Claudia--a.k.a. Mulan turns 4!!!

Our daughter, Claudia just turned 4. She keeps us in stitches because quite frankly you never know what is going to come out of her mouth. First of all, just before we left the U.S. she decided each day when she got out of bed that she was a certain princess. Every morning she would come down stairs and before even saying Good Morning, she would announce what princess she was that day. It started out with Sleeping Beauty which you think, okay I can see that--very blonde hair, with her beautiful milky white skin. Then all of the sudden she was intrigued with all of the dark headed princesses. Typical girl, always wanting what we don't have. But then finally it stuck--Mulan was the one! She was so intrigued with how she was not only a princess, but was tough too! She would go into these big involved stories of exactly what she would do if she were to face a bad guy.

Then we arrive in Berlin... We go to Craig's office, and before I can introduce my sweet Claudia to his colleagues, she comes out with it--"I'm Mulan". Well, I don't think there has ever been a time we've stopped by Daddy's office, that she's been addressed as anything but "Mulan". I truly wonder if they even remember her real name.

Currently, "Mulan" is not in school, but we are really enjoying our time together, as I know it is our last year before the bell will be ringing for her. Things she loves to do, is read books with Mom, which she is actually starting to put the sounds together on some simple words to try and read like big sister Paige. She also LOVES to play on the computer! She can figure just about anything out--I can't get over it! And of course she loves to play with Barbies--which is why we had a Barbie birthday party for her this year. We had 4 little girls here besides my 3, plus parents, another family and one of the guys from Craig's office.

Claudia loved the attention! We played games, had pizza, cake and ice cream and opened presents. Everyone that came was so good to Claudia! As a matter of fact, my friend Laura, recognized my state of helplessness still being in temporary quarters. Everyone knows I really enjoy making my kids birthday cakes. It is something I take great pride in. It may not always be the best looking, but I feel all that matters is the love and time that I put into it. Maybe one day they will look back at pictures and say "wow, mom that sure was an ugly cake--but thanks for trying to make my day!" :) Anyway, the fact that all my bakeware is still in storage I graciously accepted her offer, knowing that she adores my daughter and would make it awesome! Which of course she did! Wait to go Laura!!!! By the way, after the big day, Claudia started calling her "Princess Laura". See Laura, it was worth all the work! What a fun day!

We are trying to get Claudia into an activity, but haven't found the right place for her yet. She's at the very in between stage of not being young enough for a toddler play gym, but not being old enough for soccer, swimming, etc. (here they don't start these activities until age 5).

One place that she is involved and loves it is church. She is the youngest kid in her Sunday school class. We attend a very small church so the kids are grouped from age 5-8. She's allowed because they have seen her willingness to sit and listen and invited her in. Today she came out and told me that she prayed twice in Sunday School because none of the other kids wanted to. I loved that! She's bold and she's only 4! Following Sunday School this evening, they had AWANA, which is a super fun time of fellowship, games, learning bible verses, and having lessons. I had 3 teachers search me out to tell me a Claudia story. The first one was telling me how good she was and how well she was doing. The second one told me "She had a chocolate cookie, but don't worry, there is none on her hands, because we played duck, duck goose and now it's in everyone's hair!" Okay, funny, cute.... then the third one finds me and says "I may never be able to look at your husband again--your daughter was drawing a picture of your family and she drew Daddy naked, because he was getting out of the shower"! Who knows what kind of story followed that--trust me, I didn't bother to ask! As you can see, our little Claudia is a humorous one. She always keeps us guessing! All that aside, she is the sweetest, most loving, adorable, kind hearted little "princess" girl you have ever seen. Of course, that's my opinion! I'm her mother!

Frohe Ostern! (Happy Easter!)

Well, Easter here wasn't quite the same, but it is a very big deal here. First of all, most of the schools close down for at least 2 weeks, some even 3. All businesses (with the exception of a few restaurants and gas stations) close down not only Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but they also are closed on what they call Easter Monday. One can imagine the craziness at the markets and stores on Saturday in between. Many people choose to go out of town, on trips because there is really nothing to do except spend time with family. This of course made me really miss our families. Luckily we were able to spend some time with friends and then really relax and enjoy each other especially on Easter Sunday.

The girls were able to participate in a few egg hunts, the first of which was with all the kids from the Embassy. It was great fun for them to see lots of friends, and do a couple of games and crafts.

Easter Sunday brought many surprises and fun. First of all the visit from the Easter Bunny was very exciting, because they were a bit worried that he might not come to Germany. After all the excitement of checking out their treats, Daddy Craig informed them that on his way to take out the garbage he had noticed an egg outside that looked like one of the ones we had colored! He must have hidden our eggs! With much enthusiasm, they were off on another egg hunt. Later in the afternoon, we made our way to church (which meets at 2:30pm). I wish I could say we were in our beautiful Easter clothes, but it is STILL way to cold! It was a lovely service and afterward we stayed for a potluck dinner in the fellowship hall. Most of the church families are American, and are therefore away from home just as we are. Nice to have other people to lean on in times like this--very comforting! Of course the kids couldn't leave without going on one more Easter egg hunt--which in all actuality was a candy hunt. They had a ball! The only problem, is that everytime Brooke found a piece, she thought that meant that she could eat it. Needless to say, we had to cut her hunt a little short. We don't want to break her spirit! The rest of the evening we spent playing games and enjoying each other, making our calls back home to wish everyone well and with no stress about getting anyone in bed at a certain time because there was no work or school the next day. Overall a very peaceful holiday which is exactly the way Easter should be. Things we missed about being in the states at Easter: family, ham, family, mashed potatoes and gravy, family, pie, family, our mom's cooking, family, our aunts cooking, family, Grandma D's cooking....you see where I'm going with this.

Truly we did miss being with our family on such an important holiday, but we ourselves have been so blessed and are so thankful for our health and for having such wonderful families supporting this decision to be here. We love you guys!

Tea anyone?

My little Paige is a big girl now at the Berlin British School! And as you can see she has to wear a uniform. We love it! Paige gets to wear a skirt everyday and I don't have to argue with her about what to wear! Everybody wins! There are 12 children in her class from several different places (Scotland, Russia, England and of course Germany and one other American). Her teacher Miss Shield is British as are most of the teachers, with the exception of her German teacher who is of course German. She has a packed schedule every week. Each day besides the normal everyday lessons of Literacy and Numeracy, she has additional activities. Mondays she has swimming which takes place at the Olympic Stadium. How incredible it was to go to the open swim class recently and watch my daughter swimming laps in the Olympic Pool! She is doing fantastic! And as many of you know, Paige loves to swim; therefore she is having a ball! On Tuesdays she has PE--loves it as well, Wednesday--music, Thursday--art, Friday--open play time. She has German twice a week, now--next year it will be 3 times a week. Something else they do there is really encourage them to join a club. The clubs take place either during lunch or directly after school. These clubs vary from drama, to painting, arts and crafts, ballet, music, games and construction, stories and rhymes, etc. Then the older they get, there is soccer, language clubs, even homework clubs. I think it's really great! On top of all of that--they offer music lessons to be taught at the school either during lunch or after school as well! I think this is so nice. We haven't begun any steps in that direction just yet, but when we do, it will be nice to pick up Paige from school and not have to run her somewhere else for another activity. They really put a positive outlook on family time with all of this. They spend so much time away from home that once they are finished at school, they are able to simply come home for the evening.
Needless to say, we are very happy with the school and Paige's progress there. She is reading wonderfully. She is very proud of herself as is her teacher and of course the Mommy and Daddy. :) The teachers here are so attentive in every part of there day. Not only are they teaching the normal school curriculum, but they work on their manners at lunch as well! The teacher even asked me one day if I would be able to get the girls home in time for tea. Huh? Most of you know that I am all about taking tea, but to take the time to do that every afternoon is unfathomable. I can't see Brooke allowing that at all! I have to say that if there were any customs I would like to adopt from the British school, that would be it! Speaking of adopting British culture--it will be entertaining to see my girls probably end up with a British accent. Wonder if there is such a thing as Southern British?
Paige is also riding the bus now, something I was very hesitant about until I saw it. It is a very small (15 passenger) bus, with individual seats with seat belts. There is a very sweet little girl, age 10 that rides with Paige to and from and really takes care of her. Paige loves the bus! I knew she would, it was me that had a hard time with it. Now that I've seen the whole set up and know the children on the bus, we are all good to go! Well, I guess that about wraps up the update for Paige. The rest of us are still doing well. Still no house, but we are doing just fine here in temporary quarters. I'll update again after Easter!

Guten Tag from Berlin!

Hello everyone!

Email FINALLY!! I hope this finds you all well. We are doing wonderfully here. We just got our email up and running so now I can give you the update. We have been here nearly a month--hard to believe! The first week was really slow, but then we met a few people and were able to get out and about and it is flying by! We are still in temporary quarters, awaiting the call from the Embassy Housing board that they have found us a house. But truthfully, we are quite happy here! Craig works just a few blocks from home so he is actually home around 6 pm most nights. It's so nice to have him around more--especially at dinner time! Most things are convenient to this location and it's fairly roomy. So all in all we are happy with what we've got.

Things sure are different here--almost like they are behind about 50 years. When you enter this quaint little town down the street one of the first stores you see is a Woolworth's?! There is a small market and bakery on about every corner. The difficult thing about the shopping is that if you want to buy a tube of toothpaste, you can't buy it at the grocery store, you have to go to a pharmacy. If you want to buy a card, you go to the papery, make-up--to a parfumerie and on and on. The most frustrating thing of all is that hardly any places take credit/debit cards! You always have to be prepared with cash (euros)--even at the grocery store! How hard is that! I feel like saying "come on people, get with the times!" So the next time you are dreading that trip to a Super Target and your paying with a debit card--just think of poor me dragging 3 kids to about 15 different places, trying to make sure I don't have to make a 16th stop at the ATM again!

Besides that truly it is a wonderful place. It's very beautiful here. Even being right next to the city there are a number of forests around that one can drive through, ride their bike on bike paths, go for walks through--very lovely. Which brings me to another difference. On Sunday everything but a few restaurants is closed. It's kind of nice because it really promotes family time, not to mention our day of rest. The German tradition is to go for a Sunday walk. It's wonderful to see people out just enjoying each other, in no hurry to get anywhere. It's a big family day.

We are missing our families of course and friends too, but I have to say the people that we've met here so far have been fabulous! Everyone is so helpful, always ready to take you to a grocery store to help the new girl that still doesn't know enough German to get by or to invite you over for a playdate. If I have a question, I already have a handful of women I could call up for an answer, and if they don't know it they will either find out or put me in touch with someone who will. It's a great network of people here. That's how I found Paige's school.

Paige started school just today, at The Berlin British School. I know, doesn't sound very German, huh? Well, the British School is a worldwide school that is home to many different children from many different countries. It is a private school, so she has to wear a uniform which she was completely fine with because she gets to wear a skirt everyday! She will be getting and excellent education there. Every week, besides literacy and numeracy (as they call it) she will be participating in a German language class 3 times a week, then she will have music, art, computer, P.E. and swimming. It is a full day for her attending from 8:30-3:00. The really neat thing is that their swimming class is taught at the Olympic Stadium which is just up the hill from the school (they ride a bus there and back). As I said, today was her first day and she absolutely loved it! We are so thrilled it has worked out so well.

As for the rest of my crew, everyone is adapting well. Craig loves his job and is certainly challenged everyday to better his German as he is working with the German police. Claudia is enjoying all the new friends she is making and is getting anxious for her chance to start school. She is also constantly talking about her upcoming birthday party and what kind of party it will be, who to invite, etc. Brooke continues to be our "little rascal". Everyday she is coming up with something new. She's really into her baby doll right now, always wanting to feed her, change her and take her everywhere. She and baby have their own conversations while strolling around home and getting into the big girl stuff.

I know there are other things that I'm forgetting, but we'll be in touch more now that we are able. Email us when you can to either account (gmail--above, or my hotmail). We are interested in what's going on with you too! We just wanted to give everyone a heads up that we are here, we are happy and we are blessed with a wonderful life and friends and family like you!

All our love,

The Donnachie Crew

Craig, Whitney, Paige, Claudia, Brooke

We are Moving to Germany!

Hi Friends

We are in the process of moving to Germany. This page will be updated when we get there with all our new information. We love you and will miss you!