A little bit of snow

The day after Christmas we had a little bit of wet snow in the morning. Of course Mia had to take a look

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Hopefully we will have some real snow later this winter

Christmas Eve

On Christmas eve Barbara came over and we started the evening with some German Christmas favorites: Stollen and Lebkucken:

After that Mia was ready to unwrap some presents
She was also happy to assist Barbara with hers:

The we had of course to try some of the new games. A favorite was the "Sneaky, Snaky  Squirrel game"

After everybody had been sick in the previous days it was nice to be able to have a nice Christmas eve

School Performance

The last day of preschool before the Christmas break the children had prepared a little performance.
A lot of parents and grandparents had shown up to watch

After that the children had some well deserved goodies.

Setting up the Christmas Tree

Like last year we bought a small table top Christmas tree and had Mia help us with the decoration

Hana's Birthday Party

Sunday afternoon Mia had an invitation to Hana's birthday party. Mia and Hana are good friends at preschool and Erika and Jacob were invited too.
It started with a big bounce house which is always a big hit for Mia. Then the bounce house was moved away and an African musician with his three daughters started their program.

 He had also some drums for the kids which was a lot of fun. But this was only the beginning. His whole program was very interactive and Mia really enjoyed it.

At the end Mia, Jacob, Erika and Hana took a well deserved break with a cup cake in an ice cream cone

No wonder Mia was really tired that evening. It was a great part of her own birthday.

Four years old

This morning Mia was excited to get up and start her birthday.
First there were some presents to unwrap

The "big thing" was her new scooter.
She also got a nice warm winter hat from Oma

After that we had a nice brunch with Mia's friends in the newly renovated common room
Of course there were also a few presents waiting here

Then it was time for the birthday cake

Mia had to blow out four candles.
Then she had to take her new scooter for a spin

And with Tante Barbara she took a look at some of her new books

Mama's Birthday

The big birthday weekend started with mama's birthday on Saturday. Mia and Mr Mimi were helping with the presents.

Mia had picked a bicycle helmet for mama.
After that we went of for dim sum and enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather. 
A day earlier there was already a surprise birthday party breakfast organized by some friends

Advent

Of course Mia has an advent calendar again this year. Of course we bought it mainly to help her learn her numbers and not because of the chocolate

We also had had some Lebkuchen, Stollen and Glühwein on Sunday the first advent and lighted the first candle

The last few days were very mild and it feels more like spring than like Christmas but we still enjoyed our traditional German goodies

The Artist

Mia has a little white board and markers for drawing and the other day she made a little figure

Please Touch Children Museum

On Sunday we spent half a day at the "Please Touch" children museum in Philadelphia which was located in Memorial Hall a beautiful grand old building that was part of the 1876 world exhibition in Philadelphia.
There was so much for Mia to see and to play that we didn't have enough time to do everything.
There was a play area with water

There was a play area with an "Alice in Wonderland" theme

There was a store

There was a hospital

And many other things

Philadelphia

After Thanksgiving we traveled to Philadelphia for a little get-away. We liked the many different neighborhoods and museums and had booked a hotel right in Center City next to the Convention Center and China town.

For Mia it was already her second trip to Philadelphia but then she was only 5 months old when she was first there so she did not really remeber.
It was a bit chilly so we spend a Saturday morning at the Benjamin Franklin science museum

Mia liked the place and explored the train shed and tried to assemble a mars rover.
After this it was time for a nice lunch in China town

Helping with the laundry

Mia also wants to help with the laundry and helped putting the washed clothes into the drieer.

At the zoo with Barbara

On another trip to the zoo we first checked out the lion exhibit and a dinosaur skull.

Then we stopped at the Orangutan house where Mia showed a chicken a volunteer had given her at the kids farm

Then we met Barbara and had a little picnic