One year later

I do

One year later ......
Oh where to start. Life has been a crazy whirlwind with lots of good and lots of unexpected happening to our little family.
Not quite sure why I had lost my mojo to write here for a while, cause I do need writing so desperately for my sanity! ( guess I lost that for a while, too ;))
First things first! we had a baby. Yes, and sometimes I am still in disbelief that this really happened. And I am so grateful for my sweet little surprise baby Fiona Mae, snoozing right beside me at this very moment.
 Remember my last real post about hurricane Isaac? Well, thankfully we weren't harmed in any way by it.Lots of rain of course, a couple extra days of no school, we never even lost power ( don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining). Instead we enjoyed a little extra family time ;)
Before we knew it things were going normal pace again, kids back in school, normal business around here, me getting ready to hit the books hard to go back to work this summer. But something felt off. I did not feel right and seriously thought I might be sick, like real sick. Anyway, I was up for my check up anyway so I scheduled an appointment with my ob/gyn and I knew they would ask me about a prego test. So one fine late September Sunday morning ( I will never forget it was the weekend of the balloon festival around here) I took a test.Not thinking in a million years it would be positive, I left it on the bathroom counter not even looking at it and kinda forgetting about it. Fast forward an hour later or so: total disbelief ! My little world just got rocked to it's core. POSITIVE. It was still super early in the morning, Lu was up early as usual, so I took him outside to ride his bike, sort my thoughts and watch the sun rise ! While out there I saw two hot air balloons showing up on the horizon and then a little further away and a little lower another whee little one showing up! Always looking for a sign, I could not help myself but break down crying with the first rays of sunlight hitting my face.

this is the pic i posted on insta, the day i found out we were expecting. can you see the tiny balloons???

In retrospective, it was just a plain beautiful sight and the first sign showing me how much I needed this beautiful little baby, that I am rocking in my arms this minute.
As I broke the news to Ricky, he needed a moment, too. But the loving man and daddy he is, he caught his emotions quickly( after a little walk alone,( this hit him off guard, he did not even know I was taking a test) he wrapped his arms around me and reassured me that things would be alright). Maybe a bit different from our plans, but alright!

first doctors visit, feeling nervous

Well, to speed things up a bit, a doctors appointment  on Ricky's 38th birthday confirmed what we already knew. We were really and truly expecting another child.......to be continued!!!

yep there will be three

cpr for this lil blog of mine

this patient seems to be dead. she has been dead for almost a year. Cause of death: unkown. maybe lack of energy, time, computer issues, lazyness..... but today suddenly her toes started wiggleling again and she had an itch in her writing hand. She misses rambling about the lil and the big things. she might be back to life. I will try my hardest to keep her alive this time around. writing feels good again, sorting through my brain feels good again. cajuncoffeehaus is open for business once again

we are ready, Isaac

It is a beautiful, little breezy almost chilly morning here in Louisiana! Today is Tuesday and Stella should be in school, Ricky at work, me at my first class for my Pharmacy license transferral and Lu with my dear friend Cathy. Well, today is Tuesday and we are all at home awaiting the arrival of Isaac.

This will be our first hurricane since we moved to the States. Right after we purchased our house almost 3 years ago, Ricky bought a generator and I was kind of joking about spending so much money without using it over the years. well, today I am glad he did when he did, cause finding one now would have been an impossible task.

I was pretty set with groceries even before Sunday, so when I went to the store Sunday night only to get a bit more non perishable stuff( normally we are a pretty fresh food household) I was stunned by the sight of wiped out shelves and the managers laugh when I asked for the batterie isle . WHIPED OUT on Sunday already.

It took me 30 minutes in line to get gas( could have been worse). All this prepping leaves a kind of interesting feeling to say the least. I am thinking, all those people have suffered badly from Katrina, Ike and Gustav and they all know what they are doing getting ready the way they do.

I just wanted to let you, my friends, know, that we are prepared,too. I guess as prepared as you can be. Food, batteries, radio, a plan for tornado touchdowns, a gas stove to cook, a generator to run the fridge and plenty of games to play and books to read.

We will be without electricity almost a 100% certain for a couple of days, but I will update here and on Insta and FB as soon as possible. For now I will go and cook for tonight, bake some cookies and prep as much as I can before the lights go out.....as I am writing this the wind is starting to pick up a bit already and the kids are outside running off some steam before getting locked up in the house a while

Roadtrip quickie

Do you own a smartphone??? Probably. Then you have probably also heard of instagram. Who has not????Well, maybe my mom ;)))!!!! I loved insta the minute I got the free app, a long time ago. I use the pics taken with insta here on my blog a lot. I really love them. When we went on our roadtrip I had the intention to actually print my shots for the first time and actually smash our lovely summer vacation in my smash book.

After a little search, I decided to use Prinstagram to order the prints. They are a bit pricey especially if you don't order a whole lot, the shipping alone was six dollars flat. It took about two weeks for the prints to arrive. I loved the quality of them, very good colors on very sturdy paper, great packaging. So If you do order: make sure you are ready to order a big batch and then ENJOY! They are so fun!

Yesterday my man was off and I had time to find their final destination in my smashbook. I think the kiddos will love to flip through it once they are bit older.

It took me all day and since I did not get to blog about our great vacation yet, I thought I would tease you a bit and show you the smashbook pages I decorated firstr! I have so many more pics on the big camera that I still need to edit and sort through, but, now that this is done ,I think it will happen in the near future

Vacation Perparations

where we have been

Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, arriving in Colorado

Winterpark Colorado Fun and not so fun!

More travelling and South Dakota

Mt Rushmore

off to visit the van Essens

on our way home
If you would like to you can find me on insta!I am cajuncoffeehaus and Ricky is mooseofterror( I know, right!!!) Fell free to follow us if you enjoy our family craziness

off to first grade!!!

So, as promised, pics brand new and fresh from this morning. Off she went this morning with her daddy to go to school. First grade is calling. Still nervous but now mixed with excitement she/we made it through the early morning with no major hick-ups.

We even had real smiles for those pics and enough time to give Coco and Rosie a nice belly rub!
i am already curious to see what she wants to be when she enters second grade. So far she is stuck with Artist for two years in a row. Maybe this is a keeper, who knows!!!!

I wish her a wonderful first day, sweet and kind teachers and classmates, and the security to know I am always with her.

 

2011

Have fun, sweet pea!!!! Can't wait to pick you up and hear all about it!

 2012( and no make-up ;)  )

back to a routine

could it really be that it is Sunday morning 8am( I am already back from grocery shopping( Walmart at 7 on Sunday is awesome!), the boys are fishing and Stella had a sleepover at a sweet friends house)????
Is it really the last day of summer????

Remember our summer list? Well, we did not do it all, but we did A LOT!!!!! And we had fun, to say the least. It always seems that the first two weeks of summer you think , man this will be the longest summer ever, will we survive? and then before you know it, it is the last week and you get antsy and kids need to get back to a routine and to bed before the olympic broadcasting is almost over for the night.... Stella will be a 1st grader this year and for some reason this is making her more nervous than starting kindergarten last year. But mami ther will be homework!!!!We had a view tears already and quite a discussion of why mami would not be the perfect candidate to homeschool her little behind and that homework is just part of the deal. But we are getting better.

After going shopping for all the favorite school snacks, meeting sweet friends again, I am hopeful that tomorrow will turn out just fine. We met her teacher last week and she is just the sweetest and her assistant teacher is from South Africa and even speaks German, SCORE!!!! I am excited for this schoolyear. It seems like my girl grew( literally) up so much over the summer. Not only has she gotten even taller than she already was, she has gotten so much more independent. She is making me happy and sad at the same time with that( I am sure all you mamis out there can relate)I will miss my sweet lady so much.
Lu is not starting til past Laborday and he is ecstatic  that soon it will be just Mami and him playing cars and Mikey and Sharky ..... But at one point he will realize that we cannot play all day, he will miss Sissi, who is now named Stell or even Stella, so much. I do miss him saying Sissi. This little dude won't stop growing either. There is big words coming out of this little man's mouth that leave his mami just amazed: One of the favs lately is "attached": Daddy, so does that mean the Morganza spillway is attached to the Mississippi River??? Uehm yeah, Lucien, great thinking buddy!!!!
I still owe you a post or more about our trip;Long lines of carpool will take care of this  very soon, promise. For now, I promise to be back tomorrow with the back to school pics everybody is waiting for

Virtual coffee -the memory edition

Tuesday, time for virtual coffee with Amy and the girls.

Oatmeal, banana, pistacchios and dark chocolate chips with cranberries

Sit back, eat some breakfast with me and sip on your coffee, it's time for a little weekend recap:

I had all Saturday to myself. Yes, you hear this correct.ALONE!!!! Sweet Granny had Lu and Stella for a sleepover with the cousins and Ricky had stuff to do around the house! What to do with an unexpected day off from motherhood? A long overdue shopping trip was quickly in action. Scored some good stuff and could actually take my time to stroll through the isles without being rushed. I am in general not the type of shopping gal but this trip was totally necessary.

Score!!!!

Sunday, was a special day. Not only that we had a baby born in the family, it also marked the day my grandpaw Opa Hans would have celebrated his 100th Birthday if he would be still alive.

Even though he died 25 years ago , which seems like crazy forever long ago, I do have very fond memories of him. I remember the day he passed away, being pulled out of school, seeing him laying so peaceful in his bed, I remember my Aunt Nana taking us kids to a pizzeria to cheer us up and to give my parents time to make arrangements. I remember his funeral on a very , nasty and rainy May 21st. I remember writing him a letter on my most special paper with a sparkly "diamond" on the top middle and placing it in his casket. I don't remember what I wrote but I know it was full of love for him.

I remember him sitting in HIS chair with a bib around his neck waiting for lunch or dinner to be 

ready. The bib was held by a little chain with two tiny clothespins( funny what random things you remember form your childhood) cause he was very concerned about his clothes. He would always drink a bottle of Henninger Bier with his dinner and I remember starring at his black fingernails, frostbitten from the time he was a POW in Russia. I remember his walking stick and his passion for walking and hiking. Sadly I don't remember his voice anymore. He died when I was too little and when my grandmaw passed, I was a preoccupied teenager, busy to discover the world, not realizing how fun it would have been to begin with the past. Today, I would wish I could learn about what was going on in their lives when they were young.They were kind of "old" parents for point in time with 37 and 38.( I don't know what I would have done without my two monsters the last 6 years and I still got a couple years til 38)

My dad as a baby with his pretty mama, sadly I don't have a pic of my opa, they are all in Germany

I wonder why?The war?I would love to know how they met, what their love story was.How their parents were and life in general back then.

My grand maw burnt all their diaries and love letters after she read them one last time. Maybe I will do the same one day, but for now I am determined to let my kids, grand kids and whoever is interested to know who I am, was and will be.

Once we go back home to Germany I need to interview my parents and go down memory lane with them . 

Speaking of going home. Well, it won't happen this summer, which makes me very sad and my heart ache. But there is no way we will fork out 7 to 8000 $ just for the air fair. To ease the pain, we opted on going on a little road trip. Little is quite an understatement as we are planning to conquer almost 10 states.

Yes, we are crazy!!!

 Everything is still in the midst of planning and the preparations will keep me busy all week long. I am ready to make some awesome memories .

Today, I am thankful for 

• good memories
• my family and friends near and far
• the internet, that helps us stay connected
• a plan B
• the $ store for cheap road trip entertainment

One last sip of coffee and off I am to pick up Stella from Vacation Bible School, which started yesterday. She is loving it!

What are you planning to do with the rest of your summer????