Day 271

Another one of my busy busy days today! I started it off with a trip to the busstop with Robert (Richard came along too!) I was hoping to find his coat on the bus, but Robert couldn't find it when he got on! bother! Then when I was back home, I had to get both cats into their cat boxes. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be! Here they both are. As you can see, Lucky was a bit more upset about it all than Luna!

Lucky

Luna

Well, that was what I thought, when I got them outside, Luna smelt the fresh air and thought "It's now or never" how he managed to squeeze out of the basket I willl never know but he did it! And he was off. Katrin and Sabine were just passing when he got out, so I flagged them down to help me, but it was no good, Luna had smelt his freedom and it was bye bye! So I was off to the vets with only one cat! I left him there and was to phone again at 12 to find out when I could pick him up again.

Back home it was time to meet Bine and Katrin at the church. Today was the day that Kindergarden has to decorate the altar for the German Thanksgiving service. All the children had brought in fruit and vegetables to decorate with, and look how beautiful it turned out!

After that, I took another trip to the busstop, hoping to find Robert's jacket on the bus, and yep! it was! Phew! I went back home for 10 minutes as it was too soon to get Richard. But then it was back to Kindergarden for Richard, and from there directly to the hairdressers with him. He wasn't too happy about going, and he was adamant that he DID NOT WANT SPIKY HAIR! So our hairdresser was not allowed to cut too much off. In fact hardly any from on top, but I insisted about round his neck. I forgot to get a picture, maybe tomorrow. We had to run home from the hairdressers cause the bus had already arrived, Robert did beat us home and was waiting, cause as he said, he is in the second class now, so he doesn't need to go to Katrins, if I am not there. How to get it into his brain, that yes he does!! I'll work on that one, when I find my patience with him again!

I went in, got my handbag and then off out it was for us, we had to pick Lucky up again. The poor at had been there for no reason at all, they put him under and then realised that he had already had that operation! And when they scanned him for a chip, they found one. They called the company where you register the chips to find our the owner and no one has registered Lucky. Good for us, right?!
Only now I know that he is doctored and yesterday at KIndergarden someone asked me if he was doctored, and I said no, and she then said, then it is not our neighbours missing cat! Bother, bother bother. I spent a while wondering whether to call the girl and decided that I HAD to, I would want someone to call if it was my cat missing.
Well it turns out, that the missing cat there is a GIRL!!! Woohoo! Not our Lucky! The chances that he gets to stay are really really good! And we had a half hour cuddle this afternoon to celebrate.

Florian got an earlier train today so when we picked him up at the station we didn't have to go straight to Richard's football game, we were able to come home first and have some tea. Richard was not happy about htis, as he was looking forward to "breakfast" after the match. I let him have breakfast before that match. Our team won 3:2 today. Here a picture of Richard in action (he is on the left)

On the way back from the game we forgot what time and day it was and got stuck in traffic, so what is normally a 10-15 minute journey was acutally nearly 40minutes! Good job we didn't have to have tea when we got in!
CU tomorrow

Day 270

English lesson at Kindergarden this morning, I only had four kids this morning, and it was quite nice. This time I actually thought they might be learning things. They were certainly having fun!

When I got home this is how I found the cats

Cute! They spend most of the time ignoring one another, but they have had a couple of fights today, and it seems to be Lucky who starts them. Probably trying to get across, that he "found" us first! ;o) Luna is not a happy chappy, he really wants to go outside, but for now he is stuck with indoors. And the poor things, have a date with the vet and a big pair of scissors (or however they do it) tomorrow. Wish me luck that I can get the cats in their cat transport box!

This afternoon Robert and I practised his dictation he did pretty well, he got two mistakes, which at school would have been a "2" (a "B" in the UK). I was happy with him, and I think he now should remember how to spell the words he got wrong. We'll see when he has to do the dictation at school!
Richard was at Kindergarden in the afternoon and Robert and I played a game of TopTrumps before we went to pick him up. Once home, it was time for Robert to get ready for his football match. I gave him his tea before he went, which was a good idea. Cause when he was brought home, it was straight to the shower and then bed! I think he wore himself out, cause this was the first evening this week, where he hasn't called me 4 times about nothing! (OK, yesterdays nose bleed wasn't nothing!)

CU tomorrow

Day 269

What a day! But I'll start at the beginning...This morning I had to go to the school library, whilst I was there, I decided to stop by Robert's class and let his teacher know that I couldn't make it to the parent's evening tomorrow. Whilst there, the teacher said, it was good I popped in, as he needs to talk to me about Robert. Apparently no one wants to sit next to Robert anymore, as in none of his friends from the village. Robert wouldn't say why to his teacher, so I said I would talk to him at home. It really shook me hearing this, Robert never tells me anything about school, even if I ask, all I get was "it was good" or "nothing new". When he got home from school, I made him come into the kitchen to talk to him, again I could get nothing from him. He said, he didn't know why his friends don't want to sit next to him, he said that they were all still his friends and that nothing was wrong! Oh dear, this could be a long process getting to the bottom of things! I will probably talk to the other Mum's and find out if their kids have complained about him to them...we'll see!

This afternoon we went down the road where there are a LOT of conker trees, and the boys had a great time collecting them. Here they are

At 4pm we had to set off for art school, both boys were really excited about going. When we got there she had set out lots of water bottles and glasses. Turns out that that was what they were going to paint today. In November it is the 20th birthday of the Kinderakademie (which the art school is part of) and the paintings the kids did of the bottles will be copied and made into the drinks menue for the party! Isn't that great! And I must say, both boys did a good job of their bottles, but no picture today! After they had finished their bottles they got to paint whatever they wanted Robert did another house, only this one had a plane flying over (must have been Nanna's house!) and Richard painted a picture of Lucky!

Whilst we were having tea, the door bell rang, outside were 4 girls from the village, with a cat box....NO, they didn't come for Lucky, they came with ANOTHER stray cat. And now we have Luna living with us too

He is totally different from Lucky and all he wants is to go back outside. He has been living outside for a LONG while, the girl that used to feed him, moved and couldn't take him with her, so now there is no one to feed him, and the kids got worried and thought that I should take him in. I don't think he is going to like living here for a while, cause to get him used to us, he is not going to be allowed out for a while yet! So it looks like we won't be getting two young cats from the cat shelter...!

CU tomorrow!

Day 268

Using the new Blogger interface, so if this looks all weird, it was probably me not you!

So this morning was a big morning for Richard, we had to go to school for his assessment. We got there and didn't have to wait long, the teacher came out introduced herself and then took Richard with her into a room for a chat. I had to wait outside for him. The walls weren't very thick and I could hear most of what was going on. He had to give a matching rhyming word, e.g. house - mouse, then something to do with the sounds at the beginning of words, then he had some pictures which made up a story, and he first had to put them in the right order and then tell the teacher the story. I couldn't actually hear Richard, but I did hear the teacher a few times, saying "Sehr gut, Richard" (very good Richard) I think I grew a good 10cm sat outside the door. When they had finished, I thought the teacher might be interested to know that Richard was being brought up bilingual, and she was really really surprised, she hadn't realised at all, that German was not his first language! So proud of my boy, so proud!

After school, I treated him to a Brezel (did a bit of shopping at the same time too) and then it was back to Kindergarden for him! And ironing for me!

In the afternoon it was Robert's turn for the hairdressers, doesn't he look smart now!

Whilst there I very cleverly made MY next appointment, now maybe I won't go quite as grey as I often do, cause mostly that happens, cause I forget to phone for an appointment!
When Richard got home, I gave both boys a packet of stickers, which my friend at work got for them, they were over the moon! Here they are busy sticking the stickers in!

Football training after that, I took two other boys with us, so Richard was really excited as he got to ride in the front! Again it was tutoring for me and Richard and football for Robert. Richard said afterwards that he had had a great time there. He made a monkey mask whilst we were there.

This evening I have been stroking Lucky - yep still no calls about him! And yep he is a young man, if he stays we will be sorting that out!) He was a bit more nosey this evening and has been exploring the lounge a bit more. He is so cute!
CU tomorrow

Day 267

Hihi, I did ANOTHER bit of Xmas shopping again today after work. I had spotted reduced Lego advent calendars on Saturday, but I hadn't bought them, it wasn't until I was home and checking the internet that I realised what a good deal they were! So today I went back and got the boys one each. They were reduced from 20 Euros to 6 Euros!! Too much of a bargain to miss!

This afternoon, I had my pupil here for tutoring, we wrote a little email for the pen friends that I had found for her. I hope she remembers to send them, cause I know the other girls are looking forward to getting some post!
Whilst I was working with my pupil, Robert was doing some chalking, and I have to show you, especially you Dinphy. He used the German spelling for English words, but it is sooo cute

In case you can't read it, it says Lisa you are my best friend, Tommie you are my best friend

After picking up Richard from Kindergarden, we went straight to the playground. It was hard to believe how warm it was today. We were out in T-shirts - summer has returned, let's see how long for!
CU tomorrow

Day 266

Beautiful day today! We spent it all in the garden, and what do we do in weather like this? Yep, we barbecue! We had the same as we always have, and it was delicious! I especially love the homemade ketchup as does Florian!
In the afternoon we had to catch all the chickens one at a time, yesterday when I was in the bathroom (upstairs) one of the new chickens was looking in on me! Oops, somehow they can fly again! And a couple of times we saw two of them looking comfy on the fence. It was a bit like a cartoon trying to catch them, but we think we got them all! And hopefully they will not be flying up on the roof of the utility room again!

The boys wanted to go out on their rollerblades today. Robert hasn't forgotten how to do it, and Richard still can't do it, so nothing new there, but they had a great time! Here a couple of pictures from our outing of them!

CU tomorrow
PS: Lucky is still with us, no one has phoned about him so far! And another picture of him!

Day 265

Richard came running upstairs this morning going "Mummy, Mummy, come and see what we found downstairs...we found a cat, a little baby one! Robert has him in the lounge, he's so cute" and that came out all in one and really really quickly! The boys were so excited about Lucky! And Lucky seemed quite taken by the boys too!
We did go and hang up posters all around the village, and I posted his picture on the local animal rescue centre's facebook page, so no one can say I didn't try to find his owners, but I am really really hoping he gets to stay with us. Even if he is not cuddling on my lap yet!

This morning it was also Apple collecting time again, and then it was off to the apple juice place again. This time we "only" had 51.5kg, but those trees are still full, so we will be there again...and again...and again! From there we went shopping and the boys got to buy themselves some more stickers for their books, and we then treated them to a trip to McDonalds. The guy on the desk there was either new, in love or just stupid. He forgot most of my order, I had a menue and he forgot both the Burger and the drink! Oh and the ketchup....And the silly thing is, we didn't notice either til we sat down and passed everything round!

In the afternoon whilst Florian did some "work" with the boys, I did the lawnmowing. Mainly because I just couldn't bare watching the three of them. Richard had a bag of conkers from Kindergarden, that needed to have a hole put in them, and Florian decided that the best way to do that, was using the drill. He also thought it would be good if the boys could do it. I honestly couldn't bare to watch. I got a couple of pictures and then got on with the garden! So here they are

All went well, and the images I had going through my brain, did not happen! Phew! And cause he is so cute, here is another one of Lucky!

CU tomorrow

Day 264

After cleaning this morning, I met up with Katrin and Sabine for a chat, it has been a while since we have seen oneanother for a good chat, what with school, football, English pupils and art school on my part alone, we just having had time. So this morning it was good to catch up! Even if only for an hour. Then I had an appointment at the hairdressers, and I now look my age again! (or maybe even younger!) It feels good to not be grey again!

This afternoon the boys had football training, well really it was only Richard's training, but I left Robert there too. And whilst they were running about, I went and picked Florian up from the station. He is quite tired after his evening out at the Oktoberfest, but he still managed to get up the energy to go to his training this evening (sport for his back!)

Before he went Sabine called, that there was a stray cat down by them and did i want to come and get it and feed and look after it. This cat was at our house on Wednesday morning and I went out then and had a chat and stroke, even hoping that he would still be there when I came home from the library. He wasn't, it turns out, he was 3 doors down annoying a neighbours cat. So Lucky (as he call him/her) is staying with us, until we can find his owners (and yes, I am secretly hoping, that we can't)
He looks a lot like Spooky did (11 months ago) but it is a different cat. Anyhow here he is!

The boys haven't met him yet, so this could be interesting when Robert gets up before us in the morning! Although Lucky will be spending the night in the utility room, not yet sure whether it is housetrained and I would rather have accidents happen in the utility room!

Speaking of accidents, seems like we were lucky last night. The kids left the tap in the guest bathroom on ALL night! Well from tea time, when they went to wash their hands until breakfast when they went to clean their teeth! AGH! Oh well, as my aunt put it, it could have been a lot worse if they had had the plug in the sink! So I'll look on the bright side, and see it that way too!

CU tomorrow

Day 263

Today was the work I love! English at Kindergarden. I had prepared some emotions this time, happy, sad, angry, scared, sleepy and silly. And we sang an easy version of "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!", the kids loved it! Not sure, how much they will remember next week, but I always say that!

After English it was off to do some shopping. I even went to get the boys some more stickers for their new sticker books, I must love them!

This afternoon Richard went back to Kindergarden, and Robert played with the box of Lego for most of the time he was gone, except when he was doing his homework. He had to do what they call "walking dictation", which meant, we had to put the paper with the words in a different place to him and he had to "walk" to it, remember the words and go back to his paper and write them all down. He had 10 words to do, and he only walked to them once and he got them all right! Well done, Robert!

After that it was time to pick Richard up again, we took all our cameras with us, and went for a little walk from Kindergarden. Richard was so excited that I had brought his camera with me, and he knew at Kindergarden which pictures he was going to take. And here he is taking the one he told me all about before we got there!

I had some translating to do this evening, so that kept me nice and busy! And whilst I was doing that, Florian was at the Oktoberfest in Munich, this picture is for Dinphy who wanted to see all the traditional outfit!

And here he is trying out the Oktoberfest hat - apparently he never bought one though!

CU tomorrow

Day 262

This morning it was library duty. For one of the first year classes were there for the very first time, and for me it was the very first time introducing them to everything. I was a bit nervous, but I actually enjoyed it! And it was another class full of kids with HUGE eyes when they were finally allowed to choose their own book!

This afternoon Robert and Richard enjoyed one another's company, with Richard in Kindergarden in the afternoons, they actually miss one another. The spent a long while upstairs building Lego. Richard made a garden with a rubbish bin, and Robert made a car with a trailer. I love it, when they show me their Lego!

At 4 o'clock it was time to head to the art school. And Richard was quite excited about it. My friends daughter was joining the boys too, so my friend and I got to have a nice chat whilst waiting for the kids to finish. Sabine actually left early as she had an appointment which overlapped, so I took her daughter home again. All the kids had a great time, this time they got to paint and not only draw and colour in. They each had a huge sheet of paper on the wall and were painting on it! (do I see an easel in our future??) At the end of the lesson I sneaked in and took a couple of pictures with my mobile phone. Here are my two artists!

Richard painted a tomato (the theme of the course is food)

And Robert painted a coloured house with rain (I think, must confirm that with him tomorrow!)

CU tomorrow

Day 261

Way to go Robert, today he came home not only with the jacket he wore TO school but also with the one he forgot yesterday! That was a relief! After lunch his friend phoned could Robert go around to play, so after finishing his homework, off he went! And I had an hours peace - well, sort of, I got a lot of wahing and tidying away done! then at 4pm it was time to pick Richard up at Kindergarden, so that we were home when Robert was due home at 4.30pm. Cause today is football training for Robert. Richard and I dropped Robert off there and we went on to tutor my pupil in English. It was sooo cute, her homework today was translating some questions from German into English, and Richard would sit there whispering the answers! I was well impressed, cause although the kids speak both languages fluently, translating is not something that all can do! Well, done Richard!
Then it was back to the football field to pick up Robert. We got there just as they were practising scoring goals,and I got this picture!

CU tomorrow

Day 260

Work today for all of us, so not much to report from the morning. I finished my translation about 11.50am so I left then and sneaked around to Karstadt and got some more Xmas presents, and I think I may well go back again tomorrow, I just keep coming up with more kids that need one for Xmas! Whilst on my way there (and back) I saw a cardigan/jacket for Florian, he was looking for a jacket to go with his traditional leather trousers, its Oktoberfest time and he wants to look the part.
I texted him to let him know I had seen something and that he should look at the same shop in Augsburg. Well this evening we took "online shopping" to a different level. Whilst he was shopping I was on the phone with him and he sent me various pictures so I could have my say too! It was great fun! And here is the one he bought!

This afternoon I had another pupil round for English lessons, and whilst she was here I had the idea that she needed a penpal, she thought the idea was brilliant too, and within an hour of posting on Facebook to my friends around the world, that I was looking for a penpal for her, I had 1! and possibly a second one too! I LOVE the digital world!

The only other news, Robert forgot his coat on the bus AGAIN! And now it is really cold in the mornings (was only 5°C on Friday, haven't checked since then), so tomorrow without his "cozy coat" (as Richard calls it) he is going to be a bit chilly! Hopefully his jacket will turn up again tomorrow!

CU then!

Day 260

What a day, I think it was one of the weirdest I know. We were invited to my SIL's for breakfast, she had my in-laws and Florian's other sister and kids staying with her. You may or may not know that there is quite a bit of animosity between me and my in-laws. So it is always a challenge when we are under the same roof. But I am a big girl and I think I have good manners, so I can handle it. It was actually a very pleasant morning, we had breakfast then the kids all disappeared upstairs, we had a nice chat all together and we played a game called "Pass the Pigs" (remember that one Mum?!)

After all that Claudi started making lunch for us all, and my MIL and I helped her...in other words all was going well. So why my FIL had to delve back into the past, which is a sore point for all of us, I will never know. BUT he opened a can of worms, and we ended up sat around the table discussing why I acted as I did at our wedding 6 years ago! Honestly it really spoilt what could have been the beginning of us being able to be in the same room without the air being electric. Now we are back at square one again...
Again I feel bigger than they are, and I will again put on my best manners and be able to be in the same room as them. They say that they will too, now that they believe to understand, why I didn't want paper mice on my table at my wedding and how my hormones (I was pregnant at the time) caused me to lose my top. I have my doubts as too how long the peace will last, as we have been at this point time and time again! But there it is, my day in a nutshell!
But I am still smiling!

Do you like my new top?
CU tomorrow

Day 259

Oh dear, we had one very grumpy son today - Robert was up at his normal time of 7ish this morning, so he was lacking a few hours sleep, and he let us know all about it! At one point he even cried cause we made him put his shoes back on, after he had just taken them off! It was really difficult, but we all made it through the day!

This morning all four of us went out and collected all the fallen apples up and then for the first time this year, it was off to the apple juice making place (I'm sure there must be a nice word like "Kelterei" but I don't know it!) We had 64kg today and there are plenty more on the trees, so we will be going there quite often this autumn!

From there we went shopping the boys and Florian dropped me off at Aldi and I got to do the shopping on my own, whilst they went and got some petrol and some sort of tool! Unfortunately I was finished about 15 minutes before they were and today it wasn't quite as warm out as we would have liked it to be!

This afternoon Florian did a lot of gardening again, and I made a birthday card for a friends father-in-law and took it round to her. I ended up staying for an hour! Then we were talking about sports at school and shoes, I suddenly remembered that I had to get Robert some shoes for his sports lessons, so we went home. Robert then had another paddy about going to get shoes for sport, but as I can't buy them without his feet, I have a REALLY grumpy little boy with me. Much to his disgust we even had to go to two shops, as the first shop didn't have his size!

This evening Florian installed our new router and I was without internet right when I could have been chatting with fellow scrappers. Never mind, the new router means that the faster internet will soon be here, so I am not really complaining!

CU tomorrow

Day 258

Richard was a lot lot better today, and at 6am this morning he started to prove it! I don't think he shut up once all day! He had asked yesterday to watch Cars on DVD this morning, and he even talked his way through that. He explained it all to me, I think he thought I might be missing things, as I was ironing whilst watching!

In the afternoon he was really pleased to have Robert around. They emptied their money boxes for 50ct and Robert went to the bubble gum machine down the road, and got some sticky bouncy ball thingy for themselves. They had great fun with them all afternoon. I refuse to touch them, horrible things they are! (oh and the bubblegum machine doesn't actually have bubble gum in it!)

Oh and this is what Robert got at school today a certificate from yesterdays Sports Day. He was the best in his class, he ran 50m in 9 seconds, jumped 2.61m and threw a ball 19m! I'm impressed and proud of him!

this evening was Katrin's birthday party, and I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to go. Katrin really wanted us to go and said that it was ok to go as Richard hadn't thrown up since yesterday morning, so at 5 to 6 I finally asked the boys what they thought and off we went.
I went for an hour and it was a very LONG hour, we got home at 10.15pm!

CU tomorrow

Day 257

Writing this from my mobile, and it is not easy so i'll keep it short. Doctor's this morning with richard. His temperature was much too high in the night. I was expecting a diagnosis of ear or throat infection, but richard threw up in the waiting room, turns out he has gastric flu! So again all plans thrown overboard as we are in quaranteen again! Poor richard looked really not himself all day.

He watched a lot of tv, medecine seems to be working, as he hasn't been sick again, fingers crossed... My computer was really, really slow tonight, so I decided about an hour ago to reboot it, turns out it was updates, and after an hour, it is still on update 1 of 11

and I get to try this out on my phone, blogging I mean! I'll add a photo of Richard to this post tomorrow. CU then

Day 255 and Day 256

Day 255 - Tuesday
Well, here is the reason, I never got around to blogging yesterday

It is a REALLY good book, very exciting, so much so, that I just had to carry on reading last night and not blogging, sorry!
So what did we get up to yesterday! Oh yes, I went to work, I finished 10 minutes early and rushed into town to get some Xmas presents which were a bargain! Can't start Xmas shopping too early!
I had the afternoon to myself, Richard was at Kindergarden for the day and Robert went around to his friends to play. So I had an hour where I let the washing machine do all the work and I read, and read and read!
When both boys were back, we had to get our things together and then off we went to Robert's football match. We took one of Robert's friends with us, and once there, I had to leave the boys to the football, and I tutored my pupil. Her Mum and Dad train the team we were playing against, so they took her to the match too, and we were busy!

Day 256 - Wednesday
Today I was busy, I had finished my book, so no distractions. I got a lot tidied and cleaned. I finished a layout for Kindergarden about the party last Friday, and I cooked lunch ready in case Richard insisted on going back to Kindergarden. (I had decided not to send him as I had something else planned).
I picked him up at 12 and he was complaining that his head hurt if he ran or looked down and that he had earache. When I got him home I took his temperature, and wow it was high - 39.5°C! I was so surprised, as he wasn't acting poorly at all! He's so different to Robert! I dosed him up with Ibuprofen, and by lunchtime he was feeling much better!
I let them both watch a film in the afternoon, always a good thing with a fever. And at 4pm I took his temperature again and it was nearly normal again! phew!

So we were able to do what I had planned. I phoned up today about a painting course for kids and we can do a four week trial starting today. Richard was really excited about it. Robert not so much. I am a bit mean really, as I know it is not Robert's thing, but I didn't think Richard would go on his own, so Robert had to tag along. They both loved it though. They drew vegetables. The pictures stayed there though so I can't show and tell today!

When we got back home, Richard found a box that I had got out this morning and he wanted it. He wanted to make a post office out of it! He had about 10 minutes before it was tea time and he set about doing so. And look he told me he knew what the post office sign looked like and wow, without copying it from anywhere, just from memory he drew this on the box!

And this is what he was drawing - not bad, eh! I think I am doing the right thing with the painting course!

CU tomorrow

Day 254

Never a boring day in our house! The morning was nothing exciting though, just work, kindergarden and school. Richard ate at Kindergarden, but at 2.30pm Robert and I went to pick him up, as we had an appointment at the skin doctor at 3pm. Yes, I was cutting it a bit fine, but we had tried to find Robert's friend before leaving, we were unlucky, so Robert had to come along to the doctors.

But there we were really lucky, as we didn't have to wait at all, we went straight in and the nurse got to work testing to see if Richard was allergic to apples (I had taken an apple in with me). We had to sit for 15 minutes for it to start to work and after that we went to see the doctor. There we found out that the test she had just done, only showed that he has no immediate allergic reaction to apples, as in swelling in the mouth, or itchiness in the mouth, etc. so as she put it nothing dangerous. As to apples causing inflammation of the skin, there is no actual test that they can do for that, and that if I think it is the apples causing it,then I am probably right. So in other words, that doctors appointment was a total waste of our time! As I said all along, that I thought the apples were causing his rash on bum and legs!
Oh well, we made the most of our time in town. We went and had an icecream, and then the boys were let loose in the toy department of the department store. Playmobil cars were on offer, reduced from 9.99 to 3 euros!

So they had one of them each, and then Richard chose a game and Robert got some more Hotwheels cars!

When we got back, they built them up and played a little bit with them until I remembered Robert hadn't finished his homework! Oops! He finished it quite quickly and we weren't too late having tea!

On Saturday Florian and I phoned the Telekom and ordered an upgrade to our internet package, we wanted to surf with 16.000 whatevers. Today when I got home from work I had a call on the answer machine, that our order had been cancelled, as it was technically not possible. No explanation, just information! I was fuming, and phoned the helpline to find out, just why we couldn't have it. I didn't really get an answer, she said something about there not being a port free for us, but in the same breathe she offered me a different package, and when I said, but surely that isn't possible either if there is no free port. And she went on to tell me that it had something to do with us wanting IP and the other option to have 16.000 is available just not to us, as our contract with them is not valid for an update until next August. So confusing, if you don't understand don't worry, this is really just for me! Anyhow I got a bit annoyed with her whilst trying to understand, why I wasn't allowed an upgrade, and instead of explaining or passing me on to someone who could, she just cut me off completely! I was livid! I phoned Florian then and he decided that he would go to the Telekom shop in the evening and see what he could find out. And hey presto from 26th September we should be surfing at 16.000!!! Work that one out! I can't and I won't believe it until it actually happens, we'll see!

OK, time for bed now!
CU tomorrow

Day 253

Today was all about football, the girls were up quite early for them (9.30am) and so we were well in our time frame for football. Florian went and got rolls for breakfast, and look how Richard had his

a Germany roll as he put it! At about 10.30am Florian's sister phoned to let us know that they were picking the girls up at 11.15am. No problem, we don't have to be at the football game until 11.45am, unfortunately they were late, so I had to run Robert up there and come back and get Richard and Florian before the game started at 12.15. I felt a bit mean throwing everyone out, but Robert really wanted us to watch his game.

Robert's team lost 1:4 (I think, I am probably the world's worst "soccer mom", cause I can never keep up with the score, don't get all depressed if they lose, and would rather read a book than watch, sorry boys!)

AFter the game we all had some lunch, but I was the only one that REALLY REALLY enjoyed it! I had Roulade mit Rotkohl und Klöße - that would be Meat rolled around minced meat with red cabbage and German dumplings. DELICIOUS! The smell had been wafting around and tempting me ever since dropping Robert off at 11.45, so when I finally ate it at 1.15pm it was even better than imagined! (I'm drooling again, just writing about it!)

We left the sports field about 3pm and headed home for a short break before we had to be back there for Richard's game. I really did take my book for this game, but I never got to read it, too busy chatting! Richard's team lost 1:12, but the kids had fun. I think I taught my boys well, they certainly know the olypmic motto " The most important thing it not to win but to take part"! Here is Richard in action!

The weather held well all day, the rain and the thunder started just after we got the boys to bed. And hopefully they will soon fall asleep, even with the rumbling!
CU tomorrow

Day 252

I think I wore myself out this week, I think I spent most of the day watching Florian hard at work, but I just couldn't muster up any energy of my own! I did go shopping in the morning and I did make way too much for our lunchtime barbecue!

We have two of Florian's nieces staying over today, they got here a little later than we were expecting them, but they were here in time for the bbq. The boys were excited to have them here, but Richard was a tiny bit more excited about going to his best friend's birthday party. I took him at 3pm and from then on Robert had his cousins to himself.
Here they are having a great game of table football!

In the morning whilst the boys were waiting for their cousins, they were playing with their bubble machines, and some got caught in a spiders web. We didn't think the pictures would show that, but on this one (in big) you can acutally tell!

CU tomorrow

Day 251

Today was all about Kindergarden. It was the annual summer party and we had a lot of organising first and then of course the party!
The party started with the kids all performing a little something and Richard did a version of "The enormous turnip" fairy tale, where they pulled and pulled and they couldn't pull it up! It was really cute, and he was very proud of himself, here are all of the kids starting school with Richard next year.

I had a good place to take pictures unfortunately Richard was hidden most of the time behind someone or other, so these are the only pictures I have of him!

We organised a bouncy castle for the party, with the money we made at Halloween last year. The kids LOVED it!

We also had a balloon artist there, and most of the boys had swords made, and here are my two "attacking" me!

And then Richard got all brave and decided he would like a bat painted on his face...it was a good job I took a picture straight away, as he did not like the paint on his face, and wanted it washed off right away!

Once in bed he changed his mind and wanted it all back...silly boy!
CU tomorrow

Day 250

Late tonight but I have been really busy since the boys have been in bed. I have baked, first these ice-cream cone cakes

and then a carrot cake, both for the Kindergarden party tomorrow. And then I had a translation to do, so no blogging until now!

The weather today was really yucky and cold, so please keep your fingers crossed that it improves for tomorrow, cause a bouncy castle in the rain is no fun for the kids!

I had my first English lesson with new kids at Kindergarden today, it was fun as always and I think I have a very willing bunch of kids this time around - we'll see! Then it was shopping for the ingredients for my cakes. By then Robert was on his way home and it was time to get Richard. He didn't go back to Kindergarden today as it was/is Katrin's birthday today and we were invited round for cake! We all had a lovely afternoon!

And now I am off to bed, but I have to show you this picture, its Richard very carefully sorting his pencils back into order, they all fell out the other day and he was most upset when he opened the box and it wasn't in order! But he did very well sorting it on his own!

CU tomorrow.

Day 249

This morning was my first morning back at school working in the library after the summer holidays. I loved it as always, there is something about the kids faces that just touches me. So cute!
I saw Robert's maths teacher, who seemed almost as proud as me about Robert's perfect mark, so that was nice. She told me she wanted to keep Robert on in the extra maths lesson as they were now doing numbers over 20 and that it might get complicated for Robert with the Germans and English reading the numbers differently. The English say "twenty eight" but the Germans say "eight and twenty". Little did I know at that time, that I was going to find out all about that in the afternoon!

Yep we had another homework meltdown in the afternoon. He did his homework with no problem, I was in the lounge and he did all of it on his own in the kitchen, when he had finished I asked him to bring it to me so I could just check it all, mainly to just make sure he had done ALL of it. Well, poor thing, when he showed it to me, he had half of his maths homework completely wrong, and all because of the different way of saying the numbers. Poor thing had got himself totally confused half way through the homework. It started out Ok, and then went all wrong. So I told him I would rub it all out and he would have to do it again, and then I started to explain it to him. He was so put out that I had rubbed it all out, that he just turned his back on me and ignored me. I can take that and try and explain it all nicely for a little while, but after 5minutes of a stubborn back, I sat him in the kitchen on his own and told him to get on with it, if he thought he didn't need it explained. At some point he decided, I wasn't backing down and he did it, but he got it all wrong again, and I rubbed it out again. I think he was sat over this little bit of homework for a good 2 hours in all. He even sat over it, whilst my pupil was there for more English tuition. She got a bit extra today too, cause she now knows how to get cross in English!
In the end I decided that we were getting no where with the homework and my pupil nowhere with her revision so I sent Robert to play. And after we had got Richard he got to sit down and try again. I thought a break, might give him an "AHA" moment, but it didn't. BUT he did let me try and explain it all to him this time, and when I then left the room he did actually get it right. Not sure whether it was my explanation or if he had just given up being stubborn! For tomorrow I have found some more practise sheets for him to do, and hopefully this won't be a problem for long.
Here he is, when he finally "got it" and here is Richard writing down his own sums to work out. He has worked out, that you can use your fingers for adding and was doing his own maths lesson here! Too cute!

Richard was also cute, when he was washing his hands today, this is the conversation I had with him. "Mummy, I know why we use soap and water to wash our hands. The water washes away the dirt and the soap washes away the germs. And we have to move our hands when we put on the soap, because that way we can get rid of more germs. Cause germs aren't good and we want to get rid of them", "That's right, darling, who told you all about that then?" (that's me thinking he might have learnt about it at Kindergarden today) "I just know these things, Mummy!" Soooo cute!
He is like a little sponge, and just soaks up any information :o)

CU tomorrow

Day 248

Looking back the day doesn't really seem to have been all that busy, but I am worn out! Work this morning and luckily someone actually wanted my translating skills, and I was busy until it was time to leave! Robert was home soon after I was, and I was all excited to hear how his poem went, but apparently he had some sort of sports day today (???) and they didn't do their poems today, maybe tomorrow...We'll see!

In the afternoon I was sorting out some books for one of the kindergarden teacher's (her daughter is back from Australia and is looking for English books) and I decided to try and tidy up the shelves....Well I got rid of loads of magazines and such, but it doesn't really look any better yet. But Robert had fun with some of the books I did find there! Richard was at Kindergarden all day today again, and his friend's Mummy picked him up after and took him to their football game.
I took Robert to his friend's house to go to his game at 5pm and I went off to my little pupil for an English lesson. She is very willing and I think her test on Thursday will go well, that's another "we'll see!"

I got home at 6.15 and it was another hour before the boys got home from their games, much too late if you ask me, but no one does! Robert had had a Brezel after the game and didn't need any tea, but Richard still had to eat. Then it was shower time for both of them and at 8pm I finally had both tucked up in bed. Hopefully they won't be too grumpy tomorrow! Here are my little football stars

Robert's team won 4:1!!

Richard's team lost Lots to 0! the team was a lot bigger than ours!

 Now, I know she sometimes looks at my pictures here, so Lisa, Happy Birthday! Sorry your present is still here, but I promise to post it tomorrow and then it should get to you by the weekend. I hope you had a great day, we wanted to skype you, but the boys were home sooo late, sorry! Maybe tomorrow!

CU tomorrow