A bit calmer

Thanks for the supportive thoughts on my last stress comment. Every Sunday we spend several hours helping the children write in their journals, and then transcribing the writings onto the blog with photos. We have some posts on the main page, but we also have Andrew and Edward's pages (tabs at the top of the blog page), where they just update the page with their information. Andrew and Edward's pages don't show up in a reader (like the soon-to-disappear Google reader) when they are updated. It takes a while, but we want to make sure the children are recording things that they will enjoy at a later time. You can see this at hawkinswien.blogspot.com or hawkinswien.blogspot.co.at if you want German stuff.

Henry and Kirk. Henry is cute and is saying more words.

Stress

We had been warned before we got to Vienna that the woman who lives below the apartment where we are runs a massage/relaxation clinic in her apartment. However, the family here last year said they held classes in the apartment and had four kids and never heard any complaints from her. Four days after we got here, the woman came up and--very nicely--told us that our children were shattering the nerves of her patients. Great. How in the world do I keep my four children quiet? They aren't quiet.

We set some guidelines: no screaming, no slamming doors and knocking plaster off the walls, and no leaping off furniture. They get rewards for following the guidelines. Every day I've been trying to take them outside to see something and play in one of the many parks. We went to a robot museum in the morning, but this afternoon we were at home and it started to get rough. We have a winter storm blowing through Vienna right now and it is below freezing with strong winds and snow. It is cold and we would rather stay where it is warm. I guess I'll try snowsuits on them tomorrow and hope it warms up quickly.

My next apartment is going to be a stand-alone house with about an acre of land around it.

First week in Vienna

Here are two of my best friends from the plane trips: Ziploc bags and lollipops. I stuffed Henry with lollipops to get him through take-offs and landings. I used a Ziploc bag to hold Lucy's clothes after she threw up on the landing in Paris.

Note to self: Never, ever take a sick two-year-old on a long trip that involves an 8-hour or more time change unless you don't want to sleep for a week.
For more of our trip, you can see the travel blog.