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.

a bit of a blast...from the past

9. February 2007 

That's nearly 6 years ago to the day. And six years ago, we had sunshine an went to the playground and it was warm enough to play in the sandbox. This year, it's cold, and covered in snow. And one more thing, that little fat-cheeked, baldy baby? She is nearly as high as my shoulder now and has hair down to the middle of her back. It's crazy. CRAZY.

Also: she is learning, with much effort, to read. German. Phonetically. She is meant to read aloud for 10 minutes daily. Yesterday, she insisted on reading an English book. And what's more? She did it. And she seemed to grasp it more quickly than the German...it could have had to do with the easy-reader book, but does that matter? She's learning. I'm happy!

a WASTE of my time...

which resulted in this (helping get out my frustration):

and now back to your regularly scheduled program, which did not include reading my blog...I know. Because I never manage to update anymore, which only means I am totally and completely missing out on the little snips of life that I am thus going to forget.

For Example: G went to her first birthday slumber party at the weekend (no, she will not be having one of her own, are you crazy? I'm not! and yes, she DID ask) where she proceeded to be awake as per usual, at 2am. However, with the help of a friend, she was not only awake, she got UP and the two of them fully intended to start their day, were headed to the birthday girl's bedroom to play when they were intercepted by Birthday Girl's Mama who sent them right back to bed!

Mr. D: discovering the unfortunate but inevitable silverfish that abide in all walls everywhere...informed me in great earnestness: "Mommy, I saw GOLDfish in the BATHroom..."

Miss G on going to school in the morning: "Mommy, I don't want to go to school tomorrow, I don't FEEL like it." When told she had to go anyway, as it's the LAW and we could go to JAIL if she didn't she asked: "Why can't we call and pretend I'm sick?" (ME: "Because that would be lying" ) to which she responded: "But _________ did it...". and ______________, if you are reading this, you'll know who you are! 

Dido finally has a new album coming out. Very excited. I follow her on FB. For years, her page has been silent, and then suddenly, she was recording, and posting about it and then her page was informing her followers that her new single would be premiering on the radio for the first time EVER on X January 2013. It included the link to the live streaming to the Radio station in question. That would be the BBC's Radio 2. Why do I mention this? After hearing her song, I kept listening. I left the stream open on my computer. I listened all day. I listened every day. I'm still listening. And because I am still listening. And because I now have a cell with internet (thanks, Mom), I can listen to music EVERYWHERE. 

That's what I was doing today, while walking home from school after the failed meeting with G's teacher. I was pissed. It was snow-storming (by which I mean, snowing with serious WIND) and I was miserable because I could not SEE and my eyes were stinging, and I could not even open one of them, and my glasses were just a blur of water. But I was listening to the radio and the morning show was featuring a new(ish) artist in the UK and he played this AWESOME song (live) called Lightning Bolt. I could NOT stop grinning. The music was happy and peppy and I think the lyrics were fun, but I don't even know because it was his voice and his accent and the WAY he sang the words that caught my fancy.

That's all. I got carried away. I'll be back in another five months, eh?!

Of Fires...& Teeth!

As I mentioned before, a week ago on Friday, we had to evacuate the building (3-apartment building) due to our neighbors (also the owners of the building) having accidentally started a major fire in their kitchen. I was called to the speaker around 3:30pm or so and my neighbor kindly asked us to please evacuate. The kids and FIL panicked. There was general confusion on their parts, the kids went screaming downstairs in socks (D was carried by neighbor) and I followed behind, grabbing only keys and shoes on my way out. Point being, I had no way to record the events, and it's too bad as the smoke billowing out of the open window and the flames reaching to the ceiling were a frightening sight to see, no doubt.

I was able to get photos from the fire department website a few days later and along with the photo I took of the burned pot and pile of ashes, created something to try and get my thoughts in order. Only most of my thoughts are in images and artistry and not the words...

If you look closely, you'll see the sign that says: in this exact spot. That is pointing to the window of the kitchen containing the fire. The window directly above that is OUR kitchen. That is how close the fire was to us. Thankfully, everyone got out of the house with no injuries, those with slight smoke inhalation were kept overnight in the hospital and released the next morning. 

FIL and I took some cake leftover from the Kindergarten Fleamarket to the neighbors the next afternoon and she invited us to see the kitchen. It was a bit of a shock. I used to spend a lot of time in that kitchen...

You might imagine that I was in no hurry to go to the Fire Department's festival today. I let my family go without me...

During that time, I dug out a photo of Miss Mae from the time she lost tooth Number Four. I never bothered to record the exact day, place or time of this loss (how sad!) and so took Anna's newest Artplay and did so today (well, except for the exact day):

It's quite fine, that Anna chose now to do an artplay about fairies, as I've noticed, with the start of school and the magical age of SIX, most of G's friends and schoolmates are finally sporting gap-toothed smiles. What I didn't realize, is that it has been TWO YEARS since she has had a gap! She also doesn't seem likely to be losing any further teeth soon. She's lost eight, all during her fifth year and she'll be seven in only about a week...Oh my. Time....

The First Week of School. (put on your reading glasses!)

The first week of school has gone by in a whirlwind of well...confusion, color, excitement and activity. It has not been without its Ups and Downs. 

Monday.

D. went to Jack + Jill alone. It must have been a Good Day, despite his being alone, as there were no accidents, no tears, and a joyful greeting, despite my somewhat late arrival due to a mix-up with car seats.

G went to her first full day of school according to the official Schedule. She was out by 12:20 and I biked to school to make sure she got on the right bus, and then I left her to ride it home while I met her at her bus stop.

G and I picked up D. Then D went to his very first playdate away from home and without G. or Me. While he was there, G and I biked down to the Sport Center and she went to girl's gymnastics for grades 1 - 5. She was skeptical at first, but upon arrival discovered at least half her class there. The plan was for her to be there until 5:30pm, at which time D and I would be there to pick her up. In the meantime, I biked back home and then on to retrieve D from his playdate at 5pm, giving us just enough time to bike back to the Sport Center. Unfortunately, D didn't want to leave and striked and then insisted he was going to ride his own bitty bike all the way there. At this time, I got a call from another Mom telling me that the kids had gotten out at 5pm and G was beside herself with worry that I was not there, and that my bike was also not there. Said Mama drove her home and Daddy had to pick up her bike later. Turns out, the girls weren't paying attention and at 5pm, were meant to go to Hall 3 for fun + games. G insisted she never wanted to go back, but upon closer questioning, it turned out that she had had a good time, but my not being there at the end sent her into a spiral of worry and tragedy. She'll go back next week, and even better, she'll get a ride with a friend. I am a very lucky Mama.

Tuesday.

D. to Kindergarten.

G. to school for her only long day of the week. She was meant to have English and P.E. on Tuesday and get out at 1:05pm. So D. and I got on the bike and met her at the school at 1pm to get her safely on the bus. Said bus left at 1:09pm and the class got down at exactly 1:05pm, so there was a bit of a panic on the side of the kids. Thankfully both our neighbor (4th grade) and I told G she should just be calm, she'd make it okay. D and I left her to ride home with neighbor and hopped on the bike. Thanks to short legs and lack of enthusiasm, we got out after the bus and had to fight wind on the way home. For that reason, we were behind the bus when it stopped at Eichenstrasse and I saw one of G's classmates get off with frightened tears. She had missed her stop. Instead of following the bus and abandoning her, I turned around and walked her back to her stop and her neighbor took her in tow so I could continue to G's stop. Met another Mama on the way who was missing HER daughter. No, I hadn't seen her...I did however see G walking down the street and was hurrying to meet her when yet another Mama pulled out of her driveway asking if I'd seen HER daughter. Nope, hadn't even seen her get on the bus back at the school! 

G however, was walking home safely with our 4th grade neighbor and we met them on the way. All was well. 

D was picked up a few hours later by his friend for his 2nd "official" playdate and G had a last-minute friend come over as well.

Wednesday.

Wake up to pouring rain and a raging head cold with aching head, screaming throat and stuffy nose. Apologize to G and let her know I will not be meeting her at the school to see she gets on the right bus. She has a phone, she has been told many times which busses she can catch and to ask either crossing guard or bus driver, should she be unsure, whether the bus goes to her stop.

I spend the morning flat on the couch, G is out by 11:20 today and I go to the bus stop to meet her. My brave, brave girl. She has ridden the bus with all of the 'Heimkinder' who told her that she could NOT ride that bus, it was only going to the 'Kinderheim'. My girl looked at the bus number, walked to the crossing guard and asked. I am so proud of her! She got on that bus alone, with all of those Heimkinder and met me at the bus stop.

As with any sick day, the kids were over the top with energy and mischief and I couldn't do a thing about it. Besides which, say what you will, having school from 8am - 11:20am was too short. G was full of energy. She could not fall asleep that night. She had not been stimulated enough. I mention this because there has been discussion at school that the children have too many hours and English might get cut. I will never understand the school system here. Why is it okay to cut English and have two hours of religion instead? 

Thursday.

Conference with Kindergarten Teachers today. Question being: should we sign D up for the pre-school program or not. The end decision was to go ahead and sign him up until December and then see how he does. As with G, he is a 'kann-Kind' meaning his birthday falls just outside the cut off date for starting school, but close enough to the date, that he could start school next year. With G, there was never any question that she would not start until she was nearly 7. With D, I am uncertain. G had a hoard of friends who would be starting with her, a major argument for waiting. She also had some language deficiencies, due to her ear problems and needed that extra year to catch up. 

D on the other hand, is a smart little brat. He's had nearly 5 years of extra language and learning from G. His little mind is quick as can be, but he is extremely immature and lacking in self confidence. I am not pushing him either way, but want to make sure he has the opportunity. Unlike G, he does not have a group of friends who will start one year or another. There is at this time, one other boy in his group who will start school in 2013. There are two who will start in 2015, and there is one (his best friend) who might start in 2014. Might being the keyword here. He is an August birthday and although that puts him within the cut off date, if he is not ready, a doctor could get him out of starting. So nothing is certain in the case of friends. Whatever happens, D will get to enjoy (or hate) the preschool program for the next few months and then we'll see.

After the conference, we met one of the new kids in his class. S. African English Speaker. How is it that the English Speakers all find their way into the hedgehog group? Family lives over our Bakery, right down the street. Son is in 2nd grade at G's school. Go figure. 

Missed G at the bus stop today. My stupid fault. I relied on bad information that she wouldn't be home until 12:45, so didn't set out to meet her until 12:40, at which time I found her walking down the street towards me with our neighbor Mama. turns out, she'd been there for an HOUR (in her words) and the light had never changed. Neighbor Mama confirmed that the crossing light was NOT working. Thankfully she came along to help G cross the street! G was not upset with me, but I will not do that to her today!

Today.

Have you made it this far? After all that babbling, I am now going to supply a feast of images, as I went crazy last night trying to catch up with way too many new releases! None of them have much to do with the previous week...the week was a bit too crazy for photos!

for Jimbo Jambo Designs (I am guest creating for her this month). Photos are all recent, from September and end-of-August:

This layout was taken from G's Birthday Invites. I expanded the 10x15 size to a 12x12 layout (photos from her Einschulung, except the one with sunglasses):

The story of Racoony...photos were taken last week when Oma and Opa were here.

Love this new Kit by Amy Wolff. The quote: "Worrying will never change the outcome" resonated with me. There was quite a bit of worrying about G and her school start. On her part, on my part...and all it did was use up energy better spent on other things. Lesson Learned? Probably not! 

Picture from her first day of school. She looks so pensive...

Using Sahlin Studio's newest kit: Retro Mod. Love this kit. Was not overly happy with this layout...but then, it's scrapped now. So no complaints. Photos were taken this spring. Just some everyday photos of the kids playing in their room.

The inspiration for this came from CD Muckosky's new Sketchy Skool. When I saw the 'i love the library' sketch, I immediately thought of my college Library. Ugly from the outside, but full inside of colorful, way-too-comfortable couches and the infamous womb chairs. I don't think I ever managed to go in there and study withOUT falling asleep! It's been a "few" years since I've been to Oberlin, and the photos were taken from a Google Images search, except of course, the little one of me, blended into the womb chair. That was taken during my tenure at Oberlin, in a friend's dorm room. I appear to be studying. And I fuss at MY kids for not sitting properly at the table while doing homework!

I will 100% admit to grabbing this kit just for the name. Pumpkin Spice. I love it. I love a Pumpkin Spice Latte and as far as I know, they do NOT make them in Germany. I have managed over the years to get a cup or two while visiting in the States at Christmas. Some stores have syrup leftover in December, but it's never been often, and it's always been FAR between. While I was creating this layout, it occurred to me that I may never have another pumpkin spice latte, as we will not have the opportunity to travel to the States in the Fall or Winter again for at least 14 years...and who knows if there will still be pumpkin spice lattes in that many years?! I nearly cried at the thought.

This one came about because i love Sahlin Studio's new Retro Mod kit, a lot, but did not like the first layout I created with it. So I tried again. This one uses some vintage-y type photos of our first dog. Loved combining the vintage chic kit with an ArtsyTemplate by Anna Aspnes. Opposites DO attract!

And finally, before I leave you with a feast of words and images to get your head spinning, I want to share this last one, using Anna's Sunflower Artplay. I had been putting off scraping with this particular artplay because I wanted to use the photos Mom is sending me of  G's Sunflower, but it hasn't bloomed yet. As I was perusing old photos for the above layout, I came across these photos from my friend. She'd sent them to me sometime like SIX years ago and I was meant to scrap them...

I will be back...at some point. Anna has created my absolute DREAM Artplay Palette this week: Fairies.

And I can't wait for inspiration to strike. 

I also have a layout from the heart in the works. A week ago Friday, we had to flee from our house, as the neighbors had managed to set their kitchen on fire. The whole street was closed down as fire truck after fire truck arrived on the scene. They were accompanied by Ambulances and police. The fire was put out, there was damage, but thankfully not to our place, and the only injuries were slight smoke inhalation of three of the neighbors, who were taken to the hospital for overnight observation. This is news of the best kind, because at the time of the fire, there were no less than 8 children in the house, as well as 9 adults.

Get Schooled

As it's the first Friday in September, the Lilypad has their BYOC up and in the store. It's pretty cool except: I don't have a school kid (yet) and school hasn't started here yet. So scrapping pages was hard. Also...the color palette? yikes! It was all about overcoming my own personal issues and rising to the challenge this month!

Thinking outside the box...

Some thoughts on G's letter sounds because i did take a quick itouch photo of her doing a worksheet last week:

pulled out my scanner, perused my old photos (I don't have many here) and scrapped this wonderful shot of me demonstrating the Pioneer Dunce Cap back in 4th or 5th Grade.

D's first day at nursery playgroup, known at that time as: bunchkids.

Kylene's first day of...preschool? Kindergarten? I thought that was Suzy and her little bro, and I thought they lived across the street from us in NM, but now I'm thinking that might be the yard in AZ and Suzy actually lived one street over...so it would be Lee's first day of Kindergarten. Please help me out Mom, or Lee! I need to change the journaling and date if that's the case!!!

if you are still with me, you're in for a treat. I saved this for last just in case readers were not actually scrolling to the bottom. Save myself some embarrassment...

School Photos. Love to HATE 'em!

That's all for now. I hope to be back later with some AnnaProduct as a new Artplay just came through (yay!) and she is celebrating her One Year Birthday at Oscraps! Before I can do that though, I have a Rainbow Tee to sew, a T-Rex Tee and two paris of stegosaurus socks! 

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.

Strawberries & Layouts

This past holiday-weekend was spent shopping, picking strawberries and BBQ-ing with friends. I can't think of a more perfect couple of days. Well okay, maybe I could have lost the shopping part, but it was necessary! Both kids needed summer shoes and we needed food to put ON the BBQ and for that matter, S. decided we needed a new BBQ as well, but he did that shopping by himself while the kids and I went to the strawberry field.

When we arrived, both kids filled up their baskets as fast as they possibly could, not paying much attention to the quality of the berries they chose. They were in a hurry to get eating and somehow believed they had to fill their baskets before they could start eating...Once their baskets were filled, they took off running down the rows of berries and found good spots to plop down and eat, and eat, and eat. I thought I'd never get them out of there, thankfully D. eventually needed the toilet and that gave us an excuse to leave. That boy had strawberry juice from ear-to-ear and all the way up to his elbows!

The following day found us at friend's with a huge load of food (buffalo wings, a rib-eye, fruit salad, brownies, salsa, ingredients for s'mores...) and a new BBQ, still packed in its box. S. and Jamie put it together and eventually fired it up. S. hardly left its side all day. I think it's safe to say, he loves his new toy.

John offered to hire him on the spot to be the grill-master at their Birthday BBQ in July. S. laughed, but I have a sneaking suspicion John was serious.

Monday (holiday) found the lucky S. at the movies to see MIB3, leaving us at home to play on the playground and unknowingly pick up ticks. It is absolutely necessary to check for the dang things after every trip out side in the grass...G. found it on her leg the following day and had a meltdown. She didn't understand what a tick is, and kept asking if it would drink ALL her blood? and would their be a hole in her leg when the tick was out? We took a trip to the ped's to get it removed. Thankfully, she caught it soon, and it hadn't had long to suck on her leg or spread possible diseases.

Now a quick blast from the past before I start on that huge mound of laundry that never seems to end:

a teeny darling baby in her fishy bikini. No, she never wore it in water. It's cute though, isn't it? I think we passed it on to Rebekkah...

Yes. I am guilty of using RadLab to process my pictures so they will match the kit I am working with. And also so blurry pictures aren't quite so obviously blurry...those really were days...when she fit in a laundry basket!

We're hoping to pick more strawberries today, and have another room to clean (one a day is about all I can handle) so I'll be off now!