Jackson's Karate Tech Tournament

Jackson has been doing karate for about a month now, so when tournament time came, we were a little apprehensive about entering him. We decided it would be good for him to be part of a competition and see how hard work pays off in the end.

The kids that competed were ranged from ages 3-6. Jackson competed in the 4-year-old category with three other boys his age. It was fun to see him get all geared up and ready to "fight" his opponent.

After a few rounds with each boy, he won first place for his age group. We are so proud of him!!

The dojo where the tournament was.

Jackson getting warmed up.
Grace was so proud of Jackson. She took about 50 pictures of him with her princess camera.
Master Rodriguez getting Jackson all geared up.
Jackson is on the left.
Here are the three boys that he competed against and won.
Jackson holding up his trophy. He was so happy when he was done!

St. Martin's Day~November 11th

We celebrated St. Martin’s Day with another family who we met through Jackson’s kindergarten. They just moved here from Okinawa, so we have a lot in common with them. We reminisce about the good ol’ days in Oki. ;-) Okay…now back to the story…

I’m going to give you some history about the actual day and how it came about. Thanks to Wikipedia, here is it:

The story told is that St. Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier born around 316 AD in Hungary. As a soldier, he rode with the Roman army. He and his soldiers were once at the gates of the city of Amiens during a terrible snowstorm when a freezing beggar appeared. Martin took his sword, cut his military cloak in half and gave it to the man. That night, Martin dreamed that Jesus was wearing the garment. During his dream, he heard Jesus tell the angels “Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized, he has clad me.” When Martin woke his cloak was once again whole. He then turned to Christianity becoming baptized and eventually a monk, living many years in solitude. He was recognized for his kindness and a humble manner.

He was a modest man and when he was proposed to become Bishop of Tours, he hid in a barn to avoid the honor. A flock of geese gave his hiding place away with their gabbling and he was appointed Bishop. Today, the goose is associated with St. Martin and enjoyed during the feast of St. Martin in December.

The celebration of St. Martin has many seasonal correlations. It marks the end of the agrarian year, the beginning of harvesting, the start of carnival and the end of all souls period that starts November 1st on All Saints’ Day. The holiday began in France and then spread to Germany, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

In Germany, children prepare for the arrival of St. Martin by making paper lanterns. St. Martin arrives to towns at dusk on a big horse named Shimmel. All the children gather with their lit lanterns and parade through town behind him singing songs in his honor.

Grace modeling her lantern.

The kids getting them all set up.
Tes showing what it looks like in the dark.
Grace, Tes and Zoe ready to take the walk to the Burgerhaus where the service was before our walk.
Inside the Burgerhaus just before the service. They had pretzels and goose cookies out to eat. Plus we enjoyed mugs of gluhwein, hot cider for the kids and wurst and brotchen. Yum!
Jackson with his friend Jon from school.
Sorry for the picture quality. It was a rainy night so I didn't get too many shots outside.

Here is "St. Martin" riding around on a horse through the streets while we followed with our lanterns.

Jackson's German Song

Jackson comes home singing this song just about everyday and I finally got it on camera. I love that he is learning a new language and having fun at such a unique school at the same time. He has always loved to sing...so this is just a perfect way for him to start to learn the language.

Nearing the End of Fall

With fall coming to an end I thought I'd share some pictures I took at the peak of the leaves changing. They are all about gone; especially after the wind and rain we have had these past few days.

Fall is now my favorite time of the year. Maybe it's because I have never lived anywhere the leaves changed to such beautiful colors. There is such an inviting feeling to the season. Everyone gets bundled up in their jackets and scarves, the palette of colors among the trees, and the cool, crisp breeze that blows in. I am continuing to love living in Germany with each changing season.

Grace is unsure of what these are. Check out her face!
They are chestnuts inside of a VERY spiky ball. I did learn from Jackson's teachers at school that you can eat the nuts with the point on the end, but not ones that are smooth all around. The smooth ones called buckeyes are poisonous. Good to know! Who knew that something so yummy to eat could come out of such a spiky little thing.
This is the view of the trees from in front of our house.

View from the road leading from Jackson's school.

Fun Times at Waldkindergarten

Jackson had a fun MUD day at school yesterday. This is what he looked like when I picked him up. He was covered in mud, dirt and leaves were all in his clothes and boots. Look closely and and you can see how dirty his boots and pants were. I love that I send him to school and he can play and be a boy all day! (And yes, I do strip him of his school/rain clothes everyday before I put him in the car.)

His face is not as dirty as it has been in the past. On Tuesday when I picked him up they had made a fire and the boys painted their faces and hands with the soot. What fun!
Check out the caked on mud on his socks and strumpfhose.
They made a craft on Wednesday out of ordinary things found around the school. Who needs toys?

Proudly modeling his crown of leaves.

Toilet Paper!

So now that Grace has been potty trained for about 5 months now I am giving her more freedom to be in the bathroom and finish her duty...if you know what I mean. So, this is what happens when I leave thinking she is wiping herself. One toilet paper roll is completely unrolled and the other is almost there. She gives me this coy little smile when I walk in. Little stinker!