Spring, spring, spring....

... I just LOVE it!!! I feel like a flower myself and just suck up the beautiful sunshine, which isn't stinking hot but just soooo wonderfully nice. The air smells of new beginnings (if you ignore the tar smell from the freshly re-done road) and new possibilities and every day the buds peak out a tiny bit more, you can literally watch everything grow. And now that we have bikes it is even nicer. Every day I go for a bike ride with Ned and in the evening with both my boys again. I don't feel so pregnant on the bike, and my butt got used to the bike saddle, so it isn't so painful no more:o))) although my legs still feel like jelly and going up a hill I can forget, but still, it is sooooooooooo pleasant to ride along in God's beautiful creation.

And this weekend we'll be moving, AGAIN!!!!! But hopefully it'll be the last time for a couple of months. So once again I have to pack our multiplied STUFF in boxes and bags, to finally unpack them for good... at least for now!!! My memory has never been very good, but now it is even worse (baby eats brain??). I don't have a clue what we actually have and where it might be.... our possessions are spread around in different boxes and different places. I should have written down what I stored in which box and what place, but, like so often before in my life, I'm only smarter afterwards. And I do try to be organized but somehow it always backfires on me (e.g. I forget where I put the lists or I just quickly add something to this box and promise myself to write it down later, which never happens).... ou well, maybe next time I'll do a better job, but to be honest, I don't even want to THINK about packing again:o)))

Well, Ben has finally written our long over-due prayer letter, so it should be send out in the next couple days. If you'd like to get it, just let us know:o)))

Well, I'll go outside now and soak up the sunshine:o))))))))

ou my butt!

Sometimes it amazes me how spontaneous we are. Yesterday morning we didn't even think about it and in the afternoon we were the proud owners of 2 "new" second hand bikes plus kid's seat plus kid's helmet. Off course we took the first opportunity to take them for a little ride. Well, the last time I sat on a bike was in Scotland almost one year ago (for Ben it had been even longer) and I wasn't pregnant back then and just a tiny wee bit fitter:o))). BUT it is great to do something again, although my butt quite hurts after only 1/2h riding. Ned loves it, or should I better say: Ned LOVES(!!!) it???? He loves riding on the back (who wouldn't, you can enjoy the ride without any work) and he LOVES his new bike helmet. In fact he loves it so much, that we aren't allowed to take it off (seems to be a habit of his.... shoes... sunnies.... bike helmet)

He doesn't even take it off for eating:o))

Eating is a other funny little thing with him. Obviously he enjoys eating and he even enjoys eating LOTS of vegetable: corn, pickles, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum (we are VERY grateful for this!!!). Well, now the funny thing is that he's so extraordinarily random, compared with him I am not random at all (and honestly, I am rather random). Well, every day for lunch I make him a lunch plate with said vegetables and cheese and cold cuts. One day he devours the corn and doesn't care a bit for the capsicum, the next he's hot for pickles, but tomatoes?? eagh!! The following day again he can't get enough of tomatoes but corn....??? What do you want me to do with that?? So every day is kind of a lottery: What will it be today???

P.S. I made those buns myself... they are SOOOO yummy!!!

Talking about funny habits, he has another rather random habit: he loves taking off socks. I know kids love doing that in general, but he just loves taking off OUR socks, so if you're not careful, you might go barefoot:o))))

Well, Ben just managed to take off the bike helmet without offspring complaining, so now we can put him to bed, yay.... night night!

Fridge....

... man, can you believe it???? We got offered a fridge and a freezer for free... without even asking!! YAY!!!!!!! How can you put gratefulness in words??? For me it is IMPOSSIBLE, but my heart is overflowing with it.... to GOD first of all, but also to many kind people around us!!! Thank you!

I love spring!!!!

And flowers... and trying to take nice close ups of them :o)))

We almost survived....

... the 2 weeks without Ben. He's having a marvelous time on his survey trip, although I haven't heard much of him. He called last Saturday, and I had the phone on loudspeaker and Ned watched the phone fascinated but refused to talk with his daddy. Only at the very end, when I told him to say bye bye to daddy, he waved to the phone, kissed it and even said "bye bye"!!!! I guess he was wondering how in the world daddy fitted in this little thing and why he didn't come out:o))).

It has been good, although Ned had quite a few "tantrum" days, but somehow I felt like I had a wee bit more patience, who knows, maybe even I learn how to be a bit more patient. Feeding ducks isn't a problem anymore, now it actually is a "trigger" to get him going for a walk. He likes watching those quack quacks and even shares his biscuit with them... that must be love:o))) He also found a new friend. This time it's a boy and his name's Silas (dad is German and works with teenstreet, mum is El Salvadorian) and he's a bit older than Ned but they like digging in the sand pit together. They don't even mind it if they throw sand at each other... the mums do mind though (DON'T throw!!!). It's nice to have people his hight around again, and this time even a boys. There is also another Silas who is 3 already.... so Ned forgets all about dolls and pink doll strollers and is SOOOOOO much "boy" (he hasn't forgotten Tessa and Sienna though, we looked through some photos and he got really excited when he saw those two:o) )

As a true boy he also learned a very important boy word: Bagger!!!!! Don't worry, I don't teach the kid swear words, but bagger is actually the German word for "digger":o)))) And he truly loves diggers and trucks and stuff.

Isn't it funny that such a small person can be so precise and determined and full of character??? Well, I wrote earlier about his red shoes, which are still very much loved, but now he has another new article he was VERY persistent to have: new sunnies!!! We went shopping the other day and I saw those kids sunnies, and as I had to throw away his old once I thought to try some on him.... well, he wasn't so excited about the yellow one nor the red one, but then I put on a blue and white one and he liked it very much.... when I took them off him, he let the entire shop know that he was VERY displeased with me. I had to put them straight back on, inclusive the big price tag thing and a little booklet which hung of it (I was able to remove these once we were back home). Well, and then yesterday we went for a walk... it was raining, so he was dressed up in his wellingtons, rain jacket and rain pants... AND his sunnies!!!!! He would NOT take them off, even afterwards inside the flat.... now the sunnies are an item to be hidden from his sight while we don't need to use them, or else they might be the reason for one of his wonderful tantrums:o)))))

Holiday at mum'n dads... aka Oma and Opa

It is pretty handy to have the grandparents around!!! Today we went into town and Ned fell in love with a pair of sneakers. They are bright red and the brand name is "Kangaroos". Well, they were on sale and the only pair in his size so I tried them on him... and he would not let us take them off again... so Oma was more than willing to get them for him.... his Rossi boots do get very snug and new shoes are needed. Well, after he got up from his afternoon nap he went straight for his new shoes!!!! Whoever says the love of shoes is only a feminine thing is definately wrong. Ned LOVES shoes:o))) Not only his own but he also loves wearing ours!
But he is SUCH a boy in sooo many other things... balls, throwing, stones, sticks, pressing buttons, you name it, he does it :o)))) His two new "loves" are the Makita drill and the fork lift/lawn mower. He found the drill in the spare room and knew exactly that he needed to press THAT button to make it work. And Opa took him for a drive on the fork lift as well as the lawn mower (unfortunately I didn't have my camera with my)!!
Well, but he also loves flowers. Today he played a nice game which involved flowers as well as rocks. He ran down a tiny hill just here on the property of the school were my mum and dad are living. There he picked up a rock, threw it up the hill, ran after it, on the top, he picked a flower, ran down again, put the flower in the grill of a car, picked up a rock, threw it up the hill, ran after it, picked a flower, ran down.... you get the picture, eh???? IT was great fun watching him, we just had to make sure he didn't throw the rocks at the car or put them in the grill (the other day he put a rock in the wheels/rims or whatever you call those things where the tires are on, and I couldn't get it out again, hmpf!)
Now the question remains, whom does Ned miss more... Mr. G or Dad... he neither asks for the both of them most of the time, but when he sees a picture of a giraffe or of Ben he says either "geigei????" (which means "giraffe???") or "Daddy!!". It has been 5 days now without Ben and only 9 days until he comes back. And Mr. G has been gone for two days, and the good news here is, that I found identical Mr. Gs on ebay, so I'll get a couple:o)))

Mr. Giraffe is gone!

Well, Ned had 2 favourite toys: Hermie, his beloved teddy bear and Mr. G, his DUPLO giraffe. That giraffe, I tell you, tried to escape soooo many times already. Once it "jumped" over the railing into the water but could be rescued again. Another time we visited an old lady with Alzheimer and Ned tucked Mr. G in her blanket before leaving. We only realized someone was missing on the way back in the car and had to turn around. But, yeah, now it finally really has happened, Mr. G is gone, without a trace:o(((((. We went for a nice spring walk to the shops and when coming back he was gone. Bye bye giraffe, you were a good and faithful friend and I truly hope that Ned will be able to sleep and live without you, although he's asking for his "geigei" (giraffe). If you happen to have a spare giraffe you're not really attached to and don't need, we'd be more then happy to give it a new home:o)))

Well, not only Mr. G is gone, Ben is gone as well (but he'll come back in 1 1/2 weeks!!), which leaves me alone with offspring. To be honest, I was a bit scared of entertaining a 1 3/4 year old all day by myself and the first day started off REALLY badly!!! I had a screaming concert for one hour just after breakfast over NOTHING and again for quite a while after his afternoon nap. Great start of being alone with him for two weeks, but the next day was the exact opposite. We went for a walk and he didn't want to sit in his pusher and walked all the way into town. I was so impressed with the little fellow. The ships office wives met in a cafe in town which was really nice and my little "angel" played all the time peacefully in the toy corner. Unfortunately on the way out he tried to steal some plastic Ester eggs from some decoration in a corner and fell down, headfirst, a couple of steps and broke the fall with his adorable little nose.... but he's fine, only a couple of scratches remind us of the fall... but it truly looked spectacular!! And he even got a little plastic toy dog thing which is quite high in his esteem now already (so, maybe Mr. G will be replaced by Mr. D??)

Spring has arrived as well which is really good. The air is so fresh and wonderful and we go for walks sometimes even twice a day. Slowly offspring also discovered that feeding duck is fun and if we head in that direction he says "Quack quack" and is rather upset with me if we don't turn off towards the ducks....

Tomorrow I'm heading back towards Heilbronn to stay with my parents for a couple of days.... it is just REALLY nice to have other people around who enjoy entertaining a almost 2 year old... I do run out of ideas at times:o)))))