Day 59

Still all poorly here. I wanted both boys to get a lie in this morning, but NO, Richard (who is normally the one who sleeps) woke up at 6.30am "Mummy, when is it time to get up?!" I tried to get him out of there quietly but no chance, by the time I closed the door to their bedroom, Robert was stirring!

Robert and I had a lazy day on the couch watching too much TV but not up to anything more energetic. Whilst I was getting lunch, I let Robert play on the Cbeebies website again and look who went to join him! Soooo cute!

After picking up Richard in the afternoon we went to the doctors, where she saw all three of us! And guess what, yep all three of us have whatever virus this is. It hasn't got Richard quite as badly...yet! And I hope for his sake it holds out tomorrow too, cause tomorrow is "A Knight's banquet" at Kindergarden and he really doesn't want to miss out, BUT if he has a temperature in the morning I won't be sending him there!
Now we all have the right medicine, so we should be on the mend now, although having said that, I now have earache, which I hope will go away VERY soon!

CU tomorrow and I'll try not to talk too much about how ill we all are!

Day 58

Today as always didn't go according to plan, but I was half expecting that, when I had to get up 3 times in the night to go to Robert. Yep, poor Robert has the same as me and was feeling really poorly too, poor thing.
So no school for him and no work for me. And Richard we sent to Kindergarden away from all these germs.

Robert and I did more or less nothing all day, we had the TV on, we did try and play a game, luckily we were both feeling rough, so it was quite well matched. And when Robert's medicine was working he played on the Cbeebies website on the internet, whilst I watched Loose Women!

This is Robert sometime this morning. I had tried to convince him to go up to bed, but no chance, but he did fall asleep whilst watching TV. And I could have taken the same picture again at tea time, which he missed completely.

I hope we are both feeling better in the morning.
CU then!

Day 57

Woah, so I went to bed feeling as though a cold was coming, and this morning I felt like death warmed up! Grrrrr! I sent the boys and Florian off to the swimming pool without me, and tried to enjoy my peace and quiet. I put my Take That DVD on, got to love a bit of take that.
The boys had a super time at the pool, but they were totally exhausted when they got home. I don't think lunch has ever been that quite before!

In the afternoon I cancelled my Girls Night Out, I was so looking forward to it too, I even was prepared to miss out on the "Hutzelfeuer", but neither was meant to be for me! I spent the afternoon in bed napping, I was up there for a good 2.5 hours but I don't think I slept, so it can't have been that restful.

This evening Florian took the boys to the Hutzelfeuer (that's the big bonfire in the village to chase away winter!) Florian got some photos for me

looks lovely and warm doesn't it!

OK, going to have a Lemsip now and hope that this cold goes as quickly as it came - as in OVER NIGHT!
CU tomorrow!

Day 55 and Day 56

Day 55 - Friday

I had another appointment at the doctors in the morning, to check my urin (again) unfortunately there is still blood showing up there, and I had to wait to see the doctor. He really doesn't know why it is, and it could just be, that I am someone where that just "is", but to be sure, I have an appointment with an urologist next Friday! That took 2.5 hours out of my day, which I wasn't expecting. So I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up again.
The boys made it quite easy for me! Richard went back to Kindergarden for the afternoon and Robert went to play with a friend. When I went to get Richard from Kindergarden at 3pm, he went from there to his friends to play. So I was able to get on with everything until it was time to pick Florian up from the station.
And from there it was on to pick the boys up from their respective friends. And I never got around to taking a picture all day!

Day 56 - Saturday
First job this morning, get Robert to his friend's birthday party on time. Yep, this party started at 10.30am! They were off to Takka Tukka Land. Florian and Richard took him there, and from there went into town to post a parcel back to the shop! And I got on with my HUGE pile of ironing (note to self: don't let it pile up so much!)

This afternoon Richard wanted to first paint, he got a painting by numbers for his birthday and I really thought it was much too small for him to be able to do, but look at this concentration and how well he is doing!

He didn't finish though, will have to see if he wants to do anymore tomorrow.
And after lunch he wanted an English lesson. As I was still ironing he did it with Daddy today. When he gets a new sound and letter he has to write it all down, so cute!

We had pancakes for tea again today, so that Daddy could have some too. Delicious!

We watched a German film tonight "Das Leben der Anderen" (got an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2006) made a change and we really enjoyed it.
CU tomorrow.

Day 54

Well another 3 evenings wasted. No it might have been 4. Again I watched a TV Drama and AGAIN the end disappointed. Why do these writers have great ideas, but then not know how to wrap it up...WHY!!! (And if anyone needs to be warned incase it is repeated, I was watching "Inside Men") But about the rest of the day

English at Kindergarden this morning and whilst I was there I asked Richard's Kindergarden teacher, if they had any problems with him being grumpy and refusing to join in, and they don't, but they will keep their eye open and nip it in the bud if it starts. They had however noticed, that Richard never wants to go back to Kindergarden, if it is Evi's turn in the afternoon. She does the harder learning stuff with the kids and it seems he wants to miss out on that! Well, now I am wise to that...and today when he didn't want to go back, I made sure he went!!

After Kindergarden it was straight off to sport for Robert and English for me and Richard. My poor pupil really doesn't want to learn English. She is writing a vocabulary test next week, and for that all she needs to do is learn words off by heart, but she knew NONE of them. I did 15 words for her, 10 she didn't know at all, and the other 5 she managed to spell wrong. Hopefully she will practice a bit more for next week.

This evening, well you already know that...

Photo, ah, yes photo, Lucky, time to have your picture taken!

CU tomorrow

Day 53

Library this morning and good job too, cause we were running a bit late and I am not sure Robert would have got the bus on time! Or was we running late, cause I knew we were all going by car this morning?!

This afternoon whilst Robert was in the kitchen doing his homework, Richard was in the lounge being Mr. Maker, check out the video he made! (And no, we have never showed him how to video himself!)

Love it, I have a part 2 where he shows the glueing that you have to do! So cute! and I am sorry that the video won't play on the ipad, something to do with the video format on blogger not being compatible with ipad and such, so nothing I can do about it, BUT it is worth watching it on a pc or such. He is just tooooo cute!
Shame he didn't carry on being that cute, although he was really looking forward to art school, once there, that changed and he put on his Mr. Grumpy hat and didn't do anything there for the whole hour. Silly silly boy. I had a good chat with him when we got home and tried to explain that he couldn't keep doing this. And that if he tried it again, I would not take them anymore, I explained it cost money and that I wasn't willing to pay it, if he wasn't going to do as he was told and join in. I think I got through. Next week, I will stay in the building so that I am there if he gets grumpy again and they can then send him out and concentrate on all those that do join in and have fun.
I don't really understand it, cause he loves painting and every other time he is there, he just refuses to join in...

So really just a normal day in our crazy world. Oh yeah, Robert had another homework meltdown too! I did get some good news today, NO football on Friday for either of the boys, so I don't have to try and figure out how to juggle the boys and picking up Florian!

NCIS now, so see you tomorrow!

Day 52

All of us back to work, school and kindergarden this morning, only it wasn't quite a normal morning for the kids as today they were allowed to go in in fancy dress. Of course they were indians again. No one was dressed up at work though!

This afternoon whilst Richard was still at Kindergarden, Robert and I went shopping, you see today is Pancake Day in Britian and of course in our British bubble! And we had no Nutella left! I have yet to convince the boys to eat their pancakes with lemon and sugar, but knowing how delicious a pancake with Nutella is, I can understand them a little bit. Although my favourite will always be lemon and sugar! Yummy!

After tea Richard wanted his second English lesson! So cute! Yesterday he started learning to read, I bought a book a while back, "how to teach my child to read in 100 easy steps", and he asked to learn to read, so we started. He can now "read" (as in recognise and sound) m, s and a. So so cute and his enthusiasm is brilliant! Here he is "practising". He wrote down "his" letters and keeps on reading them, too cute!

CU tomorrow!

Day 51

No work, school or Kindergarden for me and the boys today, unfortunately Florian couldn't join us for a day off, as carnival isn't quite as big down where he works... the boys let me have a bit of a lay in, so when I woke up the sun was shining nice and brightly. My first thought was, bother, can't use the weather as an excuse. You see today is parade day for carnival, and I really really didn't want to go, but with the sun shining, it made me feel like a really really mean Mummy. So when a friend phoned to try and convince me to go along to the parade, I decided to be a nice Mummy and go with the boys and our friends to the parade!

One of the reasons I didn't want to go this year, was that last year I was really disappointed by the parade, but this year, either someone had heard my complaints or I wasn't the only one disappointed. Whatever it was, the parade was MUCH better this year, more musicians, less drunk teenagers, much more fun for all of us watching! Here a few of the pics I took..

And this is the boys when we got home, comparing the loot!

OK, now I have to go and pluck up some courage, whilst I was on the phone to Florian a GIANT spider went running across the lounge floor and settled on a bag the boys had left in the middle of the floor. I managed to get up enough courage to put a dish on top of the whole thing, but now I need some more to get the spider out into the cold....sends shivers up my spine just thinking about doing it! Wish Sunny was with us, he would have killed and eaten it for me. Lucky just didn't get what I was talking about and kept turning back to me instead of sniffing out the spider!

CU tomorrow (cause deep down I know I am bigger than the spider and he won't get me really, BUT AGGGGHHHHH!!!)

Day 49 and Day 50

Day 49 - Saturday
Robert woke up around 5am and decided to climb in bed with me (not sure why the kids never bother to climb in on Daddy's side) well, he made me jump as for once I hadn't heard a thing! At 5.45 am I told him to lay still or go back in his bed, I think he must have got the message, cause he was gone next time I stirred. We then got up at about 9.30am an the boys were downstairs on the Wii by then!

We planned on going to a furniture shop in the morning, to look at new furniture for the kids room, but when Katrin popped in, we changed our plans instead at lunchtime we just took the boys out to McDonalds for lunch. Richard had seen that they had lightsabres with the Happy Meal! They were really excited to be there. And even more so, when we told them there, that the next part of their treat was a trip to the cinema to see StarWars in 3D. Daddy was taking them, and they walked from McDonalds to the cinema, whilst I drove home and got some lovely peace and quiet, and most of the washing done! And at 5pm I picked them up again. Richard was a little disappointed with the 3D part of the film, apparently the things didn't come out of the screen at him. I take that to mean that if the film wasn't originally made in 3D don't bother with it, and I think we will stick with that rule in future, seeing as they are going to be re-releasing a few classics in 3D.

After picking them up we got to make our trip to the furniture store, and in the evening we took an online tour of IKEA. We will have a proper look at IKEA when we next visit Mum and Dad! What we are thinking of doing in the boys room is getting them even higher beds, so that they can have desks underneath. Looks good in my mind, we'll see!

This is my picture, me with my cat, and this is more or less how we looked during my peace and quiet in the afternoon too, only there was no one there then to take a picture!

Day 50 - Sunday
Busy busy day today, but full of fun. We got up a bit earlier than yesterday and after a leisurely breakfast we headed to the swimming pool. It wasn't quite as difficult getting up the willpower to go this week, its a bit easier when the temperature has risen above 0°C! We all had great fun, and after about 45minutes Florian's BIL and girls joined us there. We had to leave the water at 12 to get home in time for the rest of the days activities.

In the afternoon we dressed up in our fancy dress costumes and went to the children's carnival party in the village. It was good fun. And here we all are!

Florian as Cindy (like me last year!)

Katrin, Sabine and I

Stabbing Mummy with a balloon sword!

Playing with the present every child got who came!

CU tomorrow!

Day 48

To make up for the English lesson missed yesterday I did them this morning! The kids were a bit over-excitable today, so we didn't learn anything new just tried to repeat last weeks words. The only words they still remembered were "clown" and "popcorn" the ones which are the same in both languages! Better luck next week!

After English I went shopping and I got a bargain, I got a new tankini for just €2.99!! Seeing as we are planning on taking the boys swimming more often I thought it might be a good idea to have two swimming costumes! And at that price, I couldn't really go wrong!

This afternoon Richard went on a play date and Robert got picked up at 3.45pm to go to football training. And I got to go and pick Florian up at the station. Then we had to go and get him re-measured for some surgical stockings the ones he got last week keep slipping down (they are for his veins).

Florian skipped his sport this evening, but he did do some exercise for his back, which is basically just putting his legs up at right angles, he actually managed to fall asleep in this position, well at least he was snoring!

CU tomorrow!

Day 47

I was back at the doctor's today to get the results of my blood test last week, and all is OK, except for my liver results, the numbers there were a bit high. He said it was nothing to worry about, but just to be on the safe side, at the beginning of March I have another appointment for an ultrasound scan. I am certainly pleased with our new doctor, he is very nice and thorough too.

Whilst I was at the doctor, Richard was at Kindergarden at their Faschingsparty. He dressed up as an indian, only this time without the facepaint! He had a super time, and when I went to pick him up, he didn't really want to come home!

This afternoon it was sport again for Robert and English lesson for me and Richard. Robert would love it if we could stay and watch him, or at least Richard, but I can hardly leave Richard there on his own and disappear for my English lesson! My student was very tired today, and the funniest was, when Richard had dropped something on the floor, he went down to pick it up and came back up giggling, then he whispered in my ear "Mummy, she's only got one sock on!" and yep, she did, silly girl! It kept Richard smiling though!

I made an appointment today with the "Erziehungsberatungsstelle" - which is a place for parents to go, if they get stuck bringing up their kids. We are all in agreement, that I need to know how to properly handle Robert lying to us and his teachers. So hopefully at the end of the month, I will have some tools in hand. I have ordered Aesops fable about the Boy, who cried wolf, for Robert to read, but I think I need more than just that to get through to him! It's good to know that there is somewhere I can go to ask for some help. Watch this space on Monday, 27th Feb.

I forgot all about pictures today, and Lucky isn't cooperating, so here is one I secretly took on Monday. This is the ceiling in my new office - see I really do work in a palace. On the right is probably where a Ming Vase once stood, or some kind of ornament! Our modern computer equipment looks totally out of place here really!

OK, off to bed now
CU tomorrow!

Day 46

Good job we went sledding yesterday, cause today all the snow has started to melt, and is now just all slushy - yuck!

This morning was library morning and as of this week, I am in charge. The other Mum running it with me helping her, got a part time job and has handed it all over to me. But today it was business as usual, except for me getting the money to buy some new books!

This afternoon after Robert had done his homework, Richard wanted to do some painting, I convinced him that he should paint a picture for Tante Ulla's birthday, he didn't take much convincing though he thought it was a great idea, so did Robert, so here is what she will be getting in the post this week

For Tante Ulla from Richard

For Tante Ulla from Robert

And here they both are painting!

And after painting at home, they went to art school and did some more painting. They painted birds today Richard's apparently is a duckling, silly Mummy said it was a chick!

 Robert's is a chick though, phew, got one right!

All in all a good day today!
CU tomorrow!

Day 45

It is going to take a while to get used to working in an office which is busy and noisy, I am used to peace and quiet, but I was determined to not get upset today...hihi and I had cake with me to help. Everytime it got too noisy to concentrate on my translation, I took a bite. That way I got to eat both pieces I had with me!

This afternoon we made the most of the snow. I picked Richard up at 3pm, our friends came round just after, Katrin and family joined us too, and off we went over to the village sledging hill. Considering the weather I still can't believe we were the only ones there sledging, but hey we all had fun. And as it no longer is absolutely freezing, it was even OK to just stand and watch the kids! Here are my two on their way back up the hill!

CU tomorrow!

Day 44

Never had a problem with Friday the 13th, as for Monday the 13th, that is something different!! Today was not my day and it didn't help that it snowed all morning either!
OK, be warned, I am going to rant about work again, fully knowing that I would never find another place of work, where I get to determine when I work, but I still feel wrongly treated, but I will grin and bear it again in the morning - I might even shock my new boss with a smile tomorrow!

Anyhow I got to work this morning and the light was on in our office, so I went in with a bright smile on my face, looking forward to seeing my friend again (she was off work last week), I did wonder about the chaise longue I could see as I came in, but not that much, I just thought maybe the doctor had told her to lie down during the day and then I am in the room. "that's not my desk" "or my computer", "where are my boys?" and "why are there three computers here?"
Fuming I ran upstairs and into the office where my boss sits - "oh good morning Kerry (yeah they still don't know how to spell my name!), were you looking for your office?!" and then he turned back to the guy who was trying to get a cable under a door....of course much more important than the girl who has nowhere to sit! Well, apparently I am now sat in an office with 6 desks one of which is occupied by my boss. And my friend now sits up another set of stairs with someone else - of course, why would you sit the translators together?! And why would one of them need peace and quiet and the other one not....!
I was NOT a happy chappy, but as I am only there 8 hours a week, I have NO say in the matter, I just have to grin and bear it. But if they were to treat me with a bit more respect, that might actually be easier. in the initial fury of not being told any of this, I got slightly sarcastic, and asked my boss, if the phones and email had been broken last week, as I would loved to have had some sort of warning. But it was like with the kids, sarcasm was lost!

Well, as my friend wasn't there, I was actually allowed to do some translating, which wasn't quite so easy as usual, for one, I was still fuming  (doesn't help) and two its a REALLY old building, used to be a palace, and the floors are not level, so I had to keep my chair in place, using muscle power otherwise my chair made its own way to the middle of the room! I'm going to ask if we can turn my desk, so that the desk breaks my descent! Or I'll organise a chair without wheels, although I might need a cushion then to be sat high enough, we'll see how that goes down tomorrow - Mum, I may need to vent again, watch your email.

And a huge thanks to Dinphy this morning, for letting me vent on fb messenger (thank heavens for smart phones), it helped keep me sane!

OK vent over for today, well, the one about work anyways!

This afternoon it was just me, my student didn't turn up again, but I was sort of hiding from her anyway, whether I could have pulled it off, I don't know, but I went upstairs and tidied up the desk in the office. Richard might get to do some craft work up there now, we'll see. Then it was time to pick up Richard from Kindergarden and Robert from the busstop and pop into town to the opticians. Richard's glasses were getting that loose, that they even fell off of his nose a couple of times. All fixed now!
Whilst on the way there we were chatting, and Robert proudly told me he had done all his homework, I believed him and when we got back in, they were allowed to watch their favourite programme on TV before teatime. Mmh, I think Robert hadn't reckoned on me wanting to check his homework...I found two sheets that he hadn't done or finished. And as he AGAIN hadn't written his homework down, I had to assume that it was homework. I can handle forgotten homework, but the lying....! AGH!!!

The boys are in bed now, work is far away and this little chappy helped me relax by relaxing totally on my lap and tummy!

CU tomorrow!

Day 41, Day 42 and Day 43

Where did I go? Well on Friday night, I had a night out (as a photographer) at a women's carnival party, it was a really late night, and yesterday I was tired, but I'll start at the beginning.

Day 41 - Friday
Florian was home today, but he had to work some of the time. And then he went for his health check up. He came back and he has to make sure to do his back exercises not only when it is hurting. He has to take aspirin because lately he has been feeling really giddy when he stands up, thinning his blood a bit will help this and according to the latest studies in America it can also help against his tinnitus, so fingers xed!

In the afternoon  Richard went back to Kindergarden, Robert to Sabine's and Florian and I went to school. We had our yearly chat with his teacher. We basically heard what we knew anyways, he could be neater, his school bag could be tidier, on the good side, he is doing well in German and the other subjects. In maths he is doing well in written tests but he could do better when taking part in the lesson. The thing that was not so good was to find out that he not only tries his lies on me, but also on his maths teacher! Not that long ago he forgot his homework twice and got told off by me for that. But the excuse he gave at school, was so naughty. He told his maths teacher that he had done his homework, but that "mummy had rubbed it all out again"! - Mummy did not! Luckily the teacher was on the ball, and asked to see where Mummy had rubbed it out, and nope, nothing of the sort in the book!

When we got back, we got Robert home again, and told him that he had to keep his bag tidier, but we haven't spoken to him yet about the lying, not quite sure how to tackle that yet...instead we sent him to his football training!

At 6pm I had to be at the village hall to take some group pictures of the girls organising the party, it was a themed party (Bavaria) and don't they all look great in their Dirndl's!

I came home after the group pictures to get ready to go out again and here I am in my borrowed Dirndl (apparently it is about 50 years old and an original).

I was in charge of getting lots of pictures of all that went on throughout the evening, so I had to stay at least until the programme finished, well that went on til well after 1am! I got home at 1.40am, it was a long but fun evening! This was my favourite part - the young lads from our village dancing! LOVED IT! GO GIESEL!

Day 42 - Saturday
The boys let us have a lay in today, and I certainly needed it! We got up about 10am. In the afternoon Richard went to yet another birthday party! And Robert, Florian and I made some more wood for the fire. It being so cold lately we have been getting through quite a bit! Florian sawed, Robert put it in the wheelbarrow (using a long stick, so his fingers were far away from the blade) and I stacked it all! When we had finished we got to have a bit of cake.

and this is the only photo I took yesterday, I call it "paws for thought"!

After taking 520 pictures last night, I must have needed a camera break!

Day 43 - Sunday
Gosh aren't we lucky, another 10 o'clock lay in! The boys spend the morning on the Wii, but we made up for lack of movement in the afternoon, we took the boys swimming (my doctor will be pleased with me!) It was fun and after a bit of practice, Richard even started swimming properly again. I think we will need to go regularly again. If only it was easier to get off the couch, out into the cold and into the pool!

This is the boys after tea and after the swimming - I think we wore them out!

Watching Whitney Houston videos now, seems the heros of our youth are slowly disappearing. Whitney certainly played a big part on my tape collection!

CU tomorrow!

Day 40

English lessons this morning and I lost one of my kids, seems her Mum doesn't want to get up "early" to have the girl there at 8.15am, so the poor thing is not allowed to join in anymore. Shame, cause she was actually quite good at it! Oh well, still got 11 kids, so I am not too worried. We did all about the circus today, the kids enjoyed that.

Richard didn't want to go back to Kindergarden today, told me he was going tomorrow though, cause tomorrow they are weaving again!
At about 2.30pm it started snowing and it hasn't stopped so far. Having said that we don't have inches and inches of the stuff, like normally, but its enough! Robert really wanted to go out in it, even offering to sweep the path. And he must have really really wanted to go, because he went out on his own, when Richard wanted to stay in! I didn't think he would be out there long, because we were supposed to go to sport and my English lesson, but at 3.30pm I phoned up and cancelled, I really hate driving in snow and as it wasn't really that important, we opted to stay at home. Richard went out and joined Robert then, and here they are very busy!

You can no longer tell, that they cleared the paths, but if they hadn't it would be deeper!

Florian is on his way home now, and should be here any minute now :)

CU tomorrow!

Day 39

Before 7am and I am taking pictures, but when Lucky was on an exploring tour of the house, I couldn't resist! Not sure what was so exciting about the wood bin, but everytime I got him out, he'd go right back in again!

This morning I had a doctor's appointment, I have had pretty high blood pressure this last month and today I got to see the doctor for my annual health check up and at the same time ask him about it. Well, it looks like I am going to have to get off of my backside at least twice a week and that could help get it down. That certainly sounds like a better plan than taking tablets, so where as others start this on Jan. 1st, I'll be starting on Feb. 9th!
Other than my blood pressure I am OK, he also checked my skin, and that is OK too. It took quite a while there today, and they were very apologetic about it, but I didn't really notice, I had my nose in a book and then of course time flies!

This afternoon before we went to art school, we played Sorry! The full moon was still having a bit of an effect on the boys, as neither were good losers, but I think they enjoyed themselves.

Whilst the boys were at art school, I went to the mall and did a bit of window shopping, I thought I might get myself measured for a new bra, but the shop assistants had better things to do, but I did browse around and wow, I didn't realise just how expensive bras can be (I get mine from Aldi or Tchibo!)

This evening I have been preparing circus sheets for my English lessons tomorrow. Kindergarden is decorated with lots of circus themes, so playing with the kids will be easy tomorrow!
CU then!

Day 38

Richard was fine today, no tummy ache and all smiles from the moment he got up, so it was Kindergarden for him and work for me.
Work was "interesting" again, I asked if work experience didn't count instead of a piece of paper, and if anyone had actually asked the people who issue the certificate. I also threw in that a native speaker without a piece of paper, would surely be better than a German with a piece of paper (or at least as good), nope if I don't have that paper, I don't get to translate. And then I got a taste of my future to come, it is not going to wear my brain out. I got to scan a book with about 350 pages! Still I made the most of it, I got my Kindle out put it on the scanner too and read and scanned!

Robert and I practised maths this afternoon using the internet page for mental arithmetic. He actually enjoys it, if he is racing against the clock. And as he is writing a maths test tomorrow it was good for him. And as a treat for both boys, when they were both home, they were allowed to watch Star Wars 2 again.
I tried translating whilst they were watching, it wasn't that easy a) it was a really difficult text and b) Richard insisted on commenting on EVERYTHING in the film, but I got it finished in the end! (Oh and this is a translation for someone completely different and NOT for work!)

I have a lovely blazing fire going this afternoon/evening, I have really been feeling the cold today, at work I even did the typing with my fingerless gloves on. But now I am finally feeling warm right through!

And I didn't want to get another picture of the boys watching TV, so I took the camera up at bedtime and got a picture of them cleaning their teeth!

Now I have to show Dinphy and Bentonflocke another picture, this is a recorder, and what Robert will be learning for the next few weeks, hopefully it won't hurt our ears too much!

CU tomorrow

Day 37

What a day! So today I got to speak to my new boss at work, and oh dear he has realised that I don't have the proper qualifications to be a translator (I've only been translating for them for three years, bit late to notice that!) and apparently that means, that as they are out to get a certificate of some sort, that I will no longer be allowed to translate anything that goes out to customers. So all I will get to translate now are newsletters and bits for the intranet. That will go down well with my friend and colleague! She has the right paperwork so she will get to do the bulk of the work and even if she is drowning in work, I won't be able to help out. All I can do is shake my head, I know there have to be rules, but shouldn't common sense also feature in the equation?!
I'm not going to let it bother me as long as they keep paying me, I'll go do my time and go home! (like I do anyways, only I might get to do a bit more of the silly stuff - like sorting papers from white to blue folders!)

After work, I didn't need to hurry home, so I popped in to Karstadt to see if they had any great offers on some girly toys - for the b-day party Richard is going to at the weekend. And I got a Barbie Fairy for less than half price, so it was worth the trip!
I was on my own for lunch today, Robert had his first long day at school. He gets lunch there and then they have a bit of time for homework, and then he got to do his first recorder lesson. He gets home from all that at 4.45pm. A long day, but he had fun, until he got home...

But first Richard, at 3pm I got a phone call from Kindergarden, Richard had been sick, could I come and get him. Poor thing. He had bad tummy ache for the rest of the afternoon but by bedtime he said it was a bit better. When I picked him up I told him he could watch a film with Robert, when Robert got home. ...

That didn't happen, cause when Robert got in, he hadn't managed to do all his homework at school. Not the way I planned it, and I was a bit sad for him, cause after that long day, he didn't need to be sat doing homework. But it was German and that is important and he does have it in the morning, so he had to.

Next week, I will have to remind him in which order to start his homework, so that he gets it all done, cause this week, he concentrated on his music homework, only he only has music once a week, so plenty of time to get that done!

CU tomorrow!

Day 36

This morning when I came down to get the boys back upstairs for a shower, I walked in the lounge where Richard's craft box seemed to have exploded. When I asked what was going on, this is the answer I got "Mummy, it's Wochenende (weekend)" me: "Yes??", Richard "Today I am teaching Robert how to do basteln (crafts)!" And all the while Robert was nodding. So cute! Oh and this is what Robert had made after Richard's lesson

After showering and a quick game on the Wii we went to the bakers where we were meeting Mum and Dad, my brother and family and Florian's sister and family to celebrate Richard's "Family Geburtstag" as he puts it. Now let me see if you can guess what the only snag to that idea was by looking at this picture

Yep, the heating had broken down there, it was working this morning but it hadn't been yesterday and over night, so it was still trying hard to warm the place up...still hadn't when we left! We went back to our house, where I made noodles and sauce for the kids and Florian stoked up the fire in the lounge - as cold as we were in the morning, we were melting in the afternoon. :o)
But we had a lovely day, whatever the temperature.

This evening Florian popped out to feed the chickens and collect the eggs, one of them had a split in it, so we opened it up and yep, it had frozen! I got Florian to take some pictures...

CU tomorrow!

Day 35

The boys let me have a bit of a lay in this morning, I didn't even hear them sneak downstairs, but I did hear them fighting at 8.15am. So I got up and went and sorted out the fight! It was as so often over a Wii game, Richard gets a bit frustrated, when it doesn't go his way, and ends up screaming at Robert....We let Florian sleep a bit longer.
I made rolls for breakfast, we had run out of Nutella in the kitchen but I had some in our store room, only problem is, the store room is freezing in this weather, so I had to scrape some of the Nutella out and heat it up, so that we could spread it! The cold changes all sorts, today Florian spent a long while heating up the store room some, cause the water pipes were frozen and I couldn't do the washing...

I say Florian heated the room, cause I was out of action for 3 hours, Robert had another football tournament! This time though the venue was a lot better, the air was fine, and I could watch and read at the same time. (I will admit that I read more than I watched). I did remember to get some photos, this is the warm up - an action shot of Robert!

Richard went to another birthday party this afternoon, so he wasn't home when we got in. He had a great time there, so much so, that nearly an hour after going to bed, he called me over the baby phone "Mummy, I forgot to tell you what we did at the party!" I'm pretty sure he was asleep before he called, too cute!

Crime night tonight, we have just watched NCIS
CU tomorrow!

Day 34

Robert only had three lessons today, shame that I forgot that, and went out, just as he was probably metres away from home! I had to go and get something from the chemist for Florian and thought I was being clever leaving at 11.30 so that straight from there I could pick up Richard.
Even when I got in with Richard I wasn't expecting him, mmh, and then I got a phone call from my friend down the road...did I know where Robert was, and I went probably on the bus, he's due home in a bit, she goes, nope he is here with us, they finished school early today! Oh dear! BAD Mummy. But it doesn't seem to have bothered him, he stayed there for lunch and played there until 3pm.

At 4pm I rounded up 3 of the football team and drove them all to their training. Richard and I stayed, Richard watched a bit and did some colouring in, and I read my book (I'm back on my Kindle and reading "The Hunger Games" now!)

Straight after football, I rushed to get the boys all home again and then we had to go and pick Florian up from the station. It was really snowing when we left the village, but not in town and by the time we got home it had stopped snowing! But it is still all covered in snow, well it is too cold to melt. At the moment it is -14°C out there. THis afternoon when I went out to feed the animals, their water was frozen solid, even though the heating had been on for a few hours. Now it is on 24 hours a day, and hopefully I won't find really thirsty animals tomorrow!

I didn't take a picture today but Mum and Dad have been having fun taking pics of their old slides, so here is what I used to look like. Not sure why I look so sad, but I am on a boat, and I don't have sealegs, so maybe that was it...!

CU tomorrow!

Day 33

Thursdays are always busy days. First off - English lessons, today we did a repeat of last week, only this week, I took each of the clothes with me, for the kids to see, touch and remember. I'll see how well that idea went next week!

Straight after English, I went to Aldi for the weekly shop, nothing exciting about that, but after having been shopping, I learnt to really really appreciate one of the features of our car....our heated steering wheel. It was -14°C today and the wind chill factor made it seem even colder. But I was OK with that, I had wrapped up really well, until I had to pack the shopping into the car. It didn't take me that long, but by the time I had packed my two bags, I thought my fingers might drop off, it was that cold. Lucky for me, when Florian configured the car, he went for some of the less obvious extras, and the heated steering wheel is one of them. Today I really really appreciated it! Thank you Florian!

After lunch Richard went back to Kindergarden and poor Robert tackled yesterday and today's homework, and at 3pm I went and picked Richard up again. Once home it was time for the Lego workshop! Both boys (and me supervising Richard's building) started building what they bought yesterday.

We had to stop though for Robert to go to his sports lesson and Richard and I to our student. When we dropped Robert off at the sports hall, I got a picture of "our" mountain. Shame you can't really tell just how cold it was/is!

This evening I didn't really get a rest either, I had to do some work from home, seems the translations we have are needed sooner than Monday when I am back at work! And after that I had to make a couple of invitations for carnival for Kindergarden (that was fun work though!)

Off to bed now
CU tomorrow!