Baking Day!!!

Friday of last week Sabine and I sat down to discuss a kind of weekly schedule. It is a flexible schedule but it will give us an idea of what is happening every week, who is with whom and doing what. This is great because now I can plan activities with Lara and know when I am with Lili and at what times I maybe have a break.

The biggest days for me are Wednesday (today) and Thursday. Wednesdays are baking days!! I'm very excited about this. Its something new for Lara, something I can introduce that can be my thing with her, and I think she will really like it. Then on Thursday Lara and I will have a two-way tutoring session. She will help me with my German (she LOVES this, and its good for her to feel that she can help me with something) and I will work with her on some English. This will also be fun and beneficial for us both. After a short German/English lesson then we will work on a craft project which can be carried over from week to week or from day to day if we need to fill time anywhere. My creative juices are already flowing!!! I have a long list of ideas which keeps growing!

So, today is our first baking adventure. I think it will be a good exercise (Occupational Therapy!) for Lara to use her hands to roll the dough into a ball and then we'll have some fun using M&M's to make faces in the cookies. Its a very simple cookie recipie to start, better not to plan too much. Who knows, it could be a total bust!! But I'm hopeful. I think it will go well. I'll update you tomorrow with photos :)

K.

The times they are a changing.....

We have had beautiful weather here in Stuttgart since I arrived. Gorgeous sunny days and quite often very warm. Usually I wake up and the sun is coming in through my window....but today, I woke up and saw this.....

And because you all know PNW weather you can imagine with a sky like this that, yes, it is raining. On the top of that hill there is also a television tower, can't see it can you. Oh well, I have no where to go and its nice and cozy inside.


So, I spent the morning making a weekly schedule with Sabine. Planning what we will do each day with the girls. Who is with whom and doing what. This is very, very good. Just what we needed. And we both were getting excited and brainstorming all kinds of activities and crafts and baking things we could do with Lara especially. This is what I love. Then Sabine's mother came for a visit which was very nice and after our Mittagessen I put together a small Tisch for my computer which we bought at Ikea the other day. And now I think I will sit down with a latte and my book and have a few quiet hours before Lara comes home at 5. All in all a nice and a productive day.

Look at the colors on this tree! This is also just outside my window. I guess I can't pretend anymore that it is still summer. But if it means I get to look at these beautiful Fall colors then I'm okay with it.

:)

K.

Pictures!!

Stuttgart!!!

This is accross the street from the train station. The first photo.

.....and then looking down the street. All the taxis lined up in front of the station.

My new house. The second floor. A little out of order but I can't figure out how to move the photo. It doesn't help that this computer is all in German, I can't figure out the commands. Just getting used to the keyboard now, Y and Z are in the wrong place among other things.

The entrance. The door on the left leads into the dinning area which is one long room blending into the sitting room with the TV.

And here is the sitting room and TV, as mentioned.

Dinning room and the beginning of the kitchen, the küche, in the back.

die Küche.

Our first weekend together and we drove out of the city a bit to this trail through the woods. It was a very nice walk and so nice to have this time all together. Stephan was explaining all about different trees and nuts and exploring with Lara, Lili taging along or just enjoying to run and run and run, and I had a very nice talk with Sabine about familes, Lara, their thoughts and approaches to having a child with special needs, about my friends and family etc. It was a great day.

We stopped here to sit in the beautiful sunshine a bit, have something to eat and drink and enjoy the view.

Here is the view. Gorgeous. Stephan was telling me that one of the old kings of this area, had a hunting castle somewhere down the lake. Also, in the winter you can skate on this lake!! I'm going to keep that in mind and see about coming back in the winter. How cool.

More of the view.

I have no idea why this one is upside down but like I mentioned before this computer is all in German and I can't figure it out. I really like this one though, even upside down.

Wild (Vilt) Swine (Shvine)!!

The little ones were so cute!! And the big ones......

not so much. And they were mean!

Which way?!

Sabine and Stephan dressed up for an evening at the Volksfest in the beer tents. Prost!!

Last weekend we went out into the wine hills that surround Stuttgart. This is looking down into a kind of suburb of Stuttgart.

More grapes growing on the hillside and Stuttgart in the distance.

The great city center of Stuttgart. Wish I had a camera with more zoom.

This is a chapel burial site of a former king and his queen.

Lara and I, matching a bit, in front of the chapel.

Stuttgart again.

Wine, wine, wine. I guess here its just grapes, grapes, grapes, but I like to think of what it will become.

More walking around.

We stopped at a sweet little beer garden for lunch. It was a beautiful day as you can see.

Still wish I had that zoom....That is the chapel where we were earlier.

Lara, looking sweet and very willing to pose.

Stephan and Lili climbing the hill. Thrilling I know, but I thought it was cute.

More, more, more....

This was so funny. Last Sunda we went for a walk through the city park. As we walked we past this man dressed like he was in an old American western movie. We all looked and eachother and laughed. THEN we stopped at a beer garden in the middle of the park and as we sat down this band began to play and they were a country band! And all these people got up from their tables and started line dancing. I could not believe it. So funny.

Gettin' down with their country selves.

Lara and I.

The sheriff, notice his badge. Watch out, you don't want to cross the law.

That about sums it up as far as pictures go. This weekend I'm looking forward to seeing Esther on Friday and going out with her and some of her friends and then on Saturday the guys are also coming to Stuttgart and we're all going to the Volksfest!!! So that will be Esther, Simeon, David (friends from Scotland) and I going on Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing them and having a night out.

Bis Bald!!