Do I still exist?

Barely. I am going to do a very quick check-in, as December is nearly upon us (oh my) and I would like to attempt some bit of normalcy and do a daily photo for the holiday month. We were unable to celebrate Birthdays or Halloween and it is unlikely we'll get to do much for Thanksgiving.  Christmas is looking bleak what with piles of boxes still in every available corner, making it difficult (if not impossible) to put up a tree, or decorations...

So at least we can try photos. Even if the photos are only of Sparkles escapades, as I do believe he'll be making an appearance come Dec. 1st. Or maybe he'll be sending his cousin? We'll see. Not sure the kids even remember Sparkle. I can't wait to see their unexpected faces on December first. Assuming that is, Sparkle can find us at our new address!

The Tooth fairy did find us, though she was late...perhaps that had more to do with the number of times she's had to come since we moved, twice for Miss G and three times for Mr. D! We've only been here 2.5 months!

First tooth came out while eating a plum (of all things) in Kindergarten the week before Halloween:

Second tooth came out the Monday AFTER Halloween at Jack + Jill while bobbing for apples:

The Third tooth came out this week at Kindergarten. I don't have a photo yet. And he still has three more loose teeth...

Stopping now, while i'm ahead. Perhaps if I keep entries short, I'll keep WRITING...

School's In

After a week-long break, during which we did nothing huge or exciting, the kids are back to normal this morning. That means no more "help" with the current carpentry project:

looking for safety goggles, she couldn't find anything in HER room, so she raided Daddy's room and found his 3D glasses from some visit to the movie theater...she is sanding away at the side of her desk, which we had only just started - the whole thing being cut with a jigsaw and sanded with super-fine sandpaper because I didn't have anything else.

putting together the frame of the desk

That's teamwork!

Also, someone lost tooth number two this month:

And now they're both gone. I kind of miss them. It's awfully quiet!

Goodness, it's September

Where have I been? On vacation. Glorious, long, sun-filled, family-filled vacation. And then, when that was over, the summer holidays actually started here at home. So in all truth, despite the date, we are still in the throes of the holidays. At the same time, I am frantically getting ready for the insanity that is My Fall. Every. Year. You know:

• Start of School
• Start of Kindergarten, German & English
• Birthday
• Birthday
• Birthday
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• extras.

Those birthdays? And that Start of School? That's what is keeping me most busy. The first day of school is like, SO IMPORTANT here. It's a huge party. No joke. There are presents, family, pictures, eating out and general celebrating the new adventure that the poor little kids are being forced on. The Start of School. Terrifying? Yes. Exciting? Perhaps. In any case, we are filled with preparations.

The gifts, handmade by me include (and please excuse the bad-quality Instagram photos, I've not had a chance to take true photos as a little girl who is always here, isn't actually supposed to know what she is getting...they're GIFTS!):

Die Apfeltasche, for all her little necessities (including a Glückspilz & a four-leaf-clover):

Der Glückskater Jiji (because every girl needs some luck on such a big adventure):

Her dress (Elodie from Farbenmix), which I sewed a size too small and so had to add gussets just so she could get it around her chest....:

I also had to give up on the "flatterärmel" which upset her, but she gets tulle and it swirls like you would not BELIEVE! So I personally think it is a fair trade. A friend asked on Friday, when it was cold and wet out (the week I sewed the dress, we had a suffocating heat wave): What are you going to do if the first day of school is cold? And wet? Oh dear. Great question. I am so open to suggestions. Since she went and lost her "buggy" Schlauchschal while were on vacation, I'm thinking an apple schlauchschal to match her dress might be one option, but she'll need some sort of sweater, which I'd like to make myself. So the search is on.

Additionally, her Schultüte will contain a watch, an  umbrella, a bracelet, a chinese jumprope game, and ooh, most excitingly: 

a Friendship Book (open to the public, please click on it to view the whole book):

Title Page:

G's Page, which she will get to fill out herself:


Last Page:

all printed beautifully by Pixum into an 8x8 book, ready for her to open, fill out and then send around to her friends for the next four years. I might have possibly made it too big, just because I wasn't sure how big to make it...

In addition to doing a world of things for the actual day, G and I have been doing some homeschooling. We're doing our best to learn the entire alphabet (no, sadly she did not know it) and most especially, the letter sounds associated with each letter. Additionally, we are working on writing the letters, as I think that helps with letter recognition and we are doing a teeny bit of math. In the course of a week and a half, she went from singing the alphabet haphazardly to singing it perfectly from A - ZED. Seriously? ZED? No matter how many times I sing it with her. No matter how many times she hears it sung Zee. No matter that Zee rhymes with Vee and Zed rhymes with NOTHING! 

I have been searching for songs and videos associated with each letter. We watch Storybots, Heidisongs, fun with Phonics and walphabet.com letter stories. After learning the hard way, we do no more than TWO letters a day. She studies them on Starfall and then we fill out the Storybots worksheets together after watching the videos. We are slowly making alphabet pages for each letter with cutouts from magazines and ads. We've gone on a few letter-hunts and built letters out of playdoh. It might be time to act out Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as well...we spend mornings doing this, while D is at Kindergarten. And yes, we do it in English. I may be harming her more than helping. We'll soon see.

As soon as Elodie was finished, I thought I could sit back and relax. I mean, that was done, I'd checked everything off the "start of school checklist"...then I remembered: Birthdays. On on October first, one on the fourth. 

No rest for the weary. 

I'll share a few photos of G's party preps, can you guess the theme?

Monogram G, just missing the cloud.

Mini Top hat. This is the birthday-girl-hat, instead of a cone party hat, or headband or some sort of thing. I saw these hats at DisneyLand and loved them. When I saw them on Pinerest, I realized just how sweet they were and I could MAKE ONE MYSELF! So this is the front. She loves that peacock feather, chose the accent herself this summer.

Back view of the Top hat, and the side I prefer, but to each her own!

Did you guess it? Yup. Rainbows. We've also done rainbow ribbon wands and a ribbon wreath, though each one of these projects is a work-in-progress. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is finished! That includes her Birthday Skirt, which is the Mish Mash skirt by Pink Fig, one huge rainbow of patchwork strips. Literally. And only half finished. It still needs an underskirt and a layer of tulle...and then I have to figure out the matching top to go with the skirt!

The boy is not falling short, his Birthday is after, and slightly less craft-intensive...plus I've yet to sit down and sort the tasks into a to-do list. However, his Monogram D is all painted and glued, Just needs the dinosaur glued on. Yup. Dinosaurs. After I talked him OUT of a Star Wars theme...! Ideas for the Dinosaur Themed Party are HERE. We are doing an excavation for bones in a tub of dirt, we will be cracking open a dino-egg pinata and we might be eating cake out of eggs...

He'll also be sporting stegosaurus socks and maybe a tail...or maybe not. Can never tell with him, whether he might not think it's too babyish. He already fussed with me that the T-Rex for his Letter D is SMILING. he doesn't want a SMILING dinosaur...He wants a roaring dino with SHARP TEETH (or Scharf, as he says).

After birthdays, we've got Halloween knocking at the door and both kids chose elaborate costumes for the non-holiday here in Germany. I'll have a mideival maid (princess?) and her knight in "shining" armor marching down the streets. And both kids WILL be wearing those same elaborate  costumes for Fasching.

That's a bit of the family updates. There is more. Now that the summer is over, the scrapbooking must pick itself up again. Well, it has already...somewhat. I've been back to scrapping in my free moments when I can for my designers. I'm also Guest Teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Design again this month. The topic? Trends. Yes. Debbie thinks I am trendy. So be sure to check THAT out!

Anna has been busy as well. The woman kept working right through her vacation...!

this was Goodbye for us. Unfortunately for Grandma, it was the beginning of a 24 hour PLUS journey home as she got stuck over night in Amsterdam.

Some Summer Photos. Yes. We went on vacation. Yes. There were photos taken...!

At Alki Beach, the day the SeaFair Pirates Landed. Yes. Obviously I need to get busy and scrap more than just a shot of G in the water...but it's a start!

In Downtown Disney after having had Breakfast in Goofy's Kitchen. There was a hat kiosk, so of course G had to try on hats. This one is quite becoming, isn't it?!

Oh yes. My Darling got her ears pierced. If you can't read it, the story goes like this: Grandma and I broached the subject in the car one day, as I had a feeling she was never going to ask herself, even after every last one of her friends got their ears pierced. Plus, I was worried she would ask and beg at some point when we were in Germany and I would have no idea where to go! So We asked her: Georgia, would you like to get your ears pierced? She asked many questions, including: why? Like she couldn't believe we were asking her...after we'd gone through the process, how it might hurt, how she'd have to keep them clean and take care of them etc., her answer was: "I think I need to say yes".

So we went off to the Piercing Pagoda that week and the brave girl walked up and sat down as one ear after the other got pinched. She never flinched. She never cried. She never complained. 

With Auntie Kylene at the Chihuly Gardens in Seattle. 

Grandad observed an Oregon Junco nest at his Golf Course all summer. When we were there, he showed the kids and taught G to mimic the sound they make. After the birds hatched and the nest was abandoned, he brought it home for them (two eggs didn't make it). He meant for them to take it home with them and keep it. They would have loved that, but I think the customs officials in Germany would not have, assuming the nest and eggs could have made it in one piece! So I took photos and the nest stayed with Grandad.

Oh yah, did I mention that we went to DisneyLand? It. Was. Amazing. I would love to turn around and go back right now. I think the favorite ride was Splash Mountain. We rode it three times, and two of those times we stood in line for 90 minutes. that's right. 90 Minutes. Twice. The third time we had a Fast Pass. Even D. was allowed on the ride, and this is a seatbelt, safety bar FREE ride! Can you see G? Sitting in the FRONT? With her arms UP? I yelled: put your arms up! Put your arms up! Grandma gripped the bars as tight as she could and only let go to try and force G's arms back down again. BRAVE girl. D? He was behind me and needed Daddy to hold on to him, but he still went on that coaster three times, and was excited about it!

Finally, finally we went to Hexenwasser in Austria, which boasts the longest Barefoot Path in all of Austria. It was a long LONG day, but amazing. The kids made stick bread from scratch, we're talking: grind your own wheat scratch. We ate Ausgezog'ne handmade right there in a 400 year old kitchen. The kids made beeswax candles, walked through mud, water, sand, over rocks and wood. They fished river-polished stones from the Witch's hut on the river. Hiked. Climbed Trees, balanced, got wet and reveled in nature. 

(click on the photo to go to the interactive 360° panorama view)

Our vacations didn't quite merge this year with Auntie Kylene's. When we arrived, she and Jenna headed off to the East coast for some MUCH needed R&R, but we descended upon them the minute they got back. 

I wish share more stories and layouts as I create them, though I'm afraid the designers are all tending towards back to school themes and fall themes now! I just need to catch up on Summer, but that may not happen...I did take a number of Instagram photos, again, terrible quality, but better than nothing. I'll try and at least get those up over the next week.

Summer 2004? Yes. Why? Because Anna had this new awesome Artplay that screamed: ITALY, that's why.

Some of my thoughts on "homeschooling" for a few weeks and how it might help G:

and continuing on with G, Seven years ago:

Using of all things, Artplay Palette Scientist, Anna's newest AnnaRelease. 

While sewing, I've had Dido on a continuous Loop. Continuous. Every Time No Further comes on, I stop and think. So I had to scrap it. And there you go.

A seriously long catch-up Email. I think I need to get moving now and finish that rainbow skirt. Cheers! Until next time.

Mother's Day in Wildpark Poing

Sunday Morning:


The pretties:

The culprits:

(not pictured: painted canvases from the kids, the breakfast brunch from the bakery & the rose bush from S.)

After breakfast we went to Poing (more for the rest of them, less for me, but I'm easy):

Discovered: Wolf Pups, can't have been very old:

The sheep had too many young, they wouldn't come near enough to be fed. The deer on the other hand...

they used ALL their food on the deer, who were mostly nuzzling their hands and knocking the food to the ground. They loved it.

not pictured: the dead deer they discovered. Still wondering what that was left to rot away on the ground right where it died, and where 100's of people could stumble on it. S. used it as a teaching aid...

Years ago now (yikes!) my dear friend Susan sent me a raccoon webkinz. That was back when we all played the games...now the raccoon is left, the games long forgotten. Love that sweet, fluffy raccoon. So does D. He carries it all over the place, sleeps with it. Loves it to pieces. So we stopped to see the real thing:

I told them not to touch. There are always ignoramuses feeding them though. This time, butterkeks. Yah, Raccoons will eat anything, but should they? and would YOU stick your fingers in their cage within reach of their claws? and teeth? Me neither.

Lunch, and a new playground:

followed by the bird show, which G INSISTED on watching.

She had made up a song on the way about a 'kicher-eule' (giggling owl) and kept yelling: it's the Kicher-Eule!

Despite their animal feed being gone, they spent a long time picking up corn kernels from the ground in front of the Kamerunschaf(s) and feeding and petting them. Finally got them moving to see the no-longer-quite-so-frisch frischlinge:

And on the way out, a stop for some photos please, with Mommy on Mother's day:

A May Day BBQ

As promised, a quick roundup of Tuesdays activities!

Being May 1st, everything was closed and the family was home. Having good weather had me suggesting a BBQ because I know S. loves them. However, S. does not love them in our yard with the neighbor/owners there and was reluctant to let me invite the Nobis/Gilchrist clan over. Thankfully, Sylvie willingly allowed us to come BBQ at their place, as long as S. did the BBQing! Agreed.

A slight digression: on Monday, we were ready to head out on bikes to do the J+J pick-up. I got downstairs, dug the bike carrier out from beneath 20 bikes and strollers (again, neighbor/owners) only to discover that it had a flat. There was a thumbtack stuck deep into the left tire...emergency change of plans, thankfully S. was home on Monday so we could take the car! What that meant was that S. had to repair the flat on Tuesday before we could to BBQ because he wanted to use it as our means of transporting everything to and from. The repair job took nearly two hours for some reason, causing us to arrive later than planned...

Upon arrival, we scarfed down chips and salsa. S. had told me the Salsa was too spicy, so I didn't add another chili. It wasn't spicy, not enough. Every kid (except D.) had no problem chugging it!

D. let himself be pushed around the garden all afternoon on this pedal car (the chain was off so he couldn't actually move it by himself) and Ella let herself be chased all afternoon. When her current chaser got tired, she found a new kid to chase her and when every one was tired, she pushed D. on the pedal car. They did this so long and with so much noise, they eventually got fussed at to stop because they were disturbing the nest of baby black birds and scaring off the mama bird...

After eating until we were stuffed (the feast included BBQ'd chicken, steaks, sausages, eggplant, zucchini, peppers & mushrooms, home made salsa, tzaziki & hummus, a green salad and a cheesy potato salad, a fruit salad, and bread), John built a bonfire where the kids roasted 'stick bread'. The Stick-bread didn't turn out fabulously because it was made with self-rising flour instead of yeast, and apparently never actually rose...but that didn't bother the kids, they had a blast roasting it!

Malky

ahem..this one got left in the flames a tad too long... (and because it was her idea, G., decided that Dani was the resident expert on roasting stick bread and wouldn't ask anyone else for help. She continually asked Dani: is it ready yet? G. only met Dani a few hours earlier, but the pretty, quiet blonde quite entranced her!)

Dani & Ella






Sweet Sylvie










Malky


Jamie

I think this is almost the whole crew: Sylvie in the far back behind the bush, John in the Superman Tee, Ella in the blue pants, Dani, Malky on the pedal-car, Jamie, G., D., Paul. Missing are S., Me, and the Nobis part of the Nobis-Gilchrist clan, as they too, were in attendance (that would be Slyvie's Mum, Brother, SIL & niece). This is all only important for Mom, as she'll meet most of them in August.

Eventually, the sun started to go down and the steckerl-brot was replaced with bacon. There were some rain drops, Mama-bird never came home and suddenly it was 8:30pm and we had to rush home as Wed. was a normal work-school day! Happy First of May!