Before I forget . . .

It's been known to happen and then plague me as I try to fall asleep at night. Funny things the kids say that I want to jot down and keep, great home organizational ideas, errand that needs to be run, something obscure that I should remember to pack or plan for our next trip to simplify my life . . . so here's some recents:

When I was making cupcakes the other day, McKay who loves to help in the kitchen very matter-of-factly said, "Mom, I will help you! I know the destructions."

Morgan's most likely phrases to me lately are "Mom, I hun-ny" [hungry] with a gravelly voice or since she's been sick, "Mom, I snug-ew?" If we go somewhere or someone comes over and she feels anxious I might be leaving her, she insists, "Mommy, I snug-ew on a wap" [your lap]. And then she'll tell me to sit, especially if she's walking off to play. I gave her a hair cut a couple weeks ago, her very first ever so now it brushes her shoulders. Man is she a sweet adorable thing, losing her baby look and charming the pants off mom and dad! Ryan's especially a sucker for her when he gets home!

Easton's class is learning about public places and toured the city's water treatment facility. The selling point he told everyone about was that he was going to, and then got to drink the freshest water on the planet! "Like 1 second old!" His class is also visiting the fire department and town hall in the next two weeks. I really like how his school walks or rides public buses to great local places with such ease. When they were studying patterns all around us, the teacher took small groups of 6 down the road to an old church to look at and sketch patterns in the stained glass.

Morgan and then McKay have been sick all week with a stomach bug. The two times I braved driving to get Easton from school, they both threw up or had the runs. I chickened out the third day and called another mom out of the blue to ask if she'd bring Easton home. Car rides with bowls on kids' laps was just standard operating procedure this week and yet a certain headstrong girl has had enough of the bowl and would rather puke on herself. Fun times. But I'll be honest, after having a houseful of kids during a school break last week, it's been great to have the excuse to lounge around all day snuggling my babies and reading while they watch copious amounts of cartoons! Morgan doesn't seem to be bothered by disappearing lap space due to my growing baby bump although there are times when I want to holler!

My visiting teacher and I were chatting yesterday about all the stuff going on in Japan after the devastating earthquake, tsunami and now the nuclear crisis. I realized how little I actually know about nuclear facilities even having grown up near a famous one where my dad and both grandfather's have worked. It is truly criminal to know so little about the dominating factor of my home economy. So it's time to read up on it!

Our favorite babysitter moved back to the states last summer. She's applying for a summer internship and needed the dates for a weekend getaway we'd taken where she'd watched the kids so I could be one of her references. I tried looking at my iCalendar but I've only been using it for about the past 8 months so I had to go to the blog which is in sore need of some back-labeling to make it easier to find things. Since moving here we've traveled a lot, right? Well, I'd never sat back and listed all the trips/cities/countries we've been to and it was simply amazing to me!

We truly have been so blessed to have this opportunity over here. Ryan's sure to get us out on a few more big ones before we lay low and have this baby. The Netherlands tulip festival, Greece, Ireland, and southern France made the baby deadline.

And I'll soon take my first trip with a friend on a nerd-excursion! We're headed with a chaplain sponsored group up to Ravensbruck Concentration camp outside of Berlin where some memoirs I've read took place and then cross the border into Poland to visit Freidrich Bonhoeffer's institute at Finkenwald. If you're interested in a great documentary, take a look at "Bonhoeffer" made in 2003. He was a Protestant pastor, among the first to vocally speak out against Hitler as he rose to power and then he later became involved in the assassination plots on Hitler. He was part of a new breed of theologians in his time that truly believed the Sermon on the Mount was something we were meant to live by and not just know about. That in itself is a fascinating historical tidbit of European Christianity. Very interesting time and well-made documentary.

This trip is perfectly timed with things I've read or am reading. Last year I read and highly recommend "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. She and her family lived in the Netherlands through the Nazi occupation until being sent to concentration camps for hiding Jews. Her story is so beautiful and famous for her ability to cling to her faith and be able to forgive the depravity of her oppressors. There's also "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" - whose family goes into hiding in the Netherlands but is ultimately discovered and sent to a concentration camp. Also a good movie.

I've been listening to "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A history of Nazi Germany" by William Shirer for a couple months now. This is my cooking and cleaning the kitchen listening. Mr. Shirer was a reporter in Germany and Austria during the early days of the Nazis and through the war and aftermath. It's an interesting birds' eye view and well researched work. I'm only up the the eminent invasion of Poland and the beginning of WWII - almost half-way through the book which is 57 hours or 1200+ pages long. I so wish my brain held on to facts like it did in school days!

My current bed-time reading is the memoir, "Michaelangelo in Ravensbruck" by Countess Karolina Lanckoronska. A level-headed Polish Renaissance university professor gets swept up in the Polish resistance and prisoner welfare programs as the Soviets and Nazis divide up and invade Poland. She accounts for life under both Soviet Russian and Ukrainian communist occupation as well as Nazi occupation. She is sent by the Nazis to Ravensbruck Concentration camp. The details of her story and experiences are so interesting while I'm absorbing the history of the Nazis! I have never known anything about Poland other than it being the location of some of the most horrible Nazi extermination camps. I am gaining a great respect for the brave and proud Poles and mourn how the Nazis systematically swooped in and exterminated entire cities' "intelligensia" - the very people who led or made the cities function. No wonder Poland and much of Eastern Europe had such a hard time recovering from WWII when most of their civic leaders, engineers, universities, teachers, pastors and clergy, and others disappeared under occupation or war!

School Parties

Attending school functions with all my kidlets, being outnumbered 3 to 1, gives me serious pause. And I've documented some of our less than finer moments here before, so you know what I'm talking about or can just plain empathize.

At Easton's cookie exchange on Thursday, if you asked me in the first 20 minutes whether we'd stay to the end, you'd have gotten a "you gotta be kidding me" smirk. We got there fifteen minutes early since I thought school got out at 2pm but is actually over at 2:30. (This is irrelevant information to keep in my brain since I always meet him at the bus stop close to 3pm.) The party was held in the cafeteria and Morgan utilized the empty space to run a dangerous route back and forth that I was sure would break me. Or her. She'd climb these two steps up to a window (used as Easton's class stage later) and then try to step down ON HER OWN even though her legs' height equals each step's height! Then she'd run straight ahead to the cafeteria entrance where less than 10 yards away is a big stairwell. Argh!!! It was shaping up to be yet another showcase of "How not to mother" in public. Again.

But then we heard bells and carols! The kindergartners were wearing their reindeer antlers, singing "Rudolf", and ringing their bells as they walked the mile long hallway! Very fun and totally adorable! I loved seeing Easton's face light up when he saw me there!!! I am lucky enough to have had parents who made it a priority to attend random functions as I grew up and I remember how happy it made me to see them there in the crowd! The class sang "Rudolf" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and I think we might need to work on Easton's rhythm. Poor kid would always miss the right time to stamp his foot to the "We WON'T go until we get some" part. But he sure tried and the concentration on his face was priceless!

Afterward, all children were invited to make a circle where music was played as a Christmas stocking was passed around. When the music stopped, whoever held the stocking got to go get their parent and the cookie box they decorated to begin taking one of each cookie assortment. McKay's interest wained, Morgan wiggled and hollered in my arms. Easton was fifth from last, being timid with a newly introduced game. His buddy Nolan is his exact opposite. Every time I've ever seen this kid, he's literally bouncing! Cute kid.

Easton chose a table in the way back of the cafeteria that was completely empty. We ate and tried some of the cookies while I tried to limit them to only two. The boys took that to mean they could try a cookie to see if they wanted to finish it. The ones they finished equaled two. Clever. Very clever!

As I prepared to round us up to head out, I got chatting with another mom whom I discovered I'd met via email when requesting a babysitting co-op so us moms can volunteer in the classroom. While we chatted, her twin kindergartners and another little girl desperately wanting a baby sister encircled Morgan and spun her in the stroller around in circles. It looked like a merry-go-round and Morgan loved it! They were a heap of laughter which bought me time. Until the fire alarm began it's test. Time to go!

Easton's teacher held this party early because she is heading home to see her poor mom who is suffering a relapse in her brain cancer and it doesn't look good. As I talked to Easton's teacher tonight at the PX, emotions were very raw and on her sleeve. Please offer a prayer up if you think to, the family could really use some comfort and peace to enjoy this Christmas season! She reiterated that she knows she's been blessed with a nice, mellow class this year because God knows the limits of our individual capacities. I truly love this lady!!!

So one party down, one more tomorrow at McKay's German kindergarten! It's an Advent celebration and they'll also talk about the German tradition of St. Nick visiting and leaving a present in each kid's stocking. I hope to get pictures of their decorations because they've been putting them up all week.

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Some random stuff about the teachers at McKay's school that I find interesting. Frau Bachman used to be a professional belly dancer in East Germany before the Wall came down! I love her! She so genuinely loves what she does and it shows every day! The kids love her guitar playing and singing songs with them. I really like how this school uses music to divert and settle the kids down, such as earlier this week when another mom and I served the kids a mini-Thanksgiving feast on Monday.

A week or so ago, the kindergarten had a professional photographer come do pictures. Man! I wish I'd taken it more seriously because every photo I've seen from the shoot has been really good! A genuine smile from each little kid's individual shots! When I get my scanner for Christmas (right, Ryan?), you'll see McKay's as proof.

Anyhow, one of the other teachers who sometimes wears spicy stuff like punk pink heeled slouch boots or 6 inch purple heels was getting her picture taken when I arrived to pick up McKay. There was something strangely different about her that I couldn't put my finger on! She was wearing a tight black tank top with long hair flowing and was pulling model poses. It was rather comical and a little embarrassing but fit her. She's Russian and is so very sweet that I wish we could communicate better.

Back to my story - a bit later I saw one of the little girls who loves playing dress-up parading around with long flowing hair and I realized it was a wig! The teacher's wig! Man I wished my friend Heike had been there to get a kick out of it with me! I laugh every time I think of it!

First Day of School

Written Tuesday, Sept 8:

I tried not to be too anxious this morning, but my stomach was in knots! I finally had to wake Easton up and was dreading it. None of my kids like to be woken up and can be seriously grumpy for hours afterward so I was a little concerned. The magic words seemed to be "Cream of Wheat." I made Easton's favorite breakfast cereal and there was no whining! So cute to see Ryan fussing over his boy, making sure Easton was all set for his first day!


Easton's new school - Boeblingen (almost pronounced Byooblingen). McKay didn't want to be in the family picture and boycotted.


Here's Easton with his kindergarten teacher, Ms. Senna. We've heard fabulous things about her from many people.


This face pretty well describes Easton's mood -- cautious and absorbing.


McKay could feel the vibe and was the first to be ready to go -- except for shoes. He wanted to wear his "super shoes" but we couldn't find both of them so it was rain boots again in a pinch. McKay did demand to have his backpack "like Eas'on has." I got such a kick out of the snapshots this morning and was so pleased with myself that we even made it on time!


I got a little teary, not in saying goodbye to Easton, but looking over at a friend whose husband is deployed while their youngest is having her first day of school. I wondered how many of these kids were missing a parent and how many parents are missing their kid's first day of school. I often get these reality checks here and it makes me so grateful for Ryan and his 8-5 non-traveling job. We have truly been blessed!


Easton hopped off the bus with his friends Sammy and Taylor. His first words to me were, "Is it almost 3 o'clock?" Code for "is it time to play my video games?" And then he asked if he could run home. I said not until we crossed our street at the end which lets him run for about 150 yards. Silly boy!


I was actually grateful for the ten minute walk back home so I could pepper him with questions. He liked circle times, playing on the playground, going to the library and checking out "Go Dog Go", the sandbox, snacks and lunch, a quiet time nap, and reading his book. He's fine with going back tomorrow, not ecstatic, but happy to go. The after school pictures pretty well reflected his moods. Ryan and I were both pumping him for information and boy does it take us back to our own school days!


Here's my big boy happy as a clam back in his own little family world, comfort item and all! Today was his third day and knowing that some friends were coming over to play, he said he wanted to stay home. I told him that he was a big kid now and big kids go to school Monday through Friday because their job is now to learn. We related it to dad's job and how we get weekends off to be together as a family all day long. He seemed to like the sound of that -- and then he voiced a concern. Would he miss his favorite Saturday cartoon, Phineas & Ferb?