Dear Blog,

I’ve missed you.  Believe me I have wanted to sit down and write about life… but I’ve been busy living.  Too busy.  Exhaustingly busy.  You know, normal ‘mom’ busy…

do laundry  .  go grocery shopping  .  help Katie with a Pueblo Indian project  .  volunteer in Megan and Emily’s classroom  .  go visiting teaching  .  make Conference Bingo Boards and packets .  wash soccer clothes 3 times a week  .  go to Music Makers with Luke and Matthew on Tuesday mornings (fun, huh, Geneva?)  .  go to my Relief Society sponsored German lessons on Wednesday mornings  .  sweep and mop the floors (ALL the time) .  have our traditional 100 days before Christmas party  .  get our international drivers licenses so we can explore outside Germany  .  help Megan practice reading nightly  .  fill in and sign countless forms for school  .  check backpacks  .  watch LOST with Chris!! (so fun)  .  invite a friend over to play at the park  .  encourage Ryan, Katie and Emily to practice piano  .  send Chris, Ryan, Katie and Emily out the door to soccer practice every Monday and Wednesday afternoon (with Chris as Coach – they love it) .  have family ‘gospel art kit’ sessions  .   buy a few things for the house from IKEA  .  help Megan make a snack to take to her Kindergarten class  .  go to a fabulous Stake RS Saturday Conference in K-town  .  help Ryan with Stargirl activities and other things for Language Arts  .  eat homemade German noodles and mushroom cream sauce downtown with Chris  .  wake up at  6:25 every morning to get Ryan on the bus by 7:24 and the girls on the bus by 7:29  .  order pictures  .  order new white shirts for the girls  .  find an English speaking hair stylist and get my hair cut  .  stick to the new budget  .  deep clean the bathrooms  .  take the kids to the River Neckar Park  .  study the book of Mormon while eating my breakfast (thanks for the idea Monae!)  .   find an electrician to help with a light problem  .  make dinner  .  do some more laundry  .  clean!!!!

Sounds like a well accomplished list… but I’ve been frustrated the last couple weeks with how much ISN’T getting done.  (I could write another equally long list of things I  had hoped to have time for this month)  Seriously, for the amount of time I work everyday I should have more to show for it!!    Chris says, “But Lisa, you have six kids.”  OK, true.  But still…  is it silly to wish my living room looked like a pottery barn catalogue?

A friend recently said, “I just don’t know how you do it with six.”  I probably smiled and recited my usual answer to this frequent statement… “I don’t know how I do it either.”   But if that ‘IT’ means a perfectly clean house, nice folded laundry, a well stocked pantry, delicious dinners, and spotless floors then I really don’t do IT.     But if ‘IT’ means LOTS of talking to my kids, telling them how much I love them, teaching them about prayer and gospel concepts, playing games, laughing, and sharing my testimony with them… then I think I am doing IT… not perfectly, but consistently, and with the help of a wonderful husband and the Spirit I try very hard to have in our home.

So I’m trying to remember when I look around the house that if the pillows and blankets are a mess on the couch… it’s because Chris and I snuggled on the couch for a movie.  And if the laundry is piling up… it’s because I helped the kids read or do projects – or just went to the park.  And if my desk is a mess upstairs… it’s because I created great activities to do as a family.  And if the kitchen is a mess it’s because I’m trying to manage complete chaos – while cooking something hopefully edible.  And if all of these are a mess at the same time… then we must have had a fabulous weekend.

One day I’m going to have a living room as clean as one from a catalogue… and when I do I’m sure I’ll be a little bit sad.

Life is busy… but busy is good.  Actually, it’s great.

Heidelberg Castle

We are loving the endless Saturday day trips around here.  Saturday of our ‘Labor Day Weekend stay-cation’ we headed downtown Heidelberg to FINALLY visit our castle up close and personal.  Yes, we feel as though we have some ownership in it.  We parked downtown, loaded up our backpack with gummy peaches and water bottles  and wandered to the Kornmarkt.  Here we bought tickets for the Funicular railway… a steep ‘up the mountain’ train… and decided we’d go all the way up to the top. 

All the kids were so excited to ride the train… especially Luke.  Dad was excited, but not for the train.  He couldn’t keep his mind off the first game of the season… BYU of course. He was happy to have a full day planned to distract him till the 1:00am game.

The train track is so steep that the train looks like an enclosed stairway.  We picked a level and stood as the train took us to the highest level.   It was a fun view from the top.  We took turns using Chris’ binoculars to find the River Neckar Park and tried to figure out where we lived.    We walked around at the top to check out what was there… a lot of trails for walking, an overpriced but large kiddie amusement park (which we’ll save for another day – if at all) and a German cafe.  We inhaled three orders of pomme frites (french fries) which came with good vinegar mayonnaise and ketchup and then decided to head back down to the castle level.

The castle is quite large.  There is a tour that goes through it but we opted to wander through the castle gardens and enjoy the views instead, saving the tour inside for our first visitors. 

We took our time wandering around.   We walked around the fountain.  We played tag.  We videoed the boys giggling.  We watched Brides being photographed.  We walked to the far courtyard for views of the castle.  We played the 3 things game.  We climbed on some castle ruins.  We did cartwheels on the grass… even me. 

It was a beautiful day.

 

Below, the view of Heidelberg and the Neckar River from the castle courtyard.

 

I just hate shooting into the sun…

but I like this view of the castle anyway.

After more gelato on the Hauptstrasse we headed home for movies and Ticket to Ride – Europe Edition. 

We’re addicted – to everything.

Luisen Park

 

Labor Day weekend we decided to hang out here and with a forecast of really great weather we decided to fill the long weekend full of fun outings and day trips from home.  Friday afternoon we took off to explore Luisen Park, in Mannheim, about a half hour away from us.  We did lots of strolling through the park, found some great playgrounds to play on, stopped to run around the fountain, played giant chess, fed some disgusting fish, played soccer, watched the little kids on the cars and enjoyed a picnic dinner.

 

 

Happy Matthew in the front of the stroller.     Luke deemed himself official cooler puller.  He literally freaked out if anyone else tried to have a turn.  It was pretty heavy too… but he could totally handle it.

Luke started out driving by himself but couldn’t keep the heavy pedal down so the German attendant gestured for Chris to help him out. That’s a bottle of Welch’s grape soda Chris is holding which has been a new family favorite for BBQ’s and fun picnics.  On this night, all the kids wanted to ‘save’ theirs so they could be the last one drinking it and got so busy playing they never even got around to drinking it.  They pleaded to have it with breakfast the next morning and I totally let them.

Again, we found great playgrounds to play on. The four oldest played forever on this big wooden house looking play thing.  Inside you could move the wooden slats anyway you wanted to BUILD your own play set.  They build different platforms and stairways.  We had to DRAG them away and they are very anxious to go back.  

That slide was SO fast.  Matthew  L O V E S slides but this little corner right here flipped him over on his tummy and it scared him.  Watch out for German playground equipment… too fun! 

We thought we’d have enough time for a boat ride after dinner but we stayed too long at the playground.  While walking by the lake, though, we noticed some ducks and decided to throw out extra bread crusts to them.  Emerging from nowhere these big fish came up trying to gobble up the bread.  They opened their mouths wide and waited for the next piece.  They were absolutely disgusting but we still kept feeding them just to watch them open their gross mouths.  Yuck.

On the way out of the park we saw this sign… “Only look, not feed!”    Oooops.

Ryan has a soccer ball with him all the time these days.

Chris and Ryan played Chess and Matthew wanted to play too.  He kept picking up random pieces and moving them around.  It added another level of challenge to the boys game.