The other day, Susanne was telling me about her super-duper hair clippers and how well they work when she cuts her boys' hair.  Then Adam came strolling by, looking like a shaggy dog, so I seized the moment and asked Susanne if she would cut his and Pepper's hair.  

Susanne agreed, so I whisked the boys over to her house this afternoon for haircuts.  Best. Idea. Ever.  The boys look so good, and it only cost me a plate of whoopie pies.

(Technically, this photo was taken last Sunday, but since I didn't get it until this week, I am using it as today's POTD.)

Olaf, a friend of ours in the ward, snapped this photo of me and the kids rushing to make it to church on time.

Today, I took a roadtrip with some of my friends down to Grafenwöhr, an American military base about 3 hours away from Berlin.  Their husbands all work for either the military or the foreign service, so they are eligible to shop at the American stores on base.

You can see that we filled the van up to the rafters!  As a civilian, I was allowed to visit the base, but I couldn't buy anything.  It was still awesome to roam the aisles at the commissary and see boxes of Lucky Charms, Ding Dongs, and Diet Dr. Pepper.  My generous friends bought me a few things I couldn't live without, and it was just fun to spend the day with them.

The commissary is part of a small mall, which of course includes a food court.  We visited it many times.

 I had a moment of silence when I sat down to a couple of Taco Bell tacos.

I wasn't sure how to react when Denise added ketchup to her Popeye's mashed potatoes.  She's Canadian - I guess she can't help it.

Food court, American brands, and delightful friends.  Life is good.

This afternoon, I was in the kitchen and I overheard Jessica reading to Luke in the living room.  She was reading a book we've had forever - an awesome schoolteacher friend gave it to Pepper on his third birthday, and it's been a favorite ever since.  It's a cute book with little pictures in the text, so a pre-reader can say the words along with the reader.

The thing that I loved about this today was that Jessica was doing the exact same sound effects that I always do when I read this book.  Someday, when I die, I will live on in the "ghost who cried BOO, and the cat that screeched MEW!"

It's a good legacy.

Tonight was the 10th grade Drama Night at the school.  Jessica and her classmates each wrote a short play, which they directed.  Everyone acted in each other's plays and they presented them tonight.

Jessica's play was entitled "Writer's Block" and it was about a girl who can't figure out what to write for her English paper.  The girl in front "wrote" different story ideas, and the actors behind her acted them out until the writer got fed up and threw it out.  We're not biased or anything, but her play was by far the best one.

Jessica also got to act in many other plays:

She did a really great job!  I am amazed at how comfortable she is in front of an audience.

A classic post-Halloween shot.

I had to get a picture of my favorite kind of night - the kind of night when nobody has anywhere to go, and we all just chill at home.  Tonight was such a night.

(A somewhat violent side note to an otherwise serene scene:  you'll notice Luke isn't in the picture.  He had to go to bed right after dinner because he got sent to the principal's office today for choking a classmate.)