October 2014

It seems that October starts the busy holiday season. Even though Christmas is still 3 months away we start picking up steam through October.  There were lots of things going on at school and just seemed like a busy month.  

Oma made this cute little Tooth Fairy pillow for Elly and it's a good thing she did because Elly has started losing her teeth. She lost the first one back in August and through October kept messing with another one or two that were loose.  

We thought for sure she was going to be able to use her pillow for the first time this night because the tooth was so loose and just waiting to drop out.  

Sam tried getting that tooth out, but when it came down to it Elly wasn't ready to have it pulled.  

Each of the kids in Elly's class were to make a monster costume out of a paper bag.  This is what she and Sam came up with.  They were to pick a character from the book "Where The Wild Things Are".

The day Elly's class was having their Fall Party was a very busy day.  They also were having the Pumpkin Drop and a Monster Parade before the party back in their classroom.  The Pumpkin Drop is fun.  Each class came up with what they thought was the best way to cushion and protect a pumpkin in a box so that when it was dropped from atop the firetruck ladder it wouldn't break.  The kids were so excited to see their pumpkin drop, even though it didn't fare too well.  

While the kids were out we got all their places decorated and set up for the party.

Ready to go walk through the school for the Monster Parade.

All of Elly's kindergarten class together on the playground.

Elly's tooth finally decided to come out just shortly before we left to go Trick or Treating on Halloween evening.  It was just hanging by a thread, so I convinced her to let me see if it would come out.  No sooner had I touched the tooth and it popped out.  She was shocked at how easy it came out.  Then it was time to get ready for some fun.  She decided to be Anna from Frozen this year.  

Elly starts Kindergarten ~ 3 September 2014

Where has the time gone?!? It doesn't seem like Elly should be old enough to be in school, but as much as I may think that, here she is starting Kindergarten.  She was so nervous to start school, but we built it up to her and told her how much fun she's going to have.  

We went in about a week before school started to meet with her teacher.  I liked that Elly could see her classroom and know who her teacher was going to be.  Her teacher's name was Mrs. Maka...at least for the first three weeks of school. We were not very happy with it at the time, but one Friday about three weeks after school started we received an email from the school telling us there would be a new teacher in Elly's class come Monday morning.  I did not like how it was handled, but we grew to love her new teacher, Mrs. Biggs, and think it was the best thing that could have happened.  She was fantastic and was a wonderful teacher for Elly's first year.

My precious little Kindergartner.  She looks nervous.

Waiting with her until the bell rings.

This picture pulls at my heart.  I see the nervousness on her face and it makes me wish I could go with her so she's not scared, but I had to let her go and learn some independence and do it on her own.  

I love this!  I think this was done in the first week of school.  They all had to draw a portrait of themselves.  Apparently, this is what Elly looked like.  ☺

August 2014

 We returned from Alaska and had just about a month before Elly was to start Kindergarten.  I've enjoyed the freedom of her not being in school and it's definitely something we have to adjust to.  Now we won't be able to just take off on a trip any time we want.  We're going to have to consider her school schedule.  So, knowing we only had a month before she would be in school full time we made the most of our last month of summer.  

Returning back to Germany after being in Alaska for so long is always a bit of an adjustment for me.  Between being gone so long, the long flights, missing a night's sleep, the 10 hour time difference and just getting used to my house and husband again I always feel a little off kilter for the first week or so that we're home.  It doesn't help that Elly and I are usually waking up around 2:00am not able to sleep for the first several days.  Elly misses Sam a lot when we're gone, so the first morning we were back she was ready to take off with Daddy and go somewhere. I think he just had some errands to run, but she was ready to go hang out with Daddy for awhile.  She has no idea how lucky she is to have a Daddy that loves spending time with her and does every chance he gets.  He's really a great Daddy.

Our plum tree in the backyard was loaded with fruit this year.  Elly and I picked a bunch of them and I gave some to a friend.  Unfortunately, my friend found that most of them were full of worms.  Yuck!  I have no idea how to stop that from happening.  I guess I need to talk to the local green house and see what we can do about it.  I was impressed with all the fruit it produced though.

One day we decided to check out a town not too far from us.  It's called Rottweil and I'm pretty sure it's where Rottweiler dogs come from because there were statues of them all over.  Something that's interesting though is that Germans don't dock the tails so over here you see the long tails on the Rottweilers.  Somehow, they don't look quite as fierce to me with the long tail.

Elly lost her first tooth on 12 August 2014.  She was scared to have it pulled out, but it got so loose from her wiggling it that it was pretty anti-climatic when it actually happened.  She was excited to put it under her pillow and she found a dollar in it's place the next morning.  ☺ 

Sam got this little bicycle for Elly for just a couple of dollars at a flea market on post and it has been great.  He's great about taking her out on rides.  I love to go too if I can get away.  She's doing really good at riding....with the training wheels.  One of these days we'll take them off.  

Elly loved how tiny this little snail was that she found on one of our plums.

One day, all on her own, Elly gathered some leaves from outside and I found her sitting in the living room making these rubbings of them.  She was entertained for quite some times with them. 

 

 Nabelhohle cave is about an hour from us.

We had a meet and greet with Elly's Kindergarten teacher toward the end of the month.  Here is was posing with the school's mascot, a bulldog.

At the end of August we took a trip to Garmisch.  It is one of our absolute favorite places to visit in Germany.  We always drive by Munich on our way there, but we've never stopped.  This time we decided to stop and check it out.  We had lunch at the famous Hofbrauhaus.  It is one of Munich's oldest beer halls.  Founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria.  Afterward we walked around town for awhile.  

Aaahh! Edelweiss!! We LOVE it here! We had a great couple of days here.  We took our own bikes with us this time and really enjoyed riding them.  We rode to the Partnach Gorge, parked the bikes then hiked through the gorge and to the top. I think we do this every time we go to Garmisch and we never get tired of it.  Sam often says he would love to get a job down there. ☺

There is a restaurant at the top where we usually get a little snack, but this time it was being renovated, so we took the cable car back down the hill.  

Ettal is a small village close to Garmisch where this monastery is.  It is called Ettal Abbey and is a Benedictine Monastery.  They also make beer here....something I still find strange. It's a beautiful building though and well worth the time to check it out.  

Our time at Edelweiss was near the time for Oktoberfest, so the hotel had some fun things set up for the kids.  Face painting, games and bouncy houses.  Elly had fun with that one evening.