Roadtrip along the coast of France

 

Meg liked this hat last week when we visited the thrift store. This week she asked to try it on.  She loved that it had a string on it so when she wasn't wearing it, it could hang on her back.  Apparently that was the selling point!  This girl has her own style!

 

We have recently began putting a little gel into Owen's hair and spiking the front just a little.  This is a conversation I had with Owen the other day:

 

"Mom, the girls really like my spiky hair."

They do!  Well, that's good, right?

"You know what I told them?"

"What?"

"Tomorrow, I am going to make it EXTRA spiky."

 

Weekend!

We had big plans to head to Switzerland this weekend but the weather was going to be terrible so we ended up just staying here.  But we tried to make the best of it and the kids played for hours with their neighborhood friends.  Meg learned a new skill take a look!

 

 

 

 

We went for a drive on Sat.

 

 

 

Meg rode and rode her little bike until it started to rain. 

 

Thrift store finds!

Meg and I head to the thrift store twice a week.  It is our little thing we do together.  We took 2 bags of items to consign, it is a constant rotation in our house.  I try really hard to use money from things we have consigned to buy things we find!  I found this laundry basket for a few dollars.

 

We found this pair of German shoes for Meg for $2.50.  They didn't look like they had even been worn, when I saw the name brand I thought that is totally Meg. 

GAMES!!  Ms. Meg is super into games!  Loves games, could play games all day, I mean really, really into games. Germany has some amazing games for kids and all of the following games were bought at thrift stores.

 

We bought this little donkey game today for  .50 cents. The object is to take turns stacking the little sticks onto the donkey's back.  The person who causes the sticks to fall looses and then you just start again.  I played it this afternoon with Meg but I think it may be more suited for Owen.  It is really tricky!  She got frustrated really fast and decided to stack the sticks into a bridge for the little donkey to walk across!  Perfect I said, you can play it that way too!

Now Hyper Dash is really fun!! I found this one for $3.00 and it had never been opened.  We thought for sure it wouldn't work but we put some batteries in and ta da - it worked!  It is so much fun - so much fun even Pascal and I had to give it a try.  You take the little colored disk and put them around the room.  Then you take the hand held device push the button and it will tell you what disk to hit.  You must run to that disk put the little device on top of it and it will click.  It will tell you a series of disk to hit and at the end it will tell you what your time was.   The object is to get the best time.  It is really fun, we had fun trying to be the fastest. Great game for boys with energy because it will wear you out!   

 

The shopping list is super easy and is just a little matching game.  This is one of Meg's favorites!

 

The Tea Party is super cute.  This one was also $3.00.  You set up all the parts on the little table cloth and then spin the tea pot.  Each player tries to get a plate, cup, napkin, cream and sugar and then 4 different foods on your plate.  If the spinner lands on the honey bee you loose an item!

 

This little game has to do with the Princess and the Pea.  Each player tosses the die and tries to stack up the mattress' and pillows without them falling over. The little pea at the bottom does make it harder to stack them up. Super easy - super cute.    

We have had tons of rainy, overcast days here in Germany so we are thankful for the thrift store and the games it provides us with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Week!

Owen's class had a special Mother's Day Program.  They sang two songs, read us poems they had written for us and then served us muffins and tea.  Meg and I really enjoyed this special treat!

Owen's picture of me!

One of Meg's outfits.  I loved the way she used a necklace as a belt!

So clever!

Look who had her dance recital on Saturday!

Meg did such a great job!  I will try to post a video, she did two dances!

 

 

 

Owen's soccer coach took these pictures.  He has a game tomorrow and has really enjoyed this season!  Go Falcons!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows several weeks ago and boy did this book become a favorite.  It is hard to say who enjoyed it more Meg or Owen (or maybe me) they were both taken with it!  This book has apparently inspired Meg to become a veterinarian.  It is all she can talk about!  Although in the car yesterday she said if she can't be a vet she will just be a cheerleader!  On the night we finished this book we cried a bucket of tears.  I had to breath deep in order to just read the final pages.  Meg was a mess, I was a mess. I asked Owen if he cried because his eyes were all watery but he proudly said, "Well, I didn't even let a tear roll out."  Coming from Saluda this book was especially important to us because Saluda is home of COON DOG DAY! 

Coon Dog Day in Saluda is huge!  Thousands of people flock to this event!  I really hope we will be able to attend this event again because it will be all the more special now!  Here are Owen and Pascal piping in the parade one year.  Such sweet memories

Mimi was here when we finished the book and I believe we made her into a fan of the book as well.  She bought us this little wooden, German carved ringtail for us to commemorate the reading of this wonderful book.

Here is a little book interview I did with Meg.  Move over Oprah time for Reber's Reading Club!

* What were so special about Big Dan and Little Anne?

"They were cute and they loved Billy to pieces."

* Billy had to work two years in order to save enough money to buy his dogs.  What would you save two years for?

A pony

*What lesson could you learn from this book?  God -  Billy prayed a lot.

*What kind of boy was Billy?  He was a nice country boy.

*If you could meet someone in this book who would you like to meet?  Little Anne, the mom or sister.

*What was your favorite line in the book?   WHOOOOO EEEEEEE  (What Billy would yell to his dogs)

*How many stars would you give this book?  500+

Wilson Rawls -  is an amazing author and I tried to find out as much information about him as I could.  He weaved such a sweet thread of faith through this book.  We are almost done with his 2nd book so more on that later!

What we've been up to!

I really feel I could devout a whole blog just about Meg and her daily fashion. I forget to take pictures but I snapped these of two outfits she wore this week.  She likes to pick out her own clothes and when I make suggestions she will usually say, "but I like it this way."

 

Notice the capri pants paired with the teddy bear knee high socks and sandals.  In using one of Meg's own words I will say these outfits are truly, "WOWtastic!!"

 

Owen performed in a music performance at his school.  He had a speaking part...so proud of him.  They sang over 21 songs...it was 1.5 hours and there were a ton of people. So proud of him.

 

The state of construction around our building could be summed up in these words:  hmmmm, ughhhhhhhhhh,  blaghghghghg

I love the changes they have made to my patio

It's already been 3 month and it looks like at least 3 more months... deep breath

Spring finally found its way to Germany!

 

 

We are in the middle of soccer season and these boys play seriously!  The other day they had to have someone come from the sports department and give the team a firm talking to about not arguing with one another, name calling and poor sportsmanship.  He made it clear he would sit anyone out that does not play with a good attitude.  When we got in the car I was telling Owen that if anyone calls him a name to let me know and we would tell the coach.  He said "oh yeah, mom I heard someone call another kid on the team a really nasty name.  I said, what was it and he said, "Mr.  Negativity!"  I was driving and had to retain my composure because this just cracked me up!  I said, "Unbelievable, that is just uncalled for!"