Treehouse Adventure

The first week of Easter vacation has been rainy and getting colder everyday. The first few days we relaxed and rested. Thursday afternoon we bundled up and the Lotz brothers took us to a treehouse they had discovered on one of their walks. 

The treehouse is located in an open field near a river. It was big enough for all six of us and Bandit. The windows even had working shutters and curtains for decoration. We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the bench in the treehouse. Afterwards, the kids played in the treehouse and around the big tree while Melanie and I chatted. On our walk back, the girls were already making plans for another visit to the treehouse. 

and the winner is...

The crazy upsets from Friday during the second weekend of March Madness hurt all of us in obtaining points. Unfortunately, it knocked Adeline and Emmie out of the race for first place as they had no more teams advancing. Unfortunately, leading into the Final Four, none of Eric's picks made it either. In the end, I correctly picked the championship game of Kentucky versus Kansas. I predicted the winner of the Tournament to be Kentucky and it was! 

Wow, what luck I had this year. I filled out the bracket without reading up beforehand on any of the teams and during the downtime I had while the car's tires were being changed, so there was no strategy or basis with my team picks. Initially, Eric joked with me of looking at his bracket and cheating since he was the first one to complete his, but we now know the truth based on the outcome.

I am looking forward to the celebration dinner at a Greek Restaurant. 

Purple Milk

Sunday afternoon, Adeline helped get the drinks for lunch. She opened the milk container and became very suspicious when purple milk started pouring out. Eric and I kept her guessing and sidetracking her on her assumptions about the colored milk as she reluctantly filled Emmie's and her glass. At the table, Emmie was super excited about the milk, while Adeline would not even take a sip. Emmie tried to cheer her sister up by explaining how the purple milk came from a purple cow just like chocolate milk comes from a chocolate cow. I finally told her April Fool's. Adeline perked up and claimed she knew it was me all along who changed the milk color.

...wie es früher einmal war...

...wie es früher einmal war... (as it once was) is the week long project theme for Emmie and the other children who will be attending school next year. Each day the children will do an activity related to this topic and take trips to learn more about it. The teachers created an old city map and displayed numerous old  pictures of the lifestyle as it used to be.

On Monday, the children learned about the layout of a walled city. They then created their house to be placed on the map. They discussed the types of clothing and houses people lived in over 100 years ago. Emmie informed me the dresses the girls wore then are not as pretty as the dresses today.

On Tuesday, the children walked downtown Hofheim. Emmie was excited to share with us that the police used to work where the current bakery is at and that she can show us where a 100 year old house is in our town. She also found it fun to pass by fellow classmates as each group took a different way.

Wednesday the children did a craft. Emmie chose to make a little bag from leather and string. When she showed me her craft, she explained what people used it for.

Thursday, the children went on a fieldtrip to Hessenpark. They took a bus to the open air museum. They rode a train and walked through buildings replicating life from over 300 years ago. In addition, they saw a play and had a picnic. Even though it was a cold and windy day, Emmie had a great time and was super excited to share with everything she had seen and done at this interactive museum.

On the last day, the children took another walk to downtown Hofheim to explore more historic areas of the city.

Look what we can do!

Being it is the last week before Easter vacation, the girls' activities are focused on including the parents.

Monday afternoon, the girls had their dance programs. The girls enjoyed showing off for their special guest, Uschi, who also came and accompanied me to their performances.

Emmie was very excited about showing us what she has learned these past nine weeks. She fully participated in every music selection with lots of enthusiasm. She would glance over every once in a while to us with a huge smile.

Adeline was very poised and concentrated throughout her program. She did a fantastic job performing her routine and executing her dance moves. She commented how she really enjoys doing the different ballet exercises while at the barre.

Tuesday afternoon, I attended music school with Emmie. The teacher first led us in a few songs and then a movement exercise associated with music tones. She then demonstrated different types of tones with various sized items by shaking them inside a tambourine. To conclude the class, Emmie and I made a paper mache maraca using items from around the house. 

Thursday afternoon, Adeline brought home her gardening project. Last week, she painted the pot and then planted Easter grass in it. This week, she made flowers to accompany it and the teacher gave them some candy to fill it. It will be a nice decoration for the upcoming holiday.

Zuckertüte

Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed Hofheim's spring festival. The warm sunshine was nice for strolling around town. Unfortunately, the loud live music scared Bandit, so we listened quickly from a distance. The lines to get ice cream were some of the longest I have seen since we have been here. 

We also discovered a new candy store called Zuckertüte (bag of sugar). It is a neat store containing candy jars filled with various gummy candies in them. When we stepped in side, it reminded of a penny candy store the way it is set up. Each piece of candy costs no more than 10 cents, so this is cheaper than getting a pretzel. Eric and the girls each picked out a few pieces of candy to enjoy while strolling around Hofheim. I have a feeling this will become a favorite store of the girls. We ended the afternoon with an ice cream treat as well.

Tea Party

Sarah joined us for our church's ladies social event, Daughters of the King Tea Party. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Below is review of the tea party courtesy of our coordinator, Tara, plus more pictures. This is also posted on ICF's website.

Over 60 ladies and little girls drank tea, ate pretty food, and enjoyed spending time with one another at the Daughters of the King Tea Party on Saturday, March 24, 2012. The bright spring day matched the mood of the party and the bright smiles on the participants.

Each table had a hostess attending to the guests – filling tea cups or glasses of lemonade and encouraging conversation that allowed the ladies to relate to and encourage the little girls.

Jan and Fiona Brown shared a positive message of what God thinks of each of his children.    Fiona opened up with a funny skit where she gave away two free name changes.  In contrast, she talked seriously about how the orphan children she worked with in Malawi were given tragic names by their birth mother: names such as Disappointment and Wish You Were Dead.  She told about the joy of renaming children with names that had positive, hopeful messages or biblical names.

Jan unpacked balloons from a backpack and grocery bags she had been carrying around.  The balloons had hateful, negative words written on them – words that any of us could have heard said of us at one time in our lives.   One by one, she asked a little girl to read the negative words and then help her to pop the balloon.  Inside the balloon, was a slip of paper.  “Let’s see what God’s word says…” she said and read a wonderful truth from the scripture that reflected God’s thoughts toward each of us.

Jan and Fiona also led us all in a children’s song about being a daughter of the King.  They ended the program by singing a beautiful and moving duet.

After the program, Adrienne offered a craft project: a bookmark that used colored threads as symbols of important people and events in everyone’s life.  The various colored threads were wrapped around a red cord that represented Jesus’ blood.  The bookmark is a reminder that Jesus is the center of all of lives and that we are made stronger through our experiences.   Our lives are a part of his plan.