School Birthday Celebration

Birthdays are very important in Germany. David always says that he has to plan on not being able to get much work done at the office on his birthday because he spends the whole day fielding phone calls from colleagues calling to offer him their birthday wishes. Also, it is tradition that the birthday boy/girl bring a treat to the office to share with everyone.

It is considered bad luck to celebrate your birthday early, or even for someone to wish you a happy birthday before your actual birthday date.

Rebecca's birthday was Sunday, so today would be the day to celebrate at Kindergarten. Just last week, the director of the school had sent home a "healthier Kindergarten" note to parents asking that birthday boys and girls bring in a nutritous treat of fresh fruit and pretzels instead of cake and that we forgo goody bags which are normally laden with candy. No complaints from me.

Rebecca stepped through the door to her classroom and was immediately greeted with this crown and a traditional birthday song.

Here are some other pictures I've taken recently at the preschool. It had rained earlier in the day and the kids all had on their rain gear. A favorite activity is to swish brushes through the puddles.

Becca with Keanu, a fellow hedgehog, who is half-American. Keanu always speaks to me in German, though.

Rebecca in her rain gear. It makes so much sense. The rain boots and pants allow the kids to enjoy the outside, even if it's wet, and preserve their clothes. They also wear the rain pants when it's very cold and their little legs are kept toasty warm.

Rebecca and Jonna leaving school on their pedal-less bikes. Both girls are very comfortable on their bikes now and can go pretty fast. The problem is that Becca's bike doesn't have brakes of any kind. She drags the toes of her shoes on the ground to slow down. I expect to be buying new sneakers soon. Jonna's bike has a hand brake, but her hand is still too little to use it.

Coasting down the incline on our street, Haingraben, hoping no car is coming from the other direction.

Rebecca's Birthday

Our little baby girl turned 4 today.

There's always a new DVD the kids are happy to receive.

A Lillifee featherbed cover that matches the one Emilie got for her birthday last month

Wall-E vision. Wall-E is one of Bex' favorite movies and her Wall-E and Eve Pez dispensers are her favorite toys.

You can't beat Playmobil.....

.....particularly if it's a three-headed sea serpent.

Trying out Wall-E vision

We had planned to celebrate with our neighbors at the playground, but it poured. So, we had the Lotz family to our house for cupcakes and Rockband instead.

Blowing out candles wearing the lovely dress from Jonna.

This Old House: German Edition

This half-timber house on our street, just around the corner from our house, is undergoing restoration. Everyday as I walk Rebecca to Kindergarten, I check out how the process is proceeding. All the plaster on the outside was removed and recently, many old timbers and bricks were replaced.

As the old timbers were being loaded into the back of a truck, a neighbor and I struck up a conversation with one of the workers. The neighbor remarked on the condition of the timbers (they looked like termites had gotten to them) and the worker explained that that's what 500-year old timbers look like.

I couldn't help myself and said, "We don't have such old houses in the U.S.," which earned the not unexpected but good-natured response, "Well, of course you don't. How long have houses been built in the U.S.?"

While recently watching the series The Tudors about the life of Henry VIII of England, I said to David, "You know, when all this was going on with Henry and his wives, that house around the corner was probably already there."

So, it was an ironic moment when I spied this mailbox in front of that house. I've counted 4 such mailboxes on our little street. Some local store must have gotten a hold of a bunch of them.

The house next door is my favorite house in Liederbach. Can't wait to see how the house on the right will look when finished. And I've also been asking myself how difficult it would be to have a half-timbered house like these built in the U.S.

Micaela's Birthday Party

We didn't wimp out on letting Micaela have a party either. We took Micaela and her friends to the Indian restaurant around the corner and then let them take over the family room for the night. They played Rockband, watched Twilight and giggled all night. The only bummer was that Micaela's good friends from the U.S. and Singapore were out of town. But her friends from Scotland, France, the Netherlands and Turkey did make it.

Opening gifts from her friends

Getting the gift from her American friend Caitlin who couldn't come to the party


I did an audible gasp, which was caught on video, when Micaela pulled Doritos out of the gift bag.

Caitlin's parents have commissary privileges. The closest commissary is in Wiesbaden and is like any supermarket found in the U.S. People with commissary privileges (military and government workers) are forbidden from bringing "guests" along, though it has been know to happen. Instead, people offer to buy stuff for other Americans. I have asked friends to buy American baking powder, chocolate chips and brown sugar.

Micaela's gift back was full of snacks we don't find at German grocery stores: Pepperidge Farm goldfish, Gobbstoppers, Jolly Ranchers, Kool-aid, Nerds, Doritos and Poptarts, among other things.

Happy 13th Birthday, Micaela!