What's Going On?

I am guilty of neglecting my blog. To tell you the truth, I haven't been sure that I wanted to keep it up. Life moves so fast around here. There barely seems to be time to sit down at night and type on my blog. I think this is the reason I need to continue. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once and a while, you might miss it." So, without further ado, what have we been up to?

December: We went home to the U.S.A. We spent the holidays with our families and friends. We were so busy, but we had so much fun! Gabriella really enjoyed the holidays this year. She was just old enough to be interested in Santa and in singing "Jingle Bells". She 'liked' Santa, but she wanted no part in sitting on his lap. Maybe next year.

January: We arrived back in Hannover on the 2nd. Since we've been back, life has gotten back to normal quite quickly. Gabriella and I have been involved in "Music Together" classes. Gabriella has become a lot more involved and is often following along with the instructor clapping and singing with her. We also attend a couple playgroups where Gabriella gets to be with the friends she has made here and Mommy gets to talk with real live grown ups.

Some of the high points of January include the freezing of the Maschsee. The Maschsee is this huge man-made lake in Hannover, and I mean HUGE! It froze completely and was certified by the German Government as safe to stand and ice skate on! Someone said that the last time it happened was 7 years ago! It was an amazing sight and it seemed that all of Hannover was there on that lake the day Dave, Gabriella, and I were there.

Next, January 15th through January 19th, we traveled to Rome, Italy! It was my favorite city, yet. It's beautiful, ornate, and extravagant! We had a wonderful time! We spent one day touring ancient Rome including the Colosseum, the Forum, Palantine Hill, Capital Hill, etc . . . We saw everything ancient Rome had to offer! Luckily, the weather was beautiful, too!

Dave and Gabriella got colds while we were in Rome, but overall they were real troopers and we saw everything we came to see. We've decided we would love to go back. We took so many pictures that I'm going to have to figure out a way to share them rather than taking 40 hours to post them here. Stay tuned, please!

The rest of January has been filled with dinners out and gatherings with friends. We attended a Hannover for English Speakers dinner, a birthday party, and I've had a "Girl's Night Out", too! We've definitely been busy!

Gabriella is changing every day. She talks all the time and is becoming more clear every day. She says things that make us laugh (I'll save it for another post). I can also say that she is officially potty trained!!! I'm a little nervous about saying it out loud, but I'm gonna risk it. She is getting tall. She can dress herself and put on her shoes by herself. She wants to do everything herself, doesn't want any help from anybody. Until next time, here is the most recent picture I've taken of her.