First Time Photographers

We spent yesterday in Switzerland, taking the boys on their very first photo shoot. Our fingers nearly froze off to bring you these excellent shots. We hiked to Boelchenflueh, trying to get above the fog, but didn't have any luck. Then we went to Aarau, a city Garrett served his mission and took some pix there too.

This street canal and tree pictures were taken by Fantastic Sam.

The archway and clock tower pictures were taken by Marvelous Jacob.

The city buildings and Garr and me pictures were taken by Awesome Mason. Mason took a picture of us while I took a picture of them!

Joe's picture is the snowy forest one at the bottom--pretty good for a less than one megapixel fisher price camera!

What we've been up to..

Happy Holidays to everyone! We miss you all and wish we could be with you. I thought I'd share some of what we've been up to over the Christmas break. The boys each painted one of the nutcrackers to the left and I love them. From left to right they were made by Jacob, Sam, Mason and Joe. Each year I have them make an ornament for our tree and someday when we have enough I'm going to make an "Island of Misfits" tree with just their ornaments. They are truly my favorites.

For Christmas Eve we had cheese fondue which was so delicious and we're going to make this our new tradition every year. We were sure to eat German pickles with it because, as all good Germans know, Pickles help you digest the cheese. We decided that we would get up at 7:30 on Christmas to open presents, but the kids weren't allowed to come upstairs, so from 7:30 until 7:45 we got a minute by minute update for what time it was until Garrett and I pulled ourselves out of bed. We started the German pickle tradition--you hide a pickle ornament on the tree on Christmas morning and the first one to find it get to open the first present. Jacob was the lucky winner, however, the tree was roughed up enough by the extensive search and seizure that it later fell over and broke nearly every glass ball on our tree. Maybe I'll have to make the pickle super-obvious next year to avoid catastrophe. The boys got cameras this year and are excited to go later today on their first personal photo shoot. Jacob and Mason got scooters and Sam got a skateboard and Joseph got 2 clone trooper costumes and blasters as well as all of them getting alot of legos. They had a great Christmas! Garrett is sporting the rag-quilt that his boys made him, which may explain the chagrinned look on his face. If you look up at the fondue picture you'll notice we are drinking hot chocolate out of real teacups--between the painting, the tea parties, and the sewing I've heard Garrett say many times, under his breath something like "What a bunch of Faeries!" I'm as pleased as punch--who needs girls anyway? Come on, they are saudering and carving wood at school and watching Jaws, light sabering and playing air guitar non-stop at home, so it's got to be a little therapeutic to have a tea party once in awhile, right?

The day after Christmas we went to some hot mineral pools with the kids. I'd include pictures, but they were nude pools. O.K. I'm just kidding, but lucky for us we did get to see alot of old men in banana hammocks and old women with hairy armpits in bikinis. Other than that it was so fun to relax in the hot tubs. I had to include this pix of my kids in their super-cool duds before we went to the pool. We're stylin'! On the way there I was giving my usual lecture about how we were going to a German place and they're not used to alot of noise or kids so we need to be quiet and behave and then Joe put in his two cents worth, "And if a German talks to you, you just stare at him until he goes away!" We were cracking up--this tactic must have worked for him before!
We've had fun putting a Lord of the Rings 1000 piece puzzle together. Of course, our usual luck is holding and if you look at Gandolf's beard you'll notice we are missing a piece--must be business as usual at the Wood's house.

Mostly we've just hung out together and eaten junk food and watched movies. Here's a picture of our glasses club. Jacob has them, but never wears them anymore, he says he sees better without them. Last night we went to our first German New Year's Eve party and had so much fun. A little before midnight everyone goes outside and lights fireworks--not just sparklers, but the rockets that you see at the big fireworks displays in the States. You can turn in any direction and watch an amazing firework display light up the sky from Germans' houses all over the valley. Other than Mason almost getting his foot blown off by a firework, we all had a great time.

We hope you all have a great New Year and spend some quality time doing the important things!

Medieval Christmas Market in Esslingen

The Friday after Thanksgiving we took the kids to the Medieval Christmas Market in Esslingen. Our favorite part was the fun Medieval Carnival Games. The picture below is Mouse Roulette. You put your money on the colored spot over the mouse hole that you think the mouse will go in. Whoever guesses right gets a prize. We also got to watch some medieval minstrels play on bagpipes--pretty cool, but so loud!

One of our favorite Medieval games was where they set a real egg in a carved out spot of a wooden stump that was about 10 feet away from you. They gave you some heavy metal balls and you tried to smash the egg by throwing the metal balls and hitting it. These last 2 pictures of Joe and Sam are hard to make out exactly what they're doing, but Joe chose to throw "Chinese Stars" and you try to get them to stick in the logs and Sam is throwing axes at logs and trying to get them to stick in. Mason threw stars and Jacob threw axes also. It was a boys paradise. Thank heavens OSHA hasn't seen this Christmas market--they might think it was dangerous or something to give sharp metal objects to children between the ages of 5 and 9. The guy who did the axe throwing booth was so awesome, giving the kids extra turns and making a big deal out of all their direct hits. I think he liked it that the noisy Americans cheered so loudly that they brought extra customers to his booth.

A Serious Santa Oversight

Today is St. Nikolaus Tag--Santa Claus day. Last night children in Germany put their shoes on the front porch and then Santa came and left either sweets in their shoes, if they've been good, or straw in their shoes if they've been bad. It was evident to Garrett and me that they'd be getting straw, an especially harsh punishment for Jacob who has severe hay fever. Best case scenario it would be a 50/50 mix of straw and treats. However, due to an unexplained Santa oversight they each received a large bag of wrapped German chocolates. In the picture Garrett is video taping this rare phenomenon of Santa stupidity. The only thing we can figure is Santa was unaware the previous renters had moved.

Days that drive a mother to strong drink...

Yesterday was a day to drive an otherwise teetotalling mother to strong drink. Immediately following the boys' school we drove to Jacob's psychiatrist appointment for his ADHD medication. After about an hour and a half there, we drove to Patch base to send our family Christmas gifts to the states. It was a completely hellish experience. I waited in line for a good half hour only to get to the front of the line and have them tell me that I needed to fill out customs forms for each package I was mailing and one of the boxes with exterior writing needed to be completely re-covered. With 4 kids sort of in tow I went back, to fill out customs forms. Jacob and Mason were messing around with the retractable line tapes and pushing eachother, Joe was running around, bumping into people, grabbing the flag (this is a military base and I was expecting someone to throw a major fit any second) and cutting the post office packing paper with a pair of scissors he found on one of the desks. When I tried to get him to sit and discipline him he started wailing and screaming and kicking and then playing the limp dishrag and the whole works. He wouldn't sit still and left his designated time out area to blow his nose and wipe his eyes on the--you guessed it--the flag. He was so naughty that Sam told me he heard a woman in line tell her daughter that Joe had mental problems and it wasn't polite to stare! Between desperately trying to control Joseph and trying to get Mason and Jacob to stop messing around and mailing 7 packages the Southern postman at the desk kept looking at me pityingly and said three different times "Maam, you have your hands full." I nearly killed my children in broad daylight with witnesses in a government building. The day didn't end there--Joseph and I had eye appointments which Garrett had to drive us to because they were going to dilate my eyes. After 2 1/2 hours at the eye doctor and then looking for glasses which, by the way, cost $600 for Joe and me we decided that the day had reached its capacity for pain and anguish and I "called in blind" from the dilation and skipped the young womens' activity. The bottle of wine in the picture was a gift from our German neighbors who came over on Sunday to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with us. I thought about sending it to the Bradfords to christen their fancy boat with, but after yesterday, I might have found a better use for it!

Halloween--German Style

The night before Halloween our ward had a party with the German ward that meets in our building. Sam was a Punk zombie, Jacob and Mason both wanted to be Indiana Jones so we had two Indiana Jones' and Joseph was Iron Man. Garrett dressed up as Edward--I mean a vampire.

On Halloween we went with our friends, the Weigands, to Legoland, only an hour and a half away--are you thinking of visiting us now? Poor Garrett had to stay and work but we had the entire week off--every six weeks the German schools get one week off. We had a great time riding on the Bionicle rides, the Dragon castle and many more rides. Also, seeing their huge lego display of Europe.

Can you believe this castle below is made completely of legos?At Legoland they completely understood our lego needs, down to the last details. I had to take a pix of these WC signs--they were just too funny.

The boys also loved visiting their gift shop where you could put together your own special blend of legos and buy them by the kilo. Truly a dream come true for my boys who plan to design legos when they grow up! It was so cold--mostly just I was freezing. The boys even rode some of the rides that splash you which was truly crazy--we'll have to come here again in the summer when it's enjoyable to be splashed. As you can see, we barely escaped Lego Land but are more than willing to dare to do it again.

Kindergarten auf Deutsch

It occurred to me the other day that I haven't written anything about Joseph's kindergarten (preschool) experience. Joe goes to preschool which they call kindergarten in our little town. Above is a picture of him in front of the school. Kindergarten in Germany costs differently depending on how many kids you have--the more kids you have the less you pay--a concept that would be highly accepted in Utah but not especially lucrative! (Negative population growth has some benefits!) When I told them that we have 4 kids, they were astounded and unsure what to charge us. They had to look it up in their "kindergarten bible" and it turns out that if you have 4 kids then preschool is free. I think this is the first time in my life when having more children has actually cost me less. The kindergarten is so incredible. They have one room with pegs on the walls and gym mats on the floor so they can climb the walls and tumble. Above Joe is sitting in a small mirror house. They have two indoor play houses and a wood working area with real tools, including saws! The one (three don't) teachers who speaks English put my mind at ease when she explained that they can't use the woodworking tools until they receive proper safety instruction. What are they thinking giving saws and hammers to 3 to 5 year olds and telling them to play nice? Luckily for me, the English speaking teacher, Sabine, hasn't had time to instruct Joe so all his appendages are still intact, for the time being. Outside they have another incredible play area in "the garden". I don't know how much German Joseph is picking up, but Sabine informs me that the other children have learned the word "No", which they tell Joe whenever he is breaking a rule or they don't like what he's doing--apparently quite often during the day! Joe's claim to fame is a pair of Spider-Man slippers he got for his birthday--they have Spider Man's head sticking up out of the slippers near the toes. They don't make slippers like that here and since all the kids are required to wear slippers or "house shoes" while inside, the other kids love to come and feel Spider Man's head. The kids are also fascinated by his American snacks, his Star Wars t-shirts, and his Shrek crocs. Oh no, I've turned into one of those moms that buys the hideous clothes with characters all over them.

On the Monday before Joe's birthday, his school celebrated their Laternenfest. Each village does their own Lanternfest with the small children. Joe got to help make a paper lantern at school then they put a real--yes, real candle in the--what?--yes, paper lantern--and let the 3 to 5 year olds carry them around the village while they sing songs and fall over their own feet and hopefully don't start anything on fire. Our friends, the Weigands, suggested that we use special lantern flashlights attached to a pole that you can buy at the local drugstore. One or two other kids also used this method, but most all of the other kids had candles--and they scold me when I don't put a hat on Joseph to bring him to school! All the boys had fun with our flashlight candle. They would blow in the lantern and Joe would turn off the light from the switch on the pole, like they had blown the candle out, then Joe would turn it back on a few seconds later. It was really confusing some of the other little kids to see a "candle" that could turn off and on--those American kids are so weird! The last picture is super blurry but I thought it was pretty cool to see Joseph and the lanterns surrounding the fountain in our little village. We had a great time at our first lanternfest.