Denise's little guy O is a regular at Thai Tuesday.  Usually, he sits quietly in his high chair, glued to an episode of Dora playing on Denise's iPod while the rest of us eat and gossip.  But, today he pretty much stole the show, at least in my opinion.

He was totally cracking me up with these spanky sunglasses.  He's really good at putting them on by himself, albeit a bit crooked.  You could tell he felt pretty suave, too, by the way he'd turn his head back and forth, basking in the feel of his cool shades.  Plus, he made my day as we were leaving the restaurant when he let me hold his hand as we walked out.  He doesn't usually let me touch him, so this was a big deal.

Today at McDonalds (yes, I ate McDonalds for lunch without my kids - don't judge me) I saw this poster hanging in the window:

 Is it just me, or is this about the dopiest guy you've ever seen?  If you ask me, he doesn't do much to entice anyone to check out this speed dating event.

It's times like this that I feel very lucky to be out of the dating scene.  Brad is way hotter than this guy will ever hope to be.  I mean, can you imagine Joe Speed Dater in old man slippers?  It makes me shudder.

Ever since I helped with the missionary lunch last Tuesday, I've wanted to try making Rotkohl. 

Rotkohl is a traditional German dish made from red cabbage and apples, and I tasted it for the first time on Tuesday.  I didn't love it immediately, but I've been craving it ever since.  So, I made some for Sunday dinner today.  

Pepper ate about 8 pounds of the stuff, but the other kids were kinda iffy.  I don't know that it will become a family favorite, but it was fun to try.

(If you're feeling brave, here is the recipe.  Definitely make it with the butter.)

This rather awkward picture is me doing the Happy Dance.  Why am I so giddy, you ask?

Because I just got off the phone with my mom, where she told me that

SHE AND MY SISTERS AND SIS-IN-LAWS ARE COMING TO BERLIN FOR A TOTALLY ROCKIN' AWESOME GIRLS' TRIP!!!

I'm a little excited.

Happy Chinese New Year!

My friends Jeremy and Denise met in China and lived there for a year or so, so they have very tender feelings toward China.  Tonight, we all benefited from their love-of-all-things-Chinese, as they threw a super awesome Chinese New Year Party.

Susanne made this cake.  Underneath all that scrumptious butter-cream icing were two cakes, one yellow and one chocolate.  I had two healthy pieces of the chocolate, both of which were side pieces so they had plenty of that slightly crunchy, so-sweet-it-makes-you-thirsty butter-cream icing.  My eyes are rolling back in my head just thinking of it. . .

Denise had a game for us to play to test our Chinese knowledge and skills.  This is the Lightening Round, which consisted of carrying various objects across the room with chopsticks.  James wowed us all when he managed to get the egg safely there in one piece.

I had such a good time!  I'm trying to think of what other foreign holidays are coming up, so Jeremy and Denise can throw another party.

Thursdays are my favorite day of the week, because that is the day my little friend R comes to my house and cleans it from top to bottom.  For my birthday last summer, Brad arranged for someone to come once a week and clean my house.  Best. Gift. Ever.  We used to have Annalie come, but she went home to the Philippines in December, so now her friend R comes.

 R is beyond delightful.  She's just a tiny little thing (she's not bending down - she really is as tall as Adam), and she whizzes around my house like a whirling dervish, scrubbing and vacuuming and dusting for all she's worth.  Every once in a while she will pause long enough to chit-chat for a minute and give me a hug.  By the time she leaves, I am in the best mood.  

And my house is clean, too.

Today after school, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and the boys were dying to go outside and play in it.  Since we really haven't had much snow yet this winter (yay!), their snow clothes were still packed away in a box.

I didn't pay them much attention as they rifled through the box of old snow clothes and got themselves ready for some snowy fun.  In fact, it wasn't until after they'd come in from playing outside that I even noticed what they were wearing.  Particularly Luke.

Apparently, Luke decided to wear last year's coat and an old pair of snow-pants, size 18 months.

I don't know why we even still have these old snow pants - I guess I put them into the snow-clothes box one spring and they never got taken out again.  When I pointed out to Luke that those snow-pants were from when he was a baby, he said, "But they still fit me!"

Um, yeah.

I wish I'd seen him out playing in the snow with his snow-pants-capris and inches of bare legs showing above his boots.  That would have been a awesome picture!

Today I spent the morning at the stake center with other ladies from our ward, cooking a meal for the missionary zone conference.  I had such a nice time peeling potatoes, making salads, and cutting meat with the ladies (I know that sounds crazy, but it's true).  And all of the missionaries were very appreciative of our efforts, so I'd say it was a morning well spent.

My breakfast this morning.

Mock not that which ye do not understand.

My visiting teacher hit a new high when she gave me these today after a recent trip the American military base.

There are no words. . .

This afternoon, the boys and I went into the city to watch The Muppets.  This was as much for me as for them;  they have no memory of the old "Muppet Show" and sort of looked at me funny when I'd squeal with delight at my old muppet friends.

  However, the muppets did not make it big on nostagia alone.  Even though this was their first introduction to Fozzy, Gonzo, and the Swedish Chef, my boys were really into it.  When Kermit and Miss Piggy sang "The Rainbow Connection," I looked over at my boys in their seats, and all three of them were staring slack-jawed at the screen, totally absorbed in the song.  

Yeah, Kermie's still got it.

Not much going on today, so I'm digging up an old, favorite photo to post.

(I can do that, because this is my blog, so I get to make up the rules as I go along.)

This is Bubba-La (Adam to those of you unfamiliar with his nickname) in September 2002, when he was about 18 months old.  

I can't help but smile whenever I run across this picture.  Never has a banana popsicle looked so good.

This year, our friend J has been coming to our house in the mornings so I can teach him and Jessica early morning seminary.  After the seminary lesson, J stays for breakfast, where he and my boys have a daily, stimulating discussion that usually centers on Chuck Norris or a random scientific phenomenon.

One of the perks of this arrangement is that J's mom Susanne regularly sends breakfast foods to contribute.

This morning, J brought a pile of big, fluffy, whole grain waffles for breakfast.  These were enjoyed during a discussion of why sea animals tend to be larger than land animals and how gravity comes into play.  

My boys seriously love talking to J because he is very bright and knows lots of Stuff That Is Interesting To Boys.  I'm pretty sure he is responsible for raising their IQ's this year.  If nothing else, the boys are much happier about getting out of bed and there is far less grumbling at breakfast.

Plus, he brings waffles.

Tonight, Pepper got home from his after-school activity at about 5:00, looked at our dark, empty kitchen, and very reasonably asked, "What's for dinner?"

And me, Mother of the Year, responded, "Whatever you go buy at the store."

Basically, dinner was just Too Much for me today, so I gave Jessica and Pepper money and they walked to the neighborhood store and bought dinner for the family.

Dinner, courtesy of Jessica and Pepper = frozen pizzas and mozzarella sticks.

As long as nobody tells the American Dietetic Association, everyone is happy.

I'm just going to say it.  Sorry if it's corny or cheesy-spiritual, but I have to say it.

I love having visiting teachers.

This month, my VTs wrapped up these super cute little chocolates for me.  I got to open a gift like it was Christmas or my birthday, and it was just a plain-old Tuesday.

Anyone who is willing to come to my house, talk to me about me, and do nice things for me every single month is amazing in my book.

NNNOOOOOoooooo!!!!

I had my hopes up for a snow-free winter.

*sigh*

It's gone!

There was much rejoicing on Luke's part.  

Me: not so much.

A friend posted a link to this song on Facebook yesterday, and I've been a little obsessed with it ever since.  The song is "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye, and I love it.

I think this film clip is amazing.  The song is musically interesting, the lyrics are raw and honest, and the visuals are so intriguing.  I can't stop watching it.  Even Lukie loves it - he calls it the "Drawing Song".

I don't know why this is resonating with me so much.  It's not like I have a sad life.  At all.  I guess it just captures perfectly how it feels to be vulnerable, rejected, angry, hurt, invisible, and lonely.  

And, I'm in the mood to be sad.

watch it here

I took this photo tonight after a loosely titled "Game Night."  

We all got together at Jeremy and Denise's house to play games, but ended up sitting around eating the snacks we'd all brought and talking for 4-ish hours. 
I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday night.

Adam knew I was taking his picture, and he pulled this face on purpose.

I'm pretty sure 10-year-old boys come from another planet.

For the last several days, Jessica has been in a state of panic because she couldn't find her black dress.  She went through the laundry, and even went to the extreme measure of cleaning and organizing her room in an effort to find it.

Well, this morning I grabbed what I thought was a black tank-top from my drawer to wear under a sweater.  Unfortunately, I think this is the black dress she's been searching for.

This is a dress?  

I don't want to be The Mom today.

This morning at breakfast, Luke was whining that he didn't want to eat anything because it hurts his tooth to chew.  When I looked, I discovered that Lukie has his first loose tooth.  Once we determined that a super cool loose tooth was the problem, Luke was ecstatic.

I was somewhat less enthusiastic.  I'm not ready for my baby boy to lose his sweet baby teeth.  Once kids have a mouthful of scraggly grown-up teeth, they are officially Big.  

Lukie is not allowed to be Big.

Our great plan to cap off our FHE lesson on tithing by taking a trip to the mall to buy wallets for the kids fell flat when we arrived at the mall at 7:50 p.m., only to learn that the mall closes at 8:00 p.m.

Oh well.  It was nothing a quick trip to McDonald's couldn't fix.

We are not a stay-in-your-church-clothes-all-day-Sunday kind of family.  In fact, we may take the opposite to the extreme.  We are big believers in changing into comfy clothes as soon as we get home from church.

Brad was really rocking the comfy look this afternoon.  We especially liked the shorts-with-slippers look.  

In his defense, the slippers are my fault.  Because I am such a slipper junkie, it appalls me to think that he wouldn't own a pair.  I got him some last Christmas, but they didn't fit his feet tight enough, so he didn't like to wear them.  He has this man instinct that he needs to be able to "get away" at all times, so having sloppy slippers on his feet made him feel vulnerable.  I got him these beauties this Christmas, keeping in mind his need to juke bad guys should the opportunity arise.  It is impossible to find slippers that wrap around the heel so they stay securely on, and still look cool.  I find it somewhat ironic that the only slippers that cater to his manly instincts are old man slippers.

That being said, I have to say that somehow he still pulls off this look.  Maybe it is knowing that he is humoring my need to see him in slippers that makes him look so dreamy.  How could I not love this man?

The Christmas stuff is down and packed away and things are back to normal in the Bitner household.   

 "Normal" meaning Beatrice on her computer and Brad and the boys watching Mythbusters.  It's another raging, fun-filled Saturday night at the Bitners'!

More dancing!

Tonight, I began teaching another dance class in our ward.  The high priest group leader asked if I would teach 4 or 5 dance classes for married couples in the ward, and of course I said yes.  So, every other Friday night for the next couple of months, we're going to get together for some dancing.

It is funny to me that I have taught far more dancing here in Germany than I did in the U.S.  They don't seem to mind that I do it in English.  I guess it works because I mostly demonstrate what to do rather than talk about it.  

However it works, I'm just glad it does.  It is seriously SO much fun for me to do, and I think the couples that came had a good time, too.

Yesterday at Thai Wednesday (yes, it's usually Thai Tuesday, but Wednesday worked better this week), Denise introduced me to Fruit Ninja, an app for the iPad.  It's a fairly mindless game where you have to slice fruit when it appears on the screen without accidentally slicing the bombs that occasionally appear.  It's surprisingly addicting - there is something so satisfying about the juicy sound of the fruit getting demolished.

I think the first time I played it, I scored something like 14 points.  Luke watched me play it once, and had to try it.  His first score was over 100. 

So much for my self-esteem today.

Lukie got these little puzzles for Christmas and tonight he pulled them out for the first time.  He was super proud of himself for getting them all put together.

Today was an excellent day for mail!  

I got a whole pile of Christmas cards from family and friends.  I know it takes people more effort to send us a card, what with international postage likely meaning an extra trip to the post office, so I doubly appreciate every single card that finds its way to my mailbox.

For many Americans, New Year's is the time of football.  I know my dad and brothers always seem to spend a lot of time watching game after game around New Year's (college, pro - I don't really know).

Well, this year I found a much more enjoyable thing to watch.  I found a bunch of old Carol Burnett Show episodes to download on our AppleTV, and I had a sort of marathon of my own this afternoon.

You can only imagine my delight when I came to this classic episode!  Even though I have seen this many, many times, I still can't help but crack up when Starlett makes this entrance in her curtain dress.  In my opinion, it is the quintessential sight gag.  It is funny every time I see it!

After seeing this, I started thinking about what makes me laugh, no matter how many times I see it, and I came up with this small list off the top of my head:

* Chris Farley's audition to be a Chip-n-Dale Dancer on SNL

* the blue handprints all over the Bluth Family Model Home on Arrested Development

*any Sweenie Sister medley on SNL (or when my sister Jen imitates them)

* the scene in Friends in which Rachel & Monica compete against Chandler & Joey in a quiz show type showdown to see who gets to keep the good apartment

 

* anytime Cameron screams on Modern Family

What makes you laugh?

Our first New Year's Eve here, we were blown away by the amount of fireworks at midnight.  It seriously sounds like the city is being bombed for about an hour after midnight.  Last year, Brad was all over the fireworks, and he bought a bunch that he and the kids set off.  This year, he had every intention of buying even more and producing an epic fireworks display.  But, since he and I felt so lousy, the fireworks plans pretty much fizzled out.  We were duds.

This morning, I found this firework carcass on our front walk.

  So, even though we personally did not explode anything, we sort of participated.