Blondie

(A very tired Blondie)

Just like last summer, I keep getting comments about Toby's blonde hair.  Yep, it's still blonde--and he's 2 1/2! Where did it come from? Well, I was blonde when I was little and each year it got a little darker and darker.  As his is doing. (Scroll down to the bottom of my blog to see his hair a year ago, in the "Blue-eyed boys" pic.)  He also won't wear a hat...I know, GASP, so his hair is very, very sunbleached.  No, I don't "help it out to make it that way" nor do I something special to make his hair go curly...sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't.  Humidity and sweat bring out the curl.  Oh, I do leave it long on the top--that's a sneaky trick!

Until later,

Emily

All My "Kids" Like to Play with Trains!

July 21, 2009

Until later,

Emily

Inevitable!

Until later,

Emily

Thomas' First Day of First Grade

(For more info about the strange-looking gigantic cone that Thomas 

is holding, please see my post below this one!)

Thomas started first grade today. He was excited, he woke up 45 minutes earlier than he needed to, even 15 minutes earlier than I needed to! I am involved in a carpool with my neighbor that lives across the street. Although it was technically her day to drive, I decided to take Thomas on my own to make sure he got settled in OK, afterall, the first day of school can be kind of chaotic. 

So Toby and I walked Thomas into school. It was a piece of cake. He was the first boy to arrive and it was funny to see how he went to a set of tables all alone, and waited for the other boys to arrive. By the time I left he had three other boys hovering around him and they were playing with some sort of lego-like pieces. All the girls were at some other table doing something girlish, I have no idea what.

I went next door and wished Tristan (our neighbor) a nice first day at school and then peeked in at Thomas one last time (we had already said good-bye), he caught me, smiled but then gave us that look, you know the one--the "Mom what are you guys still doing here?" look.

And so, that was that. Not a tear was shed and all was well. He'll be home in an hour and fifteen minutes. Toby sleeps and the house is silent all but the ceiling fans.

Until later,

Emily

Schultüten

In Germany, it is tradition to give your child that is entering the first grade a "Schultüten" (school cone).  It typically has school supplies and "sweets" in it.  Although Thomas doesn't actually attend a German school, I was prepared with his own Schultüten so he wouldn't be the "only kid" in the class without one.  Turns out he was one of two that did have one, and actually we left his in the car with the understanding that I would go back and get it if it seemed like most of the kids also had one. He decided it was OK if we left it in the car, I guess this was one of those instances where it was "better to be safe then sorry" and we were safe!  Just a little history on this funny, yet cute, little traditon:

The tradition dates back to 1810, when the first candy cones made the children’s eyes sparkle in Thuringia and Saxony. According to the legend, at the teacher’s home there stands a tree which is decorated with a candy cone for every child. Once the tree has matured, it is time to begin school and the candy cones are handed out to the children. In those days, the godparents gave the children the cone-shaped, colorful packages, which were filled only with sweets. In eastern Germany, the kindergarteners even had a candy cone party, at which the soon-to-be first-graders were promenaded before the families before being allowed to remove a candy cone from a beautifully decorated tree. Nowadays, candy cones can be bought in all shapes and sizes, decorated in a wide variety of patterns, and are filled with school materials, small trinkets, toys, and sweets.

My neighbor, Simone, suggested I give Toby a small Schultüten of his own.  It was a great idea!

Back-to-School!

Tomorrow morning, Thomas goes back to school.  He will be in the First Grade.  Yesterday, someone asked me, "How does it make you feel to think that he'll be in the First Grade?" I answered him honestly when I said it's not that big of a deal because last year, when he was in Kindergarten (although his school calls in "Primary") he went all-day, so we kind of went through all the "big deals" all in one year.

Thomas was able to meet his new teacher on Friday and got to see which kids were in his class.  He was hoping that Calvin, Tristan and Ben were in his class.  Calvin is.  Tristan's in the other class and a huge surprise--Ben's parents pulled him out of the International school and enrolled him in the local German school instead.  But, the disappointment didn't last long because after all the silly boy Calvin is in his class so all is well.

Thomas has his bright orange t-shirt with Transformer's on the front along with the jeans with the skulls on the pockets picked out for the first day of school.  I have his gym bag packed. And his backpack and lunchbag all ready to go.

So, tomorrow, we start a new school year.  One that doesn't seem all that different from last year.  Thomas isn't nervous...he told me himself it's not that big of a deal--it's the same school and a lot of the same kids are in his class, the only thing that is different is that he has a new teacher.  My carpool days are the same and Thomas is thrilled to be riding with Tristan again all year.  Truth be told, I would have put him on the bus this year but it helps out Tristan's mom on the days that she works (those are my "permanent" driving days) and Friday's we alternate--sort of.

I am sure Toby will wander around most of the week, missing his big brother.  His schedule will have to be adjusted somewhat because he is generally still sleeping during the time that we will have to leave to pick Thomas up from school.  In September, I am going to start hitting the gym a couple times a week and he will go to daycare.

Speaking of Toby, I have had two different people (they were German) ask me within the past two weeks "If I'm going to put him into the German kindergarten this year?"  you see in Germany, they start attending "kindergarten" at age 3.  Toby WILL be three (where does the time go) in January...but I'm not interested in sending him to the German kindergarten (it's nothing more than daycare).  He can go to daycare (US military) this year when I need to do something without him (gym, doctors appointments, hair and nail appointments or any other thing that a 2 1/2 year old shouldn't tag along to) but that will be enough for this year.  I'll probably want him to start attending some kind of preschool next year when he's 3 1/2...and that is soon enough for him, in my own opinion.

Until later,

Emily

It's Been Two Years!

Two years ago today we boarded that plane to Germany.  As most of you know, we "put in" to leave 30 days early next summer so we should be leaving sometime around the 2nd week in July.  For months now, I have been counting down to July 9, not that that is the exact date that we'll leave but it should be close.

So, we reached July 9 and I was filled with joy and thrilled for about two weeks and then it hit me...this is coming to an end and as hard as it has been, it hasn't been all bad and I will miss some things, some people and I hate goodbyes and change.  I know where I'm going back to and certain aspects of that won't change but I know many things will.  Three years is a long time to be away.  There are also a couple of huge trials that we will be facing almost immediately when we hit the DC area...things that we can't worry too much about over here so we try not to.

James' position has been posted and we are starting to hear "bits and pieces" about the time off he has earned when we leave here and the fact that we don't have to fly to DC first after all.  So, my MD friends, looks like we're going to fly right over and join our families in Utah before eventually making it to MD sometime mid-August. Please don't take it personally.

Until later,

Emily

Taunus Wunderland

July 11, 2009

We went to Taunus Wunderland with our friends the W family. In Germany, amusement parks are a little different. This park was kind of amusement park/county fair/I've never seen anything like it...except that I had seen something similar when I went with Thomas to Lochmülle in May. They did have some "real" rides, they also had rides that had no operator (that is odd), you just load your kids up and then go press a green button. The safety standards are also quite relaxed. I found it interesting that you could take a 18 month old toddler on a ride where in the States they would probably have to be 8 or 9--just hold on tight! I also found it quite interesting that the bumper cars didn't have an operator so your kid could ride as long as he or she wanted and you just had to wait for said kid to get bored (consequently Thomas didn't get to drive the bumper cars!). It was an interesting day, but we all ended up having a fun time!
































Until later,

Emily