Is it Thanksgiving already? Yikes!

Is it Thanksgiving already?  Man, I miss blogging.  Life has been a little on the busy side around here. Not in a bad or good way, just in that way that life can be.  The boys never provide a dull moment, and school is just completely insanity.  I'm sure at some point it seemed like a great idea for me to go back to school, and ultimately it probably will be, but right now, it's making me a crazy person. AAAAHHHH!!!

The boys are growing up too fast.  Yes, I just became that mother that says my kids are growing up too fast.  It's true though.  Little r has become this person all the sudden.  He taught himself how to write his name, picks out his own clothes and gets himself dressed for school, rides his bike, talks back like a true child of an attorney (haha, we are SO doomed), and knows how to run every electronic gadget in the house.  My little man is a master at finding every nerve in my body and dancing all over it.  He's too cute to be mad at for long though.  I also adopted a "no yelling" challenge through the first of the year.  Not sure if I'll make it, but so far it's proving to calm everyone down just a bit.  Amazing what forcing yourself to take a deep breath will do.

My little monster - Star Wars is his ultimate favorite thing

Baby C is six months old already.  Can you believe that?!  It's absolutely unreal to me.  I look at his little infant clothes and I want to go rock in a corner.  He's at that age where life truly starts to get interesting.  I was told they learn to manipulate at six months, and I'm seeing that front and center with this kiddo.  He's normally pretty chill and naps well, but he has been working on a few teeth and many mom's can attest that this often leads to the inner monster releasing.  Poor dude.  I feel bad for him.  Little r didn't get his first tooth until he was nine months, and only had two teeth at a year.  The best part now though is the food.  You are supposed to start feeding children solids by the time they are six months to at least introduce them to the concept.  Baby C is hilarious.  The boy wants nothing, NOTHING to do with "baby" food, and would rather chomp on a piece of bread.  He devoured almost an entire blueberry muffin the other day.  I'm sure there are rules, I just haven't a clue what they are.  I figure, if my kid wants to eat the real stuff, that's what I'm gonna give him.

yummmm - i think? 

The little guy naps like a champ, but he decided the whole sleeping through the night deal was for the birds.  Those couple of months he gave me of sleeping 11-12 hours a night, just flew out the window. Yeah, it's probably time to do something about it, but I never anticipated the challenge of trying to sleep train a baby when you have other children in the house you don't want to disturb.  We'll get there. I have a feeling it'll happen out of necessity here pretty soon.

And then there's this whole school thing... In theory, an absolutely awesome idea.  Honestly, I'm really enjoying the classes, and I'm learning an incredible amount.  But holy cow is it a lot of work.  Like, seriously, a lot of work.  Either I'm just not as efficient as other students or 20 hours of works is far more than I thought it would feel like.  Of course, when you are home with your kids all day and the work is done in barely 1 hour increments or when you are half asleep in the evening, it does give the impression that the work is never-ending.

When you think you want to be a superwoman, it's disappointing a tad when you realize you can't do it all and that something needs to give.  But that's ok.  In the whole scheme of things, life is pretty darn fantastic.  It just means I won't be able to blog as much as I'd like.  My head is full of constant stories I want to share, and it's not clear if they will ever make their way onto my computer.  Instead, I talk to you inside my head.  If you listen closely, maybe you'll hear it - haha.  I'll do my best to sit down when I find the time and share some of the adventures going on in our lives.

So, here we are and it's Thanksgiving already.  The fam is heading to Spain for this one.  Time to thaw out a bit.  It's been snowing and uber cold here in eastern Bavaria, so the warmer temperatures will be fabulous.  It's southern Spain we are visiting.  We'll be spending the next few days exploring the beautiful architecture found throughout Granada and Seville.  I seriously cannot wait.

I'm hoping that between Christmas cards, getting gifts wrapped and sent stateside, visiting every fantastic Christmas market we can find and drinking tons of gluhwein, oh, and that pesky homework deal, I will find a moment or two to share the details from our trip to Spain.

Have a wonderful holiday with friends and family everyone.  I hope none of you get waylaid in the big storm sweeping across the east and that you all make it to your destinations.

Love to you all

xoxoxoxo

Strike a pose

As most of you know, yoga is my escape, my freedom, and the only thing that keeps my mind balanced. My yoga buddy, Kimberly, is an avid traveler like we are, and she started a fun "tradition" of striking a yoga pose in unique locations. I've been watching her do this for awhile, and on our latest trip, I thought it would be fun to take advantage of the beautiful locations we were visiting and "strike a pose" as well whenever the environment moved me. We were, afterall, traveling to some pretty incredible locations where being one with nature would be an easy transition and feel rather "natural."

My first inspiration came when we were at Lake Bled in Slovenia.  It was a quiet, yet beautiful day on the lake.  When we got to the island, I saw fantastic backdrops everywhere I looked.  I knew I had to give it a try.  These were my first EVER strike a pose moments...

The next day hiking down Vitgar Gorge about 4 kilometers from Lake Bled, I found myself in a place where the beauty was so overwhelming I literally had to catch my breath at every turn.  Could you possibly imagine a better place to "strike a pose"?

 

My family might not be into yoga as much as I am, but they definitely enjoy it, and they certainly see me practicing yoga a lot at home.  I thought it would be equally as fun to see if they'd like to find some inspiration for a couple poses as well.  After seeing me in side plank, little r decided he needed to have some fun, too.  Arm balances aren't really his thing, but he has his own way of becoming one with nature.  Man, I just love this kid...

 

Here are a couple more photos of us striking a pose on the island in the middle of Lake Bled.  Little r is my sweet yogini... It's pretty incredible to harness all that crazy boy energy.  

And then, of course, Big R had to join in the fun as well.  Plivitce Lakes in Croatia does that to people. There were perfect locations to inspire a little yoga everywhere we looked. His wheel pose is so stinking awesome!

 

This last photo is my favorite yoga picture from our adventure.  The pose couldn't be more simple. I'm literally in a comfortable seated position with Baby C asleep on my chest.  The surrounding environment is so incredibly serene.  I look like I'm taking a deep breath and I have a sense of happiness on my face.  This isn't a fancy arm balance or tree pose or anything even remotely fancy, but I love how this picture captures the essence of exactly how I was feeling at that very moment.  Life was so peaceful.  I feel like I could look at this picture and escape to that moment anytime I need a break from a hectic day.

I hope we remember to look for inspiration and "strike a pose" on our future adventures.  It was SO much fun.  We were able to get so many interesting and crazy stares from people as we posed or as tourists watched me crash my arm balances or waited not to interrupt Big R's wheel pose near a waterfall.  But it was pretty freaking cool, and we got some really fun photos to remember our trip.