America day and Carneval Day

Piper's school has been having "International Weeks". Each day a different country is studied, and since they have 10 countries represented between the 17 kids that attend, it took two weeks. First I am amazed by that alone, second it was my day on friday to teach something American so I taught American Baseball and we had chocolate chip cookies with USA flags. And after that all the parents came to celebrate with Carneval day. The children were in costumes along with the teachers, they had games, songs and the highlight was the teachers dressed as different charaters from "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" (Piper's Favorite Book) and they acted out the book. The kids LOVED it and really got into it too.

getaway

The kids had a week off from school for "ski week," and since Piper is still a bit young to ski we decided to head to our favorite getaway - Berlin. Our goal was just to relax for a couple of days. We stayed at our favorite hotel that has a swimming pool, where we swam for hours each day, ate at Dolores Mexican, and shopped a bit. We also spent a day at Tropical Islands (Germany's largest indoor water park). It was very relaxing with fabulous needed family time and lots of fun.

Valentines Celebrations!

We celebrated Valentine's Day over many days and in many ways. First I went and made special Valentine's cookies with Clark's class. Then we had a special craft afternoon where we made candy necklaces, and Valentine's Day cards. Next we had our annual Valentine's Day cookie baking and decorating with the Falks. Phil and I also got to go out to dinner with the Hunts the night before, which was nice to just sit and talk without any interruptions. Then on the actual day we had a fabulous pancake brunch with a few friends! Happy Valentines Day :)

special party

We have gotten to know a new family at school, the Langs. They just moved here from Belgium but are Canadians. They have four kids, three at Riverside and one little one that takes music with Piper. Our families have really enjoyed spending time together - the kids play fabulously together and the house is always filled with lots of laughter when they come. They had us over for dinner one night and had a special "surprise" cupcake party for Piper's birthday, which was very thoughtful and sweet. The evening ended with a performance from all of the kids!

The Hunts

Three weeks ago we got some new housemates, the Hunt family! Jake, Melissa, Sam and Foard moved to Prague to join us at Faith Community Church. Jake will be the assistant pastor and help coordinate worship, while Melissa and crew are here to live the daily life, love on people and build community. We have had a lot of fun living together, late night chats, watching the olympics, school runs, book reading, crafts, dinner hours, baking and decorating cookies, and just hanging. We are grateful that we have gotten this time together and that God has greatly blessed it. Our children have thoroughly enjoyed one another especially the the "double trouble" team (sam and piper). The Hunts will be moving out to their own flat in the next day or two and we will miss them but are excited for their own Prague adventures to begin.

Date Night

Phil and I had a fun date night out last night. We went to dinner with Chris and Laura and of course had a blast and then it was off to see Swell Season. It was fabulous. The music was amazing and magical and the theater they played in made it feel so regal. (The stage is three stories underground). After multiple encores we called it a night...

Music Class

Piper and I started a music class with some of our friends. It is really fun, it includes music, puppets, games, and free play. I love getting to do something special with just Piper. Her favorites this week included Row-Row (as in your boat) and the tunnel.

A Man's a Man for A' That

Saturday night was our fourth Burns Night festival, put on by the Scottish contingent at Riverside School. It's the annual night to celebrate the Scottish poet (and party animal) Robert Burns, when we partake of some authentic Scotch, haggis, and dancing. This is one our favorite events every year, which seems to just get bigger and better every time.

Some of the ladies at our table...

The formal presentation of the haggis...

It was great fun!