weekend life

this weekend was a full one for our little family. we had two birthday parties on saturday and a baby shower on sunday morning, as well as grocery shopping and the regular chores to do. one of the birthday parties was at a park in mannheim that we had never been to before, the herzogenriedpark. it is beautifully laid out and has this large trellis structure in the center. the trellis is much larger than pictured below but i wasn't able to get a good photo of the whole thing. unfortunately we've had some of the muggiest weather i can remember over the past week and it wasn't a good motivator to get outside, but the park was relatively cool and we had a nice time picnicking with friends and watching the now two year old lotta blow out her birthday candles.

daniel and i do all of the grocery shopping on saturday, something we started when we were first married as a kind of "date," and now that gabe is here it makes even more sense. i've been hesitant to talk about our commitment to organic food before because i didn't want to come across as hochnäsig (snobby) but it's such an integral part of our daily life that i think it's worth mentioning. we've been buying our groceries at either the wochenmarkt (farmer's market) or the organic grocery chain alnatura for the past three years, and i'm still happy that we've chosen to invest our money in this area. i've found that it's much easier to maintain an organic lifestyle in germany than in the u.s., although it's still expensive. we're very blessed to have the means to shop this way and i don't take it for granted. a friend of mine once said that you vote with your money and that has stayed with me and influenced how i shop (although i still love an h&m bargain!). since we moved to the pfalz two years ago we're really only able to shop at alnatura once a month because it means driving into the city. the rest of the time we buy our produce and meat at the wochenmarkt and dairy, etc. at grocery stores in our town that carry organic products. our house is also never without fresh eggs and homegrown potatoes thanks to daniel's parents. someday we want to get our own chickens but it doesn't exactly work when you're renting. hoping you had a blessed and happy weekend as well! xoxo