~Frohe Weihnachten Freunde und Familie~

~ Merry Christmas Friends & Family~

~Frohe Weihnachten Freunde und Familie~

~We thought that this could be a great way to get our Christmas card out this year to our friends & family - isn't technology so amazing? We have had a very fun filled and exciting year! We are continuing to love our amazing adventures here in Germany. We have made some great friends, seen many incredible sights, and lived each and every day with no regrets - which happens to be our family motto. Many people ask what our favorite place has been.. there is really no good answer to this because each place we see has a unique personality and something new and fun to offer. Our list of places we want to see goes on and on and on - there is no way that we will possibly be able to see all of them in the 1 1/2 years that remain. We are very proud to say that we have now been as a family to Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Poland, & Luxembourg ... WOW! We are adventure seekers and this is like a dream come true to us.

Kristine's favorite hobby is traveling and she has turned it into a full time job planning our next destinations. If you ever come to Europe.. please ask your personal "Tour Guide Barbie".. a.k.a. Kristine.. she loves helping people plan their next dream vacation. As many of you know her hobbies also include blogging, facebook, and making sure we have an organized and beautiful home to live in. Kristine is a very social creature and has stayed very busy with weekly playgroups, "Ladies Night Out" at the movies, Bunco groups, "Ladies Night Out" at local restaurants, Ladies shopping & spa weekends.. not such a bad life, huh? She is having such a great time teaching the boys about new cultures and watching them blossom into fine, young "German" gentlemen!

Steve is staying very busy juggling "Father of the Year" & "Dentist of the Year" & Husband of the Year" - it is tough to be so needed and loved! He has gained incredible amounts of confidence and skills this past year in the dental clinic, and has started putting price tags on what this will mean to him when he has his own practice one day. He was selected to attend an ADA Dental Conference in Orlando, Fl this past July - where he was also able to connect with family - and bring back many American clothes and treats that his family has been missing like crazy. We are also very proud of him again.. because he has been selected to attend an Exodontia & Oral Surgery training for four months in Missouri! This will give him some amazing training & should be a huge asset for his future business. The boys keep him busy when he comes home and he turns into a jungle gym. He is also the "celebrity dad".. their friends talk about going to see Steve to get their teeth worked on.. ya gotta love small communities. Krisitine has grown used to taking on her new identity.. the "Dentist's Wife". We will miss him incredibly while he is gone to Missouri.. but it will be a huge test to Kristine's independence (which currently is non-existing).

Cole is currently in a multi-age class at Patch Elementary School in Ms. Suhr's class. He loves being around his friends that are in Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd grade. Cole loves being mentored from his peers and he likes hanging out with the older kids at recess time - he feels like the "hot dog" on campus! He has grown in so many ways this last year. He has been telling us for 2 years now that life will change when he is 6 - well he proved us right! He can now read, ride his bike without training wheels, get dressed on his own.. and help out around the house. He is also VERY good on our new Wii, he is able to beat all of his friends and family in tennis & golf - very impressive. He loves living in Germany..loves to eat Spatzle (German noodles) & loves the surprises that the neighbors leave on the doorstep everyday that he finds when he comes home off the bus. Cole is also an amazing dancer and loves it when the music comes on at night before bed and he gets to show off all of his rad moves.. we are not kidding - he is good! He is a very loving son & a great brother a.k.a. "best friend". He has definitely missed his family tons since we moved over here so he is very anxious to be with them again.

Kade our little bossy boo! He is three now, and is having the best time hanging out and playing with his mom everyday, playing with his toys, and watching movies. This is a boy who knows what he wants... and nothing is going to get in his way. He is as smart as a whip and will repeat anything you say.. so be careful. His favorite word right now is "butt" - oh the joys of being parents to two hysterical boys. He loves it when his mom reads to him, when he gets to help her cook & clean, and when he gets to take & pick up his brother from the bus. Kade will be starting German Kindergarten soon and will hopefully be able to make friends with the neighborhood kids and teach his parents more German words. He is an amazing driver on the Hummer and the neighbors all come out and giggle as he flys past them on the road - of course he always gives them a wave! Kade also discovered recently that he can whistle.. which drives his brother crazy.. because he hasn't quite figured that out. If you are interested in hearing this.. you better bring your chapstick.. he is convinced that this is the secret ingredient to his wonderful whistles. Kade loves to drink more than eat.. so his favorite things right now are chocolate milk and egg juice (egg nog). Kade is great with legos & trains and has an amazing imagination. He melts our hearts with his huge dimples and little winks!

We have been incredibly blessed as a family - and we are absolutely loving the slow pace of things in Germany. We feel like we are living in a bubble.. and really don't want it to pop anytime soon! We have made some great friends who have become our family while living so far away. We are very blessed to be able to spend Christmas in Oregon for a whole month! The amount of vacation time we get is a definite blessing! We look forward to seeing many of you while we are in Oregon and we will miss many of you in Germany which is definitely "Home" to us now. We would love to have visitors.. it really is a dream come true here, and Kristine often says that she feels like she is on vacation everyday. As we look outside and see the snow coming down and covering the red tile top roofs.. our hearts are full of love & happiness for the incredible friends & family that we have in our lives in both America and Germany. We could not be more pleased with how things have worked out! The thought of leaving makes us sad.. but we try to not think about it very much, and just enjoy every minute of this spectacular "McLean Adventure"~

~We hope you have a Merry Christmas & An Amazing New Year~

~Birthday Fun With {ALL} My Honey Buns~

~Nov. 3 was a fabulous day! I was able to spend it with my friends and my family. I was delighted to have my friends Heather & Kati come to take me out to lunch to my favorite.. Thai food. Thanks so much for all of the phone calls, emails & cards -

y'all know how to make a girl feel loved~

~They gave me this awesome fall decor for my dining room table. Of course I couldn't just say "thank you".... I asked if they would also do the decorating for me - it was the gift that kept on giving. It looks great, and I keep walking by and staring into my room~

~Steve was so good to take me for a night out on my birthday. We headed to downtown Stuttgart where we went shopping and even decided to brave the outdoor ice rink. Do I look nervous? Well, I was smiling from ear to ear.. but just seconds from falling on my butt~

~It kills me because Steve always makes everything look so easy. He was spinning circles around me, skating backwards, looking like a pro. I spent more time giggling and getting cheered on by the people around the edge of the rink... who were probably thinking.. oh that poor girl - but were definitely giving me that encouraging head knod. I am just glad that they had some fabulous 80's music playing and I got to be on a romantic date with my boyfriend~

~We had the best time on our {Ladies Shop 'Til You Drop 2008} weekend. From left to right - Angie, Me, Kati & Heather. The rules were that we had to pack VERY light for our sleepover, because I knew that there would be no room in my car for us to sit if we didn't. We headed to Heidelberg to a Holiday Bazaar. There were some amazing things and after we got over fighting for the same items... we were able to make some great deals. I was starting to get worried because the car was starting to get very full. That didn't slow us down at all... we just joked and said.. there is always room for one more treasure~

~After a long day of shopping and no lunch... we were starving! We headed over to the American Diner to stock up on some hamburgers and club sandwiches. It was fun to talk about all of our purchases and to be able to be silly with our girlfriends. Angie was also lucky enough to be my bed-mate~

~Do we look full? It was time to call it a day and drive the 1 1/2 hours to one of my favorite towns in Germany... Rothenburg ob ter Tauber - it is a magical "Christmas" town that is surrounded completely by a castle wall. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a "stau" - which is the German word for a really sucky traffic jam. So needless to say.. our 1 1/2 hour drive turned into a 3 hour drive. Luckily it went fast because we were with such good company. We even got the pleasure of watching man after man pull off the side of the autobahn to take care of business... this is also as "German" as the bad traffic is. With a little woohoo from the ladies - we were on our way to our dreamy town~

~When we got to our magical hotel, it was dark. When we woke up the next morning (we all naturally woke up at 7 a.m. - what is up with this? Our kids have ruined us all) we went out on our deck and looked out over the valley that was beyond the castle walls - it was breathtaking~

~The fog was nestled above the farms, and it felt like a crisp, fall morning. We had another full day of shopping.. so we took some pictures and then had to get ready for a delicious German breakfast and some more great finds~

~The view from our room was splendid.. and so were the memories that we were making on this trip. We definitely got to know eachother in a whole new light. Lucky for them.. I was even comfortable enough to burp and pass gas in front of them. I just told them that they were not worth a stomach ache :) It is actually my way to test my true friends - kind of like dating - who are you really able to relax around? Lucky for them we were outside most of the time~

~When we got into town that night, we walked around and window shopped so that we could attack the stores when they opened the next day. We had it all planned out - and once again... we had more and more treasures to fill the car... and less and less room to sit~

~This is a popular Christmas store in Germany. They have thousands of pyramids, smokers, and nativities to choose from. It just costs a lot of money. There are a lot of friends and family that we shopped for that are going to be very lucky receivers of our good finds. Merry Christmas to all ... from magical Germany~

~I was getting tired of shopping, so I decided to join my fall friends for some drinks & smokes. It felt good to be able to sit and relax :)~

~If you are wondering where all of our bags were.. we had to take trip after trip back to the car because it was just too much to carry. We very rarely have a picture without a shopping bag in one of our hands~

~How can you not love this town? Doesn't it look like it comes straight out of a calendar? We had so much fun and laughed so hard the whole time. I am so lucky to have met these lovely ladies while I am here in Germany. We are sad because Angie will be leaving next June to go to Westpoint with her family... but Kati and Heather will be here with me until we leave. We will have many more chances to make more memories together~

~We found this booth at the Bazaar on the first day. They were actually a vendor selling Christmas tree skirts and stockings... Kati discovered the furniture that they were using to display them. They were giving us amazing deals and we were creating such a scene.. that people were stopping to stare to see what it was all about. Kati got this corner piece for $10 and she gave it to me as an early Christmas gift - thank you Kati - I love it and it looks great~

~Three of us got these screen dividers.. but the catch was that we had to go back to Heidelberg the next day so that they could go to their store and bring us back more great furniture to choose from. I was able to get this for $40~

~Do we look like professional woman schmoozers here? Well... let's just say we worked our magic. We all picked up some trunks from $10-60, and three of us got the Bombay - this one here was $10 because it has a little damage. The best part is that as we were buying this furniture out back... I was starting to get anxiety on how I was going to get all of this home. The car was packed to full capacity. We were being "cute" enough that they offered to deliver it to my home for free!!! Can you believe it? I was able to get a beautiful Bombay, two large trunks with leather belt closures, a divider, and a corner stand for $200!!! The prices on the floor had all of this at over $800 - let's just say it was a great day for making deals~

~Do these look like happy faces? Notice that there is not even room to sit in my car. The back was full, the seats were full, and we had a full truck coming to be delivered the next day!~

~Thanks girls for a great birthday & shopping weekend! I could not have dreamed it up any better. Thanks for tolerating me and all of my nicknames and laughter. It was an amazing trip~

~Black {Bats} & Scary {Scoobs}, Boo It's Halloween~

~The boys were begging us for two weeks to carve the pumpkins. We decided that since it has been an unusually warm October that we should wait until just a couple of days before Halloween. They had so much fun pulling out all of the guts of the pumpkin & I had fun baking the pumpkin seeds for all of us to enjoy~
~Yes, we had a little help from those brilliant pumpkin carving kits. We let the boys choose which design they wanted... they wanted the big & scary pirate ship - ayttee maytee~
~I stayed completely out of this project this year. The boys loved spending time with their dad and they were very proud of their finished product~

~My goblin guys on the front porch with their perfect pumpkin~

~Just when we thought that three years of Cole in the Superman costume was enough..... they decided in his multi-age class at school that they would have a word parade with 5 other classes. Cole was given the word {Powerful} - I brainstormed... and then took the easy way out with a costume we had in our Halloween box! C'mon - who is more powerful than Superman?~

~Our Black {Bat} & Scary {Scoobs}! It was hysterical... while we were trick or treating, Cole was flying around from door to door with his black cape. When Kade would walk up to the door for his candy.... instead of saying "Trick or Treat"... he would say "Scooby Dooby Doo...." It was priceless! The people at the door would laugh and laugh~

~I came to the realization in years past that when you go to a Halloween party, it is so much more fun if you dress up in a costume... I have now come to the realization after this "lame-o" party.... that you need to know your audience before you expect to have fun in a costume. We are here with Heather as Wonder Woman, Steve as a Star Wars "Clone Trooper" & me as a Hooker... OK, I looked like a Hooker, but was actually an 80's rocker girl! Yes, that is my hand over Steve's goods... he was about ready to kill me because I bought this outfit a size too small... I had to cover him up for the younger viewers. Sorry Steve - I'll be better next year - that's what I get for waiting until Halloween Day and scouring the 50% off rack :( ~

~Hooker & Scooby enjoying some Scooby snacks - is he not the cutest thing you have ever seen? He really loved Halloween this year~

~After a great night of Trick-or-Treating, we had to follow McLean tradition and come home and dump all of the candy out on the floor and count how much we got. It also gave Steve & I the opportunity to take dibs on our favorites! Happy Halloween Friends & Family, we hope you had as good of a time as we did with the ghosts & goblins this year~

~Summer Is Over & Life Is Busy in Germany~

~Our little Coley Smoley on his first day of school. He insisted on wearing his "Bull Shirt" that we got for him in Barcelona. Does this look like a kid that is excited to be a Stallion at Patch Elementary School? He is loving school so far. I think if you will ask him.. his favorite subject is P.E. and his favorite school activity is trading Pokemon cards on the bus - that's my boy~
~Cole is in the "Multi-Age" program at his school. His teacher is Ms. Suhr and his class consists of Kindergarten, First & Second grade students. It is a new approach to learning that values the ability to work independently and to work at your appropriate level. They do most of their learning from teaching & helping their peers in their class - so far so good~
~What we love most about the multi-age program is that it is a lot of "hands - on" learning. The kids learned about many countries by preparing for an Olympics day. They divided 5 multi-age classes into different countries where they had to learn about this country and then make signs and name tags to represent what they learned~

~Cole was on Team Brazil! They came in 2nd place as a team and worked very well together- the most impressive thing for Steve & I was that we got to watch Cole run 2 miles during the Olympics - he even got 3rd place!

It looks like we have a little runner on our hands - he loves it!~

~For the Labor Day 4 day weekend - we made it to our local bowling alley. We love it here - it is a fun time for the whole family!~

~Cole is currently playing Fall soccer and he is on the Cheetah team! He is learning so much this year with 2 day a week practices and a game on Saturdays. If you ask him he will tell you that "I am the best goalie on the team." How is that for confidence?~

~September was very cold here - so we had to bundle up to try to stay warm. Kade can hardly wait for the chance to play sports also. He has been so patient... the joys of being the youngest! He is great about cheering Cole on and giving him high fives~

~Who's this tough guy? He has been chosen as the "Cheetah Team Goalie" - he loves it and really is good at it - let's just say I have to work hard to get all of the mud stains out of his uniform from diving & blocking the balls from the goal~

~Steve is very excited to have Garrett here. He is a new dentist at the clinic. We are having a great time with the Wood family, and we will have many more adventures with them in the next couple of years~

~We wanted to do something outside because it was a beautiful, fall day. We decided that German Putt - Putt golf would be fun. Once we got past all of the rules and the owners stopped wanting to chase us off the course.. we had a really good time.~

~In this little German village we found a water wheel right next to the mini golf course - we are loving it here. The boys are happy they have 4 new friends to play with~

~We are back to being just the two of us during the day. Kade is the best little guy to hang around with. We have fun going to playgroups, shopping, watching movies and playing together. I am loving this time we have together.~

~Cole was the "star" in his first play. This is a play about Greece & King Midas - Cole was a servant and had a couple of lines. This was definitely a fun way to learn about these subjects. He did very good.~

~This is Cole's first homework project and he had a really good time with it. His is the one with "2002" on it. I wanted to note that the freckly face drawing to the left is of Uncle Jesse. Jesse he thought you were important enough to put on his timeline (when you were born) I love the way he drew you. This was a way for the kids to learn about AD & BC. We had to do 20 years "BC" (Before Cole) & 20 years "AC" (After Cole)~

~i {LOVE} fall in Germany~

~We were heading on vacation for 7 days... but I didn't want to start off without making Kade's favorite breakfast for his birthday. He turned 3 on Oct. 5 - he chose waffles and hot chocolate with marshmallows. As you can see from their moustaches they really enjoyed it~
~We were heading down to the Austrian border - and we could not help ourselves - we had to stop and stretch our legs and enjoy some views - beautiful day with my boys... priceless~
~This is a very important lesson for a father to teach his boys... how to skip rocks. Steve was doing a great job teaching them the importance of the pefect, flat rock and how to bend over just right and line your arm up with the water... they'll get it with a little more practice~

~Cole... one of the loves of my life - he is not a little boy anymore.. he says the funniest things lately - it is so fun to see him learn new things, and he is loving these new adventures in his life~

~Kaders... my little monkey boy - I just want to squeeze him he is so cute. He is no longer my little baby.. he is 3 now - and so he has his own opinions about what he wears, what books he reads, etc. He is the funniest little monkey~

~Like father like son... these two are exactly alike in so many ways. Cole is my mini-me and Kade is Steve's~

~I was driving around the corner on these narrow country roads and Steve said, "please slow down just long enough for me to get this photo out the car window"... and these are the spectacular views we were surrounded by~

~This trip to Garmisch, Germany was a little mix of business & pleasure.. I thought it would be a fabulous way to the see the beautiful fall colors around the alps, and Steve thought it would be an excellent way to attend an Army Dental Conference and get continuing education. The boys thought we were going to the huge hotel for Alpine Slide rides and swims in the pool. So we all win! Nothing like a free family vacation~

~Since Steve went to Orlando in July for a Dental Conference - he got some continuing education requirements completed at that time... that is the excuse I am using for making him play hookey with me on Monday afternoon. It was absolutely beautiful & warm the entire week we were here. We were secretly escaping the hotel when we saw this beautiful sight~

~We took a hike into the Gorge - there were waterfalls everywhere. I cannot believe how incredible this time of year is in Germany. By far the best time to vacation here - if you can time it right with the changing of the leaves~

~Kade was a good sport, he actually was pretty funny because during the steep parts of the hike.. he would be yelling at me to keep up and get going - nothing like a little friendly motivation from your 3 year old who is in a backpack - I wish I was in there~

~I love you Steve... my dream come true. I am so glad you snuck away and we got to experience this together~

~Beautiful~

~Breathtaking~

~Marvelous~

~Spectacular~

~Steve had to bend down the entire time we walked through the caves so that Kade would not hit his head... oops he did get hit one time - ouch~

~Masterpiece~

~This shows you my level of creativity (which means I have none). I wanted to make the boys a cake for their birthdays. I found some microwave cakes at the store, bought some birthday candles and a lighter and we were all set at the restaurant - it wasn't much.. but they loved it~

~The view from our room~

~On Wednesday night the conference had a Bavarian celebration. Standing on the top of each of our tables was one of these fun German guys and they were all dressed up and looking cute. They had different whips that would make different sounds. Kade wanted me to cover his ears.. and we had to duck our heads down a little - afraid we were about to lose our head with the whips above us~

~This was so much fun. This woman was able to do entire songs using a different size cow bell for each note. The picture is a little fuzzy because she was moving all of the time while she reached for the next bell to find her note - it was awesome~

~Another picture from our room window. I loved these cows that you see below. I could hear their little cow bells that were around their necks ringing from sun up to sun down. They must have been eating non-stop the entire day. It was music to my ears~

~This was our view of the sunrise from our deck on the last morning we were here. It could not have been a more beautiful week to be here~

~Everyday we had Cole in the "Just For Kids" program which he had such a fabulous time in. He rode boats on Mermaid Lake, went to museums, went to mini golf, candy castle, and they had an ice cream party for his birthday. It was from 8 - 5 everyday - which meant he had a great time, and I was able to do my own thing. Kade was so excited when Cole would get off the bus from his full day of fun. They are very cute together - he also knew that this meant it was finally time to be able to go swimming~

~We had a great time on vacation - we definitely made the most of our time together. We celebrated the boy's birthdays while we were here. Thanks so much to Nana & Papa & Aunt Sarah for all of the Star Wars & Transformer toys for their birthdays - they loved them.

My boys are getting so grown up - they even like big kid toys now!

These are great times in life fo' sure~

~When we got home from our vacation we decided to stop by the post office to see if the packages I ordered from Wal-Mart that took 8 weeks were finally there. Urhghhhh! You have to plan way ahead for birthdays and Christmas here - the mail system can be VERY frustrating. They were here & the boys were out of their heads with excitement for their new Star Wars Light Sabers~

~Darth Vader and Obi Wan doing some serious Light Saber wars~

~May the force be with you! This was so funny. Kade was so worked up and hot - that the snorkel goggles that he was using for his mask, were all steamed up~