The Perfect Breakfast

On a day when you wake up to the world looking like this

the perfect breakfast is made from this

and this


SOOOOO GOOD!

Ever since Glen made porridge from steel-cut oats at Ryan's cabin (you can click on those links) last year in Canada I have wanted to make my own. I am not a huge fan of oatmeal, but this tastes completely different. I can't find steel-cut oats here so I resorted to putting organic oats in my food processor for a few seconds, then sift them to get the dust out. It works! I cook one part oats in a little less than 3 parts water with a pinch of salt and while it is cooking (about 30 min) I let the frozen raspberries thaw out on the counter. With a spoonful of fresh cream over top and a nice cup of coffee this is just SO good.

Now - if only my kids would eat it. :)

P.S. If you are visiting Canada or the US soon and want to make me REALLY happy you could bring back a tin of steel-cut oats for me. (Hint hint, Martina and Martin. :)

So Thankful

So thankful for
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BELONGING
For knowing I am a child of God, and for belonging to the Body of Christ.
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LOVE AND OUR MARRIAGE
For being good for each other, and (most of the time :) good to each other. I love you!
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RELATIONSHIPS
For family and friends, and for our community

Happy Birthday, Ulli!

ABUNDANCE

For having all we need, and so much more.

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
For not having to worry about whether we can afford to get treatment or not. For good doctors and hospitals, for Finn's pediatrician and Grandpa's ongoing recovery.
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AND, OF COURSE, ALWAYS AND FOREVER FOR

this little ham

and this little turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends and family in the US!

Getting better

Finn seems to be on the upswing, thankfully. He still has the bad cough, but his fever seems to have broken. At the pedi's yesterday it turned out he had developed a pretty bad ear infection in both ears, despite being on penicillin. We switched to a different, more powerful antibiotic, and hopefully this will help him get well soon.

Don't assume when people are watching you when you are out in town that they think you or your kids are cute

It might just be you are wearing two completely different boots and are blissfully unaware of the fact until you get back home and start taking them off.

This, by the way, is what being stuck at home for several days with two sick kiddos will do to you.

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We actually went on our little shopping trip this afternoon - me wearing those boots to the coffee shop, where I had a coffee and the kids had a snack, to the organic foods store, the drugstore and finally to the grocery store.
.

Unfortunately, Finn started getting worse again tonight. High fever, can't keep anything down (although thís is probably caused by the incessant coughing that makes him throw up). He is in bed now. I can't get him to sleep during the day, although we think he really could use more sleep. Hopefully he sleeps in a bit tomorrow. This morning he was in tears - he said the right side of his face hurt and his right eye was bloodshot too, but it went away after an hour or so. Not sure what is up with the boy - having a fever for so long can't be good for his little body.

House bound

Finn is finally doing a bit better today. He still has a bit of a fever and a bad cough, but the antibiotics seem to have taken care of the bacteria. We went back to the doctor's office yesterday because he was not doing well at all. He was a hot mess, literally. When they needed a drop of blood it took two of us to hold him down. He was diagnosed with a bad case of bronchitis, and Lily's lungs were not clear either. So she is inhaling the cortisone now too.
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The last few days there was a lot of this ...

and all of us took it easy, resting and napping.


This morning somebody was finally smiling again ...

and ready for some play time.

Here the knight is involved in playful banter with the pink unicorn ...

before they both retreated inside the castle.

Tomorrow it will be back to the doctor's (Finn), and maybe even back to Kindergarten (Lily). And on Thursday we will celebrate! It is Auntie Ulli's birthday and she will come here for a little party. It's also Thanksgiving (in the US). We spent Canadian Thanksgiving on the road driving back home from Rostock, so we will have a turkey dinner with all the fixings when Ulli comes. Preparations are in full swing. Since Finn and Lily are well enough again to call each other names and fight over toys I think we will venture out to the store later to buy a turkey and some other necessities.

The cranberry sauce is already made. If you are looking for an easy recipe, I have one for you! All you need are fresh cranberries, orange juice and sugar. The recipe called for 12 oz cranberries (about 350g), a cup of OJ (250ml) and a cup of white sugar. I replaced that with 3/4c raw cane sugar since I don't like my food so sweet and I'm trying to avoid refined sugar when I can. Dissolve the sugar in the juice over medium heat, add the cranberries and cook until they pop (about 10 min), stirring with a spoon. I smashed them with the spoon to get a smoother consistency. The sauce will thicken some more as it cools. It is great with venison, Swedish meat balls, turkey or simply as a cranberry spread on toast, peanut butter sandwiches, pancakes and waffles.

Of course, getting out of the house presents its own challenges. Finn and Lily would live in PJs if they could. Getting them dressed is a major undertaking sometimes, and not only because they don't WANT to get dressed. I was thrilled to learn they now make "skinny jeans" for boys, but even those don't really help when you are 5 years old and weigh 35 pounds (less than Lily, by the way). Finn can only wear pants with adjustable waist bands, but he hates having so much fabric bunched up and says the buttons scratch him etc. If he was a girl I'd go for the leggings and dress look, but as it is - the neverending search for pants that won't fall off him continues.

Fall is definitely here!

I haven't really posted an update or pictures for November, so here we go.
A few weeks ago we took a trip to the Nuremberg zoo - by train. We all enjoyed the train ride and seeing the animals. Finn and Lily especially enjoyed the seal and dolphin show. Sadly, the Nuremberg zoo does not have elephants anymore - we'll have to go to Munich to see them.

Finn and Lily loved the little goats, and we bought a couple boxes of those pellets from the machine to feed them. Finn was convinced they were eating poop!

This dolphin was BIG! And if I remember correctly, the oldest one they have, 50 years old!

Panthera Leo

Ursus Maritimus

Panthera Tigris

Homo Pullensis Wagonis - my favourite species. :)

Life is going well. Finn and Lily are enjoying going to preschool ("Kindergarten"). Lily has taken to her group of peers and teachers like a fish to water. She loves it there. When they have their weekly gym class even the older boys admire her for her climbing and balancing skills. She is fearless! And the other day her teachers figured out how to make her talk more quietly when playing with Finn. (She has a VERY LOUD voice, no kidding.) They just have to ask her to please speak German, then she'll start whispering right away - in English. :) Her German is getting better all the time though, she has no problem communicating with her friends.

In the afternoons we either hang out at home or go places. Finn and Lily do hip hop dance at my gym once a week, and Finn does Kinder music at preschool one afternoon.

Before bed we often have our "family time" where we play a game or read and act out a story with Schleich and Playmobil figurines (Lily's all time favourite: Daniel in the lion's den). For nighttime story reading we just finished my favourite book from the Narnia series: "The Horse and His Boy". We started "The Voyage on the Dawn Treader". It will come out in the movie theaters before Christmas, maybe we can take the kids to go see it.

Sweet dreams!

And good morning! Blue is especially cuddly in the mornings.

On the weekends we enjoy spending time with Neil. Exploring in the forest, riding our bikes or crafts on rainy afternoons are a favourite.

Here Neil and the kids are playing with "Playmais" - corn starch based foamy blocks that are a lot of fun. You can cut them, mold them, and they stick together if you moisten them a bit on a wet cloth.

Here is what Finn made with minimal help - he loves playmais.

Lily's Nemo fish

And Neil's creation. That's supposed to be me - I didn't know whether to be offended ("Did he really want to marry Pamela Andersson, but she happened to be unavailable?") or relieved ("So - love DOES make a guy blind, phew.")

By the way, Neil put my mini-me in THIS dress - the dress he picked for me to wear at Claus' and Julia's wedding. He's been bugging me to wear it around the house. I think it might be time to make use of our babysitter and get out a bit more...

This weekend we are laying low. Finn is sick (yes, AGAIN), but to spice things up a bit he came down with a case of scarlet fever, and we think he has a virus on top. The scarlet fever is being treated with penicillin and most of the symptoms are gone by now, but the cough is still there. The rest of us are also battling sore throats and headaches, but we're hanging in there.

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Today our friend Thorsten was over to put up the tree house we got from them. Jana didn't want it anymore, and Finn and Lily have outgrown our small plastic house and slide. The house is put together and secured in the ground, all we need to do is put the slide on once it has settled a bit. In the spring we will paint the roof and move the sandbox from its current spot to underneath the house.

Lily "helped".

And, last not least, we are SO HAPPY that grandpa's bypass surgery went well and he is recovering at home. We wish we could be with you, but then again, a quiet house is probably better for you right now. We will see you next year, one way or another!

The extra mile ... or 140.

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Have you heard about Rick Hoyt? He had a dream. He wanted to compete in an Ironman triathlon (3.8k swim/180k bike/marathon run - total 140miles). And he did! The first time he tried, the wind in Hawaii was so strong he was blown off his bike. But he didn't give up, and the second time he succeeded.
Rick is intelligent, charming, and he has a college degree. He also has a wheel chair and a special computer to help him communicate. And he has a father who shares his dreams and "loans" him his arms and legs to achieve his goals.




It's people like these who inspire me. Who challenge me to go above and beyond what I think I can do. Who remind me of what really matters in life. Love, respect, serving others and, most of all, God. To become the person I was meant to be, do the things I was meant to do. To go the extra mile for my own children, whatever that mile might look like for them.

And who inspires you?