Welcome to America!

It's been a long time coming, but we finally completed my naturalization papers in January and sent them to USCIS the along with a big fat check for $675! I really think that if one has been here long enough to qualify for Citizenship, paying taxes and social security all along, it should be no charge, don't you think?

Anyways, the process went A LOT faster than we expected. We have friends where the same process took well over a year, but low and behold, within 4 months I was called in for my final interview. That's the one where they ask you some of those 100 questions to make sure you actually know what country you've been living in as of late.

Once that was done, the officer who interviewed me asked "Do you want to be sworn in today?" I replied in my best Scooby voice "TodAY?" He told me they had the last ceremony at 3pm that day and my paperwork should be done by then. I called Elizaebth to find out if she wanted to be there. "Of course!" she said. She scrambled, got the kids out of school early to get up to Tucker to watch me join this great Nation as a citizen.

Unfortunately the officer had told me wrong and the ceremony actually started at 2pm! Me and another 122 people took the oath at 2:30pm and Elizabeth and the kids got there just a few minutes too late.

That's also the reason there are no pictures of my raising my right hand and why I didn't post earlier. A couple next to me took some photos and promised me to e-mail copies, but haven't as of yet. So here are the ones Elizabeth snapped of me on that special day!

Truth be told, I almost feel a little bit cheated! That whole day felt kind of anti-climactic, with it happening so fast and my family not being there with me, especially the kids. Just after taking the oath they showed a video with pictures of immigrants, it made me think how my children and their children will refer to me as the first Roggermeier coming to the US! I really don't feel that different, but may be that's a good thing and only goes to show that I have already settled down here in the great US of A!

Steadfast or Stubborn?

We haven't posted lately because Herb has insisted that I be the next one to post. For those of you who don't know, Herb is our blogger for the most part (about 97% of the time). I keep telling him when he starts cooking I'll blog more!

I thought after the 4th of July he would relent and post a little something, but as you can see he didn't. We have an ongoing discussion as to where our children got their stubborn gene. I think the point has been made and the discussion can end. Because I love my husband, I like to think of it as steadfast. Maybe he would have made a good pioneer!

Six things I enjoy doing with Elizabeth

Allison tagged us, so here goes my "Six things I enjoy doing with my spouse" post:

1) Take the kids to a park, the zoo, swimming pool or the playground. We thoroughly enjoy watching the kids play, have fun and see the excitement in their eyes. When it was just Sophie, there were many nights we'd just sit in the living room and watch her play games and perform silly tricks. We still like to do that, it's just that we have less time to do it.

2) Play a video game with her. We never seem to have the time to, but when we do it's a ton of fun. We enjoyed "Karaoke Party" for quite a few months, but haven't found anything we both enjoy since then.

3) Go shopping. Neither one of us are big shoppers by ourselves, but together we are a force to be reckoned. Unfortunately the old saying of "more than the sum of its parts" holds true, as we spend much more money when we shop together than we would by ourselves!

4) Bathing the kids. We have a pretty good system worked out, at least in my book. I get the boys into the bathtub (Sophie is too old for that these days), let them play and then wash them down, dry them off and send them to Elizabeth who takes care of the finishing touches (lotion, cleaning their ears, etc). By the time I have cleaned up the bathroom, the first one is ready to get dressed in their pajamas by me. It is so much more fun and easier when we are both there to help each other. When we really get going we can have them done and off to bed in 30 minutes flat. Not bad, huh?

5) Go out to eat. Not that you can tell by my girlish figure, but I like to eat! I just love finding a new place for us to try out and it doesn't have to always be a fancy one. Our newest discovery: Nikko, a Sushi and Japanese steak house just up the road in Tyrone, GA! On the other hand we have our tried and true favorites that we just can't stay away from for too long.

6) Catch a good show on TV. Yes we have our personal favorites that the other one doesn't enjoy very much at all (e.g. Amazing Race for Elizabeth, American Choppers for me), but there are a lot of shows we enjoy watching together once the kids are in bed.

At first I thought I would have a hard time thinking of six things I enjoy doing together (I'm a guy after all), but it actually came a lot easier than I thought. There are even more things I like doing together: Just going for a ride in the car to nowhere and talking on the way, laughing hysterically, snacking on something deliciously evil for my figure, going on a Cruise (only once so far), traveling by ourselves without kids and just spending quality time together.

I tag the following: Joseph Martin, Donnie Hall and Jeff Halliday

Memorial Day at Mom and Dad's

First time we went swimming this year. Enjoyed the pool, the barbecue, homemade icecream and visiting with family.

Alex in his full body sun armor suit,
making his "I don't want anybody to see me" stance.

Papi and Henry in the pool.

Maryann and Alex

Maryann and Henry

Sophie showing of her suntan and Grandpa

Why Elizabeth didn't manage to get a photo of Sophie in the pool or one of Max at all I don't know...