Week of June 9th and Sean's First Holy Communion

Sunday was Sean's big day!  All his hard work this year with RE classes and church was about to pay off!  He was making his First Holy Communion today!

So we got ready and headed to the church for our family pictures.  Of course as we are about to walk out of the house I realize that there is a big yellow stain on the front of Amber's white dress.  So I told her just to put her hands in front of her for pictures.  She was upset and said when she did that it looked like she had to go pee!  I was worried the photographer would take a long time with the kids or families and be running behind but he really did a great job.  It was a couple shots of just the child, then siblings, then family and boom you were done. 

So all on time.  I can't wait to see all of the pictures! 

 

This picture won't rotate. Sorry.

The Holy Communion ceremony was very nice and the children did really well.  I did one of the readings and that went well.  After mass there was cake and champagne for everyone in the back of the church and the First Communion children got cupcakes with a cross on them that looked very nice.  The cake actually tasted good, so I wonder where they got it from. 

After this we left and had reservations at a Chinese place with another family that we are good friends with from school and they go to church with us as well.  They were our family away from family today!  This place is a small place as are most restaurants, but between their 4 kids and our 3 and the big table everyone kept staring at us all throughout lunch!  Like we were the entrainment.  Today is Mother's Day here.
After lunch we had them over for cake and ice cream!

We were so proud of Sean today!  Way to go!
After they left we cleaned things up and I got a few things made ahead for tomorrow as Jason's sister and her family comes for the week!  The kids are so excited to see their cousins!

Monday morning Jason got up early and left for London for the day. 
This morning I ran to the store to get the last of the food to make things for a couple of days.  Today Jason's sister and her family were arriving to visit us!  They landed in Belgium and then drove down so they got in around lunch.  We had lunch and they were exhausted so they took naps.  For pickup I went back to school with one of the kid's cousins and my kids were excited to see him at school.  This afternoon they had a fun afternoon of playing together!
We had a big dinner and then went to the park down the street.

Amber stepped in dog poop at the park so her shoes were nasty.  She then got it on her socks and her leg.  Needless to say she got a good scrubbing when we got home!  By the time Jason got home it was late and they were all in bed. 

Tuesday morning Jason took them to Trier, Germany and then to Remich to the wine cellar there for a tour and tasting.  They all had a nice day!
I had my craft with Amber's class today to prepare the fingerprints for the teacher's end of the year gifts.  So that took a bit.
Then for lunch I took my friend out as it was her b'day yesterday.  We went to a nice Thai place up a bit from me so I just walked there.  It was nice.
After school we had one of Sean's friends over as his mom was out of town and then the boys had tennis.  We had a big BBQ for dinner once Jason got back with everyone.

Wednesday morning his sister's family left for Paris until tomorrow night.  Sean had his medieval day so he was dressed in his medieval costume and I went in and help set up the snacks that they were going to have for medieval day.  Today was Amber's sports day so I spent the morning in the gym helping with that.

When her day ended I picked up her and 2 friends and we came home for lunch and they played a bit before we went back for ballet.  The boys had RE.  We have to start the process of yearly renewal of paperwork for here so our relocation lady came by to pick some things up to start working on that. 
Tonight I made a lemon cake and bean cream cheese roll ups for the staff appreciation luncheon tomorrow. 
My email contacts got fixed, thank goodness as it had been a week now that they were missing!

Thursday morning I help set things up for the staff appreciation luncheon.  It is always neat to see all the different dishes people brought in.  I brought in my 2 dishes I made last night.
After this I ran to the store, then home to exercise and get some things done at home. 
After school Amber had a friend over as well as Jacob.  We ate an early dinner, as I had to drop Jacob's friend off on the way back to school and with traffic it was all backed up.  Sean had his Medieval Concert tonight.  They wore their Medieval clothes and did stories. songs, dances and recorders.  It was cute.  Jacob had his guitar lesson during this so that worked out well.




Tonight I noticed a rash on one of my arms.  It must have been from some food dish today I touched.

Friday after school drop off I had coffee with some friends at school.  Then I came home and I took Jason's sister downtown and I gave her a tour of the town.  We were down there for a couple of hours.  It was a nice day to be walking around and I think we covered everything.  We grabbed a sandwich for lunch and ate outside. 
We got back to the house a bit before I needed to leave to go back to school.  Amber brought her yearbook home today.  It looks nice.
After school Sean went to his friend's b'day party for a bit.  Jason picked him up on his way home.  Just the adults went out to dinner tonight downtown at this neat French restaurant right across the street from the back of the Palace.  We were able to sit outside.  They have these little enclosed like tables, with chandeliers and heaters.  It was very quaint.  The food was great. 

We had never eaten there before.  The older cousins were in charge at home and all went well.

Saturday Jason took them all to visit the Military Cemeteries, American and German, and then came home for lunch.  After lunch they got packed up and headed on to their next stop-Amsterdam.  The kids had a great time with their cousins and after they left Sean was already sad.

Then Jacob had a pool party to go to so we dropped him off first and then not to far from that Amber had a summer/going away party to go to at a friend's house, so we dropped her off next.  Then Sean and Jason and I went on to Jason's company picnic.  Lots of parties today!  It was windy and a bit chilly out today, but they had most of it outside.  They had a lot of crafts, bouncy things, face painting, and jumping on the trampoline with the bungee cords.  But with just Sean he wasn't interested in anything but the rock climbing wall.  He scaled that pretty fast. 

Then the boys got burgers, and fries and we had some ice cream.  We walked around inside and they had some games, black jack and this one pedaling table.  So you sit on a stationary bike and pedal and it moves your little man on a bike on the table.  It was neat so the boys did that.

Then back home for a bit.  The handyman came over to do some trimming of the hedges.  Then we went back to get Amber and Jacob.  I picked up Jacob from the pool and drove him to the park to meet the mom who's son had invited Jacob and 2 other boys to spend the night.  So he was excited.  So he went to that sleepover.  They had fun.
The rest of us had a little dinner at home since some of us had a big snack in the afternoon! 

Week of June 2, 2013 and Jacob's Switzerland Trip

Sunday morning was the big day!  Jacob was heading to Switzerland until Friday for the 5th grade field trip!  Can you believe it!  He gets to go up in the mountains in Switzerland, so cool!  Here is a picture of the area he is going too.



He had to be at school around 8:30 and the buses left at 9am.  They had 2 buses, one was called a double decker one, the seats were on the second level but there was no first level.  I think it was 2 levels of storage for suitcases and stuff.  So Jacob was able to go on that one so he was pretty excited.

He was so excited!  This stuff is right up his alley!  We have no contact with the kids while they are gone, they weren't allowed phones or electronics.  We got an email tonight from the school saying they got there ok in about 8 hours but they stopped for lunch I am assuming that was an hour.  Then the only way we know what is going on is their blog we can follow with pictures too.  So the kids that did it tonight said they had a lamb potato gratin dish for dinner and it was good- doesn't sound good to me!  But other kids said they had roast beef!  So something got lost in translation!   They went on a little hike, but said it was cold.  And that they were pretty tired.  So I am glad everything went well with the travel there.  I was a bit worried about the buses in the mountains and such a long drive.  In the fall a bus had an accident in Switzerland that was carrying kids from Belgium, and it wiped out a whole classroom of kids, horrible.  Our principle had mentioned the school's travel policy and everything they had for rules with what the buses and drivers had to do so it sounded like they were taking all the right precautions. 
After this I went back home and picked up Sean as he had his last Sunday Communion class!  He had a test today, which he passed, got them all right!  So I was happy for him.  There was no church at the this church today b/c it was at the one downtown, but there wasn't enough time to get between the churches by the time this class ended the other church had already started and it is not easy to get to.  So we just went home and had lunch.  Jason was still pretty tired and napping.  As you could tell from the pictures the sun was shining today, but still cold, but the kids were able to play outside today.  Amber and Sean played well together today outside, then inside for a movie and some blackjack.  At one point Amber asked where Jacob was, ha.  And Sean said he wouldn't miss him this week, but I bet by the end of the week he will. 
I went around to everyone's closets and tried to figure out what they could wear for Sean's First Communion and if they needed anything else.
Since Jacob is gone this week I decided it would be a good time to take all his bedding off, mattress pad, comforter, blankets and all and get it all washed.  Amber's got done not too long ago when she threw up in her bed.  I am wondering where I can send Sean so I can do his bed next?  Ha!
In the afternoon the handyman came over to do some work on some of our overgrown hedges.  So I had Jason ask him if he could help with the ping pong table.  I was determined to get it to my house!  So when he finished his stuff, they took my car with the roof racks and 2 hours later the table was all ready to play!  Yikes a bit longer then I was expecting.  They had to take it apart to get it up on the roof, so the legs and such were in the car and they had blankets over the pieces on the roof and they did a nice job of getting everything up there and secure.  The handyman tied Jason in the car with all the doors tied down, then the handyman climbed in and out of the backseat window.  So all is well and we are ready to play!

Since we really weren't expecting it to take that long we had planned on going downtown and walking around and having dinner down there.  It was like 6:45 by the time they finished, so we left right away and the kids wanted the Pizza Hut down there.  So we did that and then got some ice cream, which I told the lady we had 5 cones when I went to pay and Jason is like no 4!  Oops.  We walked around a bit, but it was getting chilly so then we came home and played a little ping pong before getting everyone ready for bed.

Monday was a bit quicker only getting 2 out of the house, 2 lunches, etc.  I did another reading for Amber's grade this morning.  Only one more to do!  Then I headed out to Germany to do my shopping.  I did the toy store today and got some boy gifts for upcoming parties.  Then to the dm for all the bathroom, toiletries and such, then the clothing store next to it for a few low cost items.  Then I did the shoe store and had great luck!  Jacob needs brown and black shoes for his concerts for school, this weekend with Communion and things so he got one of each.  Each of them got a pair of tennis shoes, and Sean got a pair of sandals so it was great.  Almost all of them were under 20 euros!  Of course you can't go into a shoe store and not buy something for yourself (:  So I got a pair of comfy sandals.  Then over to the grocery store in which I remembered I left my list at home.  I got most of it ok, but they were out of stock of some things like the juice I wanted.  Here is a picture of the trunk with the seats folded down and it is loaded.  There were bags in the back seat too.  And you can't even see the bags behind the first row of stuff.

 

This is why it takes me half a day to shop out here with driving and then half a day to put everything away! 

After school Amber had a friend over and since the weather was sunny today they were inside and outside back and forth keeping busy.  I had Sean helping me with my next project.  In the basement under the stairs, not creepy here as it is all finished.  We had just been storing boxes and shoes, no sense of order.  So when we brought in the ping pong table I had to clear all that stuff out because the way the doors are laid out they had to go that way before going into the playroom.  So I got it all cleaned today and then had Sean help me brake down the boxes and put a shoe rack over there.  I now need to buy some more shoe racks and see about a metal shelving unit for storage there. 

Jason was home early and we had dinner and then ping pong tournaments.  Amber can't really do it yet. 

Every night the 5th graders do their blog and post it.  Well poor Jacob since 3 yr. old preschool has always had a Jacob either in his class or his grade.  So far Sean and Amber have lucked out.  So even here there is another boy who is from Sweden and spells his name the same but it sounds Yacob.  So they listed each group and both Jacob's just say their first name so I can't figure out which group he is in.  I will need to wait until they post a picture.   So far all groups have posted for tonight with a picture and I haven't seen him.  This one group left with a Jacob went camping tonight so they wouldn't be posting.  They were hiking all day and then camping with a bonfire tonight.  If it is his group I am glad he did it today b/c starting Wed. it is suppose to rain there.  They might have been sleeping in little houses. 

 

Tuesday Jason brought in Sean early to school as he had to be there then to leave for a field trip.  They went to Belgium today to visit a castle with a bird show.  We had just gone and seen it when my parents were over visiting.  They got a guided tour and he seemed to really enjoy it.  The kids were intrigued by the guy telling them how the devices in the torture chamber worked!

After I dropped Amber off I went to the Chiropractor and then drove to Belgium as well to go to Ikea.  Going there they were working on the highway and it was down to one lane on my side.  Well b/c of this they closed the exit, and the next exit was in 3 miles- ugh!  So I did that and then turned around and headed back towards it and that side of the highway is totally backed up.  So it took me awhile to get there today.  I wanted to go and look for some more shoe racks and shelving.  Found that and a whole cart of other things, and had to pick up some things for a friend.  So that was about 2 hours in there.  To get home, the traffic was much better at that time.

Once home I got everything unloaded, ate lunch, got a few things done and then I filled up the car with the boxes that were under the stairs.  That is where the shoe racks and the new storage shelf will go once Jason gets it all put together!  I had an old printer and then all these boxes and I went to the recycling center and dropped everything off.  Then over to the book store since they called and said the Bible books I had ordered were in, perfect!  Then to school.  Sean had math after school so Amber was able to play outside with friends.  The sun was shining today and it was a beautiful day to sit in the sun!!  Then on to tennis for Sean.  He was tired after all of this.

Jason got home around dinner, early for him, and was able to get all my shelves/racks put together.  I got that all organized tonight and it looks much better!  Funny how I have lived here for 2 years but decided to do it now!  Oh well!  Better late then never.

Then on to all the emails for the end of the year stuff and room parent stuff.  I am sure it is the same at most schools but all this stuff at the end of the year, really!  Can't we just fade out!!

So Sean- 2 field trips, chess day, medieval day, spring concert, and sports day and 1st Communion.....

Jacob- week away in Switzerland, disco, graduation ceremony, class picnic and sports day.....

Amber- 2 field trips, sports day, end of the year party with the parents....

Other events I need to help with/attend or kids attend.. Staff Appreciation luncheon, kids b'day parties, new school tour, volunteer breakfast, teacher gifts, children end of the year gifts ......

Tonight on Jacob's group blog they said yesterday they hiked for 7 hours, 10 km to get to their campsite!  Wow!  Another group wrote in theirs that people had a lot of blisters and sore feet.  I hope Jacob is doing ok.  We had him break in his boots and I bought this special hiking socks that are suppose to help preventing blisters.  I hope they worked for him b/c they were pricey!

But they enjoyed the camping and had a bonfire and marshmallows.  I think they slept inside a chalet but not sure.  Then today they had to hike 7 hours back down the mountain and got back to base camp around 4pm.  He is going to be exhausted when he gets home!

 

Wednesday I met my preschool group from last year at our favorite café in the mall.  Our 5 kids played all the time last year in class, so we try and get together every so often.  So that was nice.  I get my eyebrows done just above this café and since I already had my appt. and I didn't want to change it, but of course I start chatting and having my tea and fruit cup and I ended up being late- oops!

I had a bunch of errands to do at the mall/store before running home and getting the cold foods put away and then on to school to pick up Amber and her friend for lunch.  We made a pit stop at the recycling center to get rid of all the boxes from my Ikea purchases that Jason put together.  Then home for lunch and playdate and back to school for ballet.  After ballet Amber went home with her friend's family to the park by our house.  When Sean finished his RE class we came home and then I walked over to the park to get Amber.  The park is back off the street, but I see this little boy about 3 yrs. old, about to walk right in the street.  I stop him and ask him where is his mommy.  All he keeps saying is, "Mama".  So I wait there with him for a few minutes to see if anyone is coming.  I keep looking down all the sidewalks, like maybe he walked ahead, but no one came.  I keep asking him if he came from the park, but all he says is "Mama"  He wasn't scared or crying.  So I take him with me back to the park.  It is all fenced in except the gate that opens to it was open.  So we go to the front of the park and I ask him if he sees his mommy and start pointing at people.  Well whoever the mom was with saw me and sent the mom over.  I told her where I found him and she was so thankful, but he had been gone for a bit.  She thanked me twice before I left.  I asked her if he understood English, they were Asian,  she said he goes to an English crèche, daycare.  So I am glad I found him before he wondered in the street and away!

Once at the park my friend says she will just take Amber home with them and she can play and have dinner b/c I have First Communion practice at the church with Sean.  So they go and then shortly after Sean and I head over to church.  It was not very organized.  I am doing the second reading, but the guy in charge has no idea who signed up to do the first reading so that means the guy doesn't even know what he is reading.  They worked with the kids about where to go and things.  I hope it runs smoothly on Sunday!  After it ended we had to go and pick Amber up.  She was just finishing dinner and it was earlier then I had said.  So she didn't want to leave. 

I got the playroom in the basement organized with the ping pong table in there.  So things are coming together.  My carpet at home in the basement got installed and it seems to look good.  They just need to put the furniture back and then that will be all done.  Then they will take care of some odds and ends we need done too.

Today Jacob's group worked with compasses and then did other outdoor activities.

 

Thursday morning Sean had Chess day at school.  So I went in and Sean taught me how to play chess. 

 

I had never played before.  It was fun, and he beat me!  Then we rotated and played with other kids.  Also going on this morning was the volunteer appreciation breakfast.  So my friend and I went down about 10:15 to that but it was almost over.  Only here would they serve mimosas!  Then I went to see if I could find a little shelving unit for the bathroom that the guests use as there isn't much sink space so I found a nice little unit that fits in well there. 

I got a lot of stuff done at home and then back to school.  Amber went on a field trip today to a farm.  They only needed one volunteer, which surprised me.  I am signed up for the next one.  It was canceled once for rain so we will see!  Sean had bball after school, last one for the year and the neighbor picked him and her daughter up and brought him home.  The handy man stopped by to hang a little coat rack I had bought for Amber.  She isn't tall enough to reach the other ones and I am sick of seeing her coats on the door handles.  So it looks nice in that area that I had cleaned out the other day. 

Jacob's group went rock climbing today and then team building activities.  Not sure what Jacob is doing below.  But today was their last day there, as they leave in the morning to head back.  I am so glad for them that is was sunny every day and it didn't look like it rained! 

 

 

 

Friday! This morning Jacob got on the bus and made the long trip back home!  I went to the crazy store in the morning and the post office.  By the time I got back home I had only a little bit of time to get the cold stuff put away before tennis.  Since it was so nice out today we played outside.  It is definitely harder to play on that clay court.  After tennis I came home and got ready real fast and 2 friends came over and we left together to go to another mom's house from school that makes jewelry.  So that was nice.  We saw her stuff and I got a necklace from her.  By the time we finished that it was getting close to school pickup.  I got an email that Jacob's bus was going to be 30 min. late so wouldn't be getting to school until around 4:30.  Sean went home with a friend for a playdate and Amber went home with a friend for a sleepover.  So I ran some more boxes over to a close recycle place and then back to school to wait.  I chatted with his teacher who came back on the first bus at 4pm.  She said they all did great and it was a good trip!  Jacob arrived a bit before 4:30 and I was very happy he made it home safety! 

 

I gave him a big hug and we went home.  It was actually great that the other 2 weren't there so Jacob and I spent about 30 min. talking about his trip and everything so that was great.  His favorite part was rock climbing, not surprised.  He didn't get any blisters, so I am so glad I bought those more expensive socks to help his feet!  He did a good job of packing his bag back up.  He had clean clothes all folded on one side and the dirty on the other.  Here is a picture of some of the dirty clothes!

 

He did use the laundry bag all week for dirty clothes but then said he couldn't fit the clothes in the bag back into the duffel bag so he dumped them out of the laundry bag and folded them and put them back into the duffel bag.  He said the food was good.  His counselor one day had them lick a slug!  Ok gross.  I guess it numbs your tongue.  Ok that doesn't sound good.  I guess if you eat one it paralyzes your stomach!   It was nice to have him back!  I told him I missed him this week, but there were less crumbs under the table so that was nice too!  Ha!!  When we first walked into the house Jacob noticed the new shelves and shoe racks in that area I had cleaned up.  Then he found the ping pong table!  I forgot to close the door to the playroom to surprise him.  He was so so excited! 

When I went to pick Sean up at his friend's house, the mom had asked him if he wanted to stay and play longer and he had said no, that he wanted to go home and see Jacob.  He didn't even want me to talk to the mom, just go home.  So he was excited Jacob was home.  I knew he would miss him.  I made Jacob give him a hug and then they went downstairs to play ping pong and after dinner Sean asked Jacob to go jump on the trampoline with him, so I think Sean was glad he was back. 

Pictures Jacob took on the trip.

 

 

 

Great photo!

This is the chalet they stayed in for the camping night.

 

 

As you can see they had beautiful scenery!  It looked like the Alps in Austria.

 

Amber had a great time at her friend's house for their sleepover! 

Sean and I got his cakes baked for his 1st Communion this weekend!

 

Sat. morning I did some errands and then picked up Amber from her sleepover.  She had a great time!

I finished making Sean's cake for his Communion.  It turned out nice.  Sean helped with the frosting too. 

My email has lost all my people!  I am really annoyed.  It says it is working on the problem, but this happened like 4 days ago!  So I can't browse or add contacts! 

Jacob went to a friend's house to play.

This afternoon we got ready to go to a friend's house for a First Communion Celebration for Sean, and his friends.  It was very nice and I gave the 2 other boys there those bible books I had ordered.  We picked up Jacob from his friend's house and got to the place for the party and my friend calls me where Jacob just was and said she has to take her dad to the ER can we watch her kids since her husband was out of town.  So Jason dropped us off and went back and picked up her 2 kids and came back.  So we brought 5 kids to the party!  The all had a good time playing together and by the time we left she was back home from the ER. 

 We couldn't get all the kids to be in the picture.

These are the First Communion boys!

 

 

 

I found out today that my cousin's ex-wife shot herself a couple of days ago, horrible.  They had been divorced for awhile.  May she rest in peace. 

Tonight was the big Marathon here and they ran right past our house.  So they closed off our road.  I wasn't sure what time they would close it since the race didn't start until 7pm and we were not near the starting point, so I had Jason park his car a couple blocks away where the road was going to stay open.  So when we left at 3:30 the road was still open but when we got home a little after 8pm and the road was closed and soon after we walked back to the house from the car the runners started coming.  The kids went up to the second floor and opened the window and got a little seating area ready and enjoyed watching people run by.  At around 10:30 Jason went outside to see if people were still running by and he saw the bus pulling up the rear and if you were going slower then the bus you had to get on it and be done!  If you ran the whole race it was around 26 miles! 

 

Week of May 26th, 2013

Sunday was another rainy day!  Amber got her much needed sleep and didn't come in until 8:30am.  So much better then her 6:30 wakeup before with her sleep over friend the night before! 
For lunch Jacob went to a friend's house and spent the entire afternoon there.  I picked him up before dinner.  They play great together and are a very nice family.  They are from Holland.  I stayed for some tea and a little chat when I dropped him off.
Sean had a pool party to go to, so he enjoyed that.  My friend and I went to a lady's house that started selling jewelry.  It looks a bit like Lia Sophia jewelry from home.  So we got a few things. 
I had to make a cake today for my friend's b'day party luncheon we are having tomorrow.  She said she wanted chocolate so it is a rich chocolate cake with frosting.  Our non American friends will have a heart attack!  They are not big sweet eaters.  For her gift we got her one of these one piece jumpsuits.  They are a lounging outfit.  I can't wait to see her face.  It is perfect for her!  It is a Scandinavian/Norwegian  thing.  Sean and I want one too!
Tonight after dinner Jacob and I started getting all his things together for his Swiss trip so I can make sure we have everything.  Friday night when they were on the trampoline his toe got jumped on and it tore /broke it about 1/3 of the way down his nail.  It has been bothering him since and tonight it fell off.  He was grossed out. So hopefully it will be ok by the time he leaves for this trip.  He is a bit worried about it now.  He even had an upset belly tonight and was in the bathroom for a bit. 
Since my old computer is kaput, I had to install the new printer today on the new computer so that is all up and running now. 

Monday morning Jason got up bright and early and got the early morning flight out and headed back to the states.  I did more work with the computer.  Ok it drives me crazy that this computer was bought and set up at home yet when I go to certain sites it changes the language mostly I think to German, but I don't know b/c I can't read it!!  So I needed to buy the Office software to put on the computer, but every time I clicked on it it went to this other language.  Then I tried hitting the translating button and it would go blank!  Then when I tried opening Google Chrome it would also be in that other language.  So I am looking at you tube videos of how to change my google chrome to English and I don't have that little wrench thing they are telling me to click on- ugh!  It was so frustrating. I think it took me an hour to figure something out and finally buy it in English! 
The kids had school, no Memorial Day here, but hope everyone at home had a nice weekend!
For lunch today was my friend's b'day luncheon.  So I brought the chocolate cake and then the ice for margaritas!  I decided I would leave the house a little bit earlier and try and stop by this jewelry place I have seen to see if I could get one watched fixed and 2 that need batteries.  So I pack up everything I need for the afternoon and get there and of course on Monday it isn't open until the afternoon, but they never say what time that may be!!!  Forget it!  I have had these watches waiting for awhile now to be taken care of.
So I got to my friend's house early and helped her finish getting things ready.  She had made a yummy Mexican lunch with a couscous rice bean salad, chicken marinated tacos with some stuff on top, homemade salsa with chips and watermelon.  Everything tasted great!  Then we had cake and presents.  Three of us went in and got her on of those onesie outfits that Sean and I want.  They look so cozy!  Cake was very fudgy, didn't love it. 


After school the sun was a shining today so we stayed outside to let the kids play a bit.  Then Jacob had a friend over.  When we got home later the boys went to the park.  Well the friend hit his head on a bridge and it started bleeding.  It didn't look like a deep cut so I cleaned it off and got ice on it and it was at the end of the playdate so his dad was here about 10 min. later so that was good. 
The kids loved the cake and gobbled it up after dinner!

Tuesday morning after drop off I went to someone's house that I had saw an add for a ping pong table.  I saw the add at school and it was a family from school that is moving back to the states.  So I saw it and it looked nice.  It was a blue table and wasn't used much.  His kids were in high school and he had only bought it a year or so ago from the German base.  But now my problem is getting it from his house to mine!  He asked if I lived close enough to walk it.  Ha, I burst out laughing.  If you could see this town with the cobblestone sidewalks and hills, omg.  I would look hilarious  trying to push this thing home and it would take a couple hours!  So I need to measure my friend's mini van and see if we can bribe her husband to help Jason! 
I got 2 blueberry coffee cakes made, yummy my favorite.  I froze one and then kept one.  My kitchen sink is leaking and the relocation lady is out this week without her email.  How can someone in that job not have access to her email in this day and age?  So I texted her and she sent me the phone number of the place.  I have tried to talk with them before and it isn't pretty so I asked Jason's secretary to call and make an apt for me.  She emails me back and says that the person who makes appts. is not in and they will call me back when they are in.  Ok, really no one else can make appts- ugh!!
Before school got out I had a meeting to attend for the 5th grade parents about moving up to 6th grade.  It looks tough.  One thing they are doing next year is they will be on a letter day system.  So the week will consist of A-H, so an 8 day week.  So instead of saying you have PE every Monday, they say you have PE everyday A day which could be any day of the week.  So that will be difficult for them to get used too.  They will have 6 homeroom 6th grade classes next year.  They talked about how organized they need to be.  Jacob did really well this year knowing everything he had to do and getting it done.  So hopefully that will continue.
After school, Amber went home with her neighbor friend, Sean had math and Jacob played and then got some homework done with his friend.  Once Amber came home she was not in a good mood at all and really whining and tired, and pale looking like she was sick.  She didn't really eat dinner, and right after dinner I gave her a bath and was going to put her to bed but then she seemed to get a second wind and wanted a snack and seemed better.  She had a snack and then fell asleep watching TV shortly after.  So I carried her and had her go potty and tucked her in bed with the sick bucket just in case.  Hopefully she feels better in the morning.
There is no tennis this week as there is some little Olympics going on at the club this week, so we all get a week off. 
Tonight Jacob and I packed his bag for his trip and we were going over some safety rules.  I then asked him if he would like me to get him a whistle.  He has a back pack with him all the time hiking with supplies, etc so he could just put it in there.  And he thought that sounded like a good idea! 
I was telling Jason this and he happened to be out driving so he stopped at a Target- ahh, and picked one up and a few extra things I may have just added to the list!

Wednesday morning Amber was up by 6:15 and maybe even a bit earlier.  She was totally fine, so she must just have been wiped out yesterday. 
After I came home from the store there was 2 places I needed to go not too far away so I walked and then it started raining, but I knew it would so I had my umbrella.  Can't go far without it here!  I first walked to the English book store.  It is nice that it is close by.  I got and then ordered some of the Big Children's Bible books.  It is for grade school children and it picked certain stories from the Bible and elaborated the stories.  So Sean's First Communion is coming up soon and his one friend is having a little party so we will give them all one of the books.  I don't think they have any church stores here like they do at home to buy Communion gifts.   And then I got 2 books for Jacob that I think he will like.  From here I walked back over to the jewelry store that I tried to go to the other day and it was open!  So I figured I would have to drop off the 3 watches there and come back another day, but she took care of everything for a good price!  2 watches needed batteries and my watch I got for my b'day was too big so I had 2 links taken out months ago only to wear it for a day or so and one of the pins fell out and I lost the pin.  So I had another link taken out and they put it back together so now I can finally wear my b'day watch!  So excited! 
Amber went home with her friend and then back for ballet.  Well I get a call from my friend and she said there is no ballet today after they were already there.  Some how neither us or the girls got the memo that b/c this week is a holiday here for locals and the teacher was on vacation there would not be class.  All other schools here go a couple weeks longer then us so they have another vacation week.  So I went over to school.  Then I see the boys waiting for the RE teacher to show up and of course she didn't come b/c her kids were on vacation and maybe she thought we were too I don't know.  But no one told the RE kids there was no class today. Seriously the communication here sucks, they just don't do it!  So we headed home. 
Amber and her one friend have been trying to do a sleep over here a couple of times and someone always ends up getting sick so it has gotten cancelled.  So now we are running out of weekends to do the sleepovers so we made an exception and had her sleep over tonight.

They don't have any homework or tests so ok for now!  They had a busy afternoon playing.  I got some taco soup made, b/c it is cold and rainy here! 
Jason's secretary was helping make an appt. for the kitchen sink and yesterday they told her the person who takes appts. isn't here so they wouldn't take one and today she tried to get a hold of them and couldn't- annoying!!

Thursday morning, the sleepover went well and the girls came groggy looking down to breakfast right before I was about to wake them up so it was perfect.  Then we got everyone ready for school.

This morning I read to Amber's class.  It was Countdown to Kindergarten!  They are almost there!
I noticed that this week the mail man now has a little bright yellow van.  He can't use it to go house to house, but he parks it close by and then does so many and then drives on.  Well his new parking spot is right in front of my driveway.  He could move it back a bit more and actually just park in front of my house, but he seems to prefer to just block the driveway.
I got my car all cleaned out since I will drive for our girls' shopping trip on Sat.
Amber went home with a friend after school, Sean had bball so just Jacob and I went home.  When bball ended it was my turn to pick up Sean and the neighbor girl that does it too and her older brother then came home with us as well.  Later back out to get Amber and the Jacob had guitar.
Once back at home I asked Sean to go and pull the yard waste bin around to the front b/c they will come and pick it up tomorrow and he does that and then rings the door bell and is holding a huge snail he found just in the grass!  This goes to show we have too much rain here!

 

This is a bad picture of it, but you can see how big it is that I can see it from inside the house!! Gross!!

 

This is a close up of it back in the grass going along on his merry way!

 

Friday, yeah!  I had coffee with some friends at school then home for the sink repair man to come.  He was actually early, surprisingly!  He looked at the sink and took out the hose and head of the sink and said he had to go buy a new one b/c he didn't have one in the truck, at least that is what I think he said in French.  So he comes back with it and I hear him talking to himself in there and I don't think it is going well!  So he gets it all put back together and says it is ok, but something about the faucet not being good.  So I call the relocation lady and have her talk to him.  So I asked him if he was coming back to fix the faucet and he said he didn't know.  So I think that the owner has to approve it, so we will see what happens.  But my sink isn't leaking anymore for now.

Then I ran to the store which was packed since it was Friday and around lunch time.  Still trying to figure out how to get the ping pong table to my house.

Today one of my friends from Sweden had their last day here.  Her son isn't in Amber's class but is the only other kid with red hair.  They were here for about 1 1/2 years and are moving back home.  So she was sad to be leaving.  They were very nice. 

After school Amber had a b'day party to go too at the big indoor play area.  So I let each boy bring a friend and then one of them brought another boy too, so I was watching all the kids!

Amber had fun, but the kids get so thirsty there running around and of course you can't bring in your own drinks, so I kept buying waters, waters, waters.  The girl who was having the party actually went home from school sick today.  Poor thing.  She missed some of her party b/c her mom had her at the Dr. office since she had a fever and then ended with an ear infection.  So she didn't play too much once she got to the party.  Once the party ended at 5:30 I was going to order us dinner, although the party had a ton of food they had ordered but Amber didn't eat much.  So I asked the waitress and she was telling me in French that the kitchen is closed and wouldn't open until 18:00.  When people say a couple sentences in French it always takes me a minute to translate it and then with the military time as well I was just trying to process it all!  Ok now that I got it and they don't open the kitchen until 6pm for food.  Really.  You have a whole big area full of kids and some parents and they won't serve food until 6pm- ugh!  This happened to me once last year and I must not have remembered they didn't open until then.  She wouldn't even take my order so I could have my food at 6pm.  So then it didn't work out b/c we had to leave by 6:15 for the boys hair appts.  Amber and Sean had snacks from the party but Jacob didn't. 

My haircut lady was annoyed when she saw the boys all sweaty now getting their hair cut.  I didn't even think about that when I changed their appt.  Jason and the boys were all suppose to go tomorrow but since he is out of town and then I am going to be gone for the day I had to change our day.  She was out of town until earlier in the week and Jacob leaves on Sunday.  So not a lot of time to get it done. 

By the time we got home it was about 7:15pm.  I got some food together for dinner and everyone got cleaned up and then the boys rented a movie. 

 

Sat. was a girls' day out!!  My sitter came at 7:45am, the boys were already up and I had feed them.  Amber was still in bed.  I left and went to pick up two other friends.  My GPS was going crazy and the others either couldn't bring it b/c their husband needed it or it was built into their cars.  So one of the girls printed out the directions.  We were going shopping in Holland and Belgium today.  So I first drove 2 1/2 hours to Belgium to the outlet mall.  It was so foggy at times I couldn't see very far ahead.  The outlet mall was very American looking and had a parking lot for about 100 or more cars!  So I was happy with that!  The stores were more upscale then what I like, but one of my friends liked it and got quite a few things.  There was only one restaurant there so we ate there for lunch and all had a really good Bruschetta salad.  We finished the stores around 3pm.  From here I drove to Maastricht in Holland, so about 30 min.  Traffic was great driving all day.  I couldn't believe it!  So I found the garage close to the city center and we went in and walked around and did shopping there for about 2 hours.  It was very nice.  Much better stores and it was nice outside now and lots of people around.  We found this really good soap/bath store.  Things smelled so good.  So we all got things from there.  We had to leave here a bit after 5pm b/c we had dinner reservations downtown Lux for the 3 of us.  So we went back and drop off the girls' packages and then dropped off the car at home and took a taxi to the Grund area and went to dinner.  It was very nice.  It is a sushi place.  They had the sushi and my friend recommend I try the raw fish platter, like what we had at her house the other week.  It was good.  I can't believe I like it and am eating it!  It was raw salmon, cod, scallops- were wonderful, duck, tuna, squid.  I didn't eat all of it so then we traded and my friend ate it.  I notice that it doesn't leave you with a really heavy felling in your stomach after having a dinner, so that was nice.  We had a great day!

Jason got home around lunch time and then was home with the kids so that was good.