Wad O' Food

We had pasta for dinner tonight...as you can see! Lately Cole has decided that instead of picking up one piece of food at a time, he'll pick up a wad and just take bites off of it. Tonight's wad was composed of peanut butter sandwich, noodles, and pieces of sausage. As you can also see, with the food wad comes a big mouth!

All Purpose Blanket

One of Cole's latest hobbies is grabbing his green blanket out of his crib and dragging it around the apartment. You can see it in the bottom of the pictures. Up until now, he's only used it when he sleeps or is tired, but now it's become all purpose. This afternoon after our trip to the park we stripped all the dirty clothes and Cole went straight for the couch with his blanket. He can get himself up on the couch now, too, which is fun!

Saturday Fun

Saturday, April 21, 2007

The video links above are from tonight. The first one was taken before our dinner at Der Wiener Deewan with our friends Jeff and Greta Simon. Cole saw a store sign that was a starfish wearing a bathing suit and sunglasses. His new thing is talking constantly and pointing as he talks. It's hilarious! The second video is downtown after dinner. Cole saw another bright white store sign and had to go after it.

So tonight's dinner is also worth mentioning. We ate at Der Wiener Deewan. It's a hole in the wall Pakistani buffet, and the best part is that you PAY AS YOU WISH. You buy a drink if you like from the menu, but the food is just as the sign above the door says. Pay as you wish. So we drank free water and paid 10 Euros total for 2 plates each of amazing food. The buffet consists of 6 dishes, vegetarian and non, salad, and dessert. Yum!

yahoo!

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Cole in Action!

We visited a great park at Alte Donau this morning with some friends. Cole was definitely interested! He tried to play fussball, he tried to climb up the slide, and he picked some flowers. He's walking faster now and more confidently now, too, which is fun!

Our New Favorite Snack

Caramel Popcorn!

Melt together in a medium saucepan until bubbly:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

12 large marshmallows (or a bunch of small ones)

Microwave a large bowl of popcorn and pour hot caramel over the top & mix.

Eat while warm & gooey. YUM!

SEW @ VCS

This week is Spiritual Emphasis Week at Vienna Christian School for the elementary kids. Jerry Jacoby and his wife, Michaella, have come for the week to have fun with the kids and talk to them about faith. Jerry writes silly songs and dresses up as Biblical characters with crazy voices. He also brought his chicken, Elmer, for the 3rd year in a row. He's a puppet! Below you see Jerry leading the kids in a song called Ruby Toobie Tango.
Otherwise, Cole and I have been spending lots of time at Prater, the park close to our apartment building. It's in full bloom now and jam packed with kids, bikers, rollerbladers, walkers, runners, and people lounging at outdoor cafes. Prater also has an amusement park connected to it, and the funniest thing is that Cole has been especially interested in the roller coaster. He'll walk right up to it and just watch. Now that he's walking, it's fun to take him out of the stroller and let him wander around after the things he finds exciting. The other day we sat and picked grass and daisies for about a half hour.
Chris and I have also been training for the Vienna Marathon Relay coming up next weekend. We are on a team of 4, where each person runs one part of the marathon to complete the whole race. So we've definitely been busy!



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Better than Kissing?!?!?!

It's a scientific fact!

The Vote is IN

The vote is in, and we are officially...yes, officially...moving to Bloomington, IN. At least for the next couple of years. We realized that the best decision for Chris is to pursue business school, since the only business experience he has is here at VCS, so we're headed to Indiana University. It just so happens that our home church, ECC, is there, and we have some dear friends there as well. So we're on the search for somewhere to live and Chris is looking for jobs for the next year while he applies to school and takes the GMAT. What an adventure. You never know what's next for the Franks!

Just Because He's So Cute!

Easter Egg Hunt

We had an Easter egg hunt this afternoon in the courtyard of our building with some other families and kids. Cole found 4 eggs, and really enjoyed eating the chocolate inside! See video below, too.

Easter Traditions

I've been reading a great book recently called Treasuring God in Our Traditions, by Noel Piper. The whole book describes how traditions remind us of the important things in our lives. People have traditions for all kinds of things...birthdays, Christmas, Easter, and other special or ordinary events, too. For example, my Great Grandpa Schindler began a tradition in his family to pray Psalm 121 before departing on a vacation. Now, three generations later, everyone in the family knows this short Psalm in the King James version of the Bible, and we say it when we leave on vacation. It reminds us that God is our Protector, and He will take care of us. It's not a Steer Clear of Accidents card, but a reminder of what we believe is important. So this book has been perfect for me now that we are beginning to establish traditions of our own as a little family of three.

So speaking of establishing new traditions, we adopted an Austrian Easter tradition this year. Austrians typically buy pussy willow branches and hang hand painted hollowed out eggs on them. They believe that if you receive a blessing with a pussy willow, your fields will be blessed in the coming year. Normally a blessing is given with palm branches on Palm Sunday, but since palms are not native in Austria, the pussy willow does the trick. So this year we went to an Easter market and bought our own set of eggs and willows for our own Easter tree.

One other thing we do on Easter Sunday morning is bake Empty Tomb Rolls. What are these? You take a large marshmallow (Jesus's body) and dip it in melted butter and then a mixture of cinnamon & sugar. Then, you wrap refrigerator roll dough (tomb) around the marshmallow and pinch it together so nothing leaks out. After that, you place it in a muffin tin along with the others, and bake. As the rolls bake, the marshmallow melts and disappears! So when you eat the rolls, there is only a hollow hole inside the roll...hence...the empty tomb! It's a fun and tasty reminder that Easter is really about Jesus being resurrected from the dead...what a huge gift!

Happy Easter!!!

Cole and a few other kids had an Easter egg hunt in our courtyard today.


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I'm gonna git you

This is something I say to Cole a lot. It's a game that's developed between me and him since he learned to crawl pretty well. I used to use lots of voice inflection to make it really clear to him that I was going to crawl and "chase" him. Then he'd crawl away a little as I slowly followed him on my hands and knees. It'd last a couple seconds, and then he would sit up and look at me.

Now we've picked it up a notch. I pretty much just say "Cole" and look at him, and he gets it. Other times I say "Cole, I'm gonna get you" in a very normal, almost monotone voice. He starts to laugh and crawl away. He's getting fast and I have to work hard to catch him (if I'm crawling too). We've even played this a couple times now, with him walking, but he's still a little faster at crawling than walking.