Life when you're 8

Transformer jammies and a loaded nerf gun.....  :)

Day 21 - I'm just counting the days Bob is gone now, even if we did get a one week reprieve.  It was a great week!!

Team Tennis: Alexandra

Alexandra plays her first team tennis matches.  It was a little bit difficult playing doubles for the first time when she and her partner don't speak the same language!

Day 20.

smiles

I told Baylor everyone likes to see him smile - and look - a genuine smile!!

Day 19.

Tests, lessons, matches, and creeks....

Another busy day around here: standardized testing this morning, violin lessons this afternoon, Baylor's team tennis later in the afternoon (singles: 6:3, 6:2; doubles: 6:0, 6:1 wohoo!), and jumping the creek at a friend's house this evening.

Here's Ben after his shower at 10:00 pm.

Day 18.

From one thing to another

Alexandra - in the car waiting for Ben at tennis so we can go and wait for Baylor at youth group......

Day 17....

Chilly day in May

Alexandra is warming up with soup and bread she bought (and ordered in German) from the grocery store on the way home from tennis.  It was kind of a chilly day today and she had to wait for an extra hour at tennis while I watched Ben at baseball practice.

So I had a few pretty cool photos of the boys but somehow Baylor managed to delete them before I could post them.  Maybe after a year I'll be an expert at posting as well as an expert at keeping photos on the camera until they are posted.

Wishing Bob were here to share a cup of coffee with.....

Day 16....

Mother's Day

I love being a mom to my kids!  Even on bad days.  Today was a good day.  Except we really miss Bob.
Day 15...


I am being foiled in my efforts to post on our family blog by bad internet.  Two days in a row now.  I'm a little frustrated but I'll try at a different time tomorrow.

The picture was of the kids and their cards sitting by the flowers they walked down the street to buy for me.  They're great kids!!

Saturday: tennis and friends

We started our Saturday with Saturday morning tennis and ended it with dinner with friends.  The sun even came out for a few hours today.  :)

 And here is where the photos are supposed to be ----->

except when you have internet access like ours, sometimes it takes an hour for a photo to load.

I'll update the photos tomorrow.
Day 14....

Friday night movie night

Day 13.

Ben's version of recycling

Here is Ben using his Academic Fair project board of favorite sea creatures to build a lego hide away.   Nothing like a few legos and some cardboard!  :)









Day 12...

Team Tennis with the Landstuhl Club

Kind of hard to see but Baylor's is serving during his team tennis singles match.  He said he played better than last week but could have played better.  Team tennis is great because he plays matches every week - and he has to speak German with his opponents and teammates!

Day 11...

Happy afternoons...

Here are Ben and Alexandra enjoying some free time Tuesday afternoon.  Alexandra crocheted a hat for her doll while Ben colored Clone Wars.  Actually, before I took the picture I was napping on Alexandra's bed. :)  Baylor was at tennis.

Day 10....

Spelling test

Here's Baylor in the middle of his spelling test.  Okay, I tried to take it and he hid behind a book so I had to sneak this picture in after a hard word.  "irresistible" - and to be honest I just had to check my own spelling with his spelling book : )

And now we have smiles.....

Day 9....

Alexandra plays Bach

Alexandra had her spring piano recital with students from a German music school and private studios. 
She did a great job and really enjoyed performing.

Two things about tonight's post.  First I really think there's a way I can post a video of Alexandra playing but for the moment I can't seem to figure it out.  And second, if there were a way, I would have to post a video of her playing her piece at home.

I wonder how many times I'll mis-record (is that a word?) something important over the next year...  Somehow you have to select the "type" of video recording you want to do.  I guess I didn't select the right one.  I was sure I had and that is why I also didn't bother taking a picture of Alexandra at the recital.  What you see here is Alexandra at home in front of our piano holding flowers given to her by Brent and Noel Sadler, friends from our church who came to watch her perform.


We ate at Macaroni Grill afterwards.  :)

Day 8...

Good night photos

Okay, so after a late night dinner with our home school conference speaker, I realized I hadn't taken a photo yet today for day 7.  So I wonder how often I'll be trying to convince my kids to smile as I'm tucking them in over the next year of photos?

First, no photo of Alexandra at all.  Second, only one of Baylor hiding as he says, "Mom! You can't take pictures like this and post them for everyone to see!"  And, as for Ben, well when your 8 you just like to smile for the camera.  :)

Ben's tennis

Ben and his tennis coach Frank.  Today Ben had a whole hour of private lesson to himself.  Frank said he did great!

day 6.

Ice cream after swim lessons

day 5

Yeah, they're related.  :)

Day 4....

Violin practice in tennis clothes

Day 3.

Notice the smile that is only there for the photo.  This is called forced practice right after tennis but before dinner at the Brown's house.  Notice the tennis outfit and the red clay still on the hands.  This is what I've done to us today: chores, breakfast, school, orthodontist appointment, German class, lunch, school, tennis, school, tennis, dinner with friends, bed.  Sort of crazy isn't it...

Day two.

Snapshots of Baylor's day: Algebra test and Burger King after an evening of tennis.....

Opening day for spring tennis 2010

First day of spring tennis. First day of Bob's pre-deployment training.

I am trying to keep the kids busy. We couldn't have had a more beautiful German day!

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

"I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen." Martin Luther


95 Theses.....On the door of the Castle Church in Witteburg. It's Reformation Day in Germany and we're celebrating where it all began. We sang Luther's own "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" in the Castle Church with about 100 other English speaking visitors.









Frederick of Saxony had Martin Luther exiled to Wartburg Castle near Eisenach for his own safety. During that time he penned the first translation of the New Testament into German in this room.




This was a beautiful fall day in Germany. We're standing in front of a statue of Johann Sebastian Bach who was born in Eisenach. His house is just to our right and is an amazing museum to Bach and musical instruments of his period. Bach fit right into our study of the Reformation. His music created to glorify God more than 200 years later served as a legacy of the Reformation that countered the Age of Enlightenment embodied in Frederick the Great of Prussia.

Vacation of a lifetime!

This is the vacation I (Bob) have dreamed of for years! Not sure the kids were as excited about all the ancient history locations Dad was making them study up on prior to leaving. We took a 13 day cruise leaving from Istanbul, Turkey winding its way through the Greek Isles. Just a few of the stops were Ephesus, Crete, Alexandria, Egypt, Olympia and Athens.



This is the theatre of Ephesus. Imagine Paul the Apostle defending himself against the tradesman of Ephesus as 12,000 people filled the theatre yelling "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" (Acts19:28).


You should have seen the size of that camels tongue!








The Great Sphinx! The largest statue in the world carved from one large piece of stone. Napoleon's men used the nose for target practice in case you were wondering about the unusual profile view.



This is the Palace of the legendary King Minos of Knossos in Crete. At one point we lost Ben and thought that he was lost in the Labyrinth to be sacrificed to the Minotaur.










This was Ben's favorite part of the vacation. He had been reading all about Heiroglyphics and Jean Francois Champollion, the man that cracked the code of Hieroglyphs in 1822. He carried his backpack with books about hieroglyphs, notepad for drawing and pencils everywhere. On the night of this picture, we were in the middle of a huge Ramadan party in Istanbul. Vendors were racing around, large families had spread blankets out to eat on. There in the middle of it all sat Ben on a bench drawing the hieroglyphs off this obelisk brought from Egypt to Constantinople in the 4th Century AD. It was originally carved to honor Pharaoh Thutmose III 1,500 years before Christ.







This was my (Bob) favorite part of the vacation. Here we are standing on Mars Hill with Acropolis in the background. That morning we read through the account of Paul's address to the Areopagus in Acts 17:22-34. That afternoon we acted it on Mars Hill itself. It was awesome! The Agora, of which Paul was referring when he spoke of the Athenian objects of worship (Acts17:23) is right behind me in the picture.

Europe with friends

Kim, Tyler, Lindsey, and Grant Roberts came to see us this summer. What a fun household for summer break! Here are some random photos of our trips to Italy, the Rhine, Rothenburg, and Paris.

Paris with the girls

While my mom was here, we took Alexandra to Paris. Four girls in Paris in the spring. Lovely...

Italy with family

My mom came to visit with her friend Barb. We had a wonderful time in Italy with them and the kids. Here are few photos from Venice and Verona.