Christmas Eve

The kids were so excited to open the package my family sent us!

Thanks family for the wonderful gifts!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Hanna & Heidi are 5!

Our precious twins turned '5' last Wednesday!  

They were so excited for their birthday, and we had so much fun celebrating with them. 

The older three did not have school that day, so it was extra special that they were home!  

They asked for Pancakes for breakfast...

The older kids spent time making special little gifts for the twins.  

Micah made these birthday hats for them.  :)

H & H really wanted me to make them "Hello Kitty" cakes. 

I'm not sure they really turned out like "Hello Kitty", but they were pleased with them. 

Pretty much the only toys which the twins play with are their baby dolls.  So we got them each a new outfit for their babies, and they were just thrilled!

Oma and Opa came in the evening to join in the fun!

Hanna and Heidi, I know that you two are just thrilled to be '5' now!  We are so very thankful that our family has been blessed with you both!  You are each so different, yet so similar at the same time!  (We still find it difficult to tell your voices apart at times, and Heidi, when your glasses are off, mommy has to like twice to know who she's talking to.)  

Heidi, you really enjoy people and experiencing new things.  Hanna, you tend to be more shy and would just prefer staying "with mama and papa".  Heidi, you quickly devour any candy you may get, whereas Hanna, you like to hold on to it and save it for later.  You both really enjoy coloring, playing with your siblings and friends, looking at books, putting puzzles together, and taking care of your baby dolls. 

It's so sweet to see how much you both look up to your big sisters, Aria and Nina, and how you just love it when they bring friends home and let you play with them. You two also enjoy "tearing around" with Micah, and Hanna, you especially enjoy kicking the ball around with him. We like to call Madelyn your "triplet", as you three do practically everything together.  I just love watching you three play together!  And then, how you two just love on and spoil Timothy, well, it just melts my heart!  You two are just so incredibly special and are such an important part of our family!  We just love you both so very much!!!  

Have a wonderful year being '5'!

Sisters

I have the best sisters in the world.  Period.

Last weekend, my two wonderful sisters got on a plane, and came and visited us!  They were not able to stay long, as their families and jobs needed them, but those 5 days they were here were absolutely incredible!  As they left with David in the middle of the night to drive back to the airport, all I could do was thank God for the "once in a lifetime" experience He had given me with my sisters.

The kids just LOVED having aunt Ange and Terri here!  

Their aunts just showered them with love, so it's not surprising why.  :)

Isn't my lil' sis just beautiful?  She makes me look so old in this picture!

Aunt Terri read lots and lots of stories... to the kids' delight!

(I think she's had quite a bit of practice!)

We went for a nice walk in the woods, 

and aunt Ange and Terri always had a hand (or two!) to hold 

or someone on their backs getting a free ride.

A special part of their time here, was that they were able to help us celebrate our Aria's 10th birthday!  (We have now entered into the double digits, people! Time... SLOW DOWN!!!)

This was the first time that someone from my family was present for Aria's birthday, so it was very special for me.  Aria loved having her aunts with her on her big day!

For those of you who don't know, my older sister makes cakes (and cookies, and pies, and cheesecakes, etc.).  Well, we made a German birthday cake, as the American cakes tend to be a bit too sweet for us.  But my dear sister couldn't stand the skimpy amount of frosting which we made, so the batch was doubled.  :)  The kids were asking for seconds and the cake soon disappeared the next day, so they liked aunt Terri's amount of frosting more than mommy's.  :)

One evening, us girls (or rather, ladies) went for a walk in the city and then spent the rest of the evening chatting together in a little cafe.  Can I just say that that time was just simply wonderful???  It was a good thing that there were not too many other people there, because we got quite loud at times!  :)  It was just so. much. fun!  Even to the point when Ange accidentally turned the lights out on all of us in the restroom, and we screamed around in the dark!  :)

Seriously, the kids just loved their aunts!  

And my sisters are just wonderful at being aunts!

And of course, Ange had to bring along some of her great gag-gift items.  :)

(Those eyebrows and that mustache wind-up and MOVE!)

My sisters spoiled me silly while they were here. Not only did they just love on the kids, they also helped with laundry, cleaned the house, tidied-up my flower bed, decorated a bit for fall, helped with meals and dishes, sent me to my room one afternoon while they made a delicious supper, etc.  And did I mention that we would talk continuously???  Their time here was just wonderful.

Terri and Ange, words cannot thank-you enough for taking the time, finances, and energy to come all this way to visit us!  We all thoroughly enjoyed our time with you guys (proven by the fact how Micah was in absolute tears the night before you left!).  I will always treasure this time that we had.  Can't wait until we can be together again!  (And a special thank-you to Kevin and Steve for letting your wives come and bless us!)  I love you sisters!

Pink Shoes

This is what happens when you have five older sisters, 

and they help you put some shoes on...

THREE are now in School!

Yesterday, our big girls started their first day of the 4th and 3rd grade!

They were SO excited to go and see all their friends and teachers again.

(sigh... how I love these girls...)

And today was Micah's BIG day!

His Einschulung! 

Micah is now a 1st Grader!

He picked out this certain backpack, because it lights up! (Seriously, what will they think of next?!)

 It has batteries, and you can turn the lights on and off.  Really nice for when they have to walk to the bus in the dark mornings of winter!  And of course, he HAD to have a soccer Tüte! 

Micah on the way to school with his support team!

Micah with some of his fellow classmates...

Our next door neighbor girl is also in Micah's class, which is so nice!  They know each other pretty well, and it's so convenient when one of them is sick... the other can bring their homework home.  Actually, quite a few children from Micah's kindergarten are in his class... so nice that he already has some friends!

Micah was just pretty quiet and contemplative the whole morning.

Micah after his first hour of class!  :)

And Micah with his teacher!

I had to get a picture with my sonny boy, although he doesn't look too thrilled.  :)

Micah's cousin Linda, also started school.  

Unfortunately, they are in parallel classes.

Oma with her two 1st Graders!

And, perhaps the biggest highlight of Micah's day... the opening of the Tüte!

Just thought this was funny, although it made me kinda "groan" inside.  I expected that Micah would have some 'homework' (just a page that needed to be colored), as Aria and Nina both had that homework their first day of school. When I asked Micah if he had homework, he said, "nope, nothing".  Later on, I was putting something in his backpack, when I noticed the coloring page tucked away inside.  I took it to Micah, and asked him if he was supposed to do it for homework. He just said in a very laid back voice, "oh that. My teacher said that we are supposed to color it and bring it back to school tomorrow, but I absolutely don't feel like doing it."  

Great. Hopefully that's not how the rest of the school year is going to be!

A bit from this past week

After taking 6 exams in one week, David finally has a little more time 

to sit on the trampoline and play "Old Maid" with the kids.  :)

These two are always finding something "interesting" to do. 

They sure do make me smile!

Sometimes I feel like I work in a restaurant.

Pancakes with peanut butter anyone?

These two are so much fun to watch together. 

This past spring, we got new next-door neighbors!  (Sadly for us, David's aunt and uncle and Grandma, who lived right beside us, moved. :(   Our new neighbors have 5 children (the youngest being only a couple of months old), so you can imagine how "exciting" it can get around here! Our kids are constantly together playing with them.  In the below photo, they were playing "Indians" one afternoon.  Our neighbor made such cute indian hats for all of the kids, and they had a blast.  :)  We really are blessed with great neighbors all around us, and we are very thankful for that!

Deutschland ist Weltmeister!

We really enjoyed watching Germany win the World Cup Sunday evening!

Those who could come from David's family joined us, and we grilled Shashlik and sat on "pins and needles" until Götze scored the winning goal in overtime.  

What a game!

A very happy Micah with his Uncle Arthur

Congratulations, Germany!