New Alarm Clock

Since Sunday, I've had a new alarm clock. It wakes me up by 6 am every morning. It doesn't make much noise, just climbs into bed with me and curls up beside me. After a few wiggles, it settles down, but never falls back to sleep. After about 20 minutes, it asks for juicy. And blankie. Because it has usually left blankie back in his own bed. So, even though I am usually awake by 6, it had been nice these past few weeks to just stay in bed a little longer. No more. My alarm clock gets restless after a while and wants entertainment. So, its a good thing it is such a gosh darn cute alarm clock.
Today, even though I am sick and feel yucky, I took the kids (plus two friends) to the Monte Mare swimming pool. Remember the place that I liked so much a few weeks ago? Well, I should have known things weren't looking so good when the first thing I saw as we got into the pool area was a big long dark hair on the floor. Eww. Hair on your head: fine. Hair that has fallen out and is on the floor AND wet: disgusting. I knew I should have been packin' Clorox wipes in my bathing suit. The pool was super crowded today. With my luck, it probably was another German holiday and half of K-Town was at the pool. Perhaps it was German National Hair Day, since it seemed that everyone I saw had either too much of it on their chest or under their arms. Double Eww. Oh, and just FYI: Speedos should NOT be made in the size XL. Just sayin'. Ella, Mason, Colton and I spent much of the time going down the slides. But the cool black slide was super busy and there was a line for it. I can't wait in a line at a swimming pool because it gives me too much time to stop and look around at all the gross things I wouldn't notice otherwise. Like that wet used band aid that kept staying on the steps the whole time. Triple eww!! Jaxon and his friends had a blast, and Ella, Mason and Colton seemed to really enjoy everything too. After a while, Mason asked to go home. (THANK YOU MASON!) and I didn't even have to prompt him. We stayed a little longer cuz the bigger boys were having such a blast, but after 3 hours and 22 minutes, I was officially done. The kids came back here and watched a movie. We went to piano lessons and while Jaxon was in his lesson, Mason, Colton and I meandered into Landstuhl for some eis (ice cream). Colton got a fabulous one with fudge, vanilla and a big cookie in it. Mason stayed true to his vanilla flavor. After Mason had three bites and declared he was done, Colton, the selfless big brother that he is, stepped up to the plate and finished Mason's for him.



Then they squeezed in a quick game of chase before Jaxon was done.


Now here's the cool thing. Jaxon actually enjoyed his lesson. Since we moved here, Jaxon has been less than thrilled with the new teachers we have found up to this point. But today, he came into the car and said he had a great lesson. He told me that Mark asked him what bands he likes to listen to, and what songs he would like to play of theirs. Cool. I knew that all those rock n roll t shirts of Mark's and his long hair would ultimately prove that he was a cool teacher. So Jaxon is excited to play again: YEA! Here he is after his lesson, happy!! (Yeah, he's still in his bathing suit. He didn't want to change. Beats me. I can't figure out a 2 year old male mind, there ain't no way I'm gonna figure out a 12 year old's either).

Girls' Camp

SO, for those of you who don't know, I am directionally challenged. I have THE hardest time finding places. I should have a compass or GPS permanently installed in me. I envy people who can look at maps and everything falls into place for them. I have the hardest time just remembering where I parked my car in the commissary parking lot. I have no doubt that one day I will drive too far when I am lost and end up in a different country. Since we are only about 45 minutes from France, this is not a joke. I have a love/hate relationship with my GPS. When it works well, I adore it. When it tells me that it is recalculating, and I haven't done anything but listen and obey that superior snotty voice the whole time, I hate it. Today, I loved it. I had to drive about 1 1/2 hours up to Girls' Camp for our Church so I could give a lesson on Courage Under Fire. When first asked to participate at this 'Boot Camp' for girls, I thought I would be the Jillian Michaels of the gang, coming in and whipping those girls into shape with some pull ups and push ups. I had my whistle and weights all ready. Then I found out that although the whole experience for the girls is called 'Boot Camp', I am supposed to teach a spiritual lesson. Uh oh, and I was SO looking forward to yelling "Drop and give me 20!!" I really love the young women of the church. It has always been my favorite calling, so I tried really hard to give a talk that would leave a good impression on them and inspire them to always have the courage to stand up for what is right. I found some great talks that I used, some stories, and a few quotes. The girls were attentive and no one fell asleep, so that was a good sign. I told them one of my heroes who I looked up to for having exceptional courage is Colton's birth mom. They LOVED our story of Jenny's courage and strength and wisdom. I even caught one girl with "sweaty eyes" (aka crying) when I told the story. I think personal stories really help make your point. Anyways, the girls were nice and I'm glad I was able to do it. I am even more glad that it is over now because I have been worrying about it for the past 3 months!! I was also worried that I would never be able to find the place on my own, but I was on my GPS's good side today and it didn't tell me that it had to recalculate once. I bought a new skirt to wear for my talk. I picked it out hastily after the movie the other day because I was shopping with all four kids which limited my time to look for something to about 2.4 seconds. The funny thing about my skirt is that it looks like it is crocheted. The bottom of it resembles something very near and dear to this family: Here's a picture of me and my favorite 2 year old after I returned from Girls' Camp this afternoon. Sean, can you tell what the bottom of my skirt kinda looks like? (Think MASON!)

Ok, I just looked at the picture and its hard to tell so I'll just give this one to you: BLANKIE!!! The bottom of my skirt kinda resembles the edging around Mason's beloved and treasured blanket. He picks at the crocheted edging around his blanket until the thread unravels. He has been picking apart the edging of his blanket for the past few months and I am worried that soon there will be none left. So, this morning when he saw me in my skirt, he went right to it and started to try to pick at the bottom of it and pull it apart, just like blankie. I put a stop to that pretty quickly. Anyways, I really missed my kids today while I was gone at the camp. It took a long time driving up there, talking, and coming home. I put Jaxon in charge and he did a great job. This is how fast I was driving on the autobahn to get home:

I was doing 90 mph not because I was pumped up listening to sweet 80's music that I blasted in the car since it was just me and no Disney movie was playing the background, but because I really missed my kids and couldn't wait to see them again. I know, I probably shouldn't be taking pictures while driving at certain high speeds, but this is Germany. 90 is nothin'. I get passed all the time.
Yesterday, while I was finishing my talk, the younger kids played with Jaxon. They have officially enrolled as his students in the class he is offering this summer: "Zombie Destruction 101". You see, Jaxon has a fairly good imagination for a 12 year old, and lately, he has been a bit obsessed with magical creatures, mythical creatures, and zombies. He is glad we live near a church since it would provide adequate defenses for a zombie attack. After singing another round of "There's a zombie on your lawn" he took Ella and Mason outside on the lawn to train them in the art of defending against zombies. They were willing and able participants who quickly excelled in the use of a spear and cross bow. I can honestly say that I now sleep a little sounder knowing my kids are prepared in case of a zombie attack.





Mason has been showing off his muscles all day. He keeps telling me to look at them. Then Ella joined in and we "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed at her enormous biceps. They asked to see mine, and I asked, "Do you have tickets to the show?" They replied, "What show?" Then I flexed and said "The GUN show!" Hee hee!! Here are the kids flexing:

Nope, no picture of my bulging biceps. I'll just make you all come here to see the real deal. Oh, one last cute story. The other night we were reading scriptures and I read how the Nephites were not prepared to fight and went into battle without arms. Ella got a horrible look of shock on her face and said, "Wait, they didn't have any arms? What happened to their hands? They couldn't pick anything up?" Jaxon and I explained that "arms" is another term for weapons. "OHH!!" she said, very relieved. Too cute. And guess who was the best behaved for Jaxon when he babysat today? DRUMROLL PLEASE...................................

Yup, that's right. Ella was an angel while I was gone. And she even got rewarded when I returned since I had picked up mail and her new church shoes, or princess shoes if we must use the correct term, came today. She was so happy to wear them.

Milk Shakes and Movies

We've been enjoying the mixing power of my new blender lately. Milk shakes have been the preferred dessert in our house for the past week. Colton loves to add in all the flavors of ice cream he can find in the freezer and lots of other gooey stuff. Mason and Ella are purists and just like vanilla ice cream and oreos. We made them thick this last time, resulting in great mustaches.




On Monday we hung around the house in the morning so I could work on a talk I have to give at Girls' Camp this Wednesday. Jaxon downloaded a new game for his I touch "Zombies verses Plants". This resulted in his teaching the younger kids the following song: 'There's a Zombie on your Lawn'. MoTab watch out: The Burke kids are coming and with such great hits as this one, they are gonna catch up and probably surpass your spiritual singing greatness at any minute.
Here's Jaxon playing his new game:

Colton is getting older each day and learning good future missionary skills such as making his own food. Here he is whipping up a culinary delight in the form of top ramen for lunch:

Ella and Mason needed some serious nourishment after all their singing about zombies. A snack in the form of their favorite pink and white animal cookies hit the spot quite nicely.

We went to the movies in the afternoon to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I don't think it will win any academy awards, but it was entertaining and I liked it. After the movie, we went to the Community Center to meet a friend for pizza. The kids didn't eat very much because they were fascinated with the arcade games in the back. I let them each ride or play one game. Here's Ella and Mason taking a spin on the motorcycle.

Danica Patrick - watch out! Ella is coming up right behind you!

There was a bouncy house at the community center, so we had to stop and bounce for a minute.

On the way home, we stopped at one of the 'blumen' or flower fields by our house. Germans are so cool, they plant these gorgeous fields of different flowers and use the honor system to rely on people to pay for the flowers they pick. There is a sign listing the price of each flower and a little can for you to drop your euros into. We picked some pretty flowers (even Jaxon and Colton picked flowers and got in touch with their sensitive sides). We talked about how Heavenly Father loves us so much that He will always be there for us. He will always strengthen us as long as we turn to Him. He sends us flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. FHE AND pretty flowers: a winning combination.





And here are the kids trying to re-plant their flowers in our front yard. We talked about how once a flower is cut, it will die, but Jaxon pulled out the whole bulb with his flower, so he might have some success. Mason and Ella just like playing in water and dirt.

I'm back!

My camera battery died, and I couldn't recharge it. I tried, but the battery wouldn't hold the charge. So, I couldn't download the cool pictures I took from our trip on Friday. We did some fun things Saturday, but I couldn't take pictures. SO, here we are, Sunday night, and I tried my camera again, and its working. Who knows, maybe it just needed a little rest and decided it was ok to work on the Sabbath. I got the pictures downloaded, so let's catch up, shall we?
On Friday we went to the Potzberg Wildpark. We had been there years ago, and it was there that Colton declared that his favorite animal was a vulture. While other preschoolers his age were thinking of bunnies and puppies, Colton had visited this wildpark and fallen head over heels for the vultures. We still tease him about that. Mason loves animals, so I thought we'd be in for a good time. I even convinced Jaxon to come along. We started off buying some 'wildfutter' (animal food). The kids each got a box and we started walking along a big LONG circular path with animals along the outside, behind fences. We saw goats and horses right away and felt like Old McDonald with "a neigh neigh here and an oink oink there".







We had to buy different food for the bunny and chicken pen. Mason didn't even try to hand feed it to the animals, he just took handfuls and threw it over the fence. Here he is tossing some food in there.

Here are my three favorite men out in the wild, enjoying nature.

More animal feeding:




Colton fed a moose, but he didn't give it a muffin. Cuz if you give a moose a muffin, he's gonna ask for some jam, and you know how the story goes!



And no outing would be complete without at least one temper tantrum. Today's was brought to us by Mason. He insisted I carry him the whole time, and was mad when I didn't stop long enough to see some cows.


Here he is running back to the cows.
Doesn't your neck just hurt looking at the rack on this guy? Sometimes pulling all my hair up gives me a headache, I can't imagine walking around with these guys coming out of my head!

The best part of the outing was going back to the playground and goat pen. The kids (my children I mean, not the baby goats) fed and pet the goats, and fell in love with the baby kids. Even I thought they were cute, and I am not an animal lover. The kids started picking up the animals and LOVED holding them. (Until one of the workers told them to stop. Oops. Sorry.)






For those of you who have been to the temple, I've got one word for you for this next picture: EVE!!


Mason probably had the best time at the park. He loved the slide:


And running away from the goats after he tagged them and they were 'it':

"Hey kids! Come here! Remember that bacon you ate for breakfast?..."


No trip is complete without either french fries, popsicles, or both. In this case, popsicles were readily available and well received.