Spoiled Children

Today, for lunch, I served Thomas and Toby leftover mac-n-cheese from yesterday. Thomas declared that, "I don't like this mac-n-cheese today, it doesn't taste so good." To which I replied, "Well, that's probably because it's leftover from yesterday." To which Thomas replied, "What's 'leftover?'"

Until later,

Emily

All Thomas Wants for Christmas...

May 22, 2009




May 25, 2009




Until later,

Emily

A New Family Pic

June 27, 2009

Schloss Linderhof
(Linderhof Palace)

Located in the Bavarian Alps.

Ice Age III

Today, I decided to take both of the boys to see Ice Age III. I was taking Thomas to see kid movies at the theater much earlier than 2 1/2 but we all know Toby is not Thomas. However, they were showing it at 4:00 PM, so I thought we'd give it a try. Since I was going alone, I knew buying the popcorn and drinks and keeping track of Toby was going to be tricky. So, I threw on his little monkey back-pack, which is actually a harness and leash for kids but looks much cuter, and I managed.

Once the movie started, the boys seemed to be happy with their drinks and popcorn and I thought, "Well, Toby's doing better then I expected." Until about half way through when he got a little antsy. Luckily, we had about 20 empty seats all around us and he still had his monkey on his back. So, I allowed him to wander around the length of the tail. He'd wander around a bit, then would come back to his seat.

So, would I do it again? Probably, if it was a definite kids show and probably if it was showing at 4:00 PM. I think the 7:00 show was probably more crowded and because of bed time, things could get even more interesting if he started to get cranky.

Until later,

Emily

We Officially Have One Year to Go!

July 9, 2010 we will be boarding a jet plane back to the United States.  That's right exactly one year from today.  Now, I  REALLY don't know the exact date that we will leave...but it will be right around there.  I can't describe it accurately but oh, what a relief today when I realized that today was July 9th.  It was hard last summer when we made the decision to extend an extra year, it was almost like that first year counted for nothing and we had to start the clock over.  But of course, it wasn't for nothing and I hope one day it will pay off for James' career (because it surely hasn't paid off in the short-term, it's actually hindered his career--but that's a whole other story!).  

So, for the next year, we will focus on the traveling that we can get in and all of the "lasts" that we will do.  Our last Fall driving along 455 (the most beautiful leaves I have ever seen), our last Lamplighter Fair, our last Christmas markets, our last spectacular New Year's Eve fireworks, etc.  I know it will go by fast and I will probably be sad when it is time to leave.  But more sad to leave friends behind and sad that we didn't get to do "more".  I have grown to really love the neighborhood we live in, it will be hard to leave Thomas' school and it will be hard to say goodbye to the extra money that this assignment gives James.  And none of us are looking forward to James' DC commuting again, although his commute isn't that great here either, but at least he gets to go at a decent speed and not barely moving along the spur and up 270.  But, beyond that...I think we will all be ready to leave here next summer and move onto the next chapter in our lives.

Until later,

Emily

Way Too Hot!

We arrived back in our part of Germany on Wednesday night.  More about that later. Apparently, the "heat wave" struck a few days ago.  I have always considered myself to be a summer girl, I love the sun, I love getting a tan...but I do not like being in a hot house.  In Germany, *most* homes do not have A/C...some businesses do, some stores do, but many do not. We open the windows, turn on the fans and we even have 2 portable A/C units but they don't do much more than take the temps down a few degrees in the rooms they are in.  I haven't been able to sleep for the past two nights.  Although it's not because I'm hot because one of the A/C units is in my bedroom--the hottest room in the entire house.

The first night we got back, Toby slept the night in his room but Thomas joined us in our room shortly after midnight.  Tonight, Thomas couldn't fall asleep in his room because it was just too hot.  Again, Toby fell asleep in his room, but I was surprised to walk into my room and find Thomas on the floor in a slumber bag and Toby sleeping in the pack-n-play.  Apparently, James decided it's just entirely too hot for any family member to sleep in this heat so everyone is fast asleep in my bedroom--except me--not quite sure what my problem is but I can't sleep.  And it's not like I'm stressing out over something yet my body says it is...I hope it's just the heat making me a little nutty.  

This is my first whole summer here in Germany (and MY LAST--I'm getting so giddy, it's kind of funny--I think I am getting that first glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel), last summer, I spent 2 months in Utah, came back to Germany and we were wearing jackets within a week.  I ran into a friend today at the commissary and she said it's usually like this for 2-3 weeks.  I'm going to try to find a wading pool for the kiddos today. Although the 5-day forcast does show slight cooling and quite a bit of rain...I can't believe I'm looking forward to rain but I am...

And all of this does make me realize how hard it's going to be stepping off that plane next July in Washington DC...(but here I go again...getting excited!)

Until later,

Emily

Swimming with Fearful and Fearless

A friend of mine and I decided to take our kids "somewhere fun" since it was their last day of school. It was actually her idea, and her family really, really wanted to go swimming. She has 4 children, ages 7, 5, 3 and 4 months. So, you could say she had her hands full (but she handled everything quite nicely!), but I felt like I was going to have my hands full with Thomas (the Fearful) and Toby (the Fearless), nevertheless, I thought I had to give it a try...it's going to be an awfully long summer if we don't get out and do some fun things every once in a while.

You see, Thomas, not surprisingly, has been quite fearful of the water. He had gotten a lot "better" last summer, but it has been almost a year since he has had the chance to swim. Playing in the mudponds at Playmobil FunPark does not count! So I did not know what to expect from him and how demanding he was going to be of me.

Then, there is Toby, last year, he didn't really like the water, but I thought it was mainly because he thought the water was too cold. I had no idea of what to expect; except the worst!

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Thomas really did pick up right where he left off...as long as he is wearing the water wings he is not afraid and had a great time! I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that Toby really doesn't care for the water. Not that he was afraid of it and trying to climb up my legs when he got near it, but he was perfectly content to walk around "the beach" of the wave pool and get wet up to his ankles! I am quite OK with the fact that he isn't wanting to dive in or go off the diving board at the age of two!

One humorous aspect of my first time swimming at a German swimming pool: the dressing room is Unisex. Yes, you read that correctly. Although, the dressing room itself has lots of private dressing stalls (which we used), my friend told me she has seen more naked men in the dressing rooms of swimming establisments while living here in Germany, then she ever wanted to in her whole life! I didn't see any naked men and that didn't hurt my feelings.

Until later,

Emily

Last Day of School for Thomas!

Today was Thomas' last day of school. He passed Primary and will be onto Grade 1 in August! His class had a waffle party that morning and his neat teacher put together a cute slide show of the children. It was funny to see how young they all looked at the beginning of the school year. Thomas said good-bye to his teacher, Natalie, who moved back to the States the very next day. She was a great teacher. He gets eight week off and goes back on August 21st.

Until later,

Emily

Another Close-Call!

Today, I was at a friend's house, when all-of-a-sudden it got too quiet. Her older kids were around, but Toby and her 1 1/2 year old were not. She said, "I have a feeling they are outside." and ran outside...sure enough, they had gone outside, crossed the street and were walking down the sidewalk about three homes down the street. When we yelled out their names, they turned around and looked at us like "What? We're going for a walk!"

They say a cat has nine lives...I'm not sure how many Toby has, but he has certainly had some close calls lately! He's dangerous, I tell ya!

Until later,

Emily

No Fear

Toby has no fear. Well, he doesn't exactly like being left with a babysitter but besides that, he really is fearless. To the point that he is scary. Take tonight, for instance...I was busy cooking dinner, Thomas and a friend had been playing in the back yard with Toby and decided to go to the park next to our house. Thomas is 6, his friend is 8 so them going by themselves is OK, after all, it is right next to our home.

So, I was cooking dinner and assummed that Toby was in the back yard playing. Mind you, I had the radio on, two fans on, two pots of water were boiling so I very easily missed the sounds of Toby opening our front door and going outside (he did not shut the door, or I would have known he had gone out). So, he went down the stairs, into the street and walked to our park. I was at the sink peeling potatoes when I saw him walk past my car. The big boys went to the park and that sounded like a good idea to him, too!

I usually lock the front door with a key from the inside but it wasn't locked because the big boys went through the front to go to the park. They can no longer go around the side of the house from the back to get to the park because I've put up a fence to keep Toby in the back...and safe. Safe and Toby...it's not working out so well.

Until later,

Emily

The "Mean" Rain

Last night, right before the boys' bedtime, a pretty serious rain and thunder storm rolled in. Toby was absolutely terrified and we had a hard time getting him to go to sleep. I had to rock him for a while, while the thunder rumbled and the lightening struck all around us.

He turned to me and said, "mean rain, mean rain, da rain is nauny (naughty)"

Until later,

Emily

Why?

How quickly "What's dat?" has been replaced by "Why?" in our conversations with Toby. And he says it with such sincerity, too, that's what is so cute about it...but it has still gotten old.

Until later,

Emily

Playmobil Funpark--May 2009

This was our 2nd visit here. This place is the BEST!

(Notice the naked German girl in the background...wherever there is water there

is surely going to be nakedness!)

Until later,

Emily

The Keukenhof Pics

We got home from Nuremberg last night. But before I post those pics I thought I'd better get caught up on a month's worth of pics on my camera!


April 25, 2009

A view from the car as we were driving into the Keukenhof.

Proof that we were there.  Unfortunately, I had my camera on "manual" setting and there was too much light let in.

Notice the line of people.  I figured it out, it probably felt as crowded as it did because we had to walk and these little paths all the way through.

Some of my favorites.

Some favorites.

More favorites.

And more favorites.

We stopped and ate a little lunch by this playground (pizza).  

Toby must have gone down this slide 100 times!

This picture doesn't do any justice.  There were so many tour busses there.  I've never seen so many tour busses in one place at the same time!

Some more favorites.

Until later,

Emily