Christmas is officially over in our house!

yep, the 6th of January is officially here and that mean the end of christmas. the funny part this year is that we are still waiting on a couple of christmas packages that are stranded in transit. i did get the customs letter today for my dads package so now just the one from my mom and christmas will be done, considering that my birthday is in the first week of febuary this is cutting it close! :)

i was not surprised to get a customs letter for my dads package because i was pretty certain (and he accidently confirmed on the phone a couple days ago) what he got me. this might seem wierd since i am 23 and have a 6 year old, but he got me American Girl stuff. you see i have collected (well ok been in love with and wished i could collect) AG stuff since i was about 10 years old. i got my first doll for christmas (pretty sure about that though it could have been my birtday, they are so close together) and i have been a fan ever since. i now own 3 dolls and quite a bit of clothing and accesories for each of them. i have to admit that the price tag is steep and now i am back to only dreaming, but i did go ahead and tell my dad (who swear is trying to make up for how bad he treated me all my life without having to apoligize or making up for "forgetting" to send us even a christmas card for the last 5 years) that one of my dolls was retiring and i was still missing some key pieces for her and would really love them for christmas. i really do love my dolls. to clarify though, i collect the historical ones with one exception: the british doll (Emily) from 1944 is so beautiful, but she looks so modern to me and i really like some of the pretty sparkly dresses they have these days, so she is a modern doll, but i gave all her clothes to the other doll from 1944 (Molly, my first doll). I also have Felicity who is from 1776. i adore the clothes from the time period even though they have become less historically accurate they still are the style and for me bring history to life. I really think these dolls are great way to get young girls into history and will definantly buy them for my own daughter one day ( my son got his very own bitty twin that looks just like him last year for christmas in order share in mommy's fun and even a second outfit, but he never really bonded with the doll who he name Diego and i am sure that in a couple of years Diego will be living with my girls on my dolly shelf. but i do feel better about trying to get him into it.)

wow that was a tangent. my real topic for today was taking down the christmas decorations. i find it a bit sad, especially beacause i have no real decoration in my apartment yet so my walls will be bare so to say after everything is down. :( but this year even i feel the need to get christmas packed away. i am hoping this changes next year though.

my apartment comes with a basment storage room that locks. i really like that i can store my stuff locked away and not worry about, but there is a very serious downside. last summer, shortly before i moved in the basement flooded and aside from every who had things on the floor getting there things ruined, the basement really smells like mold. i will admit that it has gotten better, but i am still warry of putting anything with fabric or the slightest smell absorbancy down there. sadly i have no space in my apartment and really no other choice. i have come up with an idea and did it with the halloween stuff. i bought two plastic tubs (those are soooo expensive over here, 10 bucks each and that was after searcing for the best price) and i crammed all our halloween stuff in them. then i taped, with clear duck tape, around the space where the lid connects with the box to try to limit the air that can get into the box. i am hoping this works, but i have no way of know thill next year when i bring the decorations out again. tomorrow i am going to go and buy the boxes to put the christmas stuff in and hope for the best.

well i am off to try and sort out the rest of the chrismas stuff and get it ready to put away tomorrow. night night my bloggy friends!

lots of love,
amy

New Life, New Start

so much has happened since i wrote that last post about the beach. wow, is all i can say. I am think of just writing here. our daily happenings and the ups and downs of a yound single mom and her little prince. well there is no better time than the present to start so here goes:

So looking back on today (with my glass of wine :) ) it wasn't as bad as i though it was going to be. I work for a wholesale store. today was inventory day meaning they were only going to be open till 6:00 pm. that is when i was supposed to get off (hahhaha). I was actually supposed to work at the check (which is where the items are scanned, but not paid for), but for some reason my boss thought it would be a great idea to have me clean up the shelves in the candy section and pull everything forward to make it easier for the inventory later. trust me, that is a much better job than just sitting at the check all day. it was a lot of work and after wall all the boxs and plastic wrappers rubbed a cut in my wrist and finger! i was really suprised that i was doing anything that could cause that. i do have to ment that when i finished i felt a real sense of having accomplished something. The women who is actually in charge of the candy was impressed with my work and asked if could help start the inventory counting. i was thrilled. it really made me feel like i had done something right, not only that she was impressed but i was actually able to put what i just done to use. :) i am really worn out though from standing on top of the bottom shelf on my tip toes to reach to top shelf and then practically laying on the floor (in the most professional manner possible of course) to reach the back of the bottom ones. it is a good worn out feeling though.

The little prince was at his Oma's all day. i think she enjoyed it as well as he did. He came home with a huge stuffed shark that is actually (thankfully) for his papa's house. He is in bed on time tonight because school starts back tomorrow. YAY!!! oh wait no that is my reponse not his. i know he is excited to see his friends again (we did not see anyone over christmas break for some reason. i think though it had a lot do with everyone being so sick of being out in the snow). As long as he gets past that first morning of getting up again, i think he will really be fine.

speaking of the little Desi one, he had a huge experience over the christmas break. He cut his hand open and had to have stitches! i was not at the scence of the crime ;) but his papa was babysitting Desi's cousins and brought desi with him. while papa was playing with the little girl in the living room the little boy wandered off, so he sent to get him. The boy went to his room which is at the oppisite end of the hall next to the apartment door. the door has small glass panels about halfway up and desi was running down the hall after his cousin and tripped on a pair of shoes next to the door and put out his hand to break his fall and end up hitting/going though one of the glass panels in the door instead of hitting the wood. He tore open his arm and cut his hand near his wrist. it was apparently very bloody and his response was "papa i need a band aid". the only witness was a two year old who said "Desi, Tür, kaputt, owe" which translates to: "Desi, door, broke, ouch". His papa was in total shock and didn't know what to do as he had 3 kids at that moment. a neighboor came down to watch the kids while the mom and dad were on their way home and Desi got to ride in an ambulance, he even got lights and the siren on. I got a call about an hour after it happened that i should come to the hospital and desi's papa had arragned for his sister to come pick me up. poor desi was in such shock still when i got there, but said it didn't hurt. we were told he would need stiches and that on children that small he would need full ansthesia so that he would be calm enough for it. the problem was that desi had eaten shortly before that and had to wait two hours at least which ended up being about 8 pm, but a few emergancies came in between and he was not operated on till midnight. in the meantime the piece of skin, that he had practially ripped off, died so they had to cut it off and tightly pull his arm back together. the surgry took 45 mins and i stayed at the hospital till about 3 am. we disscussed with desi beforehand who he wanted to stay and he said papa (which i think was better since papa was so worried and felt so responsible for the whole thing even though it was truly an accident that could not be helped.) Desi was out the next day and had no pain. he gets his stiches out next week. it was scary, but for what happened it ended up not being as serious as it could have been. its a shame that it had to be his left hand (he is left-handed), but he has no nerve damage (well there may be a slight bit that will heal in his thumb) and when he had his bandaged changed last week the doctor said it was hearling up really well.

other than that our christmas break and new year were uneventful and considering all that has been going on, i am thankful for it.

i am going to call it a night now. i have to get up for school too! well ok i have to get up to make desi's school breakfast and see him off. so goodnight bloggy friends!

amy

The beach is outside my door!

Hi everyone!

I managed to pack the suitcases. 2 for desi. 2 for me. 2 for maik.

We got up at 4:00 am. yes it was still dark. no desi did not want to wake.

We got on a plane.

We flew.

We were awake for over 24 hours.

The beach is now outside my door!


Getting here took a lot in my opinion. I do not like Air France. I like them even less when i have to go through paris and/or Atlanta. Most everything went alright, but i was very sick in the airplane. I have severe motion sickness. i know most people (my husband included) do not believe it can be that bad, but it is. It gets worse the older i get. This time it was awful. the last 2 hours of the trans-atlantic it was all i could do to keep from throwing up. Desi only slept for two hours on that flight which was 8 and half hours long. the food was awful and the there was only one kids movie. it was cars. desi loves that movie he can quote the whole thing word for word and knows every song. he has seen it a million times. he was not happy to watch it more than once. so we setteled on french cartoons which put him to sleep for those two hours (i guess he and i share and opinon on french. hehe) Atlanta was awful but i expected as much. the airport is a horrible reflection on a city that is so big and has so much history. i have only been to atlanta a couple of town, but i never found the city that bad. The airport is another story. the meanest and rudest people work there. we had a baggage problem and the people would not listen to us. we kept telling the lady that we needed to go to the counter to recheck a couple of our bags (due to a computer error) and she kept telling us to go somewhere else. i am sure that God was holding my tongue beacuse this women was beyond rude and i was trying to control a very tired 5 year old and translate for my mother and father-in-law who do not speak english. i was very happy to leave there. we only just made our plane too.

In Jacksonville we were very surprised that only one suitcase was missing. My husband suitcase, the one with all his clothes. this happened last year too. i told him to give me a change of his clothes to put in my carryon with mine and desi's clothes. he did not want to. oh well his problem. i think he will listen to me next time! his suitcase was dropped off at our house here at 7:00 am the next day so it was not all that serious.

Since arriving everything has been awsome. the weather was a bit uncooperative the past 2 days, but that was ok. we went shopping and explored the island a bit. There was a surf contest right outside our house the second day we were here. it was neat to watch, but we were not allowed to use the beach that is infront of our house. so we did other things that day.

all in all these first 5 days have been fun! I could not find my camera charger before i left and i am hoping to be able to get a new one here, but until then i have not taken many pictures. i hope to put some up soon!

lots of love,
amy

6 days

yes it is six days until we have to get up at 4:00 in the morning to go to the airport. I have not yet begun to pack. i am going to be there for 3 months, problably live through 3 seasons and have a 5 year old who somehow decided now would be a wonderful time to outgrow all his clothes. ok i know he didn't chose to do that now, but it really feels like it.

Everytime i want to start packing something gets in my way. Cleaning the house, haveing a friend over, parents night at the kindergarten...the list goes on. we have decided however that we are going to start packing this weekend.

this is not going to be fun.

My husband seems to think all you have to do is take out your clothes, put them in a suitcaes, and you're done.

uhmmmmm....NO. I always make lists. i write down every single thing that goes into my bag. This is also really important for Desi. He will need to take toys and all kinds of things. How am i supposed to know at the end of 2 weeks in a beach house if i really have everything. not to mention after the 3 months of staying with my family. hence why the lists are important.

wish me luck. i need it.

lots of love,
amy

LÜK

I have discovered something really awesome. i want to share with you guys. I doubt any of you are familiar with this but it is the LÜK system (it may also be spelled LUEK). This system is wonderful. The idea is that you a workbook filled with fun problems and using the answers tiles you child works through the problems and can check them himself at the end. It perfect for car rides or quiet time!
A few years ago we recieved this set for Desi for his 2nd birthday. My german was not very good so i had a very hard time figuring out what to do with this thing. I eventually gave up and tossed it on a self in his room thinking one day Desi might figure it out.

Well shortly after my abitur, Desi (now 4) asked me what that was and how to use it. I finally sat down figuring that if i could and abitur i could certainly figure out something ment for two year olds. I worked on it for about two hours. then i finally understood. Now our collection has grown.

We have: a coganative thinking for two year old, matching for 3-5 year olds, beginners addition and subtraction for 4-6 year olds and beginners reading for 4-6 year olds. These however belong with the baby version of the set. only up to 6 years old. These are really nice introductions for kids to learn the system and build confidence. Desi really love the Math set. The only problem for me is that it is all in German. I am trying to find a way to order some from England, but they do not like shipping outside the UK...hehe.

This is the math book. The problems at the top each have a corrosponding picture and the tile with that picture is layed over the answer. in the end the child closes the case and truns it over. on the back is a pattern that needs to match the one on the page. if it matches then then all the answers are right. if not then the child has to go back and figure out which one is wrong.

The baby (bambino) line is very new and only has a few workbooks. so we sprung for the Mini set which is the next step up and has books to help him up till the 5th grade. The books are really not very expensive 5.70Euro. it is the the case with the tiles that kills ya. Desi is really happy with his new set:

He has and ABC book, two learning to read books, and math book, and a picture story book. These are obviously a bit harder as they have more problems, but Desi jumped right into when he got home from kindergarten. I really see this as being a big help through out his school time and reccommend it to all other parents (not just to help the kids i had fun with too!)

lots of love,

amy

Imaginarium

A couple of days ago i went shopping. it was the first time in about two months that i had gone any shopping except grocery shopping. I was beyond excited. Not just about getting some new things, but about what i was going to get. I finally decided that i was going to buy Desi some new sand toys. I debated for weeks because as Desi and i are going to be in the USA for 3 months we don't need to take unneccesary things with us. I ended up deciding that as he is only 5 years old and will be alone at a beach house (school is back in and my sister or cousins don't have time to come visit) getting some cool beach toys would the best i could do.

We recently got one of these in our downtown department store:

This is actually a picture of the store in barcelona (from the internet). Ours has a cool entrance like that though. This store is awsome. they have learning based toys and really are not too expensive. My sister-in-law refuses to by any toys made of plastic or that are colorful in any way for her children (no i do not understand why either), but even she own several toys from here. I know i had to give it a try.

So i went hoping to get one of the really really awsome sand sets i saw earlier this summer, but most everything was sold out. on the bright side though what was left was marked way down.

Desi now has:

A brick making set to build a sand wall (it is a german beach thing to build a sand wall, but really really fun). I am really wondering how well this will work.

A stamper to make his bricks look pretty. (sorry about the shadows.)

And last the Acropolis. Why? well because it looks really cool! it was only one they had left, earlier this summer they had four or five different famous landmarks you make out of sand.

I had a lot of fun choosing these and i can't wait to see what desi does with them at the beach (his mouth dropped open when he saw them! hehe)

lots of love,

amy

Counting down

yes my dear friends i am counting down. I love my home, my life, my family and being able to be at the center of it and take care of it, but i am truly ready for a break. I am counting down my friends in 17 days, i will be on Amelia Island in Florida.

In 17 days...

I will see this face, a happy little boy playing in the sand and jumping in the waves:I will be able to walk down this path for less than 60 seconds and have sand between my toes and the ocean in front of me. (No sadly my family will not be there :( )


I will see a different side of my husband. I will see a man who likes to boogie bored with me and carries me when my feet don't touch the bottom and teases me because he can still touch (yes my hubby is convinced i am short, but if he carries me and cares then i will let him tease away! hehe)
I will see many oppertunities to take pictures with my new camera, a chance to put cares away and make memories with my family.
In 17 days.


lots of love,
amy