A German Canadian Adventure: So, where have we been?

Nowhere, really. Just busy. And sick. And busy. Probably shoveling snow (well, I leave that to Neil and the kids actually - my, ahem, shoulder, you know), or cooking, or not cleaning, or doing Finn's homework, or being sick, or busy, or shoveling snow - and before you know it, two months have come and gone.

But here are a few pictures of our past adventures.

In January we had a visitor from Calgary! Our friend Angela was on her way to sunny Africa (smart woman), and we really enjoyed spending a few days with her.

(Yeah, I know, just ignore him.)

Then we had snow, and it's been coming and going since then. It snows, it melts, it snows, it melts, and everybody is so over it. We are ready for spring!

This is the local (and only) sledding hill, some farmer's field. It's great fun, but lately it's been pretty deserted. Because - see above.

But, Neil did build a very cool snow fort in the yard.

It even had nooks for real candles!

Then came February - carnival season! (Called "Fasching" here.)

And the sickies hit.

Lily had both the flu and a tummy bug, and she was miserable. She had a high fever for over 3 days, and even after it broke, she slept most of the time. Like, almost 20 out of 24 hours. She has NEVER slept this much before, not even as a newborn. When she was awake, she was coughing and miserable, but slowly she started to get better. Neil was home sick for a week, too, and I got it as well. The only one unaffected was Finn, imagine. He did crawl in my bed one night complaining of a tummy ache, but it was gone the next morning, and he was fine.

Lily had looked forward to being a "snow princess" at her Kindergarten Faschings-Party, but she was too sick to attend or even care that she missed it. Half her Kindergarten was wiped out with this virus. So her costume will have to wait until next year.

And it's no wonder really, that I got what she had. Hugs and kisses round the clock from my little girl, and most nights she ends up in bed with me at some point. And stupid virus or not, I am enjoying every minute of it! They do grow up so fast.

Blue says: Poor Lily, I better stay close to you. And, are you going to eat that oatmeal, or not?

Lily lost 2 or 3 lbs when she was sick (but at least I could get her to drink when she was awake), so the day she asked for a piece of pretzel with butter was a good one!

Lenny says: Yum, butter!

Then Finn had a week off school (winter break), and we enjoyed spending time together. We did a lot of crafts in the house, but when Lily felt up to it we went to the sledding hill (but she soon tired of pulling the sled uphill), to the pool, and one day we all took the train to Munich to visit the Deutsche Museum.

Blue says: I wonder if these paints are edible?

Finn got his first report card (half a year into first grade), and it's good. We think. He didn't get grades or percentages or whatever, but a long winded explanation of how he is and what he does and so on. First for him as a student in general, and then for every single subject - German, math, social studies, religious studies (obligatory in German schools), phys ed, arts, and music. It's two pages long, and I can't believe his teacher had to compose this for every single kid in his class. And the headmaster had to read every single report card before they were given out. Why make it easy (like giving out grades) when you can make it so eloquently difficult? Sheesh. It was like trying to read a reference from your employer, which looks good to the untrained eye but in fact is not all that great once you know how to decode it.

So, while I don't know exactly how Finn compares to the other kids, or what his grades would be, I am happy to know he is doing well in school. He enjoys going, for the most part, and he is making friends, both girls and boys. The girls definitely like him. Enough to phone him (HIM, not me), and arrange for a play date. Just yesterday he told me another girl from his class wants to come over. Finn then woos the ladies by feeding them Mama's banana chocolate chip muffins or nutella crêpes and playing the two songs he knows how to play on his guitar: "Smoke on the Water" and "There Ain't No Bugs on Me" (just in case they want to come a little closer I guess). But Finn isn't partial with his affection. For a while he didn't like going to school because one of the boys pestered him. I talked to the teacher, she talked to the boys and it turned out Felix was hitting Finn because apparently Finn tried to smooch him when they were wrestling (or something like that) and Felix wasn't a fan. This out in the open, they had a manly face-to-face discussion, and now they are fast friends. Good Lord.