Thanksgiving Photos and Video! Finally- it works!!

I've gotten a little flak for not putting any photos up lately. Blame Facebook.....

Anyway, there haven't been so many photo ops lately. Here are some of our Thanksgiving table...yawn. We are going to a Santa breakfast tomorrow and Nils' second (!) birthday is Sunday, so we should have some great shots from those two events.

Here's a video of the kids playing with Alexander and Katarina. They come over every Friday for sushi lunch and a play date. No, my kids do not eat sushi. They eat the sticky rice and plain udon noodles. But I figure exposure has to get me somewhere eventually too, right? (I've tried tamago and inari, don't mention it!)

They were playing with their animals in the smallest corner of the living room. No, Nils is not picking his nose (at least not in this shot). He's really into eating his hands lately. And picking his nose.

Happy Thanksgiving

Whew, I am beat. I volunteered to make pumpkin pie for Jay's Kindergarten's Thanksgiving meal. Meaning I have to feed 60+ kids, 10 teachers, 2 administrators and a couple of other staff! Since the Kindergarten is bilingual, they are doing Thanksgiving to bring the English speaking culture in as well. I'm sure if there was a big English holiday it would be celebrated too.

Anyway, on top of the pies, I discovered that my turkey was already thawed- three days too soon! What to do? Well, roast it.... and buy a new one since we don't celebrate until Saturday. I went to three supermarkets looking for a big enough turkey (remember it's goose season here, not turkey). I finally found a 4.4 kilo (9.5 lbs) bird, although I really needed a 6 kilo (13 lbs) one to feed all 12 of us.

So I was busy all day making pie crust, pie fillings, roasting the turkey, and even making homemade pizza for dinner! (Why not turkey?) The kids watched a ton of TV and were pretty understanding. So today is a play with mama day- I've finished just about everything on my agenda for today while they were in school. So happy Thanksgiving!

Down on the Farm

What would a week in our home be without any animals? This time, the kids weren't the animals (unless you count their behaviour sometimes). We went to another city to an old farm that (I think) the city bought and made into a place for families to visit. Kind of like a petting zoo. Anyway, there were woods all around and animals for the kids to see as well as a playground. And it was COLD. We had to argue to get them there and argue to get them to leave though. The kids visited the animals and went walking through the leaves in the woods, climbing old, fallen trees, and ate Bratwurst with us.

Here's also a photo of Nils watching TV. Of course, this was the first and only time ever he's seen TV, right?? Ha ha! How do you think he became our boy genius and knew how to read his ABCs at 16 months? Sure Leap Frog annoys me, but it has its merits.... And, no, he doesn't always watch TV like that. He's usually licking it.

Happy Birthday Katarina!

Saturday was Katarina's birthday party. Once again, Jay and Nils were the only boys invited. But Katarina has a younger brother, so they were not the only boys.

It was a really multi-cultural mix. Katarina and her brother are also half American-half German. Actually, their mom, Susanne, is half American-half Chinese like me too. But her kids are very, very blond and mine look pretty Chinese!

There was also a Dutch girl, a Japanese girl, a German girl (who didn't speak English) and an American girl. English was the base language, but you could hear Japanese, German, and Dutch from the parents as well.

Jay was rhinoceros for the party- I've attached a photo of his with his mask on.

Saint Martin

November is Saint Martin time here. I've attached a photo of Jay in his Saint Martin's Day parade. Yes, in his Halloween costume. Hey, it's warm!

I didn't know his story until I moved here. St. Martin was a rich guy who came across a poor beggar freezing in the snow and gave the him half of his coat. After the people heard about him, they wanted to make him a bishop. But Martin didn't want to be bishop, so he hid in a goose stall. The geese were really loud, and the people found Martin and he became a bishop.

Now, the first thing I ever wondered when I heard this story was "why only half his coat?" Apparently most Americans come to this same conclusion....

Saint Martin's time has several traditions- a goose dinner (celebrating the goose stall), Weckmaenner (yeast bread "men" with wooden pipes- more on that later), and the very best- the Martinszug. This is a parade of children through the neighborhood with homemade lanterns. The kids sing songs and parade through the town, usually following a horse with "Saint Martin" riding it. After the parade, the kids return to the preschool or elementary school, sing more songs in front of a bonfire, and watch a reenactment of Saint Martin and the beggar. Afterwards, everyone drinks tea amd eats Weckmaenner. On their way home, the kids stop into various shops and sing their songs for some candy. (so there is a German version of trick or treating!)

The kids all make their own lanterns in preschool. Jay and Nils both made theirs. Okay, Jay made his, but I suspect Nils' teacher had a big hand in making the lantern. I have to take a close up photo of them and post it later.

OK- the Weckmaenner. They have a pipe because one year, a very sleepy baker (they do have to wake up before dawn!) accidentally placed the piece that was supposed to be a bishop's staff on the St. Martin's cake upside down. Thus, a pipe was born. Here is a link to a photo of one: http://www.gerderath.com/images/weckmann.jpg

Baby Soffian

My sister (Linda) has a very special micropreemie son, Soffian (23 weeks). Linda and her husband, Sacha, posted a video for the March of Dimes "Every Baby has a Story" campaign.

Take a look here: http://www.everybabyhasastory.org/View.aspx?ProfileID=1313

We are all so proud of you Soffian!

Rock & Roll

Are we projecting too much of what we think is "cool" onto our kids? Or what was cool when we were young. Well, until they can shop and dress themselves, I guess we have that right. OK, Jay does dress himself every day, but I still get to do the shopping!

Then again, the kids have their own definition of what is cool. Jay has been talking an a bunch about Spiderman lately. I was hoping we could avoid superheroes for another couple of years. I'm a girl, I can't get into Spiderman, Batman, or any other (male?) superhero. But I also can't get into Barbie or all those little, tiny accessories that go along with Polly Pockets and other toys that girls love. Our new favorite toy: Knights and horses and building Lego castles with real functioning drawbridges (go Michael!).

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday was Trunk or Treat here and this year both kids got to go. Emma joined us as well. We do Trunk or Treat because Halloween is still relatively new here in Germany. (My in-laws once complained that some kids had the nerve to ring their doorbell and "beg" for candy!)

Basically, the American and Canadian families gather their cars in the parking lot of the international school and open their trunks and decorate them. Some people go all out and have spooky music, jack-o-lanterns or videos playing. The kids paraded a couple of times and then went from car to car trick or treating.

Last year, Jay was pretty good. He ate only one piece of candy and the next day forgot he even had it- bonus for me! This year, neither Jay nor Nils had any interest in trick or treating. Jay was a little overwhelmed and Nils only wanted to run around. They got a little candy, ate one piece, and forgot they had it again. Again, bonus for me!