We went to Church this morning and then out to lunch. Today we went to a nice Thai place not too far from us. Jason and I had both been there, just not together. I liked my food, but not everyone else really liked theirs.
I started having a stiff neck today so I put Bengay all over it and no one wanted to come near me!
Once home Amber and I made some shamrock cookies. We ended up not using green frosting, but an Amber color instead, purple! I had some leftover b'day frosting in the fridge so we used that up instead.
Later in the afternoon, Jason took the boys to see that Journey 2 movie. They all enjoyed it.
Monday morning at 5am Amber is calling out for me. My neck is still stiff and takes me a bit longer to get out of bed and I go see what the problem is. She lost a sock in bed, ugh. So then she is up sniffeling and coughing for awhile, then she falls back asleep and then I have to get up to start my day!
After school drop off I went with my friend to Perl, Germany where they have cheapier grocery stores. It is 30 min. from here and I just don't feel comfortable driving there yet, and of course everything is in German. But we stopped at 2 stores. One store I had my cart about 3/4 full and spent about $58, very cheap for here. The other store carrys toiletries, cleaning and paper products plus toilet paper, klneex and paper towels. I was very excited to see that they had the Listerine mouth wash for kids like they do it home. Here they only have one mouthwash that children can use and it is very strong and the boys don't like it. So we had been bringing it back in our suitcase, and now I don't have to carry that heavy liquid!
Amber had her 2 friends over for lunch and a playdate today. It was a beautiful afternoon and I was even able to open the windows. We are dying for spring over here, and some sun shine!
After the boy's school, Sean had a friend over and we walked to the park by us and played a bit. Since it was such a nice day a lot of people were there.
Tuesday, for some reason Amber didn't want to stay in her class today and I tried to say goodbye to her this morning and she just grabbed on to me and started crying. She calmed down and then I went to leave and it started again, so then the teacher ended up taking her and then she calmed down and started with class. Crazy girl!
Now that the weather has gotten warmer, we are up to the high 50's whoa hoo, the construction has kicked in full gear. The roads are constantly being blocked with trucks and they were so narrow for 2 cars to get down in the first place and now we have to somehow get around a truck too! There is a lot of construction going on. Mostly building new buildings, but sometimes remodeling and also building new roads.
Wednesday I did coffee at the mall with friends. Then when I came home I asked if the maid would be able to clean out my car. Oh my gosh it looks great. When we first bought the car I paid a ton and got a crappy cleaning job done on it. She did a great job. Guess now I will need to figure out how to get the outside of it washed!
A couple weeks ago a light in our bathroom went out. So I got a new bulb, those horrible narrow little halogen bulbs, but it still didn't work. So I let the relocation lady know and then we had to wait for the owner to hire an electrician. So today he came. When he finished with it the light worked, then tonight I go to turn on the light and puff goes the light- ugh! I will have to have Jason see if maybe this is just the bulb this time or the light really has problems. I also have to tell the relo lady that his ladder or tool box took some divets out of her bathroom tile.
Thursday grabbed a quick coffee with a friend at school and then I went and tried out a small organic grocery store by me. Things were very expensive and I only bought a few things. But one of the things they had was frozen corn. I haven't been able to find this anywhere. So I bought one. I would have bought more but my tiny ice boxes are full!
My French teacher cancelled this morning and called ahead to let me know. Since it was another beautiful day in the low 60's I decided to walk downtown into the city center. It took me about a half an hour walking in my workout clothes, so not just strolling. I poked my head into a bakery on the way that people have gotten things at but it is close to the city and no parking so I have never gone. I passed the pirate park since that is right before the city center. Once downtown I didn't have much time to walk around since now I knew how long it was going to take me to get back and I had to shower and go back to school for Amber. I also don't know my way around down there very well. Once you pass the big bus hub it turns into cobblestone no car streets and I was afraid if I started walking around down there I might not be able to find my way out! So I bought a Luxembourg postcard for my wall and saw a Laura Ashley store and went in there and then headed back home. On the way back home I stopped in a salon to buy a hair product. This is one of the only places I have seen Redkin hair products for sale, so they had the one spray mousse that I liked. So I got it after paying double the price for it at home. But at least that is one less thing I have to try and shove in my suitcase when we come back home to bring back here!
Today Amber's teacher passed out a note that said they will have an Easter Bonnet parade in 2 weeks and all the preschoolers need to make an Easter Bonnet. Poor Amber this is not going to be pretty. They don't have Michaels and craft stores here, nor hardly any Easter decorations that I could use things to put on the hat.
When we went back to pick up the boys we also picked up a friend of Amber's to come over for a playdate and Jacob had a friend over as well.
Now that the weather is nice here, they say that the springs here are actually nicer then the summers, the kids are eyeing the trampoline. We had so much wind last fall and into November/December that it bent 3 of our poles that holds the net up. After the last wind storm I thought the trampoline was finished since I looked out at it and it was on its side, some poles had blown off and others were bent underneath the trampoline which was on its side and the net was all twisted up. Luckily the only things we need to replace are the poles. I won't let them jump on it until we have the netting back up. Jason found the website to order more poles, but it is only in German. So he needs to have someone help him with this. It isn't looking good for getting it anytime soon!
Friday the kids didn't have school. But we did have to go to school since it was like an open house where you go to each child's classroom and they have their portfolio to show you and other things in their room and then you go to their other classes, French, Art, Music, Library and Gym. So we got their at 9 and we were rushing to get out at 11:30. Jason was in Portugual and Poland this week so he couldn't make it. I asked him to pick me up some of this Polish Pottery people talk about here as being so great. He told me that they don't have that pottery in his part of Poland, nice!
So it kind of was way too many things to get done in the time limit with 3 kids classes to visit. The session started at 8:30 and you had to be out by 11:30 and then the other half of the school would come in the afternoon. In Amber's room we painted together, drew a picture, and reviewed her portfolio, and then had to visit her other classes. Then I put Amber in the babysitting area and unfortunatley she was there an hour and half while we just did the boys classes. The boys did a wonderful job of preparing their portfolios and getting everything ready and explaning things to me, but even after spending all that time there I still felt like we were rushing through this. Hopefully next year Jason will be here and we can just split this up.
So after the open house we found a Subway I thought I remember seeing around town, then ran to the mall/grocery store to grab a hat and see if I could find some craft items to make Amber her Easter Bonnet she needs to do for school. Then we went to the Park to meet friends. So this park I had been to once in the fall. Today I got a little lost, but then figured it out. It is on the edge of one side of town in a forest area. So the park is surrounded by a forest for 1/2 of it. You just park on this tiny side road that goes to it. Otherwise across the street is a parking lot. Here there are a ton of hiking trails to do as well. The park is all dirt or dust I should say. So this morning I made Amber put on brown pants and she was so upset she couldn't wear a dress. Thank goodness she didn't b/c she was so dirty from running around, digging in the sand and such. We met up with 6 other moms and their kids and had a picnic there and let the kids roam. It was great b/c it is a big area and no one else was really around b/c all other schools had school today. The older boys played in the forest and built a teepee. It looked neat. We sat at this huge wooden table that was long enough for all of us and even some kids coming back to take a nibble of their lunch every once in awhile. We spent the rest of the afternoon there. Then we came home and had to put Amber in the tub to clean her up from the park and her little accident, had dinner and once Jason got home we made our green Shamrock Shakes for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. I would always take the kids to get them at McDonalds at home, but I don't think they carry those here.
Sat. morning started out so nice and sunny. Happy St. Patrick's Day! No celebrations here except maybe a few bars tonight. So we ate breakfast and then went downtown to the city center and tried out this place called The Chocolate House. It is this old, old building that used to be a Nobleman's house and it is directly across the pedistrian cobblestone street from the Palace. So you can see the guard walking back and forth in front of the Palace. This chocolate place is know for their hot chocolate. So you go and pick out which type of chocolate you would like. They have about 20 different flavors. They in are in package with a wooden spoon and then a big chunk of chocolate stuck to the spoon. They bring you hot milk and you put your spoon with the chocolate in it and stir it up. It was so so good! They also sell chocolates, and cakes there as well.
From here we went to the Farmer's Market and got our fruit, some bread, some sausages and Jacob loves those rotarrise chickens so we got one of those and some potatoes and the kids each picked out a flower plant.
Then Jason dropped us off at the pirate park and ran the food home. Now the weather started changing and the sun went away and it was getting a little chilly. So we stayed for awhile while the kids played and then we came home and the boys fired up the fire pit/grill and cooked the sausages we bought and then roasted some marshmellows (import since they don't sell those here). We also ate some of the fruit we bought and made garlic bread with the bread we had just bought. So nice lunch.
This evening was our friend's going away dinner, so we tried out a new sitter since the regulars weren't available and went out. It was 5 couples and then 2 extra guys. We started out at a hotel bar that is on the top floor and has a great view looking out and over the city. We had drinks here, which I had one and somehow managed to break the glass, as I stood up and put my coat on it hit the glass and knocked it off the table, yikes! From here we went to a nice restaurant, but very slow service. We got there at 8:45 and left at 11:45. After we were done eating we were waiting for the bill to come and all of a sudden everyone starts getting up to leave. So we are asking well where is the bill, did someone already pay? Come to find out the guy, who we bought his car, was one of the extra guys there and he flew in from the west coast just for this weekend and picked up the bill. That was very nice, considering the bill had to be about $800 and he was good friends with that group, but besides buying his car we didn't know him at all. They left this group of friends, and we bought his car and joined that group of friends. Kind of funny.
Most of us then headed home, but a few went on to some other bars, since most of the guys at the table were flying out Sunday morning.
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