Charlie Bit Me

I am stealing this from my Friend Gwen's blog. We have laughed and laughed while watching this video. Hope it brings a smile to your face!

One last picture

I forgot this picture but it has quite the story attached. We were in Wenceslas Square just taking a quick peek. Nothing special about the square, it's a huge rectangle market area. Well, we sent Dallin off to run after the pigeon's since he was itching to do so. He was having a blast when we all decided to head off. We walked into a small souvenir shop then got kicked out because they didn't want the kids inside. (They were not nice people) We chatted a moment before walking about a minute when we realized that Dallin was NOT with us. Thinking back, we'd left him at the square with the pigeons. My heart sunk to my feet as Mike and I ran back. We did a quick search with no luck. Our friend split up, one stayed with the kids the other helped. Only minutes had passed before Mike found him with a couple. He was in tears telling them he'd lost his family. They spoke enough English and told him they'd help him. WHEW! What a terrible moment for us but it ended in a good note. Mike was guided to the spot to find him. He doubted himself when he followed the inspiration, because he knew Dallin wouldn't have gone that far...but he did!

Our Prague Trip

Petrin Observation tower which sits on top of a hillSilly Mike...tired from climbing the stairs

The City ..to the left is the bridge. We took this from an observation tower with 299 steps.Astronomical clock
Kids hanging outside the apartment window
Outside market..They did NOT like the kids touching the toys. YIKES
Taken after walking all over Saturday. We were tired and hungry
Tombstones

Inside the Old New synagogue
Reading the book of choice for the trip..Rick Steves!!
The church building
Charles Bridge
Bridge where you can see fishing boatsJust taking a moment to chill


He'd eaten a popsicle

Finally I'm taking the time to upload the pictures to show what we did in Prague. We had a wonderful time. What a HUGE difference it makes when you travel with friends. The kids didn't mind the endless walking because they had friends to chase around and hang with while we stood in lines. The weather was beautiful, despite what the weather man had predicted.
We walked miles and miles to get us from one spot to the other. Most of where we were at was in the historical area where cars/taxi's weren't allowed to drive.
The sites we saw were the old town square which is home to the huge astronomical clock. At the top of the hour, it rings beginning with a skeleton who strikes the time. In the clock picture you'll notice 4 figures at the top next to the dial. They represent the 4 things that were despised at the time of the clock's making, recognized now as antiquated racism. The first image represents Vanity represented by a figure adorning himself in a mirror. Next, a Jew represents Greed, who is holding a bag of gold. Then, the skeleton represents Death. Finally, the Turk, an Arab, bears the Turban. Above the dial you'll see a statue with 2 windows. When the hour is run, the 12 apostles rotate in front of the window. The last thing to happen is the rooster crows at the end. It takes about half a minute for everything to happen. Crowds gather at the hour to watch this happen.

We also visited the Old Jewish Cemetery and Old-New Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter. The cemetery was created in the 15th century when the Jews were forbidden to bury their dead outside their own district. Space was very scarce, so bodies were buried on top of each other in an estimated 12 layers. Over the centuries, tombstones have become lopsided and created neat scene to look at. Before you enter the cemetery, you go through a number of memorial rooms where the names of the jewish citizens of Prague were killed. There are about 77,000 names written on the walls. There is also a room of art work from the children who were taken to the Terezin concentration camp. At each piece of art, the name of the child and their age was written. MOst of them did not make it through the camp alive. It was very touching to see this art work. The girls couldn't believe that this happened not too long ago and that the children would be about the age of their grand parents. They were sad to think of how they were treated.

The Synagogue is Europe's oldest active synagogue and one of hte earliest Gothic buildings. Services are still held on Friday and Saturday's. Inside is the prayer hall for men. Women may look through windows to watch the service. The men had to wear the Jewish cap while inside the buildings. You'll see Dallin and Mike wearing theirs.

We also saw the famous Charles bridge. This is a pedestrian bridge FULL of people and vendors selling artwork, music and souvenirs. The bridge is beautiful with statues and such.

We also visited the Prague castle which is one of the biggest castles in the world. This castle includes the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, and other things. It took us most of the day to get through all of the sites. The girls took a picture with one of the guards outside.

We also made it to church on Sunday morning. We caught the train and made it just in time. The chapel was FULL! We were suprised to see such a huge crowd. There are a lot of english speaking members from the embassy there so they have a translator. The kids enjoyed primary and were excited to see that they sing the same songs as we do here. They did the songs both in Czech and in English.

Our trip was wonderful! We enjoyed great company, good food and lots of historical sites.

We're oFF!

To Prague this morning. We leave in about 2 hours and there isn't much packed up yet. So, I best get my tail in gear and throw things into the bag. We'll return back on Monday. Check back in
Tuesday for an update on our trip.

We've got good girls!

With the complaining moments, there are also good ones.
We get programming a day later than in the states. So, last night (Tues) the states got part one of the American Idol Finale. Tonight (Wed) we get to see it. The problem is tonight we have activity days for the girls. For those that don't know what activity days is, it's for the girls ages 8-11 in our church. They get to learn about all sorts of fun things that will prepare them for young women's when they turn 12. They also learn to set goals both long and short term.
Ok, back to the subject...I do NOT want to miss American idol. We get home at 8:30, American idol will have 30 minutes left of the show. The girls were also very excited to see how David Archuleta performs. So, I suggested that we just stay home from Activity Day's so we can watch idol. I was SURE in my mind they'd go for the "cool" idea. All 3 of them yelled NO!!! We want to to go Activity Days!!!!I couldn't persuade them otherwise because I knew in my heart it was the right choice. But Darnit, I wanted to sit at home on my duff and watch idol.
So, I just have to say publicly that even though we have not soo great moments here, I'm proud of the girls they are becoming. I guess that also means that we're doing something right as parents for them to chose a church activity over popcorn and idol. :-)

"It was only a Wizz-it"

This morning I took Lola to the boarding kennel in the village to see if they had room for her this weekend as we take off to Prague. As I walked up with her in my arms, she heard the dogs barking and started shaking. I walk in and Elka the owner greeted us. She's the sweetest German lady who truly loves these animals. She greeted lola with a huge "Shatzee, you got your hair cut, I hardly recognized you." She scooped her up and held the shaking Lola. She was loving on her and said they had room for her this weekend.
As we were getting ready to leave she said this "See Shatzee, it wasn't that bad...it was only a Wizz-it!" You see, here in Germany the v's are w's so visit is wizz-it. I smiled as I walked out to the van while repeating to Lola "Shatzee, it was only a wizz-it" I've smiled all morning long as I've thought about our trip to the kennel. With a huge smile on my face I say this.."This Wizz-it" to Germany is WONDERFUL!!

A great recital

Lauryn with Ms. Ahola her school teacher


I love this picture of her little legs hanging there



The recital was last night and the girls did great! They had their songs completely memorized! Way to go girls!!!
Our house was a bit chaotic while we were getting ready. We had to leave by around 6:15 which meant we had to eat and get cleaned up before that. Lauryn had a mishap while getting to the bus which involved falling down, skinning her knee and missing the bus. I had to go to the school to pick her up and didn't get back home until 4:30. I put off making brownies until that time so I called Mike as he was leaving work and had him pick cookies up at the commissary instead. (whew.. problem solved)
Next, the girls (Maddi and Brilee) decide to get into an argument. It was over the fact that Brilee got into Maddi's room and tried to use her body glitter gloss without asking. (oh the drama that goes on here) It didn't end there, Maddi then called her the word that's NOT to be used in our home. IDIOT! Brilee refused to leave the room until she was apologized to and Maddi decided to put the sparkly gloss on Brilee's face (to be nice)but, it was not a nice gesture. She smacked it on, all over her eye. While this is going down, I'm upstairs doing Lauryn's hair and hear the neighbor outside yell that their dog is chasing Lola. Ok, we didn't know Lola was outside. She'd been out there for about 30 minutes and came in all perky with poop all over her back,head and face. She'd obviously found something yummy to rub in. So, the fight has come upstairs as Brilee is crying with goo in her eye and I'm gagging (seriously about ready to heave) as I'm spraying Lola off in the shower. Put yourself in the situation...warm water heating up the smell. Ok, I'll stop there! It was HORRIBLE, I tell ya! The girls all ran in to see what was making me gag so loud. They thought it was pretty funny.
Things smoothed out, the girls made up, Lola was clean, hair was fixed and we were ready to dash out the door.
The recital was great -they're already asking for their next trio to play. I think they'll be given something new to start this week. The only bad thing about the recital is that I left the camera on accidentally after I made sure it was cued up to the right spot. The battery was dead when I went to tape them. :-(

The Wishing Flower

Yesterday morning as the Mother's Day gifts were brought out from hiding, I sat on the couch anticipating their arrival. I knew the kids were DYING to tell me what they'd made at school. They BEGGED me to open them early. I told them to hide them and I'd open them on Sunday morning. Well, Lauryn's gift was plopped on my lap. It was an 11 x 17 sized pink package. Inside was the usual art work created by using their hands to create flowers, this time they were beautiful tulips. But, there was a clump of fuzz in the package as well. I picked it up and said, "Lauryn, what is this?" "Oh mom, that's from the wishing flower, I want to put them in our back yard!" We know the wishing flower as a stubborn weed, the famous DANDELION! I told her very calmly to carefully put the fuzz in the garbage, I did not want any more wishing flowers in our yard. I've been trying to get rid of them, why would I scatter them in my yard? She did not understand why such a fun flower wasn't welcomed in our yard. I told her she could bring me the pretty yellow flowers for my vase, but once they looked like a wishing flower, I didn't want them. I think we came to an agreement with that one. She's allowed to wish on the wishing flowers, but not in my yard, and she's not to bring them home. :-)

Piano Recital Preparation

The girls are almost ready for the recital this Friday. They each have one piece and the trio Yankee Doodle. They've worked very hard to memorize their music and stay together. The trio has been hard because they can't keep their fingers to themselves and the bench seems to have gotten smaller since last year. It's made for a lot of crazy practice sessions but it's paid off! Sorry the video's are separate, our camera only takes video for 30 seconds. Maddi is playing minuet in G, Brilee is playing Part of your world, and Lauryn is playing Plurals.

Lola's spa trip

Lola's day for a hair cut was today. She's much cuter now! She doesn't like the tub, it's too slippery for her feet.

New Transformations!

The girls wanted hair cut's so I called our sweet German stylist to ask if she could get them in today. She had a cancellation and was happy to work on the girls. Brilee had decided that she wanted to donate her hair to the locks of love. I measured and figured out she had enough to donate. You have to have at least 10 inches from top to bottom to donate and she had 13 inches cut . Maddi decided to go short as did Lauryn. They all love their new hair, even Dallin got his cut.

I did the Unthinkable...

For those who have a hard time with change, this post might not be good for you to read. I've struggled my life (all 32 years of it) to accept fruit chunks of any kind in my food. To me, they need to be pureed to be enjoyed. I was raised that way, I guess you can say we're all weird. I know many don't share that same opinion, and that's ok. I seek out the creamy yogurt, or only eat the top portion and leave the fruit at the bottom. NEVER would I eat a raisin bagel or cookie. BUT, over the past 2 years with gentle leading and guiding from Mike's family, I've slowly been led to the dark side. I used to mock my sister-in-law's cookies full of craisins, raisins, oatmeal and chocolate chips. But, not anymore! I'm admitting to the world that I like raisins in my cookies now! The secret is out, her cookies are the best! That's not all....today I climbed another mountain and MADE chocolate chip cookies with ONE CUP of raisins and some dove chocolate candies in the mix. Raisins have NEVER been added to anything I've made in my kitchen. I must admit, they're yummy cookies and I'm going to eat a few. I've always tried to get the kids to enjoy the fruity things I don't like. I love that they eat raisin toast and even begged me to bake oatmeal raisin cookies. I think the next step in my journey to not being a chunky-fruit-in-my-food hater is tackling the yogurt. It might not ever happen, but it's worth a try. Next on the list would be to try to eat that quater sized apricot chunk in the jam. Hmm... that one might never happen.

May Day Celebration

In the village, we gathered at 11am to celebrate spring. The kids from the kindergarten (German) were dressed up like flowers and performed a short skit and song. Dallin actually learned the song this time around. Back in December, he was too embarrassed to sing the song so he just stood up there. We're proud of him and how far he's come this year. Even though he's doing great and understands most of what is said, we've decided to not continue on in the German school for the upcoming school year. Our reasons being that we're not going to force him to learn this language that neither Mike or I speak. After 3 years, I'm sure he'd be completely fluent but then what? We get back to the states, integrate him back into American school and the language is lost because he won't be speaking it regularly with siblings or us. It's been a hard decision but we are confident it's the best for us. The celebrations here are a lot of fun to participate in. I loved the orchestra with their wooden instruments. I'm not sure what they're called though. Last night for witching night, we put a few pieces of toilet paper on a few houses. Nothing bad, just a couple strands here and there. The kids had fun but will have to learn how to be quiet when you're doing the job. Nothing bad happened up in our part of the village, other parts had quite a bit of TP everywhere. We lucked out!