That's How We Roll

My new friend Christine was kind enough to teach me and another friend Tchrieyah how to make chicken for our family in a form other than nugget. We made a delicious sweet and sour chicken and spring rolls. The spring rolls took a while to do because of all the rolling and rolling and a little more rolling.

So while the mommies were making theses......

.......the kids were busy making this.

This was actually very mild compared to the mess they made on Monday when we made cashew chicken. That day there were book shelves emptied, barbie doll hair cuts and a batch of lip gloss soup made. Overall a very mild discovery for 8 kids and 2 babies.
Our spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken. This meal was a big hit with my family. Caden ate 5 spring rolls and a bowl of chicken. Kayla also liked the chicken, but wouldn't taste the rolls.
The kids enjoying their reward for cleaning up their mess. Popsicles.

Overall it was a great afternoon. Dinner prepared while the kids entertained themselves. Win, win. This is something we want to do on a regular basis.

Daytrip

My friend Liz and I took a daytrip to Marburg, Germany today. I am always a little hesitant to take the kids on trips that involve riding in the car for more that 20 minutes or that require them to walk more than 10 feet. I always picture a day of complaining and whining and gnashing of teeth. I should give them more credit because they do just fine and today they came through for me and we had a wonderful time. There wasn't any complaining on the hour drive and the kids walked for over 4 hours.....and had a blast.

This is a picture I took from the car as we pulled into the town. We walked up to this castle. Yes, we walked all the way up there. It was a very long and very steep walk.
This is the Market Place. It is an open market with many charming buildings and restaurants. We had pizza and spaghetti for lunch at a little Italian place.
Me and the kids (minus baby Anna) in front of a cool door.
Benson and Caden taking a drink from the hog's mouth. Beautiful stain glass window.

Marburg

View from the Castle looking down on the town of Marburg.
Cool entryway inside the castle. There was some amazing detail in the wood.

And then there is Caden more interested in the big black box.

The crew taking a break in the window.

Kayla, Benson, Caden and William

The Knight's Hall. In this room in 1529 Martin Luther had his famous meeting in which the Protestant movement was split into different sects.
Liz and kids.

This was the cobblestone path that we took going down from the castle. For some reason we didn't see it on the way up and took the stairs. Yes. We climbed 50 million stairs with 2 strollers and 6 kids. We were a bit tired when we reached the top.

Overworked

Brice: You know if you were to be really sick tomorrow then I wouldn't have to go to work. The kids would need me.

Me: True. I'll see what I can come down with.

True love!

Not a Seizure

Not only does she have a voice as soothing as a song bird, but she has some major dance skills.

Left hook

Last week Avery had a virus and required a lot of extra holding and carrying around and then some more holding. So much that I pulled a muscle in my back....or at least I thought that is why I was in pain. It turns out that I actually hurt myself playing the Wii. The kids love playing Wii sports, especially boxing and I am obviously more out of shape than they are.

This is a video clip of Kayla boxing. The thing about Kayla is that I could video tape her any time during the day and it is guaranteed to entertain. During this clip, she knocks down her opponent only to have them get back up and knock her out. Enjoy.

The 4th of July

Our community here in Germany always does a big celebration for the 4th of July. It starts with a kids parade followed by hours and hours of rides, live music, food and fun. We played hard for hours with a break for burgers and hot dogs and then played some more. The kids could hardly walk home (3 minute walk) they were soooo tired. All in all it was a wonderful day to celebrate while we are so far from home.

Caden on the go-carts. Kayla also took a turn but keep running into the sides and almost took the ride down. I had to jump on the back to help steer.

Sweet little Avery hanging out in the swing.

Cowgirl Kayla on the mechinal bull.

Avery and Kayla in the bouncy house.

cont'd

Caden on the bungee cords. This was a very popular ride at the festival. The line took about an hour but Caden rode it 3 different times.
Getting brave and doing a flip.

Kayla sliding down the bouncy slide. This was her favorite ride. She would slide down and climb back up over and over for hours at a time.
Caden on the slide. You can see me at the top "patrolling" traffic. It got really busy for a while and needed a little controlling.

The girls.

The kids had such a wonderful time. We were there for 8 hours with only a small one hour break in between. Caden keeps asking when we can "buy" some bungee ropes to make our own ride...umm never.

Thanks Da Da

Avery loves Brice.

Brice loves Avery.

Brice loves to give Avery ice cream.

Avery loves Brice even more.

Ummmm, sorry Caden.

So, much to my chagrin, Caden is obsessed with Pokemon trading cards. It is something he picked up from the school bus. And since I love to make my kids happy, I agreed to let him get some. Well, 200+ trading cards later, I really miss his obsession with crocodiles. These cards drive me insane. I am either always picking them up, or being asked when we can buy some new cards, or being asked some math question to see how powerful a card is. Well let me tell you, they are very powerful. They work wonders when used as leverage. Caden will do just about anything I ask him to do if the promise to buy or the threat to take away Pokemon cards is put on the table.
He has been collecting them for a while and has his favorite, post powerful, must be with him 24/7 or he will turn to ashes, set of cards. They are the product of much trading and even more begging. He had them with him when we were out to dinner a few weeks ago and left them in his short's pocket when he got ready for bed. Yea, you know where this is going.

They got washed!!!!

He was very upset and shed some tears. I really did feel bad because I knew how much he liked them. But I softened the blow with the promise to buy him some new ones to try and replace the destroyed ones. He seems to be ok with that. We are patiently awaiting some new and very powerful ones to come in the mail......and I think he just might survive!