Hanging at the house!

This night Sabrina and Uncle Stefan hung out with us. Sabrina, Ava and Omi baked some traditional German cookies called Amerikaners, for Max's playgroup the next morning. Very fitting for us Americans to bring, they we're a hit!

Max and Uncle Stefan wrestling in the living room.....

Now back to my Robin Hood.....geez!

Early Morning Snow!

At bed time last night the snow started to fall. We woke up in hopes of building a snowman but this was all we got. Good thing for Matthias as he drives 90 mins a day to work. Here are a few from our outing.

Max has had the hardest time adjuting to the cold...he truly is a warm weatherd baby, but he did great in the snow.

Snow Angel for you?

Showing of our new snow suits!

Sunday night Ulm Theater.....

Gudrin, Omi and I went to the Opera Sunday night. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's, Le Nozze Di Figaro, preformed in Italian with German sub-titles. I watched in amazement as the singers and orchestra preformed for 3 hours all in Italian. There was German subtitles, so I pieced the story together as it went along. Great night for the three of us. Omi's Valentines gift to me....Perfect!

Balcony center stage seats.

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Breakfast is a big spread on the weekends....lots of breads and spreads, coffee and teas!
Sunday Morning views from Omi's

We meet with Caroline and Michael for the afternoon!
Buddies!

Lots of great news to share!

A trip to Schweinfurt to meet Thomas.

We met Amanda in the city....here are a few of our bundled up babes....

Amanda took us for some yummy Italian food. It was really good, and we had the whole place to oursleves...even better. Max and Ava took over.

Just so sweet and holding his head up so good.

The whole drive down Ava and Max couldn't wait to see 'Baby Thomas', when we left Max asked us....'Where'd Panda go?"

Max and Thomas both looking at Amanda....

Thomas and Panda--heehee



Great afternoon, hopefully we'll see them at Max's 2nd birthday party at Omi's!

Saturday morning we drove to Schweinfurt to meet Amanda and Thomas for lunch. We hopped on the A8(autobahn) and headed north for about 2 hours. It was so great to see them and Momma Amanda looks GREAT! Thomas was perfect even with us handling him so much! He's got such a great color, dark like his daddy and Purty-Purty like both mom and dad. Welcome Baby Thomas!!!!

Kindergarten for Miss Ava Lou and Play groups for Max too!

Here are a few from our push to get Ava to school by 8:30am. A little slow today but we made it. Happy Friday y'all!

The kindergarten about a 5 minute drive from the house.

Outside Ava's classroom....

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The Biggest Girl- I learned how she must have been feeling yesterday, story below!!

Max and I attended a Mom's play group yesterday here in the villiage. It was as a local church with about 8 other mom's and 10-12 kids, Max's age or younger. I have to say there we're butterflies in my stomach for the first 30 minutes, I felt myself blushing not knowing anyone and not being a native speaker. But in the end, I was so glad we went.

We started out in a big circle and sang traditional childrens songs. When asked if I had any to share with the group all I could think of was Old McDonald, thankfully they new it in English. Then we let the children play and we sat around and had coffee, and breads for breakfast. I enjoyed visiting with everyone, most we're shy to speak English--totally understand, this is how I feel about German. Luck for me two spoke Great Great English. We talked about kids, differences in cultures and President Obama, they let me know that Europeans are happy and hopeful for our new President. They too are paying very close attention to the USA and their every move. The economy has been very much affected here too.

Okay off my soap box, lol

We ended the group with more songs and an invitation to join them in their annual carnival celebration next Thursday. A little like Halloween in that everyone dresses up, I need a bit more information on the meaning. Something to do with out with the cold and welcoming the warmer weather....I totally agree!

Tuesday swimming in Blaustein

Time to go....this part is never fun!
Omi the the GREAT!
Tuesday Omi and I loaded up the kids and headed to the swimming pool. It was a gorgeous day with the highs in th 40's. This was our first time to this inside swimming park and the kids loved it.

We've been getting into more of a routine around here with Matthias and Omi both back at work. Ava is in school every morning at 8:30 and I pick her up at 12:30. Of course she's loving it.....I think she just loves school in general, lets hope this last.

Max and I hang out at the house or run a few errands around Thalfining. Yes, I've been driving and figuring out the rules as I go. Think I'll tell Matthias I'd like to drive to Schweinfurt tomorrow so I can get some practice on the autobahn. Watch out! Anyhoo, back to Max...he and I are totally enjoying hanging out around the house and waiting for the others.

Omi of course is keeping us full with all of Matthias's favorite dishes...no complaints here!

More later!

Friday in Thalfingen

Woke up a little late Friday, but Ava insisted on going to school. Here we are running out the door.

Afterternoon adventure around the neighborhood with Omi.

Max likes his hat down low on his eyes.

Friday night we went to the local pub in Thalfingen to meet Laurino.

Sporting the Rae lipgloss for the night.