Happy Birthday Hannah!

Ok, so today is not really Hannah's Birthday. But it was yesterday. I was just too tired by the time the day was over to come and update how it went. I actually have lots to talk about today. So hope you can bear with me.

I'm going to start with Hannah's birthday though. Hannah had a great day! We made Brownies for her to take to school. In Kindergarten, they do a little "birthday Party" there. The birthday child gets to choose 7 kids to go into the kitchen and eat together. Two of her friends were not there. But she easily found a few more friends to join her. She invited Carla, Maja, Emma, Hanna, Janna and two more that I don't know the names of. When she came home from school, I had the house decorated with streamers and balloons. She was excited and asked who had done that. I said it was the streamer fairy. Duh, who did she think did it? And actually, she knew it was me. But it was just funny how she asked.

After Spencer came home from school and they ate lunch, Hannah and Spencer walked down to the Frishe Markt. It is a grocery store just down the street. I have never let them walk by themselves to a store yet. So this was a big thing. They each went with their wallets in their pockets and came back with candy galore. I think Spencer ended up spending around 10 Euros yesterday.

At 3pm, Hannah had 3 friends come over and play. And they each brought her a present, which was really nice of them. I just wanted it to be a special day and at the last minute invited them over to play. They played hide and seek, dress up and we also made candy necklaces. Hannah had a great time.

For her birthday, she got a music box from Gardner and myself. She saw it in a store one day and wanted it very badly. It it what is called: Prinzessin Lillifee. Which means Princess Lilly Fairy. It is a big thing here in Germany. I had never heard of it before. And she got several Lillifee items yesterday and even something from someone else today. You can see what it is here: http://www.prinzessin-lillifee.de/

Also, a big song they sing here in Germany is: Wie Schoen dass du geboren Bist. Which with my bad translation means, How nice that you were born. All three kids sing this in school when someone has a birthday. I am actually going to make a video of this past month of the kids and am going to use this song. So you can hear it first hand that way.

Hannah wanted Eggs, Hashbrowns and bacon for her birthday dinner. I of course, said OK. Not too hard of a dinner to make. And then Gardner showed up with flowers for Hannah and myself. That was nice. He said because It was Hannah's birthday and because 6 years ago, I gave birth to Hannah. It was very unexpected. They were tulips, and I love tulips. They are very pretty.

And now, something we found out that is a difference between birthdays from Germany and America. In America, it is not uncommon to hear someone wish someone else Happy Birthday a few days early. You know you won't see them so we say...Happy Birthday on Wednesday or something like that. Well, you can NOT wish someone happy Birthday early here. It is known to them as bad luck. It is better to wish them a belated birthday than early. They say they won't even open their cards early if they get them early. Just plain bad luck. In Primary, they would not sing to Hannah the day before her birthday. Just not a good thing to do. So she has to wait until the next Sunday.

On to other things....Yesterday morning at 6:45am, I received a phone call from Eva Riser, our friend who was moving back to America. They actually flew home today. Anway, she called to inform me that some of her kids had lice. Of course, my kids and her kids have been playing together. The kids stayed the night here the previous week and Sunday at Church they were together the whole time. I guess I have a wait and see approach with it. I am checking the kids but that is nothing unusual. I've been checking them regularly since our battle with Lice in January. I started them on the Tea Tree Oil and just hope that it by passes us.

BIG NEWS!!!!! Ian got up on all fours yesterday and lunged forward. I have seen him get up on all fours before but just for a second or two. Now, he can hold his position for a minute or so before he changes positions. He goes up and down, up and down. I was so excited to witness it yesterday.

Here is something to note.....Spencer fell down the stairs. Surprise, Suprise.

Sunday after church, we had a farewell party for the Riser Family who is moving back to America. It was held in the building adjacent to the church. This building is now the institute building for the Duesseldorf area. But back when Gardner and I were on our Missions here in Germany, it was the Mission Office. It was very interesting to be inside this building again. We ate lunch in what used to be our Mission President's Office. Then I got to go up to the 3rd floor and see the area that Gardner used to live in when he worked in the Office. As a girl, I would never of been able to see this back then. It was all very interesting and surreal to be there and reflect on those times again. Gardner and I got a picture of us in front of the building. They have a sign that says the church name and Institute. But it is so much smaller than the sign that was there when it was the Mission Home. You can where the other sign used to be.

Wie Schoen Dass Du Geboren Bist

Heute kann es regnen,
stuermen oder schnei'n,
denn du strahlst ja selber
wie der Sonnenschein.
Heut ist dein Geburtstag,
darum feiern wir,
alle deine Freunde, freuen sich mit dir.
Alle deine Freunde, freuen sich mit dir.

Wie schoen dass du geboren bist,
wier haetten dich sonst sehr vermisst.
wie schoen dass wir beisammen sind,
wir gratulieren dir, Geburtstagskind!

Uns're guten Wuensche
haben ihren Grund;
Bitte bleib noch lange
gluecklich und gesund.
Dich so froh zu sehen,
ist was uns gefaellt,
Traenen gibt es schon genug auf dieser Welt.
Traenen gibt es schon genug auf dieser Welt.

Wie schoen dass du geboren bist,
wier haetten dich sonst sehr vermisst.
wie schoen dass wir beisammen sind,
wir gratulieren dir, Geburtstagskind!

Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch,
das ist ganz egal,
dein Geburtstag kommt im Jahr
doch nur einmal.
Darum lass uns feiern,
dass die Schwarte kracht,
Heute wird getanzt, gesungen und gelacht.
Heute wird getanzt, gesungen und gelacht.

Wie schoen dass du geboren bist,
wier haetten dich sonst sehr vermisst.
wie schoen dass wir beisammen sind,
wir gratulieren dir, Geburtstagskind!