Friday, March 19, 2010

Bonn R.S. Activity, "The Hundred Dresses"~

The Bonn Ward sisters had another great activity
night celebrating Relief Society's Birthday!
Annette, the R.S. President, is welcoming
everyone to our delightful evening.

The tables were decorated by Annette, with
cute little handmade paper baskets to remind
us that springtime and the Easter season is here!
Thank goodness!!!

A basket of goodies, mmmmm.

Here is Annette translating for me.
(Everyone is such a good sport about this.)
I gave a synopsis of the story called
"The Hundred Dresses."

Nicole, our first counselor, is an amazingly
talented artist. She drew these beautiful
drawings of women in different dresses.

It's so great working with such talented and fun women!

We enjoyed making some cards and small handouts
to take home and extra ones for the sisters who
could not be here with us.
Then it was time for the FOOD!
Good eats for sure!!!

Okay, here's something that has come in real handy
and I think all buildings could use one.

Annette and Heidi are demonstrating the usefulness
of windows that open up into parking lots.
You know how those R.S. activities go...
I think we always move half our house to the
building when we plan an activity as well as bring
tons of food to eat. So having windows open so
easily to "hand off" our junk to someone makes for shorter
walks to the parking lot. I bet we save 20 minutes
in walking just by using our handy window system.
Great idea, Yes?!!

Yummy Chocolate~

Even though Cody gets a weekend in Berlin
I think I did pretty well going to Aachen to
the Lindt Chocolate Warehouse!
Pretty good Easter holiday display!

I went with Sabina, Ingrid and Heidi to load up
on all kinds of delicious chocolates.
I must have changed my mind 10 times about
what I should buy-Jim would say "No surprise there!"
There were so many yummy choices!

The "Granddaddy" Chocolate Easter Bunny of them all!

If you are wondering...he's hollow.

It was a "tourist moment" when Sabina laughed
about taking this picture and said,
"Good thing we have some Americans here
to make this an event!"

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Grover~

Meet Cody's new "friend" Grover!

Grover is a really cute 4 month old Golden Retriever.

Is that the cutest face ever?!

He's almost too big to hold!

Grover's sister "Zana" was over to play and Grover
was tired of sharing his bone with her, so he was
not about to put the bone down when she was near!

Here are Liz and Katie Osborn, Grover's owners.
They are letting Cody do some dog sitting over
the Easter break coming up.
I'm thinking they are gonna become good buddies.
Grover's like and old man and likes to lay around a lot,
Cody likes to lay around a lot too-watching movies...

Monday, March 15, 2010

Rheine Walkers~

Staying to chat at the school in the mornings
generally leads to a brisk morning walk
along the Rheine River behind the school.

Some mornings we go for a good hour.

This is about halfway through a short walk
this particular time.

Our numbers vary daily.
Today was a good turn out, with
lots to talk about....
A new School Director was just hired for
the coming school year-an AMERICAN!

The cool weather is perfect for walking!

Hang out time~

Living right in Bad Godesberg is pretty
convenient for lots of things...
Saturday Cody met up with friends at McDonald's,
a five minute walk from our house.
After a leisurely jaunt through Bad Godesberg
they all landed in our TV room for some down time
playing wii, talking and eating fresh baked cookies mmmmm.

Living in Deutschland...enjoying Thai cuisine~

This past weekend we had a great night out
enjoying delicious Thai cuisine with great company!
We have enjoyed getting to know some of our
Bonn Ward church members.
The Schaub's and Grunke's are German,
the Miller's are fellow Americans.
Everyone at the table speaks German-
except for Jim and Coreen.
Thankfully they all speak English to accommodate us!

Starting from the left:
Nicole Schuab, Anette-Matthias Grunke, Jim,
Alex Schuab, Creed and Heidi Miller.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

BIS School Routine~

At the beginning of the school year Cody would
ride his bike or I would drop him off in front
of the school. Then at 3:30 I would drive up in time
for Cody to jump in the car and head home.
Lately I've changed my routine and it's been great!

Each morning by 8:30, many of the moms meet in the
BIS cafeteria for coffee and chatting after their
children go off to their classes for the day.
Jayde, our security guard, makes sure we are
headed out the door by 9:15, or else we might
stay all day and never go home and get things done.

About 3:00 every afternoon the mom's start
gathering waiting for their children to be released
from classes between 3:00 and 3:30.
It's another good chat session...

Then the "storm" breaks.
You can see here all ages of students now fill
the cafeteria. They come in to find a parent, get
a snack or for some high school students use their
lockers that are located on the back wall.

Cody hanging out for a minute before heading home.