Friday's fun

We have made it through seven weeks of school and we have gotten into our routine. The week goes by quickly with homework and after school activities. 

Emmie is happy she had little raviolis for lunch on Wednesday. It was something different from the fish she has been having. In the afternoon, we did get together with the girls and moms, so it was a good change of pace in the afternoon for me.

On Friday, Adeline's second tooth was very loose. It was still attached when she came home from school, so she tried to pull it out, but it did not happen. However, when she was eating a cherry tomato at lunch, the tooth then became free. What excitement again for her and Emmie of her losing another tooth. It is very good it came out, as her first permanent tooth is coming in very quickly.

In the evening, we had our first parent and student gathering of the year for Adeline's class. Adeline's class did another performance of the production they performed for the first class. This time some students could not attend, so Adeline now had two letters she was responsible for. The second letter was Y. She talked about the Yucca tree. Once again, the children did a great job performing. 

After the show, we had a pizza party. While we were setting up the tables in the school courtyard and waiting for the pizza to arrive, it started to rain, so the pizza party was moved into the school's lobby. Conversing with the parents while the students played, was a fun way to end our week.

Emmie is a celebrity

Friday morning, Emmie discovered a large daddy long legs on Adeline's bath towel while getting ready for school. I found a jar for her to take the spider to school in and share him with her classmates as she wanted to do this. She showed the spider in the glass during their circle time. I think some of the boys were amazed that Emmie brought in a spider as they thought it was really neat. 

Emmie's kindergarten class appeared in the local paper, Hofheim Zeitung. Her class was gifted a specially painted Bobbycar by a local auto painting company. The toy car is normally red, but they painted it a glittery shiny fuchsia that fades into purple and has details of white stars and some pink stripes on it on it to give it a girlie appearance.

The afternoon was warm but rainy, so we took the girls to Halligalli. The place only had a few other kids there, so they had a great time and burned off lots of energy climbing through the huge play structure and bouncing on the trampolines and inflatable bouncer.

Saturday afternoon, we spent at the park getting some fresh air. The girls had fun playing, but were more entertained by the little white dog who was chasing the chickens around the school yard. 

Later, we watched the Frankfurt wheelchair basketball club participate in a game with the local Hofheim basketball team. It was interesting to watch them play. Afterwards, the girls got to try and maneuver the wheelchairs. They both did a decent job spinning the wheels and moving around.

One more.. why not?

We have finally gotten into our routine during the week starting with Manic Mondays. On Monday afternoons, we drive downtown and park on the east side to take Adeline to her music class. Then Emmie and I walk by the shops in the city center to the westside for her dance class. I retrace my steps to pick up Adeline and then drive over to the west side to park the car.  Adeline and I go to the cafe for ice cream and then I exchange the girls at the dance studio and Emmie and I go for ice cream. The restaurant owner knows our routine and always gives me a warm greeting, even if it is my third time seeing him in under two hours.

This week at guitar lessons, Adeline tried out a ukulele. She thought it was so fun because it was small.  

Emmie played various instruments in her music class and had fun with the tiny finger cymbals. 

I think Wednesdays are fish days for the kindergarten's catering firm's menu. This week Emmie had Alaskan salmon with potatoes. She said it was fine, but would have preferred the Princess rice the teachers were given. 

Adeline and Emmie have been making plans for afternoon playdates at school. Each girl was going to have one friend over on Wednesday. They discuss it during their break at the fence since Emmie's friends are now in Adeline's school, so it becomes a group discussion. 

When I picked up Emmie after school, she was all excited about her friends coming over to play. I know they all enjoy playing together, so when Stella's mother called about her daughter playing with Emmie on such short notice, I told her to bring Stella over as it was no problem. I think my response caught her a little off guard as I do not think she was prepared for me to say yes to the situation knowing the other girls were already coming over. The mothers were a little concerned about so many girls all together and they offered to pick them up earlier than normal, but I told them not to worry as they would have fun. 

We ended up having a mini party in the afternoon and all of the girls had a good time. When the mothers picked up the girls, we made a playdate for next week that includes us moms to be together for some conversation time, too.

Summer heat

We have been experiencing some intense heat these past few weeks. Due to it being cooler in July while we were away and this purge of sunshine and warmth, our spring flowers have begun growing again and the strawberry plants have little berries growing on them. Unfortunately with the heat, it also has brought sporadic quick downpours and intense storms, so we always check the radar before we go out.

Saturday we had sunshine and warm temperatures, so it was a perfect afternoon for relaxing at the Mainz Wine festival in the park. The girls had fun jumping on the bounce houses provided for the kids, while Sarah, Eric, and I enjoyed the refreshments. We then strolled through the festival for some festival treats and enjoyed being outside in what is probably one of the last nice evenings of the summer.

On our way  out of the park, the girls climbed through one last play structure. It was entirely made of different sized ropes attached together to make ladders and webs to get to the slides. I am estimating it to be  between 5 to 20 plus feet high  above the ground. We found this interesting sign next to it. 

Sunday afternoon, we ventured to the Kurbisfest at Paul's farm. The girls rode ponies and we walked around looking at the tractors. Some children were climbing on a combine and were on the top, but we did not even consider this an option for an activity. They had a station for carving pumpkins, but we managed to convince Emmie and Adeline to wait till Halloween for this activity. The girls drank some pumpkin apple cider and I had a pumpkin mango drink while Eric tried pumpkin champagne. It was a little to warm for pumpkin soup, so we passed on it this time. We then took a covered wagon ride through the fields before leaving. The timing was good because just as we were getting in our car to leave, it started to rain.

Out and Down

The highlight of the week was Thursday. This was Adeline's day of experiencing different falling situations. 

On Thursday morning in the beginning of the day, her first tooth fell out during art class. She said her tongue bumped it and the tooth was no longer attached. They were sitting in a reading circle when this happened, so she just excused herself and went to the classroom sink. 

Adeline was happy I sent the tooth container with her to school just in case this type of situation happened. She showed Emmie the open space from her missing tooth when she saw her during their school break, so Emmie was very eager to tell me what had happened to her big sister. I shared in Adeline's excitement when she came home later in the afternoon and told me her story. 

In the evening, Adeline wrote a note in German and English to the tooth fairy since she did not know which one would be stopping by for a visit. In the morning, she was thrilled with her monetary gift from the fairy and that the fairy let her keep her first lost tooth. 

Thursday afternoon, Adeline participated in a roller blading class at school. The company provided all of the equipment for the kids who did not have it. We had to wrap the elbow and knee pad bands a few times around for them to stay, but we finally got them to stay in place. She was very cautious skating around and the trainers did a good job with the beginners in helping them to feel confident even though they were falling down frequently. In addition to conducting drills to gain confidence in maneuvering around cones to get the feel of skating, they covered with them the proper way to fall down. By the time the course ended, Adeline was able to slowly skate from one end of the school yard to the other with a few minor falls.

Emmie has also had a busy week. At lunchtime this week, she had salmon with rice. She was disappointed it was just plain white rice and not Princess rice, aka wild rice, which is what is served at our house. She said the meal was good, but the watermelon for dessert was the best part of it. 

While Adeline was at her skating activity, Emmie was having fun at Henrik's indian themed birthday party at the park. The party was full of activities and lots of treats, and the weather was warm and sunny, so it was a good afternoon celebration.

My German classes started this week. This term we have 12 ladies in the class and there are only four of us who have returned from last year. It will be an interesting term learning about this international group of women as we develop our German conversation skills.

Just being social

Friday evening was our  ladies Kick-off event: High School Flashback Party. Earlier in the week, we painted posters, made pom poms, and I created a locker mural. We decorated the church cafeteria like a high school cafeteria for the event. Our lunch menu daily special was mystery meat lasagna, greens, jello, and chocolate milk, held  a pep rally to announce all of the women's groups and then our guest speaker, Pamela. The participants thought it was fun and those who did not attend an American high school thought we did a good job recreating it from what they had learned over the years watching tv shows.

After church on Sunday, we attended the church picnic. The plans changed from us going to the park to staying at the church because there was a chance of rain. The BBQ's were loaded up with sausages and there were many salads to be sampled. We had a nice time visiting with other families. Afterwards, we followed our friends back to their place in Königstein to watch the Medieval parade.

Before the parade began, a car was in the route, so it was removed. This event brought on a large gathering as we also watched  the truck driver carefully lift the car onto his flatbed. 

The participants'  attire represented the time era very well and the floats were entertaining. 

B is for..

We welcomed a new baby boy into our family this week on Thursday, August 25.  Mason Liam was born to Nick, my brother, and Laura Chopp early Thursday morning. He weighed 8lbs and 8 oz was was 20. 5 inches long.  

We are thankful after the long delivery, Mason has quickly recovered from the stress of it and is healthy and a smiley baby. I am happy to report they are home from the hospital and are adjusting to having a precious baby in the family. We wish them all the best.