birthday buddies

The past two weeks we celebrated two birthdays in our family. Toby and Amelie's birthdays are just one day apart! We celebrated Toby a little early, and Ami a little bit late in order to have some breathing room in between.
 

 

Toby turned six years old!  This is my big kindergartener at school.  The littles and I brought in powdered doughnuts for his class on the Friday before his birthday.

 

Then Saturday morning we went to Ramba Zamba for lunch and to have a fun time.  This is a bounce house type of place in Mainz with big slides, trampolines, and so on.  Charlotte and Toby had been there before when we last lived in Germany, but I think they enjoyed it more now that they are a bit bigger.

 

All the kiddos got to ride the dino-karts.

 

Even the big Rob-kiddo back there!  ;)

 

It was a fun family day out.

 

For dinner, Toby requested mac & cheese & peas.  Gourmet, right?  I made easy mac in our hotel room microwave and the kids were all very happy.  Even Ami with her plate of peas.  (She doesn't know she's a baby.)

 

Then we had the birthday cake! 

Since I have no oven, and Toby had a grand request for a MarioKart themed cake that the commissary could not fulfill, I found a lady on base (via facebook) who bakes cakes.  She came through in a big way with this super fun cake.  We blew out candles in the smoking area outside (so as not to set off sprinklers in the hotel,) then brought it into the breakfast area to enjoy and share with some fellow hotel dwellers and staff.

 

Toby is such a wonderful little boy.  I continue to love his gentleness and empathy.  He is making a pretty smooth transition to kindergarten, though he does complain sometimes about having to do things he doesn't want to do, and he needs to continue to work on controlling his emotions.  (Welcome to school, buddy.) His teacher told me the other day that she asked the class to use a sight word they had been learning in a complete sentence.  She said that no one seemed to know what a sentence was, until Toby raised his hand and said, "I am going to the park." He used four of the sight words they had been learning and made an excellent sentence.  He also stuns us nearly daily by explaining math ideas that are much more complex than what he is doing in school.  For example, "10 rows of 9 plus 1 row of 9 would be 99, right?" We think he definitely has a talent for numbers and visual mental construction- if that makes sense.

 

But most of all, Toby is our sweet gentleman.  Every evening when he reminds me that he needs to give me hugs and kisses and tells me that he loves me, I melt again for my little heartbreaker.

 

And then we have this girl!

Amelie turned one year old last week! She is the smiliest, happiest baby we have ever had.  She is seriously a fully mobile ray of sunshine in our family. Yes, Ami took her first real solo steps in the Charlotte, NC airport on our way to Germany on Aug. 23rd. Now she is a speedy walker and climber!

 

Despite the fact that Alarm-elie still wakes up at least twice a night to nurse (normally I would have weaned her completely by now, but with having her in our room these past three months, and having the other kids in our room as well, I still get up with her to keep her quiet,) I still think she is adorable when she sleeps.  She has two lovies that she sleeps with- her seahorse from Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, seen here,  and a Lambie from Pop-Pop and Grandma Linda, which is under her belly in this picture.

 

Ami and Mommy- a birthday selfie.

This girl loves her momma, and the feeling is totally mutual.

 

For Ami's birthday dinner I made vegetable (not)fried rice.  Amelie is fiercely independent when it comes to her food these days.  Someone feeding her is an insult to her, and so while she figures out how to use utensils, we clean up the mess.

 

Sometimes she gives up on the utensils and dives face-first into her food.

 

Our first birthday family tradition has been chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  In order to make that happen, I borrowed the oven of a friend on base and made a batch from a box mix.  We sang happy birthday to Ami outside and the big kids helped her blow out her candle.

 

Rob tried to take the wrapper off of the cupcake before handling it to Amelie.  She was not willing to wait, so dove in face-first again.

 

Clever daddy decided the best thing was not to come between the girl and her chocolate.

 

She really didn't make that big of a mess, but I was glad we set her in the grass outside to do it anyway.

 

Soooooo yummy fu manchu.

 

We adore this baby.  She is far too spoiled and doted on by mom, dad, and older siblings.  She is just irresistible!  I love walking places with Ami- everyone smiles and says hello to me, and then I realize that it is because she is sitting in the stroller, or grocery cart, grinning from ear to ear and princess waving to the world.  She really knows how to make friends and influence people. 

 

Her favorite place in the world is sitting between mom and dad.  She will scream and complain until one of us picks her up and puts her between us, and then she is as happy as a clam.  She doesn't talk much, and I don't think we have added many real new words to her vocab, but she understands many things and considers herself one of the big people in every way. I am so thankful for our little Ami. I can't imagine our family without her.  Since she was born, we have really felt that our family is complete.  What a fantastic, crazy first year she has had!

 

Happy birthday Toby and Amelie!

and the winner is....

House #1- the garden house!

Rob thinks I was a little disingenuous with the info that I posted on the two houses, or more people would have chosen the first house.  I suppose that is true, but I wanted to make it look like it was a contest of some sort.  The truth is, we made appointments to visit three houses.  We went to visit the first one and FELL IN LOVE with it.  The garden is something I have been wanting for a long time, but didn't think would be possible in Germany, or as renters for that matter.  The house gives us more space than we imagined we could afford, with two rooms and a bathroom set aside for visitors (start making your reservations now!) The town is one I am familiar with as our dear friends used to live here and it is an easy walk to a large park and petting zoo.  The owner is an older German gentleman who carries dog biscuits in his pocket and was happy to hear we have four children... I know that sounds crazy, but we had such a fantastic landlord last time we were in Germany, and have heard so many horror stories from others, that feeling good about the landlord is important. 

The second house we visited was TINY! I don't know how they calculated that square footage!  I could stand in the kitchen and touch every cupboard and appliance without moving my feet.  Seriously, the one bedroom apartment I was in as a single person had a larger kitchen. The dining room wasn't big enough to seat four, let alone six.  The yard and sunroom were lovely, but the interior just could not compete.  And as a bonus, house #2 sits on the flight path to Frankfurt and while we were there no less than 10 planes flew overhead- low and loud.  It was awful.  We got in the car and called the owner of the first house and that was that!  We didn't even go visit the third house on our list.

We have since been back to visit the house once more now that it is empty and we feel really good about our decision.  This house will promote the lifestyle we like to live in Germany- more time riding bikes, walking, gardening, and playing outdoors.  It will allow the kids to each have their own room.  The bus ride is long, and that is unfortunate, but from what I hear from other parents, unless you live on base, you have a long bus ride.  We'll see just how bad it is next month.  I'll post more photos when we are eventually settled in, for a virtual tour. 

Househunters International

We have been busy since we arrived here in Germany, and one of the first jobs on our list was to find a new home! We had some extensive criteria I suppose, but I don't think we are super hard to please.  Below you will see photos of our top two contenders, please comment with you vote on which house we chose, and in my next blog post I will tell you the winner!

Wishlist:
4+ bedrooms
2+ bathrooms
2000+ square feet
located between Rob's work and the kids' school
outdoor space to play
space for visitors
a nice big kitchen and playroom would be awesome

House #1- the garden house

 

Located fairly close to Rob's work (possible to bike ride when the weather is nice) but an hour bus ride for the kiddos.  The chimney in the photo is for an outdoor wood burning fireplace on the patio off of the living room space. 
7 bedrooms
3 1/2 bathrooms
2800 sq. ft. (which includes the finished basement)
1 car garage

The kitchen isn't my dream kitchen, but has space enough to work.  Those "cupboards" at the far left are the refrigerator and freezer. There is a separate pantry on this level.  Current tenants were in the process of packing when I took these photos, so the house is pretty messy, but the floors are in good shape.

Front yard has a small patch of grass, rose bushes, and a shrubbery shaped like Wilson from the movie Castaway (far right.)

Main level/ master bath.

One full bath on each level, plus a half bath in the foyer.

(cat not included)

This bedroom and the next one share a balcony off the side of the house.

Nice, but possibly a safety hazard for the little ones.

2nd upstairs bedroom

upstairs bathroom

3rd upstairs bedroom

The master bedroom plus one more are on the main level, plus there are a couple more in the basement level. The upper level also has a mini kitchen area- kinda awkward use of space.

The backyard is occupied by an established garden.  This photo is of raspberry canes, there are also blackberry bushes, other berry bushes, a composting bin, and ample space to grow veggies.

 

 

House #2- The winter garden house

4 bedroom

2 bathrooms

2100 square feet

1 car garage

 



 

This house is located closer to the kids' school, but still has a 45 min bus ride, and is a bit farther from Rob's work (no longer bike-able.) Located on a corner, this house has more lawn space (fully fenced, as is the other home,) and grape vines growing over the back wall.

 

Main floor bathroom. 

Upstairs bathroom is nearly identical.

Main floor bedroom

The winter garden. 

In the US we would call this a heated sunroom, looking out on the backyard.

 

Dining room with small wood burning fireplace.

 

Large master bedroom upstairs as well as two other smallish bedrooms.

 

Kitchen. (Fridge on the left, with freezer below.)

 

So, I realize I didn't take pictures of every single room, but either home would work for our family.  I will tell you that it was no contest.  One of these homes we looked at and really, really loved. We looked at the other and thought, "uh no."  What do you think?  Take a guess in the comments and I will let you know our choice and reasons in my next blog post.  :)