Grandma is here

Grace has been busy exploring the kitchen cabinets of late.  Yesterday she focused on the sponges she found under the sink.  Today was more of a Tupperware day.

Ah...Grandma.

Grandma brought some fun coloring books for Katie, on which she got right down to business (while wearing a blindingly colorful outfit.)
The bump on the couch in the family room...
is Katie in her new favorite place to sleep.  Until tonight, that is - she's currently on the top bunk of the beds in Grandma's room.
Tonight we had a lovely visit from Sarah and Marcus Hawkins.  Sarah was one of my first master's degree students (not to mention a favorite babysitter of Sam and Katie's) and Marcus was one of Dave's master's degree students.  Then they married each other.  (To be fair, they were already dating before they started working with Dave and me.)  Now they live near Phoenix, but they were in town for some family celebrations.
Isaac got smiles out of both Sarah and Marcus.
Sam was asleep on the green chair in the living room.  All this summer vacating is wearing him out.

Sisterly love.

End of the day

A wrap-up of the day's events.
It was an exhausting afternoon for Ike.
Grace had a blast playing with her activity box, while Sam acted as a live Sam-in-the-box every time Grace got one of the doors to open.  If only you could hear the giggles.
This morning when we got back from Grace's surgery, the garage door opener went kaput.  Here are our wonderful neighbors, Cameron and his dad Gregg, having at a go at diagnosing the problem this evening.  We are so fortunate to have such helpful, generous neighbors.
Turns out the sprocket is all bent up, so the chain keeps jumping off.  Looks like it'll be a couple of weeks of opening the garage door the old-fashioned way.  Something for you to look forward to fixing when you get home, Dave!  :)
Grace and Isaac watching the garage door action from the driveway.  We had just returned home from a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  (I can't subdue the cringe as I write that, similar to the feeling I get when writing Toys R Us.)  The three oldest kids had a great time riding a virtual roller coaster that had a wide bench seat so they could all sit together.  Isaac enjoyed the people-watching.
Sam took this picture of me to document my shorter hair.  After suffering from a horrendous haircut during our months in Germany, upon our return I had it all chopped off.  Helmet-hair be gone!

Tomorrow afternoon, Grandma Strei arrives from Minnesota to visit and help out.  Meanwhile, I work while all the kiddies are sleeping.  Back to it.

New additions: carrots, rice cakes, and tubes

As I write this, Sam and Katie are investigating the discovery of a door in our house that was previously unknown to them. It leads from our laundry room to the patio. Just evidence that we need to include our kids more in the chores of the household - clearly they've not spent enough time in the laundry room.
The daring duo, busy launching themselves from the top of the green chair to the floor of the living room.
And pausing for a moment of reflection.
Isaac's first taste of vegetables.  I finally got around to cooking some carrots. 
 The reception was somewhat inconsistent, so I'm calling it a wash.  
Today, Isaac ate an entire rice cake.  He looked across the table to the master for guidance on technique...
Grace eats hers with flair.

This morning was Grace's surgery to place tubes in her ear drums.  She could not have done better!  She wasn't disconcerted, woke up smoothly from the anesthetic, and charmed the staff at the surgery center.  Grace hasn't had a ton of ear infections, but she did have persistent fluid in her middle ear, so hopefully this will improve her hearing and help with her language acquisition.  She is very vocal, but doesn't yet have any recognizable words or effective ways of communicating her needs.  Scratch that - she does have a pretty clear way of telling me when she doesn't want to drink her milk - it ends up on the floor.  We're hoping for a less labor-intensive communication system.

Katie's lunch of choice: cucumbers and a pickle sandwich.
Dave skyped us this afternoon from Trondheim.  Sam and Katie were too busy doing their own things to chat.  Grace and Isaac enjoyed seeing Dad on the screen.  I'm still awed by how easy it is to have a live (free!) video conversation with someone who is across the ocean.  

Since we've been home

I have yet to post the photos from our last days of travel in Germany (there are some great ones!), but I'll just have to intersperse those over time with updates from our back-to-normal life back home. Right now, back-to-normal means Dave is in Trondheim for two weeks, enjoying the Norwegian summer while doing some mathematics. So Dave can enjoy the smiling faces of his kiddos, I'm going to get back on the blog horse and do some semi-regular updates. Who knows, maybe I'll keep doing this even when we are all home.We celebrated Katie's fourth birthday on the 18th of July.  Ever since we were in Germany, she had been hoping for a pink camera of her own.  Thanks to Grandma Strei's generosity, she got her wish, and has been taking photos ever since.  Grandma Becker sent Katie a gorgeous dress with netting under the skirt to increase its twirlability.  Katie wore it immediately out of the package and then slept in it for at least two days straight.  I neglected to take any photos of her in it though.Isaac is enjoying his varied recreational options now that we are back on the home turf.  In Germany, he was either hanging out on the floor, or in the stroller.  Now he has his choice of the exersaucer (his personal favorite), the walker (we know, not safety-sanctioned, but it works for us), the bumbo chair, or just sitting up on the floor and hoping Grace doesn't come along and give him an overexuberant hug that results in him tipping over.
Katie also received a two-wheel bike for her birthday, which she uses every day out on the back patio.
Isaac in the aforementioned walker.  He now has two teeth and thighs of amazing size.
Isaac's blue eye color seems to be remaining.  I marvel at how all four of our kids' traits are dominated by Dave's features, even though Dave's genes (blond and blue eyed) should be dwarfed by my brown hair and brown eyes.  I guess it is due to my dad's lighter features sneaking through.
Grace is all over the place these days.  Here, she scooted herself under the couch and couldn't get out.  On her stomach, she only goes backward, but on her bottom she scoots like a ball of fire.
We had a party to celebrate the graduation of Dave's second Ph.D. student, Meri Hughes. 
Grace showed off her new standing skills.  She can pull herself up to standing now.  This morning at church, she kept giggling as she used the back of the pew to practice her up-and-down technique.  She is pretty proud of herself.
A rousing game of twister.  The kids just finished up with swimming lessons.  Sam went from a dog-paddling fool to learning some good strokes and diving off the diving board.  Katie went from walking around the shallow end to jumping off the side into the deep end with confidence.  Grace even became a bit of a fish, enjoying "jumping" off the side of the pool.  Our friend Kristen taught the kids, and our friends the Glenns let us use their backyard pool every morning.
Dave gets in the twister action.
Tomorrow morning (Monday the 10th), Grace has surgery to have tubes placed in both her ears.  It's a minor surgery, probably less than 15 minutes, but it will be her first time under anesthesia, so keep her in your prayers that all goes well.
Isaac chilling in the bumbo.
Sam's looking long and lean these days.  On Friday, we went out to eat at Moni's, a local restaurant, and Sam's principal and assistant principal were at the table next to us.  Sam immediately went into undercover mode, making sure he was hidden behind Dave and out of view of Ms. Coulter and Mr. Gallagher.  After lunch, Sam overcame his shyness to say hello to them and tell them he did his journal everyday in Germany.  
My friend Rachel has a conference in Austin this week, so she flew into DFW for the weekend.  She was a big help, especially with Dave gone.  Here she is, feeding Grace and holding Isaac, while I was eating bon-bons and having a pedicure.  (Just kidding, I think I was unloading the dishwasher.)  Today, we dropped off Rachel at the Amtrak station to catch a train down to Austin.

My mom comes into town on Tuesday to join in the fun.  How we manage to draw these Midwesterners to Texas in August is a mystery to me, but we sure enjoy their visits.

Last day in Bielefeld

We've been home for two and half weeks now, and I'm finally getting a chance to catch up on updating the journal with our adventures from our last few days in Germany. Looking at the pictures makes me tear up with nostalgia already - we had such an amazing time.
We swung by Heidi's office at the University to say goodbye.  She really helped make our stay wonderful - she lined up our apartment and made sure it was outfitted with high chairs, a crib, and changing table.  And she babysat the kids for my birthday, giving Dave and me a chance to go out.  We will miss her and her eager helpfulness.
Katie washing the dishes (in her swimsuit).  She begged to do it - who am I to refuse?
Dave took this picture from our bedroom window.  I am looking out one of the windows in Sam and Isaac's room.
This is a wing of the barn attached to the IBZ which we could see from our bedroom windows.
Yuma and Jagoda liked to hang out with Isaac.
Grace raring to go.
Isaac and Katie in the sunshine of the living room.
One last visit to the market square.
Last ride on the spinners outside the market.

Jagoda and Yuma watched Isaac while Dave and I were packing up the apartment.

The whole crew of kids (except Grace, who was taking a nap.)

Munching some of those delicious blueberries from the strawberry shack.

This is the morning we officially moved out.  Our train was leaving from the train station before the Stadtbahn lines were running (it was a Sunday morning.)  Our neighbor, Gregor (Jagoda's dad) was kind enough to give us all a drive to main train station.  Their family has a Skoda, which is a Czech-made car.  Since they have two kids, it was perfect - one car seat for a big kid and one car seat for a little kid.  But the car is only a four seater, so Gregor made two trips.  First he dropped off me and the boys at the train station, and then he came back to the apartment to pick up Dave and the girls. 

This picture shows Katie after I left with Sam and Isaac.  She didn't understand the plan, and was under the misunderstanding that we were leaving without them.  She cheered up when Dave explained that we were all meeting up at the train platform.

Here's Katie checking the mailbox one last time.