Trampoline Fun

Katharine got to go to the indoor trampoline park with her friend Claire! Happy Katharine!






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Play Ball!

Lennon and the Chaos soccer crew have moved on to Spring baseball.

Lennon enjoys soccer more, but still has a lot of fun on the diamond.

Saturday Silliness

Santa Lennon.

 Kassidy on a leash.

Felt Fairies

Katharine created these felt fairies that we now have hanging all around the house.

She never ceases to amaze me.

"Don't Look at Me!"

Kassidy can be a real grump in the morning, but by the time I left I got a nice hug from her.

Safety Patrol

We went to the FC Dallas game last weekend with Lennon's friend Sammy from his Andromeda team.

I think they had just as much fun at the crosswalk light as they did at the game!

Before and After

Two weekends ago Jeramy and Maya came over for one of our classic cookouts- which always seem to involve flank steak, corn, and watermelons.

Before:

After:

Wednesday Morning Gallery

Katharine has been doing some awesome felt art at home. All of these animals were created by her, just by brushing out and manipulating pieces of felt. 

She has moved up and started to make some more complex fairies. I'll post pics of those soon.

Very cool.

Zoo-orama'

Gearbox had their company picnic last Sunday, on a beautiful day at the Fort Worth Zoo.

That meant lots of frousins, friends, and fuzzy and feathery animals.

The pictures didn't come out very well, but I was too busy to think about taking decent pictures.

Here are all the frousins together on the train, plus honorary frousin Charlotte in the top left corner.

The animal show after lunch.

Katharine was very interested, but still set up chairs around her to act as a turkey barrier.

She is afraid of most birds, particularly chickens, turkeys, etc.

The three little girls had a lot of fun.

I suspect that they are going to be a lot of trouble together when they get older :)

Walking Around

 We took the kids to Stuttgart, too, so they could go to one of the biggest toy stores and spend some of their own money, to take in some sights by foot and to get some more books for Katharine and me.

                                                       Another view of the Stiftskirche.

 Katharine in front of the Schiller statue at Schillerplatz. Schiller was one of Germany's great poets and playwrites and lived around the same time as Goethe in the 1800s. Both were essential writers of the Storm and Urge period in Germany. He was born in the nearby town of Marbach and probably every major town in the Stuttgart area has a statue or a square named after him.

 Back at Oma's house it was always fun to enjoy a jelly filled donut, or as it is called in Germany: Berliner.
Anita and I took Anna, Katharine and Kassidy on a nice tour through the Ludwigsburg castle/ residential palace. I think we also did some shopping, what else?

Schluchsee Schwarzwald, Black Forest

The temperatures were mild pretty much the entire time we were in Germany and France, which resulted in no snow. We had all the winter clothes needed for snow with us, but alas, we were a bit disappointed, it being one of the warmest winters. Little did we know that on our day trip to the Black Forest, we ended up seeing snow and there being enough snow for Erik, Katharine, Lukas and Lennon to go sledding! Yeah! Before that, however, we took a wonderful ride on an old steam engine along the Schluchsee and Titisee in the Black Forest. The sun was shining, it was cold enough to feel like winter, especially as we had to stand out on the platform of the old train for quite some time with the wind and steam blowing into our faces! Once we managed to get seats inside, where it was slightly warmer, the bags full of homemade cookies sure helped forget the cold. Thank you Tante Erika and Tante Hannelore for all the goodies!

  

We have never travelled first class before! The little sign says it is prohibited              

to stand on the connecters between cars.

                                                 It is prohibited to lean out of the windows!

 After all the sledding and walking in the snow, we were all very hungry. We found a nice hidden restaurant inside the Kurhaus that had great food for everyone!