Just so you know:

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If you can't find me, I'm where the wild things are!

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☺

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And to start this off right, for my birthday we went to where the wild, green things were. But first I woke up to breakfast, flowers, presents and a lovingly decorated living room. The kids looked through their toy boxes and found 38 horses, ponies and unicorns for my "motto party". Actually, they found a lot more. What a relief. I can live to be a hundred and the decorations will be taken care of.

I even was serenaded with "Smoke on the Water" by my little man.

My favourite present came from Oma. After she crocheted these adorable little mice for Finn and Lily I told her I wanted a BIG one for my birthday, as a couch pillow. It came out perfect! Thank you! The kids named her "Mama Couch Mouse" right away.

That night, after the kids were in bed, I looked over to the couch and Mama Couch Mouse was GONE! I retrieved her from the scary depths of Finn's boy cave aka his bed. Keep your hands off my Mama Couch Mouse! 

And this gem of a card came from my sister, currently residing in the UK. Watch out, Ulli, I'm coming to visit you soon and us Middle Agers are shameless when it comes to embarrassing people, including little sisters! Get the hoola hoop ready, I'll bring my Jane Fonda leotard, circa 1989.

After church (my birthday was last Sunday) we had sushi and Lily put the finishing touches on some yummy cupcakes.

And then it was time to get WILD! Because it wasn't only Sunday, it also was St. Patrick's Day, so we went to the Irish Pub to hang out with some friends and all the other wild green things.

There was live music, some crazy dancing (curtesy of us), and even the Scots paid a visit. They're not exactly Irish, but the "Kirkcaldy Pipes and Drums" were close enough and they were in town. 

Finn was sitting on his favourite bar stool and suddenly found himself surrounded by men in kilts and lots of noise.

"MOM! He's wearing a SKIRT!"

Darling, can I get YOU a kilt? I think it would look SO good on you. And I imagine it must be pretty comfortable, all nice and, well, airy. You can even keep the green moustache, if you want. 

So. I had a great birthday. Thank you to my family and friends for making this day special. And for putting up with me every other day of the year. You all make me very very happy.

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Saturday pictures

Weekend videos

And here are the kiddos (and Neil) in motion.

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Lily is working on her balance and once that improves she will be able to hold her hands still and where they belong. But for being only 5 she is doing very well, and she just loves it. Just look at that grin on her face!

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Finn decided he wanted to get out his roller skates for the first time since last summer after we came back from the stable. He sends this little message to Oma.

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No matter what the weatherman says ...

 ... we are DONE with winter!

Neil drove home from work topless (in a BMW convertible), I rode a frisky Mo outside and got a slight sunburn in my face, and the kids spent the afternoon in the yard, adding some color and lots of noise to the neighbourhood.

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And the snow predicted for next week can stay far far away.

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Muddy March Madness and Meet Mogli!

Spring has sprung and hopefully we won't see any more snow until Christmas! The first flowers are out, and sometimes the sun even shines. Apparently we just survived the darkest winter in recorded history. It sure felt like it.
With the warmer temperatures comes the mud. Not usually a problem for city dwellers, for us horse riding folk this is a sticky, boggy, yucky, smelly time of year. Especially if the mud is in a horse paddock and contains a large proportion of "organic matter". Luckily, Finn is always happy if he can wade through the muck to get a horse or pony for his Mama, who is waiting on relatively dry gound by the gate. And this Mama needs to remember to put a change of clothes for the kids in the car. Because, sometimes the mud is stronger than Finn.

 

He got stuck and fell over when he tried to pull his boots free. Ironically, Fritzi, who Finn was looking for in the paddock, wasn't even in it! The first thing Finn said to me when he saw me was: "Mama! I saved your lead rope from getting dirty by holding it high over my head!"

At least the boy has his priorities right. It was my good new lead rope, too.

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Although it was cold (just above freezing) it was sunny with no wind, so I parked Finn in the sun while I took a hoof pick and peeled layers of mud off his pants and the inside of his fleece jacket and winter coat. Couldn't do much about the mud inside his boots, t-shirt and underpants, but Finn thought it was the greatest thing ever anyway. Boys and dirt - the eternal attraction.

Then he got to hang out in the "Longhorn Saloon", a cozy little place where the riders drink coffee, eat, chat, play darts and feed the fire in the wood burning stove (Finn's favourite activity). When his pants where somewhat dry he rode Fritzi, bareback. Fritzi didn't mind getting a little dirt on his back, heck, he lives in the stuff 24/7.

 

 

But March didn't bring just mud. It also brought Mogli.

As you might remember, I had a horse sharing agreement with the owners of Bella, the black and white pinto mare. When Bella was put up for sale in January the owners of the barn told me I could have a lease on one of their Quarter Horses once Bella was gone. Well, I didn't wait for Bella to be sold. I have always wanted to ride a well trained, calm Quarter Horse, and Mogli is exactly that. He is 17 years old and, although retired from the show circuit (he is a reining horse), still too fit and agile to just stand around. You snooze, you lose. Mogli inhabits a room with a view where he spends the night and his mornings. I usually ride him in the morning (about three times a week) when the kids are at school/Kindergarten, for various reasons.

 

 

First, Mogli spends his afternoons out on the pasture (in the summer), or in a bigger paddock (in the winter). Which he thoroughly enjoys and then looks like this.

Oh, no, Mo.

 

 

(But luckily Finn and Lily love helping to clean a dirty horse, although the dust can get in your eyes pretty badly, right Finn?)

 

 

 

 

Then, it is kinda hard to keep an eye on the kids while I'm sitting on a horse and riding in an arena. And while I'm all for giving them some freedom to roam and be kids, they do get in trouble sometimes. The other day, George the friendly stable hand had a big pile of straw on the left and a big pile of hay on the right in one of the barns, with a path in the middle for his wheel barrow. When Finn and Lily were done playing George had a big pile of straw and hay mixed together with no path in the middle.

Or, while I was riding, Finn the Firebug was in the saloon, making the place hot and hotter by putting log after log in the wood stove. Until he burned his thumb by touching it against the inside of the stove. The skin turned black and cracked open, and with incredible presence of mind the boy stuck his thumb in the nearest body of water. Which happened to be the dogs' dirty water dish by the door. Not the most sanitary environment for an open wound. Oh well. The dogs didn't mind and Finn survived. It didn't even put too much of a damper on his wood stove affection.

 

Lily, on the other hand, is just happy to play with the dogs, catch a ride on Mo or watch me in the arena. She snapped some nice pictures of us the other day, not bad for a 5-year-old!

 

 

Mo did very well in this trail parcours, and while some reining horses can be a bit hot headed, he handles everything you put in front of him with calm and confidence.

 

 

I think we all have something that makes us happy. Where we are completely in the moment, where we would not want to be anywhere or anyone else, where we feel relaxed and at peace with the world. For some it's maybe hiking up a mountain, or gardening, or playing piano, or experiencing runner's high.

For me, it's this.

 

 

Thank you, Mo.

 

 

 

 

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.

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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.)

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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!

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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.

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

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It even had nooks for real candles!

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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.

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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.

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

 

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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!

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Lenny says: Yum, butter!

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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.

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Blue says: I wonder if these paints are edible?

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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. 

 

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Finn is reading quite well by now and every 4 weeks we get a stack of books from the library bus that comes to our town. We love the library bus!

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Blue says: Skip to the part with the birds or the mice.

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And, last not least, a picture of the princess. Rosalie is still one of her favourite companions, going on two years! 

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Such a sweet face.

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Good night!

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