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.

Emily First

Yes, Quinn's birthday was last week, but I have some pics that I want to post before posting the tons of pics for Quinn's big day.

A few weeks ago, Eva was out of town for a few days on a business seminar, and I got to bolt early from work to pick the kids up from kindergarten / daycare. On Tuesday's, Quinn has 'Balla Balla'...basically a bunch of running and activities with balls (fits Quinn perfect!).

Emily really wants to play with the other - much older - kids...and at least once she ended up getting blindsided by a 4 year old and landed right on her head. In typical Emily fashion, she cried, I calmed her down, and she then bolted back to the fray with the older kids. She's as stubborn as I am.
...she also loves to eat the cookies that I brought. And, she also tried on my boots...she loves trying on other people's shoes...

A few days ago, we headed to the park. It was pretty cold, below freezing, and our little Madam didn't want to wear her gloves, despite my attempts. Like her big brother, she can swing for (what seems to be hours) - no matter how cold she is...and screams like a stuck pig when I (freezing cold despite my gloves and warm coat) finally pry her from the swing to go home.

I couldn't get a good pic of her joy in swinging because of this round puffy thing on her zipper...

...that's as close as I could get to a smile...

Kid's Concert

The German-American Institute put on a Kid's Concert today, and Quinn and I took the train together to make an afternoon out of it.

Quinn would have been more than happy just going to the train station and riding the train for a while, but we piddled around a bit beforehand, stopping by a bakery to get a snack.

The concert itself was very good: the Austrailian group kept the 30 or so kids entertained for the hour, and the tunes were catchy...with a little country sound.

Afterwards, we had some time to kill before our train back home, so we hunted for a cache (Geocaching) that was nearby. Of course, I tell Quinn we're hunting for treasure. Thankfully, we found it.

All in all, Quinn was stoked and had a great time...as did his father!

Good Father, Bad Father

Eva left this morning for a two day seminar, so I'm alone with the kids, giving me a taste of Eva's daily routine of working 'part time', picking up the kids around 3pm, and entertaining them until I come home (which is unfortunately later than we would all prefer).

Especially when I'm gone all week on business trips, this 'routine' is particularly challenging.
One night alone is no big deal...and it is fun to have the intense time with the kids, but let's be clear: I do everything possible to make my life easier.

In other words, I spoil the kids a bit when I'm alone. So, when I picked Quinn and Emily up and when Quinn asked if we could go to Handelshof (grocery store) to get a hot dog, I was game. They get a snack anyway at this time...so why not a warm 'meal'.

I think Quinn was a bit surprised when I said yes (the answer is normally no, but it never stops him from asking). Emily was stoked that she didn't have to share with Quinn (I had to sneak in a few bites from her hot dog. She got really mad when she caught me taking a bit from hers).

I won't win father of the day award, but I think the kids had a good time.

Music

After the kids and Eva go to bed (on the weekends), I often sit by the computer, with my headphones in place, and listen to music. Switching between the unlimited tunes via my Rhapsody subscription and YouTube.

While I would rate my music interests as very broad, when it is late at night I tend to meander towards old school country, bluegrass, and folk. Americana. Understandibly so, the sound seems superficially somber and depressing. But once you peel back a few layers, such music is not only empowering but also uplifting - in its own sort of way.

This is the music that I so much love, even though it is far from cool and far from mainstream. But, it reminds me of home...and down-home goodness that I do miss...

Thanks to Google and YouTube (and some curiosity of search from my side), I came across this video after a Peter, Paul, and Mary search.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Typical German ?

Early this week, a british colleague of mine sent me a word document containing a few excerpts of an American's experience in Germany. Let's just say that I fell out of my chair laughing. A few of my favorites:

Aspirin
The German Language : will always be a learning experience.
Du : will always be a source of uncomfort, especially in January, after a long Christmas break, when I talk to those colleagues that I have little interraction with and can't remember whether I need to use Du or Sie.
Sunshine : the winters can be really gray here...but is the reason why everyone living in Germany loves and appreciates sunshine. For those of you in Colorado: shut your holes, we know you have 330 days of blue skies every year.
Opening Beer Bottles :like being in college again.
The Autobahn : the only place on earth where I can pass a cop at 140mph and not feel guilty.
Corn - this ones hits very close to home. Kinda like Germans putting string beans in burritos in so-called mexican restaurants. I've actually seen cauliflower in a German burrito. You can therefore guess that there aren't many Mexicans in Germany. I've actually been to a 'Mexican' restaurant that didn't have any jalapenos.
Handshaking
Germans speaking English - I don't want to sit in my glass house, but this is soooooo true. I even had an example at work where one of my German colleagues said 'People that can't speak English shouldn't even try', and he proceeded to show me a few examples of 'poor' English on a Powerpoint slide. His examples were good English...but he missed the spots that were not decipherable. To this day, I still don't understand 'shrimps' and 'informations' ;-)
Es zieht - before Germany was nonsmoking, I loved this trick: go into a bar or restaurant (which was filled with smoke) in winter when it was -10°C outside (about 15°F) and open a window to get some fresh air / air movement (keep in mind, that all windows are closed and there is no heating / cooling system). In about 22 milliseconds, someone will tell you to close the window because there is a draft.
Ice Cream: for Eva.

Perhaps it is time for me to write my own book...

Bathroom Milestone

For you non parents out there, this seems insane: why would anyone care about a kid waking you up in the middle of the night to let you know that they had to go to the bathroom. Just get on with it, anyway.

Well, when it is your son whose diaper you changed for 2.5 years, who quit wearing diapers during the day when his sister was born, who (for I don't remember how lon) no longer wears a diaper at night (but still sometimes has accidents on occasion)...it is a huge deal to get woken up on a Saturday morning around 6am to the pitter patter of Quinn's feed for him to say that he had to go peepee, and that he woke up so that he could go in the toilet instead of the bed.

I was super proud! Now quit chatting with me and get to the toilet before you go in your pj's ;-)

On another milestone front, Emily is answering yes and no questions now...or at least we think she is. She always answers the question 'Are you hungry' and 'Do you want more to eat / drink' with YES. She definitely shows that she understands what we say 'Emily, where are your shoes' (the then proceeds to her shoes and starts to put them on)...both in English and German.

However, when we say things like 'Don't mess with Papa's stereo' or 'Don't go into that corner (where the light and Ox Cart is)', her reaction is a devilish smile which is proceeded by doing what we didn't want her to do.

Something about the word 'Don't' that causes her to not listen. I don't know what it is.

She's also practicing for her temper tantrum stage: when she doesn't get what she wants, she looks at one of us and starts screaming.

Geocaching

The kids were super sweet to each other on Saturday morning when they woke up...so I had to get out the camera. Unfortunately, it went pretty much downhill from here. Yesterday was a tough parenting day. Looking back, they were probably full of pent up energy, and with our crappy, gray, cold day, we didn't spend much time outside...
Reading to Emily. As with Quinn, she loves picking out books and plopping on my lap to 'convince' me to read to her.

The next few pics are about 2 weeks old: with the snow beginning to melt, it was perfect for making snowmen. Quinn, of course, 'helped' me, but I think I ended up doing most of the work. The two neighbor girls also came down to 'help'...and they did make a few heads, but I got stuck with the backbreaking work. And, I'll admit that I had a blast...with the kiddoes.

By the time we were done, we had 10 snowmen in the yard (do you see the three guarding the goal?). One of the neighborhood kids asked if it was a soccer team. I then counted...and had only 10, so I said that it was a soccer team with one red card.

Emily getting in the action.

Eva gave me a Garmin GPS for Christmas...so that we could begin geocaching and adding a new twist to our family hikes. I hadn't heard of geocaching before getting the Garmin, and I was very surprised that Eva had even heard of such an activity and even more surprised that she REALLY wanted to try it out. (Quinn and Eva with our first 'find'...which took us 3 tries to find.)

Basically, for those of you that have never heard of geocaching, it is a new twist on treasure hunting with a GPS device. There are over a million 'caches' (basically tupperware boxes with simple 'things' inside, including a guestbook) hidden worldwide, and a few hundred within a few miles of our condo. Above, Quinn, Emily, and I with our second cache.

After the first cache, Quinn was super excited, and it was precious to see him randomly digging, trying to find the second cache.

The weather today was finally nice and sunny, so we took a small hike in an area with a 'multi cache' (basically, you have to go through a few intermediate points before you finally get the coordinates of the cache). This time, Quinn actually found one of the clues (that both Eva and I overlooked). He was SUPER stoked.

So far, Eva and Quinn have done all of the finding.

The beauty of geocaching is that it gives a new spin on being outside, and it lets us see new parts of our beloved forests.

If you are interested, http://www.geocaching.com/ is the main website for geocaching. Overally, this is a super family activity, and something we'll do more of...especially when the weather improves.

Quinn and Emily in their 'ship'.

When we were building snowmen, Quinn wanted to play baseball. Since I had no desire to chase the ball in the snow, I just threw snowballs at him to hit. Worked out great!

Christmas Day and Beyond

While Eva grew up with the Christkind coming on Christmas Eve, ringing a bell to signal the kids that the Christkind has left (and also left behind gifts to open), I grew up with Santa Claus flying through the night on Christmas Eve, going down (nonexistant) chimneys to leave gifts for the kids to open up on Christmas day.
We try our best mixing both of our traditions...above, the kids show a simple one that I grew up with: the one day the year that we could wear our PJ's all day long and eat whatever we wanted was Christmas Day. Quinn loves eating breakfast in his PJ's and eating cookies all day.

Emily, as we have found out, is quite a cookie addict...and she really loved all the cookies she could eat, but was a bit, let's say really, really, really mad when we reduced her cookie intake the next day.

Emily sporting a dress from my Aunt Jessica! We think she looks like she is posing for this shot.

Emily with Tick Tack Opa.

Sometimes, gifts for kids are more like gifts for Papas. I had to fight to get some quality time with Quinn's crane (special thanks to Leah for passing on this great toy).

The day after Christmas, we were all suffering from a bit of jungle fever...so we headed out sledding.

Quinn had a blast with his butt slide. It never ceases to amaze me how a piece of plastic can bring so much joy (and tire the kids out).

Quinn absolutely wanted to hit the bump down the sledding hill. He wanted to go fast and get more air...I was worried about irreversable damage to my back. Eva got a good pic of us getting some air.

Eva and the kids.

Emily in the big chair. She's seemed to have grown a lot these last weeks ... and she definitely likes to get her way. Countdown to Temper Tantrum City: approx 3 months.

Another Christmas Season has come and gone...and it was a great, relaxing few days with family and friends. Having some extra 'quantity' time with the kids is very important for me.

My back, however, is very grateful to be back in the office, where the daily routine is a bit less strenuous.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day started out with shoveling TONS of snow at my inlaws. It was real wet snow, so it was super heavy. Family Pic: Christmas 2010: it is not easy to get two kids to smile at the same time into the camera.

Quinn and Emily playing Emily's piano book. Quinn even felt obliged to help Emily play with her toys. Thankfully, both kids share extremely well.

Tante Ali with the piano book...

Snow...and Cold

As proof that God does listen to us as we wondered what we would do with our kids all winter long (since they so love being outside and running...which is much more difficult when it is cold and wet), He sent us, in His own sense of humor, lots of snow. I mean lots of it.
I think it started snowing in early December, and this white crap is still on the ground. However, we now have plenty to do outside with the kids: sledding, building snowmen, and snowball fights. There are now 6 snowmen in our back yard, the oldest 2 are probably 3 weeks old and haven't melted a bit since we made them.

The bike path from kindergarten.

Despite the cold, we headed to our Christmas market a few weeks ago, and the kids got to ride the caroussel, and Quinn did a good job showing Emily the ropes (and making sure she didn't stand up).

Emily showing off one of her shirts from Grandmom and Grandpop! Thank you!

Happy New Year 2011!

Yet another year has come and gone...and in the spirit of accountability, below are my New Year's Resolutions from 2010. Wait...I didn't write them down. In all honesty, I'm sure they included 1) lose some weight, 2) better work/life balance, 3) simplify and the usual suspects.

In the process of thinking about our 'Year in Review for our Family' (which Eva and I do each year...by talking about the 'bests' and 'worsts' of 2010), Eva ripped out an article in our local paper. The article itself (in German only) is below:

Abschied von der Postkarte und echten Freunden

The article really got me thinking, and the timing for New Years was perfect. Plus, it hit on one of the more fundamental differences between Eva (e.g. 'old school': newspaper and book reader) and I (e.g. early technology adapter: iGoogle/Website and ebook reader).

In short, the author takes a relatively balanced (e.g. not an 'I hate technology' perspective) take on things that are disappearing from our lives and the pros / cons:
1. Handwritten letters: replaced by email and text messaging.
2. Postcards: previously 'required' (especially in Germany) during vacations
3. Paper Pictures: the few, yellowing pictures of a childhood or the slides of vacation
4. Dictonaries and Encyclopedias
5. The CD: remember those dust inducing and bulky CD holders
6. 2D Movies: strategy from Hollywood to get folks into theatres, but 3D doesn't make a bad story better
7. Land Lines: with low cell rates, who needs a land line
8. Discussion: before a discussion or debate can occur, someone is googling the question in their iPhone
9. Alarm Clock: replaced by cells
10. Real Friends: who really has over 100 real friends?

I disagreed on point 4 (Wiki still gives me tons of information and yet gives me the ability to 'peruse' other related topics), and I will never get rid of my alarm clock. I'm indifferent on the survival of the CD as long as I can keep my unlimited Rhapsody streaming service. I certainly neither have the room for my 600+ CDs (nor the crappy holders) nor the budget for the music that I would have to purchase if 'they' took Rhapsody away.

After watching 'The Blind Side / Die grosse Chance', I definitely do not need this in 3D because the story was good enough without any stupid bells or whistles. Plus, you can't beat the 5 EUR price I paid to have amazon.de deliver this to my door (oh, how I wish I could stream Netflix from Germany). Quality Hollywood, not gimmicks (oxymoron?).

Points 1, 2, 3, 8, and 10 all hit a central point for me (and Eva): simplify and get back to the basics, with point 10 (Real Friends) being the central point for #1 (handwritten letters), #2 (postcards), #3 (Paper Pictures), and #8 (Discussion).

As much as I love technology and as much as technology has helped me improve my 'efficiency' with my communication with friends and loved ones, it doesn't necessarily improve my 'effectiveness'. Yes, this blog is a great way to help our friends and family indirectly keep track of our goings on, and Google's Video Chat (and Voice) helps my folks see the kids grow up, so I'm definitely grateful for the changes in technology...

...but does all of this technology strengthen and maintain my friendships and family relationships? Yes, but only to an extent. Perhaps the availability of eMail, Chat, SMS, Texting, Facebook, blogging, etc etc, I (and perhaps others) feel like I'm communicating 'effectively' but yet I'm just being 'efficient'. These 'old school' forms of communication were successful for hundreds of years (or longer) for a reason: they had meaning due to the relative infrequency of their occurence and they helped improve REAL friendships.

So, if you have made it with me this long, I have one New Year's Resolution for 2011 (outside of the ubiquitous (allgegenwärtig) 'lose weight and eat healthier'):

I resolve to better take care of my REAL friendships (you know who you are, and they are much fewer than the 200+ friends I have on Facebook), and I will use a more effective means - even if that means that I go old school and write a letter or send a postcard from time to time. But don't hold it against me if I keep posting on this blog ;-) But, don't expect me to have an address book, I've got your addresses on my cell phone ;-)

Happy New Year! Thank you for listening.

Pre Christmas Cheer

Now that it is only a few hours till New Years, I thought I'd finally get my act together to post the Christmas pics.

The first two pics are on the first of December, where the kids opened the first door of their Advent Calendar. Quinn knows the whole process - one door a day, and each door has a piece of chocolate behind it...but Emily was a bit skeptical at first.
Everything was fine after she found out that there was chocolate behind the door (and that she could have chocolate for breakfast). Since the kids had to get dressed and ready for breakfast before they could open a door (and get their chocolate), Christmas was a very efficient month getting the kiddoes ready.

This December was the coldest on record for over 40 years, and we've had tons of snow...which allowed us to bring home our Christmas tree via sled. Quinn helped to keep the tree on the sled.

Emily did a great job not breaking ornaments ... ahem ... helping us decorate the tree.

Quinn's Christmas pose.

We took about 40 pics to get this one together, where both of them were more or less smiling.

I would title this one 'Redneck Christmas'.

...more pics to follow...I just need to catch up from all of the Christmas cheer!

Hope that you and your families had a wonderful and peaceful Christmas together with your friends and loved ones.

Sledding

It's been really cold here since winter, and we've got quite a bit of snow...which lends itself to sledding. On Wednesday when Quinn asked if I could take him and Emily to Kindergarten / Daycare via our sled, I found a lame excuse to buy me some time.
On Thursday, I was out of excuses, so I took off my suit, put on my hiking boots, bundled up, and pulled the kids to Kindergarten / daycare via our sled. I felt like a horse. Quinn loved it; Emily didn't like the the cold wind on her face.

Notice the position of Emily's gloves.

After Kindergarten, Quinn, Eva, Emily, and our friend Anne went sledding at our Obi Hill. Quinn wanted to sled all himself. Notice how he is now big enough to go 'no hands'. I'm sure Eva was freaking out.

It's not a huge hill, but the kids love it...and it is only a 5 minute walk from our house.

As long as there is snow on the ground, our weekends will be filled with sledding, cold red cheeks, and hot chocolate!