Week of December 11th

Sunday Jason took all the kids to a big indoor play, climby area here.  Then they went out to lunch at a place like McDonalds, a burger place.
I had nice peaceful morning trying to get things done around here.

Monday morning I helped stuff 830 invitations into enevelopes for the PTO wine tasting we are doing!  Only came away with one bad papercut.
Jacob only has 1/2 of the normal homework load this week.  Sean didn't have any besides reading.  He has his big concert this week at school.  I think a lot of kids are leaving for the holidays so their classes are going to be smaller this week.
The kids got their haircuts this evening after we picked Sean up from ball skills.  Amber did such a good job sitting on the booster seat and so still for her hair cut.   On the way home we saw this van that someone had painted to look just like the Scooby Doo Van- so funny!

Tuesday it poured, poured and poured.  It started raining in the middle of the night and then just never stopped until around 4pm today for a bit and then started up again.  It makes it very difficult to get the kids to school, one it is still dark out and then pouring and walking them all into school. 
I got quite a few inches cut off my hair today and then highlights as well so I look nice and young again- ha!
We did a make up gymnastics class for Amber today since I took her there last week and I couldn't get her to participate.  Then to pick up the boys from school was awful.  Did I mention it was pouring today?  When I went to park in the parking garage, I got there right before the last spots were taken and then people were just parking behind people's parked cars and sitting there.  It was crazy.  It was so windy and my hood wouldn't stay on, our umbrellas were turning inside out, and we got soaked.  I actually had to change Amber's pants when we got home b/c she was so wet.  I had those high rain boots on, my winter coat that comes to my thighs, and between those my jeans were soaked.  Nothing better then wet heavy winter coats, and mittens- ugh!
Rain, rain, go away!


Wednesday was raining again in the morning and I had to get the 3 preschool teacher's big gift baskets into school.  That was difficult since they were so heavy too.  What we did was each child brough in an item from their home country and I put them in a basket and wrapped it.  So it turned out very nice.  But 18 items in each basket made them quite heavy and in the rain to carry in!  Then I went to a travel agent to help me find some place to go for spring break.  Already thinking warmer weather (:
Then before Amber's day ended they had a little Christmas show with about 5 songs they sung and then we had some gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate with the parents.  So that was nice, and then I presented the teachers with their gift baskets as well.  Amber loved the singing and the dancing!
Then after school her one boy friend came over and they were busy playing, then cutting, coloring, glueing, and painting their projects.  They play so well together!
The boys had RE class today and the teacher gave them some yummy clemintine oranges wrapped up and an ornament.  The oranges are very good here this time of year!
Jacob's guitar teacher had canceled class for tonight and I was glad not to have to go back out in the rain.

Thursday Amber had a meltdown at school when I went to leave the teachers had to peel her off my leg.  That is not like her.
The electrician that came by a few weeks ago, just showed up today.  Luckily Jason was still here and hadn't left to come to Sean's program.
Sean had his Christmas concert during the morning, so both Jason and I went in for it.  They did a great job. Some kids had speaking parts and it was neat to hear everyone's different accents when speaking English.

 It was 1st and 2nd grade combined.  They sung some songs together and some separate.  1st grade did a dance to the Katie Perry song "Fireworks"  It was so cute.  There was this one boy that had his little suit on and he was getting his groove on.  He had all the beats and moves down and was totally into it. He was so cute!
Amber had gymnastics and this week they must have been able to wear costumes to class, but since I couldn't get Amber to go last week we missed the announcement.  So a few of the kids were dressed up in costumes.  But I get the feeling that since Amber doesn't have any good friends in the class she is not enjoying it as much.  She always seems to like a buddy to do things with and while she runs and plays with all of the children I don't think any of the other kids speak English.
Sean looked very cute in his nice clothes today, but then when he gets in the car after school he tells me that he didn't go to the bathroom all day b/c he couldn't get his pants unbuttoned- poor thing.  I said please ask your teacher to help you if that ever happens again. She is so sweet and would understand.
Here is Pinkilicious Minnie mouse

Friday morning Jason tells me he is going to take my car to get it registered in town.  He had all the paperwork ready, but also needed the car in case it needed an inspection.  So I go and get all my stuff out of my car that I need and he leaves with my car.  It is again pouring out.  His car is parked outside and we are getting soaked getting everyone in the car.  Once in the car Jason calls and says he forget to take his work badge out so if I could leave that at home for him.  So I go get soaked again. 

So his car is too technologically advanced for me.  I can't even get the car started.   It doesn't have a key just this box thing you put in and then you have to press the start button.  So I am doing this and still can't get it to start, so I call Jason back and I guess you also have to have your foot on the brake- ha.  I can't figure this car out.  Then I realize that he doesn't have the school sticker on the window, so I have to call him back and ask where it is.  He tells me it is in the glove box.  Ok how do I get in there.  I can't find the stupid button to open it.  It is still black outside and I am trying to open the door a bit to light the car up b/c of course I can't find the light button either and it is getting wet inside the car and I can't find the button at all. It isn't actually on the glove box.  If you don't have the sticker there is a chance you can't get in the parking lot at school and then if you park without your sticker you will get a ticket.  So now I am getting very mad at Jason.  So we get to school and I am able to get in the parking lot and once parked there is some light there and I finally find the black button just on the dashboard and put the sticker on- ugh so much for this car!

Jason waited about an hour at the car place only to find out that he is missing a document from the previous owner.  Luckily he didn't waste any more time there.  So now we need to find the previous owners through friends to get this done, and of course 2 of the documents we had were time sensitive so now we will need to go get these done again when he is ready to go again.  The good thing is that next time he won't need to bring the car b/c the guy said he doesn't need an inspection yet. 

So when Jason came home to get his work badge we just switched back cars, only to find when I leave a bit later that Jason has now left his phone in my car!

This morning I decided to drive to Belgium and go to Ikea.  It is only about 20 min. away, but it was raining so hard and so foggy I couldn't even see Ikea and it is of course right along the highway. 

I got some lamps, a rug and a table for behind the couch.  The table box was a bit heavy but I got it in the cart.  So when I got to the car if I knew that if I could get the seats down in the back it would fit in fine, well no surprise I couldn't get the seats down.  So I am standing there in the pouring rain trying to shove this box inbetween the back seats but it is too heavy for me to get up to the height of the seats.  So I see this younger guy walking in and I of course can't actually form a sentence but ask if he can please help me, and thankfully he is able to get it in the car for me- thank you!

Today the kids had Christmas parties and were very excited to be done with school for awhile!

Week of December 4th, 2011

Sunday after church we took the kids out to lunch at a kind of American BBQ restaurant.  Then we walked around the mall a bit before our movie was to start.

After this we went to see Happy Feet 2.  It was the only kids movie in English.  The other ones were in French and German.  If you want to buy anything for your movie you walk into this self service area.  They have all different sizes of popcorn lining the wall in the back so you grab what you want, they have ice cream bars, drinks, candy bins to pick out pieces of candy that you put in a bag, and slushies- the boys were so excited!  And of course Amber wanted one too!  Then you just take all your stuff to the check out line.  It is faster then waiting in line at home.  So we bought the ticket and told her we wanted the English version.  When we are in the theatre the kids that are coming in are not speaking English.  I start thinking I don't think we are in the right theatre b/c if the kids aren't speaking in English more then likely they wouldn't be coming to see a movie in English.  So I look at the tickets and it has a D after the movie, which means German.  So we go back and ask the ticket checker guy which theatre is the English version in and he tells us we need to go back down to the ticket booth and get a new ticket- ugh!  So a bit later Jason comes back with the right one.  This theatre wasn't too crowded.  But it is huge.  Bigger then the ones at home and the screen is like the full length of the wall in front.
I had gotten sausages for Jason to grill out for dinner, and it was so dark outside at 5pm and there is only one light outside but on the other side of the patio that he had to use a flashlight to grill!
Later in the evening I went out to dinner with 2 good friends, one of who is moving this week to Norway.  So sad.  So we had a nice evening out at a Thai restuarant.

Monday I had the PTO meeting and then after school Amber had a friend over for lunch and a playdate.  They had a fun time giggling and playing!  Then we dropped her friend off and headed back to school a bit earlier to help make the St. Nickolas goodie bags the preschoolers will get tomorrow for St. Nicholas Day! 
Ball skills has ended for now so home to do homework and work with Sean on his diaorama.  He is doing the desert.
Jacob came home from school today and told us the Black Santa story that his French teacher had told him.  Not a pleasant story or appropriate to tell children!
There was a butcher that lived in the forest.  One day 3 children stopped by his house and asked if they could come in and get something to eat.  He said sure and ended up chopping them up, putting them in a box with salt on it and storing them in the basement for 7 years.  Then one day St. Nicholas comes by the butcher's shop and ask for some meat.  The first plate he brings him, St. Nicholas says this is not good enough, the 2nd plate he brings to St. Nicholas he says isn't good enough.  Then the butcher says he has some good meat in the basement. St. Nicholas says stop, where are those 3 children?  The butcher takes him downstairs and St. Nicholas puts his hands on the boxes and brings the children back to life.   The butcher becomes the black santa and goes around with St. Nicholas all dressed in black and with tree sticks that if a child is bad he hits them with the sticks?  Ok nice story for a teacher to be telling.
My kids put their shoes out tonight in hopes of St. Nicholas bringing them a little gift!  Of course Amber had to put her pink sparkly shoes out for him.

Tuesday the kids were excited to wake up and see that St. Nicholas had left gifts.  They got a cholocate St. Nicholas, the boys each got a lego gift, and Amber got a princess ornament and a baby bottle for her babies! 

This morning at preschool when Amber went to put on her indoor shoes there was only one there!  St. Nicholas had come to the preschool and taken one of all the kids shoes and put it in the classroom with a goodie bag inside it.

Here St. Nicholas is very much celebrated.  So in the goodie bag was a St. Nicholas chocolate a yummy gingerbread type biscuit, and a clementine.
Jacob got a goodie bag too at school with a clementine and a chocolate St. Nicholas as well.
Since last month the stores have been selling certain sweet breads in the shape of a gingerbread man.  Some are plain, some have choc. chips in them, some all choc. on top, some like a fruit cake, and today was the Gingerbread Man Giant!

I bought 2.  One for one of Amber's friend who has been really sick, and one for us.  Sean saw it and went running out of the kitchen screaming the gingerbread man was going to get him! Ha
Tonight we baked our yummy Christmas tree cookies.  We got as far as making the dough, refrigerating it, rolling them out and baking them.  The frosting will have to be done another day.
Here is a picture of the view outside of Jason's office.

Wednesday we cut into the giant gingerbread man and he is delicious!  It is a very sweet bread with a little frosting on top.
The fog here has lifted and now the rain has settled in.  It has been raining on and off for a few days now.  We are using our rain boots here more then our winter boots!  And of course today I had to carry in Sean's diaoroma in the rain.  Not a good day for that., 
Today was suppose to be our going away party for Amber's good friend that is moving, but she has been really sick this week at home and another good friend of Amber's just came back to school today after being out really sick!  It is so sad that she is moving this week and hasn't been able to spend any time with her friends ):  So we are moving the party to Friday afternoon in hopes that everyone is healthy!
At guitar lesson tonight it just poured buckets, and I was worried how we would all make it to the car which is not close and no umbrellas.  But luckily it had calmed down quite a bit by the time we had to leave.
Tonight we were able to frost the christmas tree cookies we had made last night and then everyone got a nice cookie treat!

Thursday we had our last morning coffee at the mall with my good friend from Norway who is moving back home this weekend ):
Amber had her gymnastics class today and we went and I got her b'day party all set to be there, but she was so tired from not going to bed last night until way past her bedtime that she was so tired and crabby she wouldn't stay there, so we left.
Jacob had bball practice and I found out that I am housing 2 boys from Belgium who are coming down to play games this weekend,  Should be interesting.  They have 2 games on Friday night and 2 on Sat. morning/afternoon.  Alot of bball for one weekend!

Friday early morning it was so windy that the medal shutters that cover the windows on the outside were making a lot of noise and it woke Amber up who ended up in bed with us scared.
In the morning I had a few errands to do and then got the food ready for our going away party for my friend and her daughter- Elise.  Elise and Amber have had a wonderful time playing together and have really made a connenction.  She talks about her on the weekends and is always trying to invite her to come over.  Her mom and I got together a lot for coffee's.  They have been here for 3 1/2 years, so now they are headed back to Norway.
After school I picked up Amber and a one of her boy friends from school and we went over to my friend's house for the going away party.  It was very nice.  It was just a handful of close friends.  We had a lovely time, but a sad day.  We will hopefully we able to go and visit them one day.   So safe travels and we will miss you!

Amber has her arm around her friend!

Jacob had 2 bball games tonight and Sean had a party to attend on the other side of town so Jason went to the games.  We were suppose to house 2 of the opposing team boys, and Jason calls a bit after 7pm when the games were over to let me know they were on their way home so I could start dishing up their dinners and says we didn't have to take any boys.  I kept asking him are you sure.  I could just see 2 boys just standing out there b/c Jason left them behind.  But not all the players must have come or last minute older boys may have housed them.  So Jacob got to play one quarter of each game.  The size difference b/t the boys is pretty big.  The older boys are a good whole head taller then the 4th graders and Jacob is a good size for 4th grade! 

Sat. Jacob had to go back in the morning to school for 2 more games, but they were spaced out a bit one at 10 and one at 1pm.  So I had a handyman come over in the morning to take care of a few things here and then we joined Jason and went to the 1pm game.  Jacob played part of each game again.  Long day at school for him with basketball.  But he enjoyed it and has about 5 friends on the team so it was good.
In the evening we had Jason's Christmas work party.  My sitter canceled on me at the last minute but thankfully she found one of her friends to babysit for us.  So that was good.  The party was at Jason's bosses house.  They live outside of town so have a house, and not just a house I would say a US mansion.  It was amazing, and especially for a place like here you don't see anything like this.  It was a huge Italian Villa.  So beautiful.  I would have taken pictures if Jason would have let me (:  The woodwork in the house and built in's were amazing.  In the dining room all the furniture was built in except the table, but even had couches built in along the curved wall that jutted out with windows.  Over the buffet built in in the dining room, which was the length of the wall, was a glass scene from  St. Mark's Square in Venice.  I recognized it right away since we were just there.  Beautiful!

Week of November 27th 2011

Sunday we went over to the International Bazzar that was going on in town.  It was in a convention hall.  They had around 50 some countries represented there.  It was neat to see, but boy was it smoky in there from everyone cooking their different foods.  We left there smelling like a cross between Indian and Chinese food.  But we sampled some different foods.  Our favorite booth was the American one, of course.  We loaded up on our food supplies.  The American Woman's club was the one running the 2 booths so they were selling all their food we like to buy!  They also were selling chili, and nachos, so we had some of that too! 
This afternoon I attempted to put together the gingerbread house pieces I had bought.  I put together the house a bit wrong and of course the instructions were all in German so that didn't help.  After the kids saw what the house looked like only Amber wanted to decorate it.  Oh well, I tried!

Monday I had a meeting in the morning at a woman's house for organizing the Wine Tasting we are doing in Jan, with the PTO. 
At school this morning it was icy and wet outside and once we got inside the school, Sean slipped down the same stairs twice, poor thing.
I like our Monday afternoons since Amber and I have a longer time to do things together, before all the after school commotion begins.  So today we baked some Christmas cookies.  These are the ones we call Santa cookies (since we normally leave these for him) and they are peanut butter cookies with the hersey kisses on top.  Good thing the American Woman's club was selling the hersey kisses at the Bazzar this weekend, b/c they don't have them here otherwise.
Today at ball skills the boys played cricket.  That is something they wouldn't have played at home!

Tuesday Amber was going to do a makeup at her gymnastics class today, but she wasn't feeling too good after school, bad cough.  And she actually asked to take a nap.  I know my kids are sick when they ask to take a nap!  So I called them to tell them she wouldn't be there.  I spoke in French to the lady to tell her, and she answers me in English "I don't speak English.  I give you to my collegue"  Ok I was speaking in French.  So much for that!
Little Christmas tree stands have started popping up around town.  Mostly small and medium sized trees here. 
This week is the big 4th and 5th grade musical on 2 evenings so the 4th graders don't have any homework this week.  That made Jacob's week!
Jacob had his first basketball practice tonight.  Here the sport is not that popular and so the team is 4-6th grade.  The have practice 2 times a week and games on the weekend.  I am not sure that the 4th graders always get to play in all the games and no away games as they are in different countries so the kids have to take a bus and get housed with familes from the other school- kind of cool!  Here it isn't quite as organized as at home.  When they have a home game with a team from a different country we have to house 2 of the boys.
So practice is right after school.  They go and change into their practice clothes and have practice for an hour.

Wednesday Amber was still coughing so I kept her home from school.  Jason was able to drive the boys to school and they are old enough to just be dropped off in the parking lot on the side where they have people helping the kids out of the car.
Amber and I had a nice peaceful day at home and got a lot of things done here, ran one errand to go get a special ingred. for something I am making for a party next week but was at the import store.  We made brownies for the reception after Jacob's musical tomorrow.  And Amber got a nice 2 hour nap in! 
Today at school Jacob's grade performed the musical for the rest of the lower school.  And I guess during this the fire alarm went off.  So all the kids had to go outside with no coats on and then the kids in the musical either had bare feet or socks on so all of them were freezing outside on the wet ground.  There was no fire thank goodness but bad timing for all the kids.  I guess it was the Kindergarden class that burnt something and then the fire alarm went off.  Jacob's socks were soaked after that so he took them off and just wore his tennis shoes the whole day.
Tonight they performed the musical for the families so we all went to that.  It was very nice.  It was 4th and 5th grade together so about 160 kids.  It was 1 1/2 hours long with no breaks.  They did a great job.  Sean had seen it earlier in the day and still really liked watching it again and Amber did pretty good during it as well.  It was called Pirates of the Curry Bean.

Since today was Dec. 1st, the children got to start their advent calendars.  We bought them in Switzerland on our way back from Italy.  So every morning when they open a little door they get a piece of chocolate.  Not a bad way to start each day (:  I need to find one of these in a 12 month calendar for myself!
Later I met some friends out at the mall for coffee.  It was nice, but I left early and rushed home for French only for the teacher to call me and tell me she was going to be 1/2 hr. late.
At coffee the girls were telling me all these things I am suppose to be doing, like putting some stuff in my washing machine and my dishwasher b/c of the water here to help prevent mineral buildup.  Great my machines will probably explod!  I need an instruction manual to live here.
Amber didn't want to stay the whole time at gymnastics today so we left early.  Jacob had bball practice and then we rushed home for him to eat dinner and get ready for round 2 of his musical.  Jason got home early enough to stay with the other 2 so I could just go with Jacob.  After the musical they had a little reception for the kids in the cafeteria.  We brought in brownies.  They did a great job!

Friday was coffee with preschool parents and off to the crazy store.  Friday it is so crowded mostly elderly people.  Now that the holidays are here the stores are all open on Sundays too.
So the kids love having the elf here but it is actually quite a task for me.  I have to remember each night for the elf to get into something.  So the story goes that once the children fall asleep the elf flies back to Santa and reports to him how the children behaved that day and when he comes back to your house he gets into something.  When the children wake up the next morning they have to find the elf.  I am already running out of ideas and I have a whole month to go!  Sean just loves the elf and writes him notes every night.  So far I haven't forgotten this year yet, but last year I remember waking up in the middle of the night and realizing I hadn't moved him yet and running downstairs to take care of an elf!   So if anyone has any good ideas please let me know!

Saturday we drove about 2 hours away to visit the Christmas markets in Strasbourg, France.  This is one of the oldest known markets in France, dating back to 1570!  They have a huge cathedral in town and it reminded me a lot of the one in Colgone, Germany/

Amber and Sean on the merry go round in the helicopter.

 Strasbourg has some rivers running through it.

 There are about 10 or so different Christmas markets around town, mainly close to the Cathedral.  Here is one walkway that has beautiful chandeliers hanging up enclosed in screens.  My picture doesn't do it justice.

 Here is a double decker horse carriage ride.  So cool.  It looks like something out of Harry Potter!

The town has these beautiful stores/houses all decorated for Christmas.

Today it was packed with people as you can see. 

We had a fun time.  We got there around 10:15 or so and the markets opened at 10 and most of the garages were already full.  We ended up finding a spot on the street and just paid the meter for a ticket to put in our car.  Amber was mad this is what we were doing today so after about 10 min. she laid down in the stroller, put her hat over her face and fell asleep for about an hour.  It was great!  We walked around and saw a lot of the markets and sampled different foods/sweets/hot chocolate.  We picked up a few ornaments and Christmas items so it was nice.  It was a cold day today and when we were walking back to the car it started to rain.  On the way home Sean fell asleep. 

This morning when I went downstairs in the basement to get something out of the fridge there was this awful smell.  It was this cheese I had bought.  The cheese aisle at the store almost makes me gag.  It smells like moldy cheese/milk- yuck. So here of course they have their own cheese deli like counter for all the cheese people buy here, and then also a refrigerated section of cheeses where I bought this one from.  Then the milk is one the other side and the eggs are in a small aisle in the middle of those 2 aisles.

So for dinner I thought we would try this cheese.  It is kind of like a fondue.  You put this round cheese in a wood dish into the oven and warm it up, then cut it open and put it back in the oven until it is bubbling.  Then you can dip bread, potatoes, veg. or whatever you like in the cheese.  It was quite good.  Had some wine with it and the kids had some other things with it and it was a nice warm meal after being outside all day!

Here is a picture of the boys in the tree lot at one of the markets.  You can see they are not very big here, since most people have smaller places.

Week of Thanksgiving 2011

Sunday I had Jason dig out the Christmas tree so we could take a look at it.  We had bought it from some expats leaving and it is a tree from the states so we needed an adapter to plug it in, only to find out the lights that were on the tree didn't work!  It looks kind of like a Charlie Brown tree, but we decided we will keep it and make do.  So we put it together and I had bought some ornaments and things to make it look a bit better.

 The kids love Chrismtas time, so why not just put the tree up and enjoy it.  The elf is coming this week as well, so I like it when the tree is up for his visit.
Then we went and did a Saint Nicholas train ride in the afternoon.  You ride this train from the 1900's, an old steam train.

On the train ride are what they call here the Black Santa.  I don't really understand it, but basically instead of telling a child if you are naughty you are going to get coal in your stocking, you tell him if you don't behave the Black Santa is going to come and take you?  So these 3 Black Santas were on our train.  They are wearing black robes with big black hodes, they have long black beards, and their faces that are showing are painted black.  They are carrying sacks and sticks.  They came by our seats and asked each child if they had been being good and then gave them a handful of nuts and candy.

A little scary!!

 The train drops you off at this station house and here you wait in line for your picture with St. Nicholas.  We went with 2 other preschool families and it was nice.  It was a long wait in line.  When it was their turn to talk to St. Nicholas who looks more like a Bishop than Santa Claus, you don't sit on his lap you just talk to him for a minute which I was glad to hear he spoke English and then he gave each child a huge goodie bag with cookies and candy bars. 

This is the huge goodie bag all the kids got from St. Nicholas.

After our pictures we quickly hoped back on the outgoing train to get back to the station since we had a b'day party to get too.
One of Amber's friends was having a b'day party in the evening and invited the whole family.  It was fun.  They had these fire pit things out back and we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.  We all had a nice time!

Monday Jason flew to the Netherlands for a day.  The kids did not have school today for a teacher work day.  We got into the chiropractor, and then we were going to go to the big indoor climby place with friends.  We get there and saw that it is closed on Mondays ):  Many things are, but none of us even thought about checking that out.  So since it was a nice sunny day we took the kids to the big park and they all played for a couple of hours.  Burned off some energy! 
I had ordered a speedo for Jacob for swim class he will start in gym soon.  He was not happy about it, but I ordered him the longer one that looks like biking shorts.  I was so excited that I found it cheapier online.  The suit and shipping I only paid 20 euros for it.  Here in the stores they started at 24- 40 euros!
When we got home from the park we baked our yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip coffee cake for Thanksgiving this week!  For dinner we tried the Cranberry Salad I had made over the weekend.  It turned out ok.  More of a yogurt consistency then all set up, but the taste was similiar and everyone gobbled it up!

Tuesday I ran to the store to pick up the last few ingredients for baking things, and had French.  After Amber came home we made our poppy seed bread to take to friend's house for Thanksgiving, and then give one loaf to our good friend that is moving.  Then in the evening we baked Pumpkin Pie Squares that I will bring in to the preschool as my friend and I are doing a little Turkey/Thanksgiving presentation to Amber's class tomorrow.  Hopefully my voice will come back soon.  I lost it last week and I still sound like a frog!
Jason tried this morning to fly out of Amerstdam, only to have his flight cancelled until the end of the day.  The fog from the day before had hardly lifted.  We had other friends trying to fly in and out of there this weekend and also had delays/cancellations.  So he ended up taking a train to Brussells and then changing trains to get here.  So it was an all day travel day.

Wednesday morning my friend and I went in to the kids preschool class and did our Thanksgiving presentation.  I also brought my Pumpkin squares and everything went well.  We had kids that didn't want to try any pumpkin squares to some kids that had 2 pieces.  The teachers enjoyed it though! 

After school we met up again with our 4 other preschool friends and their moms for lunch at a Italian restaurant that is very kid friendly with a little kids corner.  This restaurant has no parking so I ended up having to park like 3 or so blocks away, about half way home to my house!  To park here you need to either pay or you have a disk that you can use for up to 2 hours.  So I am always using my disk, but not really entirelly sure I am allowed to use it everywhere.  So as usual it is right on the 2 hour mark when we make it quickly back to the car and I am always wondering if one day I am going to end up with a ticket. 
Amber had so much fun in the kids corner at the restaurant she came home with gum in her hair!  It was at the ends but so tangled up in there, so I just cut it out.  Since it was at the ends it isn't too noticable.
I finally found/figured out what bleach is here so was able to buy that to help my whites look whiter. 
I still don't understand how I can put something in the wash, any color, the machine washes it for like 2 hours or so and it still comes out with stains on it?  I even put on stain remover!  ugh!  I miss my machines from home ):
I washed Jacob's comforter oh my gosh you should have seen me try and shove that thing in the machine, ha.  To get it out I basically had to put my foot on the machine and pull it out!!
The other thing I can't stand is when I open the washing machine and start to take out the clothes everything falls onto the floor- can you tell I don't like these machines (:
After guitar tonight we came home and I made the yummy Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving.  Here all the ingredients for things are no where to be found!  The corn syrup and brown sugar are from the Brititsh store like 30 min. away.  The pecans Jason brought back for me.  And the pie crust dough was from the American Woman's Club.  They don't have 9 in. pie pans here either. Here they have tart pans.  So it is more a Pecan tart looking thing!  And no cool whip here either.  I bought that from the Woman's club as well.
Jason finally received his company car that he ordered 3 months ago!  Automatics are hard to come by.  So what he ordered was a BMW X5.  It is like a small SUV.  It seats 7 but it is tight for the 2 in the back.  Keep in mind here these higher end cars are everywhere.  Even the cabs are Mercedes Benzs.  The other day I saw a cab that was a Jaguar!
Tonight it is time to get the Elf out and ready for the children!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  The elf came last night and brought his note and a few little gifts for the kids!   They didn't even notice him over by the tree.  I finally had to lead Amber over there to see him.

Jason really likes driving his new car.  I emailed him and asked him if he really went to work today or was just driving around in his new car!  He said not to bother him b/c he was driving around in the fog and had to be careful! Ha!  It is still so foggy here.
Jacob was buying lunch today and they were serving a Thanksgiving meal with turkey and sides and such so that was nice.
I made one last thing to bring for the Thanksgiving dinner, a yummy sweet potato casserole that my friend here had given me her recipe.  It was a little crazy after school getting that ready, having the boys hurry up and finish with their homework and get everyone changed.  Not your typical Thanksgiving for us!
Jason came home from work early and we went to some friends house tonight to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was lovely.  They had 5 families over and then one couple just came for drinks before dinner.  They had made 2 turkeys and kids meals and everything was so good!  We enjoyed everyone's company and gave thanks for all that we are thankful for (:  Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday was a hard day for everyone to get up early.  I brought in some of my pumpkin chocolate chip coffee cake to share with friends at coffee.  Later in the morning I went into Sean's class to volunteer.  I helped with a craft project they were making for the holidays.  While I am there I get a call from the school nurse, and I am thinking well this can't be Sean, that Jacob isn't feeling well and to come get him.  Since we wasn't getting sick and didn't have a fever I asked if he could stay with the nurse just a bit longer until I finished with Sean's class and that was fine.  So I went and got Jacob and it was around 12, and then we went and picked up Amber about 15 min. early too. 
He must have eaten something yesterday that didn't agree with him, b/c he wasn't feeling well at home, then once it got out of his system he was feeling much better. 
Jason was having a slower day at work as I am sure not many people were working in the US, so he was able to pick Sean up from school and then they ran downtown to do some more moving paperwork!
With it being Black Friday I did some online shopping today, and got some good prices on things so I was happy with that.
Tonight we had movie night that we were able to rent through the TV, Spy Kids 4.  We decided to try and do a kids movie night and adult movie night.  So after the kids were watching their movie we started it with them, and then a bit later we rented The Change Up on the Ipad for us.  The movie was funny, but it took us 3 1/2 hours to get through the 1 1/2 movie b/c we had to keep stopping it for multiple reasons.  So much for our movie night!

Saturday we went to the farmer's market in the city and then the Christmas market there was also open.  Here they build these little wood houses and people sell their things.  Christmas markets are very big in Europe. They had a nice stage with trees where people were singing.  They have a big tree decorated.

The boys don't like their picture being taken anymore, but can you tell who still does!

We shopped around and tried to convience the kids to eat the brats/sausages for lunch, but they wanted McDonalds which was right there.  So that is where we ended up.
In the afternoon Amber had a b'day party to attend.  She had a lot of fun.  It was on the other side of town at a tennis club.  They had a face painter come and do the girls' faces.  Amber wanted a butterfly.
She did a great job!

They did crafts at the party, had pizza, fries, cupcakes and played a game.  Amber loved it all!
Tonight we finished putting up our few other christmas decorations and the kids wrote their letters to Santa and we are almost finished reading our Turkey/Thanksgiving books, and we finally read the Elf book!

Week of November 13th

Sunday we skipped church, don't tell the big guy!  We decided to go and visit a castle in France.  It is actually right near the border of Germany and Luxembourg too.  It is up on a big hill in a tiny little town.

It is only about 1/2 hr. from here.  It is called Chateau de Malbrouck.  Construction was started by lord of VI Arnold Sierck in 1419 and was completed in 1434. 

The king lived to be 90 years old, had 3 wives and 7 children.  Not sure how long people lived in the castle for, but it eventually became ruins.  So in 1975 the castle was bought and in 1991 renovations started and were completed in 1998.   It was the 2nd most expensive renovation project France has done- 18 million euros.  So the castle is beautiful on the outside and pretty neat on the inside.   One of the turrets was missing the top 1/3 of it I would say and they turned it into a theatre area where they left some of the orignal stone exposed.

The rest of the castle is set up as an art exhibit.  So the different rooms you walk in don't say much about the castle, just the art.  But the castle is neat to see.  The views from the top of the castle are amazing.

Just a few little towns around the area.
From here we drove to another castle about 10 min. away.

This one is still in ruins.  It was built into a hill within the city right along the Moselle River.

So you can see the ground level which is the hill top, and then there are a few rooms open to see.  Alot of ammuntion rooms, water room, and a oven room.  We walked into the tavern part of the castle which we found out was a private party, but one guy told us that they have a medevil festival there in August and they use the oven room to make pizzas and it takes 2 days to heat it up the big pizza looking oven!
This was our tour guide.

She found us in the first room  and just meowed and followed or lead us around the whole time.  It was so funny. 
After we left we tried to find a place to eat.  We saw one restaurant opened in town and tried to eat there but they said they were full.  So we just headed back and of course saw nothing else in the other little towns either.  Crazy! 
2 of the kids fell asleep in the car on the way back.  Not sure how they were comfortable.

Monday I wasn't feeling too well.  I spent the afternoon curlded up on the couch, so Amber got to watch Nick Jr. in French and practice her counting, un, deux, trois.  She was doing quite well with it!
I was just thinking the other day how I miss lemonade.   They don't have any here.  So when I finished using the lemon over the fish I made some lemonade with the lemon and it was quite tasty!

Tuesday Jason dropped the kids off at school today.  It is a good thing the 3yr. old knows the routine and what to do with her stuff at school since Jason had no idea!  As soon as they left for school the electician showed up.  The owner was having the 3 undercoutner lights fixed, since right now only one works.  He came in, looked at the lights, mumbled something, turned to me and said some things in French that ended in 2 weeks.  I said "ok, I guess I see you in 2 weeks!" 
Jacob had some stomach cramps before school.  He went to school and by 9:30 was back home.  He rested on the couch and watched some TV.   By 11:30 he was starving since he didn't eat too much for breakfast and he asked " So when is lunch.  I am starving?"  Gee Jacob are we feeling better?  He gobbled up his lunch and asked what was for dessert.  I told him that when we come home sick from school we normally don't eat dessert since we aren't feeling well.  So all of a sudden he felt better!
After I picked Amber up from school one of her friends, her mom and brother came over for lunch today.  We had a nice time with them.
Sean went over to a friend's house after school so then since Jacob was already home I didn't have to go back to school.

Wednesday I had to go back downtown with the relocation agent and do more paperwork.  We got the certificate I need to take to the car registry place as well.
After I picked Amber up from school 4 of the preschool moms and kids went to McDonalds for lunch.,  It was nice.  They have a small inside play area upstairs that is perfect for that age group.  There was no parking spaces left in the McDonalds lot so I had to park down the street a bit and walk over.
After we left lunch Amber was exhausted and fell asleep in the car.  I woke her up to stop at home for a bit and then we went to pick up the boys from RE.  On the way home from that she fell asleep again.  I woke her up to get her out of the car and she was so whiny and she just layed on the basement floor where we come in from the garage and said she was too tired to walk up the stairs.  I already had my hands full so I said fine and told her to come upstairs in a minute.  and went upstairs, started getting the boys unpacked, and ready for their homework, got them started on their homework, started making cornbread for dinner.  Next thing I know it is like 45 min. later and I am wondering why I haven't seen Amber.  We start looking for her upstairs thinking she must have gone upstairs to watch TV or play.  We can't find her upstairs.  Sean goes back to the basement and there she is sound asleep on the floor where we first came in!  Too funny!  So I wake her up and she now comes upstairs not happy!

Today was the online signup for the boys winter sports.  Unfortunatley for Sean it is exactly the same thing as the fall choices.  So we will see if he can get in the ball sports again I guess.  Jacob will start basketball soon and that will be 2 days a week.
Here everyone wears scarves.  Men wear them to work and all day, children wear them to school, and women have them on all the time.  So tonight Amber asked me if she had any scarves she could wear to school.  I asked her why.  "Well my neck gets cold at school"  Too funny.  She also listed some of her friends that then have scarves that they wear at recess. 

Thursday was so so foggy.  It is usually foggy at night here, but even at 9am it was still super foggy out.  Here pediatricians give prescriptions for Vit. D supplements for children since in the winter there is just not much sunlight.  They also recommend fluoride supplements too. 
I ran to the store today for some ingredients to get ready to do some baking for Thanksgiving, and we will start making some Christmas cookies too!  I also found a Gingerbread house so we will have to do this soon too!  I was happy to figure out what was sour cream today.  And I found cottage cheese too!  I bought some stuff I am hoping is whipping cream.  We will see this weekend!  We have already been enjoying the Christmas CD's I bought.  When I bought them I had to make sure they were in English!  Even Sean asks if I can play the CD's.
For preschool we, room parents, are trying to get everyone to give their gifts for the teachers from their countries so we can make a basket for the teachers.  Also the preschool teachers want the room parents to get some foods- oranges, choc. and a biscuit, ready so they can give them to the children on St. Nickolas Day.
Sean's already made a picture and a note for his teacher and they are putting all of these in a book to give to her.  Sean lost his snack box at school today-ugh!
At Amber's gymnastics class today they had Bob the Builder painted/drawn on the glass with which you watch the children though.  And the guy that speaks the better English there came up to me and asked me how do I say in English that one thing they had painted. It was a shovel! 
After school Jacob went to a friend's house today.

Friday I had coffee with the preschool parents and then finished all my christmas shopping at this little strip mall about 20 min. from school.  They also have a store I would say is similiar to Home Goods at home, but a lot smaller.  So I got some Christmas decorations as well.  This mall area has the only all toy store I have seen here.  Not quite the same as Toys R Us!  I miss that store!  Otherwise toys are just sold at the big grocery stores.
Funny story:  My one friend here is from a country in South America. She called a butcher here and asked if he could get her a bigger turkey then what they normally sell everyday for Thanksgiving for her.  He starts talking to her and finds out where she is from and then tells her, "You know that the turkey will be dead, right?"  Too funny!  Where she is from you buy the live turkey a few days or so before you are going to have it and it runs around the garden and is like the family pet.  Then the cook and the maid get the turkey drunk and then off with its head and so then it has that reflex that it runs around, yuck.  So this butcher must have had people come pick up their turkeys and be upset that they were already dead!  Anyway she totally starts laughing on the phone when he says that and she told him yes she prefers the turkey dead!
Jason called Pizza Hut tonight and was able to order pizza for pickup- you never know here.  So he brought that home for dinner.
Sean had one of his friends spend the night.  This little boy is so polite.  He asked if he could help me clean up after dinner!  So sweet.

Saturday Amber had a b'day party to go to right away in the morning, and she was so excited!  2 girls from preschool were having a joint party at an indoor climby area.  Amber had fun.  The party was for 2 1/2 hours, but after 2 hours Amber was ready to go.  It was around lunch and they did cake, but Amber was ready for lunch.  Imagine that!  We came home and had lunch and then Jason left with Sean for his b'day party he was attending.  His was 3 hours long at the boy's house.  They lived about 1/2 hour away from here.  That is a lot of driving time to and from school for them!
While they were gone, Jacob, Amber and I started on our Christmas cookies, yes I know it is early but we have some other things going on the next few weekends, so why not!  The cookies were just butter cookies with sprinkles, but they don't have any red or green sprinkles here.  Put that on my home list to buy next time!  So the cookies are multi sprinkled.  They turned out good.
The next thing we made was one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes.  It is made with cranberries, sugar, whipping cream, mini marshallows and pineapple.  I wasn't planning on making it b/c I didn't think they would have fresh cranberries here, so  I was excited when I found them.  The problem was the whipping cream.   It doesn't translate here, so I bought what I thought was whipping cream but it was too runny.  You are suppose to whip the whipping cream and that is what holds the ingred. together.  Thank goodness I was not going to bring this to Thanksgiving, it was just for us to eat. So I will have to work on figuring out a different cream to use next time.  The recipe calls for crushed pineapple which they don't have here, so I had to blend up the pineapple and it was still pretty chuncky, and same for the cranberries.  You grind them up.  But I only have a wimpy blender here and so the cranberries are pretty chuncky too.  So we will see how we end up liking it, but it looks a little runny.    
After Sean and Jason got back from the party we waited until 6:30 pm and went to try a new restaurant that is just up the street a bit from our house.  That is normally the earliest a restaurant would be open here if that.  So I tried looking it up online to try and make a reservation but I couldn't find that restaurant at that address, so we didn't make one.  When we get there and of course he asks if I have a reservation and I tell him no, I think he might have signed and made a face.  He said he would have to see.  So we wait a few minutes and luckily we got a table.   The place isn't too big and the rest of the tables in our room were all reserved.  It was a Chinese restuarant but a little more upscale, but still good prices.  I had duck which was very good and even the kids were eating it.  Then we ordered a chicken pineapple dish and a spicier chicken dish.  Good food and nice way to end our day!