Painting Project and Flower Friday...

See these tiles with orange flowers...would not have been my choice, but we are renting our place, so they must stay

Enter in this 10 year old piece of Target furniture...

Levi wanted to be a big helper and paint, so I let him.  I figured that I didn't have much to lose.  He painted the entire thing (in his underwear, but I won't show you that part)

Here is the finished product...

Looks pretty good right? And the next time you take a trip to my bathroom and you see the orange toilet paper/magazine holder, may it bring a smile to your face knowing that my sweet 7 year old completed the task :)

and my Flower Friday

Invitations...

These past few weeks have been busy with lots of invitations to spend time with friends...

at the zoo

for birthday celebrations

and to just play together!

We love "our" Joanna...

We first met Joanna about 4 years ago, at a cross-cultural training center in Colorado.  We had mutual friends and she quickly became part of our family!  She has lived in Budapest these past few years, and she has taken MANY trips to Vienna to come and see us.

In just a few short months- she will be getting married to the love of her life, Will, back in the States.  Unfortunately we won't be able to attend the wedding, but we were able to spend a little time with her this weekend and celebrate how special she is to our family!  We wish them all the best :)

A good read and a Flower Friday...

Go HERE for a good read... and HERE for my Flower Friday

Summer Cuts...

Before and After shots

Any guesses?

Flower Friday

Happy Friday!  Hope you all take time this weekend to stop and smell the roses...

Smiling...

:: when I look at this photo of my kiddos

:: as I help the kiddos make "dirt" (aka crushed oreos, gummy worms and chocolate pudding)

:: as I continue to put my little space together upstairs

:: when I look out on our terrace and see our rose bush full of blooms

:: when I think of last night... which certainly was a night to remember.

Normally I never "just" speak German with dinner guests, it is usually a combination of German and English and certainly our family never "only" speaks German together, but last night we invited over a guest that doesn't speak any English. I had to be pushed out of my comfort zone and dive in head first.
The rules for my kids were that they had to speak German, they couldn't correct my German and they couldn't laugh at my pronunciation.  It was a wonderful night around the dinner table...full of smiles :)

Eis...

When the weather starts to get all beautiful out, and I am wishing for a backyard...I have to remind myself that scooters and concrete are my friends.  Living in an apartment "makes" us go out and get some fresh air and exercise...

It also gives us an excuse to go and get ice cream...

Our favorite little place, is just down the street

Abby almost always gets coconut...

For Luke it is usually something with chocolate...

Levi usually has a hard time making up his mind...

In the end, he decides on white chocolate and pineapple, but soon realizes he is not a fan of the pineapple after all.  Don't you worry though, Milka comes to the rescue!

and my favorite...GREEN APPLE!!!

So, while many of you enjoy your backyards...we will enjoy our trips to get Eis :)

*and I am trying to bring back Flower Fridays*

Toofless...

Last Saturday he lost his first front tooth...

Yesterday while eating a snack at school, he lost his second one :)

making him officially "toofless"

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you moms out there...

(Made by my sweet Abby girl)

Blooming...

The first of the blooms are finally opening on our terrace...

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

                                                                                            ~Anne Bradstreet

After months of being loose...

Levi finally lost his front tooth! :)

New...

New Game:: Some friends let us borrow 'Ticket to Ride Europe' and the boys have fallen in love with it.

New Tulips::  Because life is too short to not enjoy fresh flowers :)

New Recipe:: For Scones made for the "Royal Wedding Partay"

(Our team got together to celebrate the new marriage of Prince William and Catherine.  It was so fun watching the days events and eating cucumber sandwiches and scones with lemon curd, while sipping Mimosa's...we also watched the TV closely to see if we could find Sonja, who just happened to plan a trip to London while the Royal wedding was happening)

New Baby:: Our neighbor just had a new baby...isn't he so sweet :)

Hohe Wand Wiese

Today we went on the sommerrodelbahn in the Hohe Wand Wiese with the Giles Family. It was a blast!
(a little scary for me...but fun none the less)  It is basically a toboggan on a track that can go up to 25 mph.  Thankfully there is one lever that you push to go fast or pull back to slow down.

Here are Brad and Levi getting buckled in...

Here are Luke and Abby "flying" down the hill...

and after a run with Daddy, Levi was ready to go all by himself!

We have really enjoyed getting to know the Gileses. They have been a real source of encouragement to us, fun playmates for the kiddos and they always bring lots of folk to church with them! :)  In just a few short weeks, they will return to North Carolina~ but we are confident that we will keep in touch and that they will come back to visit!