Monday, December 15, 2014

Happy Birthday Timmy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BIG 7 YEAR OLD!!

Timmy chose to have his birthday at Aquana this year.  He invited 5 friends and his brother to join him.  I called several weeks in advance to ask questions and make sure that everything was set for the party at Aquana.  They assured me 3 times I did not need to "register" my information to come that day for his party, but that we just come anytime during their hours from 10-9 pm on that Saturday, and we could celebrate there with all the kids and a cake.
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 So, as you see here, we are celebrating at our home.  As it turned out, we all showed up to Aquana with our swimgear, birthday cake and everything, and it's CLOSED!  Closed people.
Felt like a scene from vacation approaching WalleyWorld with the parking lot empty.
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So, we just went to the apartment and celebrated there.  The kids had fun.  They played with Timmy's new Fussball table, built a huge train, played balloon tennis, had a treasure hunt, ate cake and fruit, and pulled out board games and pirate playmobiles.
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Image Everyone had a great time.  I was the one who was mostly disappointed.  I wrote to Aquana though, and they were nice and apologized for not calling (or really getting my information so that they could have called) when they decided to close for cleaning for several days.  They invited us all to come for free in January together.  So, we will enjoy that.
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On Timmy's birthday, there was a Christmas Party in his classroom.  
The kids did great presentations, songs, and poems.
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 They also sang to Timmy for his birthday, which he was excited about, and lifted him in a chair chanting "Hoch Leben!"

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Happy Thanksgiving

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We spent Thanksgiving with our friends, the Baumanns, last month.  I wanted to post a few pictures to remember what a special day it was.  It was our first time celebrating Thanksgiving in several years, and we were grateful to enjoy a rare day with other Americans and a moment of thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for our blessings.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Daily Life with 3 kids

Our normal daily schedule at the moment looks something like this....

7:20 - 8:20 am - take kids to school & Kindergarten on foot. (Scott to work)
8:30-10 - Grocery shopping or teach my exercise classes.
10-12 - Cora nap. (shower, housework, prep dinner or things for Sunday callings, journaling/photo blogging)
12-2- Eat lunch and feed Cora, play with Cora and try to do chores at the same time, usually with her in the backpack or playing with toys on the floor...and the garbage cans!
2:00 - pick up the kids from school & Kindergarten (mostly by car).
3:00 - 4:30 - Cora 2nd nap.  (boys usually need a lot of attention in this time)
4:30 - 5:30  Usually busy trying to keep all 3 kids happy while I try to make dinner, set the table, clean up the apartment, and "listen" to their stories with one ear and glances at their eyes.  
5:30 - family dinner
6:00 - 7 Bedtime (jammies, brush teeth, scriptures study, prayers....and the kids always manage to finagle some kind of playing in here whether it's wrestling with dad, goofing off with each other, or getting out an art project all-of-a-sudden.)
7:15 - FREEDOM!.......to clean up dinner, get the laundry in the dryer, answer emails, and prep for the next day.  :)

Of course, we fit visiting teaching, home teaching, occasional evening meetings and activities in there also. Play dates with other kids, swim lessons, speech therapy, dental appointments, school Christmas parties, birthday parties, parent teacher conferences, and service to those who need a listening ear, a helper, a temple recommend interview, etc.   All these things push the naptimes and cooking and other chores around, so there is often much left undone, and lots waiting for me to "catch up" on. 

I will forget how busy life was when I am 50.  I know I will.  So, this is to remind me what life was like with 3 little kids.

Sometimes I dream of when things will get easier, but I know that they always say around here "Little kids, little problems.  Big kids, big problems."  But things do change quickly with kids.  One year to the next often has very different activities and schedules.  My life changed drastically when the 2 boys stopped napping....and then again drastically when I had a napping baby again.

I hope when Aaron goes to school in the same building as Timmy that that will help cut down a bit of the pick up and drop off time that we have with two buildings.  Also, Timmy will be big enough that he should be able to walk with Aaron alone to school, which would be SO nice.  Of course, Aaron will also have homework. 

We also long to fit in more exercise in our day, more time cooking really healthy meals, more family downtime, more meaningful discussions together, date nights as a couple, more meaningful service to others....it's hard to know if you are balancing & prioritizing things right.

This is our general schedule and life for this moment; it won't be forever. So, here is a "snapshot" in this moment for me to remember, whatever that might be worth later.

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 Timmy beim Weihnachts Basteln
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Aaron building a Thomas train
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Aaron's "Mensch" that he thought up and made all by himself.

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Cora on daddy's shoulders

**I'll add that (a week later), I am up on Saturday night at 11:45, because living in Germany as an LDS woman means that you have to prepare music time, sharing time and a sunday school lesson for the 8-11 year olds for Sunday meetings.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Happy Birthday Cora!

One year ago, this sweet little girl came to us.  
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 Here is Cora an hour after her birth, and just a week later
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This photos of Cora are on her 1 year birthday this week!  
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 Breakfast time
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 Bath time
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 Party time.
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 Bärbel and Mike spoiled her with a Cheese Cake, Winter Coat and overalls.
Good thing that Aunti Bärbel and Uncle Mike are on the ball because Cora's mom (I) was not quite ready to throw a party of any kind.  So glad we got to celebrate!
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 Her first piece of cake.  She devoured some, threw some pieces on the floor, and ate some more.  
Her favorite part was the crust.
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Happy Birthday Cora-girl!  We love having you in our family!




Friday, November 14, 2014

St. Martin's Tag

We celebrated St. Martin's Tag this week.  All the kindergartens (preschools) and schools have little parades to celebrate.  The kids all create a lantern at school and then, bring them lit up to the parade.  Aaron had an "Elmar the Colorful Elephant" Lantern.  Timmy made a "Rabe named Leo from the Tobi's," but it wasn't finished yet for Aaron's parade, so he used last year's "Friedrich the mouse."

This year, Aaron's Kindergarten met at the Schloßpark, had a little bonfire, sang some St. Martin's songs, saw a very short rentition of the St. Martins story with a child on a pony as St. Martin, and then had the parade route end at the Senior Center nearby, where the kids sang to the Seniors.  Bärbel joined us for the evening.

There, you can pick up your pre-ordered "Weckman," also known as a Stutenkerl, Keipenkerl, Klaaskerl, Stutenmann, Hefekerl, Boxemännchen, in other parts of Germany.   It is a sweet bread with a clay pipe baked in, raisen eyes and course sugar on top.    There was also hot chocolate and kinder punch.  Yum!

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Timmy's school had a big parade as well two nights later, but we forgot the camera.  They had a "Kapelle" (band) to accompany the parade and singing, and a HUGE bonfire after with a real horse, St. Martin's rider, and reenactment.  It was very muddy, a lot of people, and chilly.  But, we got our fix before the famine.  This will most likely be our last St. Martin's day in Germany.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Happy Birthday Scott and Bathtime

Happy Birthday to Scott this week.  A whopping 34!  
For these three weeks we are the same age.  The kids say "Even though you are the same age, Daddy is still bigger."....and Scott adds "And stronger....and faster."

We celebrated with pizza and cupcakes and gifts.

Thanks Dan and Janet for the party-in-a-bag!  Thank you mom and dad Parker for the fun cards, emails and gift $$!  Thank you mom and dad Stapleton for the phone calls and rain jacket!
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 There is something about the classic bathtub picture.  Something about kids bathing together and having a great time, is just so adorable.
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 In our case, it just happens to be a 3 inch deep shower basin, instead of a bathtub. :)
They still manage to have just as much fun with three of them sharing this tiny "widduw" space.
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Saturday, November 1, 2014

Last week of October

Cora was really enjoying the baby swings at An der Rast Park this week
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 We realized while we were in Croatia, that this American has been to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece and Croatia....but she's never actually been to America.
She's going to miss the German bakeries!
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 Yet, again, we went ALL OUT for Halloween (not)...with our same trusty costumes from the last three years.  Pathetic.  I know.  Technically, we don't celebrate Halloween here, but we do have Carnival, and that deserves a thought out costume.  We'll get some next year for sure.  
I won't promise that they'll be hand-stitched or the like though. :)
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 The boys got to trick-or-treat at Westpark with an American/English speaking playgroup of mine.  Afterwards, they also trick or treated to Mike & Bärbel and Antonio (in our house).  They got the biggest Überraschungs Eier from the Timmers!  Look how HUGE!
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 On another note, Aaron visited Siddarth's Car's themed birthday party, and had a blast with the balloon entertainment.
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Croatia Part III

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Motovon was a lovely town we day-tripped from Pula.  An old town set on a hill with a wall around it, and known for their Tarfuti (Truffles).
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We had lunch on the hill with a great view!  I got black truffle pasta, Aaron and Scott had Gnocchi with cheese and Timmy had little hot dogs and french fries.
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 Cora: "Shout out to my grandmas and grandpas!"
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Afterwards, we visited Rijeka on the way home.  Beautiful seaside town (the favorite city in Istria in most guidebooks).  Had a wonderful view from the top of this bell tower, from which Cora threw her ball.  It bounced nicely down onto the walkway, where a woman promptly picked it up and took off with it.  Sigh.  I had only bought it 20 Minutes before.
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The little alleys were so charming.
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Back at home, our host made us chocolate "pancakes" (crepes).  What a treat!
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The next day, we headed for another swimming spot out by Premantura.  This cove had no wind and calm waters.  Bit cold, but nothing the wet suits couldn't handle.  It was almost hot with the full-body wet suit.  My kind of snorkeling!
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Cora J was hanging in the pack pretty much the whole 12 days. 
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The next day, we toured Pula in the morning.  The Roman Amphitheatre was pretty cool.
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So was this gate entering the town. 
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And that's pretty much it for Pula-town, so we're headed back to the beach!
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We found this spot to swim that evening, which was a really shallow beach, making for warmer waters.  Lots of other swimmers out was a good tell-tale sign that it was a nice spot.
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5 nights at this ladies apartment was heaven!  Karina was the best hostess!
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We spent the other 5 nights close to Plitvice Lakes in Dresnik Grad.  We spent the first morning hiking by the Korena River, taking naps and then the afternoon in Rastoke.
Here's Korena Valley.
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Caves under the waterfalls in Rastoke.
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We had dinner at a restaurant , where you can go out the back and see the waterfalls running off the cliffs.  So pretty!
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The fall leaves were really beautiful, and we had nice warm weather.
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Next day we spent several hours hiking and lunching in Plitvice National Park.
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The kids had a blast there!  
They were super excited about the hiking, waterfalls, boat and food.
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The Park has unusual boardwalks that get you right up to the falls, and beautiful green water.
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We finished the night off with a family sized pizza.  (9 bucks - not bad eh?)
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The next morning, we tried to visit the Barac Caves, but they were closed, so we just hiked for a bit, had lunch, and went to get a view of Bosnia, across the border.
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Good idea if you want to check a country off your list of places you've been.
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Bad idea if crossing borders into unknown lands, and bullet holes in downtown
kind of freak you out.  (I won't say which of us what the interested one, and which of us was the 
freaked out one.)
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Our wonderful hosts at the Sminov Apartments!
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The morning we left, we got our tour of the Barac Caves afterall, which was a lot of fun!
This room was the most beautiful, and we got to see at least 7 bats!
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We drove to Zadar and had lunch before flying out. 
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This was waiting on our doorstep when we arrived home!
We have the BEST neighbors!
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