Bad Blog Writer

Yes it's true. I'm a bad blog writer.

*sigh*

I just got finished reading "Eat Pray Love" and felt motivated to write on my blog. Gosh I wish I could take the time I need to write the way Liz Gilbert writes. I think I could do it but I just don't.

Insert more *sighs* here!

I did do something very proactive today. That is with regards to my German language skills. I signed up on the FB German/English language tandem page as well as Scrabbin which is a tandem language site. I figured the best way for me to learn besides going to a class (which can cost lots and lots of money and time -- neither of which I have in abundance) is to try to meet up with someone to just speak the language.

I know it's going to be hard at first but I think if I really want to speak German before we leave Berlin I need to do this.

Again this proactivity is partly due to that book again "Eat Pray Love". Liz did this when she went to Italy and it seems like a good way to learn. I'll give it a try.

Now I haven't exactly contacted anyone yet myself but I'm trying to work up the courage to do it in my mind. Maybe next week?? ha ha

I suppose folks are wondering how the kiddos are doing?

Logan is great. He just went back to school after a two week fall break. He read 2 books during his break for his Mother Tongue class (English); "Guardians of Ga'hoole" and "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid". He has to read 9 books before January 7th. Yikes!

Anyway, we went to coffee shops in the mornings after dropping Connor off at nursery school (kita). It was fun hanging out with Logan and just reading and having a coffee (Logan drinks hot chocolate -- heisse Schokolade -- see I'm writing in German).

Now that he's back at school I miss my little guy (not so little I suppose at 10). My mornings now are spent working. That is looking for work (updating the resume/cover letter) and putting the finishing touches on a website project.

Connor is also great. He's just having fun being a 3 year old. Playing and learning! He needs a haircut however.

My furry kitty kid is well too. Tom's been keeping me up at night though, and I don't have the heart to kick him out of my bed. The apartment building we live in has a small backyard so I take him out there to explore. We have mice so he enjoys hunting for them and a neighbor cat he tries to avoid. I tend not to go out with him if the neighbor's cat is out. They don't like each other (go figure) and the neighbor's cat has already beat up Tom once. Now if Ted were still alive the neighbors cat would be TOAST!

So what else is going on?

Well let me see.

I had coffee this morning and started to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" again. The movie will come out here on November 18th. Logan, my friend Jia and I will go see it. Can't wait.

Chris and I are going to parent night at Connor's kita this Friday. That's if we can get a babysitter for the kids. Otherwise only one of us can go. I'll send Chris as he doesn't really get an opportunity to see the parents anymore.

This weekend we'll try to find Halloween festivities around Berlin that we can take the kids to since German's don't do treats or treats. We really miss this American tradition! There's something going on at the Botanischer Garten so we may check it out on Sunday http://www.bgbm.org/halloween/.

Chris' birthday is just right around the corner, November 12th. He'll be 48 this year. Whoa! Not sure what he wants to do but we'll do something fun. I'm going to have the kids make him some birthday cards and we'll make him some cookies. I now have a signature recipe for choco-chip cookies (can you believe it???). Chris can eat 12 at one time (I make 'em small folks). Oh crap! I just realized he'll read this post. Oops! Sorry honey. I'm going to have to think of something else for us to bake/make for you this year. Too bad!

Well I don't have anything else to report at the moment. I sure hope I spelled everything correctly. Blogger's spell check isn't that great.

Sorry no pictures this time around either. I have some new ones but as usual they are stuck on the camera.

Have a lovely day!

More soon.

Connor is 3 TODAY!

Today is the big day. Connor is 3 years old.

Today we celebrate with a BIG FAT CHOCOLATE CAKE! His (and our) FAVORITE!

Happy Birthday Connor!

Preemie Journey of Colin and Veronica Fiegel

Check out my friend's blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/ as she talks about her adventures with her twin newborns; Colin and Veronica. They were born I believe at 28 weeks.

Both babies are doing well. Keep them and their family in your prayers!

Harry Potter

I can't say enough great things about Harry Potter. My head is about to explode!

I just finished the last book, The Deathly Hallows. Boy o'boy was it good.

Now I'm sad. I miss Harry, Hermonie and Ron.

Someone suggested to listen to the books on tape series.

This sounds like a great way to revisit my old friends in a different media.

I want to talk more about Harry but it looks like it's 1 am in the morning and I'm so tired so I'll have to finish this post another time.

Nite nite.

Three Weeks Off -- Yeah Right!

Logan finished school on July 2nd but had two weeks of fun camp following the last day of school. He had fun!

Connor is on break from his nursery school or kita as they call it here in Germany for three weeks. He's been home since July 12th.

Last week was my first week to have BOTH kids home. It's been an adjustment (that's all I'll say) but now that we've got the hang of it we are set for some fun fun fun this coming week.

Monday we head to the Berlin Zoo. Tuesday we go to the pool. Wednesday is our buffer day. Thursday we'll go to the farm, and Friday we'll head into Berlin's forest or what the Berliners call the Grunewalde.

We're pretty excited to have a plan. Last week we didn't but we also had very hot weather and only ventured out of the house in the morning. We don't have air and only one fan so the most you can do is read a book, watch a movie or just sit and sip a nice tasty beverage.

The last couple of days have been very pleasant here. In the low to mid 70s. I hope it continues. I haven't really looked so I hope our plans are still a go.

When Connor goes back to school on August 2nd Logan and I will be reading "The Graveyard Book". A wonderful gift from Logan's friend Juju. Thanks again Juju!!!! We'll take field trips to some of the more notable graveyards in town and do some research on ghosts. It should be loads of fun. Good practice too for school which will start back up on August 23rd.

My Mom sent the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. I've been reading them and they are quite delightful. We'll read these too and do some research on the Greek gods. Maybe even get to some of Berlin's museums for a real look at some of the Greek/Roman art, sculpture, and myths.

Before we'll know it we'll be back at work and school. In the meantime we'll try to continue to enjoy our summer days and nights before they're gone.

Connor is Three Years Old

Connor Macgowan turns 3 years old come August 3rd this year. It's only a mere week away.

Can't believe my baby is 3. That went sooooooooo fast.

We're celebrating with friends next Saturday July 31st at this cool kid/family friendly restaurant called KiiWii. Here's the link to check it out http://www.kiiwii-berlin.de/.

They have this great indoor jungle gym thingy that the kids love. What's awesome is that the restaurant has glass in the wall so you can sit at your table, eat your dinner and watch your kids play. Connor and Logan usually come out every so often to take a bite of their food and drink something quick before heading back to play. It's really quite nice.

The food is kid friendly too and not half bad. I usually get the cheese burger and it's quite tasty.

I'll post pictures when we have them.

Happy Birthday Connor! We love you!
XOXO

16 Years of Blissful Marriage

Hey all!

Yes it's true. Chris and I have been married for 16 years come July 30th. We celebrated actually tonight with dinner at this great Indian restaurant by our flat and seeing the movie Twilight Eclipse (movie was OK, Chris liked the first one better and I the second -- oh well).

It was a nice time for Chris and I to go out ALONE and talk, eat good food and watch a movie without distractions. Hey don't get us wrong we love our kids! Love love love them but sometimes Moms and Dads need a little break :-)

This past March Chris and I met at 1st Avenue 26 years ago. Crazy right?

We still consider each other best friends and with every passing day I love him more! It's amazing how intense my feelings are for Chris even after 26 years :-) WOW it must be LOVE!

So Happy Anniversary to us! I love you Chris!
XOXO

Two Years Today

Hi.

It's been a long while since I wrote anything and well today/tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary living in Berlin, Germany.

I can't believe we've been here two years already. It went so very fast.

What's new? FYI. I'm going to randomly spew! :-) Also didn't spell or grammar check. I'm too tired and hot.

Well Chris got a job two weeks ago at Mister Spex's an Internet company. They sell eye glasses. Check them out here http://www.misterspex.de/.

We are very excited that Chris got a job just in the nic of time. It will allow us to stay here just a bit longer.

Jennifer is working freelance as a web developer. I got my work permit about 3 weeks ago. I'm working hard to find new clients. At the moment I have one that I'm working on. Check it out here http://www.xleft.com/. This is just a test site. Jan's website will go live at the end of July at http://www.treuholztraining.de/.

Logan just finished 4th grade at the JFK School. He'll be attending "Fun" camp for the first 2 weeks of vacation. Fun camp is sponsored by the JFK after school program. They've got a lot of fun adventures planned for the kids. I'm a little jealous. Logan will go back to JFK in the fall for 5th grade on August 23rd I think it is. Only 6 weeks off but he gets a lot of time off during the year so this schedule isn't too bad.

Connor is attending the Friedenau Kinderhaus, an all German Kita (kindergarten/nursery school). He'll have 3 weeks off beginning July 12th. He's doing great over there and learning lots and lots of German words. It's fun to hear him finally speak. Chris and I were a bit worried as he didn't say much we understood, but now the words are flowing. I guess we just had to be patient. For gosh sakes he's learning two languages at once.

Chris and I aren't big TV sports watchers but have been enjoying watching the World Cup games. Today Germany just kicked Argentina's ASS. GO TEAM GERMANY!!!

Jennifer is finally reading all the Harry Potter books. They are just great but I'm slow to read the 5th book "The Order of the Phoenix". Just haven't had the time to read lately. I need to read all the books before the new movie comes out in November. Hope I can do it.

Jennifer can't wait to see "Twilight Eclipse". Yes groan if you like. I enjoyed the books very much especially "Breaking Dawn". Will go with my friend Annerose when she gets back from Norway. GO TEAM EDWARD!!!

My Mother celebrated her 80th birthday this past April! Happy Birthday Mom! Now get on a plane and come visit us so we can celebrate Berlin style. We are ready to go on an Italian adventure too!

Weather is HOT HOT HOT here in Berlin. Don't much care for it. Our flat has been rather cool so we are thankful for that. No one has air here. Not even sure how you would work it with these windows. I've seen air conditioners at Bauhaus (like a Menards or Home Depot) so if this hot weather continues and becomes too hot we may have to break down and get one. Probably start with a fan first.

Our friends Becki and John Fiegel just welcomed their two twins; Veronica and Colin. Only 28 weeks gestation and doing well. Please if you pray do so for them. They have a long up hill journey to go. Check out their blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/.

We are hoping we can make it back to MN for a visit this winter. Our goal is Christmas and New Years! FYI if you have plans to come visit us.

WE WANT VISITORS! Come and see us!!!! We miss our friends and family and want to show you are new adopted town. There is so much to see and do here plus the rest of Europe is waiting for you. Exchange rate is looking pretty good these days!

Tom our 15 year old kitty is doing well also. We have a nice backyard for him to hang out in (escorted by me of course) and we found a mouse so he's pretty happy. Can't seem to get it though. Mousing was Ted's passion. We miss you Ted! You would have loved this new flat.

We are still looking for renters for our house in MN. No takers yet. We lowered the rent from $2,300 to $2,000. Here's hoping we find someone soon. Would hate to have to sell or lose the house because we couldn't rent it. If you know of anyone who is looking for a house to rent please have them go to our website at http://www.macgowan.com/ for all the details.

Logan just started training to become a server at the Catholic English speaking mission we belong to here. He was so excited to follow in his Mother and Uncle Sean's foot steps. When I was a kid I don't remember it being so intense, but these folks take it very seriously. Logan goes every Friday evening from 5-6 pm. It's a nice time for me too as I get the opportunity to spend some time with my Lord! Logan will have the summer off now and will start back up in late August or early September. If all goes well he'll start serving in October. I'll be sure to post pictures.

So that's what we've been up to since I last posted. If I think of more I'll be sure to post again.

Have a lovely 4th of July everyone!

We miss you all!

XOXO

New Pictures Ready for Viewing

Hi folks.

Chris uploaded some new pictures on to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com/photo_index.php.

Check them out.

Logan's Turning 10

Logan Macgowan, my first born child is going to be 10 this month. I just can't believe it's been 10 years already. Logan is a "leap year" baby so we'll celebrate on the 27th and 28th this year. We are having a party with some of his friends from school at Bamboo land not from from us in Steglitz. Here you can check out their web site http://www.bamboo-land.de/dasat/index.php.

Logan is on winer break until the end of the week. We are going to go see a movie tonight and maybe head to the zoo tomorrow morning. He really wanted to go to Bamboo land but we told him he has to wait until his birthday party.

Chris and Logan will go out on Thursday for some vacation fun. Not sure what they will do.

There aren't a lot of indoor places to go and hang out (other than malls) so being outside in the cold isn't our idea of fun. BLAH!

Again I've failed at delivering any new pictures, but I will one of these days and you'll all be surprised.

Later.

2010 - Can you believe it?

As promised I'm back even if it's three weeks later. My goal is to try to remember to post at least once a week but I'll be glad if I can remember to post once a month. ha ha

So on with the show.
P.S. My spell check isn't working so forgive me for not spelling certain words correctly :-)

NO PICTURES
All our new pictures are either on the camera or Chris' computer. I'll make it my goal this weekend to get some up here for your viewing pleasure.

NEW ADDRESS
The Hays/Macgowan clan moved from Niedstr. 19 to Wielandstr. 12 in November 2009. We initially started looking at the end of August for a cheaper place to live. This would help in our quest to stay in Berlin a little longer.

We spent about three weeks looking around Friedenau (the area we've been living in) and a few areas close by. We found two great places; one in Friedenau and one in Steigliz. It was a tough decision as both places were really great. There were three exceptions. The place in "S" was on the 5th floor (no elevator) and was smaller than "F". "F" didn't have a balcony. Both had many many pluses but in the end we decided on "F" specifically Wielandstr. our current home. We all love our new place a lot and am glad we moved.

We have three huge rooms; two are bedrooms and one is our living/family room. We have a smaller room that is our office. It fits four desks nicely. We have a new bathroom that is just HUGE. We have a stand up shower, tub and lots and lots of space. We are able to fit our washer and dryer in there too. This is without a doubt my favorite room in the house. I missed taking showers. It's nice to have one again. We also have a new kitchen. It's pretty nice.

We have really nice neighbors and the house itself way nicer by like a 1000% from our last place. A few of the neighbors will gather this spring to do some gardening in the yard. I'm excited for this as I haven't done any gardening since moving to Berlin. I miss my yard in MN.

We are truly blessed to have such wonderful digs.

TOM TURNS 15
Our kitty Tom turned 15 in 2009 on December 5th. We celebrated with a can of tuna and various other treats. He was happy. We are looking forward to bringing him outside in the spring. He's comfortable in the flat and enjoys walking the halls as long as no one else is around. I'm hoping in a few more months he'll want to venture out. A neighbor in the next house over has a kitty and hopefully Tom can make a new friend. He misses his brother Ted. It will be a year in March that he died. We miss him. Love you Ted.

WEB CONSULTING
Chris and I have taken matters into our own hands and have started doing some web site development. We currently have a few clients and are hoping to get more. I'm working on getting business cards made as well as a web site up. The consulting company is called PBC Consulting which is short for Pretty Black Cat Consulting. Our new web site is at http://www.prettyblackcat.com/. There is nothing there at the moment. I just got it all set up in the last couple of days.

We are pretty excited about this opportunity. If you know of anyone that needs a web site built tell them to give us a call or shoot us an email. Until I get our site set up our resumes are online at http://www.macgowan.com/SoftwareConsulting.php.

KIDS
Connor started nursery school (Kita) in September and has been doing well. He got a nasty eye infection just before Thanksgiving and was in and out of Kita until winter break (around Christmas). He just went back this week after being home for 4 weeks. His English language skills have grown but his German not so much. One of his teachers mentioned that he doesn't understand anything but I think in time it will come back. He was so happy to see his teachers and his friends at school. It was great to see.

Connor is just as feisty as ever and is always getting into trouble or beating up on poor Logan. He says the funniest things and is making sentences out of the English and German words he does know. I finally had to cut Connor's hair as it was so long that it was unmanageable for him. I only had the guts to cut it straight across the back and shorten his bangs. He looks cute and the curls stayed. YEAH!

Logan started the 2nd half of 4th grade after the winter break. He was happy to go back and see his friends. Hey don't get me wrong he really liked having two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's but he missed his buddies. Logan really enjoys most of his classes. His favorites are Math and Science. He likes German too and is really doing well. His pronunciation is just great. Almost as good as a native speaker. He's talking more and more without help and can pretty much understand most Germans. We are very proud of our eldest son.

Logan is still gaga over anything Star Wars and Pokemon. I think I remember him telling me that he has something like 500 Pokemon cards. He does a lot of trading with kids at school. Logan and I like to play the game the cards were intended for and he usually beats me everytime. Logan's other new favorite pastime is playing his DSi. He loves it! My brother Sean and his wife Paula gifted one to Logan. He just can't seem to get enough of it. Sean, Paula and my Mom have supplied him with a nice mix of games. He seems to conquer them quite quickly. I'm hoping some day soon he'll let me play it.

SNOW AND MORE SNOW
Berlin has been blasted with cold weather and snow over the past couple of months. This is not the norm. We think the snow is great (not the cold), so we took the kids sliding a week ago. There is a hill near our flat so we took a few plastic trash bags with us (no sleds) and headed over there. We had a blast. The bags were a hit. They were used by other kids in the park that day. Who knew that a plastic bag would make such a great sled.

BOOKS
I've been reading a lot lately (unfortunately my eyes are getting bad -- old age). I read "The Hobbit", a few novels by Ann Patchett (currently reading "The Patron Saint of Liars"), all 7 of the Narnia books and Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. All are great and I highly recommend any of these. I'm also reading "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold and so far I've had force myself to put it down. I could sit and read it all day like I did the Twilight Saga books (read all 4 in a week) but I would never get anything else done. I plan to read all the Harry Potter books after I finish the two I have started. I can't wait. I was hoping I could read them all before the last two movies come out.

MOVIES
I haven't been to as many movies as I would have liked to go to but since I last posted I've seen "New Moon", "Moon" (rented from iTunes), "9" (rented from iTunes) and "Avatar". Eeeek! That's not many at all. Oh well. I'm saving my money for some big ones coming out this summer. If you haven't seen "Avatar" you should go see it. The tech is pretty awesome. The story is average but the tech is just wonderful. Be sure to see it in 3D as it was intended. I liked all the Twiligt books so of course I liked "New Moon". It wasn't as good as the book or the 1st movie but I still liked it. "Moon" and "9" were interesting movies. I had heard about them from my Screen Rant guys http://www.screenrant.com/. Both were really good movies. "9" was a bit scary and Logan didn't want to have anything to do with it. I don't blame him. Not really a kid movie even though it was animated. I really liked "Moon" but it was sad. Great story and I'm a fan of Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey.

THE END
No, I'm not talking about the Black Eyed Peas' new album even though it's pretty good. No, I'm saying goodbye. Hopefully I've given you a fair amount of update since my last postings. I hope everyone is healthy and happy. Please come and visit us or email or call or comment. We'd love to hear from our family and friends. We miss you all and hopefully we'll be back this summer for a visit. That's the plan anyway. XOXO