The Ettle's

Tickety-tee, Tickety-tee

2008-09-22T19:30:00.002-04:00

The poem Maya had to memorize for homework...

Happy Birthday Oma!

2008-09-22T11:05:00.002-04:00

We ate thai at White Orchid on Oma's birthday!! Happy 75th birthday Oma!

Halloween Came Early!

2008-09-21T08:17:00.004-04:00

Oma treated Maya and Sofia to Halloween costumes!! Maya is the "queen", and Sofia is the Barbie Island Princess.

Sofia has the matching barbie...

who sings, and Sofia sings along with her...

Quiet Valley

2008-09-21T08:12:00.003-04:00

We spent an afternoon at Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm... what a cool place! It is an actual working farm modeled after an 1800's PA farm. People don't live there, but they work there every day... milk the cows, grow corn to feed the chickens, make bread in brick ovens, smoke meat in a smoke house, and make cloth starting with shearing the sheep. The highlight for maya was the wagon ride. In these pictures, the girls tried on a hat in the one-room schoolhouse.

Day at Jacobsburg

2008-09-21T08:09:00.003-04:00

We enjoyed a hike in Jacobsburg state park. The girls (and mommy) had fun lifting rocks in the stream to find critters. Maya found a frog. She held it, it jumped away, she found it, held it, it jumped away.... this happened about 6 times. So fun!! Next time we have to remember to bring the butterfly net to catch some fishies!

First Day of School

2008-09-21T08:04:00.003-04:00

Maya started school at the end of August, and as a a BIG 1st grader, now gets to wear a uniform!! Mommy is loving this, and as of now, so is Maya. I heard this changes as they get older! She also gets lunch at school every day instead of Mommy having to pack every day like last year. She gets seriously gormet meals, and often Roland and I joke that we'll meet her for lunch! Sofia started her 3-day 3-year old program last week, and is very excited to be at school.

Up to Speed

2008-07-25T21:54:00.013-04:00

It has been a LONG time since I posted. It's been a crazy but fun summer. I will give an update to what we have been up to since May.

Maya turned 6 on June 9th. She had a "salon" party. 15 of her friends came to Le Classique to get their hair and nails done. One party game we played was not the classic "pin the tail on the donkey"... but "put the lipstick on the papa". Needless to say, it was a huge hit. You can click on the picture to get a better shot of what a great trooper Roland is.

Maya designed her cake herself, and I surprised her by creating it! The "theme" for her party was "dogs"... she combined the hair salon/dog theme nicely!

After that, Sofia "graduated" from the Little Gym after taking classes for 20 weeks.

Roland has gotten himself in the best shape of his life this summer. He is training so hard on his bike, and so in shape.... he amazes me. He races every thursday night and he scores some points in the local criterium racing scene . On one special night, all of the wives and kids were there to cheer the daddy's (and papa's) on! That was a lot of kids! Roland designed the yellow/white/grey jerseys that his teams wears. His friend Greg sponsors the "Lamprey Systems" team. Go Lamprey!

We visited Renata, Dave, Andrew, Daniel & Labka in Charlotte NC in July. It was so awesome to spend time with our friends!

Mother's Day Surprise

2008-05-09T18:37:00.002-04:00

Today Maya's kindergarten had a special Mother's Day Tea. First, the kids held the special concert above. There weren't any dry eyes in the house. Afterwards, she brought me a marigold plant that she grew from a seed, a special book full of hand prints from the beginning of the year through the end, and a typed story called:

Mom
by Maya

My mom is vare nis. (my mom is very nice)
I thin my mom is osam. (I think my mom is awesome)
My mom is fan. (my mom is fun)
I Love My mom with ol my hort. (I love my mom with all my heart)
My mom likes to bak and flawrs. (my mom likes to bake [and likes] flowers)
Samtims my mom pics my up at scowl on the bik. It is fan.
(sometimes my mom picks me up at school on the bike. It is fun.)
I Love my mom.
Wen my mom was a tenajr she plad softbol.
(When my mom was a teenager she played softball)

Again, as the moms were reading the special story written about them, they were all sobbing. A funny story... I asked Maya if I could see the new journal she started. As I was flipping through reading it, I recognized the one story as this one above. The teacher crossed out any sentences that were irrelevant, etc. One sentence in Maya's mother's day story that the teacher crossed out: "My mom yells at my Dad". !!! HA!! That's pretty funny. I thanked her teacher afterwards for taking that sentence out of the story. She laughed and said that it barely even phased her, and that she's edited out much worse!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!

Maya's Rock Collection

2008-05-09T10:31:00.001-04:00

Maya's class had a collection fair at school. They displayed their collections for the lower school to see. Maya brought her rock collection that Onkel Karl helped her start.

Happy April Fool's!

2008-04-01T21:23:00.002-04:00

Roland was the victim today of the classic April Fool's prank... the 'ol rubber band on the kitchen sink sprayer. As soon as he realized what "hit" him... he laughed hard. This may have been the fastest he has moved before coffee & breakfast...ever. Poor guy.

First BIG Snow!!

2008-02-22T17:26:00.006-05:00

We had a blast today on our first big snow! No school - fun!! We went sledding at "Candy Mountain"... across from the Just Born plant.

American Idol Dropout

2008-02-21T18:10:00.005-05:00

I certainly hope that maya excells in academics or sports... singing (or songwriting) doesn't seem to be her career.

Back in Business!

2008-02-20T17:24:00.002-05:00

The blog is back in business, and I hope to be doing a lot more updating than I have been lately. Maya, Sofia and Mommy had their TV debut (if you don't count Mommy's in-famous Jolly Joe Timmer episode!)... the PBS 39 show "Tempo" did a story on the German club "Lehigh Saengerbund" turning 150 years old this year, and did a little spot on us as German-Americans living in the Lehigh Valley. Ch-ch-check it out! (we're about 3 minutes into the second story - after the Fasnachs!) http://www.wlvt.org/TEMPO/Videopages/tempo528.htm

Beautiful Bethlehem

2008-02-20T16:16:00.006-05:00

I was at Lehigh University's Mountaintop Campus today, and the room we were in had the most magnificent views of Bethlehem!

Rambling thoughts of a 3 year old...

2008-02-20T13:44:00.003-05:00

Funny things they say...

2008-01-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

mommy & papa talking about paying taxes at the dinner table. maya: "where are we going?" mommy: "nowhere." maya: "you're going to pay a taxi to take us where?"

sofia: "upside-backwards" means "inside-out"... she says this all the time!

Frosty!

2008-01-17T20:04:00.000-05:00

I dug up the old digital camera tonight to take a picture of our first Frosty of the year! It snowed hard tonight, and this was the best packing snow! As a special treat for the girls, I told them to get out their snowpants and boots at 7:00 tonight (normal bedtime).... Maya said 3x ... "are you joking? are you serious??". They had tons of fun!

One Last Blog...

2008-01-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

I broke the digital camera!!! Right after I took this funny picture of Maya jumping on the trampoline, I broke the camera! I dropped it, and it jammed the lens barrel. Unfortunately, the cost to fix it is more than the cost of a new camera. So.... we will be purchasing a new camera very soon. Until then, unfortunately, no new updates. :-(

Charlotte, North Carolina

2008-01-02T08:08:00.000-05:00

On Friday afternoon, as Roland I were deciding what to do over the weekend, we came up with the idea of visiting Renata & Dave in NC. I quickly called Renata to find out if they would be home and have us. At 2:00 PM, the plan was a go. I quickly did laundry and packed. We put the kids in the car at 3:30 AM on Saturday morning, and started our 580 mile "road trip" spontaneous adventure! It took 9.5 hours, and the girls were incredible in the car... no problems! We returned on Tuesday night (New Year's Day). It was so great to see our dear friends. The kids had such a great time, and played very hard! The weather was beautiful for us Northerners.

The Gang

Maya & Sofia couldn't get enough of Baby Daniel

Andrew, what did you just say???
(notice Maya doesn't miss a step of her dance performance in background!)

In a heart at the Children's Museum

They'll take another round at the German Restaurant We'll take another round too!

Bathtime is the best time!

Maya loves Labka - and Labka loves Maya
Happy New Year!!
Happy New year!!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T21:14:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas Day started at home around 6:45 when Sofia woke everyone up. Maya ran down the stairs to see if Santa came - which, of course, he did. Maya got everything she needed to be a ballerina - leotard, tights, SHOES, TUTU. Sofia got a leotard, shoes, and a microphone. Grammy got to our house around 10:30 to drive to D & Pappy's house. We opened gifts there, had a nice meal, and went home around 5:00.

Opening gifts at our house Opening gifts at D & Pappy's

Hats & gloves from Grammy

The girls redeemed their Build-a-Bear gift cards from Aunt Lisa the day after Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T20:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight we were at my parents house for Santa's traditional visit. Santa Stan has been a client of my mom's forever (she bleaches his beard), and he has taken time out of his busy night for the past 5 years to stop by my parent's house and visit with the girls. Tonight we were joined by Gina & Bob and their boys Tyler and Ryan, who are home visiting from Switzerland. My mom had yummy snacks, and my dad mixed drinks. It was lots of fun!

Maya's Note

2007-12-18T08:29:00.000-05:00

Maya is having so much fun writing. Roland and I receive at least 2 notes a day from Maya. She is learning to write phonetically, and her school's theory is "they can write what they say, and read what they write". It's working. She's having FUN writing! This note says "Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas. Love, Maya and Sofia." How sweet! (Click on the image to open it in a new window, and it will enlarge)

Magnificat

2007-12-14T07:37:00.000-05:00

One of the two songs the Kindergarden will be singing at vespers.

Snowball Fight!

2007-12-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Naughty Sofia

2007-12-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

Sweet, innocent, naughty Sofia... Whenever she is going to do something naughty, she does it under the dining room table. Lately, she's been sneaking her chocolate Advent calendar under there and trying to eat more days than she's allowed. So far, she's only gotten 1 extra day... but I can guarantee drama on Dec. 22, when Maya eats her chocoate and we try to explain to Sofia that she already ate hers on Dec. 6th.

Today she found a little box of candy in Maya's purse, and snuck it under the table to eat it!

The Nutcracker Ballet

2007-12-09T20:14:00.000-05:00

Today my mom and I took Maya to see the Nutcracker Ballet. We surprised her, and only told her where we were going when we were a block away. Since this summer, Maya has been obsessed with ballet... even though she hasn't taken any lessons. She has her leotard on every day, and dances around the room non-stop. This afternoon, when I was getting ready and she was begging me to tell her where we were going, I said "where we're going is a Dream Come True for you, Maya!"... Her face lit up, and she shrieked, "we're going to Chucky Cheese?!?!?!" I laughed and said "WAY better". She said "Disney World?!"... I said "not quite that good". Her final guess was that we were taking her to the movie theatre (which she has never done). She was delighted by the ballet. I'm not sure if she blinked the entire performance!

We met our friends Amy & Ashley there, too!

Picking Out the Tree!

2007-12-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

For the past 5 years, we have had a tradition of cutting our own Christmas tree at a local tree farm. Our favorite variety is the Frasier Fir, and the farm we go to always sold it for $32, even though they are sold for over $50 everywhere else. Last year we had a hard time find the *perfect* tree there, and we also learned that the farm was for sale. This year, they were out of business, and we were out of our beloved (cheap) Frasier Fir Farm. Every year we've chuckled as we passed a parking lot tree sale at the local greasy pizza place... we thought we were a little better than those people who pick out a dried-up tree imported from Canada under the bright light bulbs in the middle of a random parking lot. This year, the "all trees - $25" sign on the corner was tempting, though. We decided to stop by and check out the trees there to save a little money. I guaranteed Roland that I would most certainly hate every one they had, and that nothing would be the same as our traditional Frazier. Well... we were in for a little surprise. First, it was benefiting a local youth group. Second, the trees were cut from a local farm. Third, a woman I know from church was volunteering there. Fourth, the guys there were sooooo funny & jolly... total Christmas spirit! And fifth, and most important, I found a tree within 3 minutes... it's not a Frazier Fir... but it's gorgeous! Roland said that we've found a new tradition. :-)

A Video Blog for Santa...

2007-12-07T11:30:00.000-05:00

The girls are thinking that a "list" is old-fashioned, and that santa may want their "Christmas wishes" on a video blog. :-)

Ready Or Not.... Here I Come!

2007-12-05T19:04:00.001-05:00

Sofia and Maya are playing hide-n-seek tonight, when I realized that Sofia was counting to 10 in German! How cute!

Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fuenf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn... fertig oder nicht... ich komme!!

We Elfed Ourselves

2007-12-03T18:58:00.000-05:00

We made total elves of ourselves!
Check it out by clicking the link http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1153857147

First Advent

2007-12-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

A tradition that we started with the girls is to eat christmas cookies at the table around the lit Advent wreath, sing English & German songs, and tell English & German Christmas stories and poems. I made the wreath this evening, just in time for the first night of Advent!

Happy Birthday Sofia!

2007-12-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

Sofia turned 3! At her party were: D & Pappy, Great Grammy, Aunt Marlene & Uncle Sam... and the friends that were there: Ashley & Ella, and Maddie (from her preschool class). The theme was Hello Kitty. The kids played games, danced, played dress up, crafted, and were wow'd by pappy with magic ... lots of fun!

Agnes visits from Germany!

2007-11-25T20:14:00.000-05:00

We received a visit from a very old and dear friend from Germany... Agnes! She stayed with us 3 nights. While she was here, we went to Penn's Peak for lunch, and spent one everning in downtown bethlehem.

At Starter's Pub after Roller Skating!

At Moravian Academy Campus

At the public library's huge trees

Maya petting the carraige ride horses

Looking toward the south side

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

We were so lucky to have Jeff & Sarah visit us from Boston, as we have for the past 2 years! The theme for this year's Thanksgiving dinner was "thanksgiving: striaght up"... nothing fancy... just the oldies but goodies: turkey & gravey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, corn pudding, and green bean cassarole. It was awesome!
On black friday, Sarah and I woke up at 4:00 AM, and met my mom at the mall by 4:30 AM to see all the crazies waiting hundreds deep in line (there were few parking spaces at the mall at 4:30). We hit all the stores we had planned on, and returned for breakfast at 8:00 AM, at which time Jeff & I argued at length if Sarah and I were a "crazy" for being there, or if we just go to watch the "crazies". Well, this is my blog, so the answer is: Danica & Sarah are the presidents of this shopping club... we don't wait in lines... we don't run... and WE AREN'T ONE OF THE CRAZIES! :-) Love you Jeff!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T19:37:00.000-04:00

We completely over-celebrate Halloween! This year, the girls dressed up x times:

#1: Maya went to a costume birthday party (Cinderella)

#2: Maya & Sofia both had school parties (Sofia- gypsie, Maya - princess)

#3: Friday night - trick-or-treat in Bethlehem in the pouring rain (Sofia - angel, Maya - pirate)#4: Saturday night - trick-or-treat at D & Pappy's (Sofia - witch, Maya - cat)

#5: Wendsday night - trick-0r-treat at Grammy's in Nazareth (both girls wore their dirndls)

By the 31st, they were completely finished, and didn't even want to dress up for Grammy's!

33 Miles... a Danica Personal Best!

2007-09-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

We had an awesome ride today with Greg & Amy. We rode 33 miles... my longest ever! I felt great after the ride to Riegelsville. We stopped at Kim's cafe, the "Peaberry Cafe", and had an awesome break with delicious coffee & snacks. We were so impressed at what the barista created in Greg & Roland's cappucino's! How cool is that!?

Danica was very excited about feeling so great after 33 miles. All four of us are doing a ride next weekend in Souderton. Danica & Amy will do a 40 mile ride, and Roland & Greg will do a 60 mile ride. Danica has been working out and training like crazy for this ride, and was therefore very excited about doing 33 miles today. The weather was perfect today since the humidity is gone. We rode in the most beautiful countryside!

First Day of School

2007-08-30T14:08:00.001-04:00

Waiting to leave for the bus stop...

Independence

It's going to pick me up right HERE!

Mommy can't believe this is actually happening.

There she goes... fly babe, fly!

First Place!!

2007-07-26T23:15:00.000-04:00

Roland had a great night tonight at the races! The race has "mini" races within, so it's not about the person who crosses the finish line at the end. Every third lap is a sprint lap, and the winner of that lap earns points. This is a photo finish right after they crossed the finish line of the first sprint. He ended up first, second or third for several of the races tonight, which made him the overall winner of the night for the most amount of points! Yay Papa!!

Dance Recital!

2007-07-26T23:09:00.001-04:00

Maya had her first dance recital this morning. She was very proud of herself, and danced very seriously and very well! Her class did one song in ballet, and one song in jazz. Hopefully I'll have video up soon!

Tiny Dancers

2007-07-23T21:31:00.000-04:00

Maya is in her first of two weeks of dance camp, and loving it. Sofia loves doing everything her sister does. The sweetest thing is that I asked to stand next to eachother, and this is how they posed.

As I always tell them "sisters who love eachother is my favorite thing!"

Mean-Tall-Cycling-Machine

2007-07-12T21:21:00.000-04:00

Roland races in training races on Thursday nights. The girls and I were there, as usual, to cheer him on. Every time he rides by (1 mile loop - 15 times) the girls yell "hi papa!" It makes him smile. On the night of the first race, as Roland was putting Maya to bed, she asked "Papa, why were you smiling even when you were way in the back?" Very thoughtful question. Loosing is not fun, but when the girls are there to cheer him on, he's alway a winner!

Baby Birds

2007-07-12T10:11:00.000-04:00

Every year a finch builds a nest in one of the ferns that hangs on the front porch. We've had our eye on the nest to see when the eggs hatch, and today was the big day. Maya is oogling over the birds, saying that they are soooo cute! She wants to print out this picture and put it in a frame in her room.

Great Pappy is here!

2007-07-11T17:06:00.000-04:00

Today we met Great Pappy at D's salon. The girls were so excited to see sweet Pappy! They teased, and played... just as I always did with Pappy. The girls got hair cuts. As Sofia said earlier today...

"D is the best haircutter"

Fireworks

2007-07-07T22:37:00.000-04:00

Tonight we were at Bethlehem's 4th of July fireworks that got rained out on Wednesday. We rode our bikes to the library with the girls, and set up camp with chairs and a blanket. This was Maya's second time seeing fireworks, and Sofia's first. When the show started, I asked Sofia if she like the fireworks, and she just shook her head 'no' with her fingers in her ears. By the middle, she said she wanted to go home. By the end, she was ooing and aahing with the crowd, but still with her fingers in her ears. Maya loved it. We almost missed the show because Maya had to go to the bathroom right before the show started, and there was a line of 2o people in line for 2 potties. Sofia wouldn't take her fingers out of her ears until we were well on our way home. We got home at 10:30, and the girls are asleep already... 5 minutes after we laid them down.

Maya gave me some good five-year-old insight tonight as we were putting pajamas on.
Maya: gerbils don't have a bedtime, and they can go to bed whenever they want because they don't have a mommy. If we had 3 gerbils, 1 girl and 2 boys (we have 2 boys), they would have a bedtime, because they would have a mommy.

Goodnight!

Home Away From Home

2007-07-07T13:57:00.000-04:00

Being in Mittenwald is so refreshing! The view of the Alps always looming over you, the fresh mountain air, and the simplicity of life is incredible! We enjoy taking day trips, catching the view from the tops of mountains, swimming, taking long walks (with stops for cool drinks inbetween), shopping, living, loving. At night after the kiddies are in bed, we enjoy going into town and enjoying spending quiet time with eachother. One of our favorites, Osteria Italiana, is a quaint little Italian restaurant. The atmopshere is great, the house merlot is tasty, and the owner is gracious.