Annie

 The Erzenhausen gang went to see Meredith in Annie last night.  

The boys enjoyed "Little Orphan Annie" mocktails before the show.  

 Lincoln has just recently started drinking carbonated beverages!  

 Our four kids got to enjoy the show from the FRONT row!!!  They were very well behaved.  It could have been because Mrs. Craven, their music and art teacher, was in the play!  

Miss Hannigan was fantastic!!!!  

Meredith was wonderful as a little orphan!  

I loved watching her beam at our kids when she spotted them!  

Speech Graduation

Last week we celebrated Lincoln and Julian's graduation from "speech."  These boys have been working hard on their /r/ sounds on Monday afternoons.  We celebrated their good speech by playing a board game and eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  

A weeks worth of stories

Nate and I have been watching five seasons of the Big Bang Theory on the computer for the past few weeks, so my blogging has been very minimal.  This means that I have LOTS of Link stories to share.

The first has to do with this fancy pirate hat.  His teacher was very proactive and sent out a memo detailing the Doctor Seuss activities that the children would be participating in.  They included mismatched sock day, polka dot/stripe/star clothing day, dress as a book character, and make your own paper hat day.  Link spent a long time making this pirate hat.  On Tuesday, the designated day, he wore his hat to the bus stop and I noticed he was the only one with a hat.  The next day, he and Ethan wore mismatched socks and shoes.  No one at the bus stop was mismatched.   I pulled the memo out after I dropped them off at the stop and realized Dr. Seuss week was the following week.  Ooops.  Well, they had a half a week of practice!  

Link's math skills are really improving rapidly.  I noticed on Saturday, as we were waiting to pick Ethan up from a sleepover, that he was doing elapsed time.  He calculated that we had 23 minutes until Ethan was due to arrive.  I complimented him on his math said I was very proud that he could do this.  He said, "Well, I have LOTS of practice.  My friends at school are always asking me how many minutes until snack time!"  Nothing like a food motivator to work those math skills!

He was VERY sick Thursday evening.  He threw up all night.  On Saturday, we called my mom and were chatting and I heard him tell her that he had swim practice before he got sick.  He thinks he was just sea sick from swimming.  

The last funny story is related to his illness.  He is always very lovey and snuggly, but this weekend he was especially snuggly with me.  Nate told him that he was definitely Mommy's boy this weekend and he said, "Well, she loves me more than you do because she gave birth to me."

He is such a character.  AND for all of you wondering if he is still going to be a pirate when he grows up, he has decided against it.  Apparently, pirates die too much!

Potzburg Wildlife Park

We have had beautiful weather for weeks now!  So, as soon as we make outdoor weekend plans, it turns cold and yucky!  We all bundled up and headed to Potzburg Wildlife Park for some playing and the bird show.  Lincoln brought along his best friend, Julian.

Right away we saw some cool owls.  

We walked the entire park and all the animals were bunched up near the trees.  

We were behind the fence and couldn't get a good look.  

This buffalo was the only animal who got close to us!

The views from the park were AMAZING!

After an hour of exploring, the boys were ready for the bird show.  We came two summers ago without Nate.  You can read about it here.   It was so scary then.  We were new to Germany and weren't sure what the guy was telling us.  This time.....we thought we were prepared!

UNTIL, the guy told us to get up and take the leather glove he was passing out.  WHAT???

It turns out that we were going to be holding the birds!

Julian LOVED it.  He kept his glove on and caught the birds over and over!

Nate loved it!

Ethan had fun, but was very cautious!

Lincoln went and hid behind a shed!

I was able to get Link out of hiding to take my picture.

I finally bribed the kid with a homemade cake if he would try it!!!

He even smiled!

And then the crazy bird flew right at me!

I love this picture of Ethan!

Still smiling.....

Lincoln tried it one more time before we left.  It was so much fun.  We got to "play" with the birds for a about thirty minutes.  Ethan has already asked if we can go back tomorrow!

Challenging Spelling Words

Lincoln has a spelling test every two weeks.  He usually knows the 1st twenty words and doesn't need any help.  His teacher gives the class three bonus/challenge words.  Those are the words we usually need to focus on.   This week's words are "require, environment, and slimy."  

Me:  Spell environment.

Link: E-N-V-I-R-O-N-M-E-N-T

Me:  Perfect.  Spell slimy.

Link:  S-L-I-M-Y

Me:  Great!  Spell require.

Link: R-E-Q-U-I-R-O

Me:  Requiro??  Huh?  Try again.

Link:  R-E-Q-U-I-R-M

Me:  Requirm?   Where did you get M?  

Link:  Well, how does it go?

Me: There is a silent E.

Link:  R-E-Q-U-I-R-M-Silent E????

Oh Link.  You're so cute!!!

Spring is Here!

 While everyone in the states has been getting hit with a unseasonably cold winter, we have had an extremely mild winter.  In fact, Spring is officially here!  The temperatures reached the 70s today!

 We spent the afternoon with the afternoon at the Browns.  

 It's been a while since the kids have played outside.  

We had to tell them what to play every few minutes because "there is nothing to do."  

 You also would have thought it was 90 degrees because Lincoln complained it was so HOT!!

 We had a nice early dinner outside!

I hope we can enjoy more of these wonderful Spring afternoons!!!

Carnivale

When we booked our time in Venice, I noticed it was hard to find a hotel, but I didn't know why.  

I quickly learned it was Carnivale.  

 People dress in masks and elaborate costumes and stand in St. Mark's Square 

just to have their picture taken.  

 This lady had a tree on her head!

I thought Lincoln would LOVE to see these guys!   We bought the boys two masks.  When I showed Lincoln these pictures, he said that these people were freaking him out!  

Venice, Italy

 Nate and I went to Venice this week (by ourselves)!!!!

This was taken right outside our hotel!  Our hotel was in a perfect location.

On our first day, we wandered the city and took a gondola ride.

 We went through small canals and down the Grand Canal.

The Rialto Bridge.

Nate LOVED St. Mark's Square!

We took a tour of the Doge's Palace.  It was a really good tour.  We were able to go into the prisons and the bridge of Sighs.  We actually stood in Casanova's jail cell.

 On Thursday, we rented a car and drove to Verona.  The weather was amazing.  We walked around the city and went into their colosseum.  

We took a walk and stopped by to see "Juliet's balcony."  

We also went to Nove for some Italian pottery.  

This particular store sells to William's Sonoma and Tiffanys.  

I bought a few fun pieces.

On Friday, we had a late flight so we took a water taxi over to Murano.  

We stopped in a few shops to look at Murano glass.  

This trip was such a great break!!   We couldn't have had a better time!