Spring is Finally Here!

It's been an incredibly long winter here in Berlin.  I knew it was cold here, but I wasn't expecting the season to last quite so long.  It did make me feel better (kind of) to learn that it has been one of the darkest and coldest winters they've ever had.  So maybe next year won't be so bad, at least that's what I'll keep telling myself!

Last week the weather was absolutely beautiful and we were able to get outside and enjoy it.  I had forgotten what it's like to go play outside everyday, and how great the fresh air is for the boys.  Plus I finally got to break out the spring clothes, which they look so stinkin cute in!

Gabe pushing Isaac down the slide

I love this one of Gabe, such a big boy now

Isaac picking flowers at the fountain

We had an eventful day yesterday as we had to take Gabe to the ER for the first (and I'm sure not last) time.  He fell and hit his forehead on the corner of the door frame.  The cut wasn't too bad, but definitely needed to be closed.  It was a little tricky getting to the ER as we only have one car and Zach had it at work that day.  Thankfully he was able to leave work immediately and our friends were able to help us with watching Isaac and getting to the hospital.  The hospital was great and we were in and out of there in an hour.  They spoke great English and were super helpful.  They were able to glue the cut instead of stitches, and Gabe was such a trooper, laid still on the bed the entire time.  My poor little baby, and he wasn't even doing anything crazy this time!

Here's to hoping for a less eventful week!

With love,

Janelle

Family Fun

We were so excited that Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Trevor could come for a visit over the Easter holiday.  Two weeks prior to their arrival Isaac asked every morning if Grandma was here yet.  They arrived Easter morning, which made for a relaxing Easter day filled with Easter egg hunts, candy, and naps for all! The weather was less than ideal, but we were able to get out and do some sightseeing around Berlin, eat delicious food, and spend some quality time together.  We loved having them here and letting them experience what life has become to us here in Berlin.  Grandma spoiled the boys everyday, which of course they loved.  But hey, when you only get to see them a few times a year I guess it's allowed :)  I didn't do a very good job taking pictures of all of us, hopefully they got more than I did, but here are a few from their visit:

The boys checking out their Easter baskets

Exploring Potsdam

New Palace in Potsdam

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wearing their new hats Grandma got them

Checking out the sharks at the aquarium

Showing off his Superman shirt Grandma got him

At the Jewish Memorial

Thanks for a great time and all the wonderful American treats!

With love,
Janelle

Let's Dance

The boys love to dance.  Their favorite song to dance to right now is Single Ladies by Beyonce. Runner up is Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys, which Isaac sings his little heart out.  He even switches the lyrics occasionally to 'this boy is on fire!'  Grandpa Kleiner was here this last weekend and he was able to experience this greatness.

It's been really cold in Berlin, similar to the States. We've been filling our time with making indoor activities that burn energy, such as gymnastic stations, obstacle courses, and relays.  Come on Spring!  We're super excited for the Rood's to come visit next week!

With love,
Janelle

Vive la France

Last week we took a little family vacation to visit our friends who live in Pontcharra France.  I have to say, it was one of the best family vacations we've had.  They are great friends who have 2 boys the same age as ours, so traveling and staying with them was so nice.  We were also able to really experience France and it's culture by staying with natives.  They cooked us wonderful French meals every night, had delicious wine, and we were able to go skiing in the Alps.  They actually live in the valley of 2 mountains and it's absolutely gorgeous.  We felt like we were in a movie the entire time, driving through tiny French roads and eating things like escargot and frog legs!

On our way to their house from the airport we stopped in a beautiful city to have lunch, escargot, and let the boys run around.  They called it their little Venice because it had a canal that ran through the city.  It was gorgeous.

 The first day the men got to go skiing and the girls stayed home to watch the kids.  Zach absolutely loved it and picked it right back up.

 The next day the women got to go skiing.  Where we went I was able to see Mt. Blanc, where we went skiing 5 years ago with our friends when we lived in England. 

I also had the most hilarious (and slightly scary) thing happen while skiing.  Sofia and I were feeling confident after mastering the red slopes and decided to try a black slope.  It just happened to be an extremely hard black that was not groomed and had moguls (not for me!).  We started going down the slope and Sofia turned back around and went down the red one right next to it.  I had already started so I kept going.  I fell on a mogul and was falling down the mountain and could not stop.  Thankfully I was sitting so I wasn't tumbling down the mountain, but I had a brief moment of panic.  I finally was able to stop, but I had no idea where my skis were.  I sat there for about a minute until a few people came down the slope and found my skis.  Thankfully all the French people we ran into were so friendly, even if they didn't speak any English!  There was a man waiting in the middle of the slope and I thought he was ski patrol, but turns out he was running a race on the red slope next to us and was keeping people off the mountain.  At this point I just wanted to get off the moguls and onto the red slope that was groomed.  He said I would have to wait until it was done in about 15 minutes and he would help me.  While we were waiting he asked me if I wanted some alcohol.  I was a little confused and said no.  Two minutes later he was pouring me a shot of liqueur out of his ski pole!! Seriously, who does that? The first pole was actually empty and he had to go to the second one!  So I took a shot of who knows what while stranded on the Alps for 45 minutes with a man who kept telling me he could be my friend!  He did help me down the mountain, and thankfully Sofia was down there waiting for me.  I was very relieved and laughing hysterically at what just happened!

The following day we were able to take the boys up to the mountain and go sledding and Isaac was able to try skiing.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the boys were wiped out after!

The adults were able to go out to dinner one night and experience a French delicacy, frog legs.  The entire meal was amazing, starting with a salad with duck, frog legs, cheese, wine, and dessert.  The French food lived up to the hype!

All the boys played so well together and were sad to say good-bye.

A big thanks to Remi and Sofia for an incredible vacation!

With love,
Janelle

Cutting out the Crap

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the food we eat, especially the food we feed our children.  It's easy and convenient to feed your family prepackaged food, which usually include a list of ingredients I can't pronounce.  Living in Germany has given me more time to prepare healthy foods for my family and prompted me to make some of those staple snacks my kids love that we can't get here.  I ran across an amazing website with healthy recipes for kids, superhealthykids.com.  The snack recipes are fantastic and include many of the typical snacks your kids love.

This past week we tried out several recipes and I was shocked at how much the boys loved them.  I wasn't sure if they would like snacks that have flax seed oil and wheat germ in them, but they didn't even notice.

The first recipe I tried out (not on the website) was homemade fruit snacks.  I love this recipe because it has 4 ingredients that are much healthier than store-bought fruit snacks and the boys could not get enough of them.  I ended up making 2 batches last week.

Homemade Fruit Snacks: Inspired by Robin from Thankyourbody.com

Ingredients:
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
 2/3 cup frozen or fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries are all great.)
1 – 2 Tbs honey
5 Tbs gelatin

Directions:
1. Pour juice and berries into a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until berries become tender and begin to soften.
2. Add honey and stir until completely incorporated.
3. Puree mixture using a blender
4. Let sit, off heat, for 5 – 10 minutes.
5. Slowly whisk in gelatin, one tablespoon at a time. Whisk vigorously until completely incorporated, mixing the gelatin in very gradually to avoid lumps. (If you do get lumps, just run the mixture through your blender again!)
6. Pour into a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 glass dish. Refrigerate until set (30 minutes to an hour). Cut in small squares. (You could also use some fun molds and create awesome shapes).
Note: I like to keep these in my fridge, but they do transport and keep nicely at room temperature.

 We then tried homemade granola bars, which I found on superhealthykids.com.  I was a little worried that Isaac wouldn't eat them because they have wheat germ, flax seed oil, almonds, and cranberries (to name just a few ingredients), but I added the chocolate chips and he (and Zach) loved them!  They stayed good for a week in a ziploc bag and were a tasty mid-morning snack.

We also tried homemade goldfish crackers.  These are definitely an acquired taste, but they turned out great and Isaac loved making them.  He loves anything with cheese.

I'm also looking for ways to take snacks they love and incorporate at least something healthy into them (so it's not all sugar). One morning we made frozen banana pops with yogurt and sprinkles.  I've also been adding flax seed and spinach to their morning smoothie, they don't even notice them!

For dinner I've been trying to cut out the processed foods and home-make ingredients if I can.  I've started making my own tortillas (delicious), whole-wheat rolls, and this past weekend I made my own chicken broth.  Slowly but surely I am cutting out the crap in our food (and feeling like a SuperMom)!




With love,
Janelle

Valentine's Day Fun

Since living in Berlin is the first time I get to be a full-time stay at home mom, I decided I wanted to take advantage of it and really do some fun and educational activities with the kids.  I recently came across an amazing website for Mom's, www.notimeforflashcards.com.  It has great crafts, activities, book recommendations, and loads of other ideas for parents.  Last week I tried their Letter of the Week activities and I have to say it was amazing.  It filled our day with fun crafts and activities, the boys had a blast, and Isaac really learned a lot.  Our days went much smoother having planned activities and I will admit I kind of liked lesson planning at night and getting my materials ready for the next day! ( I loved to play school as a child and now I can put that to use).  The website had lots of great Valentine's Day ideas so I figured I would share some we did with pictures of the boys. 



The first activity we did was making Valentine hearts on coffee filters.  We colored them with markers and then the boys dropped water onto the filters and watched as the colors merged into one. 

We then made a Valentine for Daddy.  Isaac made one for himself also, as he wanted a Simba one and Daddy needed the Mufasa one (We just got The Lion King and Isaac is really into that movie right now)!

We had a fun lunch with heart-shaped cheese and strawberries, pink yogurt, and alphabet soup.

And lastly Isaac and I played musical hearts.  Each heart had a fun activity to do when you landed on it, Isaac's favorite was wiggle like a worm! 

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I have to leave you with this last picture, Isaac took it of Gabe and it looks like the cowboy hat has been passed on......

With love,
Janelle

Take 4

This past Tuesday we welcomed the newest member to our family, my sweet little nephew Liam Edward!  I wanted the boys to make a little video for him since we won't be able to see him for a long time.  As you can imagine, with two little ones who rarely sit still or say what you want them to, it took several takes to get it right.....

 

And we finally got one!

Congrats Troy and Jess! We can't wait to love on that little guy.

With love,

Janelle