Day 303

Again no work for me at work. So I got on with the work at home. I built both prams back together, took the old clothes to the charity bin, went shopping and all sorts of other bits and bobs around the house - although you wouldn't know to look at it!

After lunch Richard went to Heike's and I went to sport. The sports studio is in the middle of changing and wow it is going to be huge. We only saw a small bit of it, and that was huge. Can't wait to see where it is going!
Back home, the drinks guy from the village came and brought the drinks and tables for tomorrow. Now we just have some last minute decorations and panicking to do in the morning! But I'll wait til then til I need to do that!

This evening both boys went out trick or treating. Richard with his harem - sorry friends and Robert with his classmates (don't have a picture of them, as they didn't come by our house for sweeties!)

Heike made a couple of pumpkins this afternoon with  the kids and sent the good stuff round to me,

so I baked a pumpkin pie for tomorrow. It smells delicious, wish I could have a piece already!

Florian has a bank holiday tomorrow so he is already home with us :o)

CU tomorrow!

Day 302

This morning I cleaned our old prams, and already have found a buyer for the twin pram that we had when Richard was born! And the other one I will take to the flea market on Saturday!
At 9am I went out with Heike who was dog sitting today so we each got to take a dog for a walk. I had the little Jack Russell, he was quite a feisty little fellow, but he did at least do as he was told (well, what Heike told him at least!)

Back home more cleaning and then it was time for an important phone call to Mum and it was cooking lessons over the phone. Today I made Mum's Lasagne for the very first time. I have always been frightened off by the thought of making a bechamel sauce. Not sure now quite what I was worried about. Turns out it is pretty easy. And as I had Mum talking me through it, my Lasagne tasted just like Mum's! Thank you Mum for your help.
Look it even looks delicous!

At lunchtime itself we had a surprise guest. Robert and his mate had obviously decided that today was going to be the day they eat together, and they both turned up on my doorstep. His mate was lucky, cause I knew the lasagne was going to be more than we could eat (although I would have loved the leftovers tomorrow). So after a phone call to one very bewildered father, his mate was allowed to stay.
Apparently lasagne is his favourite meal ever, so I was a bit worried. But I passed with flying colours! Phew!

I sent Robert's friend home at 4pm and then we headed off to art school, much to Robert's disgust. Richard loved it, Robert not so much. Such a shame!
Whilst they were there, I went shopping, and got the boys their adventscalendar. This year I am trying something new, I got them an adventcalendar detective story book. I can't wait, I hope they enjoy it, but I will get them a chocolate one too! But I couldn't bring myself to buy them a Lego or Starwars one, Lego is 20 Euros each and StarWars 30! No way!

Off to bed now
CU tomorrow!

Day 301

We got off to a much better start today - I woke up when the alarm went off and didn't keep turning it off again and again! Go me!
The boys got off to school without too much of a rush and I got myself ready for my English lesson at Kindergarden. I had another little lad join us. He said he enjoyed himself, and he certainly seemed to have a talent for it. We'll see if he sticks with it! That would be 8 kids again!
Straight after Kindergarden I went to the hairdressers, I was a little bit late, cause I had a chat at Kindergarden, but she hadn't sent out a search party yet. We got all caught up on the school and fitness studio gossip. It was good. And of course now I am all young again!

I got home about a minute before Richard did, so that was perfect timing. I got dinner ready we were having fish and potato and cucumber salad. I made the cucumber salad, fried the fish and then when I went to get the potato salad out of the fridge, I found out that I didn't buy any. AGH not very clever to only find that out when you are dishing up. So today we had just fish and cucumber salad. Oops!
Today was not a good cooking day. I baked bread and forgot to add the salt. Not sure whether that made the dough extra sticky, and so not like it normally is. Well at tea we found out that my bread without salt, is not good at all - that will be for the chickens in the morning, and I'll try my hand at getting it right!

Robert brought home his school photos yesterday, but I forgot to post them yesterday. I love the one of him with his hands in his pockets, he looks so grown up in it!

 What else did I get up to today, I spent a lot of time washing and sorting more baby clothes, look at the two baskets full of clothes I have to sell at the weekend, and I still have another cupboard to search for more!

And before I tell you what Robert got up to this afternoon, here a picture of him being really cute. The cats came to see him and be stroked. They both even went up to his nose and gave him a "kiss" Too cute! And then ...

He was going to play at a friends house at 4pm, so at about 5 to I told him to get himself ready. He had asked earlier if he could take his new Wii game round to play - I said no. Then he asked if he could take his sticker book round, that I said was OK. So off he went to put his shoes on, then he looked for his book, found it on the stairs and was off through the door - ALMOST. It was a new book and I couldn't work out why it was open at a funny angle. When I looked he had hidden the Wii game in it! AGH!!!

I sent him straight to his room, and phoned his friend and explained to the Mum just why he wasn't coming. Little Monster. 

I left him up there on his own. He came down about an hour later and asked if he could play guitar. After he had apologised I did let him, I thought it might calm him down. And maybe it did, because despite the fact that "he hates me", he actually said goodnight to me tonight.  Maybe I am making progress here after all.

CU tomorrow!

Day 300

I should have known when we got up with only 20 minutes to get ready that today might not be quite my day...
So we overslept, but I still managed to get the boys out of the door on time! But once they were gone it took me a good 10 minutes to recover :o)

And then I got myself busy with the washing and ironing. I am going to a flea market on Saturday selling some of the boys old things. I found two huge sacks of baby clothes in the barn and have spent all of today washing the things. Now to see on Saturday if anyone wants any of it, and if they don't then I'll put them in the charity box down the road!

After Richard and I had lunch it was time to take Richard back to school for guitar lessons. At school some idiot had parked his mercedes causing chaos for the school buses. I took a photo just in case the school needed it, and they got the lady that had parked there and she will be looking forward now to recieving a juicy (well I hope it is) fine. She disrupted the bus pick up for nearly half an hour, that is just not on.

Whilst the boys were at guitar and once I could leave the car park (see the silly parking above) I went and got the weeks shopping. When I got back I spoke to their guitar teacher about putting Robert in a more advanced group or giving him separate lessons. She was all for teaching him on his own as that would be best for his abilities. So after Christmas, that is what we'll be doing. When I discussed it with Robert when we got home, he got all grumpy and told me that that would be no fun, and he didn't want to do it. He seems to have forgotten that before the school holidays he was complaining that he didn't get to play enough in his lesson, cause of the others!
He also then complained about having to go and try out Karate lessons. I think he was in complaining mode today - maybe the rushed start to the morning wasn't good for him either. Must make sure I get out of bed on time tomorrow!

We went to the dentist in the afternoon, both boys have good teeth, and we don#t have to go back for another 6 months. This time I didn't make the appointment straight away, I'll make a note in the calendar and phone when i have school timetables and sports times nearer the time!

After we were planning to go to Karate for the first time, but it took longer at the dentist than expected, so we will go in two weeks, when we have nothing else on and can be on time! Robert of course got quite excited and thought he had won.
But that was only until tea time. Then he had to eat in the kitchen and not in front of the TV, because of defying me yesterday he was slightly upset. And again, I didn't get a good night kiss. Maybe tomorrow!
CU then!

Day 299

The clocks went back last night, so we luckily got an extra hour in bed. And as we were meeting friends for breakfast at 9am it was very welcome!
We went to Cafe Del Sol for breakfast a bit more upmarket from our usual baker. They do a buffet for breakfast and brunch, and if you fancied it, I am sure they had it!
They even had a chocolate fountain with all sorts of fruit - too bad, that we couldn't take the whole thing back to our table!

I had to take a break from breakfasting and take Robert to a birthday party. His friend had a Sunday lunch bowling party.

After our brunch outing, Richard went back with the girls to play, and Florian after a trip to sort out his heel, left for Augsburg (he has a very early start for work tomorrow), so it was just me in the afternoon at home.
I put my feet up and read and cuddled the cats!

When Robert got back from his party he brought a friend with him, and I let them play his new Wii game. Not sure it was such a good idea, as he was in one of his "I'm not saying nun night to Mummy" moods at bedtime! Kids!

CU tomorrow!

Day 291 - Day 298

Catch up time!

Day 291 - Saturday
Ooh this is so long ago now,...mmh. At some point during the day Florian took the ladder to Kindergarden and retrieved the ball from the roof, that I do remember. I made Broccoli for lunch - again - as Heike and florian both told me. Oh well, I really like that meal!
I think I remember making a tomato sauce to take on holiday with us. And I think Heike popped around in the afternoon and ate this for me.

I bought this for Florian thinking I was treating him. Turns out there is gelantine in it and that's a no no! Heike enjoyed it though!
Now I remember - Florians sister and girls came round for cake. Florian was hungry whilst getting rolls for breakfast and bought plenty of cakes so we invited them round to help eat them all up! And Heike came too. Marcel joined us later and he helped Florian determine that the new phones we had ordered were really not compatible with our existing ISDN system. So we had to package them back up and send them back to Amazon!

Day 292 - Sunday
Florian went to sport before lunch, and I was busy making a huge pot of soup for our first day of the holiday! It smelt delicious, but I didn't sneakily have some.

Instead I made pasta with a spinach sauce for lunch. After lunch it was all about ironing and packing. Somehow there was a lot of both! Once the boys were in bed we packed the car for the off in the morning.

Day 293 - Monday
And we are off! We left home just before nine, stopping first in the village to get rolls for the journey and to send the phones back. But then it was off to Holland.
We got there in 4 hours and that included a McDonalds stop. The phone communication to our friends didn't work, they didn't have a net in the swimming pool and really it was only luck, that we were right outside the door they chose to leave through, when they did eventually leave the pool! Oops!

We have two bungalows next to one another this time and we have made ours the "eating" bungalow by bringing the outdoor table and chairs indoors and theirs is the "evening entertainment" bungalow, as our boys are older and can (if need be -which it didn't) come and get us next door!

Here are my men when we got there!

Day 294 - Tuesday
Swimming pool! The boys loved it, it has a wild water slide, a big tunnel slide, waves and a few other pools. I stayed nice and dry on our first visit to the pool, and read a lot of my book. But I did move to take a picture of the boys!

Florian unfortunately worked in the morning, but he took a break in the afternoon and we all went to the swimming pool again. This time I left my book and mobile in the locker and went in the water too. My ankle didn't like it much though. So I think I'll stick to reading! :o) I had thought it was completely better, but it seems swimming is a completely different thing to walking! good job I do more walking!

After swimming we took the kids to the kids disco - but the boys were not impressed in the least. But at least there was a play area right next to the disco, so they played there instead! Here they are looking fed up with the disco!

Day 295 - Wednesday
Another busy holiday day. Swimming in the morning (again without Daddy) then in the afternoon, we had registered the boys for "Cool Factor Laser Battle" - they had a brilliant time at that.

Whilst they were playing heros, Florian and I went for a walk around the park. We only did half of it in the half hour we walked but still managed nearly 3 km without doubling up on ourselves. Its a big park!

Later in the afternoon we went to the petting zoo, where Richard took a lot of the photos.

Then after tea we took the boys back to the Market Dome for a round of indoor mini golf,

 and a surprise. The surprise was a night time trip to the swimming pool, for a ride on the slide in the dark! THEY LOVED IT! It is definitely different being there in the evening.

Day 296 - Thursday
Today the boys had another dose of "Cool Factor" today it was Wild Water Rafting. They got to go in the pool before it even opened and then for an hour the wild water slide was theirs only! I got a couple of pictures when all the other guests were finally allowed in the pool!
They had the time of their life - again!

In the afternoon we went to the Market Dome where they first played in the play zone and then we had a game of bowling!

And right after bowling we went to the Pizza place there - yummy!
After that I made my way back to the bungalow to Skype Mum and florian and the boys stayed in the market dome.
About 45 minutes later I got a message from Florian to let him know if the boys came in, he had lost them! AGH! They were there 2 mins after the message came through, so I had no time to go into panic mode. But it turns out, they had been told to wait and all go together and they just up and left. Richard said he was tired and wanted to go so he did!
Bad move boys! Their punishment was NOT going to the shop to spend their holiday money on the last day. They were lucky, cause we could have said, we will just get up, pack and leave.
Richard took it really hard and took forever to calm down enough to go to sleep, sometime during the calming process I promised to go on the slide. More on that tomorrow!

Day 297 - Friday
We got up a bit earlier, packed the car and at 9am were sat calmly eating our last breakfast there, we really are getting good at making the most of our holiday!
At 10am we were on our way out of the park with the car, and into the pool. Florian who was in charge of parking the car, got stuck in traffic so we were in the pool earlier than the rest of them. But we got a good seat for me and the boys got some extra runs on the slides in!

Then when Florian got there it was my turn on the slide - AGH! Thank goodness there was a really short but fast slide, I did that one! Florian took a little video of me and then realised that our friends were coming down after me! So we got nearly all of us!

At about 1pm we started heading out of the pool and home. We stopped off at McDonalds for lunch then home. We got in about 7pm. The cats were really pleased to see us all, but spent all evening cuddled up with me!

Day 298 - Saturday
Up nice and bright and early again. We had a barn to prepare of a Halloween Party on Friday and this weekend all the men were around to help. We started at 10am and were finished by 2pm - not bad going. Just a few finishing touches to put to it on Thursday and then we are all ready for the kids on Friday!

This afternoon we went shopping, stopping at Media Markt again. Today we got (hopefully) the right phone for our telephone system. It is still charging at the moment, but it is looking good so far!
We also bought Aldi's tablet that they had on offer. A new toy for all of us.

OK, all caught up, if you think I have forgotten something, let me know and I can add it!
CU tomorrow!

Day 290

Again I left the boys to their own devices this morning - the devices being the TV and DVD player - they watched "Back to the Future".
I got all the shopping for the weekend and Center Parcs.

Back home I went to start cooking a new meal and realised that I forgot a very important ingredient, so we had a change of plans for lunch, and cause of that I got to watch the end of Back to the Future too!

After lunch the boys and I went out in the garden and tidied it up. We picked up apples, raked leaves, fed and cleaned the chickens - that exhausted the boys so they finished then, and I continued and finished pruning the tree out of the front. Which unfortunately meant sawing lots of thick branches. It was hard work, but I succeeded, and the tree now looks much better - can't wait to see what it looks like next year with leaves!

After all the gardening the boys went to the playground collecting conkers and playing football - unfortunately the ball never came home, apparently it is on the roof of Kindergarden - good luck Florian getting that one back!

Are you fed up of cat pictures yet? No, good, cause this is the only picture I took today! Smiley very very relaxed

CU tomorrow!

Day 289

This morning I left the boys with a friend and the TV/Wii and went off out for my sports session. All of it went well. I enjoyed my sports - even if I won't be able to move tomorrow and the day after! And the boys were well behaved when I got back!
My friend drove us to sport today. She has a driving licence but hasn't really driven since passing years and years ago, so she has had some refresher lessons and today she drove us safely there and back! All she needs now is practice!

Heike and her girls all came for lunch today. I was making spaghetti bolognese and I always make much too much, so they joined us.
After lunch, Heike went home to put the baby to bed and the big girls stayed here, whilst I went to pick another friends kids up - we were all off to the cinema!
All 8 of us, went in Heike's new bus! The kids thought it was brilliant!

We went to see "Turbo", it was really good fun.

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

This evening the cats surprised me again, by cleaning oneanother and laying side by side (you can see the cleaning on facebook) and here they are laying side by side!

CU tomorrow!

Day 288

We spent the day with Mum and Dad today. We drove down at 10am and then I left the kids with Mum and Dad and went and got my winter tyres on the car. They were so well organised I was in and out of there in 30 minutes.

Robert put his order in for food at Mum and Dads and we had roast for lunch. It was DELICIOUS, thank you so much Mum. I'm sure we all ate much too much, but it was just so good!

After lunch Mum and I left Dad in charge of the boys and went for a wander around IKEA, looking at cupboards for the kitchen. This was in the department where I saw one I liked and I think will be good for the space - we'll see!

We stayed for tea too - Robert's order for tea was "Roast Salad" (which is a greek salad), again delicious.
We had a lovely day, thank you Mum and Dad

CU tomorrow!

Day 287

I took the boys to their kite making workshop this morning. The weather on the way there was horrible, even the windscreen wipers had problems keeping up with the rain! But it didn't dampen their spirits they were quite excited to be going today.
When I got back I was all ready to go to give my English lesson, in fact I actually went to Kindergarden, but cause of the school holidays 4 out of 7 weren't there, so our next lesson won't be until after the holidays. Back home I got on with the washing and ironing, whilst watching "Pride and Prejudice".

Heike invited me round for lunch. She tried something new and it was very delicious. Then it was off to pick the boys up. They have made huge kites, but they haven't yet flown them. I would have stopped on the way home, but we didn't go home. We went to see their cousins. It is lovely how they don't see one another for a long while, and then get along so well when they do.

We stayed all afternoon and for tea. It was a lovely afternoon for all of us.
CU tomorrow!

Day 283, Day 284, Day 285 and Day 286

Another weekend and another round of catch up! Here we go (lets see how bad my memory is getting!)

Day 283 - Friday
Friday was Robert's big day (and mine a little bit), my English kids from Kindergarden had their "summer" party today and we were singing for the parents, with Robert accompanying him on the guitar. Unfortunately no one was there to hand the camera too, so there are no pictures of us singing and playing.
Robert gots lots of praise from other parents and grandparents, so he was well chuffed, and me too! My friend got there after our performance, so we stayed for a bit of cake and a chat. Robert enjoyed playing there again and look at the tower they all built!

Whilst Robert and I were at Kindergarden, Richard was round Heike's with the girls. Heike told me that they had a super time and even did their own little performances for her!

Day 284 - Saturday
The boys went on an outing with the art school today to Frankfurt to see "Brazilian Street Art" - they were gone all day, and as usual we still don't know much about the day, but that they had a good time. But that is OK!

Florian and I had a good day too. We waved the bus off and then went to the furniture store around the corner from there. We would like a new cupboard for our kitchen (for anyone who knows our kitchen, we want it for where the TV is), not going to be as easy as we hoped. We didn't find anything really at the store. After going all round there we went to the shopping mall nearby and had lunch at the bakers there. They do freshly made pasta with different sauces, and that is what we had - very yummy!
We then popped to Media Markt to look at the phones (ours is on its way out, it doesn't always pick up when you first push the button). They had a LOT of phones there, and I tried them all out and narrowed it down to two that felt good in the hand (and tucked between my ear and shoulder). Florian then suggested that I look at those on Amazon to see what sort of reviews they got. The reviews were good, so we were then really cheeky. and ordered the phone from Amazon whilst stood in Media Markt! Oops!

Whilst we were out, we decided that we need to rearrange the lounge as now the boys are not comfy watching a whole film on Florians lap and somehow we need more seats with a good view of the TV. So this is our new arrangement.

Looks bigger now somehow.

Day 285 - Sunday
Florian went for his ankle treatment in the morning and after that he had a sport appointment. But was back in time for lunch.
I made stuffed red peppers and tomatoes (cause Robert doesn't like peppers). It was something I used to make quite often but not lately. It was delicious, and I have written down how I made it, so I can get it right again!
So Sunday was only yesterday and already I can't remember what we did after lunch. I know what my friends did (they went and bought a new car) but us...no idea. Nope just jogged my own memory. We played "Make and Break Party" and I got this shot of Florian building his tower blindfolded.

After that we went and watched "Back to the Future" with the boys. Something about that film that never ages! Still brilliant after nearly 30 years!

Day 286 - Monday
The boys went on a kite making course today, it is a two day thing and today they made the frame work. They didn't want to go, but when I picked them up at 2pm, they had had a great time.
Whilst they were gone I did one of my good deeds of the day. On my way to shopping, I picked up Heike's Mum and took her to the hairdressers. She was actually lucky it was open, cause normally hairdressers are closed on Mondays. I dropped her off there and she said she didn't want picking up to go home. Well whilst I was shopping, Heike told me she was going to cme and pick her mum up after the hairdressers I told her off and did that for her. I said to find me drinking a hot chocolate at the bakers next door to the hairdressers. Well when I finally got there sat down and opened my magazine. In walked Heike's Mum. In the end it was her who had to wait, not me! She had to wait for me to finish my chocolate! hihi!

My second good deed of the day was this evening, I had a friends kids for tea and until about 8.30pm. She had to work and was stuck. They were no problem. We had tea, watched a film and then did some scratch pictures. I think they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. And the boys were thrilled that they got a late night!

Todays pictures:
Robert and I playing Rummycub in the lounge

Richard watching the film with Smiley!

CU tomorrow!

Day 282

I was really busy today with a really difficult job, but finally we can see the floor in the utility room again and ALL of Richard's craft things are in the drawers and tidied away! Phew! Just have to think of a good place to keep the ministeck, cause that didn't fit into the drawers.

This afternoon I was busy, but I can't remember now what with. I know I spent quite a bit of time on the phone organising things for our halloween party, and I also took this picture of Richard!

I think he likes the desk in its new place! He called me specially to see him sat like that - he called himself "Professor Richard" - bless!

Robert had football training and got home just in time for me to go out! I had parents evening for his class tonight. I didn't really sign up for anything but somehow I am now in charge of the class money. Oh well, hopefully that won't be too eventful. But it does mean close contact with the teacher so that is a good thing!

We discussed various outings the kids will be going on and parties they will be having! All sounds good to me, I really like Robert's new teacher!

CU tomorrow!

Day 281

School for all of us today - yep library again. Still love it! I had a whole big box of books for there, unfortunately there was no time to book them all into the system, but I got the Barbie books that I bought off of my niece in the system, and they never even made it to the bookshelf, but straight into the hands for four very happy young girls!

After library I cooked lunch the kids did their homework, and then off I went to sport. No hanging around there today, but straight after it was home, get the boys to get their shoes on and off to art school. The boys had to be there earlier today as there was a lady there telling them all about Africa. Richard was really interested and told me a lot about it afterwards.

For after I had a surprise for the boys. We went to their cousin's to celebrate her birthday with her. We had tea there. My SIL had made lasagna, very yummy. and Woohoo the boys loved it too, so that is going on my menu in the near future!
We got home at 8.30pm and it was straight to bed for the boys! And I caught up with all those that missed me whilst I was out being busy!

My picture today is of MORE books, this bargain came today. And I still can't believe how lovely the lady was that sent them to us. I got them on Ebay for just 1 Euro plus postage of 6.90. When I wrote and told the lady not to be disappointed the books didn't go for more as the books were going to a great new home in the school library. She wrote back, that in that case she would add two more books for the library. Well when I opened the box. Not only had she done that, but she had also put 2 Euros in the box, as she had managed to post the box for 2 Euros less! Thank you nice lady!

CU tomorrow!

Day 280

English lesson at Kindergarden this morning and I have a new little girl joining us. She enjoyed herself, so I think next week, she'll be back! That means I am back up to seven kids again. We did a lot of singing this morning, as on Friday we will be performing at the annual summer kindergarden party! We will be singing our own version of "The wheels on the bus" and all being well, Robert will be accompanying us!

After Kindergarden I tackled the desk again, getting there, but still seem to be keeping too much! Lunch today was Schnitzel and croquet potatoes and cucumber salad. We all thoroughly enjoyed it! Richard even told me I was the best cook in the whole wide world. I did try to tell him that Gino and Jamie were probably much better, and to that he said "but they don't cook for us"! What do I say to that!

This afternoon Richard went to his friends, but not where they normally are. Today was "Daddy Day" which means they spend their time with their Daddy and today Richard got to go along. I didn't hear that much about it when he got home, but that means it was great, cause I only ever hear if it wasn't!

Robert went to his friend too, I had to follow him there as after he left I had a call that they were running late getting home. So I was there waiting with Robert when they got home and went in and had a good chat and catch up. Not quite what had been planned but very nice.

Today's picture though is the cats. Look how close they are. They even gave one another a kiss before settling down. So cute!

Oops forgot something important. My facebook friend in the States has been collecting Dahlia seeds for me, and today the parcel with them arrived. The boys got some cool football shirts from her too! They will be wearing them for a while as you can see!

CU tomorrow!