These pages are about 3 years over due, but the Germany Christmas markets were one of my favorite things, and i wanted to put together some pages for the girls' scrapbooks so I could show them that we had been there.  Enjoy!

ps. 23 weeks now...5 more weeks to the next major mile stone, 12 more till we can get off of bed rest! Yeah!

Scenery: It's hard to imagine a more magical Christmas atmosphere than the Germany Christmas markets!  Winding through skinny streets with music playing softly, snow gently swirling and lights strung over the alleys from picturesque buildings.  One such building was a house sized advent calendar!  Another market had an enormous cathedral as the background.  One winded through an underground tunnel (no snow, but much warmer :).  Nearly all had a life size nativity.  Each had something unique and  interesting, from a train ride through a mini north pole to a giant Christmas pyramid.

Above left, one of the quaintest Christmas markets.  The lighting and snow were magical.  To the right, one of our favorite houses in Germany, skinnier on the bottom than the top!  To the left, a market with a full canopy of lights and impressive cathedral background.

Above, what Daniel and I referred to as "Santa Pope," a bit of a twist on the whole Father Christmas idea.  In Belgium/Germany, Santa comes from Spain by boat.  In place of elves, he brings black Peter.  Stories vary on whether he is a black slave or black from chimney soot, but he carries a stick and delivers the lumps to children who have been bad...and not the coal variety.  Pictured is our family and the Miller children, Theron, Grant, Kate and Paige.  Doug and Rachel Miller are old friend's of Daniel and we enjoyed our stay in thier home as much as the markets themselves.  

Food: The Bratwurst were amazing, a definite favorite of Victoria's.  We also loved the Kinder Wine, a type of non-alcoholic punch served piping hot in specialty mugs that were different at each market.
Shopping: Each booth was absolutely fascinating.  We saw some of the most incredible rocks and gems as well as shaped candles, wood working marvels, smokers (little carved figurines a little like a candle that when lit would emit smoke from their mouths) and a million other novelties!
Fun:There were lots of fun activities for the children.  Lighted carousels, tiny carnival rides, a "wishing book" shown above, animals to feed...though the bunnies were so well fed we actually had to hit them with the food, and they still didn't eat it!  The kids enjoyed it, as long as they could stand the freezing temperatures!

Hello friends and family!  Attached are a few past due scrapbook pages...expect a few more in the near future, bed rest has begun!  Thankfully I'm still at home and able to get up to make the girls food and such, but contractions and cervical changes began about a month ago so the girls and I have begun "couch days" as we call them and Daniel has begun "work like crazy day and night to keep the household running while balancing a career and countless Daddy duties" days.  Thankfully we have lots of helpful family and friends.  We'll keep everyone posted, and these pages will culminate in some beautiful pictures of our two newest children! 

 Returning from Belgium to west coast America meant Nancy's first skiing trip!  Uncle Jason and Aunt Wendy let her borrow all of Zack's equipment since Mommy and Daddy weren't sure how much she would like skiing.  But despite the freezing weather (that apparently affected her mom and Aunts more than Nancy) and the draw of a sweet set up in the lodge (complete with tent ), Nancy really enjoyed the skiing and stuck with it for quiet a while!  She even managed to recover from some tough falls and difficult spots, as shown below.

 Mommy never expected to take a two-year-old skiing!  But  Uncle Jason and Aunt Wendy's offer to borrow all of Eli's equipment was too good to pass up.  Mommy and Daddy weren't sure how long Victoria would stay out, but she loved it!  Despite the freezing weather (that apparently affected her mom and aunts more than Victoria) and the draw of a sweet set up in the lodge (complete with tent ), Victoria just wanted to keep skiing!  She fell early on and couldn't get up, so Mommy tried to take her back into the lodge.  But she misinterpreted Victoria's cries...she was crying because Mommy was trying to take off her skis, not because of the fall!

Mommy wasn't sure why it was taking Daddy quite so long to get the mattresses downstairs...or why it entailed so much giggling.  But she paused her unpacking to check it out and was glad she did!  The whole family enjoyed Daddy's makeshift slide down the stairs.

Hello friends and family!  I'm adding a few more of you onto my list for this e-mail because in addition to my scrapbook pages we have another fun announcement!  Daniel and I are expecting!  At the 9 week ultrasound, the doctor asked Daniel what was unique about the ultrasound...it took him about 40 seconds to identify it, see if it takes you less time:

 That's right, twins!  Due December 25th.  We are very excited and a tad bit scared, but really looking forward to the little ones joining our family soon.  We are now at about 13 weeks, so past first trimester though I don't feel it.  The latest picture shows them a whole lot better (you can see fingers and elbows and diaphragms), but they were too big to get together in one good shot.  We'll keep you posted!

Enjoy the following scrapbook pages...the family put together such an incredible birthday party I couldn't resist putting together some pages for it.  Enjoy!

Victoria had a fantastic 3rd birthday!  Her cousin Zack had just turned 5, so they had a combined pirate/Diego party (Victoria chose the Diego).  Grandma Ellison created a treasure hunt.  The children followed maps all around the neighborhood, finding surprises, saving a monkey and finally arming themselves with water balloon cannon balls!  Then they saved the pirate ship made by Aunt Noel and Uncle Nate from the evil pirates and won the piñata treasure inside!  They all enjoyed animal cupcakes made by Aunt Noel that decorated the Diego cake made by Mommy and Aunt Tina.

 Victoria LOVED her cake, with the last minute addition of My Little Pony.  She got MANY presents from a large, loving, family.  Favorites included clothes, Rapunzel playdough and the Diego doll and ponies that slept beside her in the crib Mommy fixed up for her... which held a note announcing she would be a big sister!

Nancy loved celebrating with her sister and playing pirates with her cousin Zack.  He is always the gentleman and carried the heavy treasure for her.  She was the official map reader on the treasure hunt, and the fastest to run from clue to clue.  She also really liked finding out she was going to get a new brother or sister!

Valentine's Day 2013:  We started off Valentine's Day with a tea party.  Pictures can't do the spread justice, we especially loved the cupcake roses made by Aunt Noel.

While we prepared a fancy dinner, Aunt Tina entertained with a Valentine craft.   Then we celebrated our new home with our first ever scavenger hunt. Grandma and Aunt Wendy contributed to the "treasure" part...at least for the kids.  It went over so well we had to re-do it with the adults when the second wave of people came.
Valentine's Day After Party:  Daniel handled the prize for the adult treasure hunt.  The blow darts were a blast, and resulted in a large blow dart war.  The girls got a slightly unfair advantage, but no one complained.  It was fairly evenly matched, until Uncle Nate and Aunt Noel enlisted Nancy to collect the ammo and hoard it in a corner.  Nothing says love like Nerf foam darts!

Daniel put this ADORABLE video together!  Enjoy!

Hello to all! The girls have been so cute together lately that I couldn't help but put together a few scrap-book pages of them! The very plain looking middle pages are actually going to be 4x6 pics put into a clear plastic page protectors I bought that have places for pics and some comments. Click on pages to enlarge, text re-printed below the pages.

We are doing all right over here, as most of you know still going through some medical challenges. But we have been so greatly blessed and at the receiving end of a miracle to have my surgeon just four hours away to take care of some little issues with my surgery (something they wanted to do major surgery for here as they weren't familiar with exactly what he did) and then back again two months later to help out with a follow up procedure. So now I'm just healing and being as Afton-ly patient as possible (which is still far below "as humanly patient as possible" but I'm happy to report just a smidgen above what it used to be in twenties...two months ago :) I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for your prayers and fasting...you may not realize but I have very powerfully felt the influence of those prayers and I know the Lord is helping me and will continue to do so. Thank you all so much!

Afton et al