Happy New Year!!!

Tonight is the night. We celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another. Goodbye 2008. Hello 2009!

I wish all my family and friends a happy and healthy new year.

Blessed be God forever!

Australia the movie - Review

After a nice meal, Beth and I decided to leave the kids in the very capable hands of our husband's and go to the film Australia. I had read on the Internet that the love scenes between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were hot hot hot and that the movie was pretty good for a chick flick. So we went and I was disappointed.

There was hardly any hot hot hot lovin' going on between Nicole (Sara) and Hugh's (the Drover) characters and if you exam (and not too deeply mind you) the story it's more about the aboriginal boy and less about the couple.

I went back to look at the trailer and it's clearly geared toward this epic love story between Sara and the Drover. Like an "Out of Africa" sort of film but I think we got "Gone with the Wind". Hey don't get me wrong, I love "Gone with the Wind". It's one of my favorite movies. It's just dated and kinda cheesy now.

So Australia is loaded with cheese and the number of "beauty shots" is out loud laughable. You have to see it to believe it. The film is predictable and by the end you pretty much know what's going to happen.

I really wanted to like this movie and I do sort of, but I wouldn't pay to see it in the theaters. If you like cheese and okay click flicks, my recommendation would be to wait to watch it on DVD when it's available to rent.

Here is the URL of the movie's web site if you want to check it out for yourselves http://www.australiamovie.com/.

We did see a trailer for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and it looks really good. Not sure when it comes out here but I'll go see this one in the theaters for sure.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Have a blessed holiday and enjoy your family and friends.

Majel Roddenberry

Sad news for all my Trekker friends. Majel Barrett Roddenberry died yesterday 12/18/2008. She of course is the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (died in 1991). Majel also played the first officer in the Star Trek Pilot, "The Cage", Nurse Chapel in the original Star Trek series, the computer voice on many of the Star Trek space ships, and Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana Troi on the series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Check out:
http://screenrant.com/majel-roddenberry-died-vic-4681/
http://www.trektoday.com/news/181208_01.shtml

God guide her soul to heaven. Sweet Virgin Mary pray for us!

What's Happening?

December Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all my family and friends (including my new lovely Facebook Friends) who were born in December. Again you'll have to forgive me as I am doing this from memory. My birthday book is in the US.

So Happy Birthday to:

Cousin Jim Mihelcic - Dec. 3
Ed Raeker - Dec. 5

Barb Crain - Dec. 6

Martin Lubell - Dec. 7

Ian Quine - Dec. 8

Cousin John Mihelcic - Dec. 10
Grace Magill-Cuerden - Dec. 14

Cousin Joe Mihelcic - Dec. 15
Mike Bykov - Dec. 16

Carrie Bennett - Dec. 16
Dana Bailey Alexander - Dec. 18

Sharla Siluk - Dec. 21

Okay so that is all I can remember. If I have forgotten anyone please email me (jahays@pobox.com) or post it here in the comments section.

Sprechen Deutsche
My German class is officially over as of last Thursday (12/18). It was very sad to say goodbye but I made many new friends. My biggest hurdle I think was finding the time to study. In 8 weeks we got a ton of material tossed at us. I find it hard to pronounce many words for some reason. I can say them in my head but once they leave my mouth it doesn't sound quite right. The words I know and say more frequently sound great or at least that is what I've been told by my German speaking friends. This makes me feel pretty good. I plan to start up again in March when the weather gets a little warmer. I can't say I'll miss the commute.

Another Fine Outing with Friends
A few of my classmates and I had the opportunity to go out for some dinner. I went out with Teresa and Jia. We had good food and nice conversation. The following week more of my classmates and I went out including our instructor Astrid. We all had a nice time. The food was good and so was the company. Tomorrow I plan to go to Erika Roos' Opera with Beth Muellner. Beth is in town with husband Martin Lubell and their two children Julian (9) and Xaiver (7). Erika was in my German class and she happens to be a world famous Opera singer. I can't wait to see her. It will be a blast.

Here are some pics from my outing with Teresa and Jia.

Teresa and Jia

Jennifer and Jia

Teresa, Jennifer and Jia

Jennifer's yummy pasta dish.

Really yummy Tiramisu

Getting Lost in Berlin

The night I went out with Jia and Teresa I missed the last U9 train home. I thought my line was open 24 hours but I was incorrect. I didn't know about the night bus so I ended up taking another line to another part of the city hoping I could get another train there that would get me closer to my flat but once I got off I again found out that the trains basically stop running during the week between 1-4 a.m. So here I am all alone in a foreign train station in a foreign country not really knowing the German language. I was a little freaked out for about 10 seconds. I looked around and saw a guy looking around too. I asked him in German if he spoke English and he did. He helped me find a Taxi so I could get home. He was very nice. The Taxi driver was also very kind. I was able to talk to him more than I thought I could in German. He got me home in under 10 minutes. I got dropped off right at the door and 10 more minutes later I was snuggling next to my boy Logan who was nice and warm.

Bad Hair Cuts

Yes this is the superficial part of the post but I feel the need to vent. Lately I've been plagued with bad hair cuts. The last two I haven't really liked. I went today to get my hair cut and colored. The color is great (bye bye gray) but the cut, I'm not digging it. Prior to our move to Berlin I had really nice long hair and I decided I needed a change. What a mistake! Today I asked for a trim and got a weird looking something. Yikes!!! I think the thing to do is not to get my hair cut at all for at least a year or two and see where I land or perhaps I just need to find a new salon.

Holiday Meal - German Style

Some friends from German class and I went out to a great Bavarian restaurant after class one night. Here are some pics below.

Guerrmo and the foot long or rather meter long sausage. He said it was excellent.
















Here is Fernando with his civilized meal.
















Ja, Teresa, Anmar and I shared the meat palooza. It was excellent let me tell ya.

















Group pic without Ja. From left to right: Anmar, Jennifer, Teresa, Guerrmo and Fernando.

Pic with Ja from left to right: Anmar, Ja, Teresa, Jennifer, Guerrmo and Fernando.

It was a nice time and we plan to go out again tomorrow Thursday. It's Anmar's last class as he is going on vacation for the holidays. Our last week is next week and the last class is Thursday, December 18th.

Advent Conspiracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

I can't figure out how to embed the video here put click on the link above to go to the video on YouTube. I'll try to work with this again tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Of course the German's don't celebrate the US holiday but Chris, the kids and I will make a little meal here and celebrate. In fact we are off soon to go get some cooked chickens.

The sun is peeking out and this is always a good thing here in Berlin. Baby is screaming so I better go see what's going on in the kitchen. Chris was feeding him but I think he is done. ha ha

All the best!!!

Four Weeks Left

Four weeks left and my German class will be over. Sad but happy as three nights a week and lots of homework is really kicking me in the %!@@(&$. ha ha

Hey don't get me wrong, I'm having a great time but I have a long commute and I have to do it three times a week. UG!!!! It's even farther away than Connor's Music Together class. With temps hitting the low 30s and the rail stations with no heat it's tough to get excited about going to class when you freeze your buns off just getting there. Again I say UG!!!

Okay enough gripping. German class is going great as well as me speaking the language. It's fun to be able to use more words and understand more in the "real" world.

Week in Review
Another week as come and gone. It seemed like a really long week to me. Not sure why but it was. It may have been due to Connor getting yet another cold. Babies shouldn't be allowed to get sick. He is slowly getting better. We had to miss his final Music Together class which was too bad. Neither one of us missed the commute but it would have been fun to go to our last class. Connor's teacher Antje is very nice and he really likes her and her guitar a lot. :-) We also missed our Friday music class at Lifelines but we can make it up no charge. Good news for us.

Logan will have yet another short week this coming week due to Thanksgiving. For those new to my blog Logan's school JFK is a German/American school and they celebrate both German and American holidays. Logan gets a lot of time off. Unfortunately that means he goes to school until July. Last week he had Thursday and Friday off due to teacher workshops. This week it's Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving here in Germany will be uneventful. We plan to buy a couple of already cooked chickens the day before and eat that along with potatoes, veggies, bread, etc. on Thursday. Chris will take the day off from job hunting.

Chris continues to look for work. Nothing yet. He had a couple of interviews with consulting firms and they are looking for work for him. He got a call this past week from a head hunter offering him an opportunity in Switzerland. Yeah we aren't moving sorry guy.

Tom and Ted are getting along okay. Ted is losing more weight but tonight he actually ate something so I'm very happy. We'll take him in to the docs again this week and get some blood work done and find out what he needs. He's on meds but they make him sick. Poor kitty. Send prayers our way for the little guy or your positive energy!!! Thanks.

More prayers or positive energy is needed for my Mother and Alfred Zimmerman. Alfred was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. He was in the hospital several weeks ago and then in an assisted living residence getting stronger after a terrible bout with pneumonia. Alfred is thankfully back home with my Mom and she reports that he is doing better. Mom and Alfred your family and friends are thinking of you and sending their best wishes, prayers and good vibes your way. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

On that note I'll sign off. It's late here (1 a.m.) and I should be getting to bed. I have to wake up in oh 5 hours. BLAH!!!!

Slacker

Yes I'm a slacker but my German class has really been keeping me busy. I've got homework every night but I'm learning the language and it's staying in my head. YEAH for me!!!

What's been going on? Well, I'm in German class learning some German. ha ha

Chris is job hunting. He had a couple of interviews with consulting companies in town and they are working to find him a job. He is also checking in with some of the larger companies in town; Siemens, Bayer, etc.

Logan is working hard in school. We spent all last weekend working on his homework. He wrote a book report on one of the Magic Tree House books; Vikings at Sunrise. He also had to write a letter to a pen pal and he's learning lots of new words so they have the kids writing stories using these words. He always has German, spelling, writing, and Math. We do lots of review. A couple of weeks ago Logan had a Math test and only got 4 wrong. I think there were like 30/35 questions. He was proud as were we. Logan has a short week this week and next. Teacher workshops this week and Thanksgiving next. His school celebrates both German and US holidays.

Connor is great. Walking absolutely everywhere and getting into trouble. Chris took some new pics of Connor so I'll take a few more this week so I can post some new ones up on Flickr, Facebook and here on this blog. Connor's last Music Together class is tomorrow. We are sad that we aren't continuing on but happy that we don't have to make the commute any longer. It was a long way to go for 45 minutes. We still go to Lifelines a couple of doors down from our flat to a German music class. Both Connor and I love it. We go Friday afternoons. Connor will also take a Montessori class on Mondays starting in December. It should be loads of fun.

Tom and Ted are sad they can't go outside as often as they did back home in St. Paul, MN. They don't like the cat food here either. Not sure what the heck I'm going to do about that now.

We got a new oven for the flat. It's much larger than the old one and of course is brand new. The old one was nasty and we didn't use the oven that often but we did wash up and use the stove. We still need a new sink and cabinet. These items are in our contract and should have been put in back in July when we first got here. Don't get me started again on the folks that run this place. I could rant on and on and on and on....

Okay it's late here and I need to go to bed but not before I have a couple of cookies. I brought them with me to class but didn't get a chance to eat them. ha ha

November Birthday Wishes

I wanted to be sure to wish all my friends and family a Happy Happy Birthday. So Happy Birthday to:

Monica Bayer
Amanda Woodfill
Chris Macgowan
Geraldine Robinette
Marian Mihelcic
Karen Curry Moran

Am I missing anyone???? My birthday book is packed away in MN so I'm doing this by memory. Let me know if I've missed anyone and I'll be sure to send my warmest wishes.

Hope you all had or will have great days. Know that Chris, Logan, Connor and I are thinking about you all and wish you the very very best.

Miss and love you all!!!

Happy Birthday Chris

Today is Chris Macgowan's birthday. Happy Birthday to my love!!!!! Hope you have a great day!!! If you want to send Chris a birthday greeting, e-mail him at chris@macgowan.com or leave it here and I'll forward it to him.

Chris has an interview at 10 a.m. on his b-day. Hopefully it will be a great opportunity and the folks interviewing him will love him and offer him a job. Keep your fingers crossed.

All is well here in Berlin with the Hays/Macgowan clan. I'll write a weekly update tomorrow. It's midnight here (actually 12:07 a.m.) and I need to go to bed.

More later.

Connor Turns 15 Months

Today Connor officially turns 15 months. Hard to believe that 15 months ago my little guy was born and we were living in the US. Time flies.

Connor is doing well and is walking everywhere.

THE VOTE

Well the big VOTE is almost here. Tomorrow is the big day. Chris and I sent in our ballets about three or four weeks ago. I wonder what will happen. I have class tomorrow evening so I usually get home around 10 p.m. I hope to find some LIVE coverage on the Internet. Maybe German TV will cover it too. If anyone knows of a good site for this let me know. Thanks.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

More pictures for your viewing pleasure. Please go to my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

Here are a few as a preview.













Logan and me in either 2004 or 2005 at the OshKosh Air Show in Wisconsin USA. We are in front of Spaceship One.


















Chris, Logan and Connor in front of our flat.














I love this picture. Logan is looking at me while the train is pulling in.

Remember more pictures for your viewing pleasure at my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

German Immersion

Last night in class I was submerged in the German language. Yes class is full immersion. It was weird and yet not. I kept thinking to myself that I needed to hear English but then I thought hey I'm living and breathing German everyday so do I really need to hear English?? Once I answered my question with a resounding NO I was more at ease with the class, my teacher and the students around me.

Everyone in the class seems really nice. I'm the only person from the US. We only had two people from the same country; Italy. It's fun to have such a diverse group of folks in one class. The teacher didn't speak English until the end when she wrote the word, "Hausaufgaben" and we all looked blankly at her. She smiled and said I won't speak much English to you but in this case the word I wrote means HOMEWORK. We all laughed. It's weird that everyone in class speaks English. ha ha

So what did we learn? Well, we learned how to say (formally and informally) how are you, my name is xxx (or I'm called xxx), I'm from xxx and I speak xxx. We learned the Alphabet and numbers 0-10. It was fun. The three hours went really fast. We had one 15 minute break (the German's call it a pause) to do whatever we needed to do (bathroom, drink, eat, talk, smoke, etc.). I didn't bring anything with me but on Thursday I'll bring some food and something to drink. I did get myself some water to at least wet my whistle. I was starved by the time I got home at 10 p.m. so I stopped at Dos (nearby Mexican restaurant -- it's okay) for a chicken burrito.

All-in-all the experience was good. A few words and phrases were new to me which was nice and the rest was review. As I've mentioned in earlier posts I've been using the workbook "German in 10 minutes a day" to study the language. What I learned last night is toward the middle of my book. I think the book I have is really for folks who need to speak German NOW 'cus they're going on a trip or are on a trip and need to be able to interact with the folks around them. You get a lot quickly which I liked but half of what I've learned so far from the book we didn't even talk about in class. I suppose since I have German class three nights a week for three hours each time I'm sure we'll get to IT, but I was hoping last night to hear the words and phrases that I've learned so far. I guess I just have to be patient :-) I'm probably going to get what I asked for on Thursday. ha ha

Faces

So is it me or do I see the faces of my family and friends all over the place? I even see TV and movie personalities. Note: I did see (along with husband and kids) Dennis Quaid here in Berlin near St. Hedwig's in Mitte. He was with another man and his two twin babies. He smiled at me as we passed because Connor was screaming at the top of his lungs. The parental acknowledgement of yeah I've got one (or more) of those too was nice. I didn't really think about who he was until after we passed.

I wonder if there is a syndrome or condition or something that ex pats like me see people they know everywhere they go while living abroad. In my travels around the US and Europe I haven't encountered this syndrome or condition or whatever you want to call it.

Hold on let me try a Google search.....

Okay I tried a few different searches but I got nothin'. It's probably my searching techniques and my lack of using the correct words but I'm sure I'm not the first to think about this. I'll have to try again later. If anyone out there reading this post has info for me, please let me know. Thanks.

I'll also look on the ex pat web site I read and see if Christina G has anything to say about it.

More Days Missing

Once again I've fallen short of my goal to write in my blog everyday. BLAH!

Sunday was nice. We missed the whole "fall back" time change so when we went to Mass we arrived an hour early. No worries. We found a cute coffee shop and had a little "more" breakfast before heading to church. Mass was wonderful as always. Logan gets distracted when Connor and Chris are around but he was better toward the end. Connor fell asleep which is always good as he is a screamer and yeller. He likes to hear the echo. It's okay at the Cathedral though Arch Bishop Flynn addressed Connor during his Homily once which was really cute. Arch Bishop Flynn loves loves loves kids. He couldn't care less if kids screamed during the entire Mass. This is very cool.

Anyway, I've got pictures this time but sadly they are in the camera but I will post this week.

Logan and I took a short bike ride later in the evening which was nice. It was cold cold cold for sure.

Monday Logan went back to school. It was hard for everyone to get up well except Connor. He always gets up early. Logan had a good day and was happy to see his friends. We got homework done and checked played some indoor soccer and a little Pokemon before heading to bed. It rained all day so poor Connor and I were stuck inside but he had fun practicing his walking. Connor helped me do some laundry and cleaning of the flat. He's quite the helper. Now if I could only get Logan to help me too.

Jennifer ist spreche Deutche heute!!!

I probably didn't write or spell the words in my title correctly but, yes yes yes, I will be going to class tonight. I'm very excited. I will go early to get my picture taken for my student ID. I'm taking A1 which is the first class you can take. Even though I know a little German and could have tested at a higher level, I decided it was better for me to start at the beginning. Class is at 6 p.m. and goes until 9 p.m. Should be loads of fun.

Since I'm at class Chris and Logan will take Connor to Music Together class. They will all have a lot of fun too. Music Together ends I think on November 18th so after today there are only 3 classes left. The music class at Lifelines just down the street ends at the end of December. That class was super fun and the kids in the Lifelines class are about the same age. Connor really liked seeing kids his own age and really enjoyed it. I did too. Chris will take Connor next week to check it out. Also the Lifelines music class was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper. Like 1/2 the cost of Music Together not to mention the no hassle of getting there. I'm really happy about this.

Okay better get going. I will report after class how it went.

Missed Friday Now It's Saturday

Oh gosh. I missed Friday. I'm trying to blog everyday but mother duty calls so...

Friday was a nice day. It was cold but sunny. Chris and Logan went on their first bike ride. Yes it's terrible that it took this long to put the bikes together and get out on the streets. I haven't yet had the opportunity but hope to do so this week. We were planning to get a baby seat but didn't get a chance to do it so we'll try this week and see.

Logan's vacation is over. We got back to more aggressive reading and Math. Chris also reviewed Logan's German lessons. We'll do more today and tomorrow before he heads back to school on Monday.

We got to talk to our friends Beth and Martin Friday via Skype. It worked great. We talked to Martin earlier in the day when Beth and kids (Julian & Xaiver) were at school and work. Later in the day we talked to Beth, Julian and Xaiver. It was fun to see them as well as hear them. I just Love Love Love Skype. The Muellner/Lubell clan is well and having fun in Vienna. It was great to see the kids talk to each other. It's like they never have been apart these past few years. They showed each other their trading cards (Pokemon & Yugi Oh) and Legos.

The evening ended with a little dinner from our favorite place Del Falco's.

Today we did some shopping and napping. Chris and Logan went on another bike ride. It's cold and cloudy here today which is sort of depressing. I better get used to it. The months of November, December, January and February will be more of the same. At least in MN it snows (here not so much) which makes the cold bearable. Also it may be really cold but the sun does come out.

Chris tells me that some flats still use coal for heating. Today I smelled it for the first time. It's smells like a campfire.

Oh gosh music class for Connor and I was really fun. We were offered a spot in class so we signed up for 8 more. Music Together classes end in about 4 weeks so it will be nice to have something else for Connor to do. I missed the Montessori sign up so we'll have to wait until January. It was great to just walk down the street a couple of doors to class. No stroller. If I leave early enough I can have Connor walk there. He'd really like it I'm sure.

It's about 8:30 p.m. here and we are finishing up dinner. We tried to make stir fry but it didn't work out. Neither Chris nor I have made before so that is part of the problem. We'll try again. We need to get a good sauce recipe so if anyone out there is reading this please post something for us.

We'll end the evening with a little play time with the kids and then off to bed. We are all going to St. Bernhard's tomorrow. It's cutting into Connor's nap time but that is okay. He'll fall asleep in his stroller.

Typical Day

A friend of mine (Kristin Fischer Rosel - Hi Kristin) asked what a typical day is like now that we are living in Berlin. To be honest not much as changed from our "regular routine". We still get up in the morning, have breakfast, feed the cats, take Logan to school and then busy ourselves with typical daytime stuff. Chris spends his time looking for a job while I take care of Connor most days. I do laundry, clean the flat, make meals, go on walks with the baby, go to the park, etc.

Grocery shopping is a little different from what we are used to back in St. Paul. Since we don't have a car we have to shop more frequently. We purchased a little grocery cart on wheels so we can get a little more when we go out. They don't give out bags here so you have to bring your own. We use a combination of cloth and plastic. We also don't shop at one place. We have to go to many places to get everything we need. We are lucky to have two bio stores nearby. The BioFresh and the BioCompany. We also go to Kaiser's which is not as nice as a Kowalski's or Lund's/Byerly's but nicer than a Cub or Rainbow. Once I again I feel the need to show pics but have none sadly. I will take some and post.

Everything takes longer to do here without a car but hey I'm okay with that. I think having a car would be a liability in this city. First of all there are no places to park. No one has garages so it's a free for all on the street. In some neighborhoods like ours you have to pay to park on the street. The U & S-Bahn trains as well as the buses are excellent in Berlin. You can get just about anywhere in the city. Biking is HUGE here too. There are bike lanes everywhere. WATCH OUT! If you're standing in a bike lane you'll get run over by a cranky biker. They are freaks about this for sure.

Connor and I have been to the doctor's which isn't really a part of a typical day but this is a little different too. I think I've mentioned these experiences in other posts but basically the doc does it all. I was a little worried about the shots for Connor and the blood draw for me but all went well. For those that care my thyroid levels are A-OK.

So our typical day is like your typical day. We just happen to live in a European city.

If you would like to come visit us and see for yourselves, please feel free to let me or Chris know. We have an extra room with a nice large comfortable bed.

What happened to Tuesday and Wednesday??

Ha they came and went. I can't believe it's Thursday already.

Logan's vacation is quickly coming to a close. We've gone to the park and to the Fassbender & Rausch chocolate shop and to KaDeWe. Today not sure what we'll do. It's a beautiful day out. It's cold but the sky is blue. We hope to get a bike seat for Connor so we can all go biking together. This is what we are thinking of:

Hopefully we can get something that isn't too expensive. Chris thinks they are about 100 Euro. Yikes! However, it would be nice now that the bikes are built to all go out on a ride rather than just one of us always staying behind with Connor. Plus I might try biking to music class and see how long it takes me rather than riding the rails.

Okay let's go back to Tuesday. Tuesday was a very nice day. It was super warm and sunny. It got to 68. Logan, Connor and I took the train to the "big" park over by Rathaus Schoenberg. Rathaus Schoenberg is where JFK made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner. Anyway, this park is huge. I should take a picture and post so you can see just how big it is. Maybe we'll go today and I can snap a few and post. In fact I have to try to bring the camera wherever I go. Everytime we leave the house it's a new adventure and a picture is worth a 1000 words right?? Logan found a purple kiddie rake and Connor loved playing in the sand with it. When Logan tried to take it away Connor screamed bloody murder. We made it home just before it started to rain and then it rained on and off all day on Wednesday.

Sort of a bummer when it rains here as there aren't any real indoor places to go that aren't cold. All the train stations are open so it gets mightly chilly inside. The shops and restaurants are all heated but you can't hang out in there forever. Berlin has a couple of malls but most of them are super crowded. Everyone has the same idea to get out of the cold. I don't like to fight all those people with the kids and stroller. Not my idea of fun.

So Wednesday we didn't get out until later in the afternoon. We were rain free long enough to get to the train and take it to this really cool chocolate shop/restaurant in Mitte called Fassbender & Rausch. We were there for about an hour. We had some hot chocolate and a chocolate mousse dessert. Everything was great and then Connor peed on me. BLAH!!! Connor was sitting on my lap and I felt this warm liquid on my leg and knew what it was immediately. From that point, Connor started screaming and Logan was running around. I thought I was going to go crazy. We picked up all our stuff and headed to the bathroom. I completely changed Connor and loaded him up to go out to this really cool plaza nearby. As soon as we walked outside it started to rain. More BLAH! We decided not to take the train but take the bus instead. It was a nice ride as Connor fell asleep. Logan sat quietly looking out the window too. Peace at last. ha ha

One more Video of Connor

Getting ready to eat some dinner.

Let's Try It Again

I'm going to try to post these last two videos of Connor. Logan has some video he took of his Legos and Connor but again the files are too big so we need to figure out how to post these for him. More on that later.

Here we go....



One more...

We have a WINNER

In our search for a Catholic Church Logan and I met a very nice priest named Father Markos. He gave me the name of another priest Father Gillisson at St. Bernhard's in Dahlam. I called Father Gillisson and he told me to come to the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday. So Logan and I went yesterday to St. Bernhard's. It was a lovely train ride to Dahlem and a short walk to the church from the train station. The church is very nice inside and it was great to finally hear Mass in English. Logan and I have been going to various churches around Berlin. Mostly to St. Hedwig's in Mitte. They at least had the Readings in English even though the spoken word was German.

Logan and I also were able to go to Confession after Mass which was a real treat for both of us. We haven't gone to Confession since we left the US in July. Logan said as we left the church that we were back on God's path.

After Confession we met with Father Gillisson. I wanted to know about homeschooling Logan religious ed. Logan gets religious ed 1 hour a week at JFK but I miss our time together. I homeschooled Logan in 1st and 2nd grade. It was a lot of fun for both of us and we both learned so much. Father invited us to come back next weekend (he wants to meet the entire family) and he would introduce us to other families in the Parish. Some of these other families have similar interest so I get the feeling they don't have a program yet but would like to do it. This could be fun organizing if enough families are interested. If it doesn't work out with St. Bernhard's Logan and I will still do it on our own. I can order the books from findingGod.org. It just would have been nice to interact with other kids and families. Logan likes the group activities and of course snack time.

Next weekend we'll bring the camera and take some pics of the area and the church. The train station has some weird looking benches that Logan and I thought were really funny.

One More and I'm Going to BED

My last post of the day/night. I've got to get to bed. I'm so so tired. I still have my cold and while I'm feeling better I have a cough now. I'm sure I'll have it for the next couple of weeks. Dang!

Here are some cute pictures of at least two of my kiddies. You can see more of course on my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

Chris and I went to see "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" yesterday. You can read about it here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765432/ on IMDB and Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Baader_Meinhof_Komplex
and here is the official web site http://www.bmk.film.de/. If you Google it too you can read more about the film and I'm sure the RAF. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction. Anyway, it was good. It could have been better but all-in-all I liked it. I had done some reading about the RAF and the "key" players like Baader, Meinhof, and Ensslin. Pretty crazy folks for pretty crazy times so when I saw the movie I was expecting more and the film didn't deliver as I had thought it would. The performances from some of the actors were fantastic and I wish the writers/director would have spent more time on the main characters. I really felt as if I didn't get to know these people very well and what drove them mad to do what they did. Okay so go see it and tell me what you think.

Chris and I had a nice discussion on the bus ride back to the flat but our thoughts soon were of our boys and our new babysitter. Did they all survive the last 5 hours? Apparently they did. Connor seemed happy to see us and Logan was busy watching the end of a movie. Clara (our new babysitter) said she would come back. YEAH!!! More dates for Chris and me.

Technology STINKS

Okay I'm trying to upload more videos but IE decided to choke so no more videos tonight. I'll try posting the last two tomorrow. Sometimes all this technology just stinks. BLAH!!!

No I LOVE IT REALLY!

Connor Walks Videos

We took some video of Connor walking today and I wanted to try to post some of them here. Hopefully it works out. One of the videos is big and was taking a long time to upload so here is a shortie and I'll get the larger one out on the web somewhere. Stay tuned.

One more very short clip.

Okay I got the bigger one to work. I have two more I want to post and will try to get them up but I may have gone over my limit for the day so I'll have to do it tomorrow. Let's see what I can do. One moment.....

What's Happening????

SICK AGAIN?
Connor's mucus is extremely potent. I swear I have been washing my hands like crazy since he got a cold a few days ago but wouldn't you know it. I managed to get a cold and a sore throat as well. Gee wiz. Like I don't have anything else better to do with my time than baby a cold. BLAH!

GERMAN
Two weeks from today I'll be heading to my first German language class at the Goethe Institute. I'm so excited. Over the past week or so I've been brushing up on my German using the book "German in 10 minutes a day". It's really a great book. Here is the web site http://www.bbks.com/ if you want to check out. I think once I get a little German behind me I'm going to brush up on my Spanish and Italian and maybe even French. We have lots of folks living in the neighborhood that speak these languages and it would be cool to speak with them in their native language as well. Fun stuff learning new languages.

CONNOR
Connor and I will go to a different music class this week. I think I may have mentioned this in another post but there is a cute baby store about two doors down from our flat and they also have music and montesorri classes. I signed us up for both. Connor and I get to "try it" before we "buy it" this Friday so it should be loads of fun.

Connor continues to take more and more independent steps. He thinks he's king of the hill.

LOGAN
Logan's conferences this week are going well. Nothing new. We hope we can get his teachers talking to us and to each other. We'll keep you posted. I'm getting the feeling though that this is a Germany thing. Unfortunate really.

Logan and I went to see "Wall-E" last week. It was really a cute movie. We both recommend it.

SKYPE
We got Skype working on my laptop. If you don't have it get it NOW. http://www.skype.com/ Calls between Skype members are free and signing up is free too. Chris, Logan, Connor and I talked to Matthew, Tally and new baby Nicole Jane yesterday. It was fun to be able to see each other as we were able to successfully video conference. You don't have to video conference with Skype it's just a nice benefit if you have a camera.

More pictures on Flickr

I posted more pics on Flickr. Check them out http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat

Tom and Ted go outside

Today was such a beautiful day we took Tom and Ted out for a walk. Ted did great. We actually walked down the street a bit (this is all at night btw) to the grassy front lawn of the neighbors for a munch and then back home for a little tuna treat. Chris took Tom out for a dragggggggggggg. Tom did walk back to the flat on his own. Yeah, good boy!

Living with All BOYS

Let me think about this one for a bit and get back to ya all.

Connor's Stats

I forgot to add in a previous post that Connor is 26 lbs. and 32 inches tall. He's like 87% for weight and a 98% for height. Kid is growing like a weed.

This is scary but Logan fits into my shoes. I wear an 8-1/2. Yikes.

Conferences for Logan Monday, Oct. 13th

Fall conferences are just around the corner. There will be no surprises we hope. Communication has gotten a little better with the teachers but we are still concerned about Logan and how he is doing. It was a tough start for Logan. He has 6 different teachers and none of them talk to each other. There is little communication with parents. At Linwood, Logan's school in MN, we received a parent letter every week telling us what was going on that week. The teachers talked to each other and created similar lesson plans. We are also concerned about the discipline. It appears that each teacher does their own thing which is a HUGE problem. Some teachers YELL at their students and are just plain condescending and mean. Both Chris and I have been witnesses to these events. None involving Logan but classmates. I'm just furious about it. Chris and I plan to discuss with the teachers next week. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and that I don't cause too much of a ruckus.

More Shots for Connor

We had another visit to the doctor's office today. Connor had his final two shots. Here in Germany the max shots they give is two. Last month Connor had his MMR and today he had everything else. Seven different kinds of drugs. Yikes! None of them are live viruses so we are hoping he won't get a fever like he did with the MMR. Connor didn't really cry on the first shot but did the 2nd one. Ouchies!!!

Rainy and cold today. Fall leaves are falling from the trees. Lots of yellow, brown, red and orange. Very pretty.

How to become a Facebook addict

Yes I've become an addict, that is a Facebook addict. Do you have a Facebook addiction? Here let me make it easy for you if you don't http://www.facebook.com.

Sleep

Don't get enough of it.

TP

Another missed item is my lovely Charman TP. Oh the agony.

My fantastic cousin Karen sent me a HUGE package of TP. I mean HUGE. I've got a picture of it in the camera and will post. I'm so proud of it. It's a vision of white fluffiness. Oh the simple pleasures of life.

Karen my dearest thank you so much from the bottom of my tushy!!! You are a GEM.

Thank you thank you thank you!

More Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to our friend Jeremy Wilker. It's his day today. He and his wife Meghan (and daugther Trixie) are expecting a very special person today too. Their 2nd child's due date was today. Any news? Can we welcome the next Wilker into the world???

Stay Tuned.

Here is Meghan's Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishgirl/. I'm sure she'll have something up as soon as the baby is here.

All the best guys and again Happy Birthday Jeremy.

I LOVE SHOUT!

I think the absolutely best stain remover is SHOUT. I've been battling my wash machine here in Berlin since we got it oh a month or so ago. I can't seem to find the right setting or the right detergent. Well I finally found a decent setting on the machine. I wash everything on the sportswear setting. Weird that a wash machine has that type of setting but that's okay. There are others that I can't read and Babelfish has no idea either. I stay away from those (at least for now). I can wash my clothing in cold no problem but was having a hard time getting stains out that I had not had problems with in the US. I found a passable substitute for SHOUT at the Bio Company. I also went online and found that lemon juice, vinegar and the sun are good at getting stains out too.

So I was sad and frustrated that I couldn't get this blueberry stain out and I asked my wonderful Mother to send me some SHOUT. She sent me TWO and a OXY stick pen. Oh JOY! Now even old stains are coming out after a couple of washes. Oh boy oh boy LIFE IS GOOD!!!

I LOVE SHOUT!

Thanks again Mom for sending :-)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Pete

It's Grandpa Pete Macgowan's birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Connor, Logan, Chris and Jennifer miss you and wish you a very happy day.

The Imperfect Parent

This is a "must see" web site. Loads of funny stories.
http://www.imperfectparent.com/

Connor Walks

Well folks my little baby Connor is growing up. He's finally decided now is the time to walk. He thinks it's pretty cool too. He took about 10 steps yesterday in the hall of our flat. I think he thought I was holding on to his shirt but I wasn't. He's still the fastest crawler I've ever seen but eventually he'll be up on two feet and running around trying to catch Logan. Oh my!

Recycling in Berlin

In Berlin it seems we can recycle just about anything. Our building has a number of recycling bins in the back for glass, paper, plastic, and compost. I feel so, I don't know, liberated from trash. It's a weird feeling knowing that I can recycle just about anything. Chris and I keep forgetting that we can recycle the plastic packaging our food comes in. I have to pull it out of the trash (which is gross) but I'm doing right by the planet. Hey, and all of it gets reused. Boy the folks over here got it right. This is one of the things I will miss when we go back to the US.

German Reunification Day

Happy Reunification Day Germany!

Today marks the 18th year. Crazy that it's been that long already. Logan has the day off of school. He woke up at 5 a.m. this morning to finish building a new Lego set he bought himself yesterday. It's the AT-TE Walker from the new animated Star Wars movie "The Clone Wars". I made him go back to bed. Connor followed him out into the darkness of the morning and he too was brought back to bed with a little early morning milky. Connor was happy and Logan not so much. They slept another hour or two. As much as I don't want to wish their lives away and have them grow up to soon, I can't wait for them to be teenagers so they'll "sleep in" until noon. :-)

I wanted to include a link to the festivities of the day here but since I don't know German it's tough to find something English. I could have refined my searches in Google but I don't have the energy at the moment. Must be my anemia :-) or that I was up at 5. Anyway, here is a link to Wikipedia http://berlinadventures.blogspot.com/. The best I can do at the moment. The paper says that there is lots going on at the Brandenberg Gate so we'll head over there after Connor's nap.

Since today is a holiday there isn't much open. Connor is out of Soy milk. I was supposed to go out at around 6 p.m. last night to get my meds and milk but forgot as I was making dinner. Shit! I sure hope something is open at the train stations. Maybe we'll go check out Hauptbanhof.

More later.

I forgot the camera :-( I'm so sad. I wanted to take some pics at the festival but with all the crap we take with us we forgot it. Oh well.

The crowds were deep deep deep. It was way worse than the MN State Fair. BLAH! In fact at times we would be at a standstill. I hate large crowds like that. Anyway, we finally made it out and got some food. I had this beef goulash with noodles that was very good. Chris and Logan had wurst with pommes (sausgage with fries). Connor ate off our plates. He really likes fries. Later Logan and I spotted the Haribo booth and treated ourselves to 10 Euros worth of candy. Yummy. We also stopped to get some crepes. Chris and Logan had cinnamon and sugar while I had bananas and Nutella (chocolate). All very tasty and Connor loved it all too. The only thing on a stick was either candied or chocolate covered apples.

There were a couple games and one ride (ferris wheel) that we could see. They had a huge bandstand and lots of large screens everywhere so you could see what was happening on stage. Lots of beer and fried food stands mostly.

Chris and Logan went back Saturday night but said the place was dead. It was cold so I suppose most folks wanted to be inside.

Connor and I stayed home in the warm comfort of our flat and went to bed early.

Monday Madness

Okay it wasn't quite as mad as you might think but I was busy today. Forgive any spelling errors. Too lazy to check :-)

PERGAMON
I finally got my butt over to the Pergamon Museum to see the Babylon: Myth & Truth exhibit. If you are interested in checking it out online I've added links above. Anyway, I got over there around 12:30 and stayed until about 4ish. At the end my back was killing me and I decided to just listen to the rest of the stories. I found a nice bench and just punched in the numbers in to my headset. I had a self-guided tour in English.

All in all it was a pretty good exhibit. There are two parts. The myth (based on the Bible's interpretation) and the truth about the people, royalty and life in general. If you look at all the artifacts they've uncovered over the years you get the feeling that these folks were pretty on top of it; way ahead of their time in almost every facet of life. It's pretty cool to look at the sculptures, books, paintings, etc. and think that most of what I am looking at is like 4000 years old. Crazy.

The Babylon exhibit ends this week but I need to go back to the museum to see the Greek and Roman antiquities and artifacts. I was only able to see the Pergamon temple. There are a ton of museums here and I hope I'll be able to see more. The next museum stop for me is the National Gallery. I think this is the museum with the Egyptian antiquities. My favorite.

REGISTERED FOR GERMAN CLASS
After the museum I went to the Goethe-Institute and registered for my German language class. I start on October 28th. I'm pretty excited. I brought some books with me and have been trying to learn a little German this way. It's helped for sure but there is nothing like going to class and interacting with other people. Logan has been teaching me a few lines of German too. I've been using what I've learned so far in the "real" world and so far so good. Only bad thing is that I don't always understand the answer so I end up having to ask (in German) if whomever I'm talking to speaks English. Kind of a bummer but that will resolve once I learn more.

COLANDER
I bought a nice colander today along with a laddle, spatula, measuring cup, shredder (for cheese) and a milk steamer pot (for hot choco & milche kaffe). Ah the basics of life. You really miss these simple utensils when you don't have them for 3 months. It's nice to be somewhat civilized again.

THE WEEK AHEAD
We have a busy week ahead of us. Chris hopes to send his resume out this week along with making some phone calls to contacts he has here. Logan has basketball after school on Tuesdays and is getting extra help with math after school on Thursdays. He has Friday off as it is German Unification Day here in Germany. Connor and I will be going to music class tomorrow evening and my goal is to finally unpack some of my clothing and hang them up in one of the armiors. I also have to go back to my Drs. office to get the results of my thyroid blood test. I can't remember if I talked about my experience last week but let's just say it was pretty low tech. I was somewhat scared. The Dr. I saw didn't speak much English but we muddled through it. I see the English speaking Dr. Wednesday so it will be interesting to see how they interpret my lab results.

Funday at JFK & Berlin Marathon

FUNDAY at JFK School
We attended our first FUNDAY at Logan's school. It was indeed fun. The weather was great. Funday is quite the production. It's basically a fundraiser for the school and all it's clubs, sports, etc. It's such a big deal they only do it every other year. They had tons of food, games and music. We got to school around 1:30 and stayed until it was over at 4. I've got some cute pics and will post soon. They had a raffle too but ran out of tickets so we couldn't participate. Too bad they had some really great prizes. Anyway, once we got home we were wiped out. Chris, Connor and I napped until 8:30. Lucky Logan got to play some video games and watch a movie while we were out. Later we ordered food from our favorite cheap Italian restaurant Dal Falco's and then just chilled out at home until we all hit the sack around 11. It was a nice day.

BERLIN MARATHON
Today is the Berlin Marathon. We saw a little of it yesterday. I guess they have a biking race, a rollerblade race (we saw this yesterday) and a running race. This morning is the running race. Chris, Logan and Connor are out right now watching. The races go through the center of Berlin. Starting at the Reichstag/Tiergarden and winding through Berlin ending back at the Reichstag. Check out the web site I linked to above. Logan and I are off to church soon and then we'll connect up with Chris and Connor at the Marathon later. We also have our friends Christian and Yorunt coming up to visit. It's cold here but the sun is out and for Berlin that is a big deal. More later.

LEAVE A COMMENT
Now anyone can leave a comment here on the blog if you wish. I needed to change the settings. I also changed the settings on Logan's blog http://commanderrex.blogspot.com. He only has two entries so far but now if you wish to leave him a comment you can.

Loud and Proud

I'm finding that Germans (when not watching soccer or drinking heavily) tend to be rather quiet people. Somewhat reserved you might say (with the exception of the above) or at least the people that live here in Friednau are quiet.

Chris calls us the loud family. Logan is really loud and well Connor is a baby and he is just well a baby. Babies yell a lot. Anyway, I tend to be loud too. I grew up in a family that yelled from one room to the next. We didn't get up and go into the other room to talk to the person we wanted to speak to we just yelled. So we were loud and lazy :-) Okay I'm exaggerating a bit but you get what I'm saying. You and your family might do the same thing. Not sure if the same is true for Chris but Chris and I tend to yell from room to room too. I guess my bad habits rubbed off. When you live in a house it's easy to yell from room to room. In an apartment it's not recommended.

Thus we are I'm sure noted here in our building as the loud Americans. WHATEVER, I say. My mother sent me some SHOUT stain remover and I received it today (thanks MOM). I've been doing Logan and Connor's laundry all day (kids generate a lot of dirty clothes) and I finally got the stains out of one of Connor's shirts. If you've read one of my earlier posts I talk about my laundry problems. Anyway, I yelled really LOUD and I'm darn PROUD of it!!! I don't care what the neighbors think. I got some freakin' stains out of my kids clothes damn it (PG-13 rated on the damn it words)!!!!

The Week in Review

Not sure how much review I can do as I'm on Connor watch this evening so here it goes....

JOBS
None.

GERMAN STUDIES
Trying to connect with the folks at the Goethe Institute. I plan to take a night course three times a week so I have to call the admissions office for the evening classes but everytime I call I get a busy signal. This is typical here in Germany. Seems to me that the German telecom only hands out one line to everybody and that is that. I've emailed too but no response. I may have to just go down to the office to register. Not really convient with Connor but I guess I can try it. Worse case I have to leave and try another time.

SICK KIDS
So Connor recovered from his fever. First time for him. He threw up once which I documented in an early which isn't bad for him. Connor is a puker. We lucked out with Logan so I guess we were due. I was a puker when I was little. Ask my mother, okay don't but it's true. BLAH!!! Okay anyway we did call his doctor but of course couldn't get through so both Chris and I emailed. She got back to us a few hours later. For some reason our phone wasn't working right and she couldn't get me on my cell so she emailed us then we emailed back and then finally later in the evening of the next day I actually got her on the phone. By then Connor's fever had broken and he was getting better. No need to go in thank goodness. We don't have a car so we would have had to take the bus or the train to get to the clinic. I hope Connor (and Logan) never get sick again. It was an experience let me tell you.

Now Logan has been pretty healthy since we got here. Just allergies mostly but he broke out in a weird rash all over his body. Not sure if it is food or something else. Anyway as long as he is taken his allergy meds he doesn't have the rash so the doc said we should probably come in and have blood drawn. Oh crap. Logan hates shots and now he has to have blood drawn. I think we'll have to knock him out for that one.

LAUNDRY
This is the bain (did I spell that correctly??) of my exsistance at the moment. I'll start off by saying that Chris IS OF NO HELP. He can't read any of the German on the bloody machine. This is part of the problem. There are so many choices and don't know what to choose and bablefish isn't of any help either. It's driving me crazy. It shouldn't be this hard. I'm going to have to get one of our German friends to come over and show me how to do laundry here. Everything we own (unless it's black) has some sort of berry stain on it. Connor likes to spread it around. What the heck am I going to do??? Feel like crying now. boo hoo boo hoo

MAIL
I can't seem to get my butt in gear to send any. I will though trust me I will.

FOOD
Logan continues to cause us grief but today Chris had Logan try some chicken noodle soup he had made and Logan loved it. Oh MY GOODNESS. He also tried raspberry jam on toast and liked it too. Is Logan turning over a new leaf??? I won't hold my breath :-) Connor on the other had is a good eater as is Chris who eats (it seems anyway) a pint of ice cream every night. He must be stressed out :-) I on the other hand have been eating nasty nasty food like Coke and coffee (mostly milch kaffees) and chocolate and other bad foods. I'm craving a Coke right now. Good thing we aren't buying it. I'll just continue to suck down my wasser mit gas (bubbly water).
CARE PACKAGES
Thanks to all that have sent us care packages from the USA. We are so happy to receive them. I just received A&D Ointment, TP, lotion and books from my cousins Karen and Jim. Thanks so much. My mother is keeping Logan and Connor feed with Kraft Mac & Cheese, Gerber fruit puffs, M&Ms (they taste nasty here) & Tootise rolls. Chris' parents, Sandy & Pete have sent us our forwarded mail and meds for the kids. Of course there is more and we thank everyone so much. It is hard to find replacements for all the products we used in the US. I still can't find a replacement for A&D ointment so if you are so inclined feel free to send us some. Baby Connor needs it for his bum :-)

SMOKING
They still do it here. YUCK!!

DOGS
They still poop everywhere. Seems worse now that the leaves are falling. It's dangerous out there.

SITE SEEING
Had a nice time on my walking tour of Berlin. Plan to do much more. Found out that the Grimm Brothers have their graves near our house as well as Marlene Dietrich. We will go on a grave tour soon. I plan to go to the Pergamon Museum this week to see the Babylon exhibit. Will report on that later in the week.

JFK SCHOOL
We think we've finally got Logan on the right track at school. We found out now two weeks ago that he was missing homework and was sort of lost on what he was to bring home for homework, etc. The school isn't the best on communication and the teachers don't seem to be working together but it's still early and Chris says we need to give them a chance. So I'm waiting to see how it all works out before his first conference in October.

MUSIC TOGETHER
Connor and I went to our first class past week. The next day he got the fever so he wasn't too into it but hopefully this week will be different. No kids his age so I'm hoping to get him into another session. Also the train/bus ride out to the class takes an hour. Not loving the commute. The other class is closer. Hopefully we can switch. Keep fingers crossed.

WEEK AHEAD
We expect our boxes that we shipped on the slow boat in July will be coming this week and we are very excited. It is cold here and we don't really have jackets or warm clothing. I packed more toys and books for the kids as well as some games. They'll be happy to see it. We didn't bring much with us so the kids are really bored with what they have here. It will be good to put these things away so a few months from now those toys will be new again.

Chris will be working hard on looking for a job. We've got our desks up so it's nice to be able to sit at a desk and blog or do whatever on the computer. Logan has a desk too and it makes doing homework easier. Connor likes it too and does his homework on the desk. More like get into trouble but he's trying.

I've got more pics to post and will do some in the coming week. Make sure to check my flickr account for more pics closer to the end of the week. http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

I found this web site for american expats. Check it out http://www.amiexpat.com/. It's been somewhat helpful. It's interesting to read for sure.

Sick Kids

There is nothing worst than a sick child and I have one. BLAH!!!

Connor was not eating or sleeping well on Tuesday and then yesterday he took a dive. He threw up all over his new clothes including the cute little wool jacket I got him. UG! Of course he did this on a walk and we were far from home. I raced back as fast as I could as the vomit was everywhere. I had thought about just changing him but there was too much and it was all over the stroller too. Once I got back I cleaned him up and all the clothes but he continued to get worse. We continued to give him lots of water and some meds. Last night wasn't too bad and today he seems better.

My poor little baby. This is the first time he's had a fever. Little kids just don't understand what's going on. They just know they feel terrible and the only thing they can do is cry. As a parent you sort of feel helpless especially since you've done all you can do. Time is the only thing that can help.

If you pray say a little prayer that Connor recovers quickly. If you don't, send good vides his way.

Cold Day

It was a cold day in Berlin today. Connor got to wear the new coat I bought him yesterday. It was a good thing :-)

We all stayed home today except Logan went to school. He is in basketball so he stays at school until 3 p.m. He said it was fun. He's doing homework right now. He brought home the school portrait form. Pics will be taken next week. I'll be sure to post them.

Connor and I went to Music Together class today. It was a long ride there due to rush hour and a really long ride back. It was COLD too. Also most of the kids are older than he is so he doesn't really have anyone to play with in the class. I think I might ask the teacher if there is an opening in the Wilmersdorf class. It is also closer to us. Keep fingers crossed that there are more kids his age in this other class and that they have an opening.

Tomorrow Logan goes on an all day field trip. We just found out from him this afternoon. JFK isn't really good about letting us parents know what is going on. Something we need to discuss with his teacher at conferences. It's very frustrating. Linwood A+, Logan's school in MN was great about the communication (with exception of the merger with Monroe School).

Another cold and gray day I think for tomorrow but Connor and I will venture out somewhere. Probably to the store and to the market.

Flickr

I've added some pics to my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat/.

Discover Berlin

Today I went on a tour of Berlin. It was great. I had such a nice time and met some nice folks. I went on the Original Berlin Walks tour in English. The tour guide Johanna was very good. She gave us a lot of history and background on Berlin/Germany. We went to many historical sites. There is so much to see here. We went by Hilter's bunker (it's a parking lot now) and even though it's a parking lot it's weird to be standing in the space. We also went to the plaza where the Nazi burned over 22,000 books. Chris and I have walked by this plaza many times before and I go to church nearby so it was again crazy to think that this happened here.

Next week I plan to go to one of the museums. I'll most likely drop Logan off at school and then head into town to the Pergamon. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum and here is another site http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/standorte/index.php?lang=en&p=2&objID=27&n=1&r=4. There is an exhibit called Babylon Myth and Truth. It is at the Pergamon until October so I'm excited to see it as well.

I can't wait to discover more cool places here in Berlin. Maybe next time I'll remember the camera :-)

Jennifer Hays the Tourist

I'm going on a walking tour of Berlin tomorrow morning with the folks at Original Berlin Walks. If you want to see what kind of walks they conduct go to http://www.berlinwalks.com. I'm going to take the Discover Berlin walk. It should be fun. I'll report on it later.

Chris and I started talking about how we should take some time to be tourists in Berlin while we are living here. When Chris lived here in the early 90s he didn't take the time to "really" see the city and before he knew it he was back home in the US. We have a great opportunity and need to take full advantage of what this city has to offer.

Next time you have free time go on a tour of your city or do something you've never done before. You'd be surprised at what you're missing and it's just around the corner.

Uh-Oh!

The time has come for Logan, Chris and I to "watch" what we say around Connor. He's beginning to repeat some words. The other day Connor dropped his bottle on the floor and I said "Uh oh" and he repeated it promptly. He then pushed the bottle off the table and onto the floor, looked at me and said "Uh oh". I smiled back and repeated it. After that moment he started tossing his toys around saying "Uh oh" and looking to me for confirmation. I stopped to think about how often I say Uh oh and I realize I do say it but more often I say crap or other more colorful medifores. Chris and I were much more careful about what we said around Logan so I think now is the time to start with Connor. I just didn't realize how quickly it all comes.

Shots

We had our first experience at the doctor's yesterday. Connor needed to go in for his One year check up. He got one shot (MMR with Chixpox) but needs two more. We go back in early October. Connor only cried a little when he got his shot. Not like his big brother or dad who hate needles. Mom has no problems either :-)

Sprechen

I think I spelled that correctly??

I've decided to sign up for German language lesson at the Goethe Institute. I know I said before that they were expensive but I compared the instruction time, materials, location, reputation, etc. and really there isn't a big difference. I'm calling tomorrow to sign up. Hopefully they have space for me in their late October class.

YEAH!! It feels good to make a decision about this.

Busted

I think the picture says it all.

Logan and Friends

Here are a few pics of Logan and his friends.

Darth Vadar


Clone Trooper


JuJu Olson at Linwood A+ School


Darius (DD) at Monore/Linwood A+ School


Adam at Monore/Linwood A+ School


Rosy & Violet Haas on moving truck at 952 Linwood


Rosy Hass at 952 Linwood Avenue


JuJu Olson and Logan Macgowan at Sans-Souci Palace in Potsdam, Germany

Connor Gets a Package

Connor received a package from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Pete Macgowan for his birthday.

This is over a month ago sorry. I'm just getting around to posting pics and video now.

Connor and Logan

Logan took this pic of Connor at Connor's one year old birthday celebration.

The pic of Logan he shot himself on his last day of summer school at Linwood A+ (at the Monore campus).

Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday!!!

Only thing planned so far is a date with the movie theater later this evening.

My lovely husband made eggs and toast for me and Logan sang me a nice song this morning. Connor has a cold but he slept better last night so that is gift enough :-) Maybe he'll do a repeat performance.

My cousin Barb is having a birthday on September 6th too so Happy Birthday Barb!!! Hope you had a great day!!!

More later.

Okay I'm back. I went to see the movie "Wanted". It was actually pretty good. I like James McAvoy. I would recommend seeing it in the theaters but for sure rent it when it comes out. I also liked the new Batman movie. It was really good. I went to see it about a couple of weeks ago and then Chris went a few days later. We don't have any babysitters here so we have to tag team with the kids.




















Before I left for the movie theater we had chocolate cake (pics coming soon) and ordered dinner from one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Dal Falco's. It doesn't hurt that it's pretty cheap too.

I got home about 10:30 p.m. By that time I was starting to feel the effects of the cold I had caught from Connor but all in all I had a nice day. Chris had given the kids baths and put them to bed for me. What a great gift!!!!!

Thanks to my family and friends that sent me well wishes via email and to my friend Monica Bayer for sending me a card in the mail. Love you guys!!!

Bad Day

What started out as a pretty good day ended disasterously. Okay it wasn't that bad but for Logan it wasn't great.

Math Quiz
Let's just say Logan didn't do well and he's pretty bummed out about it. Chris and I are helping him figure out what went wrong. More practicing is in order on the weekends.

Sassy Pants
On the way home from school Logan got pretty sassy with Chris and me about various things and I finally said to him okay that is it no computer/TV time today (he only gets 2 hours Fri/Sat -- maybe Thur/Sun if school is going well and no homework or reading -- this is the recommendation of our doc in the US -- two hours a day on the weekends of screen time -- Logan was there and got the message). Logan didn't like that at all and pouted all the way home. Once home we had a couple of long talks with him explain why parents do what they do to kids, etc. He seemed okay after that and accepted his fate for the evening.

Dinner but no Dancing
Chris and I have a ton of potatoes here and we decided to cook some up with a little Turkey. We had fed the kids earlier and we were all sitting in our new living/family room eating and talking. Logan left the room and came back with a huge pillow and as he entered the room he knocked over my juice. The glass broke and the juice flew everywhere. Logan was upset and stormed out of the room. He said this was the worst day ever. Poor kid.

Sleeping Finally
Now both kids are sleeping and I'm headed that way too. I'm just exhausted at being a parent at the moment. At least (knock on wood) there were no poopy butts involved :-)

Connor and Jennifer have stuff to do

Music Together
Connor and I are registered for Music Together class. We are very excited. Well I'm very excited. Connor will like it :-)

We attend Music Together class in St. Paul with our friends Barb and Anna. We had lots of fun and are so happy we can continue Music Together here in Berlin.

We'll be heading to Kreuzberg on Sept. 16th. Class is for 10 weeks. We are sad that Barb and Anna can't be with us but we are hoping to make new friends here in Berlin.

Hi Barb and Anna!!!! Barb I still have a little something for Anna. I'm such a slacker and will try try try hard to get it in the mail to you guys soon.

For those reading this and who have children under the age of 5 I would highly recommend Music Together. Here is the web address in the US http://www.musictogetherclasses.com/. Go and have fun.

If you want to see where we are going for class put in Niedstr. 19, 12159 Berlin into Google Maps http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl. This is our address here in Berlin. The location of the music class is here Urbanstr. 137, 10967 Berlin. You can figure out how to make Google Maps work :-) The Berlin Music Together web site is here http://www.musictogether-with-antje.de/index.htm if you want to read about what we are doing. Our class is at 5:15 on Tuesdays.

Again it should be loads of fun.

German Lessons for Jennifer
I found a school I think I'll try for a month or so to learn the German language. It's called the New School or in German Die Neue Schule. Here is the web site http://www.neueschule.de/e/welcome.htm. Chris and I have seen lots of ads all over Berlin and I called on Friday and talked to a teacher there and it sounds good. It's somewhat cheaper than some of the others I've looked at and is located pretty close to us. One of the other schools I was interested in http://www.goethe.de/enindex.htm is a little over budget for us but is well known and pretty prestigious according to Chris. Maybe once my lovely husband gets a job I can attend a class there :-) I looked at their online courses but I think I would rather go to class and meet people. I wish I could do both but the lack of funds prohibits it :-( I'll be starting class in October so toward the end of the fall look for some German posts.