Helen, who is nearly three and a half, has been somewhat obsessed over the last few weeks with talking about when people's birthdays are. She was asking over and over again when each person's birthday is, but for the last week or so, she's just been informing us over and over again, although usually just of the month, not the day. We've gotten a few really funny conversations out of this, too, such as last week when she proudly informed Jörn that her birthday is "in September thith." Jörn said, "Ja, das weiss ich." ("Yes, I know.") I then added, "You know why Papa knows? Because he was there!" Helen opened her already very big eyes even wider and said, "Oh!" And then I said, "You know what? I was there, too!" To which, with EVEN wider eyes, Helen said, "Wow! That was very nice of you, Mommy!" Just for the record, yes, we HAVE explained that she grew inside of me, and also that a birthday is remembering the day that the baby came out, but it still seemed quite a revelation to her that her parents were present at her birth.
So. The children's birthdays are all fairly close together, with three in June, one in July, and two in September. We've had a sort of policy for quite awhile now that we don't start planning anyone's birthday party until the previous birthday is over with. I think we might have to relax on that a little bit in June, though, as there are eight days between the first two birthdays and then ten more days to the third one. This "policy" doesn't, by any means, stop any of the children from talking about what they want for their birthday, what they want to do, what they want to eat, what the cake should be, etc. Katie's the main one doing this all the time, in fact, she started planning her seventh birthday BEFORE her sixth birthday last year, because not everything she was planning would fit in one birthday. But it does mean that I don't have to commit to anything. I don't know what we're doing to celebrate her birthday this year, but it's a good guess that her party won't be on the day, as she will be spending the day in an airplane. (Along with Helen, Elisabeth, and me--just the four of us are going to Germany for a week, but that's another topic.) But I am NOT planning it until Lukas's birthday, which is a full 33 days earlier, is over with!
Since Katie talks about it a LOT, we remind her fairly often that there are other birthdays to get through first, and I suspect that it's because she recites them so often that Helen has gotten interested. "First Mommy's, and then Papa's, then Jacob's, Elisabeth's, and Lukas's, and then MINE! And then Helen's and Marie's. And then Christmas and then we start over!" Every time she says that, I just agree with her and leave it at that, but every time she says it, I'm thinking inside that no, my birthday is NOT the first birthday of the year.
The first birthday of the year in our family is today, but it's one of those birthdays that nobody celebrates, because it's also the same person's deathday. And I'm sitting here on a sunny Saturday morning writing about this, smiling and laughing with any children who come bouncing through the living room, knowing that none of them even know the date (although the two oldest do remember the event, and all of them know about it), nor does my husband remember, and that it won't do anybody any good to be miserable. I suppose, in a way, I AM "celebrating." I'm certainly remembering, and writing it down here so it won't be forgotten, but I'm also celebrating the life exuded by the children I have here.
Birthday season officially opens here with my birthday next month, and the concentrated, stressful birthday season opens in June. But for me, the list will always go: T, Mommy, C, Jörn, Jacob, Elisabeth, Lukas, A's due date, Katie, Helen, T's due date, Marie, C's due date, A. And then Christmas and then we start again.
I think it's pretty cool that, although we repeat months rather a lot, we don't have a single day of the month the same. With 11 people and 14 dates (if I add in the due dates of the three babies we lost), we have 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 21, 22, 24, and 25. I know it's silly, but I like that fact. When I remember (which isn't always), I sing a silly little "Happy Birthday" on the day each month to each of the children. Okay, so that doesn't work in Greek or Spanish or French or probably a whole bunch of other languages, but in English (and German), the word "birthDAY" doesn't implicitly refer only to the (yearly) ANNIversary, even if that's how we generally understand and use the word, so I'm happy to reappropriate it.
Either way, I'm not really singing "Happy Birthday" to T today.
Showing posts with label Lukas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lukas. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
January reading
So many people had posted at the beginning of January how many books that they had read in 2011, that I was curious how many I had read, but had no way of figuring it out. However, I did write down the books I read this month. I have a few friends who regularly write rather cool reviews of all or some of the books they read, but if I try to do that, I probably won't read anything else this year, so here are the titles, with just a sentence or two each:
Facing the Music by Mary Sheepshanks: a novel about a flautist who marries the wrong guy. I enjoyed much of the book because of the interaction between different characters and the scenery in Scotland, as well as the internal wrestling, but I didn't like many of the main character's decisions.
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw: historical fiction set in Ancient Egypt. I read this because it was scheduled with Sonlight Core 6/G, which Marie and Jacob are now doing. I have no idea why it was scheduled as a read-aloud, as it was a pretty easy read, but they're reading all the books on their own anyway, and I'm just trying to keep up. Historical fiction is my favorite genre anyway and I really enjoyed this book.
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw: another historical fiction story set in Ancient Egypt, by the same author, but totally different and considerably more mature, also read because of it being part of Core 6, but this one WAS scheduled for the children to read themselves. If I had younger children in this Core, I would not particularly want them to read it on their own! Marie and Jacob and I had a great discussion about this book--we all loved it, but for different reasons. Marie and I were very pleased with the romantic ending, while Jacob didn't even notice it! Interestingly, both books contain grave-robbing episodes, but they happen in entirely different ways and for completely different reasons, and in one it's a very negative thing, in the other actually positive.
A Free Woman by Libby Purves: a novel, but I'm trying to remember it...Oh yeah, two completely opposite sisters and some very unexpected (to me) twists, and a corny and wonderful ending that satisfied me completely.
An Elephant in Our Garden by Michael Morpurgo: Jörn gave me this for Christmas, and I keep meaning to research whether there's any basis of truth in it, but haven't. It's set in Germany near the end of World War II, with the bombing of Dresden and the subsequent escape to the Allied lines in the west. Historical fiction about WWII AND set in Germany should make it my favorite, but the writing was pretty choppy. When I could ignore that, I enjoyed the story.
Mother Country by Libby Purves: another novel, about various themes, but the one that fascinated me most (for probably obvious reasons) was that of a woman who'd lived in many places and was more-or-less trying to figure out where she was from.
More Lives Than One by Libby Purves: hands-down my favorite of the Libby Purves novels I read, probably my favorite book of the month. A couple madly in love (with each other!) and married for ten years (to each other!) faces some amazing challenges...and stays together. I liked that.
Continental Drift by Libby Purves: reading this one immediately on the heels of the last probably was partly why this was easily my least favorite book, although I thought I was going to like it when it started with Eva (I think that was her name?) from Poland backpacking around Europe. All the romances went in the wrong directions and there were too many of them and none of the characters stayed consistent with themselves. Diana was especially irritating to me.
The Spiritual Power of a Mother by Michael Farris: the only non-fiction book I read beginning to end this month, and I could have done without it. The parts I liked I already know, and the rest seemed to be about perfect people. Since I only have six children, not ten, and none of mine are perfect and neither are their parents, I couldn't relate very well. (It probably didn't help that I didn't like the book his wife wrote, either, A Mom Just Like You, which I read maybe five or six years ago or so. The main thing I carried away from that book is that she is NOT a "mom just like me." While homeschooling ten perfect children, she also found time to write a book!!)
So that was nine books that I read for the first time, as well as a couple of books that I finished after having started them in December, and I'm in the middle of several more now. Three more books that I might have counted had I been reading them for the first time were The School Story by Andrew Clements, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and White Stallion of Lippiza by Marguerite Henry, all of which I read aloud to Lukas and Katie and enjoyed very much. Also, on January 9th I started a challenge to read the Bible in 90 days and have read through 2 Samuel so far. And I've read a million, give or take, picture books to Helen and Elisabeth.
I'm a bit embarrassed that all of my own reading has been in English (or at least, all of the books I completed were in English), but at least I've read picture books in all four languages (English, German, Spanish, and Greek), and have even started "reading" one particular book in all four, just to try to make the text a tiny bit more interesting. (Opposites. "Big. Small. Up. Down. In. Out. Long. Short." I'll stop there...the rest of the text is fairly predictable.) I admit that I was getting tired of Elisabeth's previous favorite, Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, but I wish she'd found something different than Opposites to glom onto. With hundreds and hundreds of picture books to choose from , they always want the same ones over and over! I love re-reading books myself, but interspersed with plenty of new ones.
If this month was a typical one (and I probably read less than usual because of the 90-day-Bible-reading and other stuff I've been doing), I suppose that means I read around 120 books a year, not counting around three or four full-length books a month to the children (so around 40 or 50 a year, maybe) and all the picture books.
Facing the Music by Mary Sheepshanks: a novel about a flautist who marries the wrong guy. I enjoyed much of the book because of the interaction between different characters and the scenery in Scotland, as well as the internal wrestling, but I didn't like many of the main character's decisions.
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw: historical fiction set in Ancient Egypt. I read this because it was scheduled with Sonlight Core 6/G, which Marie and Jacob are now doing. I have no idea why it was scheduled as a read-aloud, as it was a pretty easy read, but they're reading all the books on their own anyway, and I'm just trying to keep up. Historical fiction is my favorite genre anyway and I really enjoyed this book.
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw: another historical fiction story set in Ancient Egypt, by the same author, but totally different and considerably more mature, also read because of it being part of Core 6, but this one WAS scheduled for the children to read themselves. If I had younger children in this Core, I would not particularly want them to read it on their own! Marie and Jacob and I had a great discussion about this book--we all loved it, but for different reasons. Marie and I were very pleased with the romantic ending, while Jacob didn't even notice it! Interestingly, both books contain grave-robbing episodes, but they happen in entirely different ways and for completely different reasons, and in one it's a very negative thing, in the other actually positive.
A Free Woman by Libby Purves: a novel, but I'm trying to remember it...Oh yeah, two completely opposite sisters and some very unexpected (to me) twists, and a corny and wonderful ending that satisfied me completely.
An Elephant in Our Garden by Michael Morpurgo: Jörn gave me this for Christmas, and I keep meaning to research whether there's any basis of truth in it, but haven't. It's set in Germany near the end of World War II, with the bombing of Dresden and the subsequent escape to the Allied lines in the west. Historical fiction about WWII AND set in Germany should make it my favorite, but the writing was pretty choppy. When I could ignore that, I enjoyed the story.
Mother Country by Libby Purves: another novel, about various themes, but the one that fascinated me most (for probably obvious reasons) was that of a woman who'd lived in many places and was more-or-less trying to figure out where she was from.
More Lives Than One by Libby Purves: hands-down my favorite of the Libby Purves novels I read, probably my favorite book of the month. A couple madly in love (with each other!) and married for ten years (to each other!) faces some amazing challenges...and stays together. I liked that.
Continental Drift by Libby Purves: reading this one immediately on the heels of the last probably was partly why this was easily my least favorite book, although I thought I was going to like it when it started with Eva (I think that was her name?) from Poland backpacking around Europe. All the romances went in the wrong directions and there were too many of them and none of the characters stayed consistent with themselves. Diana was especially irritating to me.
The Spiritual Power of a Mother by Michael Farris: the only non-fiction book I read beginning to end this month, and I could have done without it. The parts I liked I already know, and the rest seemed to be about perfect people. Since I only have six children, not ten, and none of mine are perfect and neither are their parents, I couldn't relate very well. (It probably didn't help that I didn't like the book his wife wrote, either, A Mom Just Like You, which I read maybe five or six years ago or so. The main thing I carried away from that book is that she is NOT a "mom just like me." While homeschooling ten perfect children, she also found time to write a book!!)
So that was nine books that I read for the first time, as well as a couple of books that I finished after having started them in December, and I'm in the middle of several more now. Three more books that I might have counted had I been reading them for the first time were The School Story by Andrew Clements, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and White Stallion of Lippiza by Marguerite Henry, all of which I read aloud to Lukas and Katie and enjoyed very much. Also, on January 9th I started a challenge to read the Bible in 90 days and have read through 2 Samuel so far. And I've read a million, give or take, picture books to Helen and Elisabeth.
I'm a bit embarrassed that all of my own reading has been in English (or at least, all of the books I completed were in English), but at least I've read picture books in all four languages (English, German, Spanish, and Greek), and have even started "reading" one particular book in all four, just to try to make the text a tiny bit more interesting. (Opposites. "Big. Small. Up. Down. In. Out. Long. Short." I'll stop there...the rest of the text is fairly predictable.) I admit that I was getting tired of Elisabeth's previous favorite, Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, but I wish she'd found something different than Opposites to glom onto. With hundreds and hundreds of picture books to choose from , they always want the same ones over and over! I love re-reading books myself, but interspersed with plenty of new ones.
If this month was a typical one (and I probably read less than usual because of the 90-day-Bible-reading and other stuff I've been doing), I suppose that means I read around 120 books a year, not counting around three or four full-length books a month to the children (so around 40 or 50 a year, maybe) and all the picture books.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Still here...
First of all: DeeDee, if you're reading this, yes, I read your password-protected post a few days ago and have been praying and will keep doing so!! I tried to post a comment, but it kept claiming my e-mail address wasn't valid. For anyone else reading this, know that Germany is not the only country being TOTALLY STUPID in evaluations of what makes a healthy family and what doesn't.
Next, yes, I'm still here. My excuses for not posting here pretty much all have to do with my I-don't-do-New-Year's-Resolutions-but-January's-as-good-a-time-as-any-to-start-new-habits activities. So here they are.
Number one: with rare exceptions, I don't turn the computer on until the four younger children are in bed (8:00 p.m.ish). Last Sunday when I was still recovering from cold/flu and Jörn (dh) and Jacob (ds12) were in Malta and Marie (dd14) was at church, I broke down and let the other children veg out on one computer while I vegged out on the other. And yesterday, while Jörn and the four older children were all out and the two youngest children were sleeping, I also turned the computer on. :-)
Number two: when I AM on the computer, catching up on e-mails and sorting photos are high priority. I'm now completely finished with photos through May 2011 and have done the initial sorting and labeling of June through September 2011, but still have to edit (crop, straighten, red-eye: picasa is really cool for that) them and make collages of some before I can order them. I'm up to October 18th or something like that in the initial sorting, but October is being a pain because I have photos from five different cameras in four different time zones, one camera thinking that it's January. I only have photos physically in albums up to November 13, 2010, so when I've finally ordered the rest of November and December 2010, I'll also be spending time putting photos in albums. (I've already gotten January through April 2011 printed. It's complicated and uninteresting as to why.) Oh, and I'm down to fewer than 60 un-answered e-mails...
Number three: not in importance, just not directly related to computer time, I'm participating in a challenge to read the Bible cover-to-cover in 90 days (started January 9th). I did this last year for the first time (starting in July), and thought it was great, this time I'm reading The Message, which is quite interesting. In 1989 I read the KJV cover-to-cover five times in less than five months, because I was living in Mexico and so desperate to read ANYTHING in English, that that's what I read. On the fifth reading it suddenly clicked that this was REAL, that Jesus was REAL. Amazing and exciting and wonderful. And then I didn't even read the whole Bible again until 2006-2007, when I read the NIV aloud to the children. (Old Testament in 2006, finishing Malachi at a friend's house at a New Year's Eve party, New Testament in 2007.) I will confess that there were a couple of verses I re-worded or just plain left out, as my children were 8 and younger when I started, but not many, literally maybe four or five total. Over the years I've certainly read most of the Bible again and again, but reading it in one go in a limited amount of time is really cool for the big picture. (A good children's Bible is good for that too, actually. I'm currently reading the Egermeier Bible for the fourth time, this time to Katie.)
Number four: again, not directly related to computer time, since I'm not turning the computer on during the day anyway, I started thinking about what recharges me, relaxes me, helps me cope with daily chaos, and I've been making a concentrated effort to DO those things. One is play the piano, and since getting the piano tuned just before Christmas, I've played almost every single day. Sometimes only for two or three minutes before it gets too difficult with the weight of children hanging off my arms, sometimes even for an hour or more. I'm far from great, but I've finally improved enough that I'm enjoying it and can just about sight-read the pieces I used to play when I was ten or so. Another is go for walks, which I haven't managed much, but I like the idea. I especially enjoyed the walk I had two Saturdays ago with Sue. I do see her quite regularly, but almost never without at least a couple of children and/or our husbands, and it was a novel and exciting experience to get to finish whole sentences!
Number five: this one is directly related to computer time again, in that I've also been using the computer for writing, unofficially (in that I didn't sign up anywhere) taking part in a challenge to write 1000 words a day for the first 100 days of 2012. A couple of times (like, literally twice, I think) I wrote by hand, but I type a LOT faster than I write by hand. Blogposts don't count, though! (Of course, since I'm not officially checking in anyway, I could just count them for myself, if I felt like it, couldn't I...) And I also use the computer to read blogs, although since reading them at googlereader, this doesn't use up so much time and keeps me from being tempted to blog-hop much, and I have been fairly regularly visiting some of the Sonlight forums, especially the International one. And Facebook, which is not usually more than about five minutes a day.
Number six: something I regularly re-start is an attempt to go to bed at a decent hour, which I define as "by midnight." So that gives me four hours, absolute maximum, on the computer, and I most certainly don't get that every day, or even most days! Monday and Wednesday I have Greek until 9:00 and Friday we have house group, and usually at least one or two other evenings a week we play games (usually Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride), either just Jörn and I or with Marie, or with Richard and Sue.
And of course, I still want to read for myself, and I don't get a whole lot of opportunities to do that during the day, and occasionally write in my journal, and even spend time with my husband! And I usually put on a loaf of bread (takes me a total of seven minutes, if I have to wash the bread pan first, which I usually have to do, because I never wash it right away when I take the bread out) and sometimes hang up a load of laundry (depending on contents, can take 15 or 20 minutes, sheets only take about two minutes) and often have to take Helen to the toilet and sometimes get (or even make) a phone call and in any case, if Elisabeth has had a nap (which she doesn't often), she's up until at least 10:00 or so, so...
...all this to say that I haven't had much time to blog, and if I did, pretty much all I would have to say is all of what I just did, just repeated over and over again!
Next, yes, I'm still here. My excuses for not posting here pretty much all have to do with my I-don't-do-New-Year's-Resolutions-but-January's-as-good-a-time-as-any-to-start-new-habits activities. So here they are.
Number one: with rare exceptions, I don't turn the computer on until the four younger children are in bed (8:00 p.m.ish). Last Sunday when I was still recovering from cold/flu and Jörn (dh) and Jacob (ds12) were in Malta and Marie (dd14) was at church, I broke down and let the other children veg out on one computer while I vegged out on the other. And yesterday, while Jörn and the four older children were all out and the two youngest children were sleeping, I also turned the computer on. :-)
Number two: when I AM on the computer, catching up on e-mails and sorting photos are high priority. I'm now completely finished with photos through May 2011 and have done the initial sorting and labeling of June through September 2011, but still have to edit (crop, straighten, red-eye: picasa is really cool for that) them and make collages of some before I can order them. I'm up to October 18th or something like that in the initial sorting, but October is being a pain because I have photos from five different cameras in four different time zones, one camera thinking that it's January. I only have photos physically in albums up to November 13, 2010, so when I've finally ordered the rest of November and December 2010, I'll also be spending time putting photos in albums. (I've already gotten January through April 2011 printed. It's complicated and uninteresting as to why.) Oh, and I'm down to fewer than 60 un-answered e-mails...
Number three: not in importance, just not directly related to computer time, I'm participating in a challenge to read the Bible cover-to-cover in 90 days (started January 9th). I did this last year for the first time (starting in July), and thought it was great, this time I'm reading The Message, which is quite interesting. In 1989 I read the KJV cover-to-cover five times in less than five months, because I was living in Mexico and so desperate to read ANYTHING in English, that that's what I read. On the fifth reading it suddenly clicked that this was REAL, that Jesus was REAL. Amazing and exciting and wonderful. And then I didn't even read the whole Bible again until 2006-2007, when I read the NIV aloud to the children. (Old Testament in 2006, finishing Malachi at a friend's house at a New Year's Eve party, New Testament in 2007.) I will confess that there were a couple of verses I re-worded or just plain left out, as my children were 8 and younger when I started, but not many, literally maybe four or five total. Over the years I've certainly read most of the Bible again and again, but reading it in one go in a limited amount of time is really cool for the big picture. (A good children's Bible is good for that too, actually. I'm currently reading the Egermeier Bible for the fourth time, this time to Katie.)
Number four: again, not directly related to computer time, since I'm not turning the computer on during the day anyway, I started thinking about what recharges me, relaxes me, helps me cope with daily chaos, and I've been making a concentrated effort to DO those things. One is play the piano, and since getting the piano tuned just before Christmas, I've played almost every single day. Sometimes only for two or three minutes before it gets too difficult with the weight of children hanging off my arms, sometimes even for an hour or more. I'm far from great, but I've finally improved enough that I'm enjoying it and can just about sight-read the pieces I used to play when I was ten or so. Another is go for walks, which I haven't managed much, but I like the idea. I especially enjoyed the walk I had two Saturdays ago with Sue. I do see her quite regularly, but almost never without at least a couple of children and/or our husbands, and it was a novel and exciting experience to get to finish whole sentences!
Number five: this one is directly related to computer time again, in that I've also been using the computer for writing, unofficially (in that I didn't sign up anywhere) taking part in a challenge to write 1000 words a day for the first 100 days of 2012. A couple of times (like, literally twice, I think) I wrote by hand, but I type a LOT faster than I write by hand. Blogposts don't count, though! (Of course, since I'm not officially checking in anyway, I could just count them for myself, if I felt like it, couldn't I...) And I also use the computer to read blogs, although since reading them at googlereader, this doesn't use up so much time and keeps me from being tempted to blog-hop much, and I have been fairly regularly visiting some of the Sonlight forums, especially the International one. And Facebook, which is not usually more than about five minutes a day.
Number six: something I regularly re-start is an attempt to go to bed at a decent hour, which I define as "by midnight." So that gives me four hours, absolute maximum, on the computer, and I most certainly don't get that every day, or even most days! Monday and Wednesday I have Greek until 9:00 and Friday we have house group, and usually at least one or two other evenings a week we play games (usually Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride), either just Jörn and I or with Marie, or with Richard and Sue.
And of course, I still want to read for myself, and I don't get a whole lot of opportunities to do that during the day, and occasionally write in my journal, and even spend time with my husband! And I usually put on a loaf of bread (takes me a total of seven minutes, if I have to wash the bread pan first, which I usually have to do, because I never wash it right away when I take the bread out) and sometimes hang up a load of laundry (depending on contents, can take 15 or 20 minutes, sheets only take about two minutes) and often have to take Helen to the toilet and sometimes get (or even make) a phone call and in any case, if Elisabeth has had a nap (which she doesn't often), she's up until at least 10:00 or so, so...
...all this to say that I haven't had much time to blog, and if I did, pretty much all I would have to say is all of what I just did, just repeated over and over again!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Welcoming 2012
We just had the quietest New Year's Eve ever, with just three (adult) friends by the time we reached midnight, the very first without children since Marie was born! Yes, Marie has stayed up for New Year's Eve every single year, even her first one when she was only three months old. And she did this year, as well, but not at home--my first baby went to her first New Year's Eve party. 14 does not seem old enough!!!!
Jacob, who is only 12, was also out for the evening. I'm not sure how wild the partying got at the Prayer House, though. His only complaint when he arrived home at 1:20 a.m. was that they didn't sing enough.
Lukas and Katie were going to stay up, but their behaviour left a lot to be desired yesterday and I couldn't face it. Helen went to bed right after dinner, totally exhausted (she's been in the "outgrowing-a-nap" phase for about two years: either she has a nap and is impossible to get to bed, or she doesn't have a nap and is fussy all evening until she collapses) and anyway not having any clue that anyone could ever think there WOULD be a reason to stay up, since the only time she celebrated New Year's Eve in Germany, with fireworks and greeting the neighbors and everything, was when she was not quite four months old. Katie went to bed a bit later than usual, but not a lot, and with almost no protest. Lukas stayed up until about 9:30, when Jörn got back from taking Marie to her party, and then went to his room with plenty of protest. He was allowed to have the light on and stay up as long as he wanted, but in his room. I know, spoilsport Mommy. He of course fell asleep long before midnight, but we kept our promise and didn't turn off his light until after midnight, and it was nice to NOT have him (or Katie) grumpy and miserable this morning.
As for Elisabeth, she neither had a nap yesterday nor was she fussy. She happily bee-bopped around until about 10:00, when she suddenly asked to nurse (breastfeed), but when I wanted to nurse her at the table (we were playing Settlers of Catan), she protested and pointed out of the room and said "Bed!" As I started to carry her out of the room, she turned back and wanted to hug Richard (oh, I wish I could figure out how to spell the way she pronounces his name, but I have no idea!), then Tim, but not Sue, but then as I started out of the room again, she turned back so fast I almost dropped her, as she called out "cuddle Sue!" So I took her back to hug Sue, then took her to bed, where she giggled as I lay her down, and quickly nursed to sleep. And that child slept until 10:25 this morning!!!!!
Sue, Richard, Tim, and I started a game of Settlers of Catan when Jörn and Marie left, which ended up being a very slow game, then after we finished that, played a five-player Settlers with Jörn, too, which was much more interesting. I know Sue won the second game, but I can't remember who won the first one. Jörn was rather bored, waiting for us to finish, but Elisabeth was enjoying entertaining Papa! We finished the second game around 11:30, I think, and then chatted until midnight. The others hadn't necessarily planned to stay that long, but there not being that much time left, went ahead and did so.
And here is the proof that I made it to midnight, the only two photos I took the entire evening:
This is Richard's phone, and the time is correct, so from that I was able to determine that my camera time is nine minutes off. It's very, very rare that I go to bed before midnight anyway, but Sue was more than ready to go home by that time, so they left minutes later. I sent texts to Marie and Jacob and stood outside looking at...well, nothing, really...for awhile. So different from Germany!
Our phone/internet connection wasn't working, so I couldn't make all the phone calls I'd been planning to make to my parents and siblings in the U.S. and Costa Rica. I did call my parents from my cell phone, but had no idea how fast that might use up credit, so didn't talk long. This morning I called the phone company (PrimeTel--we've been very happy with their prices and their service) and they said that a lot of phones had gone out in the thunderstorms last night, but they were quickly able to get it working again without even having to come to the house.
Internet being down last night also meant that I wasn't able to upload the last 50 photos I had to kodakgallery.de, nor to order any, so at this point I guess I'll wait until I get the next special offer from them to order photos, and will just continue working on sorting and editing 2011 photos in the meantime.
Jacob, who is only 12, was also out for the evening. I'm not sure how wild the partying got at the Prayer House, though. His only complaint when he arrived home at 1:20 a.m. was that they didn't sing enough.
Lukas and Katie were going to stay up, but their behaviour left a lot to be desired yesterday and I couldn't face it. Helen went to bed right after dinner, totally exhausted (she's been in the "outgrowing-a-nap" phase for about two years: either she has a nap and is impossible to get to bed, or she doesn't have a nap and is fussy all evening until she collapses) and anyway not having any clue that anyone could ever think there WOULD be a reason to stay up, since the only time she celebrated New Year's Eve in Germany, with fireworks and greeting the neighbors and everything, was when she was not quite four months old. Katie went to bed a bit later than usual, but not a lot, and with almost no protest. Lukas stayed up until about 9:30, when Jörn got back from taking Marie to her party, and then went to his room with plenty of protest. He was allowed to have the light on and stay up as long as he wanted, but in his room. I know, spoilsport Mommy. He of course fell asleep long before midnight, but we kept our promise and didn't turn off his light until after midnight, and it was nice to NOT have him (or Katie) grumpy and miserable this morning.
As for Elisabeth, she neither had a nap yesterday nor was she fussy. She happily bee-bopped around until about 10:00, when she suddenly asked to nurse (breastfeed), but when I wanted to nurse her at the table (we were playing Settlers of Catan), she protested and pointed out of the room and said "Bed!" As I started to carry her out of the room, she turned back and wanted to hug Richard (oh, I wish I could figure out how to spell the way she pronounces his name, but I have no idea!), then Tim, but not Sue, but then as I started out of the room again, she turned back so fast I almost dropped her, as she called out "cuddle Sue!" So I took her back to hug Sue, then took her to bed, where she giggled as I lay her down, and quickly nursed to sleep. And that child slept until 10:25 this morning!!!!!
Sue, Richard, Tim, and I started a game of Settlers of Catan when Jörn and Marie left, which ended up being a very slow game, then after we finished that, played a five-player Settlers with Jörn, too, which was much more interesting. I know Sue won the second game, but I can't remember who won the first one. Jörn was rather bored, waiting for us to finish, but Elisabeth was enjoying entertaining Papa! We finished the second game around 11:30, I think, and then chatted until midnight. The others hadn't necessarily planned to stay that long, but there not being that much time left, went ahead and did so.
And here is the proof that I made it to midnight, the only two photos I took the entire evening:
This is Richard's phone, and the time is correct, so from that I was able to determine that my camera time is nine minutes off. It's very, very rare that I go to bed before midnight anyway, but Sue was more than ready to go home by that time, so they left minutes later. I sent texts to Marie and Jacob and stood outside looking at...well, nothing, really...for awhile. So different from Germany!
Our phone/internet connection wasn't working, so I couldn't make all the phone calls I'd been planning to make to my parents and siblings in the U.S. and Costa Rica. I did call my parents from my cell phone, but had no idea how fast that might use up credit, so didn't talk long. This morning I called the phone company (PrimeTel--we've been very happy with their prices and their service) and they said that a lot of phones had gone out in the thunderstorms last night, but they were quickly able to get it working again without even having to come to the house.
Internet being down last night also meant that I wasn't able to upload the last 50 photos I had to kodakgallery.de, nor to order any, so at this point I guess I'll wait until I get the next special offer from them to order photos, and will just continue working on sorting and editing 2011 photos in the meantime.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
First Wednesday in Advent
So, off to a slow start...but Advent DID start the very earliest possible date this year, with Christmas Day being on a Sunday, so that's my excuse. :-)
My parents arrived on the Tuesday, late in the evening. The next afternoon/evening was the first day of the prophetic workshop that Jörn had organized, in which Jacob, Lukas, and my mother also took part. While it might have been nice to have had a nice, festive, family activity, putting up the nativity scenes (yes, plural--it's a bit out of hand) and decorating the Advent wreath, etc., the idea of actually getting all ten of us (or even eight of us) together at once didn't seem likely, so I didn't even try.
So: the first Wednesday in Advent, I hung up the stockings...
...and tried to keep Katie and Helen out of the box of stuff, somewhat unsuccessfully. Helen pulled out this wall-hanging, and not knowing what to do with it (I never know what to do with it, either), she put it on Elisabeth, who was asleep on the couch.
Later that night after consulation with Jörn, I put a blue tablecloth on the piano, underneath the nativity scenes, and also put the globe on the piano, but haven't taken a photo, and if I wait until I have, then I never will post this.
I also realized that this photo doesn't even have all of the nativity scenes in it--at least half a dozen more have been added, and all have been re-arranged numerous times by every child except Elisabeth. And it's not for lack of trying that Elisabeth hasn't gotten to them, she just can't reach, even from the piano bench, and we've managed to foil her every time she's actually tried to climb ONTO the piano.
I also got out the Advent wreath things, but having no greenery and no candles, didn't bother taking a photo. That's for the next post...
My parents arrived on the Tuesday, late in the evening. The next afternoon/evening was the first day of the prophetic workshop that Jörn had organized, in which Jacob, Lukas, and my mother also took part. While it might have been nice to have had a nice, festive, family activity, putting up the nativity scenes (yes, plural--it's a bit out of hand) and decorating the Advent wreath, etc., the idea of actually getting all ten of us (or even eight of us) together at once didn't seem likely, so I didn't even try.
So: the first Wednesday in Advent, I hung up the stockings...
...cleared off the top of the piano and set up the nativity scenes...
...and tried to keep Katie and Helen out of the box of stuff, somewhat unsuccessfully. Helen pulled out this wall-hanging, and not knowing what to do with it (I never know what to do with it, either), she put it on Elisabeth, who was asleep on the couch.
Later that night after consulation with Jörn, I put a blue tablecloth on the piano, underneath the nativity scenes, and also put the globe on the piano, but haven't taken a photo, and if I wait until I have, then I never will post this.
I also realized that this photo doesn't even have all of the nativity scenes in it--at least half a dozen more have been added, and all have been re-arranged numerous times by every child except Elisabeth. And it's not for lack of trying that Elisabeth hasn't gotten to them, she just can't reach, even from the piano bench, and we've managed to foil her every time she's actually tried to climb ONTO the piano.
I also got out the Advent wreath things, but having no greenery and no candles, didn't bother taking a photo. That's for the next post...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Lukas's ninth birthday
Lukas's ninth birthday this year fell on a Tuesday (June 21st), which happened to be the easiest day for Jörn to take off of work. Lukas kept asking about going to a water park (Water World, I think?), which to me seemed a bit silly when we've got the whole Mediterranean, but I did look it up on-line. It didn't take long for me to decide that no way were we going to drive an hour to hand over half of our food budget for a month to spend all day in the hot sun eating junk food. (They don't allow people to bring in their own picnics, or even water bottles!) Then Jacob suggested the Camel Park, which is only about 20 minutes away, considerably more affordable, and something that people had been recommending for awhile. We phoned to ask about picnics and were told that we could take our own picnic only if we paid for camel rides and went on a weekday. Perfect.
First, though, Lukas opened a few presents at home. Here, a hat and some books from the F family:![]()
A wallet from Guatemala from my parents:![]()
A cool plastic light-up flying thing from Jacob.A shovel from Katie.![]()
Acrylic paints from Papa.![]()
Chocolate from Angie.Then we finally packed our picnic and our swimsuits and two of Lukas's friends and ourselves into the cars and headed for Mazotos.
Jacob greets a camel.![]()
Angie, Jed, Katie, and Elisabeth waited in the shade while the rest of us had our camel rides, four camels in a row. Jacob and Marie were on the first one, Jörn on the next one by himself, Helen and I on the third, and Lukas and Ryan on the last one. No photos of me because I was the one with the camera, and we declined to pay some outrageous amount for a photo afterwards. (I did look at them, and if there'd been one good one that included all of us, I just might have splurged, but happily, there wasn't.)
This is the head of the last camel, which kept coming VERY close to my right leg and making Helen extremely nervous.
After the camel rides, we pretty much headed straight for the swimming pool, where we spent most of the rest of the day. It had SHADE, and it had GRASS, two very cool things. This was Elisabeth's first ever time on grass, and she found it very interesting.
The website does say how much the camel rides, swimming pool, and entrance cost, but doesn't mention that you have to pay for practically every other attraction, as well, such as the bouncy castle and air hockey table and so on. My children knew better than to even ask, but Lukas did use his own money to ride the "wild bull".
We didn't have to pay to walk past the crazy mirrors, either. This one cracked me up so much that I had to take a photo of it, although it's actually pretty eery:
Swings were free, too.
Lukas's "cake" was by far the easiest one ever: he wanted lemon muffins with gummy sharks. So that's what he got!
Lighting birthday candles outdoors is never easy--it's always a matter of trying to keep them lit long enough for the birthday-child to blow them out! The towel is a windbreak.
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| Marie, Jed, Katie, Lukas, Jacob, Ryan |
The usual rule if a child chooses an outing instead of a birthday party at home is that one guest may be invited. Lukas's best friends being twins meant that Lukas, and they, lucked out. :-) (Ryan and Jed are less than a year older than Lukas, but they're big for their age and Lukas is small for his!)
Back at home Lukas asked me to take a photo of him with all of his presents, and specifically requested that I include it on the blog and mention the dinosaur nest, which Marie crocheted for him to go along with the dinosaur she crocheted for his birthday last year. He's hoping for eggs for Christmas and baby dinosaurs next year.
A couple of days later Lukas was able to open the card from Margaret and Phil, and was thrilled to pieces with the first birthday money he'd ever received in his life.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Jörn's birthday
We've had three more birthdays since Jörn's at the beginning of May, but this was almost finished so I'm going ahead and posting it, just a month and a half late. Maybe after the next birthday or three, I'll get around to writing about the June birthdays...
Germans like to exchange presents first thing in the morning, with a big breakfast together. However, Jörn is the only full German in the family and not everybody wanted to be (or was) up before he left for work, so the celebration was postponed until lunch. We had an angel food cake (made from a mix, from the U.S., at Jörn's request...) covered in chocolate.
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All of my children have inherited their father's love for giving presents. Lukas and Katie worked very hard for a long time, pounding lots of nails into wood scraps they'd gotten from the neighbors, and proudly presented Jörn with this...wooden object with lots of nails:
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And Marie's was as thrilled to give Jörn a pad of good art paper as Jörn was to receive it:
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Germans like to exchange presents first thing in the morning, with a big breakfast together. However, Jörn is the only full German in the family and not everybody wanted to be (or was) up before he left for work, so the celebration was postponed until lunch. We had an angel food cake (made from a mix, from the U.S., at Jörn's request...) covered in chocolate.
All of my children have inherited their father's love for giving presents. Lukas and Katie worked very hard for a long time, pounding lots of nails into wood scraps they'd gotten from the neighbors, and proudly presented Jörn with this...wooden object with lots of nails:
Then it was Jacob's turn. He and Jörn share a love of plants:
And Marie's was as thrilled to give Jörn a pad of good art paper as Jörn was to receive it:
In the evening we had a party with a dozen or so guests, and two more cakes. The first was for one of the guests, whose birthday was the day before Jörn's:
Jörn had requested a Bird of Paradise plant for his birthday, but the ones at the garden shop that looked sort of okay were way out of our budget, and the ones that were only somewhat out of our budget were pretty scraggly looking and "might bloom in two or three years", so I didn't end up getting him one. However, I did attempt a sort of one on his cake:
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Jörn's and Lukas's week in Germany
Jörn and Lukas had a great time in Germany. They didn't take a whole lot of photos (having too much fun!), and I generally don't post photos of other people without their permission, so most of these photos are of Lukas.
Jörn and Lukas arrived in Düsseldorf Thursday evening and stayed the night with our friends Margaret and Phil. Friday morning our friend Barbara (who also happens to be the mother of Andrea, who stayed with us for five months and only just returned to Germany in March) picked them up in order to collect a suitcase full of things that Andrea had left here, as well as to take them to Mülheim, where Lukas had an appointment with the orthodontist. From there they walked to the home of some other friends, with whom they got a ride to the church retreat of our home church in Düsseldorf. That was from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.
Sunday afternoon Jörn met with the lady renting our flat in Mülheim, had dinner with our friend Peggy, and then left Lukas with Peggy (and incidentally, her son Florian, who is Lukas's best friend) and returned to Düsseldorf to stay with Margaret and Phil. I didn't ask them if I could post this photo, but it's such a nice one that I couldn't resist!
Monday through Wednesday Jörn had various meetings with people (including his diabetes specialist), and late Wednesday morning picked Lukas up from Peggy's massage practice and shop.
They had lunch with some more friends who have a large garden, where Lukas had a blast helping clear the grass and generally getting dirty. (I spoke with Jörn and Lukas on the phone that evening, while they were in the middle of a "discussion" about whether or not Lukas was going to have a shower. I suggested that Jörn tell Lukas he didn't have to take a shower, but then he was going to have to sleep on the floor, instead of in the nice clean bed, shared, by the way, with Jörn. Lukas had a shower.)
Tuesday Jörn had moved to the home of the C family, where he and Lukas also stayed Wednesday night. Apparently, they were having too much fun to take any photos! Thursday another friend visited them there, then drove them to the home of the T family in Viersen, where they stayed most of the night, leaving at 4:30 a.m. on Friday for the airport in Weeze. (They had flown with Condor to Düsseldorf International Airport, but returned with Ryanair from Niederrhein.)
One of Jörn's visits during the week was to the A family, to visit with them, of course, but also to visit their attic, which still contains far too much of our stuff. Jörn brought back the baby books of the four older children (I had Helen's here, as she was only four months old when we moved to Cyprus, and Elisabeth of course was born here) and our photo albums from 1994 to 2000. (No, I do NOT know what logic was operating when I only brought the albums from 2000 onwards when we moved here, and I've missed Marie's and Jacob's baby photos many times since!) Here are our photo albums from 1994 (the year we were married) through December 2009:
I've technically started the next photo album (which starts on December 31st, the day of my brother's wedding), but all that's in it so far is the invitation to the wedding, as I haven't gotten any more photos printed yet. This is the furthest I've ever been behind in having photos in albums, and is a little frustrating. But I haven't figured out yet just where I'm going to put more albums once they're finished, nor have I found a place yet for the few other miscellaneous albums, such as a collection of my siblings' school photos and a small album from when I was 12...
Oh, and very importantly, Jörn also brought me my new sandals, which Barbara had ordered for me for less than half of what they would have cost in Cyprus:
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