Friends and Critters

The last few weeks of alternating school-at-home and school-at-school have been chaotic.  We are truly counting down the days until July 3rd when we can say GOODBYE to this schoolyear!  Nevertheless, the kids have had a lot of fun over these weeks, especially with friends.

 

 

 

 Yes, that is a duckling which they found all alone by the stream.

And since we are on the topic of critters.

This one surprised us IN OUR OFFICE one day.  The kids do not know it was there.  We got it out quietly!

Garden projects

After a year in our home, we decided it was time to begin a few more garden projects.

Gregory installed a gate!

 Though technically not our garden, we saw our window box flowers really bloom!

 

 Gregory planted red roses to grow up our arch!

 

 Nathanael had fun measuring our rainfall one afternoon!

EVA IS SEVEN!

Our precious Eva turned seven on Saturday!

We celebrated her the entire week up until her birthday, as she often gets a bit over-stimulated when everything happens on one day.

 She is a silly one.

She loves jewelry and makeup and anything that glitters.

 Picking out birthday dresses from Auntie Carrie and Uncle Drew!

 On her way to school on Friday, wearing her birthday dress for her birthday celebration at school.  (She brought popsicles to share with her seven classmates.)

 Her chocolate cake with pink icing

 And THIS is how she felt the day of her birthday! :(

 She awoke around midnight with a high fever which remained until about mid-afternoon.  It was so sad.  We had to delay her two friends visiting until sometime in the summer.  You can see she still insisted on wearing her party dress.

 

 And we managed to see a few smiles 

 

 This happier photo below was after a second long nap! 

The next day, she was completely herself and enjoyed chocolate cake!

We wonder if it could have just been excitement...but the fever was really high for 12-14 hours!  We are glad it went away quickly so that we didn't have to contact the doctor in these crazy times.

Happy Birthday to our Evangeline!

(birthday letter to follow sometime later...)

Dear Eva (7 Years)

Dearest Eva,

Happy seventh birthday to our delightful daughter!  We love you so very much, dear Eva.  You are a treasure.  We are honored to know you, to walk along side you, to encourage and support you as you continue to discover who God has made you to be, how He has made you to shine His glory into this world.  You definitely shine already with his love and compassion and extravagant expression!

What a year you have had!  You took that big step into school in September, and we are so proud of how hard you have worked during what turned out to be the oddest first school year we could have imagined.  You have had your ups and downs with learning, and it has been challenging to be one of the youngest kids (with a summer birthday), but you have really shown us that you are able to learn, when you want to and when you are ready!  You learned all your letters this year, began reading syllables and have made it into words and sentences, to your great disappointment.  You really do not like to read when there are a lot of words on a page!  You are actually good at it when you get over it and do it. ;)

You remained connected to some of your Kindergarten buddies for a bit this last year, especially during the summer and attending a music program together with them, but now you have truly bonded with friends in your class.  The exception, of course, is your best bud Mario with whom you made the Kindergarten to school transition.  You two with your active and sweet personalities are quite a pair!  We have enjoyed watching you bond with a few girls in your class, Eliza, Adele, and Victoria being your closest girlfriends.  In addition, we are grateful for friends at church, especially your dear Charlotte, whom we have missed seeing so very much these last few months of adjusted church during Corona time.  The gradual easing of the lockdown allowed you to get to know our neighbors really well, and you have really connected with Isabella, Annika, and Johanna as well.

Much was affected by everything suddenly and unexpectedly shutting down on March 13th due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Ballet stopped, something which you greatly missed.  You had begun in a new dance school which is such a great fit for you, requiring a bit more but still keeping it fun.  Your spring swim lessons were cancelled before they began, and you are excited to restart lessons as soon as we can.  You had been making some great progress with piano as well, even shifting from lessons at the VHS to lessons at home!  Something that you have been able to do more these last few months is riding your bike -- now with gears! -- and riding your scooter.  You especially love riding along the stream behind our home and looking for the neighborhood cat so we can stop and pet her!  We are really impressed with how far and well you are able to ride!

This has been a year of exercising your voice, and we are so proud of the ways you have consistently spoken up for how you feel and what you want and need.  Your sensitivity is strong and beautiful.  Your thoughtfulness and kindness are beyond your age.  You continue to love to laugh and tease and cuddle and tickle.  Your big smile is so warming, and your exuberant excitement is contagious.  You love to express yourself, be it singing or dancing, painting or drawing.  You are our tactile learner, always touching and learning through handling items.

Highlights from the year include:  graduating from Kindergarten, family weekend in Neutal, attending two English weeks at our church and with Kids' Teams and bonding with the leaders, Annual Conference in Frankfurt (where Heidi lived with Klara!), a few weeks in the States to visit all the grandparents and enjoy some USA time, a sleepover with Claire and Charlotte, having Opa and Oma and the Bryans visit for Christmas, riding a horse on New Year's Eve, the winter circus, Grandpa and Grandma time in February, and your first night in a tent during Easter week (in our back yard during lockdown)!  You also seem to like school from home, most of the time.

We love you deeply, our dearest Evangeline Elif.  You are God’s wonderful creation, sweet girl.  Continue delighting and expressing and dreaming!

Happy Birthday!

Your mommy and daddy

7-year-old Eva!