Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Lost in Translation

Hannah has been talking a lot lately and some of the things she says are really funny. Sometimes she mixes german and english and it makes perfect sense to me, but probably not to anybody else.  She currently speaks more english than german, but still understands both.  She is starting to figure out to use german with me and english with everybody else.  I have been explaining to her that she is learning two languages and we practice the same word in german and english.  So, now she tells me that "Thank you is english and Danke is german" or "Bless you is english and Gesundheit is german".  It is really cute!
I have recently heard a couple stories about parents trying to raise their kids bilingial and "giving up" by the time they went to school, because they were surrounded by english only most of the day and it was hard to keep it up.  The kids are still able to understand the second language, but can't speak it anymore. This has made me a little sad, but also motivated to keep working hard at raising Hannah bilingual.  I would love for her to understand and speak both languages.  It would mean a lot to me.

Here are a few things she is saying (just for me to remember):
-Kuh go schlafen
-I pee pee potty
-Thank you mama (she knows when to use that)
-Bless you mama
-Sonne blendet
-Tschuss Opa, bis gleich
-Hannah knatschig
-Mama schafft video (she was surprised that I was able to turn the DVD on)
-Hannah Volker fliegen
She always talks to my brother on her play phones, real phones or remote controls.  The conversation always goes like this: Hallo Volker, ja gut, OK, tschuss.
She said "bye bye" to me the other day and I asked her where she was going and she said "arbeit" (work). 
After she is done brushing her teeth she looks into the mirror and says " See you later, bye bye" before stepping down from her step stool.
Hannah was just yelling at the dinner table tonight and thought it was really funny.  I asked her several times not to be so loud, but she didn't listen.  Scott then asked her "Yell if you want to go to bed right now" and she stopped immediately.  That made us laugh!
Hannah is still a very active sleeper and moves around a bunch.  She is on a Queen mattress (on the ground) and still falls off sometimes.  The other night we saw her fall off (on the monitor) and she looked around a little disoriented and then just crawled back into bed and went back to sleep.  It was really funny and probably the first time that she didn't just cry for us to come help her.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Warrior Dash Tulsa

A group of us decided to participate in the Warrior Dash.  It was finally time and we went up to Tulsa last weekend to participate.  We had a blast!  I was very surprised by how big this event is.  There were close to 8,000 people that participated in Tulsa.  They had waves of up to 500 people start every 30min.  It is a 3.22 mile run with 10-12 (I can't remember the exact number) of obstacles.  The run was through the woods and up a major hill. 
Before the race

The hill we came down on at the end

We jumped over barricades, went under barbwire, ran over old cars, jumped through tires, dodged tires, climbed ropes, swam through water and over logs, crawled through mud under a net and under barb wire, jumped over fire and climbed some other obstacles.  After you cross the finish line you can get hosed down and then get a free beer!
Matt jumping over fire
Hannah was wondering why we were so muddy

After we got cleaned up a little
Ruby made the trip too and cheered us on
The guys
The girls and the kids

It was great to have friends there, so we took turns watching the kids.  We will definitely participate again next year.  Scott has suggested to follow the Warrior Dash around the country and see how many we can do in one year. Ha!  Wouldn't that be fun!

You can check out the details, results and official race pictures HERE.  I don't look like I am having a great time in most of the pictures......I look very focused and look down in most of them.  I got very competitive as the race started and wanted to do well.  I know that is a big surprise. 

I forgot my camera, so thank you Debbie and Steve for taking pictures and sharing with me.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Colorado Part 3 (Milo and Kristin's Big Day)

Milo and Kristin got married at Spruce Mountain Ranch right outside of Denver. It was a wonderful day of celebrating and turned out perfect! We were all a little nervous about the weather, but it turned out beautiful. We enjoyed getting our hair done, doing our make-up and just spending time with the glowing bride the day of the wedding. This post does not require a lot of words, the pictures tell the story!

The bride getting ready....
Beatutiful hair

The perfect dress....
We all clean up very nicely :)
Hannah's Flower Girl dress was adorable
The setting of the ceremony was just breathtaking
Right before the ceremony
It is finally go time...the beautiful bride and her father
Hannah and Simon did a wonderful job walking down the aisle together. It was a little emotional for me, because it made her look like such a big girl. She is growing up way too fast!
This is one of my favorite pictures of the kiddos. They are just so cute together!
They deserved a sucker as a treat after such an important job
Family picture
Me and my little flower girl
Daddy with his little girl
The reception site was great and we had a wonderful evening with lots of laughter and dancing.
Ryan and Muffy
Scott and Ryan sharing the swing. Such a cute picture :)
Sweet baby Oliver
Hannah and Simon did a lot of dancing along with everybody else. The three kids were passed out in the car on the way back to the hotel.
Thank you Milo and Kristin for allowing us to be a part of your special day. We enjoyed it very much!
The last night of our trip we went to the Colorado Rockies game. I think we were all pretty worn out by this point, but still had a great time. The sky was beautiful after the rain.