Settling in...and staying busy!

I feel like I haven't written in a month! But it's only really been a little over a week. Our internet has been down for a few days, and I'm not smart enough to post from my phone, so now I will proceed to flood you with information and pictures covering the last 8 days. Enjoy!

Everyone here has been asking me, "so what exactly do you do all day while Jason is at work?" or "are you bored yet?; do you have any hobbies?". But my favorite question (and most common, at that) is: "are you going to try to get a job over here?" The answers are as follows: I am very busy getting ready for our household goods to arrive (organizing, recycling, arranging, unpacking, cleaning); I get bored only very rarely; and most likely, no, I will not be working here, though I haven't ruled it out. Surprisingly (apparently) I am staying very busy! Here's a little bit of what went on last week:

We received another box from my parents full of more Christmas ornaments and our first 2 presents, which are now under our tree...

...just a few more ornaments in another box headed our way, and this baby will be complete! I can't imagine having to take it back down in just a few short weeks. I love to sit in the living room with just it lit. (I asked Jason if we could keep it up year-round and just re-decorate for all the holidays (Valentine's, St. Patrick's, Easter, etc.), but he said no. It was worth a try. :)

Aside from decorating our first married Christmas tree, we had a few more firsts last week. We had our first snow (which lasted approximately < 3 minutes, but nonetheless was beautiful). Here's a picture looking up from our porch:

I also picked out my first supposedly "healthy" dinner recipe and made it with just the littlest supervision from Jason! Okay, fine. He made the chicken. I just read the recipe and made the topping. You all might be surprised to know I've never cooked in my life. Oh, you aren't surprised at all? Well, watch out America Germany, Kate is starting to cook! I also made my first fully unsupervised breakfast Saturday morning, but I was so excited, I took it to Jason and his friend Kevin without snapping a picture. Scrambled cheesy eggs and pancakes. A extravagant culinary delight! Anyways, here's the spinach/mozzarella chicken we made (it was actually delicious):

Last week was also spent studying for my German driver's license test. I had every intention of taking the exam last Wednesday (you can only take it Mondays and Wednesdays), but I totally chickened out when I didn't feel like I had the 168+ traffic signs memorized. Attempt #2 coming up this Wednesday! I'm actually feeling pretty okay about it this time. I just pray I will be able to make the 2 hour drive to Frankfut in 6 weeks to pick up my mom & dad. Solo trip > 15 minutes; on the autobahn; to an airport where I have to figure out where to park = very scary to me. I could NOT be happier that they are coming to visit while Jason is training in the field though!

Speaking of my cute parents...here's a pic of them from our Sunday Skype date:

Are they the cutest things on the planet, or what? I miss them so much, words can't even describe.

Another thrilling part our week was that the bakery below us came out with (or Jason just noticed for the first time) a new version of our very favorite lemon cookie/biscuit...the dark chocolate cookie/biscuit! Seriously, comes visit us, and try one of these things. They are AMAZING.

If I had any Euro on me right now, I would go downstairs and get one right now. They are that good.

That pretty much sums up the Stewarts' happenings for last week! We had a great weekend that I will do a separate post on in the next little bit, which included 2 Christmas parties, and our very first houseguest! So fun. I finally feel like a real adult. More to come...

We love you all!