the birds and the bees

We have some interesting conversations in the car. Sadie had some questions for me the other day.

"Mom why do you kiss Dad so much? You know that you can get germs that way. That is gross.....eeeeewww"

Trying to think quickly I answered, "Well....yes. You can get germs, but Daddy and I love each other, so it doesn't bother us. Some day you will love a man enough to not care either. When you are older, a lot older, like when you are 20."

Micah from the back added, "Well....actually mom, it is more like 15 or maybe 13....ya..that's right. That is when you start liking boys or girls....."

Inside my mind, I gave a silent scream.

Spring Time

Taylor is in the background collecting the nuts.

The nut pile.

We have a Hazelnut tree in our front yard. I knew about, but the kids discovered it today. Now that the snow is gone, the nuts from last fall are exposed and are still in piles ready for eating. Sadie taught Taylor how to use a rock to crack them open and they both collected a large pile and got busy crushing them. They did pretty good at it and after little while they had a cup full of nuts. Of course, they didn't eat them, but brought them to me as a gift.

While they were busy, I had the front door open, so I could keep an eye on them. The piano is near the door, so I decided to teach Micah a piano lesson, while they were distracted. I thought to myself, this is one of those successful mommy moments. Two kids playing outside, one inside expanding his talents. I even thought, "take a look at this German neighbors," as a couple walked in front of my house, "I have things under control," I thought........

Then Taylor accidently smashed Sadie's fingers with his rock. She started screaming. So did he. While I was comforting two unhappy children, Micah bolted for the toy room.

Moment over.....

oh well.....

One of those small rewards

Last night before bed, Micah put his arm around me and said, "mom, you are the best mom, well the only mom, I have ever had."

He continued, "But I wouldn't want anyone else."

Bring your kids to work day

Our children have never been able to participate in bring your kids to work day, because of the appropriateness of having children attending an epidural placement, assisting in a surgery, or administering narcotics. Well....there are exceptions to every rule.

Last night I received a phone call at 8:30pm. My pregnant friend whose husband is deployed timed her contractions at 5 minutes apart. It was my job to be with her while she labored and it was time to go. There was only one problem: Greg was on call last night. We determined that the chances of him getting called-in (he takes call at home now), were small, so I left the children in his care to help my friend.

We were wrong. After 2 hours of walking around the hospital, Greg called to inform us that was coming it. A ruptured appendix arrived in the ER, and a laboring woman (not my friend) needed an epidural. Okay......"we can do this," we determined. Greg and the kids were now on their way.

I took the kids, while Greg ran to help the woman in pain. Although, the kids were torn from there warm beds, groggy and grumpy, they managed the disruption of the night well. Upon arriving to the hospital, Micah did inform us, that he didn't mean to be "rude, but coming to the hospital was not part of his schedule." However, once the kids saw the snacks in the waiting room, they perked up. We popped in a movie for Sadie. Micah was content to play poptropica on the call room computer. Taylor did complain constantly about wanting to go home, but was overall pretty content.

When Greg was done with the procedure, he still needed to stay in the hospital until the appendectomy was completed. The kids accompanied him in the call room, while he finished his notes. My friend and I walked around the hospital for two more hours.

The late night ended after four hours of walking and sad mother-to-be who wasn't going to meet her little one that night. We were tired, it was now 2am, but the Jensen family reunion in the labor and delivery went well.

I just feel bad for my friend, who still has to labor and deliver her little one, without her husband.

Fasching 2010

Sadie headed to her costume party for Preschool. Her princess outfit is underneath her snowsuit. I am hoping that we don't have look for Easter eggs in the snow this year.

The Table Continued

It took me so long to get this up, because I wanted a clean the house first. The kids cleaned up, Sadie put on the place mats and candles. I quickly took a picture.

A new kitchen table

Am I so lame as to blog about a kitchen table? I guess so.

Ahh...the furniture dilema. We quickly discovered that furniture shopping is tricky here. We found out that we needed certain items, because of the lack of kitchen and bathroom storage. Bathrooms here don't have ANY cabinets. Just a sink, potty, tub and shower. The kitchens are similar. There is no place for storing dishes.

The next problem is that I don't like the furniture here. The modern style dominates the stores. Some of it is beautiful, but very expensive. Plus, it doesn't match what we already have.

Shopping at the BX is an option, but again, I don't like it much. Maybe I am too picky? Much of what is there is overstuffed and cheaply made. You can order anything form the military catalogue, but it takes 6 months to get here and you really only have a little tiny thumb nail picture to judge your major purchase.

Then there is the Belgian furniture. It is beautiful and expensive. Apparently, you can go there and special order your pieces. I haven't tried that out yet.......sounds like a bad habit to get into and I think it is probably a bit too "country" for my taste.

Then there is the one store that caters to Americans "European Country Living." The buys travel around Europe and find unique pieces from different countries. It is overpriced, but beautiful. They do have sales now and then. I am always keeping my eye out for their clearance items. I bought our china cabinet and buffet there for 40 percent off. The table I have looked at for the past year finally went on sale, (40 percent off too.)

Our guests now can join us at the kitchen table for meals, instead or sitting on the couch, or standing. The table arrived yesterday and we are already enjoying it. The coolest thing is that it expands to seat 12 (I don't even know if we have 12 friends!) The top of the the table slides open to expose the leaf. It is already attached and folds out of the table. You don't need to lift the legs and it can be expanded by one person.

Even cooler is that it is a little bit taller than our last table. I can comfortably cross my legs and still fit them underneath. Yes, that matter to me.

We are keeping our old chairs, but have ordered a matching bench that can seat 3-4 people and fits under the table when not in use. I have no desire to own 12 chairs, so we will buy only 6 chairs when we get back to the states. Nice chairs are hard to find! I don't feel like spending hundreds of Euro on chairs that look like they came off of the Star ship enterprise, since the modern style is very popular here.

yup....that is my lame blog about furniture.......

I will take a picture of it later.

Chimneys

It was a chilly morning and our neighbors had fires burning in their fireplaces. Taylor is very observant and pointed out the smoke from one of the chimneys.

"Volcano!" He said.

On the way to the bus

One of my favorite times of the day is walking with the kids to the bus. It gives us a chance to connect, to talk about the happenings of the day. The topic of discussion for today was future careers. Micah has known what he wants to be for a long time, a paleontologist. Sadie declared that she wants to be a mom. I asked what else she might want to do. "Mommies can do lots of things.," I informed her. I suggested a doctor, "like daddy." She came up with teacher.

"But really, mom, I want to do what you what you do."

"What is that?", I asked.

"Clean up, put the babies to bed and drink coke."