Leia arrived :)

Lots of news today :). Well let's start off with our weekend adventures. Der Nikolaus came to the German School Nikolausfeier on SAT and we had a wonderful time:

Every morning the kids LOVE to look for their little doors to open / present to open:

What did we get today?!

The Nikolaus brought them a coloring set with butterflies for Zoe and a car / airplane kit for Henry. We had a lot of fun painting on Sunday Morning:

SUN afternoon we went to Micha's House where he invited for a white elephant exchange christmas party. The kids had a blast and I also had a very good time chatting with friends.

MON we went to the Henry Ford Museum and look who filmed there?! Rocco is his name I think. It was very cool to see. Of course the minute we were sitting there 'watching' they came to us and told us to be quiet etc. even though our kids were quiet at the moment... :(... I guess when they see four toddlers together it only calls for loud noises....

Henry was so tired I had to wake him up in order to pick up Zoe... they just look soooo peaceful don't they?

Leia arrived on Dec 8th 8:34pm Germany Time, 52cm and 3600g. My sister Jela's little Girl: Guess who was super excited for a new baby girl cousin?!

Leia

Crafts and Cake

Christmas Time is here :)... I'm literally trying to do as much xmas stuff as possible it seems. Now that I think about it it really seems a lot but they love it so it's ok :). 

THU we had a play date with Kimberly and her kids and I had some very easy crafts prepared which they enjoyed doing but playing was a lot more fun apparently *lol*.

Jenny's Mom sent the kids advents calender with chocolate suprise eggs. The kids LOVE it and they couldn't wait to try them out.

Jenny unwrapped her calendar and of course the munchkins were right then and there trying to get her toys *lol*

We thought it would be a good idea to do some crafts without the kids so we met a german friends company in the conference room and did some crafts without the little ones enjoying some mom talks and we were pretty creative as well :)

I love watching them sleep... they always look so peaceful and happy - relaxed and excited to adventure into a new day with plenty of rest during the night.

At the Ann Arbor Christkindl Market. Some BRATWURST :)...

Nikolaus was here too... I just forgot to take a picture of it in the morning... the kids got up and it was gone I couldn't look fast enough :)

Making a delicious 'Weincremetorte'

While the boys went and got a haircut. They seemed to have really enjoyed their boys time together

Ready... now it has to sit in the fridge for 2 hrs and we can go to the German Nikolaus Party organized from the German School. Can't wait :). Lately I've been doing a lot more with the German Community that I used to... and I really enjoy it.

Lights, Pizza and Cookies... oh and Thanksgiving ;)

Baking Cookies... the kids are fighting over the spoons after we're done baking *lol*... sounds familiar? ;) jup... 

Zoe is doing her hair now by herself :)  :(... now I'm not allowed to do any braids or else anymore... I hope eventually she lets me do it again but I also want to encourage her independence of course.

We're making 'Schnitzel'... Jenny is beating the schnitzel up :)

Chandler was in town (our neighbors granddaughter) and the kids were having a great time playing a board game:

... eating home made chocolate chip pancakes:

... the big kids joined :)...

Our Thanksgiving Dinner :)... yum yum

I'm making my grandma's dumplings for the first time and I LOVED them... Yeah, I can do them now as well

Our Thanksgiving Dinner for everybody something... it was very delicious

Greenfield Village on Sunday morning

Toledo Zoo on Sunday afternoon

Our Advent calendars. Henry's on the right, Zoe on the left:

Frank's to the left and Jenny's on the right.

It looks so beautiful. All the hard work paid off. Everybody is very excited about their calendars and the kids are doing great just opening one package each day. They're very excited in the mornings :)

Dec 1st. The coloring book kit was a hit

Christmas is coming. I finally found some time to put up some decorations

Chan was over today for some play time and after Henry's nap we got to do some home made pizza they had to finish up themselves. Our kids are really good eaters I have to say!!!

Henry and Zoe's was gone in no time *lol*...