we are ready, Isaac

It is a beautiful, little breezy almost chilly morning here in Louisiana! Today is Tuesday and Stella should be in school, Ricky at work, me at my first class for my Pharmacy license transferral and Lu with my dear friend Cathy. Well, today is Tuesday and we are all at home awaiting the arrival of Isaac.

This will be our first hurricane since we moved to the States. Right after we purchased our house almost 3 years ago, Ricky bought a generator and I was kind of joking about spending so much money without using it over the years. well, today I am glad he did when he did, cause finding one now would have been an impossible task.

I was pretty set with groceries even before Sunday, so when I went to the store Sunday night only to get a bit more non perishable stuff( normally we are a pretty fresh food household) I was stunned by the sight of wiped out shelves and the managers laugh when I asked for the batterie isle . WHIPED OUT on Sunday already.

It took me 30 minutes in line to get gas( could have been worse). All this prepping leaves a kind of interesting feeling to say the least. I am thinking, all those people have suffered badly from Katrina, Ike and Gustav and they all know what they are doing getting ready the way they do.

I just wanted to let you, my friends, know, that we are prepared,too. I guess as prepared as you can be. Food, batteries, radio, a plan for tornado touchdowns, a gas stove to cook, a generator to run the fridge and plenty of games to play and books to read.

We will be without electricity almost a 100% certain for a couple of days, but I will update here and on Insta and FB as soon as possible. For now I will go and cook for tonight, bake some cookies and prep as much as I can before the lights go out.....as I am writing this the wind is starting to pick up a bit already and the kids are outside running off some steam before getting locked up in the house a while

Roadtrip quickie

Do you own a smartphone??? Probably. Then you have probably also heard of instagram. Who has not????Well, maybe my mom ;)))!!!! I loved insta the minute I got the free app, a long time ago. I use the pics taken with insta here on my blog a lot. I really love them. When we went on our roadtrip I had the intention to actually print my shots for the first time and actually smash our lovely summer vacation in my smash book.

After a little search, I decided to use Prinstagram to order the prints. They are a bit pricey especially if you don't order a whole lot, the shipping alone was six dollars flat. It took about two weeks for the prints to arrive. I loved the quality of them, very good colors on very sturdy paper, great packaging. So If you do order: make sure you are ready to order a big batch and then ENJOY! They are so fun!

Yesterday my man was off and I had time to find their final destination in my smashbook. I think the kiddos will love to flip through it once they are bit older.

It took me all day and since I did not get to blog about our great vacation yet, I thought I would tease you a bit and show you the smashbook pages I decorated firstr! I have so many more pics on the big camera that I still need to edit and sort through, but, now that this is done ,I think it will happen in the near future

Vacation Perparations

where we have been

Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, arriving in Colorado

Winterpark Colorado Fun and not so fun!

More travelling and South Dakota

Mt Rushmore

off to visit the van Essens

on our way home
If you would like to you can find me on insta!I am cajuncoffeehaus and Ricky is mooseofterror( I know, right!!!) Fell free to follow us if you enjoy our family craziness

off to first grade!!!

So, as promised, pics brand new and fresh from this morning. Off she went this morning with her daddy to go to school. First grade is calling. Still nervous but now mixed with excitement she/we made it through the early morning with no major hick-ups.

We even had real smiles for those pics and enough time to give Coco and Rosie a nice belly rub!
i am already curious to see what she wants to be when she enters second grade. So far she is stuck with Artist for two years in a row. Maybe this is a keeper, who knows!!!!

I wish her a wonderful first day, sweet and kind teachers and classmates, and the security to know I am always with her.

 

2011

Have fun, sweet pea!!!! Can't wait to pick you up and hear all about it!

 2012( and no make-up ;)  )

back to a routine

could it really be that it is Sunday morning 8am( I am already back from grocery shopping( Walmart at 7 on Sunday is awesome!), the boys are fishing and Stella had a sleepover at a sweet friends house)????
Is it really the last day of summer????

Remember our summer list? Well, we did not do it all, but we did A LOT!!!!! And we had fun, to say the least. It always seems that the first two weeks of summer you think , man this will be the longest summer ever, will we survive? and then before you know it, it is the last week and you get antsy and kids need to get back to a routine and to bed before the olympic broadcasting is almost over for the night.... Stella will be a 1st grader this year and for some reason this is making her more nervous than starting kindergarten last year. But mami ther will be homework!!!!We had a view tears already and quite a discussion of why mami would not be the perfect candidate to homeschool her little behind and that homework is just part of the deal. But we are getting better.

After going shopping for all the favorite school snacks, meeting sweet friends again, I am hopeful that tomorrow will turn out just fine. We met her teacher last week and she is just the sweetest and her assistant teacher is from South Africa and even speaks German, SCORE!!!! I am excited for this schoolyear. It seems like my girl grew( literally) up so much over the summer. Not only has she gotten even taller than she already was, she has gotten so much more independent. She is making me happy and sad at the same time with that( I am sure all you mamis out there can relate)I will miss my sweet lady so much.
Lu is not starting til past Laborday and he is ecstatic  that soon it will be just Mami and him playing cars and Mikey and Sharky ..... But at one point he will realize that we cannot play all day, he will miss Sissi, who is now named Stell or even Stella, so much. I do miss him saying Sissi. This little dude won't stop growing either. There is big words coming out of this little man's mouth that leave his mami just amazed: One of the favs lately is "attached": Daddy, so does that mean the Morganza spillway is attached to the Mississippi River??? Uehm yeah, Lucien, great thinking buddy!!!!
I still owe you a post or more about our trip;Long lines of carpool will take care of this  very soon, promise. For now, I promise to be back tomorrow with the back to school pics everybody is waiting for

Virtual coffee -the memory edition

Tuesday, time for virtual coffee with Amy and the girls.

Oatmeal, banana, pistacchios and dark chocolate chips with cranberries

Sit back, eat some breakfast with me and sip on your coffee, it's time for a little weekend recap:

I had all Saturday to myself. Yes, you hear this correct.ALONE!!!! Sweet Granny had Lu and Stella for a sleepover with the cousins and Ricky had stuff to do around the house! What to do with an unexpected day off from motherhood? A long overdue shopping trip was quickly in action. Scored some good stuff and could actually take my time to stroll through the isles without being rushed. I am in general not the type of shopping gal but this trip was totally necessary.

Score!!!!

Sunday, was a special day. Not only that we had a baby born in the family, it also marked the day my grandpaw Opa Hans would have celebrated his 100th Birthday if he would be still alive.

Even though he died 25 years ago , which seems like crazy forever long ago, I do have very fond memories of him. I remember the day he passed away, being pulled out of school, seeing him laying so peaceful in his bed, I remember my Aunt Nana taking us kids to a pizzeria to cheer us up and to give my parents time to make arrangements. I remember his funeral on a very , nasty and rainy May 21st. I remember writing him a letter on my most special paper with a sparkly "diamond" on the top middle and placing it in his casket. I don't remember what I wrote but I know it was full of love for him.

I remember him sitting in HIS chair with a bib around his neck waiting for lunch or dinner to be 

ready. The bib was held by a little chain with two tiny clothespins( funny what random things you remember form your childhood) cause he was very concerned about his clothes. He would always drink a bottle of Henninger Bier with his dinner and I remember starring at his black fingernails, frostbitten from the time he was a POW in Russia. I remember his walking stick and his passion for walking and hiking. Sadly I don't remember his voice anymore. He died when I was too little and when my grandmaw passed, I was a preoccupied teenager, busy to discover the world, not realizing how fun it would have been to begin with the past. Today, I would wish I could learn about what was going on in their lives when they were young.They were kind of "old" parents for point in time with 37 and 38.( I don't know what I would have done without my two monsters the last 6 years and I still got a couple years til 38)

My dad as a baby with his pretty mama, sadly I don't have a pic of my opa, they are all in Germany

I wonder why?The war?I would love to know how they met, what their love story was.How their parents were and life in general back then.

My grand maw burnt all their diaries and love letters after she read them one last time. Maybe I will do the same one day, but for now I am determined to let my kids, grand kids and whoever is interested to know who I am, was and will be.

Once we go back home to Germany I need to interview my parents and go down memory lane with them . 

Speaking of going home. Well, it won't happen this summer, which makes me very sad and my heart ache. But there is no way we will fork out 7 to 8000 $ just for the air fair. To ease the pain, we opted on going on a little road trip. Little is quite an understatement as we are planning to conquer almost 10 states.

Yes, we are crazy!!!

 Everything is still in the midst of planning and the preparations will keep me busy all week long. I am ready to make some awesome memories .

Today, I am thankful for 

• good memories
• my family and friends near and far
• the internet, that helps us stay connected
• a plan B
• the $ store for cheap road trip entertainment

One last sip of coffee and off I am to pick up Stella from Vacation Bible School, which started yesterday. She is loving it!

What are you planning to do with the rest of your summer????

So she sews

I am so excited to write this post because this is bucket list stuff, people. Huge! I have always been wanting to learn how to sew and never got around to do so. It just happened to be that I am surrounded by amazingly talented and creative people, here. When I say this, I mean it. Two sweet ladies with their own books/entries are willing to teach me how to sew and give me a nice excuse to say bye to my sweet little monsters for a night a week  to do girl talk and girl stuff. So fun!

Thanks Cathy and Beki, for your friendship, talent and passion

Remember back then in February,we held our garage sale in the freezing cold. trying to get rid of some junk ??? The goal was to earn enough for this sweet baby!

 

 She was ordered back in March but had til about 3 weeks ago, when she finally hatched out of her box and got put into action.

I love this little machine and even the sew-pros were mighty impressed with this little thing.

I got her from amazon and would highly recommend her for any beginner plus she has 10 points for her cuteness factor, anyway!

And so I started sewing for the first time. And with a little help, I finished this little doll blanket/place mat/ picnic area.... you name it, that very first night. I think it was about 2 am when I went to bed that night. So rewarding though when Stella saw it in the morning and said: Really mama, you made it, I love it!

Since then some time has passed and other teeny projects got done. Made some sweet bibs for my brothers twin baby girls, way far away in Germany.....Wish I could deliver those bibs myself but it does not look good for a trip to Germany this summer, sigh! Oh and I even got brave enough to order my first stash of fabric for my first bigger project.

I mix and matched those and like it a lot

 Can't wait! This is really fun. So far, I think Cathy is quite pleased with her student, we even throw cookies, coffee and candy into the mix of our lesson plan ;).

I am so glad to finally get this post done because it makes my heart happy.

Happy in times when I am actually not the happiest person myself: The newness of summer time is gone, the kiddos are driving me and each other bonkers some days and we won't be able to go home this summer.Blah. But they were nice enough to let me finish this post after art camp with Aunt Becky today and I might be able to have one of those ice cold coffees that you see above in just a minute! Which always make things look up, right?!Enjoy your Tuesday lovelies.

Oh, instructions to a little science/ art project we did this morning just in case you mamas run out of ideas this summer: Thin layer of milk in a dish/tray, whatever you have.Add 3-4 drops of food coloring. Place four or 5 different colors next to each other. Add 1 drop of dish soap and just watch and let their imagination go wild!!!

Funtastic!
Linking up for a coffee chat with Amy!

Doctors and Tomatoes

hey lovelies,
here I am, back on the computer, trying to write a post while my man is tuning his guitar next to me( yikes). This makes it really hard to focus. But I try to tune him and the kiddos( Pretend that you pretend to pretend.... yea that's how they play, CRAZYYY) out for a little while to let you know how our week is going.
Some things are crossed off this weeks bucket list, some definitely will get a rerun next week. My girlie is running high fever since Tuesday. How appropriate that we had our yearly check up scheduled for today! Tonsillitis is the nasty word and she is quite a trooper with it.
As for their stats: Stella is 6 years old, 54lbs(24,5kg) in weight and 50 1/4 inches ( 129 cm)tall. Yep, sister is tall and towering over everyone her age. We are not concerned since she seems to follow a pattern here.

Same with Mr Lu: His big head pattern continues, which means both kids are off the charts with something( I am really trying to think hard what magical food I was eating during both pregnancies that made them so, let me call it, unique ;))

Lu weighs 39lbs and is 39 inches tall which marks the 75 percentile for height and weight for a 3 year old. Both kids are doing great and are perfectly on track. Well except for the tonsillitis.
Since Stella was on meds and Daddys work is right across from the doctors office we paid him a short visit and quickly went to the farmers market to get some lovely tomatoes for dinner before we headed home.
It has been raining a lot this week, so we got a lot of reading done around here. we went to the library and came home with a big stash for everyone. I just got an email saying that the book I requested"What Alice forgot" by Liane Moriatry has arrived. Pretty excited about that. In the meantime I finally started reading" A Sweethaven Summer" by Courtney Walsh. I am on page 52 at the moment and loving it. Can't wait to get my hands back on it later on tonight.This book is special because I won it in a give-away from farmgirlpaints( sweet and talented Becky) and was sent to me from Courtney herself.

Cool stuff!!!.

Speaking of Becky;I am linking up with her today to share what I did to those lovely heirloom tomatoes:

 Roasted Summer Tomato Soup with grilled cheese

• preheat oven on 360*
• line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil
• wash tomatoes and cut them in wedges
• toss with olive oil and 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• spread on cookie sheet and salt and pepper them
• bake for an hour
• heat up some oil and add 1-2 Tbsp of minced garlic
• add the roasted tomatoes
• add a small can of chicken broth, a big can of tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, salt and pepper
• let cook for about 15 to 20 minutes
• blend til smooth
• let hubby be part of the cooking experience and let him make the complementary grilled cheese sandwiches ;)     
•  

yum
My hutch painting project did not make much progress since last week, the purse is still a wild mess and the fathers day project, well Stella got a lot of painting and drawing done this week :) I would say enough to make Daddy happy for the next 10 or so Fathers Days.....
Happy Friday everyone!

A summer list

I might have mentioned it before here on the blog but I am seriously an addict when it comes to lists( Anything new here, you think!)

Here is the proof!

Most people love the summer time for it's easy go-with-the-flow, do what you heart desires-mentality. Me: not so much. I need structure, I crave it and I function so much better if I write things down and have them out of my scattered brain. But it's summer, so let's do it the fun way,mkay!
The past trips to the hardware and grocery store always included a quick stop in the paint isle to snatch up some cutie color samples. These things are so cool and free. Sometimes we use them in crafts but this time they will be decorating our living room all summer long.

Summer is long and there are a gazzillion of things that you could do and maybe want to do and when it comes to present a quick idea for a certian day you draw blank, like totally. Can anyone relate?
So one afternoon we sat down together and wrote down our favorite must do's for this summer on a master list. Good, but not good enough, the cuteness factor was missing big time.
So it was Stella's turn to prettyfy this project by using those cool color samples and writing our summer do's each on a swap! We hung them on a miniature clothes line and decide in the beginning of the week which ones we will tackle that very week.

Voila; cute summery and fun and it gives my Mami heart a little more peace over the next couple of months
we love it
Some are already accomplished, some were so much fun they did not leave the clothes line, they will get a second run.
There are so many fun things to do, you can find millions of lists on pinterest but this is what we came up with and what we think, suits our family best. Feel free to be inspired and enjoy your summer as much as we do!

• Library(always a winner and with great summer programs)
• Bike park
• visit Daddy at work
• Farmers market
• picnic
• Cherry pit contest
• bowling
• swimming lessons along with our normal swimming sessions
• paint project( see one of my next posts)
• make Ice cream
• bird watching
• have a sleepover
• a summer BBQ with friends
• take a trip( hopefully to Germany)
• visit the Zoo
• Read books under the oak tree
• go to the spray park
• have play dates
• go fishing
• camp in the back yard
• make a fairy garden
• go to the movies to watch Madagascar 3
• have a sleepover in Mami's and Daddy's bed
• make somebody happy with an random act of kindness
• go to cheer camp( Stella, even though Lucien wanted to go badly !)
• and there is room to add on to our colorful little list of happiness

Any suggestions???????
Just to proof that I am really a sucker for lists, I add my mini bucket list for this week to this post.
Last weeks got miraculously totally scratched out and I blame my blog for this. Once you make it public you kind of feel the need to actually stick with it;
So here we go:

• sand and paint the hutch
• find a new book to read
• farmers market
• check up appointment for both kiddos with the pediatrician
• clean out my purse and make copies of all the stuff I have accumulated in there
• run in the sprinkler with the kiddos
• work on our fathers day gift to Ricky( shhhhh, don't tell)