Christmas update

As I sit here addressing Christmas cards I realize how many people I should keep in better contact with and decided to share my blog address so you can be in on What We're Up To. I also look forward to updates from everyone either via phone or email or both.



Josh is in preschool this year at Windsor Christian Preschool and he's been practicing for their Christmas pageant which will be next week. This has potential for America's Funniest Videos cause he has no fear of getting up in front of people and is really animated in the motions they're supposed to do. Instead of just resting his head on his hands when they sing"...the little lord Jesus laid down his sweet head..." he actually bends his whole body for his head to meet his hands at about elbow height. Keep your eyes on the TV guide for the episode starring him. He's outgoing and knows his classmates by name and I've seen him go in to the room with a big "Hi, everybody!". Josh is also taking skating lessons on Saturday afternoons and is already a better skater than me. Since they're all beginners they fall a lot and when they do they often bump other kids on the way down and you get a chain reaction. We practice with the GTV Almrausch kindergruppe every other Friday and he also dances with both of our German dance groups. He has regular school days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and what they call "enrichment day" on Thursdays that means that they get to make simple snacks and play on laptops. He's very good at mousing his way around the VW website to " build his beetle" basically he clicks on the different options and paints the car picture on the computer screen and then gets applause when he clicks done. While I'm okay with letting them have some independent play time, I hover over him when he's on that site to be sure he doesn't actually order a car.

Dima also dances, though somewhat reluctant at the beginning of the year, he's started participating more. He is excelling at ice skating- they moved him up from the learn to skate class to the learn to play hockey class! He's in half day kindergarten this year and loving the daily ride on the school bus and making friends in his class. He has his own alarm clock and gets up on his own and gets ready ( putting on the clothes that were laid out the night before ) pretty much on his own. Dima spends most pleasant-weather evenings out on the hill in our back yard on the look out for hot air balloons. There are three that we see on a regular basis. We've seen as many as five a day and get reports from Dima about where they are and which ones they are. We've even gone to the fields where they inflate them and watched them take off. It worked out well over the summer when we'd go to Marsh Creek Park to swim in the evenings and then see balloons on the way home. Both boys took swimming lessons over the summer and had a great time. At this time of year when we drive anywhere both boys are on the lookout for decorations and Josh is always oohing and aahing over cars anywhere we go.

As far as me, my day to day schedule is pretty much dictated by school drop-off and pick up times and keeping the kids on time for their school and appointments and keeping their routine going. As much as I can I try to get errands like shopping out of the way while both kids are in school so I don't have to take them anywhere and then our afternoons are free for our normal routine of lunch, naps and then playing or a walk around the neighborhood before dinner time. I like walking around the neighborhood and I take the boys out when I can the exercise is motivation for me and usually I can find something like decorations as motivation for them. There's not much time for a lot on school nights since both boys need to be in bed by eight. Most Mondays I get out to practice with our Philadelphia dance group. Weekends in the fall were busy with dance performances with both dance groups including one at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, most of the rest were in the Philadelphia area but some as far as Accokeek and Hagerstown in Maryland, Hanover, Pennsylvania, and two in northern New Jersey. The ultimate by far was the Gaufest in Hershey, it was great to see so many of our friends there.

Chris's spare time is mostly spent watching hockey, practicing or playing hockey, emailing people about it, reading about it or co-ordinating people for games - either to attend, to play or to go for lessons. He shuttles our kids to their lessons on Saturdays, beginning at 9am, which is not an easy task for a guy who is much more a night person than an early riser. Saturday afternoons Josh has his lessons and the boys have also been going to Reading Royals games either Saturday or Sunday evenings. In the summer they were going to Reading Phillies baseball games and the kids liked that for the fireworks when the home team scored. Of course there are the Eagles to watch, read about and yak about, and I don't mean just in the fall. Both NFL and NHL draft days are like holidays spent in close proximity to a TV. He had a chance to go to an Eagles game in early December when it was sleeting and really cold all day. I guess some people think that's fun, but I for one was glad to be warm inside instead of "enjoying" the game! When he's not busy with sports, sports, sports he does fit in some work at Sungard Higher Education His description when I asked how to describe the job here was "peachy".

We all hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays!

Feel free to check back here for updates, I usually get a chance to write down what I've been thinking once a week or so.