November started off with a bang. Charlotte's birthday was November 1st and she turned 3 years old! We didn't get to do much since I was starting what turned out to be a nasty, phlegmy, horrible cold. But, she woke up to a room full of balloons and a pile of small presents to start off the day. We got some little things from the Euro Shop like a magnifying glass, markers, and toy phone for her to open in the morning. Later on, our friends, Kiki and Oli, came over with a cake and more presents for the birthday girl! They got her some children's magazines with horses and fairies and a cup, plate, and bowl set with Princess Sofia (from Sofia the First) on them. She also opened our big(ger) present and the one from Amelia. We both got her more Lego Duplo block sets. She loves her block and likes to make houses, dinosaurs, and airplanes. Even though I was feeling a bit under the weather we still had fun. It was great seeing her face when she noticed all the balloons in the morning; after Amelia had already dove in waste deep! We had pancakes in the morning thanks to Daddy. They were covered in chocolate from a giant Kinder Surprise egg. (If you are unsure what that is, Click Here! And yes, you read that right: they are illegal in the USA). Anyhow, they were delicious pancakes, to say the least! It was a pretty low key day. November 1st is a celebrated holiday here in Germany which means everything is closed except for the cemeteries and gas stations. One of the highlights of the day for Charlotte was facetiming with Mema and Papa (Aka my parents). She opened her present from them, which was an awesome Pirate dress! |
We are officially not getting deported! After finally getting everything we needed together to go to our appointment, which was supposed to be in early November, and having to reschedule, we made it to our appointment on November 26th. Our friend, Achim, stayed with the girls so we wouldn't have to wrangle the kids while trying to fill out forms and talk to the lady. All the stress and worry proved futile after arriving at the appointment. The lady was personable and friendly which helped to make the whole process a little less grueling. Earlier in the day we went to get out Bio-metric pictures taken for our visa applications (for the girls and I). Let me just mention, it is not the easiest of tasks to get a normal, straight-faced, head shot of an active 21 month old! They got worse before we got lucky. At the end of the day, we received our registration cards and they are good until April 7th 2015, when Hugh's working Visa expires, and we will all renew together. She also mentioned that if I wanted to I could also apply for a working Visa and it would be no problem. But that isn't in our cards for the moment. Hooray for good news!
With November comes Thanksgiving, and quite frankly I was beyond missing all the good food and spending time with family. So I took matters into my own hands and orchestrated our very own, very down-scaled, Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate with our friends Kiki and Oli. We held our dinner the Saturday after (since it isn't celebrated here, everyone still had to work on Thursday) which also happened to be Kiki's birthday. It was a fantastic Thanks-birth-giving-day! I made two small Chickens instead of a Turkey. They were rubbed with butter and had cans of beer in their...cavity. The only Guinness beer cans we could find were half liters so they bought two .33 l cans of coke and we poured them in there after the guys chugged the soda. I also made mashed potatoes, tortilla pinwheels, ham and pickle rolls, deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, beans with bacon and onions, stuffing, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bread. It was my first apple pie and it turned our amazing! |
I mean, honestly, it was all great. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of myself, and excited to do it again. Good thing Christmas is so close so I can spoil our friends with tasty treats! We held dinner (and cooked) at Kiki and Oli's place for space reasons. Oli's parents and a couple of their friends stopped by while I was cooking. They didn't stay for dinner but did join us for a pre-dinner pie slice and appetizers!
I would say that this month was success. I am looking forward to Christmas and setting up our tree and wrapping presents. I am planning to make a small scale dinner for our friend Achim who is a carpenter and unable to return home for the holidays. Speaking of the pending holidays; I have put together a wishlist on Amazon.de for Charlotte and Amelia. (Their names are linked to their personal lists.) The shipping is fast and usually free because it's from the German Amazon warehouse! We already received stuff from my mom through there and I can wrap it for the girls. Which wrapping is half the fun! I will add the links for the wishlists to the "Links" page for easy access. And as usual I have added a whole bunch of pictures: here. These include, but are not limited to, pictures from Charlotte's birthday and from Thanks-birth-giving-day. Leave comments! Miss you all! Until next time! The Skiffington Clan |