Overheard in the other room...

Maddie: "... fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, fifty ten"

Tess: "NO! It's sixty."

Maddie: "Oh. Sixty, sixty one, sixty two... sixty seven, sixty eight, sixty nine, sixty ten."

Tess: "MADDIE, NO! It's seventy."

Maddie: "Oh... math is really hard."

Adoption costs: $ Lots, Conversations while holding hands: priceless

Micah and I were walking down the street last week. He looked up at me with his espresso-colored eyes and said, "Mommy, thank you for going to Bangkok to get me."

Maddie is Six!

Maddie's birthday party was Friday, actual birthday was Monday. Maddie had fun. Mommy had emotional turmoil (more on that later).

Our first day in Germany we took a groggy walk and came to a place called KinderWelt. It's an indoor playscape that is all a kid could want: slides, climbing blob, ball pit, slides, scooters.

We decided right then that it would be a special spot for birthdays, so there was no question what MM wanted to do. The invitees were Anika Watts, and Divia and Danny from school. Both girls are in first grade. Danny is in MM's class. They played for hours, had dinner and opened presents. All good.

The only thing remaining that MM wanted for her actual birthday was the ice cream cake we always have for birthdays** recipe at bottom**.

Yet I got up Monday morning with a furrowed brow and tight lips. I imagined that I was standing in my kitchen in Cliveden avenue and not rummaging through a German grocery store trying to find Brownie mix. I wanted to call Malissa for cookie/ice cream combination options. I wanted MM to have her friends, and mine, there. I wanted the Ennises for dinner; this was our first birthday without them in six years. It was hard to focus on the joy of what was instead of the burden of what wasn't

We had already planned to play with an ISS family that morning. I asked Estelle if I could use her oven to bake the crust of the ice cream cake. When we arrived and I told her what the brownies were for, Estelle sprang into action. One of her daughters had recently had a birthday so she was well supplied. She brought out party plates, balloons, Duncan Hines brownie mix!, candles, candies, apple juice. Her three kids plus my three made a great party number, and MM had a full-blown party for lunch. After lunch MM and Vanessa made up an opera and performed it for us. They played all afternoon.

After dinner, the kids ate cake and watched one of MM's birthday presents, Singin' In The Rain--it's one of the kids' favorite movies.It was more than I had hoped for the day.

**Malissa File Ice Cream Cake

--Pick out ice cream and let soften

--bake brownies in a cake pan (I like to take them out a few minutes early. Frozen gooy brownie is excellent!)

--pour a layer of ice cream over cooled brownie, then into the freezer til ice cream freezes.

--break up cookies and layer over now ice cream, then add final layer of melted ice cream.

Kids favorite: cookies and cream ice cream with crushed Oreos

Piper likes coffee ice cream with crushed Heath bar

Andy likes butter pecan with crushed shortbread.

Pumpkin Party

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin carving party for the kids in Andy's office. All American so it wasn't a culturally new experience, but fun and easy for the kids.

Everyone brought pumpkins and carved them in the middle of the driveway.

It was, as Andy mentioned, at a former hunting lodge of the local king at the turn of the century. Lots of horns. Horns over doors, horn chandeliers, horns on walls.

The host family was great. Hot cider and mulled wine. They also buried candy in a pile of hay and let the kids run amok in it.

Housing update

Still... no... contract.

We continue to search.

School Update-- Watch out, Obama

Time for a school update:

Tess's class performed a German/English rap yesterday for the parents. "Aus Funf Kontinente Kommen Wir" It was a rap (thankfully, more like a chant) that they wrote to finish their Who Are We unit. It's as much a geography lesson than anything else. Tess was very proud of it, and they did a great job. She's doing well in school, high up in both math and reading. I'm trying to upload the video of their song, but am having technical difficulties. More later.

Maddie is the kindergarten class representative to student council. This could be a spring board to the national stage. If she managers to be a representative next year, she will have clocked more time in office than Palin as governor or Obama as senator. Hers would be quite the administration: a marine life motif in the Oval Office, dancing before cabinet meetings, and everyone in costume for a G8 summit. Here she is with her presumptive running mate, Maddie B. They sing a song together, "We are the crazy Maddies." I could start printing bumper stickers: "Vote the Maddies! It Couldn't get any Crazier."

 

We know that we are Those Parents who think their kids are adorable. Yes, we admit Micah can be a thug, but he is happy and cheerful. He's also the youngest kid at the ISS or its host German elementary school.

But now we have proof. I had Micah's parent/teacher conference this week. All the kids at his school pet/play with/pamper him. But I found out that the headmistress had to send a letter to the teachers at the host school asking them to keep the kids away from Micah while he is playing outside. They like to touch his hair and cheeks and play with him. Apparently they gathered around him a few times too many and he started to cry because he couldn't climb anywhere.

Pumpkin festival at Ludwigsburg Palalce

Tess's thoughts on the pumpkin festival in Ludwigsburg:

It's surprising how small Ludwigsburg Palace

(and here)looks from the side entrance. We walked in the side gate and saw a large rose garden with a fountain in the middle. We thought it was nice, but small for palace grounds. 

Then we walked down the side of the palace and saw there were miles of gardens. We saw pumpkins that weighed more than Daddy. We saw pumpkins carved into animals. My favorite was a collection of pumpkins all carved to look like animals. We walked through the fairytale garden with small houses that had a story in them. We even saw Rapunzel's hair coming down from her tower.

We met some friends from school. We went to the cafe and they had pumpkin rice, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin beer and pumpkin muffins. We played at the playground next to the food stands. We ran around all afternoon and then went home.

Piper here:

It's true.

We walked in the side gate of one of Germany's largest baroque palaces, and I thought, "nice roses." and that was about it. The grounds were pretty with sculpted beds and a fountain, but nothing to be overly thrilled with. We walked along the back and there was a tree-lined lane that lead to miles of some of the most beautiful grounds and gardens I have ever seen.

We have put it on our list of places to come back to and places to take visitors. It also soothed my soul to see the that the obsession with large vegetables goes beyond the borders of American state fairs. Though, I must say, no food on a stick here. Only pumpkin in everything you can think of. Thankfully none in my cappuccino.