Getting used to each other

Here are some pictures of Finn playing with the kittens. They are beyond cute. Lenny is the more adventurous and curious of the two. Blue is on the cautious side, and every bit as soft as he looks, like a fluffy teddy bear. Their breeder came and checked on them again this morning and was happy with how they are doing here.

Lily is officially a big girl now: no bottles, no diapers, no crib - and she traded her pacifiers in for Lenny last night. It took her until 10pm to fall asleep and today she cried on and off for about an hour until she finally napped. She is not crying for her pacifiers, she just has to get used to falling asleep without that "crutch". I'm really proud of her; I think she is handling this very well so far.

They're here!

Last night our two newest family members finally found their way into our house. Lenny and Blue are about 3 months old now and the cutest little cats ever, soooo soft and cuddly. They are still very shy and easily scared, especially by our two over-enthusiastic kids, so we put them in the basement for now. Hopefully they will get used to us and their new home quickly! We'll let them explore the rest of the house at their own speed. I'm sure they will like the big new scratching post in the living room!

September pictures

We are still enjoying the nice warm weather here in Germany. Just thought I would post a few pictures of what the kids are doing these days.

Lily playing in the sandbox at a friend's house. It's actually a non-working farm right on the edge of a big field and forest. They still have chickens running around, which all the kids (and especially my kids) loved to chase. Finn and Lily played there all afternoon and went home happy, dirty - and with two dozen eggs. :)

When Lily sits still long enough I can actually do more with her hair than just put two hairclips in. I don't do braids very often as she pretty much needs to watch a movie so that I can do them, and it all has to come out for naptime anyway.

Front view

These two little pirates mysteriously fell asleep within seconds in their pirate ship after some mean grown-up announced that it was bedtime.


They "woke up" about 10 seconds later - all refreshed and ready to play for another hour or so. Amazing what those cat naps can do for you. :)

Playing in the nice big sandbox that Neil built while the rest of his family was in Canada.

Finn's birthday present from Jana was her bike that she had outgrown. It's a great kiddie bike and Finn loves riding it. Maybe we can take the training wheels off soon!

Our cute little runner

Blue jello - yummy!

Reading "Curious George" with daddy, before bed.

My poor little guy passed out on the couch last Friday. He ran a fever of over 39C (103F). Thankfully he was better the next day.

All of us except Neil are fighting off colds, I can't believe it's THAT time of year again. It's still warm enough to wear shorts these days, but fall is just around the corner. And who knows what it will be like this year, with the swine flu and all.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new additions to our family, Leon (aka "Blue") and Lenny. They were supposed to move in next Saturday, but it looks like we will have to wait a little longer. Lenny caught a virus so his vaccination has to be delayed until he is better (it was supposed to take place tomorrow), and after he gets the shots he will need a few days to recover before he can face the stress of moving into a house with two crazy little kids. Since we want to get both at the same time we will have to wait. Lily is telling everyone "Hey, I picked Lenny, Finn picked Blue!!!", and of course people have no clue what she is talking about. :)

If you would like to see pictures of our cats, click on these links. The breeder updates them every week:

Blue:

http://www.bkh-of-swansea.de/kitten_l/leon/babys_leon.html

Lenny:

http://www.bkh-of-swansea.de/kitten_l/lenny/babys_lenny.html

More Rostock pictures

So here are the rest of the Rostock pictures!

Fun in the boat with Opa

Watching ships


Ready to harvest some berries


Enjoying spending time with Omi Charlotte

Finding treasures in the forest

and building stick shelters

Hiking with daddy

Boating

Oops, that wave came in the window

That ship was a little bit bigger than our boat

Under the sea...

... you can have a lot of fun! We had a house full of little sharks on Sunday. Finn was so excited that the day of his birthday party had finally come. We decorated the downstairs with fishing nets, dozens of blue balloons (the "water"), cut-out ocean creatures that Neil made and the like. As Finn turned 4 he was allowed to invite four friends. They all got along great despite the fact that Lily only speaks English, Justin and Jana only speak German and Finn, Kaitlyn and Rhys can speak both but prefers English.

Here's all of them:

Finn's cake:


Sand pail dessert (jello, pudding and cookie crumbs):

Playing and dancing in the "water"

The pirate ship outside was a big hit:

Here the sharks are trying to catch their prey (no hands allowed of course). Neil had the idea to make shirts for all of them with a picture of Finn's favourite ocean animals. They turned out great and everybody loved them.

When they managed to hit the dolphin they got to pick a little prize.

Snack time: gold fish!

And a few more classic games: "Eierlaufen" (we used balls, not eggs though):

... and "Sackhüpfen". Even Lily did pretty well!

And more food - giant seashell pasta and meat balls.

It was a wonderful birthday party. It is so much fun at this age - they love the little knick knacks and the games. They were so happy to win sea animal stamps, bouncy balls and ocean stickers. And thanks to Neil having so much experience with boy scout groups he really knows how to make the games fun and get everybody involved. Can't wait to do it again next year! :)