Cassidy's Day

This is what Cassidy did while I was at the hospital with Zachary. Stewart did not work today, so he stayed home and let Cassidy play. She made the snowman at the bottom of the hill in the backyard, and had to carry it up to our porch, so we could all see it. It melted a bit and by dinner time it had fallen over.

Payback

Today started great. I got to sleep in until 6am when Zachary woke up, then we both fell back to sleep on the couch. Thomas came down at 7:00 and we watched cartoons for a bit. Then Zachary wanted to get down. He started sliding off the couch and stepped on Thomas, who was laying on the floor. I don't know if Thomas moved to get Zachary off him, or Zachary just slipped, but either way, he lost his balance and went head on into our coffee table. You can see from the picture where he landed. We went through two paper towels and a few Kleenex, until the bleeding stopped. Then like any other child, he was all better and chasing Thomas again. So I took Thomas to school, and came back home to call the Doctor. I woke Stewart up, (he had worked all night and went to bed at 6:30am). So he was pretty tired. We decided to take Zachary to the Dr. But before that could happen we have to make phone calls to a medical liaison team, to find out which Krankenhaus (hospital) to go to, and they call ahead to let them know we are coming. We couldn't go to the Children's Hospital, because they don't do stitches there, so we went to the Emergency room. They wrapped Zachary up in a blanket, so he coudn't move his arms or legs, them gave him his first stitch. It reminded me of my days in the Veterinary clinic. We would wrap cats up the same way, so they coudn't scratch up during exams.

We came home and Zachary has been watching videos on the couch. This picture of him makes him look so sad and miserable. But actually, he is intently watching his new Land Before Time DVD. He loves them. And Dinosaur is one of the words he can say. Well I wouldn't really call this payback, I guess it is just part of having boys.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day started the night before. Stewart worked all night, so the kids and I drove to his work and loaded his car with Valentine's candy, balloons and cards. After I got the kids to bed, I set out Valentine's goodies for the kids to find in the morning. I usually set out a trail of hearts for the kids to follow when they get home from school, but since is was Saturday I thought I would try something different. I hid the candy and gifts around the house with their names on them. Cassidy and Thomas found them before they came and woke me up.




After completing our Saturday chores, the kids went outside for a bit of sledding. The boys downstairs came out and played with them. They had real sleds for them to use. Cassidy thought the sleds were cool and had lots of fun. Thomas couldn't figure out how the brakes worked and ended up in the bushes a few times, until he figured out he could stear away from them. Zachary was the first to come in. He was walking up the hill and took a nose dive into the snow. He had enough. Thomas took one last trip into the bushes and decided he had enough. I set the kids up with Warm Chocolate and heart shaped pizza for lunch. They don't like Hot Chocolate. Event eh Warm Chocolate ends up in the refrigerator to cool off once in awhile.


Zachary then went off for his nap. I played the Wii Fit for awhile. I worked on my Hula and Snowboarding skills, both are a bit rusty. Thomas played Diego on the Wii for a bit, then he helped me and Cassidy play I Spy.





Cassidy's school had a used book sale last week and she used her money to buy some books. She got a few for herself and a few for her brothers. So she wrapped them up and gave them as Valentine's gifts. She gave Thomas a coloring book and computer game. Zachary got a sparkle book and computer game. So, the computer games were more for Cassidy, but it is the thought that counts.



I then fixed our traditional Valentine's dinner. It started sometime after Cassidy was born. Stewart and I realized how much a night out would cost, with dinner and babysitter it added up. Then having to go through the trouble to find someone who was available on Valentine's Day to babysit. Well this was easier. So I make a pink dinner. We have pink waffles and pink milk. Cassidy told me today that I should make the bacon pink next year. I don't think that will happen, but maybe I will try. Thomas got a kick out of it and thought the pink milk tasted better than the white milk. I used food coloring, it tasted the same. We then got cleaned up and watched Mickey Mouse Sweethearts DVD. It is a bunch of old clips all about love. Donald and Daisy, Mickey and Minnie and even Pluto finds love. The kids went off to bed without a fuss. They needed their rest.

Brotherly Love

So the boys were upstairs playing so well while I was getting our grocery shopping list together. Then I heard it. The familiar sound of "brotherly love". Thomas was upstairs crying. Well they had the door to the playroom closed, and there were toys in front of it so I couldn't get in. I finally coaxed Thomas into moving the toys away so I could give him a hug and kiss. The picture is what I found. Zachary had thrown a shake-n-go car at him. And Zachary takes after his Granddaddy, he has an arm on him. We really need to get these boys in sports. So Thomas came downstairs and laid on the couch with an ice pack on his head. He took the ice pack shopping too.

That is not it for our trauma today. We were getting back in the car, after paying for gas and Thomas got hurt again. It was raining and cold, and I was trying to hurry and get the boys into the car. I put Thomas in his seat and told him to get buckled in. Meanwhile I went around the car to put Zachary in his seat. I left Thomas' door open, so I could go back and help him get his other buckle fastened. But as I was walking around the back of the car, I heard the familiar sound of a hurt boy. He had fallen out of the car onto the ground. He had road rash on his scalp, but not bleeding, luckily. My poor boy. But he is up and chasing Zachary and Cassidy around the house as I write this, so he is all better. At least until bedtime. Then I am sure his head will start hurting again and keep him awake.

Ahh, the Sweet smell of Manure?

You would think we lived on a farm. When I walk Cassidy to and from the bus stop, I keep getting the same question from her. What is that smell? Ok, she knows what it is now and no longer asks. It seems the Germans love their manure. I see huge trucks full of manure driving through town. They take it to the near by fields and spread it around. It is kind of fun to watch, I just wouldn't want to be too close. It sprays out kind of like the trucks that spray salt on the icy roads. So I can live with that, but then they covered up my nice snow covered fields. I liked driving by and seeing rolling fields of snow, but now it is snow covered in manure. Then one day I was driving home and Stewart pointed out something that just made me laugh. I wish I had a camera with me, but missed out. In a snow covered field next to the road, was a big heart sprayed from manure. It will be interesting to see how the crops grow, are they going to grow taller into a heart shape too?

The other thing Germans love to spray is salt. Wow, they use a lot of it. Not only on the roads, but all the sidewalks and driveways and more on the roads. Not so eco friendly when it comes to having ice around. Our poor car. But at least there is a car wash down the street, and yes our SUV fits on it.

Trying to spice up our lives

Well I am trying to find something we can do to make life fun around here, something the kids can look forward to. It has been really cold and dark here. OK, so its not terrible, but we are just not used to it. And the evenings are a real trial. We used to be able to go play ball in our back yard or go for a walk, but not anymore. So to spice things up a bit I created Family Movie Night. Every other Friday we get our pajamas on, we gather up all the pillows and blankets from around the house and hang out in front of the TV. We even get to have a snack in the living room, a real treat. We take turns picking the movie and the snack. The kids really like it. Cassidy wants it every Friday, but I told her if we did it too often it wouldn't be a special.

Nothing going on around here

Well this week was pretty boring. At least that is what Cassidy kept saying. She had school off on Monday and Friday, then was home sick on Tuesday. So she just hung out with mom and Zachary. Thomas went to school and had fun. But After two long weekends Cassidy is definitely ready for school tomorrow. We were able to work on a few Try-Its. For those who don't know what they are, Try-Its are the badges for Brownie Girl Scouts. Cassidy is working on Brownie Girl Scouts Around the World. She learned a few things about Ghana, Oman and Italy. We played where is it on the Globe. Stewart or I would give Cassidy the name of a country and she would have to find it. She loves geography. The other badge we worked on this week was Science Wonders. I had all three kids running around the house with fridge magnets, trying to see what they would stick to and what the would not. Then today, I blew up balloons. And we played around with static electricity. The boys were right there with us, learning and playing. If only they could earn badges too. It kept them busy while I made dinner and Cinnamon rolls.

For some reason since we moved here I have been trying to perfect my baking skills. I think it was our trip to Switzerland to visit the Cook's. Emily had made homemade "Lake Shore" rolls and we all devoured them. And I left our bread machine back in Texas. So the rolls I am still working our the kinks, but I think I may have figured it out. And the cinnamon rolls were perfect. The kids are excited to have them tomorrow for breakfast. I try to give them something special for Monday morning breakfast like my mom always did for me and Mark.

Stewart and I gave talks today in church. We both spoke on avoiding pitfalls. It went well, even though we were both writing them late last night and into early this morning. We had lots of comments on a job well done. Now we don't have to do this again for another 2 years right?

It snowed earlier this week, but with school back in there was no time to play. So we went out Friday after school to the local home store and bought two sleds, or shovels as Thomas likes to call them. Thomas has the same ones at his school, so he showed us all how to use them. We asked some friends to come over Saturday afternoon and go sledding with us. Luckily it had been cold all week, so the snow didn't melt. We had lots of fun, although there were a few runs that we went a bit fast. I think all of us ran into the bushes more than once. We would try to bail off the sled before we got there, but it didn't always work.

Cassidy's start in 2009

Cassidy started the New Year, with a new look and a giving attitude. She cut off 12 inches of her hair to donate to Locks of Love. I took her to the hair dresser and he gave her a terrible hair cut. It was cute from the front, but really uneven in the back. So I had to take her back the next day. It is still not great, but it is much better. I just needed Sherry (our neighbor in San Antonio), who would have taken her time and done it right. But it looks so cute now and she loves it. Mostly because it doesn't get tangled. The first night after it was cut, she took a comb to bed with her. She was so excited she could do her own hair now. The next day she set up "hair station" in her room, so she could do her hair in the mornings before school. Well, she and I are not that lucky. I still have to do it. She can comb it, but I have to straighten it. Her hair has a lot of natural curl that does not work well with this cut. So I still have to do her hair in the morning.

Cassidy has been completing her chores this year usually without me reminding her. Yesterday morning Zachary woke up at 6am, I went in and got him, then we both fell back asleep on the couch. I woke up to two little voices and scampering feet. Cassidy had gotten her Swiffer Duster out and was dusting the living room. She had Thomas helping her. He was holding the flashlight. They were so cute whispering to each other tying not to wake me up. And so happy that they were doing their chores without me asking. And yes both beds were made too.

Cassidy went on a field trip with her class last week. They took a bus and a train into Stuttgart to see the play Pippi Longstocking. It was in German of course. She had a great time. They had to go in Sunday best. But it was very cold and it snowed the morning of their trip. So she wore her snow boots, and took her dress shoes and a comb in a backpack. She wore the hat Grandma Grover had given her, so she needed the comb in case it messed up her hair a little. She had a great time and was exhausted that night. They did a lot of walking to the bus stop and to the theater.

The New Year

We spent New Year's not quite sure we were going to stay up. We were all pretty tired. I even put a movie in for the kids at 9:30 thinking they would go to sleep watching it. They didn't. So we put Zachary to bed at about 10:30, he was getting too cranky. Then there were a few fireworks going off here and there in our town, so I would yell "fireworks" and Thomas and Cassidy would race to the window, usually missing them. Our downstairs neighbor had a few set out on his back porch, so we would watch for him to come outside, then we would watch his fireworks. When midnight came they started going off everywhere. We soon realized there must be no firework laws here. There were some really big fireworks going off. We sat in our living room and looked out our big window watching the fireworks from the warmth of our house. We are up on a hill that overlooks a little valley. We looked across to the other side of the valley and the whole side was lit up by fireworks. It looked like every house was setting them off. We opened the window a few times. Thomas didn't like the noise, and none of us liked the smell. After about 20 minutes of this, we cold no longer see the valley or the fireworks going off on the other side. The valley was filled with smoke. The kids had fun, but were asking to go to bed a 12:30.

The kids enjoyed their time off school. We played the Wii. We got Wii Fit, Outdoor Challange, Eye Spy and Diego Wii games for Christmas. Cassidy and Thomas also got new games for their Leapster. So we played and played. The kids were ready to go back to school though. Cassidy was getting too bored at home. Well she is not bored now. She started piano lessons. Santa brought us an electric piano for Christmas and he arranged for Cassidy to take a few lessons from a friend of ours. So she has been busy practicing. Her favorite song to play is Jolly Old St. Nikolas. Her class at school sang it at a Christmas festival.