The mice are back.....and gone again!

Well, they're back, our friends the mice! Lauren and I were enjoying a movie last weekend when a little mouse peeked around the corner right behind our TV. After our experiences last year, this was hardly unsettling, so we decided to take care of it in the morning and continued on watching our movie.
The next day, Lukas and I prepped the mouse traps in the basement with fresh peanut butter and then....waited....and waited...and didn't have to wait very long at all - the very first night, our little friend found its way into the trap and we said goodbye to yet another visitor. In the meantime, I've stocked up on mouse traps, so I guess Lukas and I are ready for mice season!

The Big E

Yesterday, we spent a few hours at The Big E, the largest fair in the Northeast, and had a great time as a family!  While there, Lukas and Olli went down an enormous slide, Lukas and I rode on an elephant and went to the "petting zoo", and we all watched a circus and witnessed a large parade. 

The circus was where we spent most of our time as we had to be there an hour before the show started in order to get seats.  The kids were very patient as they waited--perhaps Lukas' snow cone and a large bag of popcorn helped! :-)  Once the show started both of the children were enthralled with the performances.  Isa's favorite was the dog show where the dogs did all sorts of tricks--she laughed, clapped, and called out "Wau-wau" ("Hundi" or Doggy in German) the entire time.  Lukas liked the "lady in the net" performance the best--essentially a trapeze-like act with a net rather than a traditional trapeze.  I was astonished (and kind of grossed out) by the man who holds the World Record for number of balls juggled using his mouth only (5 ping-pong balls).  Olli thought that was a pretty cool trick, but I've warned him not to try that at home! :-)

The elephant ride was a highlight too as it brought back memories for me about riding an elephant at the zoo when I was a child.  We felt like giants up there on its back. 

Isabel and her Papa waiting for the circus to begin

Lukas watching the clown at the beginning of the show.  I was amazed by how much his emotions were reflected in his face throughout the show.  I saw excitement, awe and occasional fright (when he thought someone was going to fall or hurt themselves).

Watching the juggler, I believe

Lukas and I riding the elephant

"Special Events"

Okay so only a mom would consider the first time her girl wears "pig-tails" and the first time her son plays with his "complete" train set and train table (a combined birthday gift from us and some members of my family) "special events", but they certainly feel special to me!  

I was so excited to discover today that Isabel's hair is long enough for pig-tails. 

My sweet girl

Lukas has been playing "non-stop" with his train table ever since he got it

Lukas' 4th Birthday Party

We were so excited to celebrate Lukas' birthday together with a few families from our church this past weekend.  It was beautiful weather so we were able to hold the party outside.  The kids enjoyed playing games in the yard and the parents actually had a few spare minutes to talk at normal speed with one another--a success all around! :-)

Lukas wanted a train-themed birthday party so I made this cupcake train for him.  It took me longer than I'd like to admit to make and, believe it or not, the most time consuming part was cutting and gluing all of the train tracks onto the board!  It was worth it though to see how excited Lukas was about it.  He chose the toppings--can you tell which is his favorite?

Lukas standing proudly in front of his cupcake train and Thomas and Friends tablecloth.  The "thumbs-up" was his Papa's idea, I think.

Here is the food for the party--I tried to think of healthy finger foods that would also be kid-friendly. Lukas was especially thrilled about the "shaped-cheese" I made for some of the crackers (I cut some cheese with cookie-cutters) and was sure to point them out to his first guests on Saturday morning.  When he was helping me with some of the preparations before our guests arrived, he asked me, "We're doing all this special stuff because we want our guests to have fun at our party, right?" What a great host he'll make some day if at age 4 he already has his guests' feelings in mind.

Some of the kids playing T-ball.  I was a little concerned that someone might get whacked with the bat, but the kids were very orderly about it and the parents ran great interference!

Isabel "praying" that it will be her turn to hit the ball next

The playset in our back yard getting a little use too

Lukas blew out his four candles one by one instead of in one big breath--so cute!

Lukas the morning of his actual birthday after having opened his gifts at breakfast before his first day of school.  The "Bob the Builder" card in his left hand was a big hit and when he opened his Construction Truck Puzzle book from us, he graciously told me, "Wow, Mom, you did a great job on choosing this book!"  Olli and I grinned at each other--it was a no-brainer for us since he borrowed the book from his cousin Julius this summer and had read and re-read it with us and by himself countless times.  It was obvious that he would enjoy having his own copy.

Summer Vacation in Germany--Borkum and Hannover

We returned last week from what turned out to be a three week long vacation with Olli's family.  We had only planned to stay two weeks, but because Hurricane "Irene" was supposed to hit the East Coast the weekend of our scheduled return, and because Olli had business in Geneva the following week anyway, we postponed our flights and were able to enjoy another week with our family!

Here are some photos of our times together.  We spent 6 days on the island of Borkum on the North Sea.  We had nice weather and the kids loved playing in the sand.  The water was cold, but Lukas went "swimming" a couple of times and even I braved it once.  We then spent the rest of the time in Hannover.  While there, we went to the zoo (the best I've ever been to) a couple of times, had an extended family reunion and played in the sandbox at Oma and Opa's as well as swung from the large tree in their backyard.  Fun times were had by all!

Lauren, Opa, Oma and Baby Jonathan hanging out by the Strandkoerbe

Isabel loved the sand so much that she would literally roll in it!  It made for very interesting diaper changes and a bath every night.

Another favorite activity of Isabel's while at the beach was to climb up the tall ladder that led to a large slide and slide down--over and over again!  She loved it, but the adults weren't always so enthusiastic since she needed to be "spotted" on the way up and the way down.

Here she is on her way down...

Oma, Olli, Lauren, Lukas and Isabel in front of the polar bear exhibit

These polar bears were so active--we saw them swimming, diving into the water, climbing out again, and "boxing" each other.  Perhaps they were excited about their new habitat since it comes complete with ocean waves, cliffs and bones to chew on.

Watching the polar bears romp around--we also went into a boat-like structure to watch them underwater too.

Olli was determined to catch the polar bears leaping into the water with the video camera--I think his persistence paid off in the end.

Oma with Isabel at the elephant exhibit

Three female elephants and their three babies put on a show for us--complete with painting a T-shirt for some lucky person to buy.  It was so packed that Lukas and I had to stand on this stone ledge to see the show.

The "Papa" elephant joined the group at the end to eat some hay and someone must have pushed the "music" button by mistake because music started playing and the elephants were clearly startled.  It was amazing to watch how the grown elephants immediately formed a circle and pushed the babies into the middle.  They were trumpeting and rotating around until the music (and thus, the threat) was gone.  It was fascinating to see and hear.

Here's a photo of the Mama elephants (the Indian variety) and one of the babies.

Lukas and Sophia reading a book together in Sophia's preschool classroom

Lukas, Julius and Isabel playing on the playset in front of Julius' house

At the family reunion: Lukas jumping over a rope. The big kids were entertained by this game for quite a long time, much to their parents' delight.

Isabel trying out her own jumping skills, which is really more like a "leaning tower" into Mommy's arms.  She enjoyed counting off beforehand in her own version of eins, zwei, drei.

Sophia and Julius climbing up the ramp to their playset

Everyone at the family reunion

"Uncle" Christian playing cars and trucks with Lukas

Lukas at Oma and Opa's house "digging to China" in their sand box

Isabel assisting him one shovel-full at a time

Don't you love their mud-pants?  I certainly do, since they help me do less laundry!