It really is this good...

We all know that social media does not tell the real story of family life. But let me tell you, this pretty much sums up our life around here:

It is one big snuggle fest. One kid is half dressed, one kid is napping, one kid is in his PJs, and the parents could be in either of those categories as well. There is also a lot of this:

And sometimes, there's the snuggle/potty combo.

Zoom Christmas

I know, everyone had a zoom Christmas. But this year we were especially thankful for Zoom because we could actually participate in church with a sick kid. Last year Crosby had a fever so we stayed home. This year Carmen had a fever, but we could still tune-in.

The new church format of having a kids' story at the very beginning has been really fun. I mean, look how into church Hugo is:

Hugos is blocking the screen for the rest of us; the Christmas story was that good. There was even a little Christmas story trivia and I was amazed at how much Crosby could answer. 

Carmen was in top snuggle form (ie sick) for Mwika. After we had lunch, we head to the park where we happened to meet up with our friends from our building. (Not a corona violation if it was random.) The kids played and parents drank coffee.

We missed our US family, but were so grateful for our Berlin church and Danziger Strasse family. Merry Christmas!

Busy being adorable

In true Covid / family with small children form, most of our plans over Christmas have been cancelled and/or rescheduled. The silver lining is we have spent more time with our neighbor Val doing things that normal people do. Paul takes all the good photos, so enjoy.

Val and I do an informal cooking swap. My meals are very practical...ahem...I off-road with Kita remixes. Val's are much more quality - usually non-free ingredients and following a recipe. What a concept. Here the kids are loving her broccoli salmon spaghetti. So after she brought us lunch we went up to her place to watch the Christmas movie Klaus.

Yes, we were in our PJs all day. Technically Carmen was the sick one, but we lounged in solidarity.

I know that these three photos are basically the same shot. But when your littles are this cute, how can you possibly choose just one photo? I mean, really?

Zesting

One of the dads from Kita uploads photos every few weeks from the Kita camera so the parents can see what the kids do during the day. The painting photos in the last post were from last month. This month, I found this photo of Hugo ZESTING a lemon for cookie dough. 

Just buying store bought cookie dough (as if that existed here in Germany) and adding some sprinkles with preschoolers would deserve a shout out. Our Kita had the kids make the dough.

There are photos of kids rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes, and decorating.

Shocker, Hugo lost his concentration when it came to decorating. The sprinkles are just too deliciously distracting.

Oh Kita, how I miss you...

Missing Kita

Advisory: If you are a parent whose kids have been doing school since March at home, you might not want to read this blog post.  Jokes. I am very aware how much easier we have it here in Germany. 

Schools are closed here until the 10th of January*. I think it is wishful thinking that our numbers are going to be in a safe zone after friends and family meet for Christmas. Thus, I am mentally preparing myself for kids to be home all of January.

The first lockdown was manageable for Team Biggs. The first month (mid-March to mid-April) Paul was home on paternity leave. The second month, we found our rhythm with Paul working from home. Then, we got lucky that Kindergarteners and their siblings were the first to go back to Kita in late May.

This lockdown is different because Crosby is now in school. The school is adamant that this is not an extended winter break and that school children are supposed to be learning. But, the learning is currently not with any online instruction. So, we have a bunch of spreadsheets that I need to supervise. While I can do some multitasking - ie cooking while kids are awake. Teaching your kid how to spell in German while keeping Hugo away from Carmen is impossible. 

My priorities during this lockdown are safety (ie Carmen and Hugo's) and sanity (mine).  The current plan is I will do homework with Crosby in the morning before Paul starts work, during Carmen and Hugo's naps (if they happen to be napping at the same time), and when we have a babysitter to take Carmen and Hugo. The babysitter is subsidized by Paul's work. We're trying one out as I type. ;) If we're lucky it will be 2-3 hours of school a day. I'm also working with the teacher to see if some online offering will be available in the New Year. Germans would admit they are behind in the digitalization front.

Yesterday I almost went crazy. Today is a little easier. It's like AA, one day at a time. 

With that, I'm sharing a few photos of Hugo from Kita. He only goes to Kita without a fuss on field trip days which is surprising because they do lots of fun stuff there that we do not do at home - like messy art. 

The puppy planning his mischief.

Cooking is about as messy as we're going to get around here. ha!

A picture is worth a 1,000 words

We've been a bit run down this week. Those of you in my inner circle know that Christmas and I have a love-hate relationship. I love the Prince of Peace and do not love that this time of year adds a lot of "stuff procurement" to my plate. I usually try get the "stuff part" out of the way in November to enjoy the actual Jesus part in December but alas...this year. Ok, with that downer of an intro, I present to, more uplifting photos.

Carmen is taking her second nap of the day on the bike with Hugo. The black thing around her head keeps her from bobbing from side to side. I promise her airway is clear.

Hugo hit St. Nicolas Tag hard at the Kita. (A blog on that tradition forthcoming.)

Speaking of Kita, Hugo fights getting out the door pretty much every morning except field trip day. After running around most of the morning with his pals he is exhausted. This Wednesday he literally fell asleep in the shopping cart at the grocery store. He even kept sleeping when I transferred him to the bike to go pick up Crosby. 

That Wednesday night, all three littles did not sleep well, so I kept them at home on Thursday to recharge. It took extra long to get Carmen down, when I came out of my room I found Hugo like this, presumably waiting for me to finish with Carmen while Paul look his late night calls.

On that note, Mommy is going to take a nap. Stay rested my friends.