Benjamin's German Kindergarten Christmas Program

During Benjamin's third week of attending German Kindergarten he was in their school program. He was a bird along with a few of the other children.

All the families were invited and we filled up their small "gymnastics"

room for their performance. Of course, it was all in German and we did not understand any of it but it was cute and Benjamin did a good job.

They must have practiced a lot because he really seemed to know what he was supposed to do. And he surprised us as well as his teachers when he actually joined in singing the song the class sang at the end.

After the brief performance the families had all

brought goodies to share and we enjoyed some German and

American treats.

Some Video Clips from the Past...

This past summer as an early birthday present, Don gave me a new MacBook Pro. I love it and have found many uses for it and have spent many hours on it...

When we arrived to Germany, we had very little to entertain the boys but we had my MacBook! I was just going through some old video clips and pictures the boys had done on it and came across these priceless video clips.

PhotoBooth on the Mac is a great interactive program and includes lots of ways to distort images as you will witness in these clips.

Enjoy!

Christmas Photo Attempts

A couple of weeks ago I attempted to get a good pic of the three kids together. It was a good idea... but these things never turn out as grand as planned. So, here are a couple peeks at our attempts!

As the Christmas cards continue to arrive here, I notice that friends and family with children older than ours seem much more receptive to getting their pictures taken. So, there is hope... maybe in a few more years we will have all smiles... but for now we shall cherish our little ones and these precious years with their close to perfect poses.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Our Christbaum Search

Last weekend we got our first live Christmas tree! In the past we were always headed to Illinois for a couple of weeks so we would put up a fake tree. So, we bundled up the kids and headed to the Christbaum-Center ("baum" meaning tree, of course).

It was a nice tree farm close to another American military housing area. They had tons of trees that you could cut down yourself or they had an area where you could select fro

m some of their trees which they had already cut. We opted to pick from a pre-cut tree in the 35 Euro price range. The boys had a good time checking out all the trees and running around the tree farm, even though temperatures were a lil brisk.

We only brought one bin of Christmas decorations with us and left the rest of our holiday stuff in storage back in the states. We did pretty well

with what we brought. We had to pick up a tree stand, tree skirt, and 220V Christmas lights but that's about it. Our tree is not huge but it is perfect for our little home. And the boys had a blast decorating the bottom half of the tree with kid friendly ornaments. Some of which they delighted in the fact that they hand-made.

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

This morning at church we were all surprised with a performance by the children. It was delightful and I humbly say my boys stole the show. After church the congregation always proceeds to the basement of the chapel for a light snack and punch. Today, we had several people after church come up to us and comment on how entertaining our boys were. (I'd have to agree.) If the video is shaking a bit it is because I was giggling so much. This was Samuel's debut on stage, as he has never before had the opportunity to join in and be in front of an audience. He LOVES instruments and singing and this was just the platform he needed to show his talents...

Garbage vs. Recycling

Our Samuel is fascinated by the garbage and recycling trucks. He always has been and I hope he keeps enjoying this boyhood fascination for some time. Between the garbage and recycling trucks in our neighborhood it seems like they visit our neighborhood frequently.

I took this video clip of Samuel admiring the garbage men at work back in October. He is looking out our dining room window... which he does every Thursday when they come to take our garbage and recycling away.

I have found that Germans have somewhat of a passion for recycling. We have lots of different bins and it has taken some time to get a system down for all the sorting. We have 4 main categories:

1. Plastics & aluminum

2. Cardboard & Paper

3. Compost (food waste)

4. Rubbish

I have learned to truly miss having a garbage disposal in my kitchen sink. If you have one in your kitchen, as most Americans probably do in this day and age... do me a favor, and please don't take this convenience for granted. Treasure it! Praise it!

Enjoy it! (ahhhh... sometimes it's the simple things I miss). Some day I too shall return to life with a garbage disposal and I will be forever grateful to whoever invented that amazing contraption.

Anyway, the recycling is somewhat awesome and somewhat crazy. As a family of five with two still in diapers/pullups, we can accumulate our fair share of waste. We live on the second floor. Trips to the dumpsters seem to be made all too frequent.

Oh, and in addition to the top four categories, we also have a couple more centralized recycling areas just a short walk away... one for old batteries and one for glass. Generally, we do not generate a lot of waste in those areas. Glass beer bottles and glass soda (pop) bottles are recycled by deposit. As in, you return your bottle for a small amount of money for returning those bottles. Other glass is broken down into three categories: clear glass, colored glass and brown glass.

Does this all sound confusing or what? When we first arrived we received a chart that breaks it all down for us so we know what is supposed to go where. It's posted on our fridge and may be until the day we move! But we are getting more used to the idea of what goes where.

After living here for three years, I bet we will become accustomed to all the recycling and be amazed at all the waste many Americans still create. And of course, we will appreciate having a garbage disposal again.

Our Sweet and Smiley Baby

I need to catch a video clip of Grace and her new found capability to really giggle. But these still photos will have to do for now. She continues to sleep through the night and wakes up incredibly happy stretching her neck around as if she needs to make sure she's not missing out on anything going on around her. She scoots all over her crib and rolls from her front to back all the time now.

She also loves to make eye contact with anyone and everyone. As soon as she realizes someone is looking at her she lights up with a big grin that you can't help smiling back at. She will be 5 months old tomorrow and I LOVE THIS BABY AGE!

We continue to be amazed at how quickly she is growing up on us! Sometimes I find myself just watching her lay in her crib so I can leave an imprint in my mind of this brief time in her life where she is tiny and so full of joy.

Who is that masked baby?

Okay... was this worth the wait for a blog post or what? Here is our precious lil Grace in disguise! We attended a birthday party awhile back for one of Benjamin's friends and these little glasses were in the goodie bag from the party.

I kind of wish I could say this was the boys idea but I just couldn't resist the temptation of seeing what Grace would look like with these on! I should let Daddy take the blame since he ended up posing in the picture with her. She is probably not going to like me very much for these pics when she's old enough to know better! But for now, I'll share them with the world. Enjoy!

Our First Road Trip Since the Move...

Happy December! We have had a busy month so far and no sight of things slowing down anytime soon.

The few days before Thanksgiving, the kids and I traveled to southern Germany with Don on a conference he attended for work. While Don was in meetings the kids and I spent a rainy day in the hotel enjoying the indoor pool. That was a huge treat for the kids since they have not been swimming since we left the states.

Here are a few photos from our trip into the foot of the Alps.