Monday, February 28, 2011

Lukie is home from school today with a cough, so he and I spent the morning putting together the Lego airplane set that Adam got for his birthday.  This is the most complicated Lego project I have ever attempted, so I'm pretty proud that the two of us could figure it out!

Adam turns 10! - Sunday, February 27, 2011

Today was Adam's much-anticipated tenth birthday.  

He started the celebration by bringing M&M cookies to Primary to share with all the kids.  Then, we came home for a family party with tacos, nachos, and Dad's famous home-made salsa.  He opened gifts, which included Lego sets, books, and DS games.  He then spent the bulk of the day playing DS and exclaiming over how much he loves DS Action Replay (some sort of gadget he got that makes the regular games perform with super powers - some call it cheating).

In honor of the momentous number 10, here are 10 facts about Adam:

1.  When Adam was born, he had a head-full of white blond hair.  It was awesome.

2.  Adam is known as Bubba-la in our family.

3.  Adam is very in-tune with his emotions.  When he is sad, he is very sad.  When he is excited, he is very excited.  And when he is mad, he is REALLY mad.

4.  Adam loves Pokemon, and for some reason he thinks I do, too.  He often gives me detailed updates on his latest Pokemon adventure, and he doesn't seem to notice that my eyes have glazed over and I am doing little more than giving an occasional moan to indicate that I'm listening.

5.  Adam loves to be the expert on things.  He has Cliff Claven moments when he will state some fact in a very authoritative voice.  Never mind that he is usually wrong.

6.  Adam is the most tidy of all my children.  He actually cleans up after himself without being asked.

7.  Adam is quite athletic and plays sports with a lot of gusto.  Except waterskiing.  That scares him.

8.  Adam will do just about anything you want him to if you promise him a treat.

9.  Adam is very confident around people and makes friends easily.  He is not afraid of new situations.

10.  Adam has an amazing mind for remembering details.  If something interests him, he will remember everything he has ever read or heard about it.

It's hard to believe that Adam is already 10 years old!  He has always been a low-maintenance child, easy-going and enjoyable to have around. He's the kind of kid that makes you feel like a good parent, because he sort of understands what is expected of him and just does it.  He has his feisty moments - and they are doozies - but for the most part he is just a delightful boy.  

We love you Bubba-la!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Jessica's favorite Saturday activity - Sims.

Friday, February 25, 2011

It's a 3-peat!

But not in a good way.  This morning, I saw that we've had our GPS stolen FOR THE THIRD TIME! 

This, in spite of the fact that the gate in front of the driveway was locked and the car alarm was set.  These robbers are crafty, crafty guys because they somehow know how to get into the car without a key without setting off the alarm (the driver's side door was wide open when I came out this morning).  They are also clearly pretty agile, because our gate is about 5 feet high and spiky on top, and it was locked up tight this morning, so they must have climbed over it.  

Stupid crafty, agile robbers.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Lukie stopped whining for an after-school snack just long enough to give me this little smile.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Boarding the school bus on a bitter cold morning.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Adam and his friend A had a play date this afternoon, and this is basically how they sat for the entire afternoon.  How's that for social interaction?

A's mom is a lovely woman from Ukraine, and every time she calls, I feel like I am talking to Natasha from those old Bullwinkle cartoons: 

"You vant to have play date?"

Monday, February 21, 2011

When I picked Pepper and Luke up from the school bus, Luke didn't have his hat.  Don't let the sunshine fool you - it was freezing.  So, I gave Luke my hat to wear for the walk home.  

 

 

You can see it didn't fit too well.  I felt like I was walking home with Mush Mouth from Fat Albert (isn't he the guy with the hat pulled down over his eyes?).

 

And of course, Pep is all set with his soccer ball and goalie gloves.  A soccer obsession has replaced his basketball obsession, and I got a running commentary of the latest pro soccer player stats all the way home.

A correction:  the guy from Fat Albert with his hat pulled over his eyes is actually named "Dumb Donald".  It's this guy:

And, just so you know, if you google images of Dumb Donald, you will mostly get pictures of Donald Trump.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

My Magoo

Saturday, February 19, 2011

 

SUCCESS!!!!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Today we took Adam and Luke to Lego Land for their "month".

(A "month" is a tradition we borrowed from my own parents.  It just means that each month is assigned a child, and sometime during that month, the kid gets to choose something to do with just Brad and I.  It is kind of like a date with Mom and Dad, where the kid gets to do whatever he or she wants to do.  Both Adam and Luke wanted to go to Lego Land, so we combined their "months" this time.  Lego Land is more fun with a fellow kid, anyway.)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Chim-chiminy, chim-chiminy, chim-chim, cher-eee. . .!

 

Yep, this guy is an actual chimney sweep.  He came today and cleaned the chimneys in our house and in the tea house out back.  He is this little, short, smiley man and it wouldn't have surprised me at all to see him break into song and dance about the perks of sweeping chimneys.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I'm having a glass-half-empty kind of day.  You know, I just sort of hate everything.

This morning, I was downtown with my camera, but I wasn't feeling it.  Whenever I tried to take a picture of something "interesting" or "beautiful", it just fell flat.  So, in keeping with my Grinchy mood, I started looking for something "ugly".  Once I started looking for Ugly, I found a million things to photograph.  

Here are the winners:

These giant metal roses line the river in downtown Berlin.

The Love Sex Dreams Superstore.  There are a bunch of prostitutes down the street too, but that is beyond Ugly.  That's just Sad.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The symbol of my Otherness. 

 

This may sound crazy --or a little trite--but I really miss going through the McDonalds drive-thru.  It's not that they don't have them here, because they do.  It's just that with my extremely limited German skills, there is no way I could survive a drive-thru transaction.  So, whenever I see a drive-thru, it feels like a jarring reminder that I am not Home.

Monday, February 14, 2011

With my valentine.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Lovely Jessica

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Poor, half-shorn Adam. 

 

Last night, I cut his and Luke's hair, but the clippers died before I could finish Adam's haircut.  So, he has this big long spot on top.  The clippers are charging, and this will be remedied tonight.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Tonight after dinner I had a hankering for something sweet, and I thought an orange would be just the thing.  But look what I found in my fruit basket, surrounded by four or five perfect, luscious oranges.  I just bought these two days ago!

And, is it a little gross that I still ate an orange after finding (and smelling) this beauty?  Or do you have a new respect for my iron stomach?

Judging by his reaction, Brad thinks it's gross.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bathrooms were not cleaned, floors were not mopped, and sometimes meals were not cooked because of these books.  I make no apologies.

I finished this series by Dean Hughes today.  It is the second series by this author that I have read.  My friend Denise recommended Hughes' Children of the Promise series, which I read over Christmas.  Then, she was kind enough to lend me her copies of this series, Hearts of the Children, which is the sequel series.  I tore through them - I read all 2,244 pages in the last 10 days.  The first series was about a fictional family, the Thomas's, and how World War II affected a Mormon family in SLC.   This second series picked up with the next generation and how life in the 1960's and 1970's affected the family.  It was heavy on the history, which I love, and I really liked seeing history through the eyes of "my people".

If you love history and want to read well-researched books that examine life both in Utah and Germany during the 20th century, I highly recommend both series.  I will say that some of the dialogue reads like an episode of Leave It to Beaver - or at best, a Very Special Episode of Diff'rent Strokes - but obviously I liked them well enough to pretty much put my life on hold.

And now that I've finished, I may go into withdrawal.
Must. Find. New. Book. . .

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Grocery shopping.  Blechk.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

This morning when I was walking to the store to pick up a few things for dinner, I passed this sweet couple on the way:

 

 

(I've become pretty adept at taking pictures of people without them knowing it.  It's simply a matter of acting like I'm fiddling with my camera - and completely overwhelmed - and snapping a shot while looking in another direction.  The key is to make sure the flash is off.   In this case, I snapped the photo while my camera was at waist-level and I was staring across the street at a picturesque church.  I hate to brag, but I am really good at looking like a complete, touristy idiot.)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Tonight for FHE, we took the kids to the 60's Diner.  It is an American restaurant not too far from us, and I think I've mentioned it before because it is a favorite of ours.  Brad and I have gone a couple of times, but this is the first time we've taken the kids.

Tonight, the restaurant was replaying the Super Bowl on several big screen TV's, so we watched the Packers and Steelers play some good ole American football while we ate burgers and shakes.  Delightful!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Luke found an old pair of Brad's shoes, and played with them for the better part of the afternoon.  

At one point, he was dragging them around by the laces and calling them "best friends."  I asked him if the shoes were his best friends, and he looked at me like I was utterly stupid. 

"No," he replied in a disgusted voice.  "They are best friends with each other."  

Of course they are.  How silly of me.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

 

More soccer.  Pepper loves to "dress the part" every time he goes out to play, and Luke has picked up on that.  I had to laugh at Luke's shorts and gloves combo. 

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Stand-Off continues.

The Pile remains, and Jessica is still wearing the same pair of jeans everyday (the deal is that as soon as her room is organized, I will take her shopping for some badly-needed new jeans).
I'm going to win, right?  RIGHT?

Thursday, February 3, 2011

This is our stake center, where I teach institute on Thursday nights.  It is right in downtown Berlin, near Potsdamer Platz.  

When we moved here, some long-time members told us how the stake center got such a sweet location.  Apparently, in the 1960's (or maybe 1970's?), the church had a stake center somewhere else in the city.  Berlin city officials decided they wanted to use that land for something else, so they offered the church a deal:  the city bought the land where the stake center was, and they gave the church another plot of land where they could build a new stake center.  This new location was out by the Wall, which was like no man's land, so it wasn't exactly prime real estate.  The church agreed, and this stake center was built.

Well, when the Wall fell, the land near it became the hottest ticket in town.  Now, the area where the Wall used to stand is the most vibrant, valuable part of Berlin.  And this little stake center is smack dab in the middle of it all.  The biggest blessing is that because of its prime location, it is very accessible by public transportation, so nearly every member in the stake can reach it very easily.  Pretty cool, eh?

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Lukie "reads" a book after school.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Lately I've been working on updating our family photo albums.  I thought I'd try photo books, so for the last couple of months I've been putting together these photo books for 2007 and 2008.  I ordered them (not cheap), and sprung for the international shipping because, well, we live in Germany.

Last week, I got a notice from German customs saying that I had to come pick up the package at their office.  So, today I girded up my loins and headed to the customs office.  Imagine 2 1/2 hours at the DMV--where everyone speaks German--and that was my afternoon.  Three lines, four grumpy agents, and €33.95 later, I had my photo books.

I learned a valuable lesson today: do everything possible to avoid future trips to the German customs office.