Christmas Dinner with Sibblings and Cousins

It is a long tradition that on one of the christmas dinner we sibblings gather at my parents' with spouses and offspring.
With all the small children around we had to extend the dinner table with an extra table.
After food, we didnt see the older children anymore, Feli, Caya and Helena set off for adventures around the house. Marleen and Matilda found their shared interests, a shared way to communicate and where playing together soooo soooo cutely.

Us older children played Munchkin and had fun, too.
The evening ended no earlier than midnight and all kids fell asleep extremely quickly.

Teemus Birthday

Help, there were even more packets to unwrap today for Teemu. And the garbage bin is flowing over from wrapping paper! A new car radio to replace the antique one (it has a cassett deck!) in our car.

We didn't celebrate Teemu's birthday in any more special way. I went with the girls to swim, almost a tradition already for boxing day. We'll have quiet evening today and start watching our new DVD's. :-)

Christmas 2013 in Moselkern

Two wonderful days lay behind us. Full of anticipation, christmas joy and family time.
We spent the christmas eve as everyone else, helping the kids to wait for Christkindchen. Helena was so excited, I am sure she almost collapsed. Nevertheless there was little complaining, even though the actual gift giving part took place no earlier then 19 o'clock and only after a trip to the lutheranian chapel in Karden with Grandpa, Grandma, Helena and me. Helena was behaving extremely well in church and except one little trip to the loo and her falling asleep during the sermon, I am quite proud of her :-)

The mountain of presents under the christmas tree has been increadible, as always.
Helena got a walking furreal dog and Matilda a huge HABA ball track. We had lots of fun playing with it already, also nice for the "older children". Teemu and me exchange only "reasonable" gifts, I got a pretty new silver chain (Matilda destroyed my old one) and Teemu a couple of DVDs we were planning to watch. Couldnt resist the temptation and bought myself a little present, too. A quilting book about the tentmakers of Cairo.

I wish everybody a joyfull Christmas.

The start of the christmas season

So here we are, back in Moselkern at my parents' for the holidays.
The otherwise sometimes annoying thing that here is absolutly NOTHING to do during winter times is well appreciated now. We are looking forward to some quite family time and days spend resting, going for a walk and playing with the kids.
Behind us are weeks so full of program, that many days a week I was on tour 12 h a day, with hardly time to grap a bite in between. Much of the family responsibility had laid on me for a while, as Teemu was ordered to bedrest to recover from pneumonia. He is much better now but still not on 100%, also still suffers from pain in the lungs and muscles around.

There were plenty of happy occasions too. Helena participated in the Skating Gala "Winterzauber" and not only did she perform fairly well, she had so much fun. This girl really likes to be applauded to :-) Helena is well integrated in the skating club now and the year ended with a little "test" where they earned their "stars" (little Swarovski gems to be glued to the skate) and a trip to the local cinema. It really started to make me think that Helena is growing up!

Matilda got very much used to the nanny and we couldn't be more happier with Anna. She is incredible flexible and doesnt hesitate to do extra favours. We are deep indepted to her.

Work has been quite fun, too. There is plenty of responsibility and pressure but it is acquainted with a lot of humor and fun. In the end, we brought the kids to the xmas celebration and it was all ok. (In fact I hope, the grumpy old professor now apologizes my absence to the weekly seminar at 18.oo!!!)

There will be more posts again during the next days as time permits, but I wish everyone a joyful holiday season with a picture I received from our senior lab engineer:

The force is strong in this one 08.11.2013

The force is strong in this one.

Working on her lightsaber skills.

The pictures speak for themselves...

We are afraight, she leans to the dark side...

Gardening in Moselkern

What a nice late autumn day. Autumn time means leaves falling down time and therefore time to do some serious gardening.
It is so great to have a place where the kids can wander freely around and discover the nature, cook mudsoup and play with leaves, berries, twigs and stones. No need to worry about neighbours or cars.

Funny enough, the kids don't look quite as dirty on the pictures as how they looked in real. From the rubber boots out and straight to the bathtube.

A wonderful surprise from Finland

Ok, I am terrible behind the actual happenings on the blog. We are really busy at work and the evenings fly by so quickly.
Anyway. Last week we found a cute little package in the mailbox, in it Matilda's birthday present from our friend Maaret from Finland.

She has sewn the dress by herself and the fabric is so cute and the colours so vivid and bright, it is just wonderful. It fits Matilda absolutely PERFECTLY. Many thanks, Maaret.

Unfortunately, Matilda is of different opinion:

14.10. Key madnes

Getting up in the morning, bringing the kids to the Nanny and then sitting for half an hour in the morning rush hour traffic jam starts to become a routine. Anytime now we might even switch of the navigator to find our way through Remscheid. Could there be a more durcheinandergewürfelte Stadt in Germany?

One thing that doesn’t seem to get routine is how to open doors at the University.

Probably any expat going to Finland, or at least the german ones, can relate to the feeling, that Finnish doors are kind of locked the wrong way. And they are opened by “locking” them. At the end, I thought I got a hang on the trick and the doors unopenable to me were only a mere few anymore. One might think that now, back in Germany the doors would finally open conveniently to me. But no. First I got so much used to “locking” the door, when opening them, that I seriously have to concentrate on which way to turn the key.  Secondly, the doors at the University are from before the middle ages and require a certain amount of fine-feeling to open them. You kind of pull the lock out a bit with the key before turning them. So, we are back at standing in front of the door, swearing and sweetening…

We got a card for the local library and borrowed some books and DvD’s. They do have a nice collection and it is fun to read all the contemporary German belletristic books. Unfortunately the kids section is only one box of books, but that will be enough, too.

13.10.2013 Lukas Markt

We were just in time in Moselkern to visit the annual fair "Lukas Markt" in Mayen.
By coincidence we met Feli there, too. What a fun we had!
Helena found courage to go to the large karussel as soon as Feli wanted to go there and Matilda had such a good time at the meremaid track. So cute.

12.10.2013 Matildas Birthday

We celebrated Matilda’s Birthday at Grandma and Grandpa. At the same day the dolls I ordered for the girls from my uncle’s money arrived, so we had a huge pile of presents for Matilda. There were so many postcards and packages also from Finland arriving, I almost had tears in my eyes about how many were thinking about our little girl. Thank you all so much, aunts and uncles, mummi and vaari, friends and all *kiss*

11.10.2013 Toten Hosen Konzert Düsseldorf

Yes, we were there. One meter in front of the stage, in the absolute center part. I have been like 1.5 meters away from Campino!!!!
Three supporting acts, actually quite cool ones. Check out LaBrassBanda, never seen them before but pretty fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoVeqZle9UI
and of course the broilers. Great show guys!

And yes, I was there before, I knew what to expect. But what DID happened, I DID NOT EXPECT:
After waiting 5 h in front of the stage, after three supporting acts, the concert not even one third gone, the realization hit me:
I am standing here, my hair pulled in one direction, my body into the other direction, I twice almost lost my shoes and I feel down three times. My face deep into the sweaty armpit of the giant in front of me. He stinks from the sweat of the last hours, I stink of the sweat of the last hours, every one around me too. The oxygen content of the air has dropped to about one percent. I can actually glimps a sight at Campino only in the rare moments where all the mass of people bends in such a way, that all the heads in front of me are of of my sight and the music rarely even touches my ear.
What am I doing here?
If I stand only 5 meters more behind, I could actually even breath, I would be able to SEE the stage, and listen to the music. Why should I let me push and pull around?
And with that I left my place for which I was fighting the better part of the day to meet up with Teemu again and to follow the concert from a distance.
I think I am getting old...

No pictures from that evening, no more ballast then EC-card and Identity card to a Hosen Concert ;-)

06.10.2013 lazy Sunday life

I cannot remember most of the day as Sunday is my catch-up on sleep day for the rest of the week. After lunch I curled up into the bed and woke up only after my friend Anna stopped by for a visit: Time to make cakepops! Good we tried this out before little ones' birthday next week, when I am planning to offer these. Still needs some practicing...

There was a circus in town, but we only went to the the camels standing outdoors. There was a babycamel, too.

And of course, I needed an update on Annas latest knitting project. She is quite a wool-sock pro!

Me… still on my last winters’ project, a cardigan for Matilda. Better gotta hurry or she grows out of it before it is done.

I am quite excited about tomorrow. If everything goes well with the Nanny, we’ll have our first full day at work J