Say Kase

So today the kids and I made our first attempt of getting their pictures taken at a studio. I was in Toys R Us the other night and saw an advertisment that I gathered meant they were taking kids photos this week, turns out I was right. We showed up this morning and there was some sort of speical day at toys r us because they had booths with food, balloons and toys set up everywhere. We found the picture studio and I crossed my fingers that the lady taking the pictures could speak a little english. Well, no such luck. She did know what I was there for though, so we just got to work getting the pictures done. The kids did great, although they didn't have a clue what she was saying. She kept saying "say kase" (which means cheese) and maggie would just give here this weird look, so I would say cheese maggie, cheese and she would grin really big. Anyhow, she gave me a slip when I left with a date and number so I am guessing that is the day I need to come back to order my pictures. I will have to do some studying before then as their photo sizes are in CM, not inches. So I will have no clue what size I am ordering. The studio,so to say, leaves ALOT to be desired. The backdrops are very different than ours, more sparkly and bright, which I am not a fan of. I like plain, simple pictures. solid backgrounds and little to no props. I feel like I am getting the picture so I can see my kid, not a bunch of props. Anyhow, I will definetly be hitting up the picture people this summer while I am in! I took some pictures of the kids this morning before we left so that in case I didn't like any of the pictures I would have some of them dressed up.





I love this dress on maggie, and she did too. She kept saying she was Belle and spinning around. After the pictures, we were going to go have lunch somewhere until it dawned on me that I didn't know how to get anywhere but home. (Still haven't gotten my GPS yet) I called Joe to ask if there was a McDonalds nearby but it sounded a little to far to venture without knowing for sure I could get home. So we just headed back and had our usual peanut butter and crackers with apples for lunch and then everyone went down for naps.

Okay, so now for a few funny Germany stories. First of all, the man came yesterday to fix our lawn mower since that grass is about 8 feet tall and really needs cut. He came to the door and his english was pretty good. He told me he would just take a look at it and I asked him if he would like anyting to drink while he worked. (it was hot outside so I thought maybe water) He says not right now, but in a bit I would take some coffee!!! Now what in the world, have you ever had a repair man come to your house and ask you to make him coffee?? Now I don't drink coffee adn don't even know how to make it so I have to call my mom up to figure out how to use my coffee maker make this man a pot. I get the coffee made and about 20 minutes later he comes to the door to tell me he is done. I asked him if he would like his coffee and he says, "that's okay. I need to get to the next job." I was totally annoyed that I took 10 minutes of my kids naptime when I could have been blogging :) to make him coffee he didn't even drink. I am sure if I had told him I was just going to pour it out he would have drank every last drop since they don't like to waste over here. Anyhow, so Joe gets home yesterday evening and wants to cut the grass right away. We have no idea if there is any rule about how late you can cut your grass here but he started at about 730 so we figured that should be okay. About a half hour into him cutting, he said he looks up adn there is a man in our yard saying something to him. Poor Joe has no clue what is going on and said he just figured it was a law authority coming out to tell him he had broken the "grass cutting curfew"! Turns out it was our neighbor coming to inform Joe that if he puts all the grass on the compost it will really smell. He told him that every other saturday all the men gather up their grass clippings and take them to some lot down the road. Okay, it gets better....So joe is thinking, my only day to do anything is a Saturday (everything is closed on sunday and everything closes at 8 through the week) and now you tell me that 2 times a week I have to use that day to take my mowed grass down the street? He then tells Joe that all the men of the neighborhood want to get together with him to talk. We aren't sure what exactly that entails but wer'e hoping it's just a kind of "get to know you" talk. Maybe they want to lay out the ground rules for him. Joe then asks him about our collection of bugs in the compost. He says, "oh, it is fine. You just have a ant nest in there, not a big deal." Then, this crazy German picks the ants up and says, "see, no big deal" Joe said within seconds the guy screams "ahhh" and shakes them off his hand. He then says to Joe, I wouldn't let your children play in the compost. Seems they are wood ants that bite." Joe said, darn...there goes their Sunday activity. (okay, he didn't really say that..but seriously??) So by the time they are done talking it's 9 oclock so he came in since he was informed that you really shouldn't mow any after 9pm. (It stays light here until 10 30 pm so I don't know why he couldn't just mow) We sat laughing about the whole incident forever. We have decided we have to start writing down all these goofy things that happen over here so in 10 years when we are living a wonderful life in the WONDERFUL USA we can laugh about all this. So anyhow, it is always something over here. I think everyone who lives in America and complains about things there and how things are run should come live in Germany for a year or so. Trust me, the US has it all together compared to this crazy land.