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Frohe Ostern from Germany!
Instead of hunting eggs in the snow in Brighton, we’re home watching movies and eating giant zartbitter (dark) chocolate rabbits. Jacob decided said “zartbitter” means “fart better.”
We had to cancel our trip to Brighton. Wednesday the ferry company announced in an e-mail that the French dockworkers had a planned strike. Our boat Thursday would be cancelled, and we could call to reschedule. So I did. And they charged me 10 pence a minute to tell me I had to call back because customer service was closed until 8 a.m. local/9 a.m. our time. Obviously too hard to type the operating hours in the e-mail.
These strikes ALWAYS go on, so we slept in. I got up about 8:40, checked the internet and saw the French had called off the strike at 2 a.m. ALL FERRIES RUNNING AS SCHEDULED. Only 1 news article published on this—published at 8:30. To make it, we had to leave in 45 minutes and had nothing packed (because the ferry wasn’t going to go). Woke Matt up, told Jacob 10 times to brush his teeth and get some clothes, took a super fast shower, told Jacob 10 times more times to brush his teeth and get some clothes (he is so me), called the ferry company and frantically started throwing some stuff into a bag while on hold.
Fifteen minutes before we had to leave and an operator finally picked up. Thank goodness we could reschedule the ferry crossing at no charge. It’s what we really wanted in the first place. It was to be the coldest Easter in England since 1910—snowing and only a high of 43 (on 1 day!) in Brighton. Going to pay about 50£ more for the hotel, but it won’t be snowing in May. We hope.
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From Easter 2013. Shot March 31
Christmas has come and gone. As has New Years. I only just put away the Christmas decorations last weekend, and am only now, mid-Jan, posting the Christmas photos. They’ve been sorted and tagged in Lightroom for much longer.
Good thing I didn’t make a resolution not to half ass or to finish things or to post more like last year. I did, however, finally put the cowhide rug down in our bedroom, dust and clean the windows. It’s prob the second time I’ve ever cleaned our bedroom windows…in 3.5 years. I don’t know what’s with Germans and their obsessive cleaning of windows. Would our windows look any better if I cleaned them every week like a German? Can you tell any difference at all? Nope. Not really.
Back to Christmas. Kids woke up at a semi-reasonable hour. Jacob was upset that I made them get dressed and wait until after breakfast to open presents. He sulked thru all attempts at a nice photo in front of the tree. You see what a good sport he was:
But that soon turned around. Especially when he and Nicholas opened their Nintendo DS’s.
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From Christmas 2012. Shot Dec 25, 2012
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Better late than never, right? (Because Halloween was like 2 weeks ago.)
Halloween seems to be slowly catching on here in Germany. There was a slightly bigger (still tiny) Halloween section in Real (aka the German Wal-Mart) this year and, word is, more German trick-or-treaters. We don’t get any in our village; I don’t even buy candy. But I hear that in the towns more densely populated with Americans, there were a lot more German trick-or-treaters in the mix. They might not be in costume or know what to do, but they know they ring the bell and get candy. (BTW, Germany. This is how we invade your culture. Free candy. Watch your back; we have fun size Snickers.)
This year Nicholas’ choice of costume evolved from Batman (I was going to make him be Adam West Batman) to a vampire to the “Easter Egg Bunny” (the costume he wore two years ago). Score one for mommy for not having to make a new costume. And he was the cutest little bunny skipping and hopping along.
Jacob, who always picks something elaborate and difficult to make (he wanted to be the Lorax one year), chose Sackboy from the Little Big Planet video game. Okay. Not too bad, except yardage of burlap is as difficult to find as it is to sew. I was about to give up and try to fashion it from burlap sacks when I finally found it at the garden center. And at just 7€ for 1.6 x 6 meter piece. (Think I’ll use the leftovers to upholster a headboard.)
The biggest challenge was the head. I didn’t want it to be like the dinosaur head which he wore for approximately 5 minutes. To look right, the Sackboy head would have to be big. So I thought I’d put it on a stick. He could just hold it up…and it could be two sided! I cut it out of cardboard, stapled fabric and burlap and glued on the face. Not the best idea. I used the thick cardboard that came sandwiched between the my car tires. I didn’t account for the weight. He carried for…approximately 5 minutes. Ugh.
In hindsight, I should have made it one sided and like a shield with straps so he could wear it on his arm and hold it over his face when he wanted. (How this would mean I wouldn’t end up carrying it, I don’t know.) I also realized why we never decorate for Halloween. Always too busy crazy-last-minute making costumes.
These pictures are from the “trunk or treat” at the nearby army base. Kiddos were way too excited to stand still for pictures. I do (still) fully intent to put them back in their costumes for more pictures. Maybe this weekend.
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From Halloween 2012. Shot Oct 31, 2012
May 29 was Nicholas’ fourth birthday. (I’m a little behind.) Poor Nicholas always gets the shaft. We never seem to celebrate his birthday on his actual birthday. Last year he blew out a candle on a stack of pancakes. This year, he had ice cream at a restaurant in Bernkastle, Germany. Good enough until we could have cake and presents later.
He’s four, can read, knows his numbers and days of the week. Gone are the days when you could trick ‘em and say, “Oh, no…you’re birthday’s not until Saturday.” Some days I miss those days.
That orange thing on his cake that looks like a hand, that’s a crown. He wanted a crown brownie cake. It took a lot of questioning to determine that. “Crown” and “clown” sound exactly the same when Nicholas says them.
Guess I got off easy. Twice a year I’m reminded how terrible I am at decorating cakes. And how much I really don’t like doing it. Can only imagine how spectacular my attempt at making a frosting clown would have been.
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From Nicholas 4th Birthday. Shot May 29 & June 3, 2012
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Here’s a fun trick to play on a kid on his birthday.
All day Matt had been telling Jacob he was getting socks and underwear for his birthday. Flash of brilliance before presents. I ran to the laundry room and filled a gift bag with socks and underwear (some weren’t even Jacob’s). Jacob was so mad when he opened the bag. It was hilarious!
May be a little mean, but, honestly, Jacob’s been a part of this family for six years now; he should expect it. And the real presents, all the Lego Hero Factory and Bakogon toys, more than made up for it. I imagine about a month from now, Jacob will be filling a bag with socks and underwear for his little brother’s birthday.
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From Jacob's 6th birthday. Shot April 27, 2012
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Usually my only New Year’s resolution is not to make any. Because it’s stupid to say you’ll lose 10 pounds, quit smoking or make any other promise you know you’ll never keep.
Having said that, I am making some resolutions this year. I figure what the hell. The world’s ending soon, so why not.
I know I will ultimately fail. I’ll be lucky to make it a week. But if I can do something for a couple days at least I will have been a slightly better person for a few days.
So..in 2012, I will:
1. Read something that’s not written by Dr. Suess, not printed on glossy paper and not on a computer screen. An actual book. Don’t get me wrong. I read plenty of books as it is, they’re just all about a cat and a hat or a hungry caterpillar.
2. Finish things. I have a tendency to start and never finish projects. There are probably five (at least) in my general vicinity right now.
3. Post more. (I wish I would have started this blog the day we stepped off the plane at Brussels International. It would be interesting to go back and read those first posts.) I have a ridiculous backlog of photos from our trips to post. For what it’s worth, I have sorted and created several galleries from our recent trip to Dublin (not live yet), but that doesn’t change the fact that I still haven’t done the ones from London last November. November of 2010.
5. Yell less. Some (many) days these kids make me insane. How can a 3 year old read, but can’t put a pair of pants? How come a five year old has only two volumes: LOUD and LOUDER? I don’t know, but probably need to put myself in timeout more often. Or be one of those mommies who drink during the day.
4. Be neat and organized. Really no hope for this one.
So there it is. I’m hoping that by typing this up, there is some small measure of accountability. Here’s to being a better person in 2012…or at least the first week of it.
Happy New Year!
Update as of Jan 2: I read something. But it was a magazine. I finished something. But it’s been so long since I started, I don’t even really like it anymore. I cleaned and cleared off my desk, except for the piles of stuff that need to go somewhere else. But wasn’t that really the problem to start with?
Hope you all had a merry Christmas!
It’s after midnight here. Everyone is asleep in their beds. It’s quiet. It’s a mess; toys are everywhere. (What’s new, right?) The tree didn’t fall or lose all it’s needles. And Jacob actually slept in until 8 this morning. A Christmas miracle.
He and Nicholas were so excited about Santa coming. It was probably the fastest they’ve ever gotten into bed (and the longest they’ve kept their rooms clean). I was sure they would wake up at the crack of dawn. In fact, when I was brushing my teeth last night, I heard Jacob moving in his bed (it squeaks). I was sure he’d get out of his bed before I could get into mine, but he didn’t, thankfully.
We’re full on in the make silly faces at the camera phase. Little hope of a nice smiling picture anymore. But I did get a couple decent ones of them in their tattoo shirts in front of the tree. (What does every little kid want? That’s right. Full sleeves.)
We had a good Christmas. You could tell by how quiet it was—with all the boys putting together their toys. Nicholas got this crazy knex rollercoaster. One of the cars even has a web cam in it. (Check out the picture of Nicholas pushing Jacob on the head to get him away from it.) It took Daddy a long time to put it together. Then he put together Jacob’s 100-piece Lego Hero Factory guy. Five minutes later Jacob ripped it apart “to build new guys.”
I got a digital picture frame, which is both really cool (you can e-mail pictures to it or set it to grab from Facebook) and really distracting because I sit here and stare at it. But good because it reminds me how truly lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place, to have reasonably normal, happy kids and to have all of you.
Merry Christmas.
xoxo
M O R E P H O T O S
From Christmas 2011. Shot December 25, 2011
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