Halloween Costume Advice for the Kids

Kids,

At first glance, the black ninja costume seems much cooler than the pink princess outfit. This I admit is true.

However, you should consider the ramnifications of your costume decisions in advance. For instance, it's much easier for a parent to misplace a black ninja on a crowded street on a pitch black night (...one could argue that is the intended purpose of the black ninja outfit).

Further, the pink princess outfit can be counted on to elicit a certain amount of parental sympathy when you start crying as your sugar rush fades.

Finally, if you choose the pink princess outfit you won't need to worry about your little brother taking your katana and hitting people with it.

Remember: with great coolness comes great responsibility. Choose wisely...

Quote of the Day

Me: "Welcome home, Micah. Tell me about your day."
Micah: "Good."
Me: "Can you include a verb in your description."
Micah: "No."

It looks like he's progressing well on the path to male conversational stereotypes.

In Memorium

Here's to you, Alexander Anderson. Thank you for making my kids laugh so hard that milk came out their nose.

Birthday Quote of the Day

"Of all the presents that I got, I think the ninja sword is the one that I'll use the most."

--Maddie Merrick, age 8
New owner of a lap desk, dolphin backpack, pink foam ninja sword and bicycle

Piper would like to add that Maddie's bicycle is the only 24" Specialized girls bike with factory flower decals in southern Germany. The full saga of our questing for this bicycle will one day be chronicled in the oral history of our people. But not today.

Click here for photos of the weekend.

Raising the next generation of shoppers

Maddie: "Mommy, can I buy that fuzzy turtle with my allowance please?"

Piper: "You know Maddie, there are lots of fluffy things in the world..."

Maddie: "Yes, but that turtle is one of them."

Hmmm. Not sure how to argue with logic like this.

What's in your wallet?

Today is a teacher conference day so the kids are off school. We're off to an amusement park.

The contents of Maddie's travel back-pack.

1 Ninja Sword
1 Ninja Costume
1 Portable bathroom (not sure about this one)
1 Stuffed animal
1 Water bottle
1 Toy gun
1 blow gun

We are, apparently, ready for every sort of hardship or adversary. Wish us luck.

New Day, New Quote

"The key, Micah, is to maximize surface area. This is why we cut the waffle before pouring syrup on it."

Uncle Kevin K.
Teaching Micah how to get the most syrup possible onto his waffle

Quote of the Day

"In every grown up movie, there is too much kissing. If I made a movie, there would maybe be a hug but that is all."

-Maddie Merrick

Spoken after she was forced to endure the sight of Han Solo kissing Princess Leia yet again.

Longing for a taco

One of the things we really miss here is good Mexican food. It was with some eagerness that I saw a local take-out place has a Mexican section on the menu. Then I read, "Chili con Carne: Scharfer mexikanischer Bohneneintopf dazu Pizzabrot" which is spicy bean soup on pizza bread.

The search continues...

Google's German Unity Day Logo

This was cool...