Halloween 2015

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Halloween isn’t really celebrated in Germany like it is in America. The past few years have been kind of a bust, as far as finding fun things for the girls to do (since there’s no Trick-or-Treating here). It bums me out that they don’t get to grow up experiencing American Halloween like I did.

So this year we decided to throw our own Halloween party for their closest friends. It was lots of work (for me), but totally worth it. Everyone had a blast!

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First, the girls helped me decorate our place. I’m so glad we brought all of our Halloween decorations from the States since they’re hard to find here.

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Their own art work- the best decorations of all!

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Quinnie the witch coveting the treats. They don’t sell Caramel Apple making kits here (I miss you Brach’s!), so I had to make them from scratch. It was very time consuming- I’ll have to stock up on some kits this summer in America (like I did with those Candy Corn in the bowl- can’t buy those here either).

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Kiera was elated when her dragon costume finally arrived. A dream come true for this dragon obsessed girl of ours! She especially loved the toe talons and wings.

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She wears it often- not just for Halloween and Karneval. Here she is wearing it to do homework.

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Halloween crafts

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Wish I’d gotten some pics of the kids Halloween tattoos we had. They were a big hit!

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Since we couldn’t go Trick-or-Treating, I figured a candy filled piñata would be a nice treat (I ordered it on amazon.de). I think a lot of the kids had never seen one before. You can tell by the pics that they weren’t really sure what it was all about (lol!). Luckily they got into it after a few minutes.

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I didn’t get a pic of the piñata breaking open and them scrambling to get the candy because I was too busy making sure nobody got trampled…

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I ordered this giant bubble maker on amazon as well. Best 15 euros I’ve ever spent. The kids LOVED it. They played with it for hours. We’ve since brought it out for the kids at every party- a guaranteed hit!

By the way, the girl making the bubbles is Mia. She is Louis and Ella’s older cousin. She’s been coming by our place once a week to practice speaking English (she wants to eventually do a high school exchange program in America or England). She’s such a great kid. She helps Quinnie with her German reading, and helps wrangle all of the kids during parties. She’s the best!

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Love this pic of the kids (especially Kiera!).

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The calm after the storm. Quinnie and her best friend Antonia in a leaf pile.

The girls want us to have a Halloween party every year. We shall see…

Gertrudenhof- Food and Flowers (post #2)

 

Another highlight of Getrudenhof was the amazing food!

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They had rows of wooden huts that sold all different kinds of homemade food.

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cauldrons of soup

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amazing bread

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Rivekoche (fried shredded potato, onion and egg). Lots of people here like to dip it in applesauce, but I prefer it plain.

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produce galore!

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and many potatoes, of course!

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vegetable and fruit preserves

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Fall favorite flowers…

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See you next year, Getrudenhof!