First Day of School

Today was Keira's first day of Kindergarten.

We homeschool the rest of the kids, but felt that Keira would be a better fit for traditional school at this time.

She loved it, and already made a new friend named Emma.

This was her first school project- the kissing Raccoon. 

It will give you a kiss if you feel sad or homesick.

I don't think Keira had to use it very much..

08B

08B is the name of Lennon's new team at Andromeda.

Pretty boring name, but the team is exciting to watch. 

They just finished up their 4v4 indoor soccer season, and won the final game 21-1. 

They have a number of kids who can pour on the goals as well as Lennon, and that has allowed Lennon to grow more as a passer and  play-maker. 

This Fall the team will likely move on to some competitions after the outdoor season has finished up. 

Should be exciting!

SkypeCraft

Skype + Minecraft  = Maya and Katharine's new playdates.

3 More Points

We attended another great FC Dallas game last night, where they had one of their most impressive wins of the season.

As usual, the 3 points were witnessed by the 3 amigos- Lukas, Sammy, and Lennon.

Arboretum, Again - Nochmal im Botanischen Garten

 We had so much fun at the Dallas Arboretum and Children's Garden with our friends Charlotte, Tyler and Derek.

Wir hatten viel Spaß im Botanischen Garten und im Kinderlerngarten mit unseren Freunden Charlotte, Tyler und Derek.

Giant kaleidoscope and wind tunnel.

Riesiges Kaleidoskop und Windtunnel.

First lost tooth/ Erster Milchzahn ist raus

Keira list her first tooth. I guess she's officially school-aged!

Keira hat ihren ersten Milchzahn verloren. Ich denke sie ist jetzt offiziell schulreif!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Favorite Pancake Recipe

From Bob's Red Mill a Recipe Box, gluten and dairy free pancake recipe:

• 1-1/3 cups GF All Purpose Baking Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 3/4 cup Water +2 tbsp (warm) - if using egg replacer,  you need a little less water, check batter for desired consistency
• 2 Egg Whites stiffly beaten (set aside), or substitute with 'energe' egg replacer

Directions

Step 1

In a bowl combine the All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda. In another bowl combine honey, vanilla, vegetable oil and warm water. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients; then gently fold in the egg whites.

Step 2

Ladle pancake batter onto a preheated and oiled grill, flip pancakes over when they begin to puff and become lightly browned on the edges.

Step 3

Serve with maple syrup or your favorite fruit.

Makes 8 pancakes.

Friends minus 1/ Freundinnen minus 1

We all went swimming at our friends' community pool this morning. He roomies were reunited minus Emma who couldn't make it.

Heute Vormittag waren wir bei Freunden schwimmen. Die roomies waren wiedervereinigt, ohne Emma die leider schon andere Pläne hatte.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Favorite Past-time/ Lieblingsbeschäftigung

At the moment, the kids' favorite thing to do are puzzles.

Zur Zeit machen die Kinder am liebsten Puzzle.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gnomes/ Gnome

After a trip to the library, lunch, baking and a little bit of media time, we gathered around our ancient table to make gnomes with the gnome kit the kids were given by the owner of the etsy store Toadstool Forest. That was very sweet of her to do.

Nach einem Besuch in der Bücherei, Mittagessen, Backen und einem bisschen Computerspielzeit, haben die Kinder und ich uns um unseren alten Tisch gesetzt um Gnome zu basteln. Die Besitzerin von Toadstool Forest, einem etsy Laden, hat uns einen Bastelsatz geschenkt. Das war sehr nett.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday Swim Class

Keira and Kassidy in swim class.

Keira und Kassidy im Scheimmunterricht







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Texas Ballet Theater Ballet Intensive Week Two

Katharine switched dance schools this summer. She is now a registered student at Texas Ballet a Theater School at the Dallas Campus. She took two weeks of ballet intensive last week and this week, tomorrow being the last day. The students were taught by current company members for most of their classes. Katharine's new idol is Betsy McBride, on of the principal dancers. Yes, she wants to be like Betsy.
They actually learned the variation of the Cygnets from Swan Lake!

Katharine hat dieses Sommer die Balletschule gewechselt und ist jetzt eine Schülerin der Texas Ballet Theater School am Dallas Campus. Letzte und diese Woche hat sie Intensivunterricht mitgemacht, und Morgen ist schon der letzte Tag. Die Tamzschüler wurden hauptsächlich von derzeitigen Mitgliedern des Texas Ballet Theatermunterrichtet. Katharine's neues Idol ist Betsy McBride, eine der principal dancers der Balletkompanie. Katharine möchte in der Zukunft gerne wie Betsy tanzen können.
Sie haben sogar die Variante der jungen Schwäne aus dem Ballett Schwanensee gelernt!

This is a picture I got from the TBT Facebook page. Katharine is far right, first row.

Ich habe dieses Bild von der TBT Facebook Seite. Katharine ist ganz rechts in der ersten Reihe.

For my soccer players I made a home made hydration drink with coconut water, apple juice, fresh squeezed orange juice, honey and some salt. They loved it!

Für meine Fußballer habe ich hausgemachten Sporttrunk gemacht, mit Kokosnusswasser, Apfelsaft, frisch gepresstem Orangensaft, Salz und Honig. Es hat ihnen geschmeckt!

Random Pics

We found a bunch of random pictures on the camera. 

Based on some of the photos, I suspect the camera culprit to be Lennon...

Friends and Family at VBS

Vacation Bible School went great this year. 

Here are some pictures from the final concert.

Playing in the Pool

Milette's pool for the win!

Pets

Here are some photos I found of Pepper and our two fish- Jay and Bob.

I'm not sure where Marmalade is... either sleeping somewhere or pooping on the floor.

So close

These kids are so close, and so was victory.

FC Dallas tied it in the 80th minute but then lost the game on PK's.

Uggh... but great game!

Dog Days / August Hitze

 I took the kids to the arboretum after picking up Katharine from dance yesterday afternoon. We got some relief from the heat and also saw some pretty impressive looking birds.

Ich bin gestern mit den Kindern in den botanischen Garten gegangen nach dem wir Katharine vom Balletunterricht abgeholt haben. Es war leicht erfrischend und wir haben auch ein paar recht beeindruckende Vögel entdeckt.

Mr. Mustache

Lennon tried to crash a "For Grown-Ups Only" performance by Katharine and Charlotte by drawing a mustache onto his face.

Somehow, the disguise did not quite work out...