IKEA

Well December 28 will be a day that I am sure Gardner's Mom and Dad would LOVE to forget. We took them to Ikea. If you have never been to Ikea, well, you would never understand this shopping experience. It seriously is in a class all to itself.

Ikea is a HUGE warehouse of furniture, kitchen gadgets, carpets, lights, all must haves and not really needing stuff for your house. On the top floor is like a large showroom. It is like a one way road with arrows all over the floor telling you which way to go. As you look through the show room, you write down on paper what items you are interested in and it tells you where in the warehouse to find those items. On that same floor is also a swedish restaurant.

On the bottom floor is a kids play room (kids 3 - 10 can go in for 90 minutes a day). There is also the warehouse. Man, this place is the same as the show room. A one way road with arrows telling you which way to go. It is a huge maze. And the amount of people is astounding. It makes you feel like every person in Duesseldorf was in Ikea at the same moment.

And if having that many people in there was not bad enough, try everyone deciding to leave all at the same time. This happened to us.

When we first got there, we ate lunch in the Restaurant. There were so many people, that you just keep your eyes peeled for someone who looks like they are almost finished eating and "hang" out around them until their table is free. It is seriously nuts. Well, after eating, I took the three older kids to the play area and then the adults and babies were off to see the show room and warehouse. As we got to the warehouse, we noticed we only had 1/2 hour to shop as the show room took one hour and we had to pick up the kids before our 90 minute limit was reached. Well, we did not find everything we were looking for, but managed to spend 220 Euros anyway.

As we got to our vans, we noticed the traffic jam in the parking garage. We were up on what americans would call the 3rd Level. (here in Germany, the 2nd Level). We were there for more than 45 minutes and the cars around us did not even move. I breastfed Ian while waiting. Then we decided to go back into Ikea as Emma needed a diaper change anyway and we would eat in their restaurant once again. After we were done with our second meal at Ikea, we were sure that the cars would be moving again. And they were.

But to finish off our Ikea experience, we got back to the house and Gardner and Bob put together our DVD/CD holder and then I later put together 2 chairs. Gardner's parents got the full Ikea experience and I am sure they would not mind if they never stepped foot inside another Ikea in their life.

Well, as if I did not have enough fun on this day, I decided to stay up until 1:30 in the morning watching a TV Series called The Amazing Race that Gardner's Dad brought out for us. At 3am when Ian decided to get up to eat, I was hating myself for staying up so late.

Raclette

A couple of days have gone by and I thought I better get writing or it won't get done again. And the sad thing is, we are doing so much right now with Gardner's parents here.

Wednesday Gardner and I ran some errands. The first thing we did was go into Duesseldorf to sign up for Elterns Geld. What is Elterns Geld you are probably asking. It is money they give to parents who have babies and do not work. We found out that we still get some each month for Emma (until she is 2) and the lady even mentioned that they might go back and credit us 6 months. Wow, that would be nice. Even if it is only until October when Gardner started work, would really thrill us. We won't know how much money that is until it actually starts. Of course, we did not have everything we needed to get me all signed up for that. So the paper work is in but we need to give them copies of tax returns, visas, and all the good stuff that tells them we are real people living in Germany legally.

We do get money every month for having the kids as well. We get a little over 800 Euros every month for having kids. So getting the Elterns Geld on top of it would be pretty great and would really help us out.

We also tried to change our car insurance. They have such funny laws here. One of them is you can not change your insurance for a year unless certain things happen. Well, one of them is if your insurance goes up at any point. Well, ours did. So we jumped on the, "let's see what else is out there" band wagon. Well, we only went to one place....ADAC. It is like AAA in America. Anyway, they were almost Half the price of what we were paying. So we just decided to do it. The problems they were having though is that our car is an American car and they had never heard of it. So it is hard to give an accurate price on insurance when they don't know what kind of car you really drive.

Wednesday night, We had a Missionary Couple from the area over for dinner. Their names are Steve and Carol Walker. They actually know Gardner's parents. Steve and Cathie served in the same mission in Frankfurt back in the 60's. And then Steve & Carol and Bob and Cathie all lived in the same trailor park while Bob and Steve attended Dental School. So we had them over for dinner. We did something called Raclette.

Long ago in the Swiss Alps, the story goes, cow herders would carry potatoes and gherkin pickles up the mountainsides to eat with their cheese and milk. They'd bake the potatoes in the campfire and melt the cheese on a rock near the fire. As it melted, they'd scrape the cheese onto the potatoes and pickles and eat until the cows, well, until they were satisfied. In fact, the word raclette comes from the French word "to scrape."

Nowadays, raclette grills are an excuse to have one more fun cooking gadget. They come with little trays that hold the cheese under a heating element while it melts, and a grill on top for cooking the potatoes, sausages, and other savories that you wish to slather with cheese.

Christmas Day #2

Yes, there is such a thing....Christmas Day #2. At least here in Germany there is.

But let me start with Christmas Day #1 since I missed it yesterday. Yesterday we woke up and I actually got up before the kids. It is strange, it is so dark here until after 8am and then we have these metal blinds on the outside of the house. It makes the house pitch black even in the day if they are closed all the way. Anyway, they can make one sleep even longer because you see no light. Well, I believe because of these, my kids sleep longer. So I got up and showered as Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler were going to arrive around 9am.

As I was in the bathroom still getting ready, Hannah came in and said she was going to go down stairs to see how big here presents were. That made me laugh a bit. But she came back up stairs crying because she only had 2 presents under the tree, and one of them was clothing. I asked her how she knew and she said she felt it and saw only the 2. Well, I finally got her calmed down.
When it came time to open presents, the kids were so happy. The stockings is what we always start with. And everyone was happy. They can always count on getting a can of olives in their stockings. And thanks to a lady at our church, they still got those olives even though they don't sell them here in Germany. Well, then we opened the presents that were there. I saved the big Santa gifts for last. These were items that members from our church bought for the kids.

I started with Spencer who got Roller Blades. This is something that made him cry last year since Shantal got some and he did not. So he was very happy. Hannah got a Baby Borne Doll, which she was VERY happy about. That is until Shantal opened her present and got a Polly Pocket Dream Ship. Then Hannah started crying because she wanted a dream ship. And it is true, she did want one. But she wanted the doll as well. Oh the drama on Christmas morning. Emma on the other hand was very happy about her doll stroller. It is amazing how she is happy with so little but the others are not happy with so much.

We did just hang out most of the day. Gardner and his dad did get a light put up in our house and the kids played cards and games with Grandma. We also had some named Johanna come over for lunch since she has no one to spend Christmas with.

We spoke with my parents (Grandma and Grandpa Johnson) via Skype, a program on the internet. We got a web cam and so they were able to see the kids, including Ian. Boy has he grown since we left Utah.

With Christmas Day #2, it was a little more busy. We went to a Troedel Markt (Flee Market but the actual translation of Troedel is Junk) this morning. It was fun to walk around but very cold. Then this afternoon Grandma and Grandpa took Shantal, Spencer and Hannah to the movies to see Happy Feet, which I believe is the same title in English as it is in German. If not, someone can correct me. While they were gone, Gardner, Ian, Emma and I took naps. Tonight we finished watching Survivor, an American Reality TV Series that our family loves. Gardners Dad put the whole season on DVD's and we just finished it tonight.

Stores open back up in the morning and we have lots planned for the rest of the week. Gardner and I need to get stuff done like get Visa's and such while we have babysitters for the kids. And we also are going to take his parents to see some cities and sites while they are here. But my goal is to update as much as possible.

Heiligabend

Today we all woke up in a mad dash to get to church on time. You would think with church being 1 1/2 hours later than normal, that we could get our act together. But that is not the case. We did manage to get there just in time though.

I must confess, that church today was the best I can remember in a long time. Gardner had to sit with the choir the whole time, but even so, Emma did not make a peep. She sat on Grandpa's lap the whole time. She colored a little but mainly just sat there and was happy. Normally, I am trying to quiet kids down and stop arguing, even in church. But not today. That was very nice.

Afterwards, I found myself in the kitchen cooking. I made Homemade AuGratin Potatoes, Peach Cobbler, Orange Rolls, a Vegetable tray with dip and Ham. It does not sound like much, but I was in there for more than 3 hours.

Spencer got his birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler today and it was a new Playstation 2 game: Lego Star Wars 2. Spencer and the girls played most of the afternoon. Spencer was so very excited.

Grandpa switched the strings on our Guitar today and started playing. Shantal picked up the guitar at one point and figured out how to play "Ihr Kinderlein Kommet" on there. She was very excited and maybe this will spark an interest in playing it.

Tonight, we read the Christmas story from the bible with the kids. We finally got the kids in bed at 9pm but then I had my work cut out for me.

I decided, that Christmas Eve is a parents worse night mare. I was wrapping presents for 2 1/2 hours when I decided I was done. We were mainly finished anyway. But my back could not take anymore.

This has been a very unusual Christmas for us. We actually have had several "Santa" items arrive at our house this year. Yesterday, we had so much food delivered to us. There was the Ham we had today, lots of fruits and vegetables. Today at church, we got a card stating it was from Santa, and it had 200 Euros inside. Another lady at church said she had some games for the kids, and when we pulled out the bag today, there was a lot of stuff in there as well. Two other ladies in the ward bought our kids gifts as well. It is a little strange to be on the receiving end of such gifts. But it has been very nice as this move was a lot more than we expected financially.

Well, I am excited for tomorrow. I'm planning on a more relaxed day than today. I want to just enjoy my time with my family. My wish will be that there will be minimal fighting between the three older kids. That is my Christmas Wish this year.

The Grandparents Have Arrived

Today I got up early and had to run out to do grocery shopping. I knew that it would get crazy today since all the grocery stores will be closed for 3 days. So I ran to get last minute items at Walmart. (The Walmart here in Germany is mainly food, with a little of the other stuff.)

After I got home, Gardner had to run out to pick up a few items including a webcam. We bought it to use when we chat with my family on Skype. Skype is an internet communication service. We call each other and talk for free using a microphone and our computers. And now, we get to see each other while we talk. It will be great for the family to see how much our kids have grown, especially little Ian.

Gardner's parents plane got in late and they did not arrive here until 3pm. By the time we took them to the house where they are staying and unloaded it was almost 5pm.

We then took an U-bahn (underground train) and went into Duesseldorf to the Weihnactsmarkt (Christmas Market). It is something that is really big in Germany. It usually runs from Thanksgiving (which they don't actually have here) until the 23rd of December. You can buy all kinds of stuff there: Food, Nutcrackers, Candied Almonds, Toys, ect. Tonight it was really cold. Especially for me since I don't have a coat yet. Somehow it got lost on its way to Germany.

By the time we got back home, it was after 8pm and we were supposed to have a call with my family at 7pm, as they were celebrating Christmas and opening presents. Shantal, Spencer and Hannah did not like watching them open the presents so much. They actually wanted to be there opening them as well. Everytime someone opened something, they would comment that they wanted one of those.

Anyway, it is late and we have church tomorrow morning. Luckily, it is not at early as it normally is. Normally it is at 9am, but due to Christmas, it is at 10:30 and only Sacrament Meeting. We are all over joyed at the time change, even if it is only for one week.