Pictures as Promised

David gave a bit of an update already, and I have some picutures to go along with it. It is a blessing that others can use the stuff that we need to get rid of! The kids are really enjoying having a 'sleeping room' and a 'play room'. I must say it is easier for us too, to have them all in one room and the other room available to put stuff in and be able to sort through it at night after they are in bed! The kids can't wait until the living room is empty...they will have a huge room with (almost) nothing in it to play in! And purely from a mom's perspective, it will be a whole lot easier to clean when there is no furniture in the way!! So enjoy the pics, I will post 'afters' when we get back from zürich...and from the trip of course!

So as you can see it is chaos...but only for a time. And I have to say we are very blessed that our kids 'go with the flow' quite well. I think I would loose my mind if they didn't! Those of you who know our place can see how big the hall looks when it is empty...it is weird to have it seem so 'free' nothing to walk into or around! Like David said, it's like when we moved in! Fun!

Hello, Anyone Home...?

You might have wondered that yourselves, over the last week or so. You saw correctly, we haven't posted anything in a long time. No worries, we're not lost in the Black Forest or snowbound in the Swiss Alps or on vacation in Italy (we wish!). We have been busy packing, cleaning, taking cabinets and tables and beds apart and reorganizing.

A couple from church is moving to the area around Stuttgart and will be taking most of our furniture - this Sat. And because we are in Zurich this weekend, we have to get everything ready for them to take. Thus the manic rush to empty out closets, wardrobes, cabinets so that they can take them on Sat. So right now, all our stuff are chaotically (is that a word) heaped in moving boxes. It feels like when we just moved in here - no furniture except beds (those will go in a few weeks too) and living out of moving boxes!

Our kids love it - something new to look at, to explore, to push over, to empty out, to climb in. At least we are blessed with kids who are not thrown outta whack with change and new environments. We put them all in one room for the next 2 months. They love it! Anyways, we'll get some pics of the Phamily Chaos soon!

Pictures as Promised

David gave a bit of an update already, and I have some picutures to go along with it. It is a blessing that others can use the stuff that we need to get rid of! The kids are really enjoying having a 'sleeping room' and a 'play room'. I must say it is easier for us too, to have them all in one room and the other room available to put stuff in and be able to sort through it at night after they are in bed! The kids can't wait until the living room is empty...they will have a huge room with (almost) nothing in it to play in! And purely from a mom's perspective, it will be a whole lot easier to clean when there is no furniture in the way!! So enjoy the pics, I will post 'afters' when we get back from zürich...and from the trip of course!

So as you can see it is chaos...but only for a time. And I have to say we are very blessed that our kids 'go with the flow' quite well. I think I would loose my mind if they didn't! Those of you who know our place can see how big the hall looks when it is empty...it is weird to have it seem so 'free' nothing to walk into or around! Like David said, it's like when we moved in! Fun!

Hello, Anyone Home...?

You might have wondered that yourselves, over the last week or so. You saw correctly, we haven't posted anything in a long time. No worries, we're not lost in the Black Forest or snowbound in the Swiss Alps or on vacation in Italy (we wish!). We have been busy packing, cleaning, taking cabinets and tables and beds apart and reorganizing.

A couple from church is moving to the area around Stuttgart and will be taking most of our furniture - this Sat. And because we are in Zurich this weekend, we have to get everything ready for them to take. Thus the manic rush to empty out closets, wardrobes, cabinets so that they can take them on Sat. So right now, all our stuff are chaotically (is that a word) heaped in moving boxes. It feels like when we just moved in here - no furniture except beds (those will go in a few weeks too) and living out of moving boxes!

Our kids love it - something new to look at, to explore, to push over, to empty out, to climb in. At least we are blessed with kids who are not thrown outta whack with change and new environments. We put them all in one room for the next 2 months. They love it! Anyways, we'll get some pics of the Phamily Chaos soon!

You Supply the Caption...

Found this foto very interesting. Can't for the life of me figure out what he's doing with that cat. So help me please - add your own caption!

Could it be...
Man - 'Let me feel those lymph nodes...'

or...
Cat - 'Oh yeah, right there, under the chin, little to left; now scratch faster...'

Anyone got better captions? ;-) Post a comment below with your best caption.

You Supply the Caption...

Found this foto very interesting. Can't for the life of me figure out what he's doing with that cat. So help me please - add your own caption!

Could it be...
Man - 'Let me feel those lymph nodes...'

or...
Cat - 'Oh yeah, right there, under the chin, little to left; now scratch faster...'

Anyone got better captions? ;-) Post a comment below with your best caption.

Funny girl

Dariah is the clown in our house. I really think it is a 4th child thing, they seem to be the ones who like to make everyone laugh, and know exactly how to do it. Here are a few pictures of Dariah from the last two days that made us laugh!

She knows how to get what she wants from the kitchen by pushing a chair from the table there. But if mommy won't let her take one from the table in the dinning room, then what?









Go get a chair from my room....

position it....

and viola!


















And she is an expert at hide and seek....








First climb in the cabinet...












close the door...















taaadaaa! The perfect hiding place! (she's learned from the best)

Funny girl

Dariah is the clown in our house. I really think it is a 4th child thing, they seem to be the ones who like to make everyone laugh, and know exactly how to do it. Here are a few pictures of Dariah from the last two days that made us laugh!

She knows how to get what she wants from the kitchen by pushing a chair from the table there. But if mommy won't let her take one from the table in the dinning room, then what?









Go get a chair from my room....

position it....

and viola!


















And she is an expert at hide and seek....








First climb in the cabinet...












close the door...















taaadaaa! The perfect hiding place! (she's learned from the best)

Spring is finally here...

...I think. We've had a couple of really beautiful days here lately. There have also been some cloudy/rainy ones (like today) mixed in. But the temperatures are not as cold as they were on Easter so hopefully spring has finally 'sprung'. Flowers were already starting to bloom even before the cold snap on Easter, but now more and more of the little wild flowers are popping up everywhere and trees are starting to bloom. We have a flederbaum (lilac tree in English, I think) in our back yard that is starting to blossom. It is one of my favorite trees, it gets big cluster of purple flowers that have a very strong sweet smell. When it is in full bloom you smell it as soon as you open the back door. We also have a Magnolia tree that has big beautiful flowers, that are a redish-pink. I love the creativity of God in all the colors and designs of this world!

We as a Phamily have tried to take advantage of the nice weather when it is here. I don't know how it is where you live, but here in Freiburg when the sun is shining you get out there and soak it up any way you can!! So on Sunday we went for a walk and ended up at our local ice cream parlor (along with a good portion of the rest of the Rieselfelders), for a special treat. Then on Tuesday we took an afternoon outing to Mundenhof, which is an animal park near our house that is free. If you drive you pay 5euros for parking, but there is no admission cost. It takes us about 15-20 minutes to walk it with all the kids. There are a pretty good variety of animals to check out, and it has a cool playground on one side of the park. The animals are all in open enclousures, some that you can even walk through and pet the animals in there. Well right now it is only the goats that you can walk through, but they are going to make the antelope enclosure a walk through one as well, they are working on getting the animals used to being exposed to people right now.

At the end of our time at Mundenhof we got ice cream, again (I think that's a record for us twice in 3 days! Jesaiah doesn't even really like ice cream!) before heading back home. Needless to say the kids were wiped out! We were gone for about 3 hours. The kids rode their rollers (scooters) and laufrad (literally 'walkbike') all the way there and back and walked around the whole time at the park, so it was a very good (tiring out) outing.

Zachy can't wait to get a 'real' bike. Right now he is riding the laufrad, which is basically a bike with no pedals or chain. They push it with their feet and learn balance. Most kids here start on one when they are 2 or 3 years old and move to a 'real' bike within a year or so, without training wheels. They are pretty cool little things! And Zachy jams on his! He gets going really fast then picks up both feet and coasts as far as he can. He also gets very creative with the way he pushes. It is quite entertaining to watch sometimes!

Enough rambling....on with the pictures!! Enjoy! Sorry there's alot, we got a little 'snap happy'!, but if you go to the source of the album you can skim through them quicker.

Spring is finally here...

...I think. We've had a couple of really beautiful days here lately. There have also been some cloudy/rainy ones (like today) mixed in. But the temperatures are not as cold as they were on Easter so hopefully spring has finally 'sprung'. Flowers were already starting to bloom even before the cold snap on Easter, but now more and more of the little wild flowers are popping up everywhere and trees are starting to bloom. We have a flederbaum (lilac tree in English, I think) in our back yard that is starting to blossom. It is one of my favorite trees, it gets big cluster of purple flowers that have a very strong sweet smell. When it is in full bloom you smell it as soon as you open the back door. We also have a Magnolia tree that has big beautiful flowers, that are a redish-pink. I love the creativity of God in all the colors and designs of this world!

We as a Phamily have tried to take advantage of the nice weather when it is here. I don't know how it is where you live, but here in Freiburg when the sun is shining you get out there and soak it up any way you can!! So on Sunday we went for a walk and ended up at our local ice cream parlor (along with a good portion of the rest of the Rieselfelders), for a special treat. Then on Tuesday we took an afternoon outing to Mundenhof, which is an animal park near our house that is free. If you drive you pay 5euros for parking, but there is no admission cost. It takes us about 15-20 minutes to walk it with all the kids. There are a pretty good variety of animals to check out, and it has a cool playground on one side of the park. The animals are all in open enclousures, some that you can even walk through and pet the animals in there. Well right now it is only the goats that you can walk through, but they are going to make the antelope enclosure a walk through one as well, they are working on getting the animals used to being exposed to people right now.

At the end of our time at Mundenhof we got ice cream, again (I think that's a record for us twice in 3 days! Jesaiah doesn't even really like ice cream!) before heading back home. Needless to say the kids were wiped out! We were gone for about 3 hours. The kids rode their rollers (scooters) and laufrad (literally 'walkbike') all the way there and back and walked around the whole time at the park, so it was a very good (tiring out) outing.

Zachy can't wait to get a 'real' bike. Right now he is riding the laufrad, which is basically a bike with no pedals or chain. They push it with their feet and learn balance. Most kids here start on one when they are 2 or 3 years old and move to a 'real' bike within a year or so, without training wheels. They are pretty cool little things! And Zachy jams on his! He gets going really fast then picks up both feet and coasts as far as he can. He also gets very creative with the way he pushes. It is quite entertaining to watch sometimes!

Enough rambling....on with the pictures!! Enjoy! Sorry there's alot, we got a little 'snap happy'!, but if you go to the source of the album you can skim through them quicker.