We had a problem today

We checked out more books at the library than we could carry!  Luckily, we could squeeze them all into our backpacks and bike baskets in the end!  Robyn was polite and asked the girl standing in line behind us if she'd like to go in front of us.  She declined, not realizing just how much we had!  The limit is 50 items, and we had 48, including books on CD and games.  (I love it that you can check out games here because you can try a bunch of different ones out for free).  We also have others from Macy's library.

The other morning, Macy woke up early and crawled in bed with me after Myles had already left for work.  We enjoyed reading English books together that a friend let us borrow.  Ahh, this is one of my favorite parts of summer vacation--not having to rush out the door in the morning, just having a chance to stay in bed with books, one more child climbing in at a time.

One of my favorite parts of summer vacation as a child was also going to the library and stocking up.  I loved whatever summer reading program they had.

Robyn wishes we lived even closer to her library.  She would like to live at one someday, or at least work there.  Then, I can check books out from her!  Perhaps, she'll even raise my limit :)

What are your favorite books now and from before?

Flowers in Germany

Fresh flowers play a big part in German culture.  It is very common to bring a bouquet to someone's house when you're invited for dinner or for someone's birthday.

We cut these from a self-cut field by our house.  It's cool to be able to choose whatever you want and to cut them whenever you want.  (You just leave your money in a metal box).  They are also cheaper than the ones in the grocery stores.

Next time, I want to bring my camera to the field.  There are big sunflowers there now, too.

End of the year parties, etc

We had a lot of end-of-the-school-year festivities here.  I remember playing this game once when I was a kid.  It's a fun, easy game that seems pretty popular here.  A group of kids sit in a circle taking turns rolling a die.  When someone rolls a six, they start putting on all the gear and try to further open a chocolate bar that's wrapped in lots of layers of newspaper, using a fork and knife, before another kid rolls a six.  

There was an end-of-the-year party for each school (the girls were at 3 different ones this year) and each class, as well as hiking days and other field trips.  Only German would children think that it's perfectly normal to hike up to a couple castles with your school for a field trip!  Only German children would also think that it's perfectly normal that there's no bathroom around and so you just use the woods.  Luckily, our girls are blessed with nice friends who helped them out with this.  

Macy had a special art show with her kindergarten for the parents.

Her "Phantasiefeuerballtier" can be translated as "Fantasy Fireball Animal."

The girls and Myles had fun trying this out at a Medieval Fest.

Carly's class entered their drawings into a contest at a big park, and one of their groups won!

This "German" caterpillar was my favorite.  Very creative, I thought, and timely during the big soccer games.

Macy's kindergarten theme for their big party was Rome.  The kids had lots of fun blowing their little trumpets.  Myles had fun making a catapult for them to try to shoot a little Papa Smurf into a bucket.

Here is Macy with one of her best friends from kindergarten.

And, Carly with one of hers.  My favorite thing about her report card was that the majority of it was about how they learn and treat others, not academic grades.  The most prestigious award given to a boy and girl from each girl in the graduating class could be translated as "The nicest student" award.  Although Carly and Robyn's principals both said they would not give any German grades for their first year here, their teachers said they did so well that they chose to break the rule.