Picking Strawberries

I took the kiddos strawberry picking with some friends on Tuesday. We had SO MUCH FUN! I absolutely LOVE the Wittlich strawberry patches. They're a short drive from home, they're clean, & there are a bazillion red, ripe, strawberries to pick. Oh & did I mention they are dirt cheap if you pick them yourself?

Bladen wasn't too sure about them. He kept licking them & then would throw them down. I think the texture of the outside of the strawberry bothered him. But once I bit the tip off & he got the yummy goodness inside, he loved them.

Cadence was hilarious! She's becoming a "tween" & I can't stand it. She's supposed to be my baby girl forever, right? She didn't want to pick with MOM. Heaven's no! She wanted to "chill" with her friends & talk. She did help pick almost a full carton though. . . just not with me.

Lorien is still a momma's girl. Her goal was to get as many of the biggest reddest strawberries in the entire field. She did AWESOME!

Taya was so sweet. She was probably the best picker of all. She just sat in one area & picked & picked & picked. She filled one full carton just by herself. All 3 girls had fun picking together too. I'm so happy my kids get along.

And of course we couldn't escape a day without totally making a mess on another outfit. Thank you Taya for smashing strawberries into your cute strawberry shirt. Little imp.

In the end we ended up with 6 kilograms of strawberries (that's 13 1/2 pounds). We only paid 12 Euro for it too. AMAZING. Look at these berries. They are SO delicious.

Overall, it was a super fun morning. We're sure going to miss Germany & how beautiful it is.

Happy Father's Day Trekkie!

Poor Trek. For Father's Day this year, he got a bummer deal for breakfast in bed. Breakfast in bed on Father's Day is a tradition in our house. But we just packed all our stuff up so we have NOTHING! Trek & I are sharing a double sized bed that the base is lending us & since I have no kitchen pans or utensils, Trek got a bowl of raisin bran for his father's day breakfast. Poor guy! I promised him a fabulous biscuits & gravy breakfast when we get settled in our new house to make up for it. But he had a good father's day. The kids each got him a cute card & we all got him a $50 gift certificate to itunes to buy stuff for his iPod. He was happy about that.

Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband. I love you!

Finally Going in the Trash!

Hooray for Trekkie! I FINALLY got him to throw away some of his old clothes before the movers came in. And I mean OLD! We got rid of his old Charlie Brown shirt from the Charlie Brown play he was in in 8th grade!!! And we finally got rid of his blue & green shirts that he wore for our engagement photos! YES! He's been hanging on to those two shirts for over 9 years now. And now they're GONE for GOOD! He will no longer be seen in every single picture in those two shirts. Hooray!

Hidden Treasures

As we were getting things ready for the big move, Trek was packing up our entertainment system. When we got to the sub-woofer, we started to laugh because as he shook it we could hear lots of the kids' toys rolling around inside. Both our hands were too big to fit inside so we thought we'd see if Taya could pull anything out of it. Boy did she ever. I think we counted 5 balls of various sizes, a few "shapes" for Bladen's shape toy, a polly pocket, half an easter egg, a ton of legos, a baby bottle, & some money. Holy cow! We need to clean that thing out more often.

Lorien's last day of Kinderschule

Lorien's last day at school here in Germany was much harder than any of us thought it would be. Lorien made each of her 3 teachers adorable candy bar posters that told them how much she loved being in their class. All 3 teachers cried when they got them. Then she wrote each of them a personal letter & drew pictures for each of them. Lorien was all smiles, but the teachers & I were a mess. We couldn't stop crying & hugging each other. I've grown to love them like family. They've been teaching my girls (Cadence first, & now Lorien) for OVER 3 YEARS now! We are really going to miss them.

Kristen & Lorien

Marlena & Lorien

Sonja & Lorien

Wacky Wednesday

Today for Spirit Week is Wacky Wednesday. Cadence wore her clothes backwards with 2 different shoes. I did her hair up in a "Cindy-Lou-Who" do, which she always LOVES! She looked so funny. I love that she gets into these fun themed days. I enjoy celebrating them with her.

OWIE!!

Lorien accidentally opened the door on Taya's toe last night. It literally ripped off the top few layers of skin on her big toe as well as shattered her toenail halfway down. It bled for what seemed like FOREVER! I've been so lucky to only have a couple of "incidents" with the kids in their lives, but when something like this happens, it reminds me to be thankful for how accident free my kids really are. In the picture you can see a blister-like lump on top of her toe: that's the flap of skin that is just sitting on top. When that is off it literally flattens the top of the toe like the tip is missing (well I guess it sort of is isn't it?). Then the entire top half of her toenail is black now. It's going to fall off over the next week or so. Ugh. Poor baby is walking with a limp. The only way I can get her to walk at all is if there is a band-aid on it. Poor Taya. She's been such a good sport & hopefully lots & lots of kisses help too because that's what I'm best at!

Rockin' the 80's Look

This week is Spirit Week at Cadence's school & yesterday was "dress like your favorite decade" day. Not that the 80's is my favorite decade. . . I just didn't have anything she could wear for anything else. So we strapped on the leggins & over-sized t-shirt & tied it together with a scrunchie. Then we put on every bracelet we had in the house to spice it up a bit. And finally we finished the look off with a side ponytail, feathered bangs, & some blue eyeshadow. She felt pretty "radical" in her get-up. ha ha ha.

Treasure Hunters

These people drive me nuts & make me laugh all at the same time. From the time we moved into this neighborhood 3 years ago, every single night there are about 4 or 5 Germans that go around the American neighborhood trash cans & go dumpster diving. I've learned not to throw away anything of importance (without shredding it first) for this reason. They just go to the dumpster, hop inside, & sort through everyone's trash to find . . . who knows what? But they always leave with bags full of garbage (?)! I've watched them almost every day forever, but I've never actually dared to get out my camera to take a picture. Well, I leave in a few weeks so it was time to break out the camera.

Summer Fun!

I love hot summer days when you can spend the entire afternoon outside in your backyard. This weekend was GORGEOUS! The kids put their swimming suits on & we set up the slippin' slide down our back hill. We invited all the neighbor kids over & we had a backyard bash. We had SO MUCH FUN!!

Cadence was having fun catching moths. One little guy liked her so much that he just sat on her back the entire day.

Our new neighbors (who we absolutely LOVE) have the most adorable puppy. Bladen LOVES their doggy. His name is Max & Bladen is VERY protective & possessive of him. Bladen sat on the grass all afternoon & Max sat by his side. He babbled to the sweet puppy all day long. But as soon as anyone else got near Max, Bladen would get very upset & throw a fit. He didn't want ANYONE touching his new special friend. It's really sweet how they love on each other.

It was such a fun Saturday. I hope we have a few more before we leave!

We Outsmarted You!

We got so sick & tired of Bladen emptying our water tank, that we brought in our glass side table from our outdoor furniture set & put the entire tank on it. We made sure he couldn't pull it over on top of himself (it's sturdy) & then we watched to see what he would do.

He's not very happy about it.

Field Day

Friday, June 4th was Cadence's field day at school. All the kids got to spend the last 2 hours of school outside participating in some good exercise games. It was a very hot day in Germany & the kids were sweating like crazy, but it felt SO good to be hot instead of the typical freezing feeling we get here. I decided to throw the other 3 kiddos in a stroller & we watched Cadence play all the fun games with her friends.

Cadence's favorite game is always the giant parachute. They ran in circles & threw balls on top. The girls ran underneath while the boys tried to capture them & vice versa. Super fun stuff.

They played a little soccer with kickballs. Cadence definitely isn't a "sporty" girl, but she did alright. She had fun & that was the most important thing.

They also played football. Cadence throwing a football made me chuckle. She's so cute. But boy can that girl catch!!! If she were to ever play sports, she'd be a catcher for sure.

They also played a game of keep-away with a rubber frog. The kids loved that. The frog was so much fun to touch. Even Lorien & Taya got a chance to hold it.

Cadence is going to miss her 2 best friends from school: Braeden & Hayden. The 3 Musketeers. They were inseparable & SUPER CUTE together. We're going to miss them!

At the end of the day, the kids got about 15 minutes on the new playground to run around & have a blast. Lorien & Taya got to play as well. There is nothing like playing at the park on a sunny day in Germany with my 4 kids. I LOVE IT.

So, it was lots & lots of fun. Cadence had a blast & we had fun watching her.

I love Germany!!!

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

or look at the blue, blue sky;

whenever I feel the rain on my face

or the wind as it rushes by;

whenever I touch a velvet rose

or walk by a lilac tree

I'm thankful I live in this beautiful world

Heavenly Father created for me.

I'm going to miss sitting on my back patio here in Germany & looking at this scene. It is SO gorgeous here. I hate to leave it. It will always remain in my memory as the most beautiful place in the entire world.