Bath Tub Fun

just too cute

I love IKEA

Tonight, Stella and I had a girls night out and we went to IKEA. We had such a good time and it was so nice to get a chance just to focus on my little girl for a little while. First we checked out the new stuff they had and bought all kind of christmasy things, which we can´t use this year, due to the move. But we both agreed, it would be fun to have them next year .Then we will remember our shopping trip. I love the pre christmas season and it makes me a little nervous right now, that every day, our house gets more chaotic, instead of the usual coziness around this time of the year. I can´t decorate!!!!!!And that is a big thing for me. Ok, back to IKEA. After rolling together in beds, smelling all the different flavors of smelly candles, we found Lilly, the perfect match for her stuffed animal cat Rocky,which also came from IKEA at some point. It only cost 3 € and was so worth it seeing those cute blue eyes glow. We were heading to check out , when she said: Mami, we forgot to eat hotdogs. Fear in her face!!!!! I reminded her the food would be after the check out. We ate hotdogs and icecream and Stella made sure Mami would not forget to bring a hotdog for Daddy back home, oh, and we brought Lucien a tiny little stuffed mouse which can go with the cat of course!. While eating her icecream we headed to one of their kids corners and played memory for a long time.
That´s why I love IKEA, everything is in one place:
Exercise, we walked a long way( no shortcut), shopping( got everything I needed and more ;), entertainment, perfect kids food . Even when we waited in line to check out, which is usually bad,Stella found a little seat right next to me and had a ball watching the people.
We both had a ton of fun, no fussing needed. When we got in the car she said : Let´s hurry home to tell Lulu and Daddy all about it.
I really need to do this more often, not that she is missing any attention, but I guess sometimes it´s nice to be the center of attention, for all of us, right?
Good night

Luciens Baptism

OK, this event took place over a month ago. To be precise on the 11th of October. Those pics have been uploaded for weeks now, but all of us got so sick over the past weeks, there was not even time to think about blogging. We are still not 100% back in shape, but I thought I´ll give it a try tonight. So here we are. This was the crew after church. But lets start in order.Stella and I were busy decorating the house and baking Lucien and Daddy cakes, since it was Ricky´s birthday aswell. We had so much fun and were very pleased with our hard work

buttering the pan

our table decoration

Luciens candle, handmade at a convent in Speyer. Those nuns made our wedding candle and Stellas candle aswell. They did such a great job!

Lucien looked so handsome in his little outfit and didn´t mind wearing it at all.
Thanks to Flynni, he gave this outfit to Lulu after he wore it for his baptism and he is Rickys godchild, which puts a little extra meaning to it

Some of the crew met at our place and off we went to church

Waiting for the ceremony to start

I love this picture of Stella and Liam



5 kids got baptised and it was a little wild in church. Lucien just took it all in and actually had a real good time. He was being sooooo good

Lucien with his godparents Regine and Rainer
We spent the rest of the day with celebrating this great day and Rickys birthday by having a delicious lunch and coffee and lots of cake at our place with great people. Thanks to you all, you made it very special to us.

Yummy cake

Some party people

The kids had fun opening Luciens presents ( which, of course, he did´t mind either) and jumping one last time on the trampolin before we packed it for our move.
It was another and one of the last good parties at the Carmouche house, here in Neulussheim.

BIG NEWS

To all our friends and families:
This has been the toughest decision of our life. We want to announce that we are not coming to Louisiana for Christmas because Ricky has accepted a new job. But we will be there in January cause his starting date at Pennington Biomedical Research Center is February 1st.
YES, WE ARE MOVING TO LOUISIANA
Whew, now we dropped the bomb and we feel relieved to finally be able to talk about it, about our thoughts and fears and everything that comes along with such a big decision.
We are sad to leave our beautiful home in Germany. We love our friends and family on this side of the earth and can hardly imagine to be without them. Germany is my home and I will miss it so very much, that´s for sure.
But we are excited to start a new chapter in our life, close to all our loved ones in America. What a coinsidence, that PBRC came up with this job offer,now that Rickys contract at EMBL was coming to an end, the city wanting to buy our house......and many more things that happened lately. We were not too nervous about the ending contract. We always said there is going to be a sign telling us ,which direction to go. We knew it could have meant to move anywhere but it is Louisiana, and we are very happy about it.
Ok the craziness of an international move has already started. Organizing to sell the house, the cars,the kitchen, all our electric appliances, getting all the necessary imigration documents, quotes for moving our stuff and so on. As you can tell, not only Luciens teething keeps us awake at night. There is sooooooo much to do. Not even talking about what needs to be done once we get there. I´m hoping for lot´s of support!!!!!
But we won´t leave Germany without saying Goodbye to all our people. We will try and squeeze a goodbye party at the beginning of December into the craziness,cause it probably won´t be possible to meet with everyone individually. We are running short in time already. That´s why I have to end now. Got lots of things on my to- do-list, even tonight.
LOVE VERENA

Memories

I really apologize to all my people enjoy reading this blog, that I have not done a better job the past weeks but things are a bit hectic and crazy over here lately. Later more about that. I finally managed to dig in my parents photo box and found the picture I promised from my first day of school together with a couple others that are special memories for me Enjoy!!!!


My very favorite pic with my dad reading a story to me


Me in the crib that Lucien is sound asleep in now while I´m writing this!
It was handmade for when my dad was born. It was the perfect little nest for my dad, myself, my brother, Stella, Lucien and many others


My very first time at the airport. Who would have thought that the airport would be such an important place for me later on in my life, travelling back and forth between Germany and Louisiana

Sorry I could not figure out how to turn those pics. I hope you will enjoy them anyway

Oh Masala

Sunday was Thanksgiving in Germany and Stellas Kindergarten was in charge of organizing mass. It was so cute!!!!! Weeks before I realized that Stella was singing songs that I´ve never heard of and when I asked her she told me it would be for church. She was humming and singing for days :

Oh Masala, die Welt ist bunt
Oh Masala und kugelrund
Oh Masala, die Welt ist schön
und überall gibt es Musik!

I will add all the lyrics once I get them from Stellas teacher.

The altar was beautifully decorated and had lots to see for the kids.

Girls talk during mass
The theme of this Thanksgiving was Africa. This was a little african dance they did and if you have trouble spotting Stella, she´s the one with the hands up in the air all the time ;)



After mass Stella enjoyed running around with her best kindergartenfriends Fabienne and Katharina. Those three are just like the 3 Stooges. There is not one without the others. It´s so sweet to see what an intense connection those 3 made over the past months.

Fabienne, Stella, Johanna( Katharinas sister) and Katharina