It was a long early morning in Romania. But we finally made it to Munich! Felicity had a nice snooze on the plane after I nursed her. Oh my gosh, it is such a treat to get to hold my sweet sleeping angel.

Andrews birthday. Felicity wanted to celebrate right away so she got us all up at 5. When 6 rolled around, I took Gabriel and Felicity to the bakery that I went to yesterday and we got some breakfast treats for Andrew.

We played until 10 when we met with Andrea. She was very nice. Super helpful and super organized. I’m so glad that she’s arranging everything for us. I don’t think we could do it by ourselves!

We took Andrew out to a nice birthday lunch at a Biergarten. Then came back and had a little party with the cake that Gabriel and I baked for him last night.

Such a fun morning at Octoberfest with Gudrun, Tim, and Emmy. Poor Gabriel got very scared on the bumper cars with Tim, but quickly cheered up after some cotton candy.

Felicity and I went for a chilly stroller ride to the international office to get some mail. I bundled her up in the sleeping bag strolller insert that Gabriel and I got at the bazaar.

Then a leaf fell from the tree onto her lap. She was delighted to get a present from the tree. It was so sweet to see my bright sparkly eyed girl so happy with her present. She kept pointing to the sky and to her leaf all evening :)

The hardest part about not speaking German is not understanding or being able to respond to the sweet old ladies and old men who say nice things to Gabriel and Felicity on the bus or tram.

We just got back from the BMW museum. What a horrible place! We went because it seemed like the only Halloween event for children in Munich.

We waited for an hour and a half so that Gabriel could get the balloon that he wanted :) We got it! His name is Freddy and Andrew and I were terrified the whole subway home that he would pop! Luckily everyone is napping peacefully (Freddy included - Gabriel carefully tucked him in).

All Saints Day. It’s beautiful to hear church bells ringing all day. But it’s super annoying that absolutely everything is closed! Except the zoo, so that is where we went to escape Andrew’s early morning grumpies.

There were so many monkeys! My very favorite were the orangutans. There were some teeny tiny babies playing :)

Felicity is SO friendly, saying “hello” to everyone on the bus and trying to hold hands with anyone who looks her age (they hold hands at school whenever they go out anywhere:) ).

Gabriel is the best big brother. He keeps Felicity so entertained wherever we go.

Gabriel and I had a fun homeschooling morning! We took a pretzel baking class :)

We started off the day working on our letters (Gabriel really didn’t want to!). Then we took the U-Bahn to the eastern side of Munich and walked through a lovely park to our teacher, Robinson’s home.

Gabriel did a great job of kneading the dough and even got to jump on the trampoline when the dough was rising.

The pretzels were delicious!

We read our “City Walks Kids Barcelona” book to start preparing for our trip on the train back home.

When we were walking back to our apartment from the U-Bahn station Gabriel and I were chatting about being mixed up. We both agreed that we both get mixed up, so we’re “matchies”. Then Gabriel said “we’re matching in the most important way - LOVE” and he shouted “LOVE” sweetly down the street. My heart is already breaking. I’m going to miss these moments so much. \240But most of the time I’m too tired in the moment to fully appreciate them. I wish I had a better memory.

We just got back from our second Saint Martin's Day celebration at Marionplatz. Gabriel is crazy about Saint Martin. He dressed up his lantern as Saint Martin (taped a napkin on the lantern that we made - to be a cape). When we got home he dressed up as Saint Martin. When I was getting Felicity ready for bed he wanted her and I to be cold beggars so that he could share his cloak with us. We made a sword from a pizza box and he has been carrying it around "cutting" his cloak in two. Then as he was getting ready from bath he lost his sword and said "OH NO! Am I going to have to be an un-sharing saint?!?" because without his sword he wouldn't be able to cut his cloak in two. Oh my gosh I think he's really going to be a saint. He is so full of goodness.

Just a normal Wednesday in Munich:

Woke up around 6:30. There’s still a little snow on the ground. Felicity was a very snuggly nurser. But I noticed that her sleep sack was very wet. Her diaper fell off in the middle of the night and she had poopie everywhere in her sleep sack. I took her straight to the bath. Andrew got frazzled and yelled at Gabriel. Then we had breakfast of toast and jam and oats. Then I ran off to my 8:15 Graduate Graph Theory class. We covered network flows. I had a new student join today (in week 6!). They are a fun and kind class, but not that invested.

Then, when class ended at 11:30, I got bundled up and I ran to the bus stop so that I could pick Felicity up from school by 11:45. I talked for a bit with Felicity’s English speaking teacher, Lorraine. Then Felicity and I walked to the bus stop. We stopped in at the bakery and got some rolls to go with lunch and the tobacco shop to buy next months bus passes.

We got home and had a good lunch with bulgar and beluga lentils and tatziki.

I read to Felicity from my Saint Giana book. She loves the pictures of the babies. Then put my sweet girl down for nap. Then I read to Gabriel from our Lonely Planet Kids Barcelona book and tucked my sweet boy in for nap.

During nap I worked on lectures for my graph theory class for next week (I’m all out of material!). I think we’ll cover random graph models. I also spent a little time on Shutterfly designing our book :)

When Gabriel and Felicity woke up the three of us headed to Eataly. I thought that it might be easier to take the 153 bus towards Wordsworth and the English garden because it stops at Odeonsplatz. However halfway there a man in a wheelchair wanted to get on the bus, but our stroller took up too much space, so we hopped off. Then caught the next 154. I forgot that the 154 doesn’t go to Odeonsplatz, it goes north through the English garden. As soon as I realized my error we were very far away! It took about an hour to walk through the English garden through Odeonsplatz through Marionplatz to Eataly. Luckily I was with my favorite companions so time flew!

At Eataly we all got gelato, a cone with white chocolate drizzled inside and hazelnut gelato for Gabriel, a baby sized cup of hazelnut gelato for Felicity, and a small cup of hazelnut and pistachio gelato for me :) Yumm!!!

Then we did a little shopping and got some fresh pasta and pears. Felicity was very happy to walk after being cooped up so long in her stroller.

When we got outside we saw that some of the Christmas market stalls were open already (most won’t open until the 27th). So we got some fries and walked back to the trusty 21 tram.

Andrew was waiting for us at home and we had sausages and fresh pasta for dinner.

Then I nursed Felicity and we read “How to Babysit a Grandma”. She went sweetly to sleep.

Then Gabriel worked on his letters while I took a shower. Then I read him more of our Barcelona book and snuggled and he went off to bed.

There is an example of a typical day in Munich :)

Awwww. Gabriel and I just started to read Harrry Potter tonight. Out of the blue, he said “Mama, when I move out I’m going to text you four times a day. Once at breakfast, once before nap, once after nap, and once at bedtime.” And then he asked when he has to move away and I said “maybe when you’re 18 but there’s no rush. “ and he said “ So I can live with you until I’m you’re age?” “Yes, or even Dadas age”. “Then that’s what I’ll do” (with a HUGE smile and a sweet kiss). \240I’m the luckiest to have this sweet boys love. The ABSOLUTE luckiest.