Starting New Adventures

Today is a very special day... it's been 10 years that I actually became a US resident so I figured why not start a new journey, a new blog with some new, a little different approach and if you'd like to follow me... here you go: http://rona1981.blogspot.com

I cannot believe it has been 10 years already... I still remember my first week so vividly. I was so excited for all the new adventures that I was about to embrace and it was such a great time... anyway... you've read it all through this blog and you know my journey ;). I will keep this blog active as well since this is a different one at least in my eyes... this blog is very dear to me and I started it for my family and friends in Germany who probably missed me when I left. I wanted them to still be close to me by reading about me and kind of stay with me at least via the internet. Then I got married and Frank's family enjoyed seeing the kids grow up as well which was a great opportunity to continue this blog and since I really enjoyed it I never stopped and I never will ;)... so here our recent exciting adventures.

It's Frank's Birthday today so we secretly painted some bird houses for him for his new location with his company. The kids had so much fun painting them and making them extra special for him. Maybe a bird or two will enjoy these new 'homes'. Since Frank got himself the birthday present I was about to give him I had to do a last minute change of ideas and it won't be ready until the end of this week which is ok. I'm sure he'll really like the gift :)... so stay tuned for that...

On SAT we went to a 'Farm Safety Event' that was for free and an amazing education for the kids and myself. There are so many great things you can do with your kids... it's just mind-blowing... they had 8 stations I think. Each station explained and demonstrated different safety awareness for living on a farm. They had ATV's, tractors, Lawnmowers, Grain, Emergency, Animals and spreading of viruses etc. it was really cool!!! 

Bedtime Stories... another fun book we read :)

New Adventures

Zoe also got a little chick and as far as I know she's still named 'Zoe' :)... Henry has grown already so much, that little chick is now medium size!!! Crazy how fast they grow.

Poooooop :)

The book fair at the school. One morning we got greeted in the morning by Clifford the Dog... fun fun fun

Our experiment with the Sugar Crystals turned out amazing and apparently very yummy too :)

It's March, Reading Month (at least at Zoe's school - not sure if it's a 'thing' or it actually is like all these other 'event' days that are happening)... Zoe has a challenge to take pictures of unusual places where you could read... so here are her pics :)

After my FR Night workout class we got some frozen yoghurt... it was sooo warm yesterday... like SUMMER... and today it's so crazy cold again... those temp hikes are crazy but what do you expect when living in Michigan :)... I'm really excited for the spring / summer... we already have buds on the trees... cannot wait for Michigan to show their spring colors... they are always sooo rich and screaming happiness... yeah yeah yeah

I needed a new profile picture... my new glasses actually broke :(... well not broke but got a scratch on them and apparently I have an anti scratch thing on them and I got warranty on them so I'll get new lenses but I haven't gotten the glasses back... but I really love my old glasses too :)... I forgot how much I loved them... makes me look more hard and not so soft like the new ones... I really enjoy wearing glasses as much as it could be a hassle and a heartache sometimes... I love them....

Oh, yes my new adventures... :)... I'm excited for it and I have all these crazy new ideas in my head. I'll let you know soon about it... a very big day is coming up for me on Monday... so stay tuned... I want the post to be perfect for that :).

Weather Craziness

Let's start this post off with a Date Night... yes... we actually had a date night in March checking out the band that filmed a video for one of their songs where Frank is playing a part in ;). If I ever get that video I'll post it of course. The band is called 'Second Echo' and they're super cool... so we had a great time and had a small appetizer afterwards in a pub closer to home and called it a night... 

Here we are again eating Sushi... I forgot why we went and 'celebrated'... the kids probably would know *lol* but I forgot the occasion. Henry goofs around while waiting for the food...

Yum

That WED we had a super windy day... it actually knocked down a bunch of trees.. mostly pine trees... of course we had power outages all over Michigan. Luckily we only had like 30 min on a FR night (while they were repairing other areas) but there were many many people that had no power from WED through SUN... and the weather got colder again too. Some of our neighbors lost shingles on their roofs but luckily we didn't loose anything and nothing got damaged...

creation of the moment... so to speak 'homemade tater tots / oder Kroketten'

Zoe and Henry got little chicks at their 4H club. Henry named his girl 'Henry' and Zoe names hers Zoe. Zoe hasn't met Zoe yet... she will this Sunday. That SAT we went and visit them she got to hang out with 'Amelia' ;)

A Science Project... we're having a lot of fun trying out new things:

Oh, what's that? Jup... IKEA :)... Zoe had a day off and it started snowing again and the roads were pretty slick so after the gym we went to IKEA for lunch and strolled around a little. We'll be moving the kids bedrooms around. The guest room will be Zoe's room and the smallest room (Zoe's current room) will turn into the guest room. We figured we should do that :)... Zoe is really excited and with all her set up playmobil she barely has room to play in her room so let's move some stuff around and make it interesting :).

My first Field Trip :). I never volunteered to be a chaperone at a field trip. 1st of all I have Henry with me and 2nd I didn't care too much for a day full of a whole classroom loaded up with kids or better three classrooms... because we have three 1st Grade Classes that will go on the trip together. Well... little did I know... it's so much fun. And the excitement in Zoe for DAYS to be looking forward to spending a whole day with me alone was just the cutest thing ever... she was thrilled... we had a great time and I got to ride on an American school bus for the very first time and I got to share that moment with my daughter... how much more special can it be? 

I won't post any pics of the rest of the trip... we went to the Henry Ford Museum (my favorite place to be) and since I got all the other kids in the pictures I'll leave those offline... but it was really fun. Next Field Trips I'll volunteer for sure... because Henry will be in school full time anyway and then I can chaperone all the trips going forward, if they need me ;)... 

Hello March

So March is already here... the weather has been quite interesting here. Very warm at times and of course no snow but last FR and also yesterday we had a crazy Thunderstorm going through our town... every new day is a surprise... 

When I did my online clothing shopping for the kids (mainly uniforms for school) Henry saw this 'cool' shirt and asked me to get it for him :)... hihi.. little munchkin 

Daddy Daughter Dance. Zoe saw the advertising in the gym and asked Frank to go there with her again and they both had a great time again...

I just thought this little essay from Zoe was so wonderful I have to share it:

We survived 12 weeks of ballet! No more ballet for Zoe anymore and we celebrated it with a dinner out at her favorite Sushi place ;)

Here the crazy Thunderstorm that came through last FR right at school pickup time!!! :( it was a bit scary but at least we were inside the car and nothing happened to us.

My little hot dogs ;)

The Henry Ford Museum is always a great destination

With the 4H the kids attended a 'mini horse show' clinic... it was basically just to learn how to 'show' a mini horse and of course they had sweets and treats that were a bigger hit than watching the clinic!

 I got some new cleaning cloths and after I tried them out the kids wanted to try them out too... I guess that's a winner :)... no chemicals needed only the cloths and water and it's clean afterwards and germs free... hard to believe but it works... I cannot stop cleaning now *lol*...

Zoe is 7!!!

Well, let's backtrack a little before celebrating that little munchkin... Dad's Christmas package finally arrived on January 30th!!! Woot Woot... the kids were thrilled. Zoe woke up that day with a fever so she was home sick that day and it was a great timing for this package to arrive, they were all over the gifts and assembled the Lego pieces like a pro and were so excited about it all :).

So now to that little big girl!!! Wow... 7 years already?! Time flies, and she's aiming for 10 years and being a teenager already. Luckily she cannot speed up the time any faster than it goes already ;)... funny thing was that the FR before her Birthday we were going to her school and they had no heat on a very cold day so we were able to turn around and only Henry had a few hours of pre-school that day and Zoe and I got to spend some time alone together which was very nice. We baked the cakes and after we picked up Henry from school her Birthday cake was ready to be decorated and look what a great job they did. They had so much fun, Henry already asked me to make the same cake on his birthday as well.

The Birthday gifts...

Partyyyyyy... we had about 12 adults and 12 kids or so... it was a normal party for us and a lot of fun and I made all new dishes which they liked a lot.

One of Zoe's gifts was a bow and arrow which I wasn't fond of at first but then they had so much fun with it (it was made of foam)... for a few days it was the hit thing and Henry tried to take it off Zoe because he said it's a boy toy but he wouldn't have a chance on that one *lol*...

Little heart giveaways for Zoe's class honoring her Birthday. We made a little bag for each child and those cookies are always super delicious and the kids decorate them themselves, they even cut some of them themselves (ausstechen) so we're always having a lot of fun baking cookies together:

A few days after her birthday we paid Chuck E. Cheese our visit and the kids were shooting and playing and having a blast...

Last Friday I did my very first 'paint and pour' where you go to a place with friends and paint a painting each. It was a lot of fun and I think I did pretty good. I loved it so much I want to do it again... so I'll sign up soon and for sure our house will be more decorated very soon :).

Valentines Day is here and what is Valentine's Day without giveaways? Zoe's school requires home made Valentine's cards and not the general store bought things which I have to agree with... the first time I saw the amount of 'trash' that came into the house I was baffled. And the best home made giveaway you can make that can be 'used' aka eaten are cookies... is a lot of fun baking them together and decorating them - even Frank helped us this time which was a first for him and the kids taught him our rules, it was so sweet :)... they turned out super cute and this time we needed some for Zoe's class mates and Henry's class mates... well I think I'm done making cookies for a few weeks at least *lol*... but again, it's so much fun and a great activity with the kids - and no trash at the end *lol* because they all land in the tummies and they are so yummy.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, hope you're all having a great day today. We accomplished all our Valentine's tasks and will enjoy a very delicious home made family dinner tonight and now it's time to Zumba off some of the calories I took in while eating one or two cookies *lol*...