Truce?

Hi,  I'm Kami, and I write this blog.  Kind of.  Not really.  

I have good intentions, I swear.  Some of the stuff I think to write about.... I think, "Well, that isn't exactly appropriate for some family to read." or whatever the case may be.  A lot of ideas come to me about writing while I am laying in bed at night, and by the next morning, poof.  They're gone.

So, take it or leave it. ;)  We are in and settled to our apartment, and are much much happier.  Bryant has a 15 minute commute, instead of an hour commute.  We see him SO much more, and we are all happier about that. I feel like I have a husband again, and don't feel like I am going to go off the deep end on a daily basis.  And locking myself out of the house isn't such a big deal now. HA!  

Do you all realize that it's November?  MID November?  We, the Hines' have been in Germany almost a year.  Can you believe this?  The year has honestly went so incredibly fast I can't even believe it.  I am finally starting to make some friends and settle in.  We are starting to get out more and travel, and things are starting to get better.  Although, I think in the next few blogs I will go ahead and write a little more in depth about Germany, the Germans, and the views of people around here.  It's very interesting.  

So as for Bryant- his deployment got pushed, and as of now, it looks as if he will deploy to the same location around the April time frame.  His job has been pretty tough on him, as a lot of people are lower ranking, and needing babysitting basically. They don't seem to want to work, and therefore are needing hounded constantly to get their job done.  A lot of late nights have been spent so he does not have to work weekends.  Hopefully things will start changing here soon for him.

I am still doing my normal mommy thing.  Cook.  Clean. Run errands.  Clean, Cook, repeat.  ;)  I am able to do a lot more though during the day with Austin in school so that really has been nice.  And I am working on putting together a photography business over here, and after the new year I am thinking about getting my German Business License so I can legally operate in the country. We will see how things go, but that's my plan right now.  I am also making a few cakes here and there, and really loving it.  It's fun, frustrating, but the end result is always satisfying and I love that.

Austin.  He just makes me smile.  He is doing incredibly fantastic in school.  I can't even convey to you how well he is doing.  He love love love LOVES school.  Every day he's excited.  Excited for school, and excited to learn.  We just today had his parent teacher conference, and his teacher sang nothing but praises for him.  She is so impressed with his ability.  So much so, that she impressed me just talking about him.  She said he is excelling in every single subject that they do.  He's writing his numbers well.  He is the only one that she lets write the number of days they've been in school on the board because he's the only one that can write his numbers well enough to read consistently.  He's moving up to the next reading level.  He's doing advanced patterns, and creating advanced patterns, on his own, without any prompting.  They were given a sheet with 7 lines.  Each line had heart shapes going across.  They were to color in a pattern.  His teacher said that most kids stuck to an ABABABAB pattern, meaning they just did like, red/blue/red/blue/red/blue.  All the way down the page, just changing the color combos.  On Austin's sheet she showed us, every line, he had a different pattern, none of them being an AB pattern.  All of them were, say, aabbc/aabbc/aabbc  and another was abcd/abcd/abcd, and another was abccd/abccd/abccd.  She said that is very impressive for a kid his age.  They have a literacy chart that they have to do every day during reading.  They recite every letter of the alphabet, and what sound each letter makes.  So if a letter makes 2 sounds, they have to make those sounds before they continue to the next letter.  Austin recited the entire chart to us, with only two areas of help.  When he was finished, his teacher told us that no other child in the class could do that.  That most kids get to maybe 6 or 7 of the letters and then can go no further.  And Austin did the ENTIRE alphabet.  Prodigy.  He's a freakin prodigy.  hahaha!!  Ok, so obviously I am incredibly proud of him!!!!  
                Other than school, he just finished up soccer a few weeks ago, and is signed up now for BASKETBALL BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH BOY!  I about jumped out of my skin when he said yes I was so excited!  He is still VERY MUCH into Star Wars, as he told his teacher today, "I don't know what to tell you, I'm just addicted."  HA, that's my boy.

SYDNEY.  Cute.as.a.button.  HELL ON WHEELS.  And I am not even kidding.  She is everything you could think of...spitfire, fire cracker, whatever- she's nuts.  I got dealt a hand with her.  She tries me, and tests me, and pushes my buttons every second of every day.  She can really be sweet as pie, but when she's done, she's literally done.  And she will let you know.  She growls constantly. (Usually when you tell her No, or not to do something she shouldn't be doing, which is constantly, haha)  Has the highest pitched scream I've ever heard- or maybe it's a squeal? She does it mostly when she's pestering her brother, (which she loves to do, and does relentlessly) or when she's playing.  Her absolute favorite thing is painting.  She LOVES LOVES painting.  So much so in fact, that about 30 minutes ago I just finished mopping up the floor because she had splattered it all over the dining room floor (thank god for hardwoods) and table.  She loves drawing circles too.  And I will tell you what, she's incredibly serious about them.  I have never seen a little girl focus so hard in my life.  She gets her face about half an inch from the paper, but I'll be damned if it's almost a perfect circle and those lines meet up every.single.time!  She also has an odd love for all things tiny.  ANYTHING tiny.  A tiny toy.  A tiny rock.  A tiny piece of rice.  She holds it carefully in her hand like it's a newborn and so sweetly says, "Awww, look how caaaauuuuuutttteee it is!!!!!"  And then is completely devastated when she loses it 10 minutes later.

So a couple fun things.  

I go to Paris, France on Saturday for a day trip with a few girlfriends! WHAT?!?!  I am so over the moon excited!!  

Another- we are traveling to the Bavarian Alps-Garmish, Germany for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  WHO CAN SAY THAT?!  

We are SO blessed.  

Life is good.

xoxoxo,
k.