Here comes the sun....

Here comes the sun.. na na na na na... here comes the sun... yeaaaah... Sing it! I finally ventured outside today. That's right! I left my house with my own free will! The kids and I went to one of the little playgrounds here in Magstadt. Haven has her friend Melissa spending the night tonight too, so she went to the park with us. Here's the kids having fun.

Melissa and her family lived in the apartment under us when we first moved in. Melissa is one year older than Haven and they get along really well. They moved out last month, but they are close enough that the girls can still hang out.

And more shots of Haven's hair.

And Ethan.
This boy is so hard to photograph. I realized the camera takes pictures faster in manual mode because it's not trying to figure everything out. So I started shooting in manual. It was very liberating! I took almost 700 pictures today! I had lots and lots that of course went straight to the trash, but there were still a lot of good ones.

I also started crocheting again. That's an easy craft to carry with me to the playground. And now I'm off to make books. It's been a very relaxing, lovely day!

New hair

Yes, I know I have been noticeably absent. I just haven't had anything interesting to post... But today Haven got a new hair cut and it is FABULOUS! It's dark in here so the pictures are not good at all, but I just had to get it posted. She also has her new retainer that she complains about, but is so proud of!

We also got a package from Great Granny today! How fun! Check out this CUTE little elephant boy! Thank you Granny!

Been busy having fun!

Last weekend I taught book making to all these girls. They started with the bare book board, sewed their papers together, and built the whole book. They had tons of fun and were so proud of themselves! If you don't feel like counting, there is 15 girls there!

Then Tuesday the girls and I (Miyoung, Corinnea, and some of our other CRD friends) hosted our third Sushi making class. I am still overwhelmed by how popular this class is! We had 25 sign up and 20 on a waiting list! Crazy! At the end of class we had a little rice and ingredients left and Miyoung made us this beautiful sushi salad! the rice is under the food art.

Haven made the A-B honor roll. We are SO proud of her! She struggled so much in German school, but of course we're glad she had the experience of it and can speak fluent German. Fifth grade she had lots of catching up to do, and she did. Sixth grade has been all A's and B's! She also got an improvement award for raising her grade in a couple of classes.

And Ethan is busy too. On Tuesdays he goes to a hip hop class with his friend Javier. They are practicing a routine to do a recital. They are so cute! There are some older kids in the class who of course are more settled and know the routine better, but Ethan is so cute!! I can't wait for the recital.

That's about all for now. I'm so happy the sun is finally coming out! We can actually go outside without winter coats on! Yeah spring!

Fasching's Parade

Both our coffee machines at work gave out this month so we HAD to go buy another machine. Corinnea and I decided on a whim to go downtown today after we picked up Ethan from kindergarten. We got downtown and the street the parking lot is on was blocked by firetrucks. After we parked somwhere else we came up to the street and found this!

I couldn't believe that we walked right into the Stuttgart Fasching Parade! I've never even seen one and we found ourselves at the beginning of the parade on a perfect street corner. And then who should come along in a horse drawn carriage? The Garrison Commander and Command Sergeant Major! I don't know if they recognized us, but they did throw us extra candy! When I get the pictures from Corinnea's camera I'll update the slide show. But it's really just more of the same... witches and goblins and marching bands! :) For those of you who don't know, Fasching is the German version of Mardi Gras. In this area the history of the event is more like Halloween than the Catholic version of Mardi Gras. The theme is driving out the evil spirits of winter. But it's still about indulging before Lent, which of course starts tomorrow.

We did finally buy a coffee machine... and it made us very happy! :)

Happy V-Day!

I posted this fun little word art on my designer blog. Feel free to download!

This morning one of the moms brought banana nut muffins with chocolate chips cook in! Oh my.... All I have to say is, why didn't I ever think of that! Yummy!

Disney's Recycled Animation

For the Disney lovers

Coffee Convention

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the restaurant and hotel trade show, where there was an entire hall dedicated to one of my great obsessions - coffee! I had coffee, and hot chocolate, and little cakes, and cookies, and a waffle on a stick, and a mini pancake that came out of a conveyor belt and and and.... Oh the sugar high.... The waffle on a stick machine was really cool! I think we'll order one for the BOSS program to make waffles during their fundraisers and stuff. Maybe the craft shop can use it during parties! Oh, one place did lattes with After Eight mints at the bottom of the glass! mmmmmm..... Anyway, not too much else to tell about it. Lots of coffee... lots and lots of yummy coffee....