Hello, readers.  I hope you all weren't too disappointed with my lack of posting last night, but I fell asleep with the baby and didn't wake up until the next morning (when I was supposed to do the dishes and move the laundry over and write my Sunday update)!  I blame it on the daylight savings time change we had over here in Germany (one week in advance of the US).  

So, without further ado, here goes this week's update:  

Let's begin with how proud I am of my big girl, Tay, who learned how to recite the whole Pledge of Allegiance.  We had talked about the Pledge before we moved here and she had repeated it after me a few times just to get her familiar with it, but suddenly this week, she came up to me and asked me to listen.  She started reciting it and the first time through, she mixed up a few words, so I helped her correct them and she repeated it a few times before she could say the whole thing perfectly!  She still occasionally says "I pledgED allegiance...," but the rest, she got it.  Her favorite part is the end, she says, "...with liberty and justice for all!"  She says it with such enthusiasm.  I love this girl.

We had a lot of beautiful weather this past week, so we did a lot of walking to school.  The girls can be so sweet sometimes.  Here, they walked almost the entire way to school holding hands and being sweet with each other.  They wanted to dress the same, wear the same colors, carry the same backpacks, wear the same hats...adorable.

On another day, we were walking to school and Tay was leading the way and I lagged behind with Ri as we dawdled along.  (What takes only three minutes by car can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes when walking with a curious three-year-old).  While we are walking behind, all of a sudden, Ri tells me to hold her hat for her, which she was carrying in her hand.  Then, she struggled to get her little lunch back behind her back in the exact same carry position as she saw her Unni (big sister) carrying her bag...way ahead of us.  Also, notice she has her hair just barely braided in pig tails?  She demanded that I also braid her hair this way because her Unni had her hair braided this way.  I think she idolizes her sister...as much as she torments her.  ;)

Speaking of wanting to be exactly like her sister, meal times are even entertaining because they don't exactly have the same palate, but she still keeps her eyes carefully on what her sister is eating and at what pace she is eating.

This photo just cracks me up.  She was watching so carefully to make sure she could eat at the same rate that her sister was bringing her spoon to her mouth.  That face...:)

Ri, who normally always chooses to be the opposite of her big sister, is now so motivated to do and be exactly like her big sister.  It doesn't seem to bother Tay too much...yet.  Thankfully.  Ri is also one who is usually a very independent player.  She prefers to do solo-play like with puzzles or Legos, while Tay prefers interactive games or role-playing games that involve others (those "others" she wants to play with are generally adults or other kids that are older than her lately).  Anyhow, Ri is a very focused player when she wants to be, and here she is working on her fine motor skills by playing with a tiny top.

She was SO happy when she finally got it to spin properly!  Look at that beautiful smile!

Ri is definitely a curious one...I often wonder what is going on her her mind.  Before bedtime, Jeff and Tay were playing a game, and all of a sudden, here comes Ri somersaulting into Jeff's side.  And she just stays there...in this odd position...for probably about four or five minutes.  Just giggling.  :)  Silly girl.

:)  What I wouldn't give for a glimpse into this little girl's mind.  Here, we had gone to the car to get something and then we were walking back to the Harvest Festival they had on post...she was dawdling behind as usual picking flowers and I was walking a bit ahead, and when I looked back to check on her, there she was holding a flower on her head and teetering side to side with a grin on her face and her eyes closed.  What can I say?  All I did was pull out my camera and took a photo...and just watched her until she opened her eyes, laughed out loud and came running at me to take my hand.  How I love this girl.

Now, on with the littlest gal of the bunch.  She's a playful little bug.  She loves playing with everything and anything.  Here are just some random shots from our play times while the big sisters are at school.

She loves tags...all babies love tags.

Waiting on the park bench for Tay and Ri to get finished with school.

Smile!

Bath time is always fun...especially since she has discovered splashing and doesn't mind getting water all over her face...and all over me!

Curiosity can lead to a bit of a disappointing ending.  She worked so hard to get the mat lifted up...

...and she was so proud of herself to get it up enough to be able to see...see her fingers just barely holding on?

Then, it flipped down...and she was sad.

So she sat back and pouted for a bit.

But then picked up her spirits again and yelled at me to come play with her instead of sitting far away and taking pictures.

Speaking of yelling, she really enjoys hearing herself yell.  She particularly likes to express herself at mealtimes lately, so I think I may need to go to shirtless dining for her...at least until she calms down at meals.  Here is her mealtime face lately...:)

Another move she has been perfecting is the push-up position.  I think she's trying to figure out how to forward crawl, but keeps straightening her legs instead.

Sometimes this effort leads to...

...splits!

This silly girl...

...is starting to look through her legs when she stands up!  Some say she may be looking for a sibling...?

Oh, and by the way, this face is back.  :)

We introduced the guitar to the wee one.  She likes it.  :)

Rock on!  (although she is just yawning in this photo...)

I forgot to take any photos this week of the food we cooked, but I did get a photo of the chocolate ice cream we made!  Very simple recipe can be found here.

Jeff was in Italy for work this past week, but he picked up some sweet finds for our house while he was there!  Look at this gorgeous vase with olive branches.

Ah...I am really beginning to love Bavaria...

I hope to be able to write some more useful information here about our life in Germany, so I think I will need to focus more efforts on the blog instead of Facebook.  I am going to try and be less addicted to Facebook and focus more on writing...so please bear with me as I rediscover my "voice."

Back to the Sunday Update. :)

This week will be a little lighter than normal on photos since I had my last Sunday's update just this past Thursday.  But, there's still fun to be seen so let's get on with the show.

Let's begin with the activities that the girls enjoyed this week.  Nothing too exciting or adventurous, but still loads of fun for the girls with silly imaginations.  Here they are making "snow" angels in the carpet - notice that they have donned their matching fleece caps to stay "warm"...with their feet still bare. Hm...

Here they are just "playing" in the snow and "flying"...not exactly sure why.  Just saw them doing it while I was checking on them from doing dishes and grabbed the camera because it was adorable.

OK...guess what they are doing here?  Building a "snowman!"  Out of pillows...

Suddenly, both girls went running upstairs, and when they came back down, they had donned their swimsuits and were headed to the "beach."  Here, they asked to borrow the little kitchen broom to make a beach "umbrella"...

Ri always prefers to curl up on her "beach blanket" after she has been covered with "sunblock" to lie in the sun.

Tay preferred to sit in the "shade."

Ri decided she should move into the shade, too, so she relocated, and Tay decided she needed some sunblock anyway, so she is applying it here.

Now, they decided they were too hot so they would go swimming and do a bit of treasure hunting in the ocean.  Can you tell they are holding their breath?  They crack me up...

On another day, I caught this little gem where Ri was sitting quietly in the playroom and "reading" a book to her "babies" (stuffed animals).

Ah, games are very popular these days, too, and Memory is one of our staples.  Of course, when the girls are playing, the baby always want to play beside them or...

...grab at the cards herself!  At one point, she grabbed two cards and they matched and both big sisters were SO amazed!  ;)

Every once in a while, I turn on some "body worship" songs on youtube, and this day's song was "Awesome God"...the girls love to follow along with the movement as well as try and sing along with the fairly easy song lyrics.

We have also been feeding the birds "breakfast" almost every morning.  The girls are always amazed at how quickly the birds come to feed and how quickly the seeds disappear!  Some of the birds are even getting curious about what is inside the window and will frequently come right up to the window to take a peek.

Now, the littlest Ryals has been working super hard to get mobile this week.  Well, ever since she has started rolling over, she has been a nonstop mover.  She just can't get her body to do what she wants it to all the time...

So, there are many face plants...like this:

And she is really just working at trying to figure out the whole "crawling" thing, but mostly ends up in the push-up position instead.  Blurry, but hilarious face.  She usually likes to let out some "battle cries" while she's working on moving forward.

Oh, my drool queen...

She discovered her belly button for the first time this week.

This just cracked me up...she yelled as soon as she found the belly button.  I'm not exactly sure why...

And here she is telling me to "stop" taking any more photos.

My mom sent me these cute little berets for the older two girls, but because of my older two's giant noggins, they don't fit super well, but this little one looks just DARLING in it... ;)

Here's another attempt at crawling.  She actually made it a few "steps(?)" forward!  Better finish up baby-proofing this house!

My happy baby...sporting the hand-me-down Dorthwoth onesie (Hi, Greenmen!).

Why do I love this profile of my chubby-cheeked baby?

School continues to go well, and the girls enjoy walking there, even as the temperature begins to drop.  The girls have now learned a German song they can sing about going on a trip on a train!

Love.  :)

Now, when it comes to food this week, I didn't make anything super exciting, but I did eat a delicious Dürüm that was HUMONGOUS.  Yum.

And, I did have the girls make a no-bake cookie, which they enjoyed doing...but the recipe is so...unhealthy.  It hurts my teeth to eat it, but it is quite tasty.

On to the non-cuteness-filled photos.  This building was just beautiful with the changing of the leaves...

I just took a picture of this because there was a storm coming in and there was this crazy "break" in the sky...it literally looked like a crack across the sky - no rain yet, but just a few minutes later, it was a torrential downpour for about five minutes, and then nothing.  Bizarre.

And last, but definitely not least (I couldn't get the photo to turn at two in the morning, so please forgive me), Tania the Terrific sent us a fabulous care package!  (I love you!)

It is late, so I will say good night.  Gute Nacht!