Insanity

The definition of insanity has to include having a children's birthday party.  I was thankfully ;-) on a business trip (to Brazil and Colombia).  

 Quinn wanted to have a policeman-themed party...and since Tante Nina could join us (and help Eva out), she added excitement to the party by wearing her uniform.

 Since the party was during the week, Eva and Nina picked up the kiddoes from kindergarten.  The kids are already excited and wired by getting invited to a birthday party.

 The invites were also police themed.  You can imagine the extra excitement by being picked up by a real cop.

 We even had tape to board up our front door....

 Eva sent me a text after about 15 minutes of the party stating that she needed a drink.  At the end of the day, things went well, and there were only a few issues.  To make it all worth it, Quinn said that he had a great time.

Emily turns 2

It is hard to believe that our little girl is now 2 years old. Our little Emily is no longer a little baby.

She is definitely developing into her own person...that we are learning to handle as a separate person.

She now understands the concept that presents are to be unwrapped. She no longer needs Quinn's help unwrapping her gifts.

Quinn is bummed by the development, but even on Emily's birthday, he got a few gifts to unwrap.

Blowing out the candles is still a highlight!

I absolutely love her face in this picture! Fast forward about 16 years, and this is the face of a party grrrl.

Emily on her first laufrad (walking bike...basically a small bike without pedals, which helps kiddoes learn to balance on a bike-like device).

Of course, there is cake and coffee in the afternoon.

Emily is, well, a girl. She loves wearing skirts (even though they are rather unpractical for her level of activity), and REALLY loves Hello Kitty. She also loved the hair accessories...she just needs more hair.

I still comb her hair and try to give her a pony tail (Pferdeschwanz). She loves them so much, that she can't keep her hands off of it...which causes it to unwind and fall apart.

The joy of a birthday!

Getting ready for being a school kid ... with her own backpack!

...let's go ride a bike.

Emily also hit another milestone two days ago: she peed (and pooped) in her training toilet! Yeah!

Now, the gross time comes when we have to clean out that thing after each use :-( But, we're one step closer to getting Emily out of diapers.

Oma Turns 60!

While birthday celebrations are very important within Eva's family, 'round' birthdays are even more important...instigating a special amount of preparation

This round birthday was no different: Eva's mother turned 60, and her dad spent what seemed like weeks getting everything prepared. To add to the excitement, my parents flew to Germany for the celebration...and to visit the grandkids (visiting us is a mere bonus these days ;-)

While my parents used to be avid bowlers, they've never kegeled (the German version of bowling). Quinn had a blast.

Kocka celebrated his birthday a few days prior and got a Bayern München jersey. Kocka is a huge Bayern fan...and Eva's mother is a fan of whoever is playing Bayern München. Such pictures like the one below will not happen often.

Both kids got hussied up for the occasion. Miss Emily was looking super sweet in her blue dress.

Notice the resemblance to Mama!

Kids can often do things that puzzle their parents, and Quinn's stabbing of one of the many birthday cakes was a prime example. I still have no idea what he was thinking: he wasn't trying to be mean, but I had to explain that it wasn't nice to stab such a nice cake.

Definitely the best Tanta Nina cake to date.

The sandbox got plenty of play time.

We gave Quinn our small camera...to let him experiment. We also wanted to get a feel for what he thought was important. While there were many pictures that were out of focus, he mainly took pics of people.

There were lots of pics of his cousin Lea.

Thankfully, Eva's dad spend the weeks prior to the celebration to build a rather complicated tent system. The weather was cold and rainy...and we definitely needed the tent. Who would have thought that it would be cold and rainy in late July.

Similar to other 'round' birthdays and with wedding celebrations, the friends put on shows and read poems for the person of honor. The 'knee' burlesque was especially hilarious.

The kids played while the adults played. Miss Emily keeps trying out bikes and rollers.

Family pic I.

Quinn loved having extra people to convince to play games with. He hates losing. I wonder where he got that from ;-)

Emily on the playground the day before.

Quinn testing the fireman's slide.

Looking like a model.

Quinn kegeling...

Our Little Boy Turns 4

As much as a cliche as it may be, neither Eva nor I can believe that our little baby boy is now four years old. He's passed being a baby a long time ago...and he's not a toddler anymore. He's a kid...a full fledged boy.
Looking at Emily and her excitement, she probably thought that it was her birthday, and at least Quinn tolerated her trying to open his gifts. She did get a few things to open up as well - some nice (and much needed) long sleeved shirts.

The theme of Quinn's big day was soccer...

Some soccer PJ's (extra ball sports included in the PJ's) from Grandmom and Grandpop! Thanks!

Quinn concentrating on his card...

The big winner was the leather soccer ball! He wanted to play immediately (in the house). Eva and I told him that with this ball, he could neither play in the house nor in our backyard (Papa is fearing for the lives of his tulips and hedges). So we'll have to go to the park a few meters from our house to play...

Apparently, I was not specific enough with the rules, and he thought that I said something like 'no soccer in the house'...so he tried playing basketball in the house...

After seeing my first faulty communication of the rules, I quickly realized that Emily didn't think that the rules applied to her.

...then I had to exclude bowling from the list of things 'not to do with the super cool soccer ball'...

...with me being the party pooper (Spielverderber), I had no chance when Quinn looked at me and asked: Papa, can we then go outside and play in the park?

It wasn't even 8am yet, but I was already in my suit, good dress shoes, and it was bloody cold outside.

...so we went outside and played soccer for about 20 minutes (don't ask me what Quinn was doing on the ground...it was cold, man!).

Quinn had a blast, and he can really whack that ball...It never ceases to amaze me how the simplest things can bring such joy!

Part II of the birthday - the children's birthday party will follow. Nothing defines insanity like inviting 5 4-year olds to your house, pump them full of sugar, and try to make sure that no one gets an eye poked out.