Thomas and I made cookies today. It was his first time making cookies with mom, he got to add ingredients, turn on the mixer and lick the beater. Cassidy usually does all that, but

she is in school. Zachary was sleeping for most of it. Then he woke up and wanted to help decorate.

Schloss Lichtenstein

We visited Lichtenstein Castle on Saturday. It is about an hour from our home, still in Germany. We took a tour of the inside but were not allowed to take pictures. It was filled with armor that was pretty cool. The tour lasted about 20 minutes and well Zachary still doesn't like castle tours. He wants to get down and play with his cars on the very old wood floors or climb on the furniture, or bang on the glass doors and windows. But the kids had fun running around outside in the courtyard. Cassidy found a cool painting of a man holding a bow and arrow, it looked like he was going to shoot it out of the painting, and everywhere you stood looking at the painting it looked like it was aimed right at you.

7th Annual Pumpkin Drop

Cassidy's school had a Pumpkin Drop on Friday. Physics students from the High School had to design a box that would keep a pumpkin from breaking when dropped into it. The catch is that the pumpkin would be dropped from 25 meters up. Each Physics student worked with an Elementary class decorating and filling the box. Each box represented a pumpkin producing State. Cassidy's was Florida, so she has been spending the last month learning about Florida. They filled theirs with styrofoam cups, leaves and pillows. It was a lot of fun, but it was cold. By the end Thomas wanted to go back to the car to get warm. Suprisingly a lot of pumpkins survived the fall. Cassidy's did not. Her pumpkin landed in her box then both the box and pumpkin flew up into the air, then landed upside down. And there were a few pumpkins that didn't land in the box at all, the kids liked those the best.

Picnic in Switzerland

We have friends in Switzerland!! We didn't know it, until Stewart happened to find a childhood friend's blog. If you look close you will notice that the quilt we are sitting on is made up of T-shirts from Spanish Fork Baseball, Basketball and the Dons. They have kids about the same age as ours, so they had a great time. We just went for a night, but were able to go up into the countryside for a picnic. We threw leaves and rocks in the stream and petted Swiss cows. They all had cow bells on. You heard them constantly clanking. They used a small string around the pasture to keep the cows in. It had a small wire with an electrical current. Zachary liked sliding his hands along the string. Cassidy couldn't figure out what kept shocking her as she walked by it and occasionally brushed up against it or just got too close to it.

Walking home from the bus

We have seasons again. Cassidy is in heaven. She goes around collecting leaves and rocks for her collection. Zachary loves the leaves falling on him. Thomas just like to throw them at me or Cassidy. Our 10 minute walk from the bus stop took us 50 minutes. Cassidy is learning a few words in German and is singing songs she learned at school. Thomas has it figured out too. He knows nein (pronounced nine) in German, it means no. Well then eighteen means yes! Well at least it does to a three year old. Zachary is talking, well asking for a drink, snack and yes he know the work nein too.

Keeping Busy

Well we are unpacked. I have been setting up shelves and unpacking toys and scrapbook materials. But I think the majority of the time I have been putting the batteries back into the toys. The moving company don't like to move items with batteries. They say the batteries can corrode and damage the items. SO, I removed them all. It is hard to imagine how many batteries we actually use until you have to pack them in your suitcase. So the boys are happy and making lots of noise. Thomas will see something new and he asks "How did that get here" then he laughs. So that has been my life for the last few weeks, unpacking and cleaning. I have been trying to give this house a good rub down. Germany has lots of spiders, so it seems. I find webs everywhere.