be merry!

I maybe mentioned in passing, that we got our tree yesterday? Here are the rest of the photos. Oma and Opa grabbed one to take home with them, ours was too big for me to photograph AND hold at the same time, and the kids were too busy being 'cold' and wanting to go in to the playground. So ours got wrapped up and set aside before I got a real idea of it's size or shape. We decorated today and it is VERY bushy. 

anyway, after choosing trees, we went into the newly remodeled Pflanzenkölle and had to have coffee at the Bamboo Restaurant, because it had hanging basket chairs, and couches and was all green and jungle-y! And then we walked through the store and the kids made paper angels (€1 ea for a bit of paper and a watte-ball) and then we got a bit of this and that (iPuro christmas raumduft!) before eating bratwurst (them, not me) and heading home again, exhausted.  (Because this all happened AFTER teeball practice).

Helau

While one kid got to go to the Ear Doctor to have a playmobil treasure coin removed from his ear..the other got to go celebrate Fasching at school, in full costume.

And in that vein, my princess:

Ooh, and no, this wasn't his costume yesterday, but the boy got his face painted a while back (the day we had the problem with the incoming molar...). His Fasching celebration was yesterday, he was a night, without boots, sword, shield or hood...but first he had his 5 year checkup, which is where they made the discovery of the toy in his ear...

And now we're off for a week of vacation, no school, no homework (except the daily reading) and no kindergarten pick-ups or drop offs. yay.

December 21 - Stomach Flu

Not ONE photo taken today (see December 20th).

December 20 - Right Before the Stomach Flu hit...

On the evening of December 20th, I was sitting here, catching up on my daily photos, fully planning on catching up to the actual day. I had literally just opened the photos from the 20th in Photoshop when I realized that my stomach was not just bloated still from lunch (and it's around 7:30 pm by now) but that it was nauseous. Badly so. And that maybe I hadn't been bloated. and maybe I hadn't eaten too much food at lunch as originally thought. and i was suddenly VERY glad, that I had not eaten dinner. So although I had planned on finishing up the photos and watching a Christmas movie, I ended up crawling into bed. The rest is history. The stomach flu had come, exactly one week after the kids had it. So I spent Friday in bed and took not ONE. Single. Photo. I missed the last day of school. I missed lunch out with the kids. We had to postpone our sleepover as well as our trip to the mall to see the Christmas decorations. And while I lay there in misery, everything turned into chaos...so when I woke up on Saturday, feeling better, though VERY weak, I had a huge mess greet me...

The good news is: although the stomach is still queasy now and then (and might be for the next week or two, if Miss G is any indication), my strength returned slowly throughout the day and we were able to go to the Mall, get our Coffee (Starubucks beans to brew for Christmas) as well as the tees for the kid's pj bottoms and we were even home by lunchtime!

Back to the 20th though! I am not going to pick out one photo at this point, there are only a few more days. So enjoy all the photos from that afternoon:

After school, after the doctor's check-up, and after christmas present shopping for each other: they got to watch a movie:

while Daddy did some last minute work:

(and I fell asleep on the couch - big indicator right there!)

Sparkle took a page out of Buddy's book and decorated with some snowflakes, though not nearly as many as Buddy...

And thanks to the amazing A-Team, I got more Christmas Cards this year than ever before. EVER. 

2012 Christmas Tree & Decorations

This is mostly for Grandma, who has been hearing every detail of our tree and living room for the past two days, thanks to a little grandson who can't stop talking about it with her, despite claiming he'd rather speak German...

Reminders of Seattle (Mariners)

We totally need something with Mount Rainier...& Pike's Place. And the Space Needle. And Basically? Anything that would remind me of Seattle, I need. Shoot. Why can't I be there to shop?!

(sea urchin for the ocean we are missing)

and to bring a bit of Grandma in to Christmas:

the trees we made hanging:

rainbow happiness, thanks Target (years ago):

this santa is mine!

Fancy pants poodle on a pink davenport. (For G)

The Gingerbread Santa (for D):

This is where the Christmas cards are usually hung, as well as the stockings. For now, it's empty because I was too lazy to try and get back there to hang the cards. Over the years, the space has diminished because of someone needing a place to store all his stuff...

Shelf decorations. LOVE that Santa (love after Christmas Sales, will miss them this year. Boo!) Found some holly while looking for a bright pink poinsettia. Love the holly. Love it with that Frame. Filled S's ugly lantern with Christmas balls and suddenly: it's festive.  Jingle Tree hiding behind the nativity (which Miss G set up).

And more word-happiness in frames and a big paper ball ornament done in old Blitzen scrapbooking paper I had from way back when. You know? When I used to paper scrap. The shelf above this one is lined in Christmas cards. I actually got some this year, despite having not sent any...!

His ornament is at home with Grandma, so I made a frame for him, to make sure he's part of our Christmas we well:

I think Sparkle was excited that the tree finally went up. We found him nestled amongst the branches, gazing up at the lights Sunday Morning:

Whew. That was a lot of photos. Hope you enjoyed, Grandma! Now you know what D has been talking about!

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!