We went to another Christmas market in Aachen, Germany yesterday. This time we got to taste the smells...MMMMMM!!!
Bratwurst....I used to think it was the "worst" but I had a curry one the other night that was pretty good.
Isn't is amazing how much kids love merry-go-rounds
And back to Monschau. Quite a different experience than last time...day time, dry, and not crowded. I loved it the first time but I'm really glad we did it again.
A walk in Tervuran Park (not far from Jake's house)
Downtown Brussels
Rachel's first gauffre (Belgian waffle) 
A Christmas market in Monschau, Germany. Besides being miserably cold and wet it was aaaaaaaaamazing. The quaint German village, with Christmas lights and decorations and the smells...oh, the smells! Of spiced sausage, licorice, bread, apple streusal, etc. What a sensory experience. I loved it!!!
it looks like snow, but it was rain...yuck!
Thanks everyone for all the wonderful gifts!!!!
And, the recital...(this only took at least a dozen tries to upload, I hope you appreciate it...I think you will :) I'm so proud of my cute girl! 
I've highly considered not having her do dance again for the spring because of the battle we go through to put on her tights. But I don't know, what do you think? She just couldn't stop.
We hung out on the porch for 3 hours today as we tried to work with people from our home warranty and other "heating experts" who came to diagnose what was wrong with our HVAC unit that went out on Saturday. Our house was freezing and outside it was nearing 70 degrees. We've been staying at one of our neighbors the past couple nights. Rachel was really glad to have her books and toys back, since the older couple we stayed with didn't have any. It was fun to see her imagination stretch though. After a lot of grief and phone calls it was finally fixed this evening. Hallelujah. What a process! Our home warranty came up for expiration just a few weeks ago and we decided not to renew it. That's always how it works, doesn't it? Thank goodness for grace periods. Anyway, I've got cleaning, laundry and packing to do before we leave for Brussels on Wednesday, but I'm going to try really hard to post about our VERY eventful Saturday, which includes Rachel's dance recital, before we go.
My experience with Santa at the mall has always been long lines, so that's what I was expecting. We were there picking up some pictures and I told Rachel she might get to see him, but we'll probably just wave hi. Well we found him almost bored to tears...nobody was there! She sat on his lap and talked to him for a good five minutes. She loved his beard that "tickled" and she kept giving him hugs. 
Last Saturday I had a baby shower for a girl named Mary. Rachel and Tommy had to come with me because Jake had class. When she saw the present and asked where we were going and all of her other questions she came to the conclusion that she was going to see Mary and baby Jesus. When we got there she kept asking "where's Mary?" I pointed to her 5 or 6 times, "she's right there" then out came, "where's baby Jesus?" Well lucky for her we were invited to a "Walk in Bethlehem" by some of our friends and we went to a Methodist church that did the most amazing job of recreating that city and time period. We received shekels when we arrived, had to pay a tax to get in, we saw all the live animals and "shopped" in the market for jewelry, pottery, wine (apple juice), bread...each for a shekel. They had other canopies of carpentry, butchery, baskets, etc. And the merchants would ask, "have you heard of the baby?" and then they would tell us to follow the star. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the inside, it was just incredible! 
Rachel asked me about a week ago what sound a camel makes and I didn't think they made a sound, so I told her they didn't. Well we found out they do! They are very loud and she does NOT like them.
Captivated for a good 15 minutes
Rachel with her new friend Ava, who also turned 3 in October.
Silly turkeys
We had a baking fest in the kitchen...so fun!
Our amazing helper
Mr. Potato Head :) ...he was in charge of the mash potatoes
We did it! 
It turned out to be an amazing meal. Not much credit to me. Melanie L. made some incredible homemade stuffing and rolls!
Although I was pretty proud of my lattice crust apple pie
Thanks again, Laymans, for sharing this day with us.
On Saturday we went up to Durham to enjoy the "Grad student + spouse + children free" Duke vs. UNC football game. Rachel was soooo excited to see Daddy's school. So was I, what a beautiful campus!!
Despite the FREEZING temperatures and the fall that gave Rachel a big lip we really enjoyed the game, especially after we got some popcorn :) It was interesting to see how small the stadium was and how it was run. It felt like a high school football game.
Then, at about bedtime we decided to leave. We went back to where we thought we parked the car. After about 15 minutes of looking we weren't in the best situation. Dark, freezing, kids are tired, Rachel refuses to walk, we have no idea where we are...and it starts to rain. Well, the Lord looks out for us. We soon found a police officer who was able to call someone to help us out. We spent the next half hour driving around in the police car. When we finally found it I could have sworn that was not where we parked. It didn't look familiar at all! I don't even want to think about what it would have been like without those police. So for this Thanksgiving season...I'm grateful for police. I actually handled the situation rather well I think. I didn't worry, get stressed out or anything. We both found it quite an adventure.
