Jentz had a talent show at school. He and the other gymnasts were awesome!!! Jentz is the second one in the green and white outfit. The finale was the most exciting. You can tell by the reaction from the audience. I don't know why, but the video is not working on here, so I'll try it on facebook.

Hanna has also been practicing hard at gymnastics. Floor, beam and tramp are her favorites.

Christmas on the Baltic Sea

We spent two wonderful weeks in Christian's home town for Christmas. His family is so good to us. The kids love to be there on the farm. We went sledding several times in all the snow, built a snowman, went to the movies and ate and ate and ate and ate!

We drove half way to Neubukow (Christian's hometown) and met Christian's parents. They took Hanna with them so that she can spend the summer on the beach. We will be there in another week. On the way home we stopped at a beautiful park (Wörlitzer Park). We walked around for a long time. The boys rode their bikes and we had a little picnic. It was perfect weather - so fun!

I've always been a little concerned about Max. He is not real aggressive or anxious to try new things. He's never really been daring enough or even interested in riding bikes. That is, until he discovered the LAUFRAD. Now he begs me to go outside so he can ride his bike. It makes me so happy. And, when mom is happy, everyone is happy - right?

Since Jentz is the only unbirthday kid at this time of the year, we'll spotlight his awesome gymnastic abilities. He had a state meet last weekend. It lasted all day! It made me really appreciate and feel bad for my mom when she had to sit at our meets all day with all her little kids. Wow! Well, just when I thought I wouldn't last another minute Jentz got his first medal. It made the long day worth it to see his excitement. We are so proud of him. He got the bronze medal on the parallel bars.

Hanna had birthday number 3. It just so happened this year that her birthday was very eventful for many people. In Germany, the 1st of June is Children's Day (kindof like Fathers' or Mothers' Day). It was also Pentacost Monday, which is strictly observed in our part of Germany. Finally and most exciting, she had a little baby girl cousin, Olivia Jill Kerr, born on her birthday and almost at the same time. They will be exactly one decade apart. Cool birthday, huh? Julie and Derek also came all the way from Utah to celebrate with us.

Max had birthday number two. He turned 4. For his birthday we went to this amusement park where we have a season pass. It was fun. He is a sweet little boy and very funny - the clown in our family.

Obviously I am very new to the blogging setup, so that last one wasn't really in the right order or anything. Oh well. I won't give up just yet.

Yes, I'll admit it, our family planning isn't the ideal. We have three of our four kids' birthdays within one week. Needless to say it is like Christmas in July (well, May and June). Lucky for me Hanna is the only one so far who has to have a "friend party". The coming years will just get crazier!

Anyway, Heidi is lucky birthday number one on May 23rd. She turned 2 and we took her to her favorite place, a little town called Gernrode, where the world's largest cuckoo clock is located. She could stay there all day if we let her. Just to prove her excitement for the this place, here are a few videos...

(For a fun little effect, start the first video and then 27 seconds in, start the second video.)

Heidi was also thrilled about the bubbles she got from Oma and Opa. She even had a delicious princess cake to look forward to when we got home from our little outing. I guess it just wasn't meant to be her perfect birthday because on our down from a big lookout tower in the area she got a huge sliver in her hand. We had to take her to the emergency room. They wanted to operate, so we decided to come back to Halle so we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel. In Halle, we waited a while and after two attempts, a scalpel, some blood and lots of screaming and tears the doctor got it out without having to operate. Whew! We decided to have the princess cake the next day. ha ha!

Christmas is over and we're still getting fat

The Christmas season was wonderful. December seemed really long this year. I think it was because we only really had one Christmas party during the month - the ward party (and we weren't in charge of anything). We went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Halle several times. We loved the little donut bites and the different smells. There were even hot drinks names after our girls. The fairytale corner was fun and the huge Christmas tree and pyramid in the middle were awesome.

Vacation down South

We got to take a little week-long vacation to Neumarkt (not far from Nuremberg). We went to some of the cities from our mission and saw some that we never got to see while in the mission. It was wonderful to be together as a family, break in our new mini-van with a crumbs, dirt and a little vomit. The kids would have been very happy to just stay at the house all day. It was a big house with lots of fun toys, a trampoline out back and rabbits. Probably the highlight of our trip was surprising our nephew, Tobias, who was serving his mission in Nuremberg at the time. What a fun week!

Life on the farm

Life on the farm is fun. I think after these few months I've decided I'm a city mouse rather than a country mouse. Hmm, we'll see once we have lived in the big city for a while. Anyway, here on the farm we never have to throw food away. Anything that we don't eat or that goes bad gets thrown over the fence to the chickens. It is so funny to watch them dart for the food. The kids help find the eggs in the evening. I think the record is 18. The huge rabbits aren't very lively in their little cages, but it's fun to help feed them, too.

The farm dog, Waldi, is also a favorite with the kids. The cats sneak around all day long, but not in the house (thank goodness).

Watch out Germany - here we come!

Our first months in Germany have been like an extended vacation. It's been fun to watch the kids adjust to their new surroundings. We've done a little adjusting ourselves (our belts) because of the good food. So, don't rub your eyes if you think we change a lot throughout these pictures. He he!