Spring is Around the Corner

Elliot and I were outside yesterday and I got some pictures of the first spring flowers!

Crocus

 

Snowdrops

Elliot likes to look at the bugs on the trees.  He was pretty sad when they disappeared for winter.

A little buttercup meadow

Can you see the moon??  Elliot was so excited that he could see it!

21 Weeks

We hit the 21 week mark!  Doc says everything looks good as far as she can tell.  We are going to have a big baby or else I am about week further along than we think.  Time will tell!

 

And we are having a BOY!!!

Biscuit

Biscuit is a dog from a book that my sister sent Elliot for Christmas.  He really enjoys reading about Biscuit.  The book is written for children starting to read and is perfect for our little guy.  He is starting to "read" it, Aunt Amy!

He is reading other books too, but usually when I get the camera out, he quits. :)

Treasures

Elliot has "treasures".  I do not know how else to describe it.  They have to go everywhere with him in the apt, they "sleep" on the windowsill in his room when he is sleeping and the hunt is on if we have misplaced them!

Here is a video of of one of his treasures--this one only lasted a day, but some last several days.

Past treasures:  package of Kleenex (he was really young), toothbrushes (he has 6! right now--don't worry, toothbrushes are really cheap here!), tubes of Carmex, his piggy bank, a car from a surprise egg, children's bath coloring tablets (the package is cool), tubes of food coloring, etc.  Those are the ones I can think of right now!

Geocaching

Andre and I have never been geocaching but when Diana came for a visit, she told us there were several places we could go.   And we just walked up the street to the first spot.  Andre found it after about a minute of searching. 


We have two families in the church that do it with their children--I can understand why.  The children get out in God's beautiful nature and get some exercise as well.  It is hard to compete with computer games and Legos nowadays, but I think it might be a good way to get the kids outside!


We had to bring a ball outside with us because Elliot wanted to play soccer!  He has been just itching to play, but it is not such a good idea in the apartment!

 

Our Weekend with Diana

We have been looking forward to spending a weekend with Diana for a long time.  As the time grew closer, we all got sick and thought we might have to cancel.  Diana was very gracious and said she did not mind runny noses and coughing--so away we drove!

 

We stopped about 5 times for false alarms (Elliot is not wearing a diaper any more), but that was okay.  We got there safe and sound.  And it was COLD!  We left Saxony with beautiful sunny weather and as we went west, it just got colder and the snow got deeper.

 

On Friday afternoon, Elliot just loved being able to feed Diana's rabbits.  She has two.  He got to feed the rabbits the whole weekend.  He was in little boy heaven!

 

 

On Saturday morning, Diana's friend had some baby turtles that we could look at.  Elliot loved it!  I told Andre that if the turtle would just stay that size, I would take one.  The one being held in the hand was born in Summer 2014.  But these get to be the size of a huge dinner plate.  Not for us.

 

 

 

After that, we visited Diana's school.  She is a very dedicated, committed teacher!

Teacher's room

Homeroom classroom

After a wonderful meal of mac and cheese, Elliot and I laid down for our power nap and then we headed to Ulm and the Fisher Quarters.  We found some ducks to feed and lots of water, which made Elliot happy!

 

These Quarters are filled with beautiful houses--Fachwerkhäuser--half-timbered houses.

 

The most crooked hotel in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.  It was build in 1500.

 

This tower doesn't look that straight...

 

The City Hall with the typical European accessory--scaffolding.

The Ulm Minster.  Construction started in 1377 and was finished in 1890.

 

Our beautiful hostess and Elliot!

 

Our weekend ended with a visit to the Augsburg Church of Christ on Sunday morning.  It was good to see some faces that we knew.  We got to know a few new people which was encouraging.  We had a great weekend!  Thanks, Diana!!

Buttermilk Plain Cake

Elliot and I had to stay home from church, so we baked.  Elliot really likes baking and so I needed something new.  I had buttermilk--I really like how things with buttermilk turn out.  I found a German recipe online, but here is my English version.  It reminds me of a pound cake, just lighter.

 

Buttermilk Plain Cake

1 cup of soften butter

1 3/4 cups of sugar (I reduced from 2 cups.)

3 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups of buttermilk

4 cups of flour

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

 

Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat until fluffy.

 

Add buttermilk. Mix well.

 

Add flour and baking powder.  Mix well.

 

Put it in a greased Bundt pan.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. 

When the toothpick comes out clean, it should be done. 

 

Enjoy!!

 



Not much to see, but we are at 18 weeks!

Music Class

Yesterday was Elliot's music class and they were celebrating Fasching--basically Halloween in Feb. Or maybe carnival would be a better description.   All the children get dressed up.  In our part of Germany, Fasching is not such a big thing (thank goodness!).  In other parts of Germany, a whole city will just close down to celebrate.

Our music class teacher told us not to buy anything extra and I was determined not to.  I found his little lion hat in a box of clothes and thought it would do!

You really can't tell what we did with the children in the video because I really don't want to film other children--that is really hard!  You just get to watch Elliot hop without his hat!

Silverware

I realized the other day that Elliot could put the silverware on the table and I finally got a good video of it.  We will see how long this phenomenon lasts!!

We did go outside yesterday, but we did not get to build a snowman. :(  The snow was too powdery.  Oh well--hopefully this weekend!  Elliot just loved playing in the snow though!

 

And another thing--it seems like yesterday he started speaking in sentences.  I did not notice that two days ago, just yesterday.  Is that possible?  And yesterday evening, he was able to tell us that he was going to his music class today.  Growing up so fast!

 

Elliot has the weirdest things that are his "treasures".  This week it is tubes of food coloring.  ??????????????????

 

 

A Little Snow

We had some snow last night--boy, Elliot was excited!  He really wants to build a snowman.  Hopefully there is enough tomorrow morning--guess what we will be doing???

 

Lutherkirche--a church building near us.