Lily's 4th, Israel, Italy, Chicago

Our first turned 4.  Lil likes wearing skirts under her dresses, blowing bubbles in her milk, singing loudly in public, saying i love you at the most random times like when pooping, and only talks in German now when playing on her own.  She's also insistent on wearing no jacket whenever she can, talks about having her feelings hurt, eating dinner frustratingly slowly, and screams "it's too loud"when her siblings are yelling or crying too much.

Here are pics from her special day.

 Lily got to invite 4 friends to a puppet theatre.

 Lily speechless over her new dollhouse.

 rare shot of just us 3.

 Elise loving Lil's unicorn costume while lily opened up gifts,

It's an eventful time for us.  Lil's bday wasn't exciting enough to close out the week so an ER visit, one operation, and one night in the hospital for royally cutting up my hand by accident closed out the week.  Nate then left for Israel and I muddled through the week one handed and with extra help.  We are about to leave for a long awaited family trip to Italy and have been excited about finding warmer weather to only discover that we aren't going south enough and instead of bathing suits and sunscreen, we are packing snow suits and gloves.  O well.  We will still be in Italy trying something new.  Then right after we get back, Lily and I will fly to Chicago for my sister's wedding.  Lily will be a princess for a day aka flower girl and I get be part of one of the most important and special moments in my best friend/sister's life.  Giddy for it.

Neuschwanstein

I played my first league tennis match in Germany today.  Fitting that it happened on Mother's Day.  Tennis is the only hobby I keep up with these days.  Motherhood is such a selfless mess of a roller coaster.  Tennis is not or doesn't have to be; Find my zone, hit the ball, and use my skills confidently.  Win or lose, whatever.  Why wasn't I like this when I was younger?  I'll probably say the same about motherhood when I'm old.  Damn 20/20 hindsight.

Thursday was a Holiday in Germany so we decided to do a last minute trip to Castle Neuschwanstein and spend one night in a nearby hotel.   We did it.  Just like any day in the Mather house, the trip was hard, draining, and fun...and yes in that order.

What doesn't make a trip like this fun with 3 little kids? Hearing Lily ask 50 times while at this amazing castle when we're going to the hotel so she can go swimming and hearing her whine way too much that she wants to leave.  Holding 2 crying babies when we do finally make it to the pool while Lily happily swims and then dealing with an inconsolable Paul when we try to get changed afterwards - SO.MUCH.CRYING!  Paul throwing a fit in the breakfast room because we won't let him move all the plates and mugs to our table like it's his job - why can't he be interested in the pile of napkins?  Hearing "very much need a nap" Elise wail for 30 minutes while we take a joy ride around the area to let Paul and Lily snooze and kill time before check in time.  Getting through dinner at a restaurant with only one high chair.

What does make a trip like this fun with 3 kids? Lily's face when I tell her Sleeping Beauty used to live in this castle (very short lived interest), the amazingly quiet horse and carriage ride back down from the castle, blowing bubbles on our hotel balcony while all 3 kids are giggling, and kids occupying themselves at the playground.

I'm looking forward to them showing more interest and asking questions about the new stuff we see but in the meantime, Nate and I will enjoy the views.

View of castle from Mary's Bridge

Kinda goofy shot with castle in background

View of another castle in the distance, don't remember name.

 Family shot before heading down the hill by horse and carriage.

 View from hotel balcony.