Time for an update!

A lot has happened in the past month. Neil had knee surgery to repair the meniscus in his left knee and to remove two screws that were put in when his ACL was replaced 15 years ago. After two weeks at home he has returned to work.

While Neil was recovering at home I left for a weekend to visit my sister in England, where she lives with a friend in the most lovely cottage I've ever seen. It was a wonderful time.

500 years old, and the restauration is almost complete. What a beauty, inside and out!

Lady Marian and Robin Hood in Nottingham :)

Cricket! Perfect English afternoon pasttime.

Taking a walk and enjoying the countryside with Max

And, on May 4th, Princess Lily turned 6 and celebrated princess style with her little friends. Party pictures to follow in a separate post!

The heir's hair

Since Finn's hair draws so much attention from assorted family members :) , here is a post dedicated to his latest haircut. He really loves his hair long, but it was so much longer in the back than the front that I talked him into getting the back trimmed. Well, the trim turned into a real haircut, much shorter than he wanted it, and not quite what I had told the hair dresser to do. (We ordered chin length all around.) I guess that is the way it goes with hair stylists - once they have those scissors in their hands there is just no stopping them.

So now the back looks like this. 

And the front like this. I like his new cut, it's funky and "cool" (especially how she cut the front/side), but I must admit it broke my heart a little when I saw a few silent tears slide down Finn's face as she was cutting away and he realized just how short it was going to be. 

I keep telling him it looks different, but good and that it will grow back. ("But I don't WANT different!" - he is my child that hates change) And I told him that next time I will take him somewhere else and make sure they don't cut off more than we want. Last night he lay in bed and told me he missed his long hair and that he doesn't want to go to school until it has all grown back. Luckily, I did get him out the door without a fuss this morning and now I am hoping he will only hear good things about his new 'do. 

And ya'll probably thought having a boy is easy when it comes to looks and clothes and such!

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Easter!

Happy Easter from Finn and Lily! Hope you enjoyed the holidays.

We took a little trip to visit friends for a few days. Hello there, Tilly!

Before we got there though, we had to load up the car. Finn and Lily were just a tad excited.

We had an awesome time with our friends! They live in the allgaeu region (Allgäu in German), about 2.5 hours south west of us. Since spring refuses to come this year we had to pack snow gear, but that didn't stop us from having fun.

This is an old castle ruin in Neuravensburg. The kids loved the hike and exploring the ruin.

And practicing their archery skills!

Since our two 5-year-old girls shared a room and rose early every morning, a nap was needed in the afternoon. Didn't take much to convince daddy to join in.

Our friends live in a small rural community in the 4-country-region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein) near Lake Constance (Bodensee). It is beautiful there, even though we couldn't see the Austrian mountains because of the clouds. But the neighbours had horses, so all was well. :)

And there were cows, too. The kids helped in the barn with the milking and the feeding of the calves. To say they really enjoyed that would be the understatement of the century. Apparently not much can top a calf sucking on your whole hand.

Easter Sunday. We woke up to a fresh layer of wet snow. I guess the weather is trying to make up for the warm, green Christmas we had. We still had a very nice Easter Sunday, with Easter baskets, church, special treats and an egg hunt.

By mid-afternoon the snow around the house had melted so we could have an Easter egg hunt outside.

The kids loved it!

Fourth advent or Easter? :) But the snowy weather aside, we had a really nice Easter holiday. And we can't wait to go back to our friends' house for some summer fun in the mountains and on Lake Constance. Thank you for being such great hosts!

And here are two litte videos. Finn is getting really good at shooting his bow and arrow, and Neil treated us to a performance of Gangnam style dancing.

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Happy Birthday, love.

As of last Sunday, I am not married to a younger man anymore, if you just look at the age that is. Neil turned 38 a week after I did! Lily, Blue and myself woke up way early (well, one of us WAS woken up way early by the other two), so we thought we might as well make a chocolate cake. After a generous infusion of coffee (me), a bowl of cat food (Blue) and one of cereal (the princess).

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The day before we had all gone to a fishing and hunting store so Neil could pick his birthday gift: fishing equipment! Two fishing rods (one is for the kids), nets, a filleting knife, a club for knocking the poor fishies unconscious and other odds and ends. Then the kids set to decorating the living room.

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If this is what Finn imagines their fishing expeditions to be like, then I am NOT coming. 

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After the birthday boy woke up he got to open his presents and got lots of birthday cuddles. We love you, so much!

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Later in the day, barbecue season was officially opened. So what if it was cold out. The calendar says it's SPRING, darn it.

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The farm where I buy my meat had butchered one of their pasture raised steers, and let me tell you - the steaks I got were AMAZING. And grilled to perfection by the master griller.

Somebody really enjoyed his birthday lunch. :)

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And the chocolate cake Lily, Blue and I made.

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The end. :)

It's fun having a birthday on a weekend, when we can spend time as a family and celebrate together. This year, ALL our birthdays are on a weekend, how cool is that. Mine and Neil's were on a Sunday, and the kids' will both be on a Saturday. Lily is asking me about twice daily how many days until her birthday.She's been doing this for months. Somebody sure can't wait to turn six in a few weeks!

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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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