Slumber party

For almost 18 months Sophia has been asking to have a sleep over at Nouna’s house and she finally got her wish.  Julia & Sophia had a great night of giggles and lots & lots of doudous.

1st Grade!!

Just a few photos from prep day…

with Fr John after picking out her seat – middle of the class, front row.  I tried to suggest other, but she was insistent…  with her seat mate Jenna,

 

and the first day of school – uniforms & everything! Sophia is one of 3 new girls to her class, all of whom are friends of hers…  (she is counting!)  And we like all of their names! with mommy & Lexa (who didn’t want to leave, and kept asking for her own little chair as we walked away from Sophia!!  Its going to be a challenging year)

Another one gone

Sophia passed another milestone today, and was able to pull out her front tooth at school!!

You can already see the big tooth coming down already!!  And then Alexandra had to be in the photo as well ~ luckily Sophia doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight…

Little miss Alexandra

This is how I found her this morning: So after showing us her monkey skills in Italy by being able to climb out of her pack & play and unzip her sleep sack to be able to walk onto the terrace, she can now strip naked in the 5 min between when she wakes up & when I can get her out of bed (Sophia’s new morning bus schedule is really becoming painful).

Seriously, PJs off & diaper in a wad on her bed.  Oh, how I wish we could just concentrate on potty training, but with all of the chaos over the next few months I don’t think that will be a priority for us…

The man back on Campus…

After 5 years & 3 months our adventure is coming to an end.  Troy has recently accepted a position back at corp HQ, and we will be moving at the end of the school year – which also happens to be the end of the fiscal year, so it’s a nice time to break.

It’s amazing to look at the beginning of this blog, my first entries, and our first adventures.  Sophia had just turned a year when we arrived in Paris, and now we have Alexandra – born in Munich, and has never lived in the US!

I know things are about to get crazy with packing (selling a kitchen, figuring out air shipment vs. containership, repainting, cleaning to high German standards, etc), plus we are sneaking in one more vacation (Troy will hit the ground running & we probably won’t see much of him once he is in the new role), so posting is going to be a little delayed over the next few weeks.  On the other hand, I may have time while exhausted in the evenings to go back & fill in some missing holes – so if you have an RSS feed & you see dates from 2005 & 2006, that is why.

We are really excited to get back to life where we can think  longer than 2-3 years out…  And maybe hang up some artwork!

Missing: One Tooth

Somewhere between Metz & Paris, Sophia lost a tooth. 

Luckily, she was in the car and was able to spit it out before she swallowed it, but it made for a very exciting entrance into Paris, and something to look forward to tonight…

I’m sure the tooth fairy (or tooth Mouse in France) pays very well in Paris.

Alexandra – growing before our eyes

All of a sudden I looked at Alexandra tonight & realized that she isn’t a baby anymore.  She doesn’t even really look like a toddler – all I see is, sigh, little girl.

She has a great “cheese” face and then there is the joy of playing with bubbles (in the living room – Troy’s doing) Sophia saw the camera & came running… I love the joy they have for each other.  Alexandra is so proud because she can pronounce Sophia’s name perfectly.  Sometimes it comes out in a whisper, but when we leave the school, and Alexandra feels Sophia is too far ahead, everyone in the parking lot can hear her.  SOPHIA!

And they all smile…

Learning to feed thy self…

Eating, it's always messy business, but the art of feeding ones’ self, is an art.  Figuring out how to get the spoon into your mouth when you can’t see your mouth, or the tip of the spoon at that point, is really difficult.  Alexandra is facing those challenges head on, and using what ever tools work…  To some degree of success, and plenty of failure at this point.

It is a lot like finger painting during meals in our kitchen at this point.  Thank GOD we have a kitchen to eat in…

Monster Alexandra Mash

Just a little monster mash from our little monkey Alexandra. Her walking has really come along the past couple of days, and she is laughing all the way thru life right now!

The Tri

So, Troy has been bugging me that I haven’t posted anything on the triathlon, so here you go.

I actually woke up in the morning really sick, and didn’t know if it was from nerves about the race, or just that I was sick, but I would never recommend doing a triathlon on an empty (emptied) stomach… We arrived in time, the girls were happy, and then we were off!

The water wasn’t too bad compared to swimming in the Northwest, and lakes are pretty normal for me, so the swimming part was by far the easiest part for me.

(on a side note, entering the water with the entire group was a little freaky. There was a bunch of bumping in the water, and I think people who are a little weak in swimming would have a really hard time at the beginning and should wait 5 seconds after the start for the field to spread out a bit. The water gets cloudy, and if you are used to seeing where you are swimming you would have a hard time with it.

Then came the 20k of biking, needless to say, everyone that I passed in the water came back at me at full force…

Although it seems there was at least one person behind me… And I was still smiling at the end.

The first 2k of the run was really hard, my legs just didn’t want to move, but I got thru it (thanks to my headphones & a podcast of “wait wait don’t tell me”) and managed to finish it running.

Then I watched the 5 people finish behind me. Sad…

All in All, a great experience, and I think I may be hooked. I’ve been looking up sprint Triathlons in the Seattle area, I just missed the Munich one by a few weeks, and I’m definitely interested in one to train for in the fall. Something to keep me motivated during the summer vacation.

Following the end of the triathlon, the school sponsored a “Kinderlauf” in which the kids ran 100meters on the track for various prizes (Frisbees, jump ropes, bubbles, balloons, etc.) Sophia was very excited to take part, and did a great job staying in her lane… She didn’t win, but it was fun for us all to see her so active!

Sophie (2nd place) and Sophia with their loot!

Alexandra's big steps

It is still a bit early, and she can't go more than a few steps at a time (especially when her big sister blocks her in) but slowly Alexandra is walking more & more!

Alexandra at 13 months

As Alexandra’s world is expanding, and getting taller now that she is on her feet more, it seems like her development is on fast forward.  In the past month she has started really signing to us (more, please, milk, eat, and birds are the 5 favorites) and she really wants to do things just like her big sister, including eating off the same type of plate and being able to drink her bottle all by herself (which is so great in the car now!)

We put a table & chairs in her room, and she loves to sit there & read, or “put together” a puzzle.

We also have a red set in the kitchen next to the balcony doors where Alexandra can sit and look out on the trees, birds, get some sunshine thru the windows, and basically keep herself entertained while I make dinner or clear out the dishwasher.

The drool is back, which makes me think that we are in for some rough teething ahead. 

Sophia’s hair cut

I just realized that I never actually put these photos up – I think I was busy playing catch-up from our trip to Provence…

Anyway, this was mother’s day.  Troy was traveling, so I got a babysitter to get some gym time, and while Ashley was watching the girls Sophia decided to “make” me a mother’s day present.  Apparently her hair was getting in the way of her drawing, and rather than just put her headband back on she took the scissors & cut bangs for herself.

She did a pretty good job, I didn’t clean it up at all.  But when I asked her why she just didn’t put her headband back on, she was a bit confused as to why she had done it as well.

Oh well, hair grows…

On a side note, Troy had me cut some inches off the rest of her hair because he thought it looked too much like a mullet…  Poor thing.

Alexandra's attempts to walk

This week Alexandra has really figured out how to walk assisted by one of us adults, and Sophia has been trying to get Alexandra to walk with her as well. There is some success in that, although two stubborn children trying to figure out which way to go is very frustrating to them, and entertaining for us.

But when she falls, it is quite the dramatic slow motion event!

Best to fall on grass...