I Don't Know Why You Say Goodbye

July was hard.  We had to say goodbye to all our friends.

The moving van came.  Goodbye to the bright green building across the street...

It helped that the first thing I saw in Wyoming was a double rainbow.

Welcome to Laramie

Welcome to Laramie, where the local airport has convenient connections to Denver (only!).

After a long blog-break, Dr. Hausfrau and the Hausfrau Five are back on the wagon.  Just a different wagon, this time.  The following posts will attempt to illustrate our recent transformation from suddeutschland to the Wild West.  Bear with us, this was not without some culture shock.  Zum Beispiel, "Bear with us" is NO LONGER just a figure of speech!

Getting there...

Last Week

Last week, our neglected middle child actually had a playdate with a friend that was NOT the sibling of one of William's friends. They played so beautifully - there was no fighting or screaming! When they were done putting every single stuffed animal in the house on the couch, they put them all back where they belonged before having cake and milk in the kitchen!
This week, Eric was adored by his older siblings.
This week, Margaret and William served themselves yogurt and drinks and played quietly until their parents emerged "at a reasonable hour" from the bedroom.
This week, William and Margaret made the greatest stone soup using stones from the Bodensee, rice, popcorn kernels, five year old dried split-peas, and the rest of various spices from my cabinet! See, getting ready to move can be FUN! I also taught William to vacuum on this day. (MOST BRILLIANT parenting move EVER!!)
"Would you like your soup with Dill, Oregano, Cloves, or Bay leaves, Mama?"
This week, Sean played "Handyman" with William and Margaret, and they took apart a good 50% of the furniture. How wonderful to be able to use the naturally destructive nature of our children to our advantage!
Margaret demonstrates proper usage of the "Ikea-tool". Maybe we should move more often!

Suddenly tired!

Brothers McCrea

Little Buddy!

"The Stupids Die" and why reading is bad for your children

Dr HF is vacuuming.
Marga: Where is my green vacuum cleaner? Where is my green vacuum cleaner?
Dr HF: Your what?
Marga: Where is my green vacuum cleaner?
Dr HF: Um, I don't know?
Marga: I can't find my green vacuum cleaner, the one that cuts the rug!
Dr: OH! You mean your plastic green LAWN MOWER!!! You got confused when I read you the book, "The Stupids Die"!

OMA RETIRES TOMORROW!!

Today the birthday, tomorrow the reward!

Happy Birthday, Ebee!

Enjoy your manatee!
We love you,
Familia Hausfrau

William and the Mola Mola

So, we were sitting together on the couch looking at Sean's pictures from his recent trip to Lisbon. I was frustrated because I had just spent a good fifteen minutes working with William and he still was unable to identify the letter "J" with any reliability! We came across this picture. "Eew, what is that?", I asked. "I forget. But it was really big!", Sean responded. " I think it is a mola-mola.", William stated seriously. "Check and see if he is right!", I said, and Sean opened Wikipedia. Turns out those National Geographic Kids videos William was watching so often LAST YEAR have provided him with some good marine trivia that impressed his parents! Now, back to the letter "J"!!!

Jump!

Going Downhill Fast...

The "Good Child"!

Ready for Wyoming!

Last Outing with the Car!

DOE: A deer, a female deer.
REH: Another word for deer!
ME: had Sean been blogging today...
FAR: A long, long way to run (for a hamster).
SO, LA, TI: Are hard...um, we have SO many children that we are going LA-LA and could use a cup of TEA?!
DOE: Phew, that brings us back to D'OH!

Fishing

Eric and Mama

Thanks for the T-shirts, Brenda!

Dessert

House update

Escape windows in the basement are in and there apparently are some plants that can live in Wyoming.

The back door is almost ready. Why someone built this house with no back door remains a mystery.

Bathroom? Not sure... One pipe may be the radon thingy.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

I hope you like your woodworking store gift certificate as much as William likes his Lego Star Wars ship!!

Mini Alpine Adventure

We are starting to feel a bit sentimental about leaving this beautiful place, so last Sunday we took Eric's brand new passport, loaded everybody into our (recently sold but not quite delivered) car, and headed South, toward the darker skies and the Swiss Alps. We had time to take a few pictures. Me and the kids...
...trying to take a photo of Sean with the kids...but they were no longer interested !
Well, pretty soon the clouds gathered and it started to hail! We took cover for a while in a barn, but quickly got bored and as soon as the hail stopped we dashed through the rain to the nearest little restaurant. A little hot chocolate in the Alps is also well worth the drive.
Yum!
The view out the window from the restaurant. Not bad.
Sean took this picture while he waited for Eric to be done nursing!
Switzerland is such a pretty place!
On the way home, we had to make the 20 minute detour to drive through Liechtenstein. Just to say we were there.