W32 of Y2

Aiden's 7th Birthday

My sweet little Aiden turned 7 years old this week. He said all he wanted to do for his birthday was to go to the zoo with his family. I should have jumped at that... instead we kind of forced him to have a party with his entire class. He always just wants to be with Connor and doesn't like to make friends with kids his own age. I thought a birthday party with his entire class would be a great way for him to make his own friends. Overall, I'm so glad we did it. However... it was a lot of work! As a result, I didn't get very many good pictures. I was way too busy!!
We went to the Kids Zone on base. It has bowling, mini golf, and an area that is like Chuck E Cheese. We had kids there from Italy, Germany, Holland, Venzuala, Hungary, Japan, Brazil, and America. Most of them had never heard of Chuck E Cheese, let alone been there. It was so funny to see their faces as soon as they caught on to the fact that they play games, get tickets, use tickets to buy toys! No one wanted to do the bowling or mini golf like I had planned. So I just let them all play the games. After we had pizza and cake it was time to go home (it was a school night) and then all the kids were really mad at me because they didn't get to bowl or golf yet. I felt bad then. I promised we could all go back another day for the bowling. Geesh!!!
It was so fun to see Aiden in the spot light all night. He seemed to really eat it up. Connor had a few friends from his class there too and Whitney had tons of fun with everyone. There ended up being 22 kids there!

Terry Fox Run

The boys school sponsored a Terry Fox run (for Cancer Awareness) this week. I went to pick them up and spotted Aiden walking with his new crush. She is in 5th grade and really cute. His teacher told me that one day last week she asked the kids at the end of the day what was the best part of their day that day. I guess Aiden told the whole class "Today I fell in LOVE!" He's not even shy about it. He tells everyone that he loves this girl. So funny. She is really sweet too. She told Aiden that he is cute. It made his day.

Scout Campout

The boys new scout pack had a campout this weekend. Jeremy and the boys went there all day to do all the work and get camp set up. Whitney and I met them out there for dinner and then we went back home so they could have their "guy time" or CDC like they call it (Cool Dudes Club).

Here they are making 100 foil dinners around this small fire. lol! Kayla sure got used to being around alot of people though. She is always so skittish around adults but she was walking all over the place looking for food! Right after this picture my battery died. :( I didn't get any pictures of the boys skits... hilarious!

W31 of Y2

We didn't do too much this week. The boys started scouts this week and we are really excited about their new dens. (sorry, no pics)

We went to a German baptism at the local church in our village. The kids at Whitney's kindergarten practiced the songs all during the week so we wanted to go and see what they were working on all week. She looked so cute singing in German in front of everyone with all of her friends!

Saturday was really cold an rainy. We tried to go see a movie but there was something going on on the Autobahn and it was taking forever so we just turned around and went back home. We got a little bored and ended up having lots of fun with youtube and a video camera. Maybe you had to be there but I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. My stomach hurt the next day from laughing so hard. I hope you all enjoy as much as I did.....

Teenage Dream

Original

With the Cates

Charlie

Original

With the Cates

W30 of Y2

Great News!!!

If you remember from previous posts Whitney was diagnosed with VUR when she was just a baby and has had to have awful tests done each year to see if it's gotten better, worse or the same. She was supposed to have the tests again when she turned 3 but I put it off because the tests are so awful! Anyway, it took all day but we went to have the tests done and both kidneys were 100% clear! Everything is fine now and she never has to have these tests done ever again! yay! I was so proud of my little Whitney... she was so brave and such a big girl during her tests. I was so happy to see that beautiful smile again when it was all over.

Guinea Pig Races

This week for FHE we had guinea pig races with Milo and Otis. Connor was our cameraman for the event. It was predictably boring until the very end!

Whitney

While we had the camera out already, I took some footage of Whitney brushing her hair. She has an interesting technique for brushing her hair, and she won't let anyone else do it. I think she learned it from watching Arial brush her hair on the Little Mermaid. I think it's so cute! After she brushes her hair she treats us to a great song and dance!

Neuheim Markt

I went with Aiden's class to the Farmer's Market in Neuheim this week. We took the train from outside of their school to the market. Their assignment was to ask, in German, where products came from and then to pick out a snack to eat while we were there. The kids were so cute. I had such a great time!

The Sleep Over

Connor had his first (successful) sleep over with his new friend Jack. They look and act so much alike... it's cute! Whitney really liked Jack!! lol! We went to the park, had pizza, watched Despicable Me and then we went to bed... I have no idea what time the boys finally fell asleep!

Aiden

Jeremy took Aiden to run errands Saturday morning while Connor and Jack slept in. I was shocked when he came back with Aiden. He chopped off all of his gorgeous hair!!! I was so mad.... but, it is kind of cute.

My fearless BBQ-ers grilled steaks for us this weekend. I can't get over what beautiful weather we've been having!!

W29 of Y2

Family Portraits

We went to one of the castles in Weinheim to take Family portraits on Labor Day. The weather was perfect, the setting was beautiful, the kids were adorable, but getting all 5 of us to smile at the same time... nearly impossible! Our photographer took close to 800 pictures. These are the best. Overall, it was fun and a great memory so it was all worth it!

Our photographer was great! I even got a picture of him on top of the castle walls trying to get a good angle of us. We really made him work!

Rhein River Cruise

We bought tickets to go on a cruise on the famous Rhein River, Europe's most important commercial waterway for over 2000 years! It is known for its beautiful scenery, ruinous castles, many myths and legends and the wines produced along the river. The river stretches from Switzerland all the way to the North Sea in Holland. We got on in Rüdesheim and got off in St. Goar. We toured the Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar and then went back to Rüdesheim for shopping and site seeing before going home. Unfortunately, Connor came down with a fever in the middle of the night. Jeremy volunteered to stay home with him that morning so it was just Aiden, Whitney, and me. It wasn't the same without Connor and Jeremy there but we still had an unforgettable time!

The kids barely said a word on the way home! lol! They were pooped!!