Germany Trip- Lochmuehle

Lochmuehle is an enchanting children's fun park located near Julia and Frank's house.  Most of the rides are man-powered using pedals or wheels.  A lot of the more mechanical rides are started by the rider pushing a button or pulling a cord.  It was fantastic and the time of year we visited the park made it even better- flowers were blooming, bees were buzzing, the garden area was in full production- it was like a fairy tale land.   I have never seen so many bees.  Eben and Eleanor both got stung but neither is allergic and it caused minimal pain.  My favorite rides were the donkeys because it was funny to bump along on them, and I really liked the tractors.  The tractors moved through this incredible garden and Eben could have spent the whole time there.  He felt like he was truly driving a real tractor.  We spent the whole day there and never once did we hear a complaint or fuss.  There were no lines so the kids could ride the rides as much as they wanted and towards the end we even let the girls go ride on their own while we adults had a little coffee breakas Eben and Eleanor slept.

These pictures do not do Lochmehle justice, but hopefully you will get an idea at how charming a place the park was.  Thank you soooooo much Julia and Frank!!!!!!!!

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

On Thursday we celebrated the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with a delicious cross shaped fruitcocktail cake for breakfast and a leather cross craft in the afternoon.  Our fruit cocktail cake recipe come from Granny and is superb- Casey usually has his mother make it each year on his birthday. 

This summer I bought a neat little leather tool and stamp set and have several different leather crafts I'll be bringing out for the girls to work on throughout the year.  They loved stamping and coloring their crosses and proudly wore them the whole weekend.

Here is a little background about this feast day from AmericanCatholic.org:

Early in the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ's life. She razed the Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Savior's tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman.

To this day the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica's dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, 15 years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.

Germany Trip 2011- Guest Haus Loh

At the end of August we were fortunate to make a quick trip to Germany to visit some friends.  It was such a pleasant trip and our hosts, the Lohs were fabulous.  I have known Julia for more than twenty years now.  She and I were exchange students one summer in high school and have kept up since then.  She and her husband, Frank, have a three year old named Annica.  They live in a small community called Duttenhofen and graciously gave us their house each evening (they slept next door with Frank's parents).  All five children were so well behaved throughout our stay and Annica was so kind to share her toys and let our kids take over her room.  We are looking forward to more European adventures with them in the near future!

My Germany trip entries will start with our first afternoon.  Frank's parents have an incredible garden and orchard- apple, plum, cherry, hazelnut, and more.  Everything was in full production and the kids were able to pick apples and plums on a daily basis.  Each morning we had garden tomatoes with Rosemary sea salt and the dinner salads were a real treat.  One of my favorite desserts as a child was Pflaumen Kuchen baked by my grandmother, Gonka, and guess what we had in Duttenhofen?????  I couldn't believe it.  The Lohs put whipping cream on their Kuchen making it even better than I remembered.

Twins First Day of Building Blocks

We started the twins at daycare a few days before we left for Germany to get them introduced to the idea of attending.  The picture shows a happy little duo but we are still seeing tears with Eben.  He is having a real tough time with the whole daycare thing although Eleanor is enjoying herself.  My library assisant job will no longer be everyday so this should help.  Another mom and I will be splitting the position.  This will be much better for twins.  The daycare will give them a good outlet in this small community and I will have a chance to practice my library skills and we will still be together fo a large portion of the week. 

  

Theresa's 5th Birthday!!!

We are back from Texas after an incredible summer filled with family fun and Schlitterbahn.  We landed on the 10th of August and took a few days to get over jet lag.  On the 18th we celebrated Theresa's 5th birthday!!!!!  She really wanted to go to the beach, so we did that in the morning and then the girls and I got dressed in party dresses for the rest of the day.  Our party game was hide and seek- these KAUST houses are perfect for this game.  Her meal was pizza and her cake was Granny's pineapple cake- delicious!

The last picture I had to add because I feel it is one of Theresa's most impressive piles ever- The Breyer Horse Pile.  She is still making her piles and this one included all our breyers and accessories as well as paper dolls, Barbies, and large plastic animals.  She worked on this the day after we returned.

No Potty, Icecream!

Our local Tamimi has recently stocked the cutest little potty seats.  We could not resist getting the twins blue and pink ones.  Both twins occasionally like to sit on the potty and sometimes we have poop success with Eleanor but neither is anywhere near ready for now.  They love to sit and read their Beatrix Potter books or our Mother Goose Treasury- particularly "Humpty Dumpty."  Note "Daddy's Potty" in one of the pictures......We really had the older two girls going on that one!

Theresa's K-2 Showcase

Our little Theresa really surprised us last week at her school's end of the year celebration.  The evening began with an exhibit featuring the children's artwork produced from recycables.  It was a beautiful display and the best part was that we got to take home all of Theresa's creations. 

The surprise came when we saw Theresa perform.  I was shocked to see her center stage and actively singing and doing all the motions.  The songs selected were not your ordinary children's songs, but more in depth ones: The Three R's by Jack Johnson and Bob Dylan's Mighty Quinn.  All the children seemed to really enjoy themselves.  It was a fantastic show made even more impressive due to the young ages of the performers.  The last picture is Theresa with her teacher, Ms. Wjdan, and her Teaching Assiatant, Ms. Julietta.  Enjoy the pictures!