Adwoa und Ama

Last weekend we went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Saarbrücken. It was very cold, but Santa Claus (the Weihnachtsmann) still flew overhead and stopped to tell a story. The Christkind was also there hanging underneath (possibly as ballast). It was really fun. Liz and I both had a hot mug of Glühwein. I have to agree with my friend Bernhard, Glühwein is really best after being outside in the cold.

The girls had fun riding the little cars around in circles. J rode with E in a small truck. She was very happy.

E rode several more times by herself.

Yesterday J was a lot of fun at dinner. She was in a very good mood and had fun feeding her doll.
Here is a video of J having dinner. Initially, we all started having dinner together. J just takes a bit more time.

Lots of pics here… scroll to the bottom for the video link.

We had a busy and fun week in Streamwood.

We had a terrific visit to the Shedd Aquarium, some highlights being beluga whales, the dolphin show, and amazing sea dragons, which you can see in the video.

Grandma and E also made some jewelry together. E had a bit of a tough time at the store, when she wanted to buy a jewelry kit, but Grandma helped to find all the right things without a kit, and the end results made everyone happy.

On Thanksgiving, not only did we get to celebrate with turkey and all the fixings, but we also got to celebrate M’s birthday. K really enjoyed blowing out her big sister’s candles, too.

Gina and Andy made sure that all the kids got to blow out candles, including E.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and a great celebration with over 30 people. The kids had a great time running around after each other and watching kids’ movies in the huge home theater.

On Friday, we went to the Brookfield Zoo– a fantasic place, especially the orangutans, gorillas, and monkeys. You can see some on the video. It was a very cold day, and we went in for lunch to re-energize and warm up. J thought her baby needed some sustenance too.
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And, of course, another highlight was when Denise brought home Sunny. Here is B-pa’s first look at his new puppy.

Here is the video from Thanksgiving.

I have to apologize to Michael for taking so few pictures. Yes, he was there….

On another note, I just wanted to record here (this is a baby book, remember?) all of J’s words to date. They are coming fast and furious, and I am sure that I am missing some, but here are some she knows now….
ball, auto (German for “car”), puppy, book, milk, brot (Gernan for “bread”), Mama, Daddy, her sister’s name, Milla (teacher at school), Deiler (teacher at school), duck, baby, socks, nein (German for “no”), brush (she says this for “toothbrush”), bear, cookie, banana, apple, malen (German for “draw”), hat, bath, fish, down, hello, bye-bye, and a few of the kids’ names at Kinderkrippe, too. Many more words that we don”t recognize, in English and German, we are sure….

We are all well. Sorry it has taken us so long to get this posted.