Our little family in the great big state of Texas

I think I have run out of things to post about! We haven't been on any exciting trips lately, and with the gloomy winter weather we are mainly at home. Things are proceeding at a normal pace and I just don't have something that I think is of interest to share. Maybe just some normal catch up info for now...

Jacob's kindergarten had a breakfast this morning, part of their "health" month. It was really nice, and most children had at least one parent there. We got to watch the electric bread slicer in action, an essential kitchen appliance in Germany. We don't have one, I usually just have the bakery do it for me. If you want to make even slices of the hearty Germany bread, you really need to use one of those. Jacob thought it was pretty cool.

We are alternating weekends, Kenny comes here one weekend, we go to him the next weekend. It's working out okay for now, we will see how long we can all tolerate it. The hours for him are very long, so he really doesn't have time to miss us. Just time to eat, watch some TV shows on his ipod and sleep. His apartment is comfortable, and convenient to the work site.

Jacob is really doing well with his German at school, and enjoys going to school everyday. When we are downtown at our favorite cafe, he talks with the ladies there and they are quite amused at his German skills. Apparently he speaks German just like the locals, with the same dialect. We also work through workbooks at home to be sure he is keeping up with what he needs to return to the American system, so far he is doing fine with that also. He is reading very well now (in English), and enjoys it so much. We can't seem to make any improvement in his writing, perhaps because he won't sit still for long enough to practice. He likes to draw, paint, cut and glue, but doesn't like to color pictures. Superheroes are one of his favorite subjects to talk about these days, along with Scooby Doo and Star Wars. When I say talk, I mean talk! That boy can fill any quiet space with words! He starts every tale with "let me tell you" and goes on from there. All of his stuffed animals have background stories, about where they came from and what they do when we are sleeping.

The dogs are doing okay, Chloe is having back problems again. We are trying to make her as comfortable as possible, but the time between episodes is getting shorter each time. There is a vet in Nurnberg that can do some specialized testing, treatments for her back, that will probably be our next step. When she is feeling good, she is as playful as ever though. The other dogs all seem to be settling down with age, they are not as frisky as they all used to be. They spend a lot of time sleeping now! Here is Jacob in his long underwear and undershirt, hanging out with the dogs. You can see how gray Chloe's face has gotten, her paws are the same way.

So - although I wrote a lot, I didn't say much. When I resort to writing about our dog's gray hair and a bread slicer, things are pretty dull. That's it for now.....