New beginnings

Finn and Lily had their last day at their Kindergarten yesterday. Out for the summer! We are looking forward to having lots of fun together. I enrolled Lily in a swim class, so we'll be headed to the pool every morning for the first two weeks of August. She is excited!

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The third week of August Finn, Lily and I will fly up north to spend a week with Oma and Opa. We're hoping for beach weather!

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Finn is looking forward to spending lots of time with his toys and his cat. Lately he has been trying to convince Blue to be a "circus cat". I took some pictures of one of their "training sessions" the other day.

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"Finn, what is in that laundry hamper you are dragging around?" - "Um - nothing!"

(Could those blue eyes deceive you? You bet!)

"Brother - you in there!?"

He sure was. At first Blue was happily sitting in there. Then he just jumped out. This is the "trap" Finn made to catch him again. Cat toys in the blue box.

It worked. Blue back in the basket. This time Finn put something heavy on the lid so the "black panther" couldn't escape again.

This is where the horse is being prepared for its show act with the black panther.

Shoot. Panther does NOT want to ride horsey. Maybe a few pieces of bread will lure him back in the saddle?

And while I was watching the circus show unfold I thought I would help Neil out (who was happily snoozing with Lily in his arms upstairs) and help him get ready for his new job. I titled this post "new beginnings" because Neil will start commuting to Munich come Monday! He will be doing pretty much the same thing, so a few minor adjustments was all it took.

Plus, that jacket cost 60 Euros, we can't let it go to waste! :)

Neil's new job is the reason that he won't be able to come to Oma's and Opa's place with us. But the kids can't wait. Their bags have been packed for a long time and they ask me how many more days until we fly at least 5 times a day.

"Mama, can Rosalie come on the plane, too?" - "Sure, we'll ask Opa if he will pay for another ticket for her!"

Neil had a couple days off this week and we have made good use of them. When the sun is shining we are out there! (We've had a lot of rain and cooler weather lately.)

Friends gave us this toy. You can build different things with it, and for a while we had this in our yard.

But after a day or two off work Neil simply couldn't stand it anymore. The boring play structure was transformed to this:

And this:

The kids LOVE their new vehicles!

And since it was a gorgeous day we thought we would have a campfire later that night. Neil showed Finn how to start a fire using a magnifying glass (Gee - thanks, darling!). Finn literally played with that for hours.

Meanwhile Lily helped Daddy pitch the tent. Our tent only sleeps three. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) Unselfishly, I let Neil have all the fun and sleep outside with the kids.

Campers are moving in.

Animals have to stay outside.

I realized we had nothing to grill over the fire so I ran to the store to buy some sausages and this. S'mores are a campfire must-have!

Lily is still not a fan. She likes the ingredients separately just fine, but a s'more is just not her thing.

I have a picture almost like this from two years ago in Canada, look:

http://agermancanadianadventure.blogspot.com/2009/06/campfire-fun.html

Lily, where did the rest of your s'more go?

Found it!

I'm afraid the German side of the kids comes through at the campfire. They much prefer THIS over a grilled marshmallow. Silly kids.

Later at night, after a much-needed shower, it was off to the sleeping bags! Lily lasted until about 11pm, then she decided she wanted to sleep in her bed. I awoke at around 3am in a panic because I smelled fire and someone was running around in my bedroom making funny noises.

No worries, though. It was only Neil (who had somehow missed out on that much-needed shower and smelled like a fire pit) shooing the cats out of our bedroom. He had come inside to use the bathroom.

Well, good morning! Hope you had a restful night (ha ha). Finn LOVED sleeping in the tent. He said he would never sleep in the house ever again. That was before the rain started again, though. Now he seems quite happy in here.

I have more picture, but they will have to wait!

My laptop screen is broken and we need to send my laptop in to be repaired (still under warranty, thankfully!). I hope I will have it back soon. Meanwhile I'll be taking pictures for later. :)

Enjoy summer, everyone!

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

My kids are, that is. Simply amazing. They are SO talented, and one of their specialties is turning a reasonably tidy house into something straight out of that "Twister" movie in no time flat. (All right, Ulli, you can stop laughing now, I said REASONABLY tidy, right?)

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So you might remember that our neighbours had their second baby last week. They were up all night and being the tender soul that I am I joined them. There was a huge thunderstorm and every time it thundered the baby monitor on my nightstand came to life. So I lay awake most of the night listening and waiting if Katharina was waking up. (She was sleeping in the house next door all by herself.) At 6am I finally gave up and made myself a coffee. And another.

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Anyway, that afternoon after Katharina was picked up and law and order were reinstated I declared it was "quiet time". Finn and Lily were all for it. A short time later 3 humans and 265492 stuffed animals were on my bed. Only it wasn't a bed. It was a "ship" and the "mean captain" had taken all 265495 of us captive and we were sailing some stormy seas. But Finn and Lily had a "good nidea" as Lily likes to say. (She thinks it is "a nidea", not "an idea", so she keeps having lots of "good nideas!". But I digress.) Finn liked Lily's nidea a lot and so they both proceeded to take their clothes off in order to "swim to shore." I told them I would stay on board because I needed a bit more rest. Finn and Lily safely made it to shore, as was evident when I heard what sounded like a toy box being emptied on the floor in Finn's bedroom.

And the last thing I remember is my sweet little Lily poking her sweet little head in my bedroom and asking in her sweet little voice, "Mama, can we close your bedroom door?". - "ABSOLUTELY NOT! DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO TURN THIS PLACE INTO IF I SO MUCH AS CLOSE ONE EYE?!" That's what I thought, at least. What came out sounded more like, "Mmmmph."

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I woke up disoriented and ready to shove Neil out of bed, like I lovingly do each morning, only he wasn't there, I was dressed and the clock read 3pm. Oh yeah, right. "Quiet time" had started at 2:30. It was quiet all right. Very quiet. I opened my door. Not a sound. Where were my kids!? Had they run outside? Had they let the omnipresent "stranger" into the house? And where were the other 265492 occupants of my "ship"? I peeked into Finn's bedroom - no kids.

Following the path of destruction, I peeked into Lily's. Ditto.

I ventured downstairs in my quiet house and was reunited with the other prisoners. I'm happy to report they had obviously found refuge on an island.

Big Mouse and Little Mouse (or is it Big Bear and Little Bear?) were partying hard ...

while gruesome scenes were playing out in the ocean underneath (note the baby crocodile biting his mother to make her let go of the mouse).

And, finally, I found them. Happily reading books, not making a sound. What a successful "quiet time"! And it even gave us something to do for the rest of the day...

Long time, no post!

We are busy enjoying summer over here, so I haven't updated the blog in a while. We sure had some fun in the past three weeks with THESE things, among others:

Attending a super cool cowboy/cowgirl themed birthday party!

New inflatable friends!

Making jam!

Finn helped himself to some kitchen utensils one day and announced that he thought he had "figured out how to make jam" from the berries growing in our garden. All he needed from me was a bit of sugar and fresh mint leaves. I gave him both and he went to work.

Lily preferred her berries plain and shared them with daddy.

Looking good!

And did we eat it? You bet! Finn was so proud.

Helping Mama!

Sharing some tender moments.

Enjoying the pool - always a favourite.

(Note Lily's crocodile and Finn's stingray by the edge of the pool.)

Letting daddy sleep in on Saturday and playing with play-doh!

Playing in the garden!

And with Katharina, our neighbours' daughter!

Katharina became a big sister last week, so she stayed with us while her parents were at the hospital welcoming her little brother, Fabian. We all had so much fun, especially Katharina.

Finn and Lily showed her all their toys. And I mean, ALL their toys.

When her daddy came to pick her up Katharina did not want to leave. She just adores Finn. Who can blame her?

Playing circus!

And, just yesterday, having fun at a birthday party!

(Until 10:45pm, by the way. Good thing Lily napped in the afternoon.)

Happy Birthday! You do not look 40. MAYBE 39, at most. ☺ And thanks for the awesome party!

Finn found a friend who took him "wave boarding". I tried and it is HARD.

Beautiful as always!