Umlauf Sculpture Garden

Wir verbringen mindestens einen Tag am Wochenende Downtown und gehen zuerst fruehstuecken und dann spazieren, zum Wasserpark, zum Kindermuseum... Letzes Wochenende waren wir zum ersten Mal im Umlauf Sculpture Garden was Emmi ganz toll fand. Zum Glueck durfte sie alle Sculpturen auch anfassen, sonst waere es nur halb so lustig gewesen.

This one apparently reminded her of me. She called it a "Mama" and hugged it real tight.

Emmi really liked the baby sculpture and informed us very quickly that it was in fact a boy baby...

We usually spend at least one day every weekend downtown starting with Breakfast at Whole Foods which has become our family weekend tradition. Afterwards we'll either walk around Town Lake, go to the fountain at Butler Park, go to the Children's Museum... Last weekend we took the kids to Umlauf Sculpture Garden for the first time. Emmi loved it! She loved running around and looking at all the sculptures and telling us what they were. Luckily it's okay to touch the sculptures too, or it would have been only half the fun for her. She is obsessed with angels right now, so she was very happy about finding some angel sculptures too.

Vater & Tochter

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Opa!

This little girl....

...is smiling all day long, but has only laughed about 5 times in her life. She'll chuckle, but nothing seems funny enough to warrant a full blown laugh.

...laechelt und grinst den ganzen Tag aber lacht fast nie. Ich glaube sie findet uns einfach nicht lustig genug.

...has the entire Family wrapped around her tiny fingers. And if Mama refuses to hold her hand while driving guess who will do her the favor?

...hat uns alle um ihren kleinen Finger gewickelt. Und wenn Mama sich weigert beim Autofahren Haendchen zu halten, rate mal wer ihr stattdessen den Gefallen tut?

...loves to eat. I mean LOVES to eat! We have yet to find a flavor she doesn't like. She eats fruits/oatmeal for breakfast and veggies for dinner. And if anyone is eating in front of her we have to pull out some puffs of crispbread to keep her happy. She is still nursing a lot too, unfortunately also at least twice at night.

...isst fuer ihr Leben gern. Bis jetzt haben wir noch nix gefunden dass ihr nicht schmeckt. Sie bekommt Obst mit Haferflocken zum Fruehstueck und Gemuese zum Abendessen. Und wenn jemand in ihrer Naehe isst halten wir Knaeckebrot bereit. Sie stillt auch noch viel, leider auch noch mindestens zweimal in der Nacht.

...is drooling. And drooling. And drooling. And babbling. And her favorite babbling sound is Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma. Which of course I love :)

...sabbert und sabbert ohne Ende. Und brabbelt. Und am am liebsten brabbelt sie Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma. Find ich natuerlich toll :)

...can't wait to run after her big sister when she steals her toys. She is already practicing.

...kann es nicht erwarten endlich hinter ihrer grossen Schwester herlaufen zu koennen wenn die ihr die Spielsachen klaut. Sie uebt schon.

Christmas 2009

We spent a great Christmas Eve at Oma and Opa's House. In Southern Germany presents are brought to the children by the Christmas Angel (Christkindl) on Christmas Eve. We were having coffee and cookies in the kitchen when the Angel (aka Opa) rang the bell and Emmi almost fell of her chair she was so excited. She apparently expected to actually see the Angel when she walked into the living room, but the disappointment didn't last too long. Next she noticed all the candles burning on the tree and asked slightly confused who's birthday it was :) and if she could blow them out. She loved opening all the presents and took her time helping everybody opening theirs. Lily was most excited about all the ornaments hanging on the tree and spent a lot of time trying to redecorate. Their favorite gifts were some handpuppets and a new baby doll that was supposed to be for Lily but got adopted by Emmi quickly and is now named "Emma". Lily gets to borrow Emmi's old doll "Tidoo" instead. Luckily Lily isn't to particular about it (yet).

We spent the next couple of days eating lots of great food and just hanging out and then it was already time to head back to Austin after 6 weeks in Germany.