Hello

Sorry it's been so long since I updated - we haven't been doing much around here. Kemper got another tooth and we think he's working on a few more. We're up to 6 total now - 3 on top and 3 on bottom. He's turned into quite the little climber lately. James found him standing on top of his LeapFrog activity table one Saturday morning. We thought the living room was a safe place to leave him while we did a few things around the house - not so much anymore. Apparently, he also taught Gavin how to climb while they were at CDC together one day. Luckily, their teacher, Mrs. Josee seems to love them but also calls them "her twins". :)

CDC has been going WONDERFULLY these past 2 weeks. When we got back from our trip to Athens, I took him in the following Wednesday, he immediately smiled at Mrs. Josee and there were NO TEARS! When I picked him up, she asked me what I fed him that morning because he was perfect the whole time. Not a tear or a pout in sight. YAY!! Now, when we get there, he smiles as we walk in the door and barely looks back as he toddles off to find a toy while I sign him in and get his stuff put away. We've also gotten our first 2 Kemper originals. They fingerpainted for Valentines Day (and, the picture they took of him painting, while he is looking down at the paper and not at the camera, it looks like he is TERRIFIED and crying while he's fingerpaining) and did another fingerpainting activity this past Wednesday. Those masterpieces now reside on the refridgerator. :)

Last Sunday we went with our friends, the Schmidts, to the Fasching Parade in Vilseck. Think along the lines of Mardi Gras but low scale for the tiny little town. It was definitely an interesting afternoon. Pretty much anyone and everyone who wants to be in the parade can be as long as they have a random costume. The oddest thing about the parade was that they carried kegs, mini kegs, or bottles of liquor on the floats and would fill your glass or OFFER you a glass as they passed you on the parade route. James said that we obviously hadn't been going to the right kind of parades all our lives. :)

A few pics to enjoy.

Lynse and I at Fasching - freezing in the rain

James and Kemper, after he woke up. Kemper was not at ALL amused with Fasching.

James and I before the parade started.

I wonder how many days it took the lady to get the blue off of her face?

For any Meredith girls reading this - it's like Hog Calling but in Germany!

They were on a bike - like 10 of 'em - with kegs for each person. HILARIOUS!

She gave Kemper candy - he thought she was weird looking. I can't blame him.

More parade.

Fasching parade.

YUMMY - messy dinner!

Having a blast!

He woke up from a nap (a 2 hour nap) with some awesome bed head.

Who could say no to that precious face?!

Valentines Day in Athens

We headed out for the airport at 4:30am on Friday the 13th. It snowed on us the entire drive to the airport and the roads were awful. We were more than ready to get away from cold, snowy Germany!

Our flights went great, Kemper did great (as usual), and we made it to Athens around 2pm. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel and got settled in. We tried to get Kemper to nap but that proved to be an impossible task that afternoon. We went down to the front desk and asked for some recommendations on where to eat that night. They directed us to a little area off the beaten path with a few restaurants and said that they were all good. We ended up picking this cute little, family owned restaurant that had AMAZING food. The waiters all LOVED Kemper and he enjoyed all the attention. We headed back to our room and got Kemper to bed and headed to bed early ourselves to rest up for a big day of sightseeing.

Saturday, we got up and headed out to tour around Athens. We went to the Acropolis, the National Archeological Museum, the National Gardens, and a few other sites around Athens. We had dinner in the Plaka, a main tourist area of Athens, and walked around for awhile. After a very long day, we headed back to the hotel and all went to bed early. Kemper was so exhausted and didn't even move a muscle when we put him in his PackNPlay that night. He did GREAT the entire day we were walking around. We couldn't take the stroller because there were quite a few stairs and the ancient areas are pretty rocky so he rode in the Ergo carrier on James most of the day. He got 2 good naps while we were walking around and flirted with all of the Greek women who were drawn to him the rest of the day. :) He's such a great little traveler.

We walked around Sunday morning and had lunch before catching a taxi and heading back to the airport. It was such a wonderful weeked and a beautiful place. If we had been there longer, we would have gone to see some of the Greek islands but, even with a short weekend trip, we enjoyed our tour of Athens. We took so many pictures that I can't upload them to the blog, but I'm posting the link to our Kodak gallery so you all can see the beautiful sites we saw.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=16iykkvr.8pjiq8zn&x=0&y=w4leuc&localeid=en_US

I tried to write about what all the pictures were showing but the way Kodak Gallery is set up now, it doesn't show the full comment. Just hold your mouse over the part of the picture explanation that you can see and a little window will pop up with the rest of the explanation.

Snow baby

It has snowed here every day since Monday - yuck. Yesterday, we got a pretty good amount of snow in about 3 hours, so Kristin and I took Kemper and Ruger out to play while the guys were at work. I bundled Kemper up, which baffled him as to why I was putting so many clothes on him PLUS a snowsuit that made him look and walk like a marshmellow man, and we headed out. The first time we took him out in the snow, he wasn't a fan, so I was a little apprehensive as to whether or not he would enjoy himself. Since he couldn't walk very well, he took a face first dive into the white stuff but didn't seem upset at all. He looked around, tasted a little snow, and Auntie Kristin built him a Kemper-sized snow man! He enjoyed watching Ruger run around like a wildman in the snow, too! He didn't appreciate our attempt at creating a snow angel with him and decided that he'd had enough and was ready to come inside.


Of course, I took lots of pictures - enjoy!

View from our back porch

Snow angel!

Kemper and Ruger with the snowman and snowdog

Seriously mom, is that camera permanently attached to your face?

Hey, the snowman stole my paci!

Silly snowman

Taking it all in.

Oops, he fell over!

See the black eye?

This stuff isn't too bad after all!

Tasting snow

10 months old!!!

Kemper turned 10 months old on Friday - so amazingly unbelievable!

Some of this past pictures for comparison. It's not quite as easy to get a picture of him with Yertle as it used to be!

Time is flying

Kemper is almost 10 months old - HOLY COW!

Smiley!

Messy face!

Messy face again!

Not much going on around here, we've been finalizing plans to go on a few trips around Europe before we head back to the States this summer. We're going to Greece for Valentines Day weekend and then to Rome when Rita comes to visit in March. Kemper is going to be one well-traveled baby (even though he won't remember where he's been or what he's seen!).

Stuck again

Good eater!

He is slowly perfecting his walking - he's beginning to walk faster and faster each day. He started going to CDC (the Child Development Center) a few weeks ago for a couple hours a day. James and I thought it would be good for Kemper to start getting used to playing with other kids so we signed him up and he goes a couple days a week for 4 hours a day. We're still working on the seperation anxiety but he's doing so well! His teachers, Miss Josie and Miss Nicole, tell me that every day, he's getting better. There are lots of fun toys and kids for him to play with. He's not napping while he's there which they're working on, but that doesn't surprise me because he's not used to napping in an environment that is somewhat noisy.

New shoes

Balancing ON the walker - not walking in it!

Relaxin' with Daddy after a long day! ;)

He got his first real boo-boo last week at CDC. He was playing with Gavin on one of the play sets and took a tumble down the little ramp. He had 2 spots on his forehead and 2 on his eyelid but Miss Nicole said that she thinks she was more scared than he was! She picked him up and cuddled him for a few minutes, then he was ready to get back down and play again!

See my boo-boo?

Busy busy busy!

Kemper and Gavin out to eat

He's got another tooth that just popped through yesterday. Knock on wood, so far, he's an easy teether. I'm sure that could change any minute, but for the most part, he doesn't get fussy or irritable when he's cutting a tooth. We had no clue he was working on another one until I just tried to feel around in his mouth and found it popped through!

I leave you with the progression of a tantrum....he's so cute, even when he's throwing a fit!