Birthdays

I am very behind! So, I will post pics from both Jonah's 14th birthday in April (I know!) and Caedon's 10th birthday that was just last weekend! Here you go:

 We celebrated quietly at home with Jonah's favorite and now traditional German chocolate cake.

 He is growing up so fast and finally outgrew me this year! He still has a long way to go, but he is growing quickly now.

 Grandmommy and Papa hand delivered his gifts this year! They came and visited us in March and left Jonah's (and mine) presents. We also got to go to Rome and Florence, too. I will post those pics soon.

 He got a Kindle and gift certificates and the traditional Adventures in Odyssey CD's.

 HAPPY 14TH JONAH MALACHI!

 Caedon wanted something different this year, but just wasn't sure what kind of cake. He did know he wanted cupcakes, so I found a delicious recipe for surprise filled cupcakes. They were chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese and chocolate chips in the middle. I added some toxic waste green cream cheese icing to top them off.

 

Caedon got his Adventures in Odyssey Cd's and was very excited because he was afraid we might have forgotten to buy some this time. He was quite relieved!

He is also into Batman and wanted figures that were quite hard to find. We found one in the store and had to order the other online. He is patiently waiting for that one.

We celebrated with our friends the Chumbley's in Prague. We wanted to spend as much time as possible before they go back to the states for 9 VERY LONG months!

Caedon and the kids also went Laser tagging at a mall there in Prague and despite some scraped elbows, had a great time.

HAPPY 10th CAEDON ISAIAH!

"Extreme" Alpine Hike

I love hiking.  And now that the kids are getting old I am getting more opportunities to go again.  Today we climbed up a little waterfall laden ravine...


Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Logan's 7th Birthday!

Logan had a birthday in February. Our "baby" is 7! Where did the time go?

He wanted a Wolverine/superhero theme and we invited our friends here in Graz to come help celebrate. Logan got a robe (he asked for it) and wore it the entire time opening his gifts!

A remote controlled helicopter/car. He needed a new one after the last one finally broke.

Strawberry cake with strawberry icing. The cake was delicious but looked terrible!

Snow in Graz!

A Christmas Surprise!

One of the joys of living outside the United States is the fact that things people take for granted there become special treasures.  It is amazing how special it makes you feel when people send you a big box of those sorts of things--especially the junk food.  We got a special box of treasures from Poplar Grove Baptist again this year.  If we work at it, we should have stuff to last us well into the new year!  (And it will provide us overweight adults with practice in resisting temptation!)

Fall Photos

We took some pictures of the kids beside this beautiful aspen tree. The fall colors here were just gorgeous.

Jonah is 13 now and about to outgrow his mother, which isn't much of a feat since I am only 5'3". We are hoping he will take his growth spurt soon.

Ashlyn is 11 almost 12 and has begun to exhibit teen tendencies. Oh boy!

Caedon is 9 and is my first child to actually not need slim fit jeans. The whole milk we bought to fatten up the kids is working on Caedon at least!

Logan is 6 and just begun school. He has learned just enough now to start trying to read everything. Now we are in trouble!

We are enjoying our time here in Graz and will be sad to have to leave, but we are also looking forward to going "home" to Dresden.

Our House/Zuhause- first floor/Erdgeschoss

Here are pics from the first floor. You enter at the side of the house into a large entryway.

To the right is the kitchen and straight ahead is our bedroom:

From our bedroom you enter into a bathroom and the WC.

Then beside the stairs into the living room and dining room:

Here is the outside from the street.

Our House/Zuhause

Because several of the big kids' friends have asked for pictures of our house, I have put them on here so they can see them. I am starting with the 2nd floor or the kids' floor.

the view from the top of the stairs:

Jonah's room is the first room on the left at the top of the stairs.

The boys' room is next. In between the boys' and Ashlyn's rooms and the Hobby room is a bathroom and a toilet or WC (water closet).

The hobby room is next:

Ashlyn's room is at the back. You have to walk through the hobby room to get to her room. She has a full length balcony outside her room looking toward the street.