Hungry for red cabbage?

I started craving German red cabbage after our joint German-American church service. At the pot luck I tried some of the BEST red cabbage I have ever had. So I decided to make it myself. We have been cooking a lot since we moved to Germany. Not only does it get really expensive to eat out but we also miss "American" food. Or shall we say, "Southern" food, like Mexican food, roasts, and briskets. With all of that in mind I thought I'd share this yummy recipe with you. It's cheap, easy, and very good! The only downside is it takes some time to cook. So feel free to eat it with any main dish you want. Or you can even eat it by itself, it's that good! We ate this with Texas brisket the first night and ham the second. We mixed a little German with a little Texan and it was great...just like our time in Germany.

GERMAN RED CABBAGE

(you can also use white cabbage)

1 med. red cabbage
3-4 apples
1/3 c. shortening or lard
2 Tbs. vinegar
1 c. water
1 c. sugar

Quarter apples and remove core. Saute apples in shortening, shred cabbage, add to apple and shortening. Bring vinegar, water, and 1/2 cup sugar to a boil. Once the sugar is dissolved, add to cabbage. Cook for 1 hour or until cabbage is done. Stir every 5-10 minutes making sure all the cabbage has a chance to cook.

7 months old

Caden is seven months old today! I still can hardly believe how fast he is growing. Many people have told me to enjoy everyday because babies grow up really fast. I can see that is true!

The newest things Caden can do is get up on all 4s. He doesn't go anywhere when he is on his hands and knees but he's able to hold his body up which is great! He scoots backwards and in a circle when his knees are behind him. We are trying to teach him to go forward. One of his favorite things to do, however, is stand. He loves standing and holding onto things, whether that is our hands or a sturdy object. He can pull himself up from the ground to a standing position now. He doesn't do this unless we are right behind him or in front of him. We have started baby proofing more, Collin put up a gate on our top floor in front of the stairs, we still need two more gates for the stairs on our other two floors. It is hard to find baby gates that work well for spiral staircases. Not even the Germans know where we can buy them. We bought one from Amazon and will probably order the other ones from there as well. Collin will probably build something to make the other gates work.

I decided to attend my ladies' Bible study this spring which started back up a few weeks ago. I finally left Caden alone in the nursery there. It was really hard to leave him! He has done pretty well. He loves watching other kids and babies but would rather me be with him. He can go for 20 minutes without me now. So I go back and forth and keep him with me some of the time and then let him go back to the nursery. The first time he took a 40 minute nap so that was nice. I am also back in MOPS and we are still doing infant massage classes, which he loves!

Caden also now has 3 teeth! He has both bottom front teeth and his upper left front tooth. He is still drooling a lot but at least we have a few teeth now. We just just started feeding him solids twice a day and am I still only breastfeeding him the rest of his meals. He sleeps 10-12 hours at night, takes 2-3 naps a day, and is a very happy baby and so much fun to be with. We love playing games, playing with his toys, and reading books. He loves laughing and babbling. He smiles at everyone he meets and is very social. He is so cute and we feel very blessed. We could not have asked for a better child! Other than that, we are enjoying life and trying to stay warm during this cold winter in Germany.

Here are a few pictures.

Caden on all 4s!

He loves taking the numbers from his mat a part and chewing on them

Playing with his new "toy" - I gave him a spatula to play with when I cook and he loves it!

Sledding!

This evening after Collin got home from work we took Caden sledding for the first time. Over the weekend we got a lot of snow. Caden's German grandmother at church gave him a sled a few weeks ago. We took him sledding in front of our house and he had a lot of fun. We even built a little snow man. The weather is cold but the snow is beautiful! Here are some pictures.

Caden having a great time!

Caden was smiling and laughing

Building the snow man

Lots of fun in the snow!

6th Wedding Anniversary and Caden has a tooth!

Last Monday, we celebrated six wonderful years of marriage. Collin took off work so we had an extra long weekend to celebrate. This year was extra special because Caden was with us. We spent most of the day at home except for making a shopping trip out to look at baby carriers and going to dinner. We bought an Ergo Baby. We have a Baby Bjorn and Moby Wrap, both are great, but Caden is getting heavier and we needed something that could distribute his weight better that was quick and easy to use. We decided the Ergo Baby fit the bill nicely and will be very beneficial on our upcoming cruise.

Collin is the best husband in the world. I really could not ask to be married to a better man. Not only is he a wonderful Christian who tries to honor God in all he does, he makes life so much fun! He is also a great dad. I am truly blessed to be his wife. He was so sweet this year, he made whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes for me for breakfast, steak nachos for lunch, and took me to our favorite Greek restaurant for dinner. He also bought me a wooden picture frame box since the 6th wedding anniversary gift is wood. It has our names carved on it and a sweet message.

These past six years have been amazing! We moved overseas, have visited 19 countries, and 9 states in the U.S. We have gone on one mission trip together, joined several small groups, bought our first house, got a dog, gave the dog away when we moved, and had our first child! We have had a lot of good times. However, with all the travel and activities we have done, having Caden is by far the best part of our marriage. He is truly a gift from God.

I noticed today that Caden is finally cutting his first tooth! He's cutting a front bottom tooth. He is growing up so fast.

Here are a some pictures from the past six years.

6th wedding anniversary - 2010

5th wedding anniversary - 2009

4th wedding anniversary - 2008

3rd wedding anniversary - 2007

2nd wedding anniversary - 2006

1st wedding anniversary - 2005

Our wedding, January 4, 2004

2009 Was Very Fine!

This will be my last blog entry for 2009. This was one of the BEST and most memorable years we have had. God blessed Collin and I with a wonderful son. The new addition to our family was the highlight of the year for sure. Caden is such a joy to have.

This past year we also lost a loved one, TJ, Marisa's step-grandfather. His death was a big surprise for all and very sad. He is dearly missed.

We have also taken some wonderful vacations this year. Here is a summary by month of our travels and adventures.

We started the year off staying at a castle in Hornberg, Germany, in January, as we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

In February Marisa went to Paris for 5 days with her good friend, Emily, who came to visit us for 2 weeks. While she was here we took her to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and visited the Medieval Crime Museum. We also went to Bad Dürkheim.

In March we went to Texas to visit family and friends. While in town our friends and family gave us 3 baby showers. Thank you again everyone for being so generous and welcoming of our precious son. It was nice to get to get see family and friends.

In April we went to Holland and visited Clara Maria Cheese & Clog Farm where we tried the best cheese in the world, ate dinner in Naarden Vesting, spent a day in Amsterdam, and part of a day at Zandvoort beach, where we saw the North Sea.

May was a busy month. We went to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, visited the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, bought our first set of china at Villeroy & Boch, and spent a day in downtown Luxembourg City and saw the breathtaking casemates. Our good friends Philip and Jocelyn also came to visit us during May. We had a wonderful time with them. We went to the Schwetzingen Castle Gardens, took a paddle boat down the Neckar River, and ate at some nice restaurants including a castle in Bad Dürkheim.

June was the best month of the year because Caden was born. We spent 5 days in the hospital after a natural and drug free delivery. Germans recommend mothers stay in the hospital at least 5-7 days after giving birth. I was so tired that I honestly didn't mind.

In July Marisa's parents came to visit for two weeks and see their first grandchild. While they were here we went to France, stayed two nights in Brussels, Belgium, and an afternoon in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

For August and September we went back to Texas. Collin had training and so we took the opportunity to visit family and friends. We didn't get to see as many people while we were in town as we had hoped. It is very challenging to travel with an infant and he was having some stomach problems.

October we went to Switzerland and visited Interlaken and Spiez. Switzerland was beautiful!

In November we took a nice vacation to Portugal. We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Albuferia on the beach. We visited 6 different cities in the Algarve and spent a day in Lisbon.

December was a nice and relaxing month. We didn't travel very far, we went to a Christmas market. We were hoping to go to more but the snow and cold weather prevented us from going. We had a great Christmas and are planning on having a wonderful New Year at home.

We wish you and your family a safe and happy New Year. We hope 2010 is a great year for all!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Sadly, we didn't get any snow, but we had lots of sunshine which is great especially this time of year in Germany.

First I'd like to say that Christmas seems to be a lot more fun once you have a child. Caden had a great time opening his first Christmas presents and playing with his new toys. He got visits from Santa Claus, the Christ Child, and the Christmas Man. The Christ Child and Christmas Man visit children in Germany. To make this Christmas better it would have been nice to have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins around. Hopefully we will be able to celebrate Christmas with extended family sometime in the near future.

I think it's funny how sometimes the simplest (and often cheapest) gifts make a child so happy. Caden's favorite new toys seems to be his Rock-A-Stack toy and a soft multi-texture rattle that he likes chewing on and shaking. His favorite "bigger" toy is Scout, a talking dog that says his name and sings songs about him using his name and different things he does. He laughs, smiles, and talks to Scout. He likes playing with his other toys too but these seem to keep his attention the longest.

This Christmas we stayed home and celebrated with the 3 of us. We read the story of Christ's birth to Caden and talked about why we celebrate Christmas. On Christmas Eve I cooked our main dish, we had beef tenderloin with blue cheese sauce, turkey bacon wrapped asparagus, stuff mushrooms, and chocolate pie. Christmas Day we had beef tenderloin, steamed asparagus, and steamed sweet potatoes. We also made creme brulee which was delicious and ate enchiladas for dinner.

Overall we could not have asked for a better first Christmas for Caden. He is such a wonderful child and full of life and love. By the way, I forgot to mention previously that he now knows his name. It's so cute, when you say his name he stops and looks at you. We love being parents and feel so blessed to have Caden in our lives.

Here are some pictures from our first Christmas as a family of three.

Caden sitting in front of the Christmas tree looking forward to opening his gifts

Caden and his stocking

Time to open presents!

Could you help me, please?

Wow! This is really cool!

Caden is such a happy and sweet child!

Here's my first ginger bread house

Christmas dinner

Getting ready to go on a Christmas Day walk

Collin flying his new remote control airplane, it's to the right of the tree

6 month well-baby and Texas Christmas

We took Caden to his 6th month well-baby appointment yesterday. He is doing great! The doctor was impressed with how well he sits by himself and how well he interacts with everyone. The doctor even sat on the exam table with him while she did his exam and let him play with her stethoscope. He loves grabbing and biting everything. He laughed and squealed for her. Caden now weighs 20 lbs 6 oz (95% percentile), is 27.2 inches tall (75% percentile), and his head head circumference is 44.5 cm. He has always been a big baby and his growth rate is to be expected since he was in the womb. I think it is amazing that the growth rate of a baby can be traced to the development in the mother's womb. Of course most people just measure the growth rate after the birth.

Caden got 6 shots, 5 needles and 1 oral. We ended up getting him the flu and H1N1. We were really torn on whether or not to let him get those but the doctor convinced us. She said it was our decision but she highly recommended it. She said the flu and H1N1 can be fatal to infants and young children. If he were to catch the flu or H1N1 then he would most likely spend at least several days in the hospital, sometimes more. Depending on the severity it could be life threatening. Collin and I discussed it and decided the risk of him getting it and being hospitalized outweighed the risk for a reaction. Since Collin and I both have had both vaccinations and did not have a reaction we thought it would be pretty safe for Caden. It is just a lot of shots for a baby. Overall he did great. He didn't cry as much as he did at his 4 month appointment. It seems like he only cried for a minute or so.

Last night we went to our friend's Dave and Juniper's house for a Texas themed Christmas party. The Tex-Mex food was great and there were probably 30+ people or so. We met a lot of new people and had a great time.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Caden doing his daily push-ups

Caden serenading us with his "microphone"