Help...

Can I give a blogger friend my info and let you fix my blog? I want that see through crap that scrolls along with my blog gone and my title centered... Any takers?! :)

Ciao!

We are getting ready to spend our Thanksgiving in Italy and I am way beyond excited! We have been planning this trip for a loooong time. Or it seems that way... I really, REALLY hope it doesn't rain the whole time we are there. I just want at least one pretty day, but I will pray for five. We are meeting the Martins at the airport in Venice and we've rented an apartment that is supposedly right smack dab in the center of "everything."

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Oh, and guess what... Sunday night Eli came down with something. The lovely pediatrics office on base NEVER has any appointments available so if his fever comes back today after his Motrin wears off we'll be heading to the ER... Yeah! Isn't this what always seems to happen? You've got these awesome plans and someone comes down sick? I would be mad if it was Daniel or I, but since it's Eli all I want is for him to feel better. :( Poor baby

Schnitzel!!!

Veteran's Day weekend we took our first trip outside of the UK to Germany to visit our very best friends from Travis who are now stationed at Ramstein AFB. It was an awesome 4 day weekend!!! Here they are... the Martins!

Tamlyn and I were best, lonely, pregnant women friends while both Rick and Daniel were deployed during our pregnancies. We were both there for each other's deliveries and we hope that our boys can grow up best buddies! I'm not going to say much about Daniel and Rick's relationship other than it's a straight up bromance.

Thursday morning we landed in Germany at 9 am local time and Rick was there to pick us up. Off we were to their home. Now, I've not said anything about roads here in England, but they are absolutely horrible. When it rains the water just stands on them and there is a lot of hydroplaning and it scares me to death in my little KIA. I will never whine about them again. Roads in Germany are literally just wide enough for ONE car. Rick drives a big Ford truck. It doesn't work out so well when you meet another car on those tiny, windy roads!

That afternoon we just kind of hung out and let the boys get reacquainted. The last time they saw each other was in May!

Then:

And now:

They were absolutely hilarious in this car! When we were pushing them Jake was just hanging out eating a snack and Eli was taking car of both steering wheels!

Eli and Jake had such an awesome time playing together! I think that the only thing they fought over was a sock... boys... go figure...

Friday night we went out to a small little German restaurant that you never would have known was there. Jake's care takers are German and they went with us so it was nice having a translator with us. I wish I had taken my camera... If you have never tried schnitzel you really should, it is amazing. A lot of people thing of a hot dog or some type of wiener when they hear schnitzel, but it's actually a pork chop that has been pounded flat and fried. Ours came with spaghetti on top. Sounds healthy right?

So Saturday morning rolled around and we took a road trip to France. Check out the ride we took here... Be jealous. With two kids in car seats and four adults we had to rent something so we would all ride comfortably and safely. We went to the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial and it was truly and unbelievable experience. Buried there are 10,489 men who gave there lives for our freedom. There are men from every State in the Union, the District of Columbia, as well as Panama, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico. There are 30 sets of brothers (26 lay side by side) and I believe about 151 unknowns.

No matter what way you turned, all of the crosses were in a perfect line. It was an awesome way to remember those who died for our freedom long before we were even here.

On our way home we were determined to eat some sort of French food... We stopped in a little town and found a bakery and ate all sorts of pastries and other baked goodies that weren't good for us but they tasted like heaven!

Outside of the bakery was a little carrousel that the boys really enjoyed. Even though they would have never known any different if they didn't get to ride it, it was so much fun for us to see them smiling and enjoying the fun!

Since Rick isn't a big fan of the sweets so we had to hit up his favorite restaurant on our way home. And to anyone who has ever watched Pulp Fiction, he did order a Royal with cheese!

It was a great weekend with wonderful friends who we miss so much! This Wednesday we are leaving for Venice and meeting them down there. Pray it doesn't rain the WHOLE time!

These past few days...

have probably been the saddest but most thankful I've ever had. My Dad's 2nd oldest sister, Kelly, who was only 46 passed away on Friday night. She was diagnosed with cancer and scleroderma a few months ago and was undergoing alternative treatments for the cancer as it had already spread throughout most of her body. I was fortunate enough to go home a month or so ago and see her and spend a little time with her. I knew that if things took a bad turn that I wouldn't be able to afford to go home last minute. I'm so thankful that I had her in my life and I know her husband and kids are going to miss her so much. Everyone always says kind things after someone passes away but, Kelly truly was one of the kindest people you could have ever met. She was so beautiful and unaware of it. She would do anything that you asked her to. She didn't want anyone to go out of there way for her but she was always willing to for you. I can't say enough to really let you know what kind of wonderful Christian woman she was.

Times like this are what make being in the military so hard. But every time I get sad, this amazing little face knows to come and cheer me up

And yes, he is wearing Christmas pajamas. His Daddy thinks I am a crazy person for putting them on him. I just love Christmas and want it to last as long as possible. If I could, I would already be decorating. I guess I will just have to stick with Eli's p.j.'s until the day after Thanksgiving when Daniel thinks it is "acceptable" to start decorating. :)

I think I already know what we are getting Eli for Christmas...

He has been playing with this water jug for about 2 weeks now... It's kind disappointing since he has about a million toys that cover the floor of our living room plus his play room.

And just now as I am typing this I realize that today my baby boy is 9 months old. Look at how much he has changed...

He was only 1 week old here :)

He was the fuzziest baby I had ever seen!!!

I never would have thought that my little baby with straight jet black hair would turn out to be a little curly haired blondie(ish).

At 9 months old Eli:

has 5 teeth; can say, "mama" and "bah bah"; can almost stand on his own; KNOWS what he does and does not want to do; feeds himself finger foods; holds his sippy cup and bottle; still loves bath time; dances anytime he hears music and just so much more. I always thought he would stay a tiny little baby. He still wants to be rocked to sleep and that is OK with me. I will rock him as long as he will let me!

Happy 9 months, Eli!

Trick or Treat?

So last night was Eli's first Halloween and we went Trick or Treating on base... for about 30 minutes. It didn't start until 5:30 which is Eli's pre-bedtime nap. We made it around a block and Eli's eyes were having trouble staying opened. Once in the car we had literally not even gone a quarter of a mile and the child was out. Poor baby. Luckily I had put pajamas on underneath his costume so when we got home I just unzipped him and put him to bed. He was such a cute little lion and not cowardly at all... Just sleepy! I'm thinking that next Halloween will be a little more interesting!

Eli loved watching all the other kids run around!

The first bit of candy he got, Nerds.

The Jack-O-Lantern is an Eli pumpkin. It's teeth are just like his!

Always watching to see what his daddy is doing.

Eli's favorite big kids! Charley and Collin

They love him so much! Aren't they adorable??

The First One

OK, so I've tried starting this about a hundred times (or just twice if we are going to be honest) and I really didn't know where I wanted to go with this whole blogging thing. I'm thinking that our European excursions will be the highlight for most of my posts as well as the most popular member of the Land family... Surely the three years or so that we are here will give me enough to talk about.

Before I get into anything else, I will answer a few of our FAQs! Hold on to
your hats folks!

1. What is the time difference? *6 hours (from Alabama)
2. What is the weather like? *As of Oct 26- COLD! COLD AND RAINY!
3. Do you ever drive on the right side of the road by accident? *Not anymore...
starting out I may have... once or twice...
4. Do you think Eli will come home with a British accent? *No, he'll only be about
3 when we "come home" and he spends all day with me so he will probably
be just as twangy!! (some people are convinced still he will have one though!)

Now get you up to speed on how we are doing in Jolly Ole England. We have been here about 5 months now and getting into the swing of things. Daniel's job has had ridiculous hours but he's moving to a new section so that will mean fewer (if any) 30 hour days for him and a happier baby. He knows when his daddy doesn't come home for lunch! I'm not sure what he's going to do when Daniel deploys, but I will save that for another day... So far we've not really ventured out too much other than to London and a couple of local castles and cities/towns. But with our trusty Garmin we are getting better!

Eli has changed SO much since we got here. 5 months ago he would just lay in the floor and roll around a bit. Now he is crawling EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING!!!! I never thought that I could love someone so much and be so amazed at the simplest things a baby does. Sometimes I have to stop in the moment and say to myself, "Brittany, remember this moment." And I just have to absorb each little smile and laugh and even the tears and cries. He is beyond anything I could have ever dreamed up! Alright, I will quit being a sappy mommy for now.
Hopefully I can bring something a little interesting or entertaining to the blog world :)