Just some more pictures!

I don't actually have much time to write. "Lost" is on soon, and Charles and I enjoy watching it together. But I do have some more pictures that I wanted to share with you. I took them the other day while Evan was playing. I love those days when he has so much fun playing with his toys and us! On the first few pictures you see him reorganizing his play mats. I planned on sweeping the balcony and needed to move them. He thought that was fun and helped me out. As soon as all the playmats were moved, he decided that it would be just as much fun to move them back. Having a toddler in the house really does keep you busy. There's not much you can get done as involved as they get. I wouldn't want in any other way though. Maybe the house isn't quite as clean as I'd like it, but I can be sure that my little boy enjoyed himself and learned a lot by the end of the day. And he really is so very helpful. Sometimes after we're done with dinner, he gets up and goes straight to the cabinet where we keep the dustpan and handbroom, picks it up and brings it over to his highchair to clean up his mess. He helps us clean the litterbox every night (I know, it's yucky - but he loves it and he is not allowed to touch the litter or anything else except the scoop!), empty out the dish-washer or take dirty laundry into the dirty laundry basket. Charles says he must have that from me...! He must have, because he certainly can't have it from him... (o : Anyways, click here for the photos. Evan turned 18 months old today, by the way. From now on he'll be closer to his second birthday than his first. He's growing up so very fast! Makes me wish I could stop time now and then, to enjoy him even more!

To go there...

... early in the morning was a great idea! The Wildpark in Pforzheim is a place we always enjoy and go to often. But since it has been so hot these last couple of weeks, too hot to really do anything, we decided to go there before Evan's midday nap. We always go outside anyways in the mornings now that it's too hot during the day, so why not pack up some snacks and Evan's Puky Wutsch and make a bigger trip out of it? We were the only people there and had a chance to watch as some of the animals were fed. We saw many more animals on this visit than we had on any visit before. Not only was it because of the quietness, it was also their hunger that lured them out. We had such a good time and definitely want to try and do this more often. You can find all the pictures here. Have a good day!

So here's the album...

... I put together from our trip to the castle grounds in Durlach yesterday. I didn't think that I would like many of the pictures I took, but I really really do like them now that they are finished! The first few pictures are very similar, but I couldn't make up my mind about which ones I liked best. Just consider it a Father's Day special...! Have fun!

Click here for the album!

This little Puky Wutsch...

... is the coolest! Basically, the Puky Wutsch is a mix between a trike and a walking bike made especially to fit toddlers' needs. We went and picked one up for Evan yesterday, and were so very excited to give it a try today. The castle grounds in Durlach seemed like the perfect place, especially since it's so hot and there is a lot of shade everywhere. It's also just a very nice place! Evan had a blast! At first he wasn't interested in his Puky, because the playground seemed so much more exciting. But once he had played with everything that caught his interest, he got on his Puky and drove off. He does so good at it! He literally must have spent an hour on that thing, driving all over the place. He has also so much fun whenever one of us follows him around! And amazingly, he manages to tell us exactly what he wants who to do when and where. I'll be posting one picture of today, but definitely want to be adding an album in the next day or two when I had some time to edit more pictures. We love that little guy, and have so much fun with him each and every day! One of his newest words he uses is the German word for rabbit - "Hase"! He says it so very clearly, and loves using it!






















Anyways, here's a layout I just made a few days ago. I have tons of christmas pictures to scrap and finally started yesterday.

Credits:

Background, Alphas and Gingerbread Man: DigitalDesignEssentials Jubilee Kit, Overlay: Summer Driggs "Happy Daze", Staples: ShabbyPrincess: 10Things I love about You Mini Album, No.1 square: Shabby Princess "SweetSerenity".

Fonts used in this layout:

YoungLove and typewriter.








Have fun!

We went...

...to the swimming pool today. We shouldn't have picked a holiday for Evan's first visit at the public pool. It was so packed it wasn't even funny. Luckily Evan had fun anyways, although he did seem a bit crowded in the beginning. The water also was a little bit cold at first, but that didn't stop Evan from going down the slide in the toddlers pool! He's such a dare devil. We also went to the big pool together, but it was so full we barely could move. It didn't matter though, because Evan also enjoyed being at the playgrounds. He loves those bouncy animals lately.. There was also a big area full of gravel which was part of the water playground. I just love the look of delight on his face when he found the gravel. Click here or on the photo below to view todays album!
















And here is one more fun picture of Evan that was taken yesterday in the backyard. I had given Evan one of his little water bottles. It was the first one of this kind, and he had a blast with it! He drank almost three quarters of the water at once. Have fun everyone!

Just checking in...

...to share this super cute picture with you! It was taken today at Evan's bi-monthly toddler meeting, and I think it's just the cutest! In case you were wondering what they are doing, they are watching the turtle that lives behind the fence you can see on the picture. And for those who aren't quite sure which one Evan is, he is the one with the baseball cap. Have fun!

Yesterday was Charles' birthday!

He turned 25 years old! Too old for his taste! We didn't do anything big. For some reason I just couldn't get anything planned. Every time I tried everything was like a big jumble in my head. Plus he had already found his present in the mail two weeks ago, so there were no more presents either. Except Tortellini Salad. I made a big bowl of it just for him, and by the end of the night he had eaten it all! That's normal though. He seems to turn into this wild animal every time he eats something he really likes. In the morning Evan and I lit some candles, put them on a cake and woke him with it. Of course Evan helped him blow out the candles, being one of his favorite past times and all. I managed to get a cute picture of the two of them, but it's a little blurry. Later in the morning I took Evan for a walk in the fields nearby to give Charles some time off. Unfortunately the grass had just been cut and so it was nearly impossible for Evan to walk at all. We'll probably try and come back some other time. I did get some cute shots of him though! Click here for the pics! We spent the afternoon together in our backyard, playing in the now filled sandbox, and going on a walk to the video rental place downtown. Charles picked a movie for later in the night - Ong-bak. It's all about Moy Thai. It was actually pretty good! I was surprised that I liked it since I am not too superexcited about martial arts movies. It was a good day! Happy Birthday, Charles! I Love You!

In summer...

...there are endless possibilities of what you can do. I love how you can spend all day outside and still not get bored of it! Yesterday was one of the first real hot summer days, so we took Evan downstairs to our newly planted backyard! We put up his pool and brought a bunch of other toys along. He loves pushing around his big trucks, so they had to be down there with us. Not only was it the first swim of the season, Evan also had his first ice popsicle yesterday. The first one that counts anyways. We tried to give him ice cream cones before, but the idea of licking it and not biting it seemed just a bit too abstract for him. I totally understand! But yesterday he got the idea, probably because it had a non-ice-cream topping. I took a bunch of pictures of the little guy hard at work and decided to try using a photo album in order to show you some of them. They are a bit different than what I usual do. They are bold and bright, but I love them! The focus is not on Evan solely. I like it better that way. By seeing the surroundings as well you kind of get a feel of what was going on. We all had such a blast out there yesterday! Today we actually went and got sand for the sandbox. It came out great. I'll make sure to post some pictures of it next time as well. He loves having the sand available, especially to put it into containers and take it around the backyard. His favorite place to dump it into so far is the pool! I guess that's one way to simulate a nice beach vacation...! Anyways, the photo album is here. Have fun!

Finally got it done...

Today my friend and I drove up to Frankfurt to get the doctors appointment needed for the immigrant visa out of the way. We found the place okay! A parking space however was nowhere to be seen. I had expected as much since I had been there once before. After driving around the block for what seemed like hours, we were lucky enough to find a parking space right in front of the building. The appointment itself also went okay. The only thing I still need is a second set of MMR shots, then I'll be good on the doctors side of things. It was funny, because I had the same doctor as three years ago. The way back went fine too. We stopped by IKEA which is right along the way. I mean seriously, could anyone resist that!?! And I am not asking the male readers here...! Overall it was a fun trip. However it was my first time being away from Evan for so long, so that was tough. I knew he'd be fine with Charles, and most likely having lots of fun playing hard like always, but still. It was tough leaving in the morning. At least it is out of the way now.
Next is filling out even more paperwork, getting it signed, and then making a call to the consulat for my appointment. Hopefully everything will go good there. It's so hard to know exactly what they want half the time.
On another note, I just found out that a photographer I really like actually has a blog. You should take a peek, she is incredible. I am hoping to be able to afford getting our photographs taken by her one of those years...! Click here to see some of Tara Whitneys amazing work! I am so jealous...!

Well, have a good day everyone!