Twentysixth Week in Germany
Okay, so some habits are definitely hard to break. I was trying to plan on the weekend what I would need for Thanksgiving so that I wouldn't have to go to the store on Tuesday or Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. It actually took me a couple days to realize that the stores would not be any more crowded than usual on Tuesday or Wednesday. In fact, the only Thanksgiving hype was my own stress I was creating. We would not have had all the ingredients we needed if it had not been for my friend who went to the Military base and picked up some things for us. It was turning out to be a busy week as usual.
Monday, after school, we had a dance rehearsal for Bailey and Olivia who decided it would be fun to do a dance for the talent show on Dec. 4th. I tried to tell the girls that music has a certain pattern and when you choreograph a dance, it is good to use the pattern in the music to find where you should repeat certain steps (especially when your seven years old and you only have a couple weeks). We started at 3:30pm and we ended at nearly 6:00pm. It was very frustrating to me as I was trying to get them to narrow down their ideas and get something finalized on paper: which steps they wanted to do to which parts of the music. Truly I thought this will be a disaster. But, I must say (we had another rehearsal since last Monday) and it really looks cute. We got home later and had a Breakfast dinner because I'm pretty sure that was all we had available as far as food goes.
Tuesday was a busy day of shopping and trying to prepare everything that we would need to have for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Wednesday, I took the girls to school and spent the rest of the day making pie crusts and pies. Avery was quite helpful with the rolling out of the pie crusts when she got home from school. When we went to pick up Bailey from school, her teacher ran out and said, "I don't think Bailey is feeling so good." When I took one look at her, I knew she was sick. Her eyes were all dark and she looked so pale. We went home and she rested on the bathroom floor. It was the flu. Poor thing. She pretty much spent all of Thanksgiving day laying in that same position.
Greg took Thursday and Friday off so we could use the time while the girls were in school, one to make Thanksgiving dinner, and two to do some Christmas shopping. Thursday morning hit and we were running. I took Avery to school while Greg made the third pie and prepped the turkey. Avery apparently had a Thanksgiving feast at school of Pasta, where she won the eating contest and had three bowls of pasta. Yes, Avery. I thought that was pretty ironic considering that one of my many jobs is trying to get calories into that kid as much as possible. 
We spent all day cooking and we ate our spread in about twenty minutes. I have much more empathy for my mom and mother-in-law and all the hard work that goes into feasting on this day; one that I have always taken for granted. Bailey was able to get up and try to eat a little bit before dinner was over. We saved her a piece of the apple pie as she was the one who insisted on Apple for Thanksgiving. I could not deny my daughter apple pie as I had always been privileged to have apple pie as long as I can remember on Thanksgiving. Everything was pretty good and worth the effort. The kids watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and the Mayflower that evening while Greg watched the Lions game.
Friday was so nice. The Weihnachtsmarkt started in Bonn on this day. We heard that the Christmas Markets are really cool in Germany but we had no idea what they meant until we went. We dropped Bailey and Avery off at school and took Bryn and went downtown. We went to Puppenkonig which is a toy store downtown to get some ideas for Bryn - naturally all she gravitated to was the baby strollers. She is constantly pushing either our American Girl somewhat trashed baby stroller or her pink shopping cart she got for her birthday. Maybe Santa will indulge her with a new stroller. Then we walked around the Markt. We tried the champignons mit knoblauch sose. Yum! We didn't have to pick Avery
up because we planned for her to have a play date with her friend Ava. So, we shopped all day. Unfortunately looking didn't turn into buying. So, I am still stressed about what to get for everyone. Comments are definitely welcome here. Any ideas you have for my kids would be welcomed, or Greg, or me for that matter. We walked by the Kaufhof windows where they have a moving stuffed animal exhibit. Here is a picture of Bryn watching intently. We were so tired on the way to pick up the girls that Friday night ended up being very casual, where we rang in the Christmas season watching Elf as a family. Here is a little video to help get you in the Christmas Spirit...
Saturday, of course, we had to go back. We hadn't seen the whole markt and the two older girls hadn't seen it at all. We went on the Ferris wheel and that was really fun, although we noticed we were the only ones that were being quite loud with our, "Wees and Oohs." We took in some Dampfnudeln mit vanille sose und kirche (a pasta ball with vanilla sauce and cherries) and Poffertjes which were like mini pancakes in a waffle bowl with cherries. Really good. I wanted to get something with more sustenance but we settled for hot chocolate and steamed milk. It was fairly chilly so we took some time off and went to Puppenkonig again to hopefully get some ideas, which we did get a few ideas. There was a small ice rink set up in the middle of the Christmas market which I would not let Bailey skate on, as she had no mittens or hat, and she was wearing a skirt. She was slightly bent out of shape which made walking around in the cold with bitter children not so much fun anymore, so we left. On the way home, we picked out our Christmas tree. You have to go to a tree farm here, and reserve your tree. We found the trees to be quite reasonable in price compared to the US. Then, typically the Germans go back and pick it up on Christmas Eve and set everything up on that day. We will probably pick ours up a little sooner than Christmas Eve. We relaxed for the rest of the day. We all needed a few hours to rest.
Sunday was pretty normal...Church, then video conference, then hang out together. Greg and I spent the evening trying to brainstorm ideas of what to do and where to go while my family is here visiting after Christmas. By the way, for all those Detroiters that hopefully read this...there are awesome fares from Detroit to Dusseldorf right now but you have to purchase by today 11/27/2007.
Monday, after school, we had a dance rehearsal for Bailey and Olivia who decided it would be fun to do a dance for the talent show on Dec. 4th. I tried to tell the girls that music has a certain pattern and when you choreograph a dance, it is good to use the pattern in the music to find where you should repeat certain steps (especially when your seven years old and you only have a couple weeks). We started at 3:30pm and we ended at nearly 6:00pm. It was very frustrating to me as I was trying to get them to narrow down their ideas and get something finalized on paper: which steps they wanted to do to which parts of the music. Truly I thought this will be a disaster. But, I must say (we had another rehearsal since last Monday) and it really looks cute. We got home later and had a Breakfast dinner because I'm pretty sure that was all we had available as far as food goes.
Tuesday was a busy day of shopping and trying to prepare everything that we would need to have for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Wednesday, I took the girls to school and spent the rest of the day making pie crusts and pies. Avery was quite helpful with the rolling out of the pie crusts when she got home from school. When we went to pick up Bailey from school, her teacher ran out and said, "I don't think Bailey is feeling so good." When I took one look at her, I knew she was sick. Her eyes were all dark and she looked so pale. We went home and she rested on the bathroom floor. It was the flu. Poor thing. She pretty much spent all of Thanksgiving day laying in that same position.
Greg took Thursday and Friday off so we could use the time while the girls were in school, one to make Thanksgiving dinner, and two to do some Christmas shopping. Thursday morning hit and we were running. I took Avery to school while Greg made the third pie and prepped the turkey. Avery apparently had a Thanksgiving feast at school of Pasta, where she won the eating contest and had three bowls of pasta. Yes, Avery. I thought that was pretty ironic considering that one of my many jobs is trying to get calories into that kid as much as possible. 
We spent all day cooking and we ate our spread in about twenty minutes. I have much more empathy for my mom and mother-in-law and all the hard work that goes into feasting on this day; one that I have always taken for granted. Bailey was able to get up and try to eat a little bit before dinner was over. We saved her a piece of the apple pie as she was the one who insisted on Apple for Thanksgiving. I could not deny my daughter apple pie as I had always been privileged to have apple pie as long as I can remember on Thanksgiving. Everything was pretty good and worth the effort. The kids watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and the Mayflower that evening while Greg watched the Lions game.Friday was so nice. The Weihnachtsmarkt started in Bonn on this day. We heard that the Christmas Markets are really cool in Germany but we had no idea what they meant until we went. We dropped Bailey and Avery off at school and took Bryn and went downtown. We went to Puppenkonig which is a toy store downtown to get some ideas for Bryn - naturally all she gravitated to was the baby strollers. She is constantly pushing either our American Girl somewhat trashed baby stroller or her pink shopping cart she got for her birthday. Maybe Santa will indulge her with a new stroller. Then we walked around the Markt. We tried the champignons mit knoblauch sose. Yum! We didn't have to pick Avery
up because we planned for her to have a play date with her friend Ava. So, we shopped all day. Unfortunately looking didn't turn into buying. So, I am still stressed about what to get for everyone. Comments are definitely welcome here. Any ideas you have for my kids would be welcomed, or Greg, or me for that matter. We walked by the Kaufhof windows where they have a moving stuffed animal exhibit. Here is a picture of Bryn watching intently. We were so tired on the way to pick up the girls that Friday night ended up being very casual, where we rang in the Christmas season watching Elf as a family. Here is a little video to help get you in the Christmas Spirit...
Saturday, of course, we had to go back. We hadn't seen the whole markt and the two older girls hadn't seen it at all. We went on the Ferris wheel and that was really fun, although we noticed we were the only ones that were being quite loud with our, "Wees and Oohs." We took in some Dampfnudeln mit vanille sose und kirche (a pasta ball with vanilla sauce and cherries) and Poffertjes which were like mini pancakes in a waffle bowl with cherries. Really good. I wanted to get something with more sustenance but we settled for hot chocolate and steamed milk. It was fairly chilly so we took some time off and went to Puppenkonig again to hopefully get some ideas, which we did get a few ideas. There was a small ice rink set up in the middle of the Christmas market which I would not let Bailey skate on, as she had no mittens or hat, and she was wearing a skirt. She was slightly bent out of shape which made walking around in the cold with bitter children not so much fun anymore, so we left. On the way home, we picked out our Christmas tree. You have to go to a tree farm here, and reserve your tree. We found the trees to be quite reasonable in price compared to the US. Then, typically the Germans go back and pick it up on Christmas Eve and set everything up on that day. We will probably pick ours up a little sooner than Christmas Eve. We relaxed for the rest of the day. We all needed a few hours to rest.
Sunday was pretty normal...Church, then video conference, then hang out together. Greg and I spent the evening trying to brainstorm ideas of what to do and where to go while my family is here visiting after Christmas. By the way, for all those Detroiters that hopefully read this...there are awesome fares from Detroit to Dusseldorf right now but you have to purchase by today 11/27/2007.
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