Ice Skating in Downtown Wiesbaden

Katryn Brown, Ashley Busby, Xanthe Villa, Christine Arnold, Xoe Villa

Before we left for the states, we thought it would be fun to take the girls ice skating in our Downtown area.  It's a really great and beautiful park and opera house near the big church square.  The city erects this smallish ice skating rink every year.  We got there at a good time because after about two hours it started getting really crowded.

(not the greatest pictures)

This was a common occurrence.  Falling down.

The ice skating rink.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the fire warmers. Old terra cotta stoves spread about that gave off a lot of heat.

Zamboni.  Didn't really do that great of a job and it took forever to freeze over, but it worked for the amateur skaters, right?

A few videos of our excursion.

I got a kick out of these penguins for the kids.  They were super heavy, the adults had to carry them onto the ice.  I thought, I want one of those!  haha.  

You'll see the girls in a green sweatshirt (Xanthe) and a checkered jacket (Xoe). They're doing pretty well. This was after a few hours of falling. :)

They're doing really well, huh?!  Great job girls!

This video is funny because Xoe actually took the camera on the ice and totally "ate" it. :)

Don't know why Xoe's teeth are so yellow.  They're not really that yellow (see picture before).

Funny Pictures of Spencer

Spencer's a super silly kid.  He reminds me of one of my brothers (one whom I will not name).  He giggles a lot and plays silly tricks to make us laugh. (They're not all that tricky to us, but to a 3 year old, he thinks he's "getting" us.)  He likes to do odd silly things.  Well, you'll see in these pictures. I think he's a crackup.

This one doesn't look silly, but might I explain? Anywhere we find a train table, Spencer has to play on it.  This is the stupidest train table but he asks to go there all the time.  He does the sign for bookstore with the trains.  

Kid! Where are your pants?

Thanksgiving 2011

So, remember when I said I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving this year? I really didn't.  I only took picture of Spencer apparently. I'd have to say it was because I was in such great company with so many great friends.  I really had a great time. If you want to see what the Thanksgiving party was like, just refer to last year.  I am proud to say this time I unabashedly and unembarrassingly am proud to call this my new place to go for Thanksgiving until we go back to the states or something else happens.

How cute does Spencer look?  I caught a few of the girls while they were helping out in the kids area.  The kids area this year was much different than last year. Lots of puzzles, coloring sheets, kids games. It was really fun.

Waiting in line

I could barely get Spencer to eat, he was so in love with this place. It was awesome because our food table was right next to it, so we could sit and talk while he and the girls played.

Young Women in Excellence

In our church, when the boys and girls turn 12, they enter a program called Young Women/Young Men.  The girls work out of a book called "Personal Progress" with values in the areas of: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity and Virtue.  When they have finished a certain amount in each area (which is usually by the time they are in their last year of high school), they work on a project that has a number of hours (I think it's 10 hours in each area). They then receive a medallion called the Young Women Medallion.  At the end of each year, they hold a banquet showing the goals they've worked on up to that point.

I have a picture of all the girls but I am wondering where it is.  I've organized all my files but can't find that picture.  Anyway, imagine there's a picture of a bunch of teenage girls here. :)

The start of one of their projects. Making a quilt.  (I had material to make one that my mom sent me, but as part of their project I felt like they needed to have experience picking the fabrics out, figuring out how much we need and cutting it into squares).  This is Xoe's material.

This is Xanthe's material.

Pictures of family

These are their journals the girls all made to record what they've done throughout the year.  They also had a goal to read the Book of Mormon in 100 days and record their thoughts about their readings.  Then pick a favorite scripture hero and share why.

Sarah Busby, a good friend of mine, and I.

Xoe & Morgan Myers. She's a Senior in High School and the girls love her to death. She's a really great example for them.

Shopping Buddies

One of our favorite things to do is hit up Toys R Us that is only a couple of exits away. Spencer, of course, spends all his time in the train section and the girls spend theirs in the bike and scooter section.  They love to ride around the store on these crazy contraptions. One time I found them riding around on a huge old fashioned (but made of plastic) ice cream type bike, with the huge front wheel and two small back wheels.  I am still laughing remembering it. I know I have a video but I'm still sorting through all the random pictures taken from all of our phones over the years that I'll just post these pictures so I can call it done.

Spencer also sometimes accompanies me into the shoppette (think 7-11) when I get gas.  Usually he just follows me around, but he started catching on what the baskets for.  I watched him walking around the store loading things up into his basket.  I totally laughed so hard watching him walk around the store.

Sorry these pictures are so bad. I had to take them quickly with my iPhone.

This Year's School Pictures-FALL

Thanks, Randi for catching my captioning mistake, which is why those who receive this post by email is receiving it again. The second picture is, in fact, Xoe. I thought I had changed that but must not have when I copied and pasted from above. Thanks Randi!

Xanthe Villa - 2011-2012 - 7th Grade

Xoe Villa - 2011-2012 - 7th Grade

Spencer Pethel - 2011-2012 - PSCD Pre-K class

Soccer- The Golden Chaos

Soccer, Again! 

From now on, just know that the girls are obsessed with soccer!  They're playing year round, two and three teams at the same time, and possibly going to Austria for a World Cup (it's pretty likely actually.)

These are the only pictures I got from the Fall Season of Soccer.  They were on the Golden Chaos.  

I've marked a few of the pictures so you can see which of the miniature people are the girls.  Memorize what they're wearing for the next few pictures.  Xanthe has on white socks, and Xoe has on some funky navy with blue checkers and frogs on them.  Gotta have some fashion in there somewhere, huh?

This is Christine, the girls' best friend.  I have posted about her before. She's seriously so amazing!  And amazing at soccer too.  Spencer is in love with her as well.  He saw me circling the girls in some of the pictures and insisted I circle her too. :)

Xanthe is #67

The girls, even though they are sports obsessed, they still have creativity in their bones. They made this sign at the Youth Center for the team to run through at the beginning of the game, but they didnt' want to ruin it so they just took a picture of it.  It's currently hanging outside our house now on a big wall we have.

And now it's off to Winter Volleyball. :) Oh joys. Especially for a parent who doesn't love sports... I blame my brothers and sisters for their love of sports. Ironic isn't it that I would get the sports kids?.... :) Oh well. Gotta love it.)