So we not only had the easter bunny at our house a few weeks ago, we also had the tooth fairy! She came to pick up two teeth that Max lost on the same day. He was so excited, and so nervous, that he came into my bed at midnight, asking if I thought she had already been there! We were dicussing her size. Sid thinks she looks like a little hummingbird.
The boys and Emmy started t-ball last weekend. So fun and sooo American. I felt like I was in a small mid-western town. They have no idea how to play. Sid hit the ball and just kept running! He ran all the way to the back of the field. It was soooo funny.
I hope this volcanic ash stays away, and we can go about our normal lives. I have friends stuck in NY and Florida.

I need to start dinner for the kids now. Please if you read this and have any fun recipe ideas let me know!!! I am so sick of making the same things each week!

I am sitting here in my kitchen with Elvis. Georg has called into work sick for the next two days so he can teach a group of 13 year olds how to make a film. Our friend runs a camp, and she offered a film camp for today and tomorrow. He is really happy with the kids. His project he is working on is horrible at the moment so he has been feeling kind of down. I hope this cheers him up!!

I met a woman today who had two sets of twins! I asked her if they were two sets of twins, and then I answered her like EVERYBODY does me...Oh that must be hard. DUH!! I really don't like when people tell me that or ask me that... It just came right out of my mouth, like I was programmed to say it!!! Now I feel bad for everyone I have rolled my eyes at!!!! Sorry!!!

I am finished with my final papers and my semester doesn't start until April 21st!!!! Going to enjoy my time off. The weather is awesome, and I am ready to hit the gym-.

Kids are good, and they have been pretty good. We watched Marry Poppins on Easter and they have been humming the songs ever since. I am a bit frustrated as we watched it in German so a spoon full of sugar, is a lot longer and harder to understand....Sid thinks Marry Poppins should go on American Idol. I had to break it to him that she was a bit too old. He then asked me if I was too old for American Idol. I told him yes, and then he said, "well you would have been kicked out because you can't sing anyway"....True.

I thought my kids were smart 6 year olds, but yet I wonder when they start talking about the Easter Bunny coming with presents and candy! Do they really think a bunny comes to our door and leaves them something? When do I break it to them? Lucy was so excited that she came running into the bedroom yelling that the Easter Bunny made poopies in the toliet. Sid said it was he that went poopies, and Emmy said, '"if the Easter Bunny went poopies the poopie would look like little balls, so it had to of been Sid." They all agreed!! Oh what deep conversations they have!!!

I am sitting here watching Georg do his taxes. He hates doing his taxes! He is gluing the receipts into a folder, kind of like a scrapbook, and I am not sure why!
It's Monday, and kids are in school!! I just walked the dog, and now am about to start on some school work. Kids were home sick again last week, and after our little excursion yesterday, I am afraid the sickness is not over yet!!
Yesterday, it was cool and cloudy. We decided to go on a walk to view some castles near our friend’s new house. As we were deep in the park, from nowhere, came the rain. Then the hail. Then the snow! We were getting drenched and the kids, and I and Georg, looked like drowned rats. As we were running back to our car, Sid had the brilliant idea of taking off his jacket, and his sweater, and running through this rain/hail/snow in his t-shirt! I think he thought it was funny......I think he will come down with yet another illness!!! After our little "spring" walk we went out for Mexican food. Sidney ate his entire plate of beef tacos (adult portion), rice and a side of nachos (he split with his brother). He then finished off his sisters left over pasta. On the way home he was telling me he thinks he overate! At 11:30pm. He was up going poopies and still complaining he was full!!

G leaves next week, and then will be back and forth traveling through the entire months of April and May. During the week, it won't be so bad, but weekends are going to be hard.

It's 9:30am and Emmy is breathing in her medication, and Sid is sitting next to her holding his head. Emmy is home with Bronchitis and Sid is home with a tiny hole in his head!!! I heard Emmy yell at Sid this morning at 7:55am as I was getting breakfast ready. And then I heard something slam against the door. That slamming was Sid's head, and Emmy yelled, "That’s what you get!" What he got was a trip to the ER and a hole is his head that is too small for stitches!! I am tired and annoyed and now just mad at all!! Lucy is going over to her friend Bella's house for a sleepover! Her first sleepover without her sister. And her second sleepover ever! I hope she is as brave as she promises and I won't have to go and get her at 2am!

I spent two hours this morning going from room to room at the kid’s school for their parent/teacher conferences. Sidney, Max and Emmy are doing great. It was so surprising to hear that Max was the class leader, and just an all around "good boy." Sidney is funny and makes his teacher laugh. She is worried about his voice, that it may hurt him to speak, but other than that she thinks he is very smart, and gets along really well with others. Emmy is a "super star" according to her teacher. She loves to talk, and use big words. Her German is as good as her English. She is popular and so "self confident".
And then there is Lucy. Lucy lucy lucy.....Her teacher told me she is always the last into class in the morning, the last to get dressed in the afternoon. She acts quiet and shy, and only plays when invited. She acts nervous and is scared to make a mistake. If you haven't been over here, and you don't know my house, Lucy is the loudest, biggest, bordering obnoxious, one of the four! I am totally shocked that she acts like she is quiet and insecure. She gets the most playdate invites out of the four, and has kids calling to just talk on the phone to her! Not to mention that she runs this house like she owns it. Scott, our aupair once had a dream that Lucy was controlling him in every sense of the word. From how he moved to what he said. I have always known that Lucy finds different ways to fit into a group. And I really think that she uses her new found shyness in her favor. If you also don't know, Lucy was the last to walk; however, I would catch her secretly walking. When she saw me she would fall to all fours and cry out her favorite word. uppy....
So I am not sure what to do. Jane, her teacher told me that there is nothing to worry about, and that she is doing fine, and I told Jane, to not let her get away with her behavior. I told Jane to challenge her fears a bit. Make her understand that it is OK to make a mistake.
I have decided to sign Lucy up for Ballet. Two of her friends are doing it, and maybe something else without her "over confident" sister will do her some good! She is at a birthday party right now, and I will have some alone time on the train ride home to see what exactly is going on. She says school is great, and she loves her friends. Maybe being without her siblings is hardest on her! But that really surprises me, as my friend mentioned the other day, that Lucy is the one who really suffers in being a quadruplet. She thinks she is always trying to break free of that label. I think that too, and am confused at her approach in doing so!!
Any suggestions??

The birthday party was a huge success! We took the kids, and four of their friends, (20 kids in total) to an indoor playground. The kids all got along, there were no injuries, and no one fought! I actually had a good time too!

The girls have been fighting so much lately, I am at a loss of what to do with them! They act like little monsters. Slamming doors, throwing dolls, screaming....I swear our neighbors must think we are nuts. I try and talk to them,to understand what it is that is making them so mad with eachother. But their logic doesn't make sense. "Emmy says her bed is more comfy!" "Lucy said my hair looks long!" I mean come on!!!! If they are going to fight can't it at least be about SOMETHING!!!!

The boys on the other hand, are so close it is sometimes scary. They call each other brothy, and when one comes back from the bathroom, or the kitchen, or just another area of the house, they scream BROTHY! And hug.....A bit strange, but cute...

I am off to go get my back checked. It's been hurting for weeks. I think I may have pulled something!

Well, It's January 15th. Tomorrow the kids turn 6! I can't believe it! Today they are celebrating at school. I had to bake cupcakes for each class. 5 hours later and too much frosting all over the kitchen, 96 cupcakes were baked! I dreamt last night that I was stuffing my face with them! I had blue and pink frosting all over the place, and I was so upset with myself!

Anyway,

Max broke his toe. (The first break in the Hartmann clan) He is doing fine though and walking around. He uses it as a great excuse. "I can't eat meat because I broke my toe!" Or "I don't think I can color this picture in because my toe is broken!" He is however still chasing his brother around the house!

They have been making really good friends, and they all seem to be very happy in school.

I am working so hard in school, and I am totally enjoying it!

Georg is working on a few shows and he is happy, although he started smoking again!! After 8 years of not smoking! Why? I have to say, although I hate the fact that he is smoking, he seems to be much calmer and happier, so I just think as long as he is happy, so are we!!!

It's cold and has been snowing and icy since before Christmas. The other day I fell on the street. Not only did I crack three out of six eggs I had just purchased, but I was helped up by an old lady in a mink coat! Embarrassing!

I will post some photos of the birthday party we are having on Monday. Each kid was allowed to invite 4 friends. There is no school on Monday, and so all those friends are coming! We are hosting a party at an indoor playground for 20 kids!! I will let you know how that turns out!!

We have officially moved! And like I say every time, we will never move again! But those of you who know us, will know I am lying. We have lived in Berlin for four years and this is our third place! Although we have no kitchen yet,we are happy. Kids and Georg and I get an extra hour of sleep in the mornings, and we walk or bike to school, depending on the weather! I love being right in a mini-city again. Starbucks, bookstore and Woolworth's across the street. I mean what more can I ask for ;)
classes for me are going well. A lot of work... to move, have school, have "duties" for kids school and have four almost 6 year olds fighting with each other every afternoon. I have come to realize that I am not a referee and if they are going to fight, they will have to find a way to make up.

Lucy hit her nose on the wall the other night. I heard her crying, but I thought she was just over-reacting. That is until she came out with blood pouring out of her nose! All over her hands, her PJ's, everywhere. I cleaned her up, and then went to check on her bedding. Not only did she have bloody hand prints all over her sheets and pillow, but our new white wall was smeared with blood!!! We haven't been here a week!! I can't keep up!
I think today I will take a break from my school work and do some shopping. Hanukkah starts on the 11th, and the kids need to start knowing about it. So I am off to find some Hanukkah candles in Berlin! Wish me luck!

I know I don't write like I used to. Things are so crazy here at the Hartmann house that every time I sit down to update, I am distracted by something. So we are moving! December 1st! We found the hugest apartment in the world! Well maybe not, but it's big! We are sad about our house, but excited to be closer to the kids school. Kids love school. They had a celebration of the fall of the wall yesterday. All the kindergardeners had boxes that they decorated. Then they stacked them up and made a big wall. Half the kids were on one side and the other half were on the other. Sid was the only one from the four without the other 3. They had to think about what life was like on the other side. When I asked Sid if he was sad that his brother and sisters were on one side and he was alone, he said, "No, I thought it was great!" So I guess he still secretly wishes he was an only child. Then they knocked down the box wall and had a party.

Each kid is invited to someone's house for thanksgiving lunch. They leave from school on a bus and have a big lunch at some poor suckers who volunteered to have thanksgiving at their house for their child's' entire class of 5 year olds!! I am in charge of making mashed potatoes for both Emmy and Lucy's class. There are 20 kids in each class!! How many potatoes should I use???

From soccer to t-ball, to Judo to belly dancing to swimming.....I am officially turning into a real mom!!! schlepping the kids back and forth like the good driver mom should! I am in my car more then ever! I can't tell you how much easier it will be when we move. Oh but first I have to pack!

It get's so dark so early here right now! 4:30pm.. dark. I guess I prefer summer when it stays light until 11pm.

HMMMM.....Been so busy!! If I am not driving my kids around, I am working on school myself. We are definitely renting out our house and I have mixed emotions about it! on one hand, I will be so happy to be closer to school. The area in which school is in, is nice and fun. But I am so sad, because I love my home!

Leaving next week for NYC and haven't even thought about it! Just now I am getting excited to see everyone. The kids are beyond excited. They keep saying how psyched they are for all the presents from family members they will get!(hint:family members;))

Big Lice problem at my kids school. On Friday they took 40 first graders and sent them home with lice! I have been obsessively checking my kids hair. Last night for example, Georg stopped the car to run into the store, and I noticed a big street light was shining in our car. Perfect lighting. I made the girls get in front so I could search their hair! The people walking by our car were giving me strange looks. I felt like a monkey! I spray them every morning with some "natural" anti lice spray. They all smell bad, but hopefully they will scare off the lice!

Kids are only five, and already their social calendars are full. On Monday Lucy went to a birthday party. On Tuesday, Emmy and Lucy went to their friend Isabella's house for a play date. Today we have belly dancing and judo, and on Sat. Girls are flower girls for our neighbors' wedding! So we have a wedding this Sat. And then a wedding next Sunday in NYC.....I have NEVER been this busy. I am really tired, but enjoying my busy life right now!

OK I know it's been a while. But we have been busy adjusting to being in school. Not just the kids, but me too. With so much writing for school, I haven't found a good time to catch you all up on us! The kids are loving school. They come home with a new song everyday. Sid's is my favorite. He sings it in his high -pitched, a bit easier to understand, voice. "the more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the happier we'll be!"
I would say that's true, except by the time the end of the weekend comes around, and I have been with the kids 24/7, I am speeding to drop them off at the bus stop!

Speaking of bus stop, the drive is WAY too long for them. I had thought it would take them 40 minutes one way with the bus, but instead,because there are so many kids, the bus takes them at least an hour and a half....one way! Not including the 20 minutes it takes me to drive them to the bus stop! They are the first to get on, and the last to get off. TOO FAR! We love our place, but we think we need to move closer to the school! JFK is the best school for free here in Berlin, and the kids are LOVING IT. and the area of Berlin where it is is cool, but I will be sad to leave the water front. :( We will be renting our place out, so if any of you Berliners knows anyone that needs a beautiful townhouse in Spandau, on the water! Just email me. abbyhartmann@me.com

Getting so psyched for our trip to NYC Oct. 15Th!

OH MY GOD!!!! Kids are off to school! Yikes....now what?? We drove them this morning to a bus stop in the middle of the city. The little white school bus pulled up and a german with a cowboy hat bus driver greeted us. They were loaded on to the bus and disapeared in the distance. My babies! My crazies! I can not believe they are at school. I hope they are at school, and that I put them on the right bus this morning!! I have to wait all day to see if they make it back off the bus.

These past weeks have been so stressful. They have been home driving me and themselves crazy, I started my online classes. So I have been juggiling them being home, with time for my school work. I love being in school. God it took me long enough to like school...better late than never, I guess.

My neighbors are getting married at the beginning of October and I have been invited to go to her bacherlorette party. I don't know any of her friends and what I gather from the german email, is that we have to wear stupid tee shirts and parade Nadine, the bride to be down a busy street! And then eat and then go dancing! I need an excuse. I have got to get out of it! ASAP! Too old to parade down a street wearing a shirt that says Ich Bins nicht....(I am not). What does that mean anyway??

Oh, and my hair is falling out....What's up with that?

I have had NO time to write, as kids have been home for what feels like decades!!
They start Kindergarten tomorrow and I am the one who is nervous! I started school myself, and love it!

Kids are so excited. They take the bus, and I am scared they won't come off at their bus stop.

Boys got hair cuts, and they insisted they have spiky hair. So Max looks just like our manny Scott, and Sid has a real Fohawk!!! they love it, but now I need to apply gel every morning to get that "spiky" effect!

Going to watch some TV with G!

Write more about first day tomorrow.

Here are the pictures from our trip.

They spend the next week and a half going to camp, and then are home for ten days before school starts. Staying home wouldn't be so bad, but Scott, our ever trusted Manny will be vacationing in Italy! He has been planning it for a while, but I wish it wasn't when the kids are home, all day, every day! It's my fault for not realizing it sooner, when he asked if he could go.

Today I dropped them off at camp, and I realized that all the kids were already there. I asked the counselor if I was late, and he said, "Well camp starts at 8:45am, and it is now 9:15am." I guess that makes me late. "I thought camp started at 9:15am." He told me they decided on this earlier drop off time. Well thanks for telling me! My kids looked at me like I was a bad mommy for not knowing. As they walked off with the Counselor, I heard Sid say, My mommy just always like to sleep too long." OH SID I do like too sleep too long, I just wish one day, just one day, that I could! I would sleep so long, I would miss a day, and when I woke up I would close my eyes and go back to sleep!

I have 5 minutes until I have to pick the kids up from their second day of Circus camp. They seem to love it, except Max was upset yesterday that they didnt learn anything. He seems to think he should already be able to juggle and swallow flames.

Our camping trip was awesome. It was so much fun. Totally reminded me how happy I am to live in Europe. Germany, Austria, Sitzerland, Italy, Monaco and France in one week? I mean come on....The kids were so good, for the most part, and we just really enjoyed ourselves... Thats really all there is to it. Good old fashioned fun. But now I am dead tired and in desperate need of a vacation....Writing on a German keyboard, so it may look like I didnt spell check....OK getting clowns now from camp. Will update pictures later.

Things are soooo much better now that Georg is back. He came back on Monday, and he looks great. I mean like hot!! He is skinny and tan and just looks so happy. I am so glad he is happy. He had a great time, despite the fact that one of the riders, got in a fist fight at a mcDonalds in Norway, and now is in a hospital here in berlin with a brain bleed and a cracked skull! I mean what 40 something guy gets in a fight at mcDonalds?? He passed out and was complaining of a bad headache. Georg tried to make him go to the hospital three times, but he refused until he came back to berlin, and his girlfriend forced him! Good thing she did.

Lucy may be the smallest in size but at the moment she is the largest in personality. She sticks up not only for herself, but for her brothers and sister as well. Last weekend Scott and I took the kids to Lego discovery center. There was this area where there are plastic balls and some bully was throwing balls at the kids. I told the boys, jokingly, to use their judo moves and flip them. I then got up to go to the bathroom. When I came back the bully was in a corner crying. Scott said lucy went right up to him and pushed him and yelled in his face. I am partly proud of her courage, it's just sometimes I feel like she is part bully, and that upsets me.

Tomorrow my mom comes and kids are so psyched. The day she leaves we are packing up the kids, and scott and driving down to the south of France for a week!!! We purchased a 6 person tent, and we have a single tent for scott. we are so psyched. cheese and red wine here we come!

got to get the girls stuff together for their belly dancing class....they like it so much better than ballet.
I will post some pictures soon!

Georg leaves tomorrow for 10 days! YIKES! He is working on a project that brings him on a road trip through Denmark, Sweden and Norway! I am so jealous. I wish I could bring the kids and come, but it's a bunch of punk rocker/gangstas, and don't think it's the best thing to do with the kids. So I will be here, with my manny, holding down the forte...

Kids have only three weeks left of kita and then we are here for the summer. I am hoping I can convince big G to go on a camping trip with the gang... I think that would be nice. They start camp on the 10th of August for two weeks. It's day camp and they come home in afternoon, but it should be fun. It's English speaking, and the first week they do CIRCUS camp. (no idea what that entails) And the 2nd week, the boys will be in sports camp and the girls in arts and crafts camp. Lets hope they like it!

Weather here is weird...some days it's so hot the Germans are complaining they can't breathe, and other days, it's windy and rainy and cold, and the Germans are complaining there is no summer.

I know it's been a while, but My computer keeps freezing, the kids keep demanding, the dog keeps chewing, Georg keeps working, and I am just a bit on the busy side.
The other day I heard Sid and Max talking about Georg and what he does. "he works for TV." Said Max. And then Sid turns to me and says, "mommy, your work is at the gym, right?" I had to explain to him that I don't work AT the gym, I work OUT at the gym.

The kids start school in September, and so will I! I am ready to get back on the horse. I will finish my studies and major in psychology. I want to eventually work with the American Community here as a psychologist. Since the kids are going to an international school, I figure I can use those connections! It's going to take me forever to finish, but I am totally motivated and excited to pursue this. It's something I've always wanted to do, but found ways out of it...(like having quads for example.) Now there is no excuse. I want my kids to look up to me, my life will ALWAYS revolve around them, they just don't have to always know it.....

It's raining again! I am hoping the summer is not a wash out. Georg has to work on Sunday. yuck! Weekends are not so fun when G needs to work. And especially when it rains!
I am so glad that Georg and I never got our own reality show. Abby and georg +4. I think the entire jon and Kate thing plus 8 is getting ridiculous. The fact that they are divorcing, continuing with the show, "in the best interest of the children," Just confuses me. I know they are getting paid nicely, but at what expense to the kids? If you have no idea what I am writing about, than good. ignore!

Anyway, my kids are doing good.

Lucy is still sometimes too whiny, and I sometimes don't know how to respond. She beat up Max this morning because he got dressed faster than she did... I wish that patience grew on trees. And if it did, I wish I lived in a forest!

Sid continues with his speech therapy, but I still sometimes can't understand him! He loves it though and gets so psyched when he gets to go.

Emmy twisted her ankle last night jumping from the bunk bed. She is wearing an ace bandage, and short socks, and a skirt, so she can show her friends at Kita!

Max sometimes acts like an old man. He is so serious sometimes, and needs everything to be the way he thinks it should be. When he is tired or hungry there is no consoling him. But other times, he is the easiest and sweetest of the four.

So Monday Georg and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We were hoping our oven would be fixed so we could make the kids dinner and then go out. We waited all morning for the guys to come and set it up. Georg also took out our stove, because that was also being replaced. They didn't show. We waited, and waited and called, and got the lame excuse that one of them is sick and they will come tomorrow. So instead of us all going out to eat, we ordered in. Put the kids to bed and watched Dexter. Georg kept saying "I hate rules." "Just because it's our anniversary, we can't force ourselves to go out." And I totally agreed. We had fun, I received a great foot massage, and we were in bed by 11pm.

We will however force ourselves to go out tomorrow night when the kids have their sleepover at the Kita!! I can't believe it will be the first time in 5 years that we will be without kids for the night. Totally nervous already. Who will I check on in the middle of the night, Elvis? I am worried it will be too quiet....Am I insane? Kids are psyched. They spend the day at a farm and learn how to make butter. Then they take their butter back to Kita, and put it on some bread and sleep over. I am to pick them up on Friday morning at 8am. 8am sleep all the way through until 8am?? I am hoping already that I don't get the random 3am come get your son wake up call....