Monday, March 5, 2012

Week of March 4th, 2012

Sunday I was awoken at 8am by Amber poking me asking for me to get up and fix her breakfast- geesh what is it with her and breakfast!  I told her she could go get the cereal out of the box, but she didn't like that idea. She got herself to the point she was yelling and screaming at us both in bed.  Needless to say she was in time out by a little past 8 this morning!  After I got up she had a bowl of cereal while I made pancakes, then some fruit, and a fruit slushy for breakfast.
Jacob had some homework to finish today and then I wanted to try a new pizza place for dinner, but got outvoted and we ended up at Pizza Hut.

Monday I got my hair cut after I dropped the kids off at school and then ran to the mall where I can get everything done.   The cleaners had Jacob's and my coats and they were all sewed up and they turned out fine.   I then needed a ton of things at the grocery store.
Today it was snowing huge flakes- crazy! 
After school today Amber was very crabby so I asked her if she wanted to take a little nap, and she ran upstairs and got all cozy in bed and fell asleep.  Why wasn't it this easy to put her down for naps when she was 2!  Of course then she doesn't go to bed at night, oh well at least she was in a better mood after her nap.  She was still so pooped out when we had to leave that I carried her from her bed to the car.  Before we went to school I ran to the pharmacy to pick up some more cough medicine for Amber.  Here you can't buy any type of cold medicine or any pills of any kind in the stores.  Everything has to be bought at the pharmacy.  So it is normally a busy place, and today I had to wait inside about 10 min. before it was my turn.  No drive thrus here.
When we picked up Sean from ball skills today he was so sweaty.  He said they had played dodge ball today and he was the king of it, ha!
Tonight both boys left their homework bags at school!  Here they have these little like satchels for each grade they have a different color and in there you keep your math notebook, spelling notebook and calander that you write everything down on and do your homework in those notebooks.  I couldn't believe they both left it.  Sean says his is in his desk.  I had Jacob go back to look for his when we picked up Sean from ball skills and he couldn't find it anywhere- nice!  Hopefully someone just picked his up by accident.  But here all Jacob's homework is posted online so I just printed everything off for him.

Tuesday morning we had solved Jacob's missing satchel problem.  I said goodbye to the boys in the morning as they went out to the playground to wait for the bell and Amber and I went downstairs to the preschool area.  There are 2 sets of cubby lockers along the walls where all the kids put their backpacks and snacks.  On top of one is just a bunch of stuff.  Out of the corner of my eye I see a cranberry satchel, which is the color that 4th grade has this year.  I think to myself well I highly doubt this would be Jacob's but I should look anyway, and low and behold it is his!  I am thinking how in the world did it ever end up down here b/c he is never down here.  So I go upstairs and give it to him on the playground and he is chating to another friend.  Between the 2 of them they realize that the other Jacob in his class, he is from Sweden and his name his actually pronounced Yacob but spelled Jacob, goes to after school day care down there and must have taken Jacob's by accident and then when he realized it wasn't his he just put it on the shelf.  I couldn't believe that we found it. In a school this big you never know if you will see things again.  Jacob was very relieved.
Today the lower school participated in the World Math Day competitions where they compete against students their own age around the world to see who can solve the math problem first.  It is a neat idea.  So the boys did that today for part of the day.  And then the preschool did special math games today.  So the room parents had to get some snack trays together for the preschoolers for a treat today.   So after dropping Amber off I went and help cut the fruit and vegetables and put the trays together for them. 
The kids had a busy afternoon today.  Amber had her gymnastics class, then when we went back to school to get Jacob, b/c Sean went home with a friend after school.  Amber went home with a new friend today that is in her class, but this girl stays in preschool all day.  So we met them after school and Amber went home with them.  So it was nice and quite after school today for Jacob to start on his homework, with his homework satchel!  Then I feed him a quick dinner and took him to his first tennis lesson.  It is indoor at this tennis club by us.  They have 5 indoor courts and they are on kind of like a carpet turf.  The club has alot of construction going on around it and so outside of it is so so muddy. The whole parking lane is just mud.   The mud is so deep on one side I won't even back up into it afraid I won't get out of it.  So he wore his shoe boots and then just was suppose to bring his school indoor tennis shoes.  So once we pull up in the parking lot he realizes he forgot his shoes at home- ugh!! 
So each court was having lessons with one instructor and then 4 students.  I was very impressed.  They were mostly playing a tennis match instead of standing there taking turns hitting the ball.  The instructor said she would test Jacob out today to see if he could continue in this class with the 3 other boys his age since they have been playing all year.  Jacob did very well for himself considering he hasn't played since last summer, but before this it was normally spring - fall he would play.  So he was a little bit rusty but you can tell he knows what he is doing.
While he was at the class I ran and picked up Amber at her friend's house, thankfully they don't live too far from us.  I got there and they both had ballerina outfits on and were dancing around!  So then we went back and Jacob was finishing up.  The instructor was talking in German, French and English to talk with the kids.  Maybe this will help Jacob's french and he can learn some German words along the way.  He will have to start taking German on top of French in 6th grade.
So the instructor said he did fine, and will be able to stay in this class.  Jacob enjoyed it and I was very pleased with the class.  Tennis is a good sport to play since he can't play baseball here so this is another good hand/ eye sport to substitute in the meantime.  He has always been a good hitter in baseball and the baseball coach said that the tennis definately contributed to that.
After tennis we had to drive across town and pick up Sean at his friend's house, which lead Amber to fall asleep in the car so another late night for her!

Wednesday was the day for the girls coffee at the mall and today Amber went home with a girlfriend after school so I didn't have to go back and pick her up. So one of the girls and I stayed until noon!  It was great!  Then we walked over and did some grocery shopping at the store there.  It is amazing how much time I have when I don't have to go to school in the middle of the day and pick up Amber!  Then I just swung by and picked her up on the way to pick up the boys from RE class.  So I got a lot of things done then at home today.

Thursday morning all three kids were fighting over the door to the garage before 8am!  Amber went into the garage and left the door open so Sean was trying to close the door and Jacob was inside not actually putting his coat on just trying to get around and complaining he was too cold with the door open.  So I go downstairs and see Amber is pulling the door open, why I don't know, Sean is pulling the door closed, and Jacob is standing there complaining he is cold.  Are you guys kidding me!!!
After I dropped them off at school with good riddance, I went to the one grocery super store that does framing.  I have looked in stores for frames for pictures I have bought here or in Europe and I don't understand why they sell pictures that their sizes don't match any of the frames that are out in the stores.  I checked out like at least 5 places, the only ones I know, and couldn't find anything.  So I ended up bringing them to the framing section of the store.  The frames themselves weren't too bad, but they charge more then the price of the frame for doing the work, crazy!  These are pictures I have bought at places we have visited to have something to hang on the walls here, but I am annoyed that I have to pay this much just to frame a picture!

Yeah it is Friday!  Had preschool coffee this morning, then went home and got things ready for our Friday playdate at our house.  Amber went home with her friend today after school, so I went and had lunch with a girlfriend!  It was so nice!  We walked from her house down to a nice place along the river.  The inside is very elegant and neat with all the stone and brick in the walls.  We even had a glass of Champagne for lunch, very common here for even people working to have wine or a drink at lunch.
After the boys got out of school we had playgroup at our house.  One family couldn't make it at the last minute because of strep throat.   Instead of our champagne this time I made some Sangria and it was so yummy!  One of the other things I made were some green rice krispie treats for an early St. Patrick's day.  The kids had a fun time playing and eating!

Saturday Jason and all the kids had haircut appts.  so Amber went first and then I walked her to the park around the corner.  She had fun playing and then one of her friends from school came to the park so they got to play together.  After Jason and the boys finished they walked over and were there for about 5 minutes and all 3 kids went on that circular thing that you run around and push it and then hop on and it spins around.  She had been playing on it fine before, but then the boys pushed it super fast and she went flying out of the one side that is open.  Thank goodness she had her coat and hat on and the area around it is made up of those padded surface squares.  And the round circular thing is actually built into the ground so it is level with those soft tiles.  So then we came home.
For lunch today 2 friends and I went downtown to the City Center and had a great lunch at a Chinese place across from the Palace and then walked around down there and did a little shopping and then we met up with another friend.  It was fun to walk around down there since we hardly ever go except to the farmer's market.  By now it was raining and none of us brought our umbrellas, I guess we still aren't true Luxembourgers since we don't carry our umbrellas with us at all times and it does rain a lot here.   We ended up going to this cafe that has a covered outdoor seating that faces an open square and had dessert, coffee, etc.  So we sat outside in the covered area for a bit while it rained.  The outside seating was full soon after we sat down.  Very popular even though it was a little chilly.    It was so fun and I ended up being gone all afternoon.  We had never done this before but we will definately have to do it again!
Once at home, got everything ready and we had a nice BBQ chicken dinner.

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