Thanksgiving/Birthday weekend!

12.2.2014

Ohhh we’ve been so busy the last few days! Which is a welcome change because life gets boring when all you do is sit at home and bicker with your dog. S’s battalion approved a 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving, so after coming home from training (in Poland!), S worked Mon-Wed and then had Thursday and Friday off and we were busy busy busy the whole time (and it’s still going!). So, I’ll just start on Thursday and tell you everything.

Thursday (Thanksgiving day) we actually spent with a captain that S works with and his wife. They’re both originally from Egypt, then his family moved to California and her family moved to Canada. I will admit, S and I both were expecting a more exotic Thanksgiving dinner but we learned that the wife had only started teaching herself how to cook 10 months ago. So while the food was all edible (and really was tasty!) a lot of it was not made from scratch and was pretty plain as far as Thanksgiving food goes. We had curry chicken breast (definitely the best part!!), pork ribs, some mixed vegetables, sweet potato, mashed potatoes, and dessert. It was all very good, we had just been under the impression that we were going to have food that was a little more traditional for an Egyptian family. After dinner we went downtown (walking distance from their apartment) and visited the Christmas market. It was really neat. There’s lots of vendors selling little crafts and ornaments. There are also lots of food vendors. Christmas is a huge deal here and most towns have these Christmas markets. We’re planning on going to the one in Nuremburg next weekend. I didn’t know we were going to the market so I didn’t have my good camera with me. This picture is taken with my cell phone. I’ll get better pictures next weekend!!

We talked with most of you on Thursday and are all aware of our special announcement! I am, indeed, pregnant! I have my 2nd doctor’s appointment this afternoon actually. S missed my first appointment because he was in Poland but he’ll be at this one. In Germany they actually do an ultrasound at every visit, so I’m really excited for S to see it in person this time (and I know he is too).

On Friday, we went to a different post, Grafenwoehr/Vilseck because they have a furniture store. We were hoping to find a bed and/or mattress and some kind of solution for our closet. We didn’t find a bed or mattress but we did find a closet system that we really like and as soon as we get a transformer so we can charge S’s power drill, we’ll be up and running!

We actually had our own Thanksgiving on Saturday. Let me tell you, when S and I are grandparents, it won’t even be fair. All the neighborhood kids are going to want to eat at the McKinney’s house. This was my first Thanksgiving turkey and it was DELICIOUS. I brined it for a few days and it came out perfectly. I was SO excited. We also made mashed potatoes, broccoli rice cheese casserole, rolls and lemon and buttermilk pie. We had an awesome spread and ohhh myyy. It was SO SO good. When we start hosting Thanksgiving at our house, y’all are going to be blown away. 😉

Sunday we just took it easy at home. We made some progress with unpacking the house and moving things around and we’re almost ready to have all our loaner (read: ugly) furniture picked up!

Another thing S and I have gotten involved in is the Battalion Ball Committee. S has been appointed the OIC (officer in charge) of the ball and I joined the committee just so I had something to do and I wanted to get involved. We went to the venue yesterday with a few others on the committee and met with the venue managers and the caterer and nailed down a few more details and then this morning we had a committee meeting at a little cafe and bakery downtown. The ball isn’t until February (hooray for trying to find a maternity ball gown…) so we have plenty of time to get things done but holy cow, there’s a lot of work that goes into a military ball. And this is a small(ish) one with *only* a projected attendance of 600 people. Ha. Ha.

Well, I’m running late for a ball fundraiser where we’ve got people bidding on soldiers who love their hair. Highest bidder gets to shave the head. Don’t worry, S isn’t shaving his head. At least, that’s what he said earlier today. We’ll see. I bet his Colonel will pressure him into it because he’s the “new guy” 😉

Ciao for now!

❤ E