Puppy Love

In Langenhagen, Mika and Anna-Lena are in love. Following the overwhelming emotion pouring out of their hearts, they decided to elope. What better way to celebrate your love is there than to get away from the record low temps in Germany and tie the knot in Africa? Along with Anna-Lena’s sister (the planned witness to their wedding) they packed their bags for time under the sun and started to make their way to the airport.

Oh, and the betrothed are five and six years old. The witness is seven years old.

Aw. If this is not puppy love, I do not know what is.

As always, there are those grumpy sourpusses who claim that the parents of these children are irresponsible. After all, how could they let their children get out so easily during the night?

I think those sourpusses have not been loved enough. In this instance, I think it is safe to say that the children live in a very loving household; unlike this four year old that shot his babysitter for stepping on his foot. Children often reflect their parents’ attitudes and habits. Having said that, hubby and I should probably spend more time explaining that we hug and kiss a lot because we love each other, and that we do not do that with random strangers. Here is my little Romeo in action:


I cannot speak for those sourpusses, however I would much rather have my children piece together a somewhat cohesive plan to elope than violently attack their babysitter.

If I had the time, patience and skill...

...I would definitely prepare Bento like this for my kids. It would sure circumvent the all-too-familiar battle my rugrats over finishing their food. These wonderful Bentos are created by Anna the Red, who made her first “kyaraben-ish” bento for her boyfriend not too long ago. On her blog, she gives wonderful step-by-step instructions and how-to photos. I think I will give it a shot when hubby has time off work next month.

I feel sorry for Adolf Hitler…

...and that is surely not an easy thing for me to say. I am actually referring to Adolf Hitler Campbell. He is a three-year-old boy who was denied his name on a birthday cake at ShopRite. (I would have refused to inscribe the cake as well.)

I feel sorry for him and his two sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie. As long as they keep these names, these children will be branded by their parents’ small and hateful minds. Whether or not they believe in Nazi ideology in their adult lives, they will be equated with one of the world’s worst hate crimes.

You can be sure that these children will never have a chance for a decent job. Just imagine: A newspaper headline “Adolf Hitler new Director of Communications at XYZ Inc”. How about your child running home from school saying that their new history teacher is Adolf Hitler?

I sincerely hope that these children will have the chance to grow past their parents’ limited mental capacity. For Pete’s sake, they could not even get Himmler’s name right (for Adolf’s sister)!

Photo source: AP

A cause for concern?

What do you see happening in this video?



Do you see child abuse? Perhaps snake abuse? Many people commenting here and here certainly think so.

I would exercise caution before coming to those conclusions. I believe this all to be a matter of clashing cultures. In this video clip, I see a curious baby toying around with what seems to be a family pet. It is just a little difficult for those in western countries to watch, due to the wild difference in culture. I would even go as far as to compare this to my eldest daughter’s former habit of trying to pull our cat’s tail when she was still a toddler.

Weekend Summary

• I am almost finished Christmas shopping, which means I am on schedule. I always start Christmas shopping in September and try to have it all finished before the first Sunday of Advent. That way I can relaxedly bargain-hunt at the Christmas markets in December. All I have left to shop for this year are the two most difficult: my dad (who never asks for anything) and step-fathter-in-law (who has very specific tastes).

• Other than Christmas gift-shopping, I normally ban anything Christmas from our home until the first Sunday of Advent. Miraculously, the kids remembered where I hid the Christmas DVDs, and begged me to help them retrieve the films. The kids won in the end, mainly due to our second daughter's ability to bend Papa to her will by putting on her sad face. Works every time.

• Does anybody know a good recipe for edible playdough that you bake into cookies once they are shaped and does NOT include peanut butter? Last week I bought a wonderful premix from the grocery store. The kids had so much fun watching their creations bake in the oven and eating them afterward that I would like to make it a weekly activity, but I find the premix a little overpriced and I am sure it costs less than half to make it yourself. Unfortunately, all I can find are recipes that either include peanut butter, chocolate, or are not to be baked into cookies.

• Nick Jr. held a 24-hour Spongebob marathon. I do not think I need to explain the squabbling that ensued between parents and children when we tried to get them away from the television for lunch, our trip to the park, shopping, bath time and dinner.

• I have a gift certificate from last Christmas that I was not yet able to redeem and is only valid until the 31st of next month. We were finally able to find a show that agrees with both hubby's and my step-mother-in-law's work schedules, thank goodness. Barring any unforseen obstacles, we are going to the opera to see Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) on December 27th! Yay!
  

The Good Guy and The Mad Guy

I am a proud mama.

I was in a bookstore with our younger daughter and baby today when we came across a selection of books written by or about Obama. (For those of you who do not know us personally, we have four children: a nine-year-old daughter, a five-year-old daughter, a four-year-old son and an almost five-month-old son.) Our younger daughter picked up one of the books, walked over to the pram and showed the book to baby proclaiming:

This is Barack Obama. He's the good guy on tv!

A salesclerk and several other shoppers smiled. Out of curiosity, I picked up a book with a picture of McCain on the cover and asked what she thought about him...

**frowns** He's mad on tv.

...to which she received some free candy from the salesclerk.

I am a proud mama. =)
(photos from senate.gov and washingtontimes.com respectively)