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

Sick and thinking of books.

yes that is what i am. I am so very sick. i have been in bed for 2 days now. i have no idea what i have, but my energy is nil. i am even too tited to shower (i am going to though as soon as Hook is over hehe). I wanted to post some more pictures, but i can't from the laptop.

Anyway. i wanted to share an idea with you all. When i was baby my mom bought me a copy of her favorite book. she even wrote me a message in the front. The book is Little Women. Though i have never read it (i fully intend to, but it is really really long), the though behind it means the world to me. My mom instilled a love of reading in me that has lasted to this day. I love to read beyond anything else. I love all genres and lengths. I have even caved and begun reading a 400 page book in German (Die Stadt der traumenden Bücher by Walter Moers).

This act of love, coupled with the fact that my 5 year old will beg and then sit still every night as i read him a chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has inspired me to do the same. I have chosen the book Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie. I am determed to find him a beautiful copy and and instill in him the same love of reading. I chose this book because he is really into pirates and peter pan, as well as the story being one of the greatest classics ever. I just have to find a suitable copy, which i predict will take years. I really want a used copy in fairly good, but loved condition. I would kill for a first edition and am actually thinking of setting up a savings for this. I really love the idea of him having an heirloom like that...hmmm i really have to think about this...i was also wondering if any of you guys out their in bloggyland have something like this for your children? any reoccuring theme or collections you plan to pass on?

lots of love,
amy

Beginnings

Yes it is that time of year again. The last 6 weeks seem to have just flown by. A few highlights are:

*Desi turned five!
*My brother Brian came to visit for 4 weeks.
*We spent several days in Duhnen (our summer house).
*We spent a week on a lovely island called Amrum.
*We went to Legoland in Denmark (and our license plates were stolen).
*We went to Heidepark.

Even with all that exciting fun summer has come to an end. At least for now hehe we are leaving for Florida on september 10. :)

Kindergarten has now started. German kindergarten that is. It is more like preschool in the US. Desi is now in his last year! He is Pate this year which means a younger child who is new this year is paired up with an older child and the older child shows them around and introduces them to other older kids. Desi is so excited to be helping out a younger child.

Desi on his first day:

Also i wanted to insert a little update on our language issues. I mentioned a while back (May i think it was) that all the 4 and 1/2 year olds were tested (on computers) to asses there language abilities. The results were not available to parents. A letter would only be sent if the child needed special classes. Everyone was sure Desi would recive a letter. So we spent the summer (in the back of our minds) waiting for this letter. Well i am proud and pleased to say that Desi did not recive a letter. A sign was posted in the Kindergarten saying the money for the classes was due. I think can safely say that our little bilingual boy is progressing just as well as his monolingual peers!

lots of love,
amy

Dino boy

Desi is having a Dinosaur themed birthday this year. This is the picture we took to include on his invitation.

Father's Day

Today was father's day. This was the first time Desi and i were able to put together something special for Maik to show him how much we appriciate all he does for us all year long. We made a pretty card and t-shirt with Desi's handprints all over it. We still have to figure out how to seal the paint as we used finger paint that washes off. Oh well it is the thought that counts...right? hehe.

breakfast in bed.

wake up sleepy papa!

Papa opening his present.

Desi was so proud!

Desi and his papa

Later on we went to Strawberry festival that was taking place across the street from our house. It was nice, except for one of the bouncy houses where desi was told he could not jump because he had glasses. I don't understand that at all. we have a personal (very large) bouncy house at home and desi's glasses have never been a problem. i was a bit ticked and desi was very hurt, but we moved on.

Desi climbing the tower. he was afraid to go any higher even though he did really well!

Bouncy house land!

Desi bounced to his hearts content.

wait a minute!

awww i just want a picture!

yay! hi desi!

i am still learning with my camera. it felt the net was more important.

maik coming down the huge slide.

Maik and desi had so much fun playing!

This last picture is us walking home. the rain came out of nowhere!

Needless to say by the time we were home, we were all soaked through. It was fun though. That evening we grilled and just hung around. it was nice to have some down time and just be the three of us.

Happy Father's Day Maik!

lot's of love,

amy

Guess what!

I got my abitur. well ok i found out on wenesday, but still i passes. I even got a wonderful average. I have 2,3 (1,0 is the best you can get). I am so happy and really proud. I am so very thankful that God moved a mountain (or rather a heart of stone) so i could have this. I know in the grand scheme of things this is a tiny rather insignificant problem compared to children caught in war zones, missing planes and all the other things people deal with on a daily basis, but for me this is huge.

lots of love,
amy

Desi's Birthday Book

Wow have i been busy lately. It is really hard to change my routine over from school and being mom and just doing enough to get by to being just mom and really working hard for my family. in short everything is crazy.


So i have been working on a project. I call it Desi's birthday book. I just cannot throw away a birthday card or any card for that matter and have sooooo much stuff from desi's birthdays so i though this would be a good idea.



I started with a binder that i didn't really find pretty.





Then i used my digi scrapbooking stuff (the kit i used for this is Swing on a Star from Ziggle and PPD from Scraporchard).



I printed everything out and taped it all down. Then i covered it with clear packing tape. It looks laminated onto binder. Here is the finished cover.







The inside is a bit more interesting. I just can't throw away cards and that is where the idea came from. I really wanted a way for desi to look back and see how much fun his birthdays were and see all the cards people wrote. When blogger decides to quit wrecking my colors on the pages then i will add those too. update later.