The Quinn-tessentials

TYLER'S TURN

2011-03-25T02:52:00.001+01:00

Today I took Tyler to the hospital for his very first surgery. He is four and he needs his adnoids out and tubes in his ears. I didn't know how he would respond to everything, so I actually kept it a little vague. In other words, I kept talking about "surgery" and I don't think he had a clue what that really meant, except that I promised him a NINJAGO if he was good while at the hospital. He was sooo cool. First off I didn't wake him this morning and he came down about 5 minutes before we needed to head out the door. He wanted to eat of course and I just said we didn't have time, that he could eat later and even stay in his pajamas to go to the hospital. Please be reminded that this is the kid that I fight hourly with about almost everything from what food he will eat to which coat he will wear out the door. His response this morning was simply - OK - and into the car we went. Once there we actually sat around and waited a lot, then we were sent to the lab to see how fast his blood clots. They prick you with an insulin needle and wipe the blood away several times to see how long it takes before you stop bleeding. In comparison - Jeffrey freaked out a year ago when I did this with him, I mean seriously hyperventilated till I thought he was going to pass out. I thought maybe I should distract Tyler, but he just looked at me and said he wanted to watch. He didn't even flinch and he watched intently as they swiped the blood away each time.

When we finally went in to the "go to sleep room" he was given a dose of "drowsy" which he touched to his lips and made the face. OOPS my bad!! I should have prepped him and told him before he tasted it that he needed to drink it all in one gulp. I could have kicked myself as I was SURE that I would never get him to drink the rest. But we try anyway, right. I told him, "I know it tastes funny sweetie, but you need to drink ALL of it - do it quick now and it won't be so bad." And you know what - he did!!! I then put him up in his hospital bed and put on a movie to wait.

I have to say, this part always makes me giggle. He was trying to tell me something, but everything was slurred and I couldn't understand him at all. He couldn't hold the Ipad up - it was too heavy - so it kept flopping forward and bonking him in the face or falling backwards on his lap.

Notice how dazed he looks in this picture. They came and got us shortly after this and took us into the pre-op room. I stayed with him for the chocolate flavored gas mask and when he was asleep I kissed him and went out. Forty-five minutes later they called me into the recovery room to sit by his bed till he woke up. Tyler slept peacefully for another 1 1/2 hours and when he awoke, it was as if he had never been to surgery. He didn't cry, didn't complain of a sore throat either. I was supposed to keep him quiet, so I asked if he wanted to finish watching his movie. Of course he nodded his head yes. So he sat and watched his movie, drank a glas of water and we were out of the hospital by 1:00 pm. GO TYLER! He was great today.

FIRST DAY OF SPRING

2011-03-21T23:45:00.026+01:00

I wasn't trying to be "punny", but hey, it works! Hahahaha. Anyway, for Family Home Evening Benny finally got out Jeffrey's birthday present (his birthday was in September). It turned so cold right after Jeffrey's birthday, that we decided to wait till spring to set up the new trampoline. So punctual to the date, we got out the "new spring" and Tyler and Jeffrey helped him set it up. So many helping hands.

Maybe too many helping hands?

They were sooo excited to have a trampoline again and to be able to jump.

QUINN'S CULTURAL QUIPS #4 - License to write

2011-01-31T22:55:00.000+01:00

I bet you didn't know that all elementary school children - at least those here in Lower Saxony - have to pass off certain writing requirements in order to receive their so-called license to write. Write that is, with a calligraphy pen. Generally speaking, by Christmas of their second grade year, they have received notice that after Christmas they will start learning how to write with a calligraphy pen.

What does this really mean? First order of business is to find a pen suitable to the child's hand. I took Jeffrey at the first of the year to pick out his first calligraphy pen. There are of course many such pens to choose from, but as fate would have it, the store we went to did not have too many to choose from. On a positive note, it is good that they didn't have too many to choose from. As it was it took far too long in my opinion, but I was patient and supportive and let him make the decision himself. Jeffrey made it immediately into a competition between pens. He is really into competitions. He lined up the pens and then wrote with each one, each time elliminating the one he felt did not write as well as another until he had a winner.

Since school started back in session, the kids have been working hard to pass off the assignments to get their license. This has been intense for Jeffrey. We have fought over it almost daily. I have prodded, cajoled, begged, demanded, pleaded, bribed... you get the picture, for him to keep working on the assignments. He on the other hand, although excited to get his pen, has had other things on his mind - EVERYTHING actually other than doing the writing required. He has sneaked out, dawdled, daydreamed, lied, put off and done everything else other than write.

After me telling him he HAS to finish this assignment, he looked at me and asked simply WHY? That was a good question to which I have no good answer other than because the German school system requires it. Seriously, I just don't get it in all honesty. Why in the world would you give a second grader a pen that smears, breaks fairly easily, and is absolutely not erasable when they have not even mastered the art of writing. I BELIEVE in pencils for grade school kids. Maybe that is just old school, maybe kids now days (even in America) are allowed to write with pens or inkys or whatever, but I think they should be forced to use only a pencil until they are about in fourth grade. I think it is too much pressure to have to write mistake free. Kids learning to write should be allowed to make mistakes and learn to correct them without the poor teachers having to look at the mess that writing with a pen leaves behind on paper. I find that the assignments are such a mess of crossed out, blotted out words that one can hardly make sense of what was written. Neat papers should be more important than learning to write with a pen. I will not go on. Enough said. Jeffrey finally finished his assignment. I don't know if he finished within the allotted time the teacher allowed, according to him she gave two deadlines and he had it done for the latter. But at least he got it done!

FILZMOOS

2011-01-23T19:33:00.000+01:00

Right after New Years, we took our first trip of 2011. We drove 8 hours down to Filzmoos, Austria, a quaint little Austrian ski town in the Salzburg region. We had a little apartment and Benny’s parents took a hotel room from the same family.

Every day we would meet at the main hotel for a wonderful European breakfast buffet of fresh rolls, cheeses and meats. In addition there was a nice lady who personally cooked you up eggs on an induction plate however you wanted them, scrambled, fried or as an omelet. From breakfast we would hustle back to our lodging into what is known as the "ski cellar". This is a heated room where the ski boots are hung to dry overnight and another room for the skis. After donning their helmets (safety first these days), gloves, boots and skis, they then lumbered up the block to the ski school for the first lesson of the day.

Unfortunately I twisted my knee cap out and tore some of the ligaments under the knee cap just 6 days before vacation, so needless to say, I didn’t ski. The kids and Benny (in the mornings only) all took classes and learned a ton - ok Benny probably didn't learn a ton, he was more into perfecting his style. I, on the other hand, was able to take some pictures and watch how much progress was being made each day. Since the older kids were all further up the mountain after the first day, most all my pictures were of Tyler - but he was so cute to watch, and funny! Watching the 3-4 year olds learn to ski is really quite comical. But not the native kids. It is pretty much common knowledge that in Austria the kids are put on skis before they learn to walk. Anyway, back to my story: All in all Tyler was probably the most improved since he had never skied before, but they all looked like pros by the end of the week.

Each group held a race and during the award ceremony the national anthem of the winners country was played and the flag hissed. (That's what Tyler is watching.) And as a side note, he only missed 1st place by .02 of a second. Not bad eh. Tori, Niklas and Jeffrey were all in a group together with a handfull of grown-ups - who didn't show for the awards since none of them won anything. Poor Tori had a snowmobile cut across her path during her run!???

At 12:30pm each day they had a lunch break, which was just long enough to deem going back to the apartment to eat a quick bite, but not really long enough to relax or get into that book Tori tried desperately to make progress in. It was actually a little stressful in my opinion - ok maybe even a lot stressful. After sitting down for half an hour, Jeffrey and especially Tyler were no longer in the mood to hit the slopes again. They would have rather vegged in front of the tube. The afternoon class was not without a struggle, but after we got them there, they were happy to head on up the mountain again.

Evenings found us joining up again with Oma and Opa for a 4 course meal preceded by a short dip in the pool or a little bit of Memory played with Tyler who always wins of course. With the restaurant filled to the brim, and getting served several courses, dinner was not a quick thing. It was more like an event that took a new and interesting turn every night as we watched our children try new and exotic appetizers, soups and desserts that would not be found on our table at home.

This was one choice of main course our last night, it was fried cheese fresh from the cows of the Alps with roasted parsley served with a sweet and sour sauce and lemon wedge. I personally had never heard of roasted parsley, but it was probably my most favorite new taste of the trip. Absolutely delicious!

We ended each night playing a game with the grandparents back at our place, but it didn't take long for the grownups' eyelids to start dropping, even when the children were begging for more.

It was a wonderful week, in spite of my not getting to ski, and a vacation I hope we can repeat sometime soon. The beautiful mountain backdrop and crisp fresh air coupled with a good dose of exercise each day was in itself a week of wellness that had Jeffrey questioning our decision of buying a house in Northern Germany and not down in the Austrian Alps.

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR

2011-01-22T10:28:00.001+01:00

So here we go.... After not having blogged for over a year, (for main reason see previous post) I have vowed to give it another go. So even though it has taken me 21 days to start my New Years Resolution, I will not be deterred. You might ask yourself WHY? with Facebook seemingly taking over in the way of online communication, why would I be obsessed with reviving my dormant blog? My main reason is my family. With the drastic time change between the west of USA and Germany, it is fairly impossible for me to keep in constant contact with my family. Far too many important events and little everyday happenings go untold and undocumented. Reason number two is to keep some sort of documentation of our kids and our life. I enjoy blogging because I can add pictures and easily share what I have written with friends and family. Without further ado I'd like to begin with the beginning of 2011...

Per tradition, our New Year's fireworks would rival any 4th of July celebration - hands down. A little secret about my husband - that won't be a secret once I share it here - he a pyro at heart. His mom loves to tell the story of him setting the dumpster on fire at her dad's house, but that wasn't all. Now that he is an adult, he can really live out that childhood fantasy of setting things on fire.

Here he is in action - the man of the hour.

Everybody wanted in on the action. Tori and her friends (the Jensen girls) were somewhat content with jumbo sparklers.

Meike, Martin, Mariella and Steffen came over to be the first to say Happy New Year and to watch the fireworks show.

Niklas' best friend and old neighbor told his mom it wouldn't be New Years if he couldn't celebrate with Niklas, so of course Phil was here too.

Previous to our fireworks, we watched the traditional TV skit, "Dinner for One". I have to add this tidbit to this post as I have always wondered about this tradtion. I had never heard of this before coming to Germany and yet I cannot remember a New Years celebration where I haven't viewed it since living here. This is what Wikipedia gave me - I thought it was interesting:

Dinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday, or by its corresponding German title, Der 90. Geburtstag, is a comedy sketch written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920s. German television station Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) recorded a performance of the piece in 1963, in its original English language. This short comical play subsequently went on to become the most frequently repeated TV programme ever (according to the Guinness Book of Records, 1988-1995 eds.; later editions no longer have the category).
The 18 minute single take black-and-white 1963 TV recording featuring British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden has become an integral component of the New Year's Eve schedule of several German television stations, Danish, and Swedish national television, a December 23 staple on Norwegian national television, and a cult television classic in Finland, Faroe Islands and Austria; on New Year's Eve 2003 alone, the sketch was broadcast 19 times (on various channels). As of 2005, the sketch has been repeated more than 230 times. It is famous in other countries as well — including German-speaking Switzerland and South Africa. It is a New Year's Eve staple in Australia on the SBS network.

I hope you're still with me. I know that was more information than you needed about something you've probably never heard of, but I like to think that some of my readers are interested in German culture - including cult culture. So if you want to read about the story line or link to the sketch, here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One

ENTLEBUCHER MOUNTAIN DOG (sennenhund)

2009-11-16T21:24:00.005+01:00

Say what? Yes, we have added a new addition to our family and she is an "Entlebucher Mountain Dog". This is indeed the English name for her. Not to be confused with a Bernese mountain dog, they are MUCH larger and have a lot of long hair. We loved Luna - Oma and Opas dog, but we wanted a somewhat smaller dog.

When we were interviewing for the position of house dog, we ran across this breed and were really excited to find a dog with similar traits as a Bernese Mountain Dog, but with shorter hair and smaller frame. In addition to being good family dogs like Luna, they are known for their agility and liveliness.

Lexi was born on September 1, 2009 and joined our family on November 4th. She is a purebread with all the papers you need and she came with an offer for free vacation care - can't beat that. The kids were so excited to finally have a dog and they all take turns taking her out for her business, to play and for short walks since she is still too little to really go far.

DISNEYLAND: ENJOY THE MAGIC

2009-07-12T00:24:00.008+02:00

DISNEYLAND!!

Early the first day we packed up and headed to Disneyland. I was especially excited to share something from the Disneyland magic of my childhood with my children, but as things with expectations go, it didn't turn out how I had planned it in my head. But that's just life. By some bizarre twist of fate, the week before we arrived, Josh called Caleb and told him he was planning on being in CA and taking his boys to Disneyland – on the exact day we had planned for several months already to go with Caleb, Julie, Max and Emily. So we were 14 people total – now that’s enough to really call it a reunion. And we were all about reunions this vacation trip!

I won’t take much time describing Disneyland – it is always magical, even when the lines are way to long and the family got spread out everywhere because it was impossible to cater to everyone at once. The weather was fortunately quite tolerable. They haven’t had the electrical parade there since about 1996, but they have a pretty amazing fireworks show that a lot more people can see from all over.

Tyler was the only one that got to meet Mickey Mouse and after seeing the lines to meet other characters that day - it amazes me that he did. He looks a little wary in this picture, but actually he ran up to him and gave him a big hug and said, "Hi Mickey"! It was absolutely adorable and the prof. photographer there didn't stop clicking, but his pictures were not much better than mine and I still haven't decided to fork out 15$ for ONE.

Tyler LOVED Max.

The teacups must be.

Caleb and the boys.
I'm glad I finally know what the “Tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room, where birds sing words and the flowers croon” is, after hearing the song for the first time last year on vacation in Italy- again and again and again. I can’t believe I never saw that as a kid.

MY favorite ride is still “It’s a Small World”.

And all days must come to an end - even a magical day at Disneyland

FIRST STOP: CALIFORNIA

2009-07-10T00:46:00.007+02:00

We arrived in the afternoon (the same day that Michael Jackson died - we realized this while listening to the radio and hearing them say, "in memory of"), just in time for rush hour, we were fortunate enough to pick up ALL of our luggage and then our rental car. We had rented a “mini van” for the time, but actually got a big 15 passenger van minus the last bench, giving us lots of room to live out of the back, where all our suitcases could be thrown. The kids dubbed it “Emmet” due to it’s vastness. Emmet made it to the freeway before he started blinking “low tire pressure”. We even pulled over on the 6 lane freeway during rush hour, because the on ramp had been so rough, we were convinced we had somehow gotten a flat tire.

We actually made it to Pasadena though - without a flat - to first greet Emily, Caleb, Julie and Max, but Benny took Emmet back and exchanged him for a white van they named “Moby Dick” – needless to say, it was as big as whale. Kind of our "closet" to be for the next 5 weeks, we grew fond of our new transportation. Pictures to come.

After such a long trip, it was just perfect for Tyler and Max to get to play before having to go to bed. They hit it off from the first minute. Tyler still talks about "my Max"

(Caleb actually had taken a really cute video of the boys and Julie playing, but after uploading for over 24 hours, I "cancelled" and upon investigation found that it is 197 MB and uploads can't be over 100 MB, so I will need to shorten or shrink it before I can upload it for you here, neither of which I know how to do - never had the need. I will find out though.)

Cousins before bedtime the first night, except Niklas - he crashed.

EN ROUTE

2009-07-06T08:20:00.007+02:00

The time had finally arrived and vacation had officially begun, however, we still had a lot of travelling ahead of us before we finally reached our vacation destination: USA. Since the prices for airline tickets were significantly cheaper from London, that is where we headed first. We loaded up the car and drove to London, where we parked our car for 5 weeks and flew to America. To get to London we endured hours and hours of traffic jams because the autobahn had been closed completely due to traffic accidents – plural. We drove through the CHUNNEL, a first for us. Upon arriving in London, we stayed in a hotel, giving us a head start on the next day. It was a very relaxed trip to the airport the next morning and a great flight to the states.

Getting ready to hit the road. . .

Getting started, leaving Opa and Oma Schulze in Burgdorf.

Getting in the train for the Chunnel!

Somewhere beneath the sea!

In spite of hours in the car, everybody is in a good mood.

The next day, ready to board! Anticipating the adventure that lies ahead.

JUMPING OUT THE WINDOW

2009-07-06T07:50:00.004+02:00

After four years of Kindergarten, Jeffrey will start school in August. At his kindergarten they have a fun tradition for the kids leaving - they have to jump out of the window. So here is Jeffrey on his last day of Kindergarten.

Here he is anticipating the jump.

Woops, he jumped so fast I almost missed.

They gave him a bunch of foto albums of his time in Kindergarten.

If you look close, you can see Jeffrey's head towards the back of the group. This is a really big group hug. All his friends gathered around him to hug him on his last day. He was a pretty popular kid in his group. Everyone loves Jeffrey.

BLOG ABOUT PRAGUE

2009-07-05T07:50:00.005+02:00

Since Prague is one of the only major European cities that I haven’t visited in the sixteen years I’ve lived in Germany, I looked forward to this weekend with great expectations. (Unfortunately I didn’t have time to prepare as I would have liked too – reading up on the city and deciding what sites I wanted to see.) The reason for me being in Prague would explain why I was pushed for time, as well as the fact that this weekend was just two weeks before leaving to the states for the summer.

I have worked as a secretary for my father-in-law for the last 5 years. Part of his assignment has been to oversee the seminary and institute programs in the Czech Republic, so consequently I have had contact with people in this country for just as long. It was never necessary or convenient for me to be there personally to meet the people I had contact with, as I had met most of them at different times in Germany. Due to some internal restructuring, Michael is no longer overseeing the Czech Republic, and so I will no longer have any contact there either. We arranged a final meeting in Prague to meet with the main people over there and kind of turn over the keys. It was kind of sad to say good-bye, even though new tasks await, but all of it provided me the opportunity to see one of the great cities of the world. So enjoy a few pictures. The rest are on my photo site.

FINALLY FACHARTZT

2009-07-03T18:44:00.001+02:00

Since I am going to play catch up today and bring everyone up-to-date, I am going to make sure I don’t leave anything out, especially Benjamin’s BIG day.

On June 4^th Benjamin had his oral exam to become a board certified surgeon. He had reviewed for several months and attended several seminars to prepare for it, including a seminar held locally that he found out about just the night before and adjusted his schedule to attend. He realized what a blessing this had been when the first questions he was asked, were pertaining to rectal/colon cancers – the exact subject of the seminar he went to. He was able to answer ALL the questions to such an extent that the professor asked the other professor if he would have been able to answer the question, to which he answered NO. Needless to say, Benjamin passed the exam without a moment’s hesitation. We will be celebrating this milestone in our lives during our five week’s vacation in America – again, and again and again. We are so happy to finally be this far.

BAPTISM DAY FOR NIKLAS

2009-05-04T23:55:00.005+02:00

I have missed a lot of blogable things of late. (I truly apologize for that, stay with me through the next couple of months, I promise to do better.) But of all the things I have missed, I vowed to finish this one. One reason is because our first son was baptized on April 26th. He has chosen to enter into this sacred covenant with his savior Jesus Christ and follow his example. I could not be happier than to see my children make this kind of a decision in their lives. The second reason is so he can see how much we love him and how important he is to us in our family. Here are just a couple of pics of the day:

The proud parents with Niklas

Baptizer and baptizee

Some of the people who helped make the day special: Michael gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost, Steffen spoke about the Holy Ghost and Marielle led the music and prayed.

Meike came all the way from Switzerland to give a talk about baptism.

Martin was cool as usual and helped set up everything for the cake buffet.

Karin added moral support when needed.

The missionaries provided the interval music while Niklas changed.

Here's a pic of the gang - all his friends who came to see him be baptized.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

2009-02-05T15:24:00.002+01:00

Jeffrey has a new love!

After finishing 2 years of introduction to music, we were faced with the task of choosing an instrument. I signed him up for percussion, but the other kid didn't show up. Jeffrey sat down on the drum set and pounded away. The teacher said, "Well, if he has that much interest for the drums, you should consider just starting him there." So we did. I figured that our Rock Band drums would suffice for awhile at least. Three weeks into his lessons has been a short "while" however. He started crying after the second lesson, "when do I get my drum set?" We have been blessed to not have to buy one just yet, as we have a friend who had a set in his basement and has allowed us to borrow them for awhile.

Jeffrey can't stay away from them. Normally he is scared of the basement... that fear is suddenly gone. He runs down there several times during the day. (I know this will not last forever.) Today he started at 7:45am. I am glad we don't live in an apartment. He loves to rock out and "practice his beats". It is really fun to see how much energy and concentration he puts into it.

A side note on the subject of Jeffrey: today for lunch we had an interesting conversation. He said he wanted the other half of his heart back. If he hadn't been so serious I probably would have laughed, but instead I had to explain, that he never had a whole heart and he couldn't just get it back. Some things just come out of nowhere and really get you thinking. I suggested he could be happy that it was only a half a heart he was missing and not half of his leg or something, because this way he can still walk and run. The conversation took its turn.

THE CAKE I BAKED BUT DIDN'T MAKE

2009-01-21T22:22:00.006+01:00

Last fall I flew to the states on Oct. 9th. I had also been invited to a wedding reception that very night - a wedding reception for which I had volunteered to make their wedding cake. (This is a secret hobby of mine for anyone who doesn't already know.) So I had planned this elaborate 5 tiered wedding cake with alternating cakes of chocolate chip (recipe: compliments of Lee & Lisa Broadhead) with an incredible chocolate mousse filling and orange cake with an orange buttercream filling (recipe: compliments of Sister Smith). Then my husband booked me a flight to the states. I was a little worried how I was going to pull off getting this cake finished before leaving for my flight at 10am. The biggest thanks here goes to Sister Beazer. She is an older sister serving currently with her husband here in our ward and I had heard she had made wedding cakes in a bakery for many years before she retired. So we met and planned how everything would work. I made all the cakes ahead of time and froze them. Then the day before, I made all the fillings and frosting, ordered the flowers and gathered all the other paraphernalia together that one needs to complete such a monumental task and took it to her and wished her the best of luck and thanked her greatly. I knew it would turn out great... and I think it did.

Here are some pictures of our work of art.

This post is dedicated to Mariella, who also tasted several of the cakes I made for Peter and Maren to try, but didn't see the finished product. Since Mariella and Steffen need to decide what kind of cake they want for their wedding that's coming up, I thought I would post a few of my previous cakes...

This was the yellow cake with lemon creme I made for Franzi's wedding.

This was the strawberry cheesecake with white chocolate frosting I made for Julia's summer wedding.

WII ARE GETTING FIT THIS YEAR!

2009-01-21T21:36:00.003+01:00

I know, it was funny the first time, but not as funny this time... I had to say it again though, I just couldn't resist. My kids love the WII Fit board and are always battling over who gets to excercise. They try to out hula or out ski or out race the others and it is fun. I love that they actually enjoy the idea of excercising.

Since Tyler is always around, he is probably the best observer. Here he is carefully watching Tori.

But just always watching is not really any fun. He wants to be part of the action. "I too, I too" he begs and steps on the board... of course throwing the weight way off and frustrating Tori in the process. How can she beat my scores when Tyler is on the board too.

And here I have caught him making another attempt to get on the board. "Ah, ah, ah Tyler," I say and he looks at me again to make sure I'm not looking before he puts his hand down where he knows he's not supposed to.

WHAT WE DID AT MIDNIGHT

2009-01-17T19:09:00.004+01:00

We toasted in the New Year with sparkling apple cider, kissed, and then headed outside for the show!

New Year's Eve in Germany is crazy - like 4th of July crazy. The streets are so littered in the bigger cities, that you literally have to wade through the debris from the night before. Our little street is not in the big city, but the show is quite worth watching anyway.

The fireworks display lasts at least a half an hour, and as with most years, this year being no exception, we were frozen by the time we headed back inside.

The kids really get into the action too.

All the kids have sparklers and pop rocks and can't wait to help an adult light off some little spinning thing or anything they might be allowed to.

I'm not sure if Tyler really thought he'd get to light everything in "his" package, but he wasn't letting go of it for anything. It was his!

When we came back inside we had "BERLINER," most commonly known as a jelly filled doughnut. This is a huge tradition to eat these on New Year's Eve / New Year. I'm not sure why, but we do. Funny thing though, Boris and Becky lived in Berlin the last 8 years or so and Boris told me that in Berlin they call them "PFANNEKUCHEN" which means pancake. Go figure! In any case - here's wishing you all a belated HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

WII ROCKED IN THE YEAR 2009!

2009-01-16T22:33:00.007+01:00

Boy, It's kind of lame to post this late after the New Year, but I am just trying to stay caught up and keep everything chronological.

Since Christmas was "the most wonderful time of the year" and we received lots of fun gifts, we invited family and Becky and Boris and their kids over to try it all out and to help us get to the next level of Rock Band, so we could have a few more songs to play to. Not everyone made it till midnight and some did whom you wouldn't have expected them to. Wii played till three, what a blast!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITIONS

2009-01-08T19:44:00.005+01:00

Christmas Eve is a night of traditions at the Schulze home. Every year the evening begins with a meal of fresh Schlesien Wurst. Even the preparing of the sausage is tradition, as it is done differently in different families. In Benny's family the sausage is first boiled and then fried in butter and served with Sauerkraut with pinapple chunks, boiled potatoes, gravy and most recently - Finnish sweet mustard. For desert we have a huge bowl of fresh fruit with fresh whipping cream. Besides that, the table is lavishly decorated with Christmas goodies and cookies that Benny's mom has spent the last month painstakingly preparing for this night. After dinner the program begins. We were "only" 12 persons this year - a relatively small group.

We act out the Christmas Story with costumes and all. This year we had the angel, the three wise men, Maria, Joseph and a baby lamb (not pictured - the pillow laid in swaddling clothes)...

Then many share something on an instrument they are learning or share a poem they have memorized...

Then we sing lots of Christmas carols, ending of course with Silent Night. This song is not typically sung until Christmas Eve.

In the end we open our gifts and enjoy what is left of the evening together, talking, eating, reading, playing games, eating some more or whatever we feel like doing. I coerced my children into posing for a picture (or more) in front of the tree.

I was asked on the post about Nikolaus how we celbrate Christmas [with conflicting traditions], actually though, my mom's family always had the tradition to go to Granny's house Christmas Eve and then the rest of the presents and stockings and Santa gifts were opened Christmas morning at home. This suits us perfectly, so that is how we do it too. We are then also keeping the traditions started in my mom's family and I love this!

QUINN'S CULTURAL QUIPS #3 - Burgdorfer Spargelstrasse

2009-01-07T22:33:00.006+01:00

Have you ever heard of the Romantic Road, or the Fairytale Road or even the Wine Road? Well, the city we live in is on the Asparagus Road. It has taken me many years of living here to fully appreciate the ramifications of living on this site-seeing road. When we first moved here it also took me quite some time to figure out what the actual symbolism was behind such pictures and statues that are found all over the city.

Today, as I was driving in my car listening to the radio, there was an announcement that made me remember living in Coos Bay and having my best friend named as the County Dairy Princess. I never knew such a thing existed. Such was my reaction today when they asked for eligible women between the ages of 18 and 25 to apply to become the Burgdorfer Asparagus Representative (for lack of a better translation) it used to be called the Asparagus King or Queen, but they have changed that this year. Well what do you know! Add another thing to living along this great road that I was not aware of.

Representatives from 2008

CAUGHT YA!!

2009-01-04T23:47:00.004+01:00

After we decorated our Christmas tree this year, I often found Tyler rearranging the beads. The bottom of my tree is actually always plastic ornaments, so there are no worries about breakage. Tyler thoroughly enjoyed taking all the beads and hanging them on one branch - again and again and again. For awhile I tried to spread them out again, at some point I just gave up though. When I caught him in this picture, he didn't even have the nerve to look guilty!

FRIENDS

2009-01-04T23:13:00.004+01:00

This post pays tribute to our friends Sam and Liz, whom we miss a whole lot. We hope they are doing well in America though. True FRIENDS fans forever! Till next summer...

A GERMAN THANKSGIVING / FIRST ADVENT

2009-01-04T22:34:00.006+01:00

It has become a tradition now that we celebrate Thanksgiving in the Schulze family. In fact, it has taken on quite a large proportion. Most of the family living further away all travel in for the celebration. We have some greater obstacles to overcome here in preparing a turkey feast akin to that of one in America. First of all, there is no Thanksgiving holiday, thus no time off of work or four day weekend. We have conveniently moved Thanksgiving to Friday or Saturday depending on travel arrangements from those coming home. Problem number two would probably be the bird. We don't buy such a big one because the ovens are not big enough to fit it anyway. Please notice we have roasted two turkeys instead. Other than that we put on a pretty traditional feast. The menu includes cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole, green bean bake, stuffing and various pies for dessert. We TRY to keep it basic and simple.

Here we are enjoying the spread. Note that Tobi and Coni and kids missed the beginning.

FIRST ADVENT:

Before the guests arrived, we took our 2008 Schulze family portrait:

The third problem is not really a problem but more of a dilemma, but for those traveling here provides a double header. Thanksgiving most often falls the same weekend as the first Advent (or 4th Sunday before Christmas). The first Advent is the start of the Christmas season here in Germany. It is also marked by tradition. The Schulze family spends it traditionally with Tante Bärbel and Onkel Gerd. (The dilemma being two fun filled days of overeating!) Tante Bärbel traditionally makes meat rouladen, a typical German fare. Due to health reasons, we skipped the dinner this year and they came to Schulze Sr. house for pies and cake. Onkel Hagen and Tante Angela were there again too. It is fun to have the family all together.

As part of the evening we sing Christmas carols and then play some games.

Two highlights of the weekend were the announcements of new additions to the family. Congratulations to Julia (Benny's sister)and Levin who are expecting their first child in May.

Congratulations also to Steffen (Benny's brother) and Mariella who are engaged to be married in March.

BENJAMIN AND TYLER'S BIRTHDAYS

2009-01-04T17:42:00.004+01:00

I am now of course playing catch-up. There were quite a few things that happened in the last 2 months, that I haven't blogged about yet. We've had two birthdays... Here a just a few pictures.

Benjamin's birthday party we celebrated probably for the last time with Liz together. Her birthday is the day before Benjamin's and for years they've celebrated together. (Often with Annelie too - she has the same day as Liz) This year though, Sam and Liz moved back to the states just a couple of weeks later.

We just hung out with our friends and played pool and ate yummy food. It was great to have Becky and Boris back amongst us after living for years in Berlin. As you can see, Benny enjoyed himself immensely.

A couple of close-ups of friends: Lars and Mimi

Susan and Lasse

Jen, me, Liz

Tyler's 2nd Birthday we celebrated with family. He was soo excited. He almost burned his lips trying to blow out the candle.

Tyler got a Thomas the Train take-a-long set. He used to play with his buddy Isaac with his and I knew he loved them. Thomas makes noise and it is his favorite toy right now to take to bed with him.

TARZAN - THE MUSICAL

2008-12-29T22:31:00.003+01:00

So, finally the pictures from our trip to Tarzan. Of course the pictures aren't really stellar. You are not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the theater, but I had to take my camera anyway and do my best. I wanted something to document the event. It was an absolute hit for the kids and something I am sure they will not forget. This picture was taken in the lobby by the poster advertisement for the show.

This is an actual picture of Kerchak (Tarzan's ape father) from the musical.

We pressed our luck and made the kids stand on the side of the auditorium during the break to take their picture. The whole background was done in jungle green. They actually tolerated us taking a few pictures and then very nicely informed us we weren't allowed to have a camera in there.
I think the hardest thing for the kids is knowing that they can't just go back and watch it again. They still listen almost daily to the music. They have all memorized ALL the songs. Jeffrey will often not walk somewhere, but get down on all fours and swing like a monkey. All of them hang from Niklas' bunkbed to practice swinging like the monkeys from Tarzan. Niklas and Jeffrey are both dreaming of getting to play the lead as the child Tarzan someday. (They believe if they practice enough there is a chance.) It has become somewhat of a small obsession. It was really an amazing musical and it was a night of fantasy and dreams come true. Thanks Phil Collins for the great music and Disney for the time old tale of Tarzan.

QUINN'S CULTURAL QUIPS #2 - NIKOLAUS Day

2008-12-28T01:19:00.007+01:00

Did you know that on the eve of the 6th of December in Germany, the children polish and shine their shoes and put them out for Nikolaus to fill with candy and maybe a small present?

This is how my kids put their shoes out for Nikolaus. (They didn't put out their shined church shoes this year - Jeffrey for one did NOT want any other shoe but his CARS crock. I chose to not fight this battle and agreed they could pick whichever shoe they wanted. Tori chose her new boots. She is starting to get interested in styles of clothing and shoes and will occasionally let me know that she needs this or that. The boots were a this or that. Tyler loves his Nikes and Niklas doesn't have any other shoes right now to choose from. He has outgrown everything else and since he can't really wear anything else besides boots due to the weather, I haven't bought him anything.)

This is what their boots looked like filled this year. Generally they just get something really small - like maybe a new Hot Wheels car, a little bit of chocolate (because they get chocolate EVERYWHERE this time of year) a mandarine orange and that's it. This year they got tickets to the new musical TARZAN. (Another blog later.)

And here are the happy children the next morning. Tori is holding the Tarzan CD. The kids haven't stopped listening to it still.

QUINN'S CULTURAL QUIPS #1

2008-12-23T02:02:00.003+01:00

I have had this idea, with the cultural differences, since summer, even before I actual started writing my blog, but there are always so many things to blog about, that I haven't started yet. I took this picture a couple of days ago though and I promised myself I was going to start.

My "Cultural Quips" will just be little things that I think might be interesting to anyone wanting to know a little more about Germany (or about where I live - since it is the same).

So... Cultural Quip #1:
NUTS, NUTS, NUTS, I don't know why, but here you can buy hazel nuts and almonds that are chopped, ground, blanched and sliced, but walnuts, pecans and cashews are available only whole. It makes all that Christmas baking increase by one step. Not that it is a big deal to chop nuts, but it is a small convenience to just be able to buy them already chopped.

(DISCLAIMER: my cultural quips are from MY viewpoint - all entries under this heading are by no means LAW. For example, I have lived here for 12 years now and have never seen chopped walnuts, but maybe I am not aware of where I could find them. It could also be, like in America as well, that in other regions/states chopped walnuts might be readily available. I speak from MY experiences in the region where I live - near Hannover in Lower Saxony.)

AFTER...

2008-12-23T01:48:00.004+01:00

I wouldn't want any of you to think I am still not showering, so I thought I better get this two part post finished.

We are back in business after just 6 short days. It was supposed to be done over the weekend, but all in all I guess I can't complain that it didn't take longer. (Oh wait, yes I can complain just a bit, because I was in America for 3 1/2 weeks and the house was basically empty. If you ask me, it REALLY should have been taken care of then and I wouldn't have had all this hassle the week before Christmas. (Dust everywhere, all the tools and construction things blocking my hallway for a week, everything that was in the bathroom temporarily in my bedroom etc.) I hope I can get over this, because it irritates me everytime I think about it. Maybe blogging about it, will help me get past it. lol.

Our bathroom is not yet completely finished (minor details), but as you can see from the photo, it is at least functional. Although we probably have a few centimeters less of actual floor space due to the addition of the tub, the room itself feels much bigger because the big shower walls are no longer there and that really opens this tiny room up. The whiter/lighter color of course makes it feel bigger too.

The kids have been in heaven taking baths as often as I will let them. Jeffrey of course now has a middle ear infection from it. (Any time he gets in the water he has one. He has holes in both of his ears from the tubes coming out.) So, needless to say, he will not be bathing again without his ear plugs. So, tell me, what do you think? I'd say it's a definite improvement over what it was, wouldn't you.

HAPPY 12th ANNIVERSARY

2008-12-21T02:16:00.004+01:00

I thought I would add a song to this post that fits well to Benny and I, but after MUCH time of trying to figure out how, I will just post the lyrics for now... (I won't give up on the song.)

by Shania Twain:
Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong

(You're still the one)
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

Ain't nothin' better
We beat the odds together
[ Shania Twain Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missin'

They said, "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong

After 12 years, Benny is still the one! He is incredible. He loves us so much, he works so hard to take care of us, he is smart, he never complains, he loves our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, he is creative at finding ways to make an extra dime, he is talented and capable of fixing things, I could go on and on.

In remembrance of our wedding day I add this picture - Darilyn requested to see it and it fits to this post.

People in picture: LtoR, Elder and Sister Gene R. Cook; Benjamin and Quinn; Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Sister Harriet Uchtdorf; Elder Neil L. Anderson and Sister Kathy Anderson

Added to on Dec. 30th...
I had someone ask why the "Brethren" were at my reception - here was the answer I sent her: Love to tell you the short version story of how I had so many of the "Brethren" at my reception. The picture is actually missing four others - the temple president for the Frankfurt Temple - he and his wife were there too. I lived just 10 minutes from the Frankfurt Temple at that time and the ward house is on the temple grounds. I worked for the Western Europe Area Presidency in Germany in 1996. Since I was young, I babysat a lot too for the Brethren while they were traveling missions etc. So, being so far from home for all of us, (except Elder Uchtdorf) when I got married, they all came. They were kind of like my side of the family for me, since only my mom and sister made it over. Elder Bruce D. Porter and his wife Susan are missing too. (He was serving in the Eastern Europe Area Presidency) Working for these incredible men and meeting their families as well, was a choice experience that I will always treasure.

BEFORE...

2008-12-17T22:37:00.002+01:00

No this is not another blogger game and no that isn't Tyler, it's Jeffrey. This is a picture of what I could get of our bathroom (because it is so small) almost 4 years ago shortly after we moved in. Please notice the fine porcelain shower basin and sink that match the salmon color wall tiles. All of the finest products and workmanship - of it's time... about 20 years ago.

Two weeks before I flew to America our toilet broke. Besides that, although you can't see it in the picture, the ceiling of the bathroom after 4 years of intensive showering is moldy, the tiles on the floor were loose and broken, the shower doors were ready to fall out, the sink was ready to come off the wall and the landlord finally had pitty and said they would re-do the whole bathroom. YIPPEE

EXCEPT... it is our only BATHroom. We now have not had a shower since Friday and I am tired of running up the stairs to pee on the kids toilet. I have a construcion zone in my hallway that everyone walks through to get to any part of the house and various bags of powder and electric tools that are potential accidents waiting to happen with a 2 year old around. Needless to say I am about bonkers! This post will be continued...

GOODBYE NELNET

2008-12-08T18:08:00.004+01:00

I figured this was definitely worth a quick blog.... I just called my student loan company to find out what balance is left owing on my loan. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Merry Christmas to me!!!! The very nice lady on the phone said "CONGRATULATIONS, you have a balance of $41,80 which will be deducted by quick pay from your account on Dec. 15th and it looks like you are ALL DONE!!!"

7 WIERD / CRAZY / FUNNY THINGS

2008-12-07T23:17:00.002+01:00

I know I have kept many of you in suspense for some time now. My apologies and the worst part of it is, that this post will probably not be awe inspiring or anything much better than mediocre and I am sorry to have built up such expectations only to let you down even harder. But here goes anyway...

1) In keeping with the season, I only like red and gold ornaments on my tree! No exceptions, I won't even put up kids art unless it is red or gold. I choose the angel for the top of my tree, as the family I grew up in did so too. I do not see the "new star" being more significant in the Christmas story than the angel heralding the birth. Therefore, to each his own. I won't think less of you for having a star just because I don't. And I still believe in Santa Claus.

2) I openly admit to liking country music and that I used to even teach line dancing. Someday I will start something like that here and see how it catches on.

3) 1 in 10,000 babies born are born with the Mercedes of all heart diseases - Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrom or HLHS for short. It's like winning the lottery or something - and I got lucky! On September 19, 2002 Jeffrey was born and on his 4th day of life was diagnosed with HLHS and almost pronounced dead as well, because it was found so late.

4) I love to organize and be organized! I have tips for anyone and everyone on how to organize and save time and money better. When I see a mess I visualize the best solution on how to sort, alphabetize or just plain clean up, as well as what kind of container, shelf or whatever will aid in this task. It makes me absurdly happy knowing I have gotten rid of clutter somewhere.

5) My husband and I share an uncommon (I think) love for PIZZA. We eat Pizza at least once a week at our house, but we COULD eat it every day. I think a large portion of our attraction for each other lies in this shared pleasure.

6) This summer I had corn rows put in the top front of my hair. It was peer pressure and I caved. My neice Kali was here and she was with us in Italy and she really wanted to have it done, but wanted me to go first, so being the cool aunt that I am, I did it too. I would have to say it was the coolest summer "do", but hurt sooo bad to have done, that I don't think I could ever do it again.

7) When I was 4 months pregnant with Tori, Benjamin and I were chosen from 6,000 couples to be on a TV game show to win a house. To make a long story short, we didn't get the house, but we won 15,000 DM and a coconut door mat. It was really a "crazy" experienc.

THE PROUD LOSER

2008-11-28T00:29:00.003+01:00

Jeffrey lost his very first tooth yesterday. He was sooo excited that the tooth fairy could now bring him money too. (Niklas is hard to beat in the tooth losing department and Jeffrey has been watching his example with some envy for years now.)Yesterday, before he lost the tooth he said he was too sick to go to Kindergarten for the day. Ten minutes later he came down and showed me that he had lost his tooth. As the realization dawned on him that he would not be able to share this great news with his friends if he didn't go, one could literally watch the recovery happen. All of a sudden he was feeling quite better and definitely wanted to go to Kindergarten.

JET-LAG SUCKS

2008-11-21T16:57:00.002+01:00

After 4 flights and over 24 hours of traveling we arrived back home and made it through the first day and the first night ok, probably because we were so exhausted. But day two was really tough. The kids literally dropped in the middle of the day and were up in the night because they were so hungry. Here's what that day looked like...

10) WATER POLO AND SWIM MEETS

2008-11-19T17:04:00.006+01:00

I have finally reached the last of my best of. The very first thing we did after we landed in Salt Lake was to go watch my neice's and nephew's last water polo meet. And one of the last things we did before we left was a swim meet too. I really enjoyed watching them and participating in a relatively big part of their lives.

As we are avid sports fans, although none of our children swim competitively, we are not strangers to competition. Jeffrey jumped right in to it - almost literally. By the time our visit was over, the entire swim team, probably most of the cheer team and most sideline observers knew who Jeffrey was. He can cheer with the best of them and has an enthusiasm for sports that is not hampered by him only having half a heart. The fact that he could cheer on his cousins of all people, of course tripled his enthusiasm. Go Kali Go!! he yelled with all his might over the sound of the blaring music and cheering audience.

For me, I am interested in sports photography. It is not my favorite, but there seems to be a demand for it here for our local papers and for the sports and teams my kids play on. Oft times I am confused with someone from the press due to the size of my camera. I find it quite a challenge to get really good action shots, so here are a few of my attempts at the kid's water polo meet, before I upgraded my camera.

Kira goes for the ball.

Kyle moves to quick and injures his shoulder.

Is there such a term as "Swimmer's Shoulder" - something like "Tennis Elbow"?

The world's greatest fan! GO JEFFREY - we are your fan.

Kali in posession.

Mom and Dad are avid swim supporters.

9) WE LOVED BELLA

2008-11-18T21:39:00.009+01:00

Bella was a novelty for my little boys. We don't have a dog anymore (Benny's parent's dog passed away in summer) and I don't think they've really been around a puppy before. She wasn't so big as to give them a scare if she came up to them and they could get their arms around her. Jeffrey assumed a caregiver role and was always concerned about her food and water. Just today he told me he wanted to fly back to America to visit Bella. She sure made a lasting impression.

8) THE BEAUTIFUL INDIAN SUMMER WE HAD

2008-11-18T16:12:00.005+01:00

Although they had forcast snow for the weekend we flew into Salt Lake, it turned out to be soooo gorgeous that I never even pulled out our winter coats. At times short sleeves and shorts were even enough. It was so GREAT!! Here are some of the beautiful pictures of fall...

7) BEING AN AUNT AGAIN

2008-11-18T15:40:00.002+01:00

Although her due date wasn't supposed to be until after I left the US, Reni surprised us all by going into labor early (10 days - gee could it have helped any that we painted the whole upstairs together just 2 days before?) and delivering the smallest baby she's had yet. On that point especially I am extremely happy for her. I think ALL of the other kids were around 10 pounders. Thaddeus Ray Kimball was born on October 24th, 2008 at 1:48pm. He weighed in at 6lbs 14oz and 21in long. We do forgive you Reni for not making it to the "White House Reunion", we did miss you though. I still can't believe that an hour before you are supposed to be there you call and let us know you are in labor and about 2 hours later you call again to let us know the baby was there. We sure appreciated being in the close loop on all the happenings. We are all happy everything went so well too (especially since you are in the middle of about nowhere having a home birth.)

A very beautiful baby - 9 days old.

Lot's of "mommy kisses" as they are known at our house. (There are butterfly kisses and Eskimo kisses and mommy kisses.)

Auntie Gusti gets her turn to hold Thaddeus.

6) HALLOWEEN

2008-11-16T19:56:00.002+01:00

As far as holidays go, Halloween is one of my favorites. There is really very little stress involved, no huge meals to prepare, no traditions that MUST be preserved, pretty low-key. You get to dress up and dress your kids up and dress your dog up if you want - or have one. You get candy for free and can scream at anything you want to or might find scary. You can stay up really late with a good excuse and watch scary movies or even "Thriller" videos. lol

Here's my very scary skeleton Tyler, too bad you could never tell that some of his face paint GLOWED in the dark - or it was supposed to. (His gloves did though.)

Add Ninja Jeffrey and Witch Bella and you have a foto nightmare. I don't know how many pictures I shot trying to get them all still.

Here's Ninja Jeffrey being really tough.

And here's Hippie Gusti with her Witch Bella. Doesn't she look more like an indian to you? lol

5) PLAYING ROCK BAND / FLIGHT SIMULATOR

2008-11-15T23:46:00.003+01:00

We love to be entertained!! But making our own entertainment can be even better than putting on a DVD. Grandpa Rex has built a flight simulator in the spare bedroom and Jeffrey and Kyle had an especially great time playing in it. It was actually a little too advanced for Jeffrey to "fly", so Rex put in virtual skiing for him, which I didn't know till later. He called it ice skating the rest of the time though. Really had me confused, I had no idea why he kept wanting to go back to some house to ice skate.Jeffrey and Grandpa Rex winning the ski race.

Jeffrey on drums. He actually spent about an hour "practicing" by himself. He was so into it that his face was beet red by the time he was done.

Ally, Kali and Riley rockin out.

Jeffrey on base.

Rock Band with the cousins! Asher, Kira, Jeffrey, Kenzi and Kyle

Too bad I didn't get any pictures of Gusti and I or us with the Ally and Anita, but that would have been asking a lot to have someone stay up THAT late just to take our pictures. Keep on rockin ladies!

4) SEEING OLD FRIENDS

2008-11-15T02:22:00.004+01:00

I don't have to add much more to the title, it was JUST GREAT!! to see some of my old roommates from BYU. Some of us hadn't seen each other in almost 10 years. Crazy how time as flown by. I would still say college was one of the greatest times of my life and you all played a huge role in that. I am so glad to still have you as friends and after all these years to hang out for a couple of hours or a couple of days and it is like no time has passed at all. Thanks for coming and visiting me and I can't wait to see you all again.

Gusti, Reni, Robyn, me

Jamie, Gusti, Ally, Anita, Deanna, me

Anita, Sierra (behind), Kelli, me, Paisley (front)

Anne, me

3) TAKING PICTURES

2008-11-13T23:38:00.012+01:00

I must say, having a photographer as a sister, I guess I'm glad I love to take pictures, talk about pictures, look at pictures, I even don't mind letting Gusti take my picture. So we did a lot of the above and it was FUN.

Here's Gusti at her best... determined to do everything possible for "the one perfect shot."

Here's Tyler in "action". I'm working on my "action shots", getting warmed up for the upcoming soccer season.

This picture looked better in full size, but I'm to tired to take it out, so enjoy.

We really enjoyed the day at Wheeler Farm with all the kids. I didn't get a copy of those pictures home with me though, so here's one of just Tyler and Jeffrey.

I helped Anita start a blog, so I helped her with her picture too. I thought it turned out great!

Gusti's pumpkins were truly amazing. We couldn't lift them by ourselves, so it makes me wonder how many people were involved in steeling them from her porch steps the night after Halloween. At least they were considerate enough to wait for Halloween to be over.

Credit to Gusti on these incredible pictures. I could be an advertisement for fresh fall laundry soap or something. Truly talented!

I loved this picture too.

2) EATING!

2008-11-13T21:53:00.006+01:00

It may sound rather odd, but Jeffrey, Tyler and I definately enjoyed all the different foods we got to try and rediscover while we were visiting. (That's the up-side, the down-side was of course barely fitting into my tight jeans by the time we went home.) So what did we eat?? EVERYTHING we could. My special request was seafood. (Hard to come by here.) So we went to the Peppermill Casino in Reno for Friday night ALL YOU CAN EAT SEAFOOD BUFFETT.

What a light show that was!!

Tyler especially enjoyed the parrot that was hidden up in one of the trees.

We all ate our share of lobster, shrimp and crablegs.

Mom's dinner wasn't complete without a baked potato, but Rex stuck to the seafood basics.

Gusti tried the diet version - just one shrimp. LOL Yeah right! Kira had pizza - what else!

A visit to mom and Rex's and Grandma and Grandpa's just wouldn't be complete without Grandpa's Barbecue, complete with all the fixin's - potato salad, baked beans and rice. But wait, where's Grandpa in this picture?? (Unfortunately he wasn't feeling so great.)

Jeffrey discovered American hotdogs. I mean, it's not like we don't have "wurst" here, ha, ha. I think he basically had them for lunch every day and sometimes again for dinner as is the case here.

Tyler would forego the "hotdog" in favor of just the bun.

Ally, Anita, Kelli (and her 2 kids) made it to the Olive Garden too! Oh what memories. Soup, salad or breadsticks Ladies?

Besides what I've already mentioned, we hit Krispy Kreme Donuts (the light was on), Ally introduced us to Sonic's Cherry Limeade, Gusti shared her favorite Café Rio lunch with me with sweet pork and to die for enchilada sauce. During our quick visit to BYU, Kelli treated us to a cone at the Creamery. Ally, Anita and I devoured a huge bucket of extra buttery popcorn and a diet drink while watching Mama Mia, at least most of the butter didn't land on MY hips, but on Ally's jeans - sorry we didn't share with you Kali, Gusti and Jamie. But we didn't leave you behind when we went to Cold Stone Creamery afterwards. And definately worth noting would be Anthony's Swedish pancakes on Sundays and Papa Murphy's Pizza on Fridays. Let's see, did I leave anything out?? ... Halloween candy!! Need I say more?

THE NEVER ENDING POST

2008-11-13T15:18:00.006+01:00

Well, it has been awhile, but I have finally organized my thoughts and pictures into some kind of a scheme so as to share them here. I've decided on a top 10 list and since my computer crashes several times daily, especially when I am in the middle of a project, I will post 10 separate posts. This way maybe I will keep you interested enough to read all of them. The genious of blogging is that they are generally not novel length as this blog could have been, had I not seen the light to break it down...

MY TOP 10 REASONS WHY I LOVED MY VISIT TO AMERICA:
After #1, not listed in order...

1) SEEING MY FAMILY AGAIN! (This will always be my number one.)

Whether we were saying good-byes,

passing out kisses to Great-Grandpa Q.,

and more kisses,

and more kisses,

LOTS of kisses,

cuddling with the cousins,

or sleeping in Great-Grandma Q's arms,

whether we were at the park,

or doing homework,

cooking meals,

or just walking along,

visiting Reni's new domicile,

or having Sunday dinners,

catching up,

or jumping on the trampoline,

or playing in the leaves,

we just had a great time!! Thanks especially to my wonderful sis, Gusti for making it all happen. We wouldn't have been able to do it with out you.

TYLER'S FIRST HAIRCUT

2008-10-22T04:41:00.003+02:00

Thanks for all your votes, it was close, actually a tie. When Gusti told me she wouldn't take his two year pictures until he got a hair cut, that kind of broke the tie. I just wasn't willing to pay 11 Dollars plus tip for his FIRST haircut, because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it afterwards. During our visit with my mom, she offered to do the deed and I agreed. She did a great job and Tyler did his part well too. Thanks mom!

BLOG TAG

2008-10-03T22:17:00.003+02:00

Yay, I've finally been tagged and I was so excited to go and look which foto I would get to post. My foto files go all the way back by year to 2001 with a miscellaneous folder as number one. So here it is, I'm a little more somber now and not as "excited" but anyway - this foto comes from 2003. It is a picture of our "herzchen" - Jeffrey after he underwent his second open heart surgery. I was totally unprepared for the flood of memories this picture brought back. I tag Ally, Kelly and Franzi when she gets her computer working again - you're it. Oh yeah - the rules: Open your foto files and choose foto number four from the fourth file.

MEET ME IN HANNOVER

2008-09-30T22:03:00.010+02:00

My cousin Steven came to visit on his way through to Madrid. It was the first time we've spent time together without any other family there. He's 21, so we aren't really close in age and we live in two different countries, but we hit it off great and had a remarkably good couple of days together. I only wish that we would have the opportunity to see each other more frequently.

He was of course jet lagged the first night, so the kids challenged Steven to a Buzz game (Monster Party). Here they are just chillin' - nobody would even look at me for the pic.

So since we only had a couple of days together, we were off the next day to see Hannover. We got so lucky. It was a beautiful day here. If you are going to be meeting someone downtown, then you say "treffen wir uns unter dem Schwanz" (let's meet under the tail) So here's Steven and Jeffrey under the tail.

So we walked around downtown for about 4 hours. The literal high point of our tour was taking the elevator up to the top of the council building for the phenomenal view of the city. I don't have a picture of the elevator, next time maybe, but it is renowned for the fact that it goes up the side of the building and tilts as it climbs. Better than a rollercoaster, I'm tellin' ya. Here is a panorama pic of the Maschsee (lake).

And here's Steven with Jeffrey and Tyler at the top.

Here's what it looks like from below.

Martin met us in the city for Döners (Turkish pocket sandwiches) for lunch, but before we ate, we also visited one of the churches that had been completely bombed out on the inside and left to stand as a reminder.

Well, I can't do anymore tonight, but, take a look at the imageevent link to see all the Hannover pics - but not tonight. I'll do it tomorrow.

AND HEEEEERE'S TYLER......

2008-09-25T18:01:00.003+02:00

Tyler had absolutely crazy hair yesterday when he woke up from his nap. When he looks like this I think, oooohhh I need to get him to the barbershop today!! But then other times I think, oooohhh his hair is so cute, maybe I shouldn't cut it yet. So, since everyone knows how horrible I am at making decisions.... I thought I'd let you all help me on this decision. Please vote and feel free to leave your comments.

JEFFREY'S SIXTH BIRTHDAY

2008-09-23T23:33:00.004+02:00

WOW! What a day that was. Jeffrey asked me in the morning to show me his baby book. I sat and cried while I read him just a few of the cards and notes that were sent when he was born. He was really worried and gave me a big hug and said I didn't need to be sad. I told him he was just so sick when he was a baby and he said, yeah, but I'm big now and I'm not sick anymore. And he's not, I almost can't remember the last time I was in the hospital with him and to look at him you would never know he only has a half a heart.

Every birthday celebrated with him is an extra special milestone. Jeffrey loves life and brings joy to all who are around him. He had a lot of friends that I let him invite for his party and they all had a great time at our "Jeffs Olympics". We had about 8 different competitions and divided everyone into two teams. In the end we had gold and silver medals for the winners and pizza and cake of course. For ALL the pictures check out my foto site. (link on right - imageevent/bqschulze) Here are my favorites of him with his cake, blowing out the candles and then his favorite present. Jeffrey, as many know, is a soccer freak! (Isn't it IRONIC) We got him a membership to our Hannover's professional soccer team (Hannover '96), so he can go to the games and get fan merchandise and stuff. He was SO happy! The Nintendo came in a close second though.

I thought I would add something about the crown... he wore it most of the day. They make them for each birthday kid at his "Kindergarten".

STADTSPARKASSE TENNIS MEISTERSCHAFT

2008-09-12T12:02:00.003+02:00

That title means "city bank tennis championship" and for this particular tournament that took place last weekend, Niklas came out a winner. He lost his final match placing him for 2nd, but he was so happy just to "be there". He lost the first match he played as well against the kid in the orange (John) with whom he is oggling the trophies. John is now one of Niklas' current "best friends". Niklas is very attracted to people who achieve. Anyway having lost the first match put him in the B group and there he won 2nd Place. Way to go Niklas!

WE'LL MISS YOU LUNA

2008-09-05T00:00:00.013+02:00

Luna has been a member of our extended family for 8 years now. She developed cancer this year and her health deteriorated to the point that she was no longer able to move to go eat. This was a hard day for all of us. She leaves a vacant spot in our lives. I thought I would get a couple of shots to remember her by. I have lots of pictures with Luna, but not specifically of Luna. These were my favorites from her going away party we had on Sunday.

NOT JUST A CASE OF NERVES

2008-09-03T15:32:00.002+02:00

Tori had an unforgettable first day of school, not just for her, but everyone else will remember her as well as the girl who threw up all over the classroom and in the hallway and in front of the school as well. Obviously, I thought as I drove her home early, this is not just nerves. She must have a stomach flu. The next day didn’t show much improvement. She still had severe stomach cramps, but nothing was coming up as she hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours. As I related the story to a school teacher friend of mine, she said, “I am always careful with things like that, you never know when it could be appendicitis.” OK, I must be totally clueless, because the thought never entered my mind. Sure enough though, her father took a look at her and it was off to the hospital. After Benny and our pediatrician did some debating as to which hospital, or moreover which procedure was better (an incision or scope), they opted for a very experienced surgeon who happened to have night shift.

Tori went into surgery immediately late Saturday night and they pulled a 15cm (normal being 5-7cm) ready to explode appendix out of a very small incision. She was released from the hospital on Monday and we took her back to school on Wednesday because she was doing so well. All in all it was an amazingly short overall ordeal, thank goodness

BACK TO SCHOOL JITTERS

2008-08-29T12:42:00.009+02:00

The first day of school always brings a case of jitters with it! Especially if you’re starting your first year at a new school. This was the case for Tori, she started the fifth grade here at our Gymnasium (High School). I am lucky to have even gotten a picture because she felt like throwing up and was in no mood to “smile”.

Niklas continued this year in the second grade and was excited to go back, but not to sit next to his friends because, “school is not a place to goof around mom, I have to get straight A’s.” He plays hard during recesses, but works hard during class time.

Jeffrey went back to Kindergarten (pre-school in

America

) but was put in a program to help him have a better start next year in the first grade. This is his first time on a bigger bike.

Tyler started at a pre-school for 2-3 year olds, 2x a week. He is really almost two! I wanted a picture, but he didn’t want to wear the jacket at all. This was the best shot I got.