Summer, continued

In Texas, summer always stretches a little while past where the calender says that it ended- which was evident today as visiting frousin Aiden and the kids played around in the local splash park.

Felting Pumpkins/ Kürbisse Filzen

The boys have been wanting to learn how to needle felt. Today wS the day. They made a small pumpkin each!
Die Jungs wollten Nadelfilzen lernen, und Heute war DER Tag. Sie haben beide einen kleinen Kürbis gefilzt!




Das Wetter war wunderbar am Morgen und wir haben draußen Unterricht gemacht. Wir lernen einen Vers für Michaelmas und gleich dabei buchstabieren.

The weather was beautiful this morning and we did school outside. We are learning a verse for Michaelmas, and also used it for spelling practice.




Katharine is still working on the Renaissance: here is her version of Botticelli's Venus.
Katharine studiert noch die Renaissance, hier ist ihre Version von Botticelli's Venus:

Happy Birthday, Keira!

Keira turned 6 years old today!

She has grown up a lot the last year, and has a smile on her face every morning when she heads off for school. I don't know how long that will last, but we'll enjoy it for now!

Iria made this awesome birthday crown for her (and Lennon's, from the previous birthday post).

Oops! We need to fix a small typo!

There we go!

Ready for the candles and cake now..

We opened her presents on Sunday night, since Monday was wall to wall activities.

The sisters.

Keira Facts:

When she grows up she wants to be a dancer or a zoo keeper.

Keira loves going to Kindergarten.

Favorite foods: spicy chips / bread and jelly / pancakes / vanilla cake / candy

Least favorite foods: eggs / chocolate (although she likes kinder chocolate) / salad

Favorite things to do at school: Music / Science / Lunchtime / Recess

Least favorite things to do at school: Snack Time / Fire Alarm Drills

Friends: Emma and Madison (school), Peyton (church). Kate (frousin)

Favorite Movie: Frozen

Keira likes to write poetry and stories.

Fun times with Kassidy: sleeping with her / playing with her

Not so fun times with Kassidy: sharing her toys

Three things that Keira would bring to an island with her: her Daddy / Anna and Elsa dolls / a bed to sleep in

Keira falls asleep really fast at night- she is the easiest one to put down.

Lennon makes her laugh.

Katharine plays and sews with her.

Keira Quotes: "Danke schon!" "Will you play with me?"

Keira loves to choreograph dances and put on shows.

Keira loves to help with the dishes, feed the cats treats, and make nighttime milk for everyone.

Keira wants to play volleyball next year.

Keira loves horses and cheetahs.

Spiders always seem to bite her when she goes in the backyard, but they ignore the other kids.

Keira is afraid of dogs, unless they are at a distance.

Favorite vehicle: a purple motorcycle

Puzzling

Craig sent Lennon and Keira some really cool puzzles for their birthdays, and at some point they will get around to finishing them.

In the meantime, one of them became a helmet and the Amazon box that they shipped in was cut up and turned into a cat bed.

Birthday extras

Here are a few more pictures form before and after the celebration.

Making the cake and looking back a few years:

Iria baked and designed the cake (#28 is his soccer jersey number):

Lennon and frousin Nolan at one years old (they were born around 10 days apart):

Building Legos after the party:

Happy Birthday, Lennon!

The Doescher birthday bonanza started today, with 3 events in the next three weeks.

Lennon is first up, turning 7 today!

Lennon Facts:

Favorite foods: cookies, schnitzel, ice cream, nutella, corn on the cob, ham, hot chocolate, chicken wings

Favorite restaurant: Ganghis Grill

When I grow up I want to be: "a famous soccer player"

Foods he hates: cereal, peanut butter, spaetzla, mac and cheese, cream cheese

Lennon only acknowledges the exact time (you can't say it's 4:30 when it is really 4:28).

Lennon has a great memory- and can remember goals and names of players from previous seasons and teams.

Favorite pet: Bob, the fish

The number of kids he will have when he grows up: 0

Favorite movies: Transformers, Avengers

What scares him: Costumes, the Red Skull (from Captain America)

Favorite heroes: Zane (from Ninjago), Iron Man, Falcon, Robin

Favorite games (that aren't soccer): Scrabble, Diablo 3, FIFA 14, Minecraft

Favorite soccer teams: Brazil, USA, Argentina, FC Dallas, Barcelona, Seattle Sounders

If Lennon were alone on an island and could bring three things he would bring: his lovies / a TV/Entertainment system with game consoles / Lukas

Best friends: Nolan (frousin), Sammy, Dax, Maddox, Solomon, Volkie (Andromeda), Tyler (church)

Favorite things to do in soccer: chocolate ball, passing, scoring from distance

Favorite things to do with Kassidy: play anything with a ball

Favorite things to do with Keira: the crab and orangutan games

Favorite things to do with Lukas: soccer, video games, everything else

Favorite things to do with Katharine: make up different types of games

Favorite things to do with Mommy: read

Favorite things to do with Daddy: go out to FC Dallas Games

Hot or cold weather? Cold

Favorite subjects in school: music, math, reading aloud

Math whiz: Lennon multiplied 400 x 23 in his head today

Least favorite subjects in school: reading by himself, language arts

Lennon is very serious when playing soccer, but is the family clown at home.

Lennon quotes: "I'm hungry.", "Can I have a snack?". "Am I from outer space?"

Friday Morning

The boys are painting their finally dried clay houses, while Katharine is writing a short summary about Michelangelo.

Die Jungs bemalen ihr endlich getrocknetes Lehmhaus während Katharine eine kurze Zusammenfassung über Michelangelo's Leben und Werken schreibt.

Keira will get to enjoy some homemade apple pie in school today that the boys helped make last night.
Keira darf heute in der Schule selbst gebackenen apple pie essen, den die Jungs mit mir gebacken haben.
















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At the Dentist

We are spending the morning at the dentist. Lukas already got treated, Lennon had his valium. He was prescribed sedation to not cause as much anxiety. Takes a bit after me, I guess. We are just hanging out in the family waiting room, and yes, I am letting the kids use technology. Well, Katharine already did math, and I read seven chapters in a book to Lennon.

Wir verbringen den Morgen beim Kinderzahnarzt. Lukas ist schon fertig mit der Behandlung, und Lennon hat Valium zum Einschlafen bekommen, damit er nicht so viel Angst hat und alles einfacher geht. Wir sitzen nun km Familienwartezimmer, und ich lasse die Kinder mit Technologie spielen. Keine Angst, Katharine hat schon Mathe gemacht, und ich habe Lennon sieben Kapitel vorgelesen während wir gewartet haben, dass die Schlaftablette einsetzt.




Keira, meanwhile, us at school. It is College Week this week.


Here is a picture of her class, and one of her reading with a friend.
Hier ist ein Bild von Keira's Klasse, und eins von ihr und einer Freundin beim Lesen.


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Opening Weekend - Part 2

Today was Lukas's first game of the Fall soccer season.

He is playing on the 'Vipers', and had a goal and an assist in their 8-0 victory.

The team was coming off a rough indoor season, so it was good to see them get some early success.

It was a great day for all of the Doescher's soccer teams:

Chaos won their second game 3-2, with Lennon scoring all 3 goals.

Barcelona won 2-0, with Lennon's favorite player Neymar scoring both goals (and Lukas's favorite player Messi getting both assists).

And FC Dallas beat Vancouver 2-1 tonight!

Tomorrow we have another Chaos and Viper game, with an Andromeda (Lennon's academy team) and a Recreational Hazard (my adult team) game as well.

Soccer anyone?

Wood Building Kits

We got some free wood building kits from Loews, and the rainy weather was perfect for this indoor activity.

Wir haben von Loews umsonst Holzbausätze bekommen. Der regnerische Bachmittag war perfekt für die Tätigkeit.










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September 11, 2014

The morning started out by me reading Facebook posts about September 11th, actually, after waking up the kids at 6:30, the first thing I did was call my brother Stefan to wish him happy birthday. The posts I didn't even see until after we dropped Keira off at school. 

We got some rain this morning, so instead of focusing on the bad like all the people on FB, I chose to look at the happiness around me, and we celebrated the good and simple things in life by playing in the rain.

Der Morgen hat damit angefangen, dass ich Posts auf Facebook über den 11.September gelesen habe, wobei, um es genau zu sagen, habe ich erst die Kinder um 6:30 Uhr aufgeweckt, dann meinen Bruder Stefan angerufen um ihm zum Geburtstag zu gratulieren, und dann habe ich ins Facebook geschaut. Es hat heute Morgen etwas geregnet, und anstelle nur das Negative über den heutigen Tag zu sehen, wir haben das Gute, die Kleinigkeiten des Lebens das mich in Form der Fröhlichkeit meiner Kinder umgib, gefeiert,  indem wir im Regen spielten.

Vor Katharine's Ballettunterricht konnte ich schnell unbemerkt ein Bild machen:

Just before ballet class started, I was able to snap a picture of Katharine:

Building

The boys are finishing up their third week of a three week building block. This week they made clay houses ( they are drying and I don't have pictures yet), as well as free built a building out of the KEVA planks we have at home. Katharine and Kassidy joined them.
Unsere dritte Woche unseres Bau und Architekturblocks kommt zu Ende. Diese Woche haben die Jungs Tonhäuser gemacht und aus KEVA Planken frei Häuser gebaut. Katharine und Kassidy haben sich dazugesellt.









They didn't need any help from me! Will pits pictures if the clay houses and a visit to a construction site that is coming up this Friday.
Meine Hilfe war nicht nötig! I werde weitere Bilder von den Tonhäusern und unserem Besuch bei einer Baustelle posten.


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