amsterdam part one...

[disclaimer]

this blog is a photo blog for the moment.

a super fast post from the first trip to amsterdam.

christmas festivities+more amsterdam

[going back tomorrow]

will follow suit.

enjoy.

beautiful canals

i want this window display!

sucker for anything red.

mama's here!

art nerd...

hasta manana, holland!

winter.winter.winter...

finally had some time to edit photos and what not.

here is the scoop:

he is pretty cute:

love it:

last tuesday at scouts we made cookies with the kids:

1. die mädchen putting theirs on the tray

2. tim und esra

3. lenni being cute

4. esra, tim, und lukas

5. elias post flour fight

6. i think we may need more sprinkles

7. the joys of baking with 10 year olds :)

8. tim und lukas

9. lenni being funny

10. lina, ronya, und marlene-wish this was a better picture they are so sweet

11. elias being a goof

12. ida und marlene

this little dude just likes playing in the snow all day

which is good because i do too

out with malte, marian, ina, and the others:

and last saturday was the weihnachts concert

at onkel tony's

featuring pulp funktion

and mash up circus

[see below]

me with ina+malte with ina

christmas is almost here

but MAMA will be here in 4 days!!!

i am so, so, so excited!

so stay tuned for more wintery-ness

a golden birthday...

we've got a lot going on this month.

first up:

esra and elias turned 10 on the 10th

and celebrated with an olympic themed birthday party

we of course started with the opening ceremonies

with germany, serbia, poland, thailand,

south africa, italy, and albania all represented

they battled in ice hockey:

maneuvered a bobsled race:

and competed in figure skating

[all performed to a lady gaga song]

watching a group of 10 year old boys pretend to figure skate to lady gaga

was one of the funniest things i have ever seen.

they were awesome.

wolfgang, cousin jana and i were the judges

and it was difficult to not give them all perfect scores.

during one performance, i think elias', to "Love Game"

the audience of boys were pelvic thrusting so hard and shakin' it to:

"let's have some fun this beat is sick, i wanna take a ride on your disco stick..."

[of course having no idea what that means]

and you could not help but crack up.

fun stuff. for reals

+

+

+

happy birthday esra and elias

i'm so glad i know the coolest 10 year olds in the world

happy nikolaustag...

today is nikolaustag.

sankt nikolaus day.

last night, we sang christmas songs

[loudly]

in hopes that sankt nikolaus would hear us and come visit.

he came to visit

and asked if we had been good during the year.

i think we all had.

because this morning

our boots were filled with chocolate!

***

++lecker++

[yummy]

dreamy...

truly,

dreamy.

you have to imagine looking out the window

coffee in hand

and aqualung playing in the background.

[ok, yes, i did slip a bit walking to get cajus from kindergarten but let's just focus on what is important...]

coffee.

good tunes.

snowflakes.

willkommen im winter

wanderlust...

wan.der.lust

[n.]

a great desire to travel and rove about.

fitting that it is of german origin, ja?

seriously...

i am

[obsessed]

with the hipstamatic app for the iphone

if you don't have it already

+you should+

some lovely autumn pics for your enjoyment

prom...

last saturday was the "festball" for the scouts

and we also called it prom

it was so fun to dress up again like we were in high school

my friend marian from german class came too

and we had a blast

:]

etc...

wow

2 posts in one day

nice.

[out with friends: christian, daniel, malte, and tommy]

[tobias' amazing costume... unfortunately i took none of myself]

with annika ♥

and that is it for now

more to come :]

more halloween+ a birthday!

::this boy has officially been 3 since the 1st::

esra and elias

[skeletons]

with friends ready to go trick-or-treating

and another little monster!

photos are wolfgang's.

awesome, huh?!

my 8:00 am...

looks like this.

hot coffee

+

a brisk autumn morning

+

a happy boy ready for kindergarten

i don't think you could ask

for a better

8am

yay for fall :)

my favorite season, by far.

[if you noticed the new design]

not going to lie, i'm in love with germany, but i am a wee bit sad that i am missing traditional american things.

like,

halloween

thanksgiving

pumpkins

starbucks pumpkin spice latte

pumpkin pie

roasted pumpkin seeds

...see a pattern?

however, while walking cajus to kindergarten yesterday i saw one lonely pumpkin in front of someones home.

should have taken a picture.

+++

in italy we drew some awesome halloween/fall decorations.

probably hard to tell which are mine, or elias'.

and esra and his monster, ROCK!

and how cute is elias' frankenstein?!

[second one from top, below the pumpkin...]

italy...

so.

we are in italy right now.

tuscany, to be more precise.

on holiday until the 23rd.

so to make this easier,

i've decided to blog while i'm here.

you can check out the italia tab

^^{ABOVE}^^

to follow along.

ciao.

picnik.com...

is the bomb

and i just became a premium member

so you can expect more fun photos like this little lovely.

ciao, bella.

we're off to italia on saturday :]

in case you didn't know...

it rains here.

a lot.

but i like it.

+plus+

we have cool umbrellas.

so, we're okay.

to kindergarten we go...

just waiting for the bus to take us to kindergarten.

we have enjoyed it so far; the playing in the sand, playing with cars, coloring...

when i asked him who his friends were he said he didn't have any friends, just girls.

and the other day when we were leaving, 4 little girls came running over to say,

"bye cajus!, bye! bye!, see you tomorrow!"

one even gave him a kiss on the cheek.

+what a little lady killer+

sometimes...

a good old quote can make you feel good and inspired.

i particularly love this, so i prettied it up here.

this p-nut...

is THREE years old

today

happy birthday little J man

love,

haynuuuh