Ride like the Wind

The snow has thawed and springtime has arrived. Time to make good on that promise, lets learn to ride.

I dug my rollerblades out, I’m ready to roll.

There’s only one problem. Each of the three times I’ve gotten her on her bike over the past few weeks, she’s gone a total of 20 feet and stops, disinterested.

Or so I thought.

Today as Mommy Picked up Emmett, Stella and Hannah ran to our house. Before Mommy came home the two were standing in the street with their bikes. Mommy wanted to help but she said “hands off”

And off they went. All the way to the ice cream stand at the other end of the village and back.

Almost a mile

As she proudly exclaimed to me “all by myself, without training wheels, to the ice cream stand and back.”

I quickly grabbed the camera and strapped on the rollerblades.

Then she proudly showed me again. 

ps - if you turn up the volume you can hear Stella's wonderful Denglish as she's starting to speak more and more English.

FOUR

Four years have flown by way too fast.

Happy birthday to my special little girl!

Musicians

On sunday we did a kiddy cooking course with some friends.


It started out well.



But our kids decided they had more fun providing the entertainment.



She said she had fun except for the cooking part.



and next time we should find a music party ,-P

Easter Bunny

It was cold

There was frost in the morn

But that didn’t Stop our little Easter bunnies

She was so excited

He really didn’t care

She grabbed all but filled his basket as well

Then she hid for us

And we had to find

All sorts of chocolate goodies

Again

And again

And again

And again

All day long

Grillin'

Spring is in the air!
Finally

After a long cold winter it's a big deal here in northern Germany when you can finally pull out the grill.


Mommy surprised Daddy with a nice cut of filet when I got home.



So I pulled the grill out!



And we all enjoyed dinner outside for the first time in 2012.
Emmett had Ketchup with a side of sausage.

ZERO

It’s cold. No let me rephrase, It is Flippin’ freezing here.

No exaggeration, some are saying that this is the coldest winter we have ever had.

We’ve had minus 19 degrees Celsius days (that’s ZERO for your Fahrenheit people).

That’s ZERO with the sun shining at 100% power with no clouds at high noon!

Our kids don’t seem to notice though.

Once outside Stella doesn’t want to come in.

Emmett pulls his snowsuit out to show he’s ready to go out.

We have to beg and sometimes "order" them to go back inside before we get frostbite.

And we have thoroughly been enjoying it.

Exploring our winter wonderland...

Sledding

Making snow angels

Hiking

Tasting snow

(tastes good)



In other words enjoying Old Man Winter!

Book Party

Have you ever heard of a book party?

It happens quite frequently at our house. It can be a community activity involving several parties.

Sometimes however it can also be a solitary activity as seen here.

Clear the book shelves,

Surround yourself with books and enjoy.

Recently Stella discovered my Mr. Men books. She loves to sort them out, look at the back where all the men are listed and asks me who each one is. And somehow she has picked out favorites. Even though we haven’t read it, she knows who Mr. Slow is.

The other day, Stella said she was going to read me a story. She opened up a book and started in. Even though we have only read a handful of these books, she has the storyline for the books down.

She started in, “here is blah blah blah and this is where he lives. Our story begins here and this is what happened.” I shouldn’t be surprised but it really impressed me.

The past few days we have had some quality father/daughter time. Unfortunately Stella came down with croup. I really think the one on one time for three days really boosted her English skills.

We also had lots of fun, playing games, playing outside in the minus 10 degree weather (which this dry and cold weather is supposed to be one of the best cures for croup), reading books and singing songs.

Stella took care of her “sick” baby as well. Keeping her well fed, sleeping in a quiet place, carrying her around and sharing the inhalation machine.