Band-aid Week

This week we have experienced many indications that spring is coming. The weather this week has been sunny and warm. The temperature was above 50 degrees on Tuesday. Some low lying flowers have bloomed in the gardens and the birds can be heard chirping away in the morning.

The spring air also brought bumps and bruises. On Monday, Adeline and Emmie were racing down the sidewalk after school. Unfortunately, Emmie fell and scraped her knees on the brick sidewalk. In dance class later that afternoon, Adeline scraped her arm on the balance railing when she was twirling around.  Tuesday was not another good day for Emmie either. We were at the park and proceeding to stroll around the pond, when she took off on her bike, hit a bump, lost control, and scraped her chin in 3 spots on the wooden handlebars. We have gone through numerous band-aids and ointment cream in helping these wounds heal. 

Friday afternoon, we will take the train to Munich and then Eric will pick us up in a car to drive to the Alps. We are excited about the weekend skiing trip in southern Bavaria in the town of Lenggries.

Daddy Daughters Date

Eric took Adeline and Emmie to Hofheim's Altes Rathaus Cafe on Saturday. Upon entering the cafe, they first viewed the display case of over 12 plus different cakes and tortes before selecting a seat. Adeline ordered a cherry crumble cake and Emmie picked out a rhubarb torte. Both girls had a big cup of hot cocoa to accompany their treat. When Emmie's torte arrived, she immediately consumed the whipped cream topping; however, when she tasted the rhubarb, she did not like it. Eric ate Emmie's rhubarb off of her torte and then she resumed eating the cake portion of it. The cafe was only part of their outing while I was in teacher training at church. They also visited the market, playground, and the Wendels. 

We spent Saturday afternoon at a Familienkonzert. Hohfeim hosted a concert for children which consisted of storytelling from a portion of a book about Mozart as a 6 year old and then followed it with piano music. The pianist first read a few pages from the book and then him and his partner would play a dramatic piece on the piano. They did six continuous sets like this. It was a unique way to keep the children interested with the story and then the music. It was a nice family outing. 

This week I start my next session in the German class series, so it is another adjustment week for me. The weather forecast is indicating it will be a warm sunny week for this time of year. I am looking forward to a week of temperatures in the mid to upper 40s after our snow and ice days last week.

Changes

We finally got into our routine since the holidays and they changed Adeline's school plan for the second half of the year. This week, I forgot about her schedule changing, so I was there to pick her up too early one day and then another day, she came home and surprised me as I was not expecting her for another 45 minutes. She is enjoying the two simultaneous sport sessions on Tuesday afternoon. As for me, I am enjoying the later start on Thursday morning.

In kindergarten on Monday morning, the dentist visited Emmie's class. Emmie was very excited to receive a tooth stamp for being a good patient. The dentist did send home a note about tips for weaning a child of their pacifier. I wish she did have a pacifier  we could just get rid of, but her thumb is something we cannot just toss out.

In school on Tuesday, Adeline started learning cursive. They are introducing cursive along with printing some of the letters. She is very excited about this as she likes the fancy writing. In addition, they have been given a new math workbook as  they are now learning math with double digit numbers.

Wednesday morning we had snow on the ground. This is the first snowfall since we returned. The girls were very excited to play in the little bit we got during their school breaks. They tried to build a tiny snowman in the afternoon, but the snow was too wet.

Thursday morning brought about anxiety and excitement. Ice covered everything except the middle of the streets. Even though Emmie fell twice on our journey to school, the girls found it fun to be skating on the sidewalks. I walked in the street, but many parents were driving their children to school, so I used the fences and bushes as support when I could. What is normally a 15 minute round trip for me took over 35 minutes with the icy conditions. It all melted by mid-morning, but the girls are now asking to go ice skating.

We are enjoying Emmie's stage of dressing up. Everyday for the past week or so when she has gotten home from school, she has put on a dress with the crown and her sparkling shoes. It is interesting how Adeline finds this not as exciting anymore and tells her, but then I remind Adeline that she did it too when she was her age. After that, Adeline finds her Spidergirl costume and becomes the superhero who rescues the princess.

Weekend Spectators

Saturday afternoon, we took the girls to the Galli Theater for the "Little Mermaid". The small theater was ideal for them because they could sit right up front and see the performance. The girls had a good time watching the show and liked the various colorful costumes. Their favorite character was Little Mermaid. The play's storyline was not the Disney version, so the Little Mermaid did not marry the prince in the end and this did not make the girls happy, as they were anticipating the wedding.  Overall, it was a nice afternoon outing. 

Sunday afternoon, we spent in the Brühlwiesenhalle. This is where Adeline plays basketball as well as the local basketball teams. Sports here are organized through clubs within the towns and not the schools, so they play teams from other clubs within their region. We watched the girl's Rhein-Main Baskets (local area team) play against the USC Freiburg. The skill level and age group is equivalent to college level and this game was a league game. The team is ranked 4th out of 12 in their region. Adeline and Emmie watched them play the game and cheered them on with the crowds chants, while Eric and I noted how the game is played different from how we know the game. We also discovered some tasty homemade treats at the snack counter to nibble on during the game. Even though Rhein-Main Baskets lost, we had fun cheering for them.

Mimi visits

We have finally got back into our routine with school and homework. We have not gotten over our colds, but the warmer temperatures are allowing us to get some fresh air to feel somewhat better. It is different not having snow right now on the ground, but I am not complaining as it makes the walk to school much easier.

Mimi, Adeline's class pet, visited us this week. It was Adeline's turn to bring the mouse home for a day and care for it. She was super excited about this. Adeline created a story page to share with the class everything Mimi and her did while at our house.

I am managing to find spots in my reorganization projects for the new items. In the process of sorting and organizing the girls room, I have also had to locate a new set of clothes for Emmie as she has outgrown majority of her 4T clothes from before Christmas break.

The church's social committee group I am part of hosted a Bunco night on Friday evening. Unfortunately, the organizer was stuck in the US due to a snowstorm, so I ran the event. 28 ladies participated in the event and we all enjoyed the sweets and treats everyone brought to share. The ladies have already said they want to have another Bunco night soon because it is so much fun.

Time to be out and about

With the weather still being warmer than normal, we went on a few outings this weekend to take advantage of it.

 We visited Wiesbaden's Fasanerie on Saturday afternoon. It is an animal and plant park on the edge of the city.  The walkways were muddy from the snow melting, but they had numerous  platforms for the girls to see the animals. There are over 50 animals within natural habitats in the park. The animals can all be found within Germany. We could not find the bear, but we did find the wolves sleeping, and a deer with an 18 point rack. 

We strolled through Idstein on Sunday afternoon. Idstein is a neat old city. The witch's tower was not open to go in, but we did pass by the old city jail. The houses have charming character and it is interesting to see how they are incorporating the remodeling to fit the leaning or falling timbers in some of them. The afternoon ended with an ice cream treat on the park bench.

This week starts my three break from class. I am hoping to completely finish unpacking. Eric and I only put clothes away when we initially returned. We emptied the suitcases the first weekend so they could be stored away due to space constraints; however, now I have some reorganization projects to find areas for the new toys and items that came back with us.

2am House Party

Our first weekend back, one would have thought we were on a college campus. We slept in late and were wide awake at 2am. We did our best to keep our noises down in the wee hours of the morning with a snack and activities to help put us back to sleep within a few hours. Fortunately, the weather was sunny and warm (55 degrees) during the day, so we enjoyed the outdoors as much as we could.

Returning to school was exciting for all of us. Adeline celebrated her birthday with her class Monday morning. The class has a birthday ceremony they perform for each birthday child. She left the classroom and the children get in formation. First, they make a tunnel for her to go through. She is lead by the person she picks to lead her through the tunnel to the decorated birthday chair in the middle of the classroom. Then they gather around her and sing a a german birthday song about how nice it is that she was born. She choose to take in American candy to share with her classmates to celebrate. She received a fun chocolate shaped clown candy from her teacher.

In the afternoon as we were getting ready to leave for Adeline's dance class, I asked the girls if they wanted to walk or drive. It was a unanimous loud answer  of "walk". I agreed with them as it was warm and sunny again. The walk home allowed us to stop and get an ice cream on the way. 

Wednesday morning, I received my certificate for completing the second course of German. I am still one step ahead of the girls with my vocabulary, but their conversation skills are quickly catching up with mine.

This week while watching a cartoon, Emmie translated an entire show for me when I asked her what was going on. 

Unfortunately, us girls have also caught colds during the week. Our days have been productive, but our evenings come early as we are tired and exhausted.