It's not your father's TV anymore......

As you know, I have taken a few weeks off- and not because I’m lazy.   Well, maybe a little because I’m lazy; but I have been really busy at work.  We’ve had two weeks of exercises where I’ve had to work 12 hours shifts.  Those 12s usually turn into 14 to 16 hour days.  Lots of fun if you ask me!

Luckily, Traci has been keeping herself busy traveling to different stores in Luxembourg and Belgium buying lots of things that don’t fit in our current house.  She also spends a lot of time shepherding the young women at church and having a great time with her friends, who take her shopping.

The kids stay busy at school too.  Brennan’s school just had their “Winter Formal” dance. Honestly?  These kids are 11!  A dance?? No, no, no.  Besides Brennan isn’t interested in that kind of thing….. yet.  Traci decided to have an anti-dance party here at our house.  We had about 6 kids over to make pizzas, eat junk food, play games and watch old episodes of Mr. Bean.  The party was a big hit and there was no adolescent grinding.  Always a plus!

Isabella absolutely loves school and hanging out with her friends.  Everyone loves her and she is nice to every one as well.  She just joined the drama club (I know big surprise) and is going to be in a show called “Blast from the Past.”  I think it is set in the 1980s, which  as you know is the golden age of art, science, FASHION and MUSIC.

School just makes Dustin tired.  When each Friday rolls around he just can’t behave any longer.  It really makes the weekend fun for the rest of us.  Even though he gets tired he still has a quick wit about him.  Today he traced his shoe on a piece of paper, drew eyes and a monster mouth on it, and wrote in a bubble, “How are shoe?”  I couldn’t help but giggle a little bit. He really knows how to disrupt church meetings.

Our time in Germany is keeping us hopping.  Last week we had a big wind storm that knocked our satellite reception off.  I waited a few days, listening to the nagging of her who shall not be named.  Then,  since I couldn’t stand the tears and suffering of a lady and three children without TV- and I am such a great handy man- I climbed onto my landlord’s roof to straighten out the dish (when no one was looking of course!)  What ever I did, it didn’t work.  I thought I had the dish back where is was supposed to be, but I just couldn’t get a good signal.  Hanging my head in defeat I waited for the next chance to get help from Martin (the landlord).  The next morning I rang their door bell and asked for help .  Surprisingly, they had lost satellite reception too (on or about the same time I had “adjusted” the dish). Oops me.  Anyway, Martin has a cousin who knows a thing or two more than I about dishes and cables etc. (plus he has diagnostic tools) came and got us all back on line.  I still haven’t told them that I was the one who knocked their signal out.  I hope they don’t read this letter!

There's no business like snow business

31 January – 6 February 2010

This past week was calm and uneventful.  It actually started out with-horror of horrors- Cancelled church.  The roads were too hazardous to venture out so we spent the day singing hymns, praying, and just being good to each other.  Well, maybe some of the other families did that- we sat on the couch and watched the kids fight with one another.  Then I took a nap.  You are supposed to rest on Sunday, right?

The rest of the week wasn’t much different.  I think there were more days off of school than days on.  It is a good thing our house is made of mostly cement, otherwise, the kids probably would have flattened it.  We do have to watch Dustin closely; he has the tendency to reduce even the strongest stone to dust.

Brennan keeps plugging away at school. He really enjoyed the days off though and even dug an igloo out of a huge pile of snow, just like he learned in Boy Scouts.  He would probably live out side in the igloo if we let him.

Isabella continues to have fun at her gymnastics and cheerleading.  She is so petite and cute.  Everyone loves her, so that makes her kind of snotty.  We have to firmly but nicely put her in her place.  Oh the ego on that one.  Luckily she is only snotty to us and nice to everyone else.

Back to Dustin.  He is a mini-me, which makes me realize how big of a dork I am.  He repeats everything I say so I have to be very careful.  He makes us laugh all the time, which really makes me angry. How do you discipline a kid when you are rolling on the floor?  The other day he woke us up wearing a green wig, a purple leotard, a pink tutu and white ballerina shoes.  I think I know where his future job will be.

So that was our uneventful week.  We’ll try harder this week to be more entertaining!

The fabled Christmas letter- Oh yea, I know it's late!!!

Merry…. Uh….. whatever? With little tidbits of news and the rest krap.

Well as you can see by the date on your new 2010 calendar, we didn’t quite make the 25 December 2009 time line for getting our annual splash of papyrus cheer to you all.  Now don’t be haters, at least you are still on our list.  Every time we move we have to trim the fat.  Be thankful you are not the fat.

2009 was an eventful year for our family, but isn’t every year?  If events didn’t happen, then why would I write about them? (Why would Traci make me do this year after year?) No worries though.  Sit back and enjoy the updates.

Our biggest news is that in July, we loaded up our hand cart and crossed the ocean for my new job in Germany. We found a great house on a farm in a small town.  The kids love everything about the cows and chickens and rabbits.  Our landlords are great and treat us like family.  We have a very nice life.  A fun part of living here is having my parents so close as well.  They are on a mission in Brussels Belgium, which is only about 2 hours away. 

Everything is very close to us!  For Traci’s birthday we took a trip to London.  We had a great time walking all over the city and smelling all the wonderful smells on the underground.  I think I have about 2 million new friends.  I really don’t like to touch people.  Well, I didn’t. Now I think I do.

The kids are doing well.  Dustin is now 6 years old.  Believe it or not he is quite the comedian.  He started kindergarten and all the girls think he is the greatest thing on the planet.  Sometimes he refuses to comb his hair in the morning because he is tired of being cute for the girls.  He loves doing arts and crafts, mostly making love letters for his mom, dad brother and sister.  We always have scraps of paper, staples and tape all over the floor of the house.  Traci loves that.

Isabella is 9, is in 3^rd grade and is still as princessey as ever.  She loves cheerleading and is quite the gymnast.  She doesn’t walk anywhere, so you really need to watch out unless you want a little girlie foot in your face as she cartwheels to the dinner table, up the stairs to bed, or in the aisle at the grocery store.  Yep, perfect cartwheels, not always in the perfect place or time.

Brennan is 11 and in the 6^th grade.  He loves school, as long as it doesn’t involve recess or sports.  Science and creative writing are his forte and he is also becoming a pretty good sculptor.  With all the snow this winter he has become the construction foreman, guiding (or yelling at) his brother and sister while making the most impenetrable fort ever. “It’s gonna last until summer, I know it!” Yea, he is at that awkward stage.  Well, at least my oldest is following in my footsteps of dorkiness.

Speaking of Traci, she is just as great as ever.  She is the Young Women’s leader at church.  The girls love her and she really tries to teach them the right path.  She sure keeps our family headed in the right direction.  She has the capability of going every direction.  Shortly after we arrived in Germany, she took a quick trip to Italy with some other ladies and has a great time roaming around the local area here always looking for that next great bargain.  Clearance racks beware, Traci is on the prowl!

And finally the main prowler: me.  Look out computer key boards and office chairs, I will type on you and sit on you! To say my job is exciting is an understatement.  The rush I feel when I stand up is only comparable to that feeling you get when you stand up too fast after watching grass grow all day long.  Ohh, there it comes again from being finished with this letter.  So, happy St. Patrick’s day once again.  Remember the reason for the season.

Love  Dan, Traci, Brennan, Isabella and Dustin 

Welcome!.

So this is the Pankrap blog. The weekly ramblings of a strange family. If you want to keep up with our adventures (and about 10% will be true), tune in and enjoy some nice boring updates. I said weekly, and some of you may be a bit surprised because my "weekly" spewings have been a bit sporadic over the past few years. Well I'm going to try harder. Really. So this is a new start to a new process.

This week started out really snow for us. They say that this part of Germany hasn't seen so much snow in 30 years. I'm glad to be a part of it. Between the shoveling and scraping and driving on the ice I'm quite tired. The kids have had a blast building snow forts, throwing snowballs and having a great time getting frost bite. I'm looking forward to more snow tomorrow!

Yesterday, after a full morning of shoveling the church's parking lot, we ventured off to a nearby hill to slide in the snow. It was a great time and there wasn't a trip to the hospital afterwards. That's how you know you had a successful adventure!

Friday I decided to take a day of leave from work, which was complete crap because they shut down the base anyway. Wasted day of leave: priceless. The kids were out of school on Friday and Thursday and Bella was puking on Wednesday. Why don't they just cancel school and work during January and February?

So how was your week?