Day 334

hihi, no knitting pictures today, I have a new project sat waiting for me (some slippers) but I didn't have the right size needles, so I have not been knitting today! I did order some new wool and needles though!

So now you know what I didn't get up to, what did I do? Not much really. We had a nice lay in, and then Florian found enough energy to get some rolls for breakfast. Unfortunately he used up all his energy then and spent the afternoon recuperating in bed. So no dancing today. I started to decorate a bit christmassy, but my lights for the crystal stars aren't all working anymore and it has always been on the too short side, so I have decided to go out tomorrow and get new sparkly lights before hanging my starts up. I did decorate the front door though

At teatime the boys realised that they needed to get their Xmas lists ready to post to Santa, they weren't quite as obliging when I was trying to get a picture of them posting them, buy you get the idea!

So now Santa can pick them up and bring them an advent calendar!

CU tomorrow!

Day 333

Today was once again a whole lot of days all rolled into one.
First on our list of things to do was a football tournament for Robert. I was designated driver today and I had to pick 2 other kids up at 7.45am, then off we went to the sports hall, which was over 30mins from here!
The hall was actually really nice, I think it was brand new, cause it certainly didn't have the typical sports hall smell, and look at the floor. Never seen a black sports floor before!

The team drew one game and lost three, so they didn't qualify for the next round, but if I am honest I am not too disappointed, No more weekends dedicated to football!

Robert and I left Florian and Richard home alone, and both were feeling much better than yesterday. So much so, that they went and got a new batch of apple juice in, and Florian was busy doing all sorts of odd jobs round the house when we got in. Florian did so many odd jobs throughout the day, that he wore himself out, and tonight he didn't look too good. Maybe his early night, will heal his cold tonight!

So after lunch, Robert and I sat down in the kitchen and continued working on biology, We have until Wednesday to get up to scratch, and we will be needing the time. But we are getting there.

I then had a well earned break and finished off all of our scarves, no more loosed ends. Here are the boys looking proud and Robert showing his off.

This evening Robert and I again left our poorly boys home alone and went to his concert. It was a fun evening, the teacher really has some talent there, and it was fun to watch the different kids play. Robert. his mate and 5 other lads played a song called "Cradle Song" and then "Last Christmas". They were great!

CU tomorrow!

Day 332

I don't think a single day this week has gone according to plan, and today was no different. Today began at 4am when Richard was wandering around upstairs. I called out to him and he burst into tears, he had tummy ache and a sore throat, and when he got into my bed, I realised he also had a temperature. Poor thing. He did fall back to sleep, but I didn't sleep that well. Robert was up before my alarm too this morning, he was looking for Richard, and when I said he was poorly, Robert also had a sore throat...mmmh... Before leaving for school, Robert also had tummy ache and the runs, but after hearing him and his mate discuss how to get out of going to school, by fooling Mummy into thinking you are poorly I was having none of it! (And he didn't mention any of his ailments once he was back home again!)

After a lay in Richard had a quiet morning watching Harry Potter, whilst I got on with some tidying up. Florian phoned at about 11.30am he was on his way home and would be there for lunch. Oops, I hadn't planned food for him today at all, as tonight we were going to a birthday party.
I improvised and all was OK.
After lunch, whilst waiting for Robert to come home, I finished Richard's scarf - he loves it!

After Robert's lunch and his homework, he would have loved to join Richard in his TV marathon, but sorry darling, Biology is more important. He was NOT amused when I informed him that we were re-doing his excercise book. I had hoped that copying it all out, might make the information sink in, but of the little bit that we did today none of it when in. Better luck tomorrow.

Robert's friend picked him up for their guitar lesson and I was home with my poorly men, Richard was feeling rough, and Florian too, he went to bed about 3pm.
I had to go and get Robert from guitar and when I got back, Richard was fine, but about 5 minutes later he was doubled over with tummy ache, poor poor thing. I decided then and there, that we wouldn't be going to the party, I couldn't leave sleeping Florian in charge of Richard, with tummy ache like that.
As it happened, as I was putting the boys to bed, Florian resurfaced, but we still didn't go. I could of then, but I just didn't feel like partying, just relaxing and working on Robert's scarf!

CU tomorrow!

Day 331

Work this morning I was busy all morning, but I work too fast, and so I won't be going in in the morning, cause I didn't leave myself any work to do! Oh well, time for some Xmas shopping in the morning instead.

Richard came home from school really excited, his religion test which we practiced for on Monday instead of going to Karate, he got it back this morning. He got a 1 in it, he was only half a point short of full marks. Well done Richard!

I spent quite a bit of the afternoon trying to sort out Robert's biology stuff, and in the end phoned the Mum of one of his class mates. She sent me photos of all of the pages in her son's biology exercise book. Tomorrow Robert will be bringing his one up to date. I hope that way he will start to remember some of what he writes.
When I tried to print out the sheets for him to copy the printer ran out of ink - always the way isn't it. At the same time, the boys were arguing again over NOTHING (well a yellow sweet really, but to me that was NOTHING) -that is when I snapped. I shouted so loud at the kids, that they looked frightened of me. Not good parenting, but after a week of their non-stop fighting, it was just too much. I got them to put the sweets back in the kitchen, told them to get ready to go out, and in silence we rode to Staples and got ink for the printer.
We were there and back within 30 minutes and I had calmed down then and apologised to them for shouting and frightening them. I tried to explain why I had but they didn't really get it. We then read a chapter of Percy Jackson and they got to have their sweeties (and we threw that yellow one away!)

Having finished my scarf yesterday I started on Richard's this picture is from the early evening, I am quite a bit further now already. Richard is really excited about it!

And thank you for the lovely compliment in the comments, it made my day tell Lisa!
CU tomorrow!

Day 330

I had to go to the library this morning and step in for another Mum whose kid was poorly. I didn't really mind, as I love going there, but it pushed the shopping back again, but luckily the fridge still had enough food for lunch too, even if I did borrow a packet of ham from Heike today!

The boys were better today, and there was no fighting whilst doing their homework. After homework I had a look at Roberts exercise book for biology and tried to find some information in there to ask him about, as he is writing a test next week. Mmh, not too much information in there, and what is in there he didn't know, so we have a LOT of catching up to do for the test. Robert was not amused.
I took Richard to the hairdressers and whilst we were gone he had to read his biology book. I just hope some of it went in! And tomorrow, we'll tackle some more...

After the hairdressers Robert went to his friends, Richard to Karate, and as I didn't get to go shopping in the morning, I had to go shopping, I would have much rather gone to sport, but never mind, there is always next week.

This evening I finished knitting my scarf and have started on one for Richard. I still have to find a needle and sew in the ends and maybe sew the scarf together and make it a loop, but I can't be bothered to get up, so that can wait til tomorrow!

CU then!

Missing week and Day 328 and 329

So first the missing week. Florian was signed off work originally until the Tuesday because of his whiplash, but come Tuesday he still had a slight headache and was signed off for the rest of the week. I think the break did him good. It certainly did me and the boys good to have him around. Even if I did leave him alone in the mornings. I had school, library, sport and work I think going on, then there was the usual chaos of running the boys here there and everywhere, but it was still great to be all together for a change.

At the weekend we did get out, an old friend was staying at a farm nearby and we went to visit. The boys were particularly excited by the kittens that they were allowed to play with. I have to admit they were rather cute.

And sometime Florian and the boys did some baking....

And here some random pics of Lucky

Day 328 - Monday
Florian went back to work today, he was full of cold, but he took some Lemsips with him to get him through the week (unfortunately he found out that they are about 2 years out of date - oops! That might be why they weren't really that effective!)

Boys were at school and I went to school too. A friend and I were adding new books to the library system. No English at Kindergarden today they had the builders in and there was no room for me to take the kids to. That was OK though, I had plenty to be getting on with at home.

In the afternoon the boys spent so much time fighting and arguing with one another, we never made it to Karate, in fact Robert never finished his homework until 6.30pm!!!
Because we didn't make it out, I didn't get to go shopping, and I hadn't baked, I phoned Heike to ask if I could perhaps have 5 slices of her bread, but as it happened she was just about to go shopping. She brought me some rolls for our tea! Phew!

Day 329 - Tuesday
This morning we had a different start to our day - we put the radio on! Heike was on the radio taking part in a quiz. It was fun listening to her, unfortunately she didn't win, but she sounded as if she had a good time! The quiz was pre-recorded, so instead of me taking her girls to school, she was able to do that herself and take Richard too.
Once all the kids were off to school, I took myself and my friend to sport.
We did our course on the machines today, its been a while since we used them, so we may find some new muscles come the morning!

This afternoon the boys were in a much better mood, and homework went without a hitch. Shame about bedtime! Both boys went to bed without a story today. When I got upstairs to read to them Richard was screaming cause apparently Robert had hit him, Robert said he only did it cause Richard had hit him. As they were getting undressed I found handprints on both of them, Really clear ones with all five fingers, they certainly hurt one another, so it was straight to bed with no story. I of course being the baddie didn't get a good night kiss from either of them!
Maybe tomorrow will be better.

But I'll finish this post on a brighter note, at some point in the afternoon Richard laid down in the lounge to carry on writing his story about Percy Jackson, the cat joined him to help out and I got this picture.

I thought it was really cute and twittered it (is that a verb?) to the author of Percy Jackson and he "liked" it, which meant that all his followers got to see the photo too, and so far Richard has 230+ likes! He is so proud. Here is a screen shot of the post on the authors page!

CU tomorrow!

Day 316

Poor Florian, he's not feeling that brilliant and all he really wanted to do was sit down and put his feet up, but no, he spent the WHOLE day at the doctors.
This morning I had made an appointment for him at our doctors. He had quite a bit of waiting there, I think he got home after about 2 hours. At the end of his appointment they realised that as it was a works accident he should not have gone to them but to a doctor who is allowed to treat accidents at work - bother.
That meant that this afternoon off he went again this time to the hospital, where they are allowed to treat him.

There he bumped into our friend who is a doctor, and she managed to get him as her patient. Which is great, unfortunately she didn't manage to speed the process up any at all. And he was there for about 5 hours! A LOT of waiting around.
He was x-rayed and the doctor there thought he saw a fracture on his neck vertebrae, so then he had to wait to have a ct scan. Luckily that showed there wasn't a fracture. So that means "all" he has is whiplash. I have one very very lucky husband. Again, thank you guardian angels.

So whilst Florian was out at the various doctors all day, I did the shopping, gave an English lesson, helped with homework, took Robert and his friend to guitar lessons and various other things. But I forgot to take a photo.

CU tomorrow!

Day 313, Day 314 and Day 315

Unwanted break from blogging, I sometimes have to step back onto my cloud and wait for everything to right itself again, and this week I needed to do that.
Tuesday night (Day 313) I got a phone call from Florian, the phone didn't work, so he only got the answerphone and he left a message, which I found after I got down from putting the boys to bed about half an hour later.

He was on the motorway and had had an accident. He said he was fine, but the car was a write off. Shaking a bit I phoned him back. He really did sound fine.
He was driving along the outer lane of the motorway at 200 km/h and all of a sudden there was something big on the road. Florian can't be sure, but he thinks it was a deer or something. He hit it and the airbag went off. He managed to keep the car going straight and pull over to the hard shoulder. OMG, what a shock!

He most definitely has at least one guardian angel looking after him, cause this could have gone completely wrong too.
The brand new car, used its new-to-us feature, and as soon as the airbag went off contacted the Mercedes Emergency Service. They asked what was up, and then called the police for him. The police tried to find out what he had it, but couldn't find any sign of an animal, not on the car or the road. They were going to go back Wednesday morning and look again.

Florian took this photo when the ADAC (equivalent of the British AA) came to tow the car away.

Apparently we have premium service with the ADAC and it was all included, including a rental car from them for 7 days.

Florian decided that as he now had a rental car, he would continue on his way to Belgium for his business meeting the following day.

I stayed up, until I got a message that he was safely in Belgium. Then I went to bed. That's when the "what if's" start. I know you shouldn't but they do.. thank goodness, that he has those excellent guardian angels.

Wednesday - Day 314
First thing in the mroning, I sent Florian a message to find out how he was feeling after sleeping. He said he was fine.
I later relayed a message from Heike that he really needed to see a doctor even if he felt fine, for insurances sake, in case of any delayed reactions to the crash. I actually was sort of expecting him to ignore me, but he did reply, that he would go when he was back in Germany. Heike however reckoned that he needed to go within 24 hours of the accident. When I replied that, it was a while before I heard back from him again. And when I did, the message said "not feeling too good, going to a doctor now"
It then took 3 hours before I head from him again. I was so worried, as "not feeling too good" doesn't really tell you what was wrong.

Apparently the adrenalin in his blood stream had worn off, and he was now feeling the effects of crashing into something at 200 km/h, whiplash as one of the symptoms. The doctor told him he was to rest and look after himself until the effects wear off.

Thursday - Day 315
Robert woke at 5am this morning and spent the next hour and a half coughing, so I decided at 5.30, that I couldn't send him back to school, coughing like that. Poor thing. Staying home also meant that if Florian needed, I could drop everything and drive to Belgium and pick him up.
He decided to slowly and carefully drive back to me.
He took a break at Mum and Dad's around lunchtime and Mum gave him a good hearty lunch, and a nice long break before he set off for home.

He got home at 4.30. Finally I could see for myself, that he was all in one piece. I didn't want to let go when I got to hug him. Unfortunately my English student was there, so I couldn't fuss over Florian, like I would have liked too But the boys did a bit!

He is definitely not too good, he went to bed the same time as the boys. Hopefully a night in his own bed, will make him feel better in the morning.

I'll keep you posted
CU tomorrow!

Day 310, Day 311 and Day 312

A quick post so I am all caught up again

Day 310 - Saturday
Robert had a hairdressers appointment on Saturday and I got a great before shot, but the day got really busy after that and I forgot the after shot. Must remember to get one tomorrow.

After a lovely lunch of pumpkin soup, Florian took the boys to Robert's football tournament. They came 2nd (I think) out of 4. Then Florian took both boys to his sister's she had them over night today so that Florian and I could go out.

We had a BRILLIANT evening at the dance school. Dancing and great food, what more could we want. We were sat with another couple from our course, a lovely lovely evening.
We were the last to leave with the other couple and we got home at 1.30am, been a while since we were out that late!

Day 311 - Sunday
Not much of a lay in, as we had promised to take rolls to Florian's sister for breakfast for us all. That was really good too. We stayed until about lunch time, then home again. Back home the only one that was hungry was me, so as we had had rolls for breakfast, I decided to have breakfast for my lunch! Good ole Coco Pops for me it was!

Florian lit a fire for us whilst I was having my Coco Pops. It was lovely and cozy, and we got to enjoy it in peace as the boys went off to Robert's friend, so that they didn't have to come dancing with us.

Today was the first day of our advanced dancing course (in other words our second course).
We laughed a lot at dancing today. We were taught a step, that is more for couples that are of similar height - in other words not for me and Florian. We really got into knots, but we persevered and mastered it in the end, but because of the height difference it just doesn't look elegant at all!
But it gave us a good giggle!

Day 312 - Monday
Robert's cough which started yesterday was a LOT worse this morning, so much so, that I decided to save myself a trip to his school to pick him up and kept him home from school.
I still went to Kindergarden for my English lesson, they enjoyed it, and I was back before Robert had time to miss me.

In the afternoon both boys wrote their Xmas lists. poor Richard might be a bit disappointed, he has decided he would like Harry Potter Lego for Christmas, unfortunately it is no longer being made, so you can only get it at collector's prices - oops!

Robert is still coughing so it looks like a trip to the doctor's tomorrow. I am going anyways for my health check up, so I am hoping they will let me take him along, save me going there twice in one day! We'll see.

CU tomorrow!

Day 309

I actually like days like today, where I actually struggle to write about it, cause really nothing happened. I went to work, the boys to school. When I got home (at the same time as Richard) I cooked lunch. We had potatoe broccoli bake, one of my favourites. I think the kids love it too, Robert certainly does, he finished it all off, so had double what I had. I think these boys are going to eat me out of house and home when they turn teenagers. Maybe I should have brought bigger pots!

After lunch the boys got on with their homework. And then we had a game or two of Skipbo.

Richard asked to borrow my camera, He is making an encyclopedia about Harry Potter and he needed pictures for it. Here he is taking a shot of the DVD cover with Hogwarts on it, he also got shots of the Gryffindor sign on his Harry Potter costume and his wand.

I haven't seen his encyclopedia yet, but anything that gets him writing is a good thing! Speaking of writing - he got a 2 in his German test, with no mistakes in the dictation part of the test. I am so proud of him!

Florian is due home any minute.
CU soon

Day 306, Day 307, Day 308

Mmh, where did I disappear too, nowhere really - so time to play catch up

Day 306 - Monday
Holidays are over and it was back to school for the boys. I took Richard to school with his poster this morning. I think I might have mentioned it, if not here a picture of it. It is all about the silver birch, and he is very proud of his work.

Seeing as I was already at school, I had arranged to meet another library Mum and we got busy entering new books into the system. We have so many at the moment I see a few more Monday mornings in my future.
I left in the break as I had to get to Kindergarden for my first English lessons after the holidays, the kids were all pleased to see me, but also full of mischief.

Robert and I took Richard to Karate and then we went shopping. First stop was a shoe shop, that had winter boots on offer, I got Robert a pair that were reduced from 59 to 19 Euros, so hopefully it was a real bargain and these will last the winter and keep his feet dry. Unfortunately they didn't have the same pair there for Richard, so I'll have to take him separately sometime soon to find him a bargain. But so far, there is no sign of winter so we are alright!

Day 307 - Tuesday
My friend couldn't come with me to sport today, so I was on my own. It is so much more difficult to find the "get up and go" when you are on your own. BUT I did it, and I enjoyed it, but I missed her. When I got home another friend popped around for me to help her with a birthday invitation, and then it was time to get some homemade chicken nuggets ready for lunch.
I got "best Mummy ever" cuddles for that meal!

I nearly missed my hairdressers appointment in the afternoon, but luckily I had programmed my phone to remind me. I was late though as a neighbour dropped by to ask if I could help her son in English, he hadn't done to brilliantly in his last test. He is now coming round for three lessons before his next test, we'll see how that goes

Day 308  -Wednesday
This morning I took my car in to Opel, there is a fault with some Corsa's and mine needed to be crossed of the list. I had checked like the Opel website told me too, but somehow it is more believable coming from an Opel mechanic and not from myself. I had taken my book expecting to have a long wait, but I didn't even get to finish a chapter. From there I went to the nearest Aldi to see if they had any jeans in a smaller size than the ones I bought on Monday. They did, and wow, I actually fit in a smaller size! Go me!

Robert went to his friends when Richard and I went to Karate, and as it now gets dark early I had to come up with something different to kill the time. I took my sports stuff and went to the fitness studio. I had intended to just cycle a bit for 30minutes and then go and pick him up again, Mmh, when I got there the girl at the desk goes "Hi Kerri are you here for the course with Alex?" Erm no, not really, when does it start and how long is it? Well I was just in time for it, and it finished perfectly for my time schedule.
I am proud that I survived, but I could have crawled out of the course after 45 minutes. The course was called "Total Body Workout" and yep, I can now feel ALL of my muscles.
BUT having said that, I will definitely be going again next week, it was perfect for killing time, and I can only get fitter, right!?!

Day 309 - Thursday
First stop today was the doctors for a blood test, I have my health check up next Tuesday and they need the results by then. I was in and out I think within 10 minutes, so that was good. I had plenty to do at work, and at one point they even came looking for me, to do some translating as there was no one else there who could help. Once a year is OK by me, I suppose.

It was only me and Richard for lunch today, Robert had school til late today. Richard went to his friends this afternoon, kitted out with his Harry Potter wand and costume, so I assume they played Harry Potter today.
I had my neighbours son round to practice English, he was definitely clueless, not sure whether he or the teacher is to blame, but when 11 of 13 kids get an "F" in the test, I would lay the blame at the teachers door.
I tried very hard to explain the rules of "Simple present" and "present progressive" to him, and at one point it seemed to go click, we'll see if he still gets it on Tuesday when he comes again.

Poor Robert was home for all of 25 minutes and then it was off to football training for him. Not sure how long that is going to work for him, cause if he gets a lot of homework, it most certainly isn't.
He got home from training at 7.30pm, poor thing.

OK, I'll try and be back over the weekend.
CU then!

Day 296 - Day 306

Good excuse for going missing this time - we were on holiday at Center Parcs. We were in Het Merdal again and had a great time. We went with friends, so they will crop up on some of the pictures. Cause for a change that is all this post will be today, but they sort of speak for themselves:

Nearly was a family photo, but...

..the boys hid in the woods!

Cool Factor Aqua Battle

Only have videos of our boys clambering over this, so here is one of the girls

Cool Factor Laser Battle

Look like fun?! It was!!

I'll blog today, tomorrow night and then I'll be all caught up again!
CU then