Day 1181. Yesterday I taught one hour in the morning and three in the afternoon, and Christine from the Caritas came from 1 to 6 pm, and the kids had lots of fun with her.
This morning I had a lesson at 10:30, so I did not set an alarm. Emmy is the best alarm clock anyway, and he was up pretty early today. It was after 9 am before I forced myself out of bed. The night had been a little rough as Tammy and Sammy both cough and have a runny nose and woke up crying frequently. After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them, but then it was time for me to turn my computer on and get everything ready for my student. And so Randy took the children downstairs - but only after Emmy had said hello to my student, and that was not his first time doing so.
After the lesson I called Tammy and Emmy up to fulfill my promise of letting them make pizzas for lunch. I put tortillas out on tin foil and showed them how to do it with the pizza I was making. They did a great job spreading the tomato sauce, even tough Emmy put the spoon into his mouth to lick the sauce. Then they sprinkled cheese on top and spread out some ham, salami and mushrooms. They were having so much fun! I put the pizzas into the oven, and then Randy and Sammy were already coming upstairs, and Emmy proudly told Daddy what they had just done. By noon the first two pizzas were ready, and I cut them for the kids to eat. However, Tammy ate the topping off one piece and that's all she had. Emmy ate a good bit, while Sammy ate little as well. It might just be because of their cold.
And so we were done with lunch much earlier than usual. Tammy and Emmy wanted to watch Paw Patrol, while Sammy stood in the bed with them, playing with the curtains, as he likes doing. In fact, I asked him to close to curtains today, and he sure tried hard to do it. In the end I helped him.
Just after 1 pm it was nap time. I sat down by them, and by 1:20 they were all asleep, even though Tammy had assured me just minutes earlier that she was not tired at all. I myself was pretty tired. Eventually I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I woke up a few times, as Emmy came already at 2 pm, having slept less than an hour, but he didn't want to lie down with me but just stood there for a long time. Next time I looked at the clock it was nearly 3 pm. I realized that Randy and Sammy were downstairs. Tammy soon woke up, and we started getting them all ready to leave. We decided to put their snowsuits on as we were going iceskating. When we woke up this morning, it was snowing outside - the first time this winter. The kids were pretty excited. It was also the first day of the main Christmas market downtown that also had an ice-skating rink. I was surprised that the snow suits that they had worn at the very end of last winter still fit them; only Sammy wore a different one. At 3:30 we left the house.
We took the subway to the end and then the tram for one stop. Emmy had been pretty cranky on the subway already. When we got off the tram, there were lots of people everywhere. I was surprised at how crowded it was. We started walking into the market with the plan of heading to the free ice-skating rink. We first ended up on the wrong side of the park but were given directions to the other side of the park. It was hard pushing two strollers through the crowd. Eventually we made it to the free kids' rink. We got some free double-blade ice-skating shoes to tie onto their shoes, then headed onto the ice.
The rink was small and full of people, including teenagers having fun that shouldn't have been there. It was annoying that they had the little animals that are for little kids to hold on to or sit on. We did get two eventually anyway.
I was surprised at how hard of a time the kids were having. Tammy didn't want help and constantly fell down, while Emmy just wanted to be pushed while sitting on the animal. It was easy with Sammy alone, as he keeps his legs stiff, and so you can slide him easily across the ice. One time I had Sammy standing on the ice and holding on to the animal that Emmy was sitting on, and I pushed them around on the ice. I don't know how long we stayed there, but it really was not that long.
The kids wanted to ride the caroussel and the little Christmas train that was right there. So we made our way there. At the ticket counter I was told that Sammy could not ride the train as adults were not allowed on it, and Sammy cannot sit by himself. So only Tammy and Emmy got on, and they got the last free seats left. They were having lots of fun, as the train was going around in circles a few times. I went away with Sammy to where they had lights on the fence to distract him from what his siblings were doing.
Then we walked on to make our way back to the big two-story caroussel at the center of the market. There were just so many people! And it was hard to make out where we had to go. I found the ticket counter and stood in line. I saw that it was pretty expensive, and even adults had to pay, which was discouraging as Randy would have to go with Sammy. When it was my turn, it looked like the boss had just walked into the booth. I told them we had a child with a handicap that could not sit by himself and asked them whether his Dad could go with him. And then the boss said Sammy could go for free! Wow! I only had to pay for two children! And not just that, he told Randy and the kids to come with him and took them to the front of the line! Once the caroussel stopped and everyone had gotten off, they went on first, and only after they had found their spots did they let the other people on. It was a huge caroussel with lots of room. I also think that it was an antique; it sure looked like one.
Emmy had sat down in the teacup, but as soon as it started moving, he wanted to also sit on a horse, as the horses were going up and down, and so Randy helped him up on a free horse right by his siblings. The caroussel went in circles a few times, and then it was already over.
It was after 5 pm and time to move on. The kids wanted chestnuts, so we bought some right at the entrance/exit of the market, and walked to the tram stop right there. There were already lots of people, and by the time the tram arrived, there were so many that not everyone could get on, including us. Thankfully the next tram came up right behind it, and we were able to get on it. We rode it for two stops, and then took the subway to get to church.
The church service on Saturday is in German and there is no kids' program, and the TV in the toddler room does not work so that you cannot watch the service. As there is food after the service, we had decided to go there for dinner, and I expected we'd get there right on time for the end of the service. However, the first subway was also too full to get on, and so we had to wait for the next one, and that way we got to church with everybody already in the café outside the sanctuary.
There did not seem to be a lot of people, and then I discovered that there was no food tonight. Only little snacks. That was disappointing; especially to find out that that's what it's gonna be like from now on. I got some snacks and put them on the table for the kids, who were eating them up. Sammy was sitting on my lap, and he kept moving snacks from the plate to Tammy's bowl, which was just fun to watch. A few people came by, including Johannes who they'd had a lot of fun with last time. Once again he was throwing them around and making them laugh.
But we didn't stay long as the kids still needed some food. Randy suggested we'd stop by McDonald's as we were walking by it anyway. We said our good-byes and left. We had to cross the whole mall, then I ordered, and we sat down to eat. It was disappointing to find out that the Smurf season was already over. And they were out of all the toy cars, and so they just got some cards and stickers. I was still hoping to make the 7:30 train, and so we got them dressed again to leave once they were done eating.
We got to the subway platform, and the kids wanted to watch videos, so I let them watch Paw Patrol. We got on the subway and made it to the train on time. I had Sammy on the train and kept him happy, while his siblings were watching. By 7:45 we were back home. We got them ready for bed, and I still read them a bedtime story, then sat down with them. However, I still needed to make and eat my salad, and so Randy soon took my place. It took a while until they were finally quiet and asleep, but Randy joined me in the kitchen before I was done making my salad.
After having eaten I started working on today's pictures. Now it's 1:30, and I'm tired and ready to go to bed after having done the dishes.
