right now.  He's been there for 5 weeks and will be back home in about 3 more.  It will be nice to have our family complete again.  Luckily the kids and I have so much going on in our daily lives that we have been able to make the time pass super quick.  Still, can't wait to have him back!

Well, that's about it for tonight but trust me, with all the cakes, school, chapel events, travel, etc.  there will be many more updates to come!

Cakes and such

So I have started back to college after a 9 year sabatical.  I am taking classes with National University out of California online.  I am finishing my Bachelors degree in History.  I don't yet have a plan for it when I'm done but I know there are several government jobs I could procure with it and that is my end goal at this time.  They are super condensed, 4 week classes so I have 22 classes (22 months) of school left.  I am in the final 3 days of my first class, Advance English Composition, and have been really surprised at how much work an online class is and at how much I am enjoying this class and learning despite the bundle of nerves I was over taking this particular class.  My final for the class is an 8-10 page research paper arguing a particular view effectively and proposing a solution.  I am arguing against home schooling.  In a week I start my 4 week Geography class.  Needless to say I am well on my way and really enjoying it this time around.  Amazing the perspective a few years and some life experience can give you on learning.

This is a cake I did for a 5 year old girl's birthday this past weekend and the one below is cake I did for the Annual Aircrew Awards on base.  The horse was a lot of fun to make.  Marshmallow fondant that was super yummy because I made the fondant and flavored it with Vanilla Extract. 

Cakes...

This weekend was of course Valentine's Day weekend and on Friday I got an order for a heart cake to feed 20 people.  Instead of just making a really big heart cake that would feed 20 people I decided to make 2 completely different heart cakes that would feed 10 people each.  A yellow cake with buttercream icing, fondant and truffles.  A chocolate cake with rich chocolate icing and sugar flowers.  This was the result:

Mr. Bean's sister and her family came this weekend as well to visit.  Mr. Bean and I were supposed to be going on a Rhine River cruise Saturday night and then dinner at a nice restaurant in Koln with some couples from our church and they were going to babysit.  Unfortunately they cancelled the cruise at the last minute opting for dinner at a local restaurant around here.  Boo!  So we decided to skip it and instead on Saturday evening we all (4 adults, 3 kids) went to a 15th century castle about 15 minutes from our house to partake in their candle lit, live music Valentine's dinner menu.  It was INCREDIBLE.  The kids behaved flawlessly (except that Baby Bean wanted to go to the bathroom, no kidding, 9 times which was perfectly ok because did I mention, HE IS POTTY TRAINED NOW!!!!!!!).  Here are some of the pictures from that evening.  Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well!

My sweet family.  What more could I ask for on Valentine's Day.  :)

 

 Baby Bean and me snuggling

 Mr. Bean's chocolate sensation at the castle.  

 Big Girl Bean and I snuggling

 My little Buggy enjoying his appetizer!

Cakes...

So my plan to be more regular about posting has not worked out so well.  Sorry!  My cake business on the other hand, BLOOMING!

 This was a simple Elmo cake for a guys birthday.

This was a cake I threw together for Super Sunday at church.  Not my best, but not my worst!  :)

 

This was the 96 cup-cake cake I did for a retirement ceremony on base the DAY we moved into our house over here.  112 cupcakes made in total.

And today, I got 3 more cake orders!

200th Post!!!

So I have had this blog for 5 years now and am just hitting my 200th post.  If that isn't a testament to my lack of consistency then I don't know what is!  :)  Oh well, here's to trying a little harder.

Big Girl Bean started German Kindergarten on Monday and is LOVING it.  She is going to be having German lessons every morning with some other students that don't speak German very well for an hour and then the rest of the day will be kindergarten.  It's 7 hours a day, 5 days a week with an hour and a half break in the middle of the day where she gets to come home for lunch.  The school is literally only 1 block from our house and we walk to and from every day.  Very convenient.

Toddler Bean is getting so big so fast!  He is potty training now and let me tell you, not nearly as easy as his sister.  He just doesn't have the same attention span she had.  He loves his potty and will use it no problem.  But still doesn't care if he goes in his pull up either.  In fact, we went straight from diapers to panties with Big Girl Bean and only used pull-ups for night time.  He however needed the transition to pull-ups first.  Gonna try giving it another couple weeks then moving to underwear.  He's been in pull-ups for about 2 weeks now and I think the progress is good.

We are all moved into the house now.  I have all but toddler Bean's room unpacked and our bedroom.  We have a lot of stuff in those two rooms unpacked just not everything.  Today will be concentrated on toddler Bean's room I think. 

Mr. Bean's sister is pregnant and due the end of July.  This will be grandchild #4 for this side of the family.  Currently there are 2 boys and 1 girl so perhaps they will even it out.  Can't wait either way.  I LOVE BABIES!!!

Christmas was great.  Mr. Bean's sister and her family came to spend it with us since they are also living here in Germany.  The kids had a great time playing together and Mr. Bean and his brother-in-law made a big igloo in the side yard for all 7 of us to fit in.  It was crazy but really neat.  Mr. Bean wound up getting some new sunglasses and a TON of tools for Christmas.  He was pretty funny how giddy getting tools made him.  :)  Big girl Bean got a 4 foot tall doll house with accessories along with Barbies and some movies.  She was speechless and believe me, that's a feat in itself.  Toddler Bean got a singing pirate boat with blocks and some matchbox car toys and movies.  Also some of the most adorable clothes every compliments of the grandparents and Aunt and Uncle Baby Brother Bean.  Now, I do have to say, Mr. Bean way out did himself for me for Christmas.  Not only did I get the new Clive Cussler book that was just released and one of my favorite movies, 17 Again, but Mr. Bean also got me a Video Camera and THIS RING!!!!!! 

I picked it out at Papa Bean's store back in October and thought maybe one day in a couple years if they still had it maybe we would go back and get it but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have it 2 months later.  It's a light blue Sapphire with Diamonds all around.  Perfect!

New years we went to Mr. Bean's sister's house and had a great time playing with fireworks and just hanging out.  Oh and I also got to go see the new Harry Potter movie while we were down there.  Mr. Bean saw Tron.  His opinion, no 3D effects at all and not worth the theater fare.  My opinion on Harry Potter, can't wait for the second installment!

 

The Igloo

 

New Christmas Clothes

 

His 'Spy Car' shirt with matching pants!

That's about all the updates for the moment.  More soon I'm sure.  Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

My sincere apologies for no posting in over a month.  We now have internet back at the house so be looking for more regular and frequent updates soon!!!