Week of October 23rd

Sunday I took the kids to church.  We know a couple of families that go there as well now through school and other events.
Sean had a 3 hour costume b'day party to go to in the afternoon so he was excited and then I took the other 2 to the park for a bit.  It was a beautiful sunny day in the 50's here.  They say when winter comes here it will be gray and rainy/little snowy the entire season so trying to take advantage of this sunny weather!

Monday I tried to find Jacob a speedo at the store and then a few stores in the mall, but couldn't.  He will start swimming class next month for gym, and they need a speedo and swim cap!  He is not happy about having to wear a speedo, but I will try and find him one of the longer ones they now make. 
The kids' play keyboard wasn't working so we went to change the batteries only to find that one of the them had leaked and made a mess inside and outside the keyboard.  Later I found that it must have been sitting on the leather couch because the battery acid had dried on the couch.  I wiped it off only to see that it had bleached the leather in a couple of spots- nice.  Sean went to the library today at school and checked out a book for himself and a Dora book for Amber.  He has done this before where he checks out books he thinks Jacob or Amber might like.  It is amazing how thoughtful they can be at times (:

Tuesday- Starting last week I would say it is now still dark when I am taking the kids to school - yuck!
After drop off I met some other moms from Sean's class at the mall they have this great Cafe called Oberweis- which is so funny because this is the name of the milk company at home we get milk from.  Here this place is all about their famous chocolates and their cafe.  Then I went to the other side of town and they have this toy store I would say it is the closest thing to Toys R Us, but about 1/4 of the size and started some Christmas shopping.  They were having some sales going on, but I didn't really find what I was looking for with the boys.  After lunch Amber had her Little Gym makeup class since she won't be there next week and this week is a Halloween theme.  The whole place was decorated for Halloween and they played songs from the Ghostbusters movie, and The Adams Family, and at one point they turned out the lights in the gym and did some tumbling in just the light of 2 lamps.  She had a great time!
After we picked the boys up I took them to get their hair cut and I thought I would take them out to dinner, but as usual the 2 little pizza places around the corner from the lady's house don't open until late.  So we came home and had sloppy joes instead.

Wednesday was Amber's day to dress up for her country.  So she is in all the red, white and blue I could find.

Then after school I picked her up and her best bud, took them back to our house and got them dressed for his Halloween party they were having and went over to the party.  They all had a lovely time.  About 5 kids were there plus some babies and we all had lunch and then they all played.

After the party we ran back to school to get the boys from RE and Amber fell asleep in the car.  Jacob had his guitar in the evening and when we got back from that Jason had finally returned after a week and a half back in the states.  So he brought us all our goodies, 2 almost 50 lbs suitcases of stuff.  I don't even think he brought back many of his clothes!  We got lots of American goodies, so we should be set for a bit!  One friend sent the kids a goody bag and here is some of the things in it:

Thursday I met a few friends at the mall in the good cafe they have there after school dropoff.  My French teacher wasn't feeling good and canceled my class today (: 
Amber was excited to go back to her gymnastics class and see all the Halloween stuff again.  Then after school Jacob went to a friend's house.  When we went to pick him up Amber fell asleep as soon as she got in the car and it was 45 min. later by the time we got back home- ugh she will not go to sleep well tonight!
The kids are looking forward to their fall break!

Week of Oct. 16th

Sunday we went to a flea market that only comes the third Sunday of every month.  They have some fruits, vegetables, meats and cheese, a bouncy house to keep the kids happy, but mostly clothes, and some antiques.  A lot of winter wear with winter approaching, so that was interesting to see.
This afternoon the kids drew faces on their pumpkins and enjoyed that.

  A lot of playing outside today and a trip to the park even though it is getting colder it was a bright and sunny day!

Monday Jason got up very early and took the 6:20 am flight out of here and flew back to the states.  I tried falling back asleep after he left but a mostiquo was flying around my head.  I couldn't believe that they are still out in the middle of October!  Jacob really wanted to go with Jason but obviously couldn't and was very sad.  But we will be heading back around the holidays so that is coming up soon.  I sent him with a big list of things to buy at Target!  I can't wait to get my stuff!  It is mostly food stuff they don't have here and then socks and shoes for some of the kids.  When I talked to Jason after he had landed he said some boy had thrown up behind him on the plane, so it was a little smelly. 
Today I had a lot of errands to do. One thing I did get to was mailing the boys postcards to some friends back home.  They have these little P&T shops in the mall and so I went in there and I had to buy stamps for the post cards, lick them on there- yuck, and put them in a bright yellow mailbox.  They said it takes about a week or so.  And it cost about $1.25 to mail each post card.  I went to my weekly cleaners and I still can't understand a word in her question she asks me everytime, but I know she is asking if I want the clothes on hangers or folded so I point to the moving rack of hanging clothes and that is that!  
The worst is when I buy something that I am paying cash for and I don't understand the numbers they say so I am leaning over the counter to see the register with the numbers on it so I can pay them.  Oh well!
The boys are busy getting ready for United Nations day on Wednesday this week.  They have to learn about the UN and make posters of their countries and tell about their flag.

On Tuesday I noticed some men put markings on the street and surving the land across the street.  Right now across the street for about a block there is just trees (pears) and big overgrown bushes some of them good blackberry bushes.  I imagined at some point while we were here they would finish building in the lots around us. I guess I had hoped it would be awhile longer!  Although seeing how slow everything moves here it may still be awhile!
Tuesday after school Amber had a friend over and was so excited.  We brought her home after school and then her mom and the baby came later.  She told me that they were going to be moving back to their country before Christmas.  We will be very sad to see them go.  You tend to make friends here fast since everyone  is at some point new and all in the same boat.  The normal length of stay for foreigners is 3-5 years.  So people are not here too long.  But the girls had a fun time playing and got into the playdoh, then the boys got into the playdoh, then there was playdoh being tracked throughtout the entire house! 
Today Sean forgot his homework at school.  Every week he forgets something!
The school uses some British ways of spelling some words.  So this week color is on Sean's spelling list and the way it is to be spelled is colour.  This will be diffecult when the boys go back and have to spell their words correctly the other way.  Some other words they use here are garage for mechanic or car servicing place.  So they would say, I am taking my car to the "garage" to have the winter tires put on. (Here everyone has 2 sets of tires).  So the word for parking garage is "car park" here.  The express way is called the "motoway"  Queueing means a line, normally of people.  So people would say "Skip the queue and buy your tickets ahead of time"

Wednesday was the big United Nations Luncheon at school.  Preschool didn't participate and they actually took a bus and went to the theatre.   They had a fun time! 
For the American dish I brought in Corn Bread for Jacob and Sean's classes.  They don't have corn meal here and I had ordered it through a website that we buy mountain dew (for Jason) and other American products.  Other Americans brought in Chocolate chip cookies, rice krispie treats and turkey and cheese roll ups.  I volunteered in the 4th grade area and the spread was huge.  A lot of sushi from the Japanese.   I would say more people brought sweets then main courses.  The problem with the people who brought main dishes were they dropped them off at 8am or so with their children and the food had no refridgeration or warming area and the kids didn't eat until 12.   Neither of my boys tried the sushi, but otherwise they enjoyed trying some of the other foods.  They also had to wear some costume or something from their country so my boys wore their BlackHawk jerseys.  And then American Flag tatoos on their faces!

Today I found a cute little all English book store a bit down the street from me.  I got a few kids books for presents and an English magazine for me!
After school the boys had RE and then in the evening Jacob had guitar.  As I am starting to think about the holidays and even having friends over here I wish I would have brought more of my stuff from home.  I didn't bring any of my holiday stuff over since they don't celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.  The big displays of toys came out a few weeks ago here and I was surprised since it seemed early, but someone told me that here the children get their presents on St. Nicholas Day in the beginning of December.  So it will be interesting to see how things go here.
Sean is sounding really good when he is saying his French words.  He definately sounds the best out of all of us!

Thursday- today during Amber's little gym class she decided to wait until the last minute to go potty and all of a sudden comes running out of the room screaming "potty, potty"  She probably freaked people out who had no idea what she was saying.  So we run to the potty but by then a lot has already come out.  I didn't have a change of clothes for her in the car so we had to leave and come home and get changed and then just waited a bit and went and picked up the boys at school.  Today Jacob lost his jacket at school.  What is it with these children and their things!  Seriously they have 4 things to remember- lunch box, book bag, possibly a snack container if they took it, homework and coat!  This afternoon the electrician came over and replaced Sean's light fixture.  The glass was all burnted that was covering the light bulb.  He said who ever changed the light bulb last put in a 300 watt light bulb and this light is a 200 watt max.  We bought all the lights from the previous tentants so we hadn't changed any light bulbs.  Scary.  I have the same light fixture in our closet so I had him look at that and he said it was also a 300 watt bulb, so he took it out and now I have no light in my closet until we buy the right bulb. 
The boys started their Christmas wish lists with this Lego catalog we got.  Sean was circling all those big expensive lego sets and I was saying this is getting to be too much Sean you can't get all of these.  And his reply "Well Santa makes everything so it isn't expensive"  So then I was trying to explain to him that Santa has to buy all his materials to make the toys so Santa still has a budget!  We will see how long this flies!

Friday I was in line waiting for my tea with the preschool moms when I see what looks like Jacob's jacket he lost yesterday on the water cart.  I went over and sure enough it was his coat.  Yesterday he tried to tell me it wasn't his fault that he lost it.  I asked him to please explain how it isn't your fault that YOU lost it!  Today Jacob went on his first field trip.  The 4th grade classes took a bus over to Belgium and went to a cave.  It was a one hour trip away and they were gone the whole school day.   I told him he better not lose anything there!  He loved walking through them.  It was a nice day maybe high 50's, but sunny. They even got to bring money and go shopping in the gift shop.  He bought a big blue diamond.  Here on the field trips the children need to bring their backbacks and carry their lunches as well.
Jacob noticed that in the school parking lot there are no spots specially labeled for Handicapped people, which we both thought was a little strange.  There are however 2 spots up front for pregnant woman.  He then says "Well I guess when you are pregnant you are sort of handicapped too!" 
Friday for lunch we had over Amber's best bud and his mom.  We had a nice little luncheon. 

Sat. I took the kids to this new indoor playplace.  It was very cool and decorated in a jungle theme.  It is a 4 story climby thing with tunnels and slides and a 3-4 story big open slide.  The boys were flying down this.  This area was perfect for the boys, but a little much for Amber so she played in the smaller kids area.

 They even had these little bumper cars to drive.  Crazy driver below!

Very cool area.  I went and sat at the restaurant and watched them through the glass and then we stayed for lunch so we were there a long time today.
We then came home and rested.  Amber even reminded me I needed to put her down for a nap and I had to wake her up after 2 1/2 hours to eat something and get ready for trick or treating!  Tonight was the night the American Woman's club sponsered the Trick or treating here.

Sean went as a Star Wars person, Amber as Tigger and Jacob as Indiana Jones.
They don't really sell costumes here, just a few pumpkins, witches, ghosts, the basics.  So Sean is wearing one from Jacob, Jacob's we ordered and had it shipped to Jason's secretary in MI and then she shipped it over with mail and other items and little Tigger has been worn by all three of them over the years.  Sean wore it when he was 2!

It was a lot of fun.  We met up with a group of friends at the tennis club one of them belongs to not too far from the subdivision where the trick or treating was going to be but about 20 min. away from our house.  The event started at 6pm and you could only go to the houses that had orange balloons on them and ended at 8pm.  It took us only an hour to go through all the houses.  I think there were only about 35 houses that participated.  So it wasn't like at home where you go to every door, and we had to walk around a bit to get to all the participating houses.  But it was a fun time.  We went with 4 other families, and then of course saw other friends from school there too!

Afterward we went back to the tennis club and had pizza and the kids ran around downstairs on the indoor tennis courts which we could see since our table backed up to the window above.  It was a good time and the kids were worn out at the end of the day!

Week of October 9th

Sunday we went and visited the Casemates in the Grund area.  Luxembourg city has 2 of these, but the other ones are only open in the summer.  Alot of things here and in Europe are very seasonal being open only in the spring/summer/fall months.  So I am wondering what we are going to be doing all winter!
But the word Casemates means a bomb proof vaulted room with one or more areas intended to accommodate troops and equipment.  So this was basically a bunch on tunnels in the fortress walls underground.  This was really cool.  The kids loved it.  We spent about an hour in here walking along the cold corridors and peeking out the holes where they used to have cannons.  There were a few cannons left on display too.

These were built in 1745.  There used to be a fortress on top of these but they dismantled part of that in 1867.  These casemates could hold up to 50 cannons and 1200 soldiers.  Here is a picture of it from the outside.

And then they go a way down the river.  Here is a picture of the small, twisty stairs that took us up and down.  Back in the days they must have had some for only going up and some for only going down b/c they are not very big at all.

View from the top of the casemates before we went down.

This is the neigborhood of Clausen. After we exited we walked down a cobblestone road with a narrow passage to get down there.  Cars drive through this- hope no one is on the other side!

 Once we walked down the steep road we stopped in a pub for some hot chocolate and then a light lunch.  It was around 11:30 on a Sunday morning and there were already 2 older men at the bar having a beer- they must have been from WI- ha ha!

It was a lot of fun. Later in the day we made Halloween cupcakes and enjoyed some candy corn I had bought at the American Women's Club!


Mondays I would say are the worst.  It is hard to get up in the morning after the weekend, I really have to drag the kids out of bed as well, I normally have a ton of laundry b/c I never got to it on the weekend, and the house is a mess with everyone home for 2 days.  It doesn't help that Amber decides to change her clothes normally at least once throught out the day and usually into summer wear.  All of a sudden I will turn around and she will have a different outfit on.  Hopefully this is not a forecast of what is to come.  And then Sean doesn't seem to agree that fall is here and still comes down dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.  So I tell him that it is too cold to wear these clothes and he needs to go back upstairs and change.  So then he stomps back up the stairs and always seems to throw the summer clothes he had on for 5 minutes in the dirty clothes basket?  Which in turn means more laundry that I need to try and shove in that tiny washing machine- ugh!  I am going to need to pack away their summer clothes so they can't get to them. 
It is now gotten cold enough that we turned on our heat here.  There is no air conditioning and no central heating.  The heat is through individual radiators in each room.  It is a new concept to me so we will see how this works.  So far the rooms are warm.
Last night when I went to bed I went in to check on Amber and she and her pillow were gone.  So there were 2 possibilites as to where she could be, either in my bed, or sleeping with Sean.  She wasn't in my bed so I went and looked in Sean's room and there the 2 of them are separted by a pile of animals.  Sean has a full bed on the bottom of his bunk bed and I think she must have gone in there last night while Sean was looking at his books in bed and either asked to sleep with him or just climbed in.  They have done this before a few times.  Of course they have this pile of animals in the middle of them and last time Amber fell out of his bed.  So we put the bean bag next to her on the floor.  They both slept through the night and I had to drag them both out of bed this morning.  I was just thinking last week how Amber hasn't been waking up much in the middle of the night.  She has always been a horrible sleeper, and then both nights we had the sitter she woke up and I think it really must be to check that we came home.
This morning after drop off I gave the room parent presentation for the parents of the preschoolers.  Here the room moms have to have a Get to Know you Coffee for the parents.  It went well and we had a big turnout so that was good.  The preschool has a couple of events that need volunteers for- 2 of them are different from home.  One is United Nations week since the school is so diverse they want parents to come in and tell or show the children a little bit something about their country.  And the preschool teachers also are looking for parents to come in throught out the year and talk about a certain festival or celebration that their country celebrates.  So those events should be neat for the children.
Amber and I practiced our counting in French today while watching Go Diego Go in French!
Today Jason got to meet the Prince of Luxembourg.  Jason's company was celebrating an event and the Prince came as well.  I told Jason let me know if he has any son's for Amber, we can arrange something in 22 years!   But Jason said he wasn't married, so it didn't look good for Amber.
When I came back to pick up the boys after their ball skills class as usual Sean had forgotten something.  Today it was the school sweatshirt/track suit top that I had just bought on Sat.  He had gym today and just grabbed it this morning and so of course I forgot to write his name in it.  He went back and looked around and couldn't find it.  Of course these are all over the school so we probably won't be seeing that again and of course it wasn't cheap.

On Tuesday to try and keep focused during French I decided I would excerise right before class.  So that worked but then I was sweating the first half of class. 
Today I heard 2 pieces of bad news, one that a man that lived down the street a bit from us at home in our subdivision was killed by a drunk driver- horrible.  And then another family who moved out of our subdivision this summer and had a boy Sean's age, the mom has been having some hemorrhaging in the brain and is not doing well.  Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to these 2 families. 
After I picked up Amber at school we met Jason at his office and went out to lunch down the street from his office.  It is a nice little Italian place and we got some thin crust pizzas.  The boys were glad we brought home leftovers so they got it for dinner (:  Sean found his sweatshirt/track suit top today at school and his teacher was nice enough to write his name in it before he lost it again!  Sean had a new friend over after school and enjoyed playing.  The days here seem to go by pretty fast. 

Wednesday was Amber's first class field trip.  We walked to a park which was about 15 min. from the school- long for the kids.  They had to wear these little yellow bright crossingguard vests.  They looked so cute and bright with that many kids in a group wearing them!
We, the room parents, bought snacks and brought them with us to serve at snack time.  But the weather today was drizzeling all morning so not a nice day to be at the park.  They were looking for signs of Autumn so they each had little bags to collect their things in.  The kids seem to have a good time, but about 2/3 into the walk back Amber started to melt down.  She was just too tired of walking, but since it was 1 adult for every 2 children I also had another little girl with me who was as quite as a mouse.  So Amber was not happy about walking.  After the field trip, I got her home, feed her and put her to bed for a nap.  She was exhausted. 
This morning also was the whole 4th grade get to know you coffee at a cafe in the mall.  I was disappointed I could not make that this morning, as I don't know many parents of 4th graders.  But I had already volunteered for Amber's field trip.
Tonight about 5 minutes after I put Sean to bed I heard him moaning something.  I opened his door and the goofy light that it is on his ceiling was on fire.  There was a flame coming out of it.  He was standing next to his book shelf and I think he was just in shock.  I turned his light off right away and then the flame went out but his room smelled of something burnt.  Scary.  This light is right above his bed and if he had fallen asleep the ashes/flames could have fallen on his bed and caught the bedding on fire!  He is always leaving his light on too.  Of course after this he was so scared so he went to sleep in my bed. 


Last night was a late one.  Sean was scared to sleep so he was up late and finally feel asleep in my bed with about 8 of his animals.  Jason went and slept in Sean's bed and since Amber had a nap she was up past my bed time and finally ended up bringing in her lady bug sleeping bag and sleeping next to my bed.
In French class today I understood most of the conversations my teacher was having with me so I guess I am making progress.  I can't respond well, but hopefully that will improve. 
I went and got gas today for the first time.  Last month I made Jason come with me so I made sure I knew which gas to put in.  They sell unleaded gas here but mostly diesel.  Jason is now calling my car "The Tank".  It does kind of look like a box on wheels.  It has a bigger engine and being the diesel it is noisey.  When he first looked under the hood he couldn't believe how much padding they had in there to try and absorb some of the noise.
When I opened the fridge to make lunch for Amber and I, I saw one of the boys sandwiches had fallen to the back of the shelf, oh crap I thought.  One of the boys didn't get a sandwich with his lunch today.  Later I found out it was Sean- sorry!
I got blocked in again today at Amber's gymnastics class, but this time the person shouldn't have parked there.  It was not suppose to be a spot.  So I went in and asked the girl at the desk if she could ask the parents to see whos car it was.  The lady went and moved her car so we could get to school to pick up the boys.  She shouldn't have park their anyway so I didn't feel bad about asking her to move.  I hate this parking lot!   
Both the boys ended up going over to same person's house after school so they were excited to go and play!  Amber and I ended up hanging around the school talking with the few friends for about an hour. 

So everyone had a nice afternoon.

Friday the kids had no school today due to parent teacher conferences.  I got them all scheduled online last week so our first one was at 9:30.  Amber and Sean were able to go into the babysitting area down by Amber's preschool and Jacob just brought his book and sat outside the classrooms and read.  After the conferences the boys had chiropractic appts.  and then I told them they could all pick where they wanted to go for lunch today.  They decided on McDonalds.  It was a nice day so after lunch they were able to play on the outside climby thing at McDonalds.

 We stopped at the store for a few items I forgot yesterday and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at home.  The boys did get homework this weekend so we started on that as well. 
Tonight I went ahead and made reservations- since they look at you funny if you don't have them, at a little Italian place about a 10 min. walk away.  I had seen this and a bakery as well on some of my walks so I thought we would try it out and also a friend had recommended it.  We walked there as well.  They had good spaghetti and big, thin crust pizzas so we spilt all that.  By the time we left around 7:30 the place was packed and alot of families from school there, and there was a line waiting for tables.  So it will be nice to go back in the summer and sit at their outside tables and just walk!

Sat. we had to go and buy Sean a new light for his room.  Then we went to the factory outlet of Villeroy and Boch.   This is a famous china maker who started out as just Boch in 1748 in Germany.  Over time he added added a partner and after their success in Europe their products started shipping to North and South America as well.  It is still family owned in the 8th generation.  They make everything from kitchen dishes to bathtubs.  The pattern I bought is called Vieux Luxembourg. I bought a tea kettle!

In the afternoon Amber and I went to a b'day party at a friend's house.  We had a very nice time.  In the evening Jason and I rented a movie on the Ipad, Horrible Bosses- funny.

Week of October 2nd

Sunday we got up and drove back from Cologne, Germany.  We had a great weekend there. 
This afternoon Amber had one of her good friend's birthday parties to attend so her and I went to that.  Amber had a great time running around with her preschool friends and eating way too many cookies!  I enjoyed chatting with the parents more then our minutes at drop off.  Jason and the boys ran to a park halfway between here and the school and spent some time there before running back.  Again just enjoying this beautiful weather!  Here is a picture of Amber's favorite house here.  We drive by it everyday on the way home from school.  (On the way to school we go a different way) Can you guess why it is her favorite?  She keeps asking me either when can we get our house painted like this or when can we move into this one?

Sorry the sun was shining right into the camera, but the house in the middle is pink and purple.

Monday I ended up being at the school 4 times again!  Dropped the kids off, ran home to sign up for conferences.  You sign up online and trying to get 3 of them aligined was easier to do on the computer then my phone.  After I got that I went back to school for the PTO meeting.  I volunteered I thought to help out with the wine tasting event and I guess I am now the chair for it, go figure!  So that meeting was 2 hours at school.  When that finished I picked up Amber early and took Jacob out of French class just a bit before lunch to get him into the Chiropracter.  The Chiropractor only has 2 days with after school hours and they are always booked.  So this worked out ok.  Since Jacob had that nasty fall at the park I figured he needs to be straightened back out.  The chiropractor said he definately needed some work, even his shoulders were different heights.   We seem to like the chiropractor here a little better then at home.  At home you are in getting adjusted for maybe 3 minutes and then stretched, here he works on you with some different techniques for about 20 min.  So then we took Jacob back to school.  He has classes all over the school campus here, so different from home.  I picked him up from his French class, no intercom to call him down.  I get a pass from the office and walk over to Sean's building where Jacob's French class is and then when we returned we got him a pass at the office and he went upstairs and put his stuff back in his locker and then walked over to the high school side for his music class.  The kids are expected to know when and where their classes are and walk to them by themselves.  Since there are different levels of French within 4th grade the kids all go to different French teachers.  As you can guess Jacob is in the beginners level. 
The boys had ball skills after school today and played volleyball.  When I came to pick them up Sean was missing his sweatshirt, which is like a weekly occurance.  So he goes back to look in the gym and it isn't there and he thinks it must be on the coat hooks outside his classroom.  So I tell Amber and Jacob to come on we need to go to walk over to Sean's school.  Well Amber is being stubborn and won't get off of the rock she is playing on, so Jacob says he will stay with her and watch her while I run over with Sean.  So I think great Jacob is being responsible and I agree to it since it will take like 2-3 minutes.  I come back and Amber is still on the rock, and Jacob is down from her quite a bit talking to a friend with his back to Amber.  I ask him how is that watching her?  He said, "Well I didn't leave!"  It will be awhile before we leave Jacob in charge!
Jacob was excited that he has no homework this week since here they are having their ISA testing for 4th grade this week.  I think it is like those standarized tests they take at home. 
Here is a picture of Amber playing with her dolls in her housy outside.  Later, I found Jacob in there with a chair and playing too! Not with the dolls but making food out of leaves!

Today Jacob was describing something to me and said "it was about 20 meters away."  Too funny hearing him use the metric system to describe something.  Of course I really have no idea how far that was but just listened and agreed.  After dinner we had to drive out and pick up Jason at work since we finally returned the 3rd car we have had for a month.  And on the way home we stopped at the cleaners and grocery store to grab a few things since I was out of food and they can't bring peanut butter and jelly to school.  Just in the last 2 weeks Amber has decided she doesn't like peanut butter anymore.  Crazy.  She was eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all the time and now she doesn't want anything to do with it.  So we will see how long this lasts.
Today we either missed the glass recycling people or they didn't like something in my bin b/c they never picked it up.  I normally put out the blue plastic bag across the street with certain recyclable stuff, and then the blue and green bins on Sunday night, but I forgot last night.  So I did it all this morning before we left for school, but maybe that was already too late.

Tuesday after I dropped the kids off I drove to the mall and I had an appt. to get my eyebrows waxed- long overdue.  But it went well.  Only one guy there spoke English and he wasn't doing my eyebrows, so a lot of hand motions can get you by quite well.   She just had me sit in a chair that tilted back kind of on the side but sectioned off of the salon.   I think she must have spilled it on my eyelid b/c it is a little red and sore.  She waxed them and then put creams and powders on and she gave me a mini face massage.  It was more expensive then at home but not by too much it was $21.  There aren't many places here that do waxings.  Alot of places do permenant hair removal.  Most salons are small and don't do waxings or nails.
This afternoon Amber and I made Apple Cobbler with some of the apples from the apple pickings.  It was delicious!  I wasn't sure how it would turn out since they don't have the same brown sugar like we do, and the oats are not exactley the same either.  But it turned out so good.  I think it is half gone already!
After school Sean went to a friend's house and Jacob had 2 friends over.  And Amber was upset because she didn't have anyone over.  It is harder for her since most of her friends stay at school all day until 3:30. 
The handyman came over this afternoon.  He is from the UK and speaks English but he talks so fast, has an accent and uses some different words so I had a hard time understanding what he was saying.  But I just needed a few things done.  One problem we have here is that since the houses are made out of cynder blocks Jason's drill doesn't work on the walls, so the handyman was able to hang a few other things for me.  So I had people and kids coming and going this afternoon.

Wednesday we went in to school a little bit earlier and all had breakfast there.  The boys have been asking when we could eat in the cafeteria since it is open for breakfast .  So today it was a good day for Jason to do this with us.  Today in Amber's cooking class they made vegetable soup.  
Tonight after dinner Jacob had his guitar lesson and he really enjoyed it.  It was back at school.  The guy doesn't use a guitar book he just makes up his own lessons.  It is more then double the cost of the lessons at home so we will have to see how this goes.  Other than that pretty slow day (:

Thursday I had my second French class for the week.  I think I am going to need to start eating some M&M's during class because this is putting me to sleep, and I am the only one in class!  Not good.
Today at pickup for the boys it was messy because it was raining.  Since we have to walk aways and in and out of buildings it makes things complicated.  In the evening I had a sitter come over and I joined Jason for a work related dinner.  It was a going away dinner for one of his colleagues and his wife.   It was nice to meet some people Jason works with.  One guy said this about the rain "This is what it looks like here until spring.  You can tell when it is winter here when the rain gets colder."  This is not going to be good ):

Friday I had my preschool coffee with other preschool moms.  Then grocery shopping at the big store like Target since I wanted to get some trick or treating bags for the kids.  They are going to do the trick or treating event put on by the American Women's club, because otherwise they don't celebrate it here.  I am starting to miss the radio stations from home.  Here I can't understand what they are talking about for the news and I have found the stations that play some American music, but they tend to play the same songs.  So not much variety. 
Friday night was pizza and movie night.  We watched Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory. Sean does not like the part where the larger boy gets stuck in the chocolate sucker up machine after falling in the chocolate river, and so Sean was hiding behind a little fort he built.

Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market downtown, although it was a cold and rainy day so we didn't stay long.  Then we went to the sports store that carries the boys uniforms.  It is a ways out of town.  I picked up another uniform for them and then the warm up suits too.  Sean has gym 2-3 times a week and he has to wear his PE uniform to school on those days and I can't keep up with the washing of the one uniform.  Then we drove out to Belgium!  It was a whole 20 minute drive.  Jason dropped me off at IKEA.  I think we are closer here to IKEA in Belgium then we are at home to one.  I browsed there for a few things and Jason took the kids over to Arlon, Belgium and got or made my christmas present.  I must say he is ahead of the game this year.  Normally he doesn't know what to buy me and I end up just buying some things for myself.  So I am interested to see what it is.  They met me back at IKEA and Amber tried to tell me a couple of times what they had done, but I kept telling her it was a secret for mommy's christmas present so don't tell me.  We will see if between her and Sean they don't spill the beans before Christmas.  Then we ate lunch there and it was nice.  The kids liked their meatballs.  Then this evening we got a sitter and tried a nice seafood restaurant downtown.  It was nice, but a long over 2 hour dinner.   We tried out a new sitter tonight since the one we normally use already had plans.  I have a list of sitters from the school of girls that go to the school and are interested in babysiitting.  So I try and use the ones that are close by since their parents don't want to pick them up afterward and they say they have to take the bus home and I don't like that idea of them being out there at night waiting for the bus and I am not sure where the bus stop is from our house. So I always offer for Jason to take them home.  And since he has to drive them I try and find someone close.  So earlier this week I called this girl and I thought she lived on the street real close to us and so I get it all set up for tonight and then she tells me she lives 2 towns over.  Crap I am thinking.  I guess our neighbor hood and hers there is a street with the same name.  Now I have already booked her I don't want to cancel her so I keep it.  Then tonight when she is suppose to be here she wasn't and I waited about 5 minutes and then called her and I think she just plain forgot.  She was waiting for the bus at the mall with some groceries and had a foreign exchange student with her.  Ugh.  So Jason agrees to go pick them both up at the mall and she puts her groceries away here in the fridge, but the poor French girl doesn't speak much English and is now stuck at my house with the sitter.  The babysitter did speak 5 languages though. They were both very nice, but teenagers -yikes!

Sept. 30th - Weekend in Cologne, Germany

Friday the kids did not have school so Jason took the day off and we went to Cologne, Germany for the weekend.  Cologne is the 4th largest city and also one of the oldest towns in Germany.   We got up and drove and it said it was a 2 1/2 hour drive so you know it ended up taking us longer due to traffic and construction and we think we only got mixed up on one exit this time and the trip took 3 hours.
I wasn't really sure how the hotel would be since I just found it online and booked it.  And surprisingly it turned out to be a nice hotel just down a side street near the corner off the main street which had the board walk all along the Rhine River.   I had packed lunch and we ate it in the car so it was a little after 12pm when we arrived but we couldn't check in our room yet.  So we parked the car in their tiny little garage, which we had to make a separate reservation for, and walked down the board walk.  We bought tickets for a river cruise and then walked up to see the famous Cologne Cathedral.  It is the most famous Gothic structure in Germany.  It is a very intricate building and took a long time to build with stoppings along the way.  The foundation was laid in 1248 and it wasn't completed until 1880!  632 years of building on and off! 

Inside it is beautiful- all the stained glass windows.  The church was bombed in WWII but never collapsed.   We saw a postcard that was from 1945 where a lot of things around the church had been destroyed and yet this was still standing.  Someone from above must have been protecting it (:
The church has 12 church bells on it, one of which weights 24 tons and is the largest free swinging bell in the world.  The next 2 pictures are just from a website.



There is a large gold decorated type of box in here, shrine,  that is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the three wise men, whose bones and 2,000-year-old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864.  Pretty interesting.
After this we walked back to the boat and went on a river cruise.

This the back half of the ship docking.  It was a beautiful sunny day, high in the 70's/low 80's so we sat on the top of the triple decker ship.  They even had a little few playground things on top.  But not many kids on the cruise. 

After we sat down at a table, this group of about 20 or so older Germans sat next to us.  Oh boy were they a lively group.  Mostly men and most had earings in.  They ordered a keg from the bar and were drinking and smoking away.  Other then that the cruise was nice we ordered some things to drink and big soft pretzels -no keg for us!
Amber was starting to whine on the boat ride so I started rocking her and she ended up falling asleep.

The german group you can't see from this picture.  We should have tried to get them in too.  The cruise was a little over an hour long.  Here is me carrying her off the cruise.  She is getting to be a heavy load!

After the cruise we walked back to the hotel and checked in.  The hotel has rooms in their building but then they own the building next store and made those into little apartments- so that is what we got.   It was nice except for the fact it was 3 stories up this narrow staircase and in case you hadn't guess it- we don't travel light.  So 2 trips from the garage down in the basement up the stairs to the main hotel, through the lobby, out the door and over to the next building and up the 3 flights of stairs later we were all set.  It was a bigger room with us still all sleeping in one room, but also has a kitchen and a big bathroom.  The boys still had to share the sofa sleeper but it was a bigger, nicer one. And the bed they gave me for Amber was a pack n play.  Considering she didn't like sleeping in that when she was a baby, I just took the bottom of it out and put that on the floor.  I put a heavy blanket under it and then made her a little bed next to me with the baby sheets, comforter and pillow.  It worked out well. 
Before we went I had seen online that Cologne had a Hard Rock Cafe, so you better believe we made reservations and walked there for dinner.  Of course we got a little lost b/c it is in this huge brick cobblestone paths for people only with tons of stores and tons of people.  We held on tight to the kids.  But once we found it we were happy to see they had the same food as at home.  So most of us got burgers and they tasted good (:
I was excited to see they had bigger drinks there.  Here when you order a sprite in comes in this tiny little bottle and is like $6, so Hard Rock had normal size glasses and I got a full sprite.  The kids milk even came in plastic cups with lids and straws!  I haven't seen this anywhere in Luxembourg or other German areas we have been too.  After dinner we walked home and went swimming at the pool in the hotel.  It was a good size pool but the room was at least in the 90's so it was very hot.  They had a sauna in there and heated floors and benches too.  The pool was a cooler temp. and the whole pool was deep.  Jason and I were working with Amber on swimming back and forth between us.   She did good and looks so funny making her puffy checks face so to keep her mouth closed.  After the pool we played a game of family sorry on this glass sorry board they had in the room.  Good day had by all!

Saturday we got up and ate breakfast that I had brought.  If we wanted breakfast in the hotel it was $27/person!  We then tried to find the Hop on Hopp off tour bus to go to the zoo, but then realized it didn't come by our stop for awhile so we took a cab.  It is a nice zoo.  It wasn't too crowded and everything was close together.  Not like Brookfield Zoo were things are so spread out.  They had the same type of animals as at home.  Sean was most exicted to see the Buffalos.  Jason and my favorite things were the sleeping hippos.  Oh my, these big fat grey on top, pink on the bottom hippos were sound asleep in the sand.  I have mostly only seen hippos in the water, so it was funny seeing them like this.

The animals here were closer up to you then at the zoo at home.  Amber's favorite animals were the penguins.  Their exhibit was all outside and you could almost lean over and touch them on their platform above the water.

I accidently fogot to pack the stroller for our trip since it is in my car and we took Jason's car.  So we rented a wagon for her, the backpacks and any extra children that needed a lift.

They had a nice playground in the middle of the zoo the kids enjoyed playing on.  By 12 we had seen everything so we ate at the only restuarant the zoo had.  It was like a cafeteria.  Jason and I split a nice order of spaghetti and the boys had burgers and Amber chicken nuggets.  Everyone that we had to talk with from the zoo, zoo cafeteria staff, cab driver, hotel all spoke English.  Which is good because no Deutsch sprechen here!
It was a beautiful day and we sat and ate outside and there was another park that the kids played at. Here in Germany things are cheapier then in Luxembourg.  And at the zoo and Legoland ice cream cones were only $1.50! 
After the zoo the cable car rides were across the street so we went for a cable car ride.  It takes you up and over the river and highway and you land on the other side.  They only seat 4 people so we had to split up.

On the way down on the other side is an adult only pool place.  Most people were walking around in robes and there is one outdoor section that was for people in the nude because there were a lot of butts flashing around- sorry no pictures!  They were sunbathing or there was 2 pools for them.  What a place for this, where people are above you passing back and forth all day!  The next part of the pool area is for peole in suits and had some nice looking indoor and outdoor pools, and a restaurant.  So we did the roundtrip on the cable cars.  Then we walked back to the zoo and got on this little train/tram tour.

We took this back to the big Cathedral which was so packed it was hard to walk with the kids.  When the areas were crowded we were holding on to the kids hands all the time, but when we were walking in non crowded places the kids are sometimes difficult to walk with.  Sean is either too far ahead of us or too far behind us.  And Amber wants to be doing or with whoever is the farest away.  And then when they are walking close to us they are weaving in and out and either tripping us or themselves or we are stepping on the backs of their shoes.
All around the cathedral are streets full of shops, no cars allowed and filled with people.  It was so crowded we did not even stop to shop.  But we did manage to stop in at a Dunkin Donuts and get a snack and some for breakfast the next day.  They don't have any donut stores in Luxembourg.  Then we walked back to the hotel to rest for a bit.

For dinner we walked back out and along the boardwalk.  It was still full of people.  The outdoor cafes were packed.

So we went in this little place, right before this picture is where I was sitting and eating, that said pizza.  You order a pizza and it comes on an extra large paper plate and then you just take it outside and eat it.  We ordered 3 of them and split them and just sat along that wall there and ate them and people watched.  There were a bunch of people sitting in the grass too and then to the right is a boardwalk along the river and then the river.  Many people smoke in Germany so even sitting outside it was quite stinky at times.  In Luxembourg not that many people smoke.  Then down the street we stopped in an ice cream shop and the kids (including Jason) all got more cheap ice cream cones!  Then we walked back behind these restaurants in the picture and down the side cobble stone streets.  Some shops here but mostly bars.  Jason was wishing he had stopped here years ago when he backpacked through Europe.  Different agenda now!  I went in one Nutcracker store and bought a cute Nutcracker ornament.  I collect them and I am so excited for the Christmas markets to buy some more!   Then we just wandered around and back to the hotel.  I took the boys for a dip in the pool.  Then we came back to the room and the kids watched a movie on the Ipad.

Sunday morning we got up and enjoyed the last of our donuts and drove home.

Week of September 25th

Sunday was just a beautiful warm and sunny day!  The morning started off by me being awoken by my youngest boss saying she needed chocolate chip pancakes and that she just couldn't wait any longer so when was I getting up!  What happened to Goodmorning Mommy!  So after our big homemade chocolate chip pancakes, fruit slushies, and what I thought were saugage links but only to find out they look like brats breakfast we headed out to a park in a forest about 15 min. from us.  The park look like it had been made out of Lincoln Logs.  It was a big sandy area, lots of room for the kids to run and had forts, tetter todders and lots of big slides.

Amber on the zip line.

Sean at top of slide.

After the park we found the restaurant affiliated with the park and tried to eat there at 12:30.  The man told me they were booked all day.  People and their reservations here are crazy.  We drove by 2 other restaurants that looked full too.  I guess on Sunday since nothing else is open everyone goes out to eat!  So we decided just to head up to the apple orchard early b/c I thought it didn't open until after lunch.  It was a pretty drive about 15 min. more north.  The apple orchard was packed.  It was just on this narrow little road and then you have people parking on both sides of it.    They had a tent of 2 types of sausage and fries, so we got that for lunch.  They were also making homemade apple cider right there.  You could see the apple juice coming out of the big barrel where the apples were being squeezed.  It was delicious.  We bought a bottle and drank it for lunch.  And bought 2 more to take home, but unfortunatly the juice only lasts about 1-2 days. The bees were horrible just as they are at home in the fall and Jacob got stung by a bee.   They were also selling wine and champagne too for lunch, so funny to see!  Then we got a wheelbarrow and a box and headed out to the orchard.  Amber got on the wheelbarrow, got off once to get an apple that she ate and I think only got off 1 or 2 more times to get a few apples otherwise she was content just sitting there eating her apple (:

The boys loved picking the apples and I enjoyed it too.  We had never actually been any place to pick them at home so this was new for us.  We filled up our box and Jason pushed the box and Amber to the weighing counter and then we went and got some dessert.

They had apple slices fried in this dough that was delicious and then a bunch of different apple pies.    We ate the fried apple slices and then brought some pieces of pie home.  Now I need to make some things with all the apples!  After we got home Jason and Amber took a nap.  Then Amber was up so so late.

Monday I went and got my hair cut by the same lady who had done the boys.  She told me to come with my hair wet, but I couldn't do that since I shower in the morning and then get everyone's breakfast ready, have breakfast and get lunches and snacks ready, then off to school.  So by the time I got to her my hair was dry.  She just sprayed it down.  She has the salon in a top room of her apartment.  Then she cut my hair and dryed it.  No hairspray, mousse or anything.  So it turned out nice, just different.
After this I went and signed up at the Automotive Club here.  It is similiar to AAA at home.  And I wanted to buy a country driving sticker.  Here some other countries require you to have a sticker on your car to drive in the country.  Instead of toll booths they do this and the sticker is good for a year.  But I bought one sticker for Switzerland and it was $50.  That is some expensive tolls!  She told me France and Italy just have toll roads so no need for a sticker.  And in Germany and Belgium they don't have anything you need to pay for.   Speaking of driving I guess Luxembourg has cheapier gas then surronding countries b/c of the low taxes here.  So when people are driving on the expressway they will try and wait until they get into Luxembourg to buy gas. 
Then I drove over to one of the shopping malls and got my cart outside with my coin, b/c they normally don't have carts in the store.  I went and picked up Jason's shirts at the cleaners which take a week to do 2 shirts, and dropped off some more.  Then I went into the grocery store, and this man that works there starting chasing after me.  I guess the cart I had gotten had a empty trash bottle of coke in it and I didn't see it.  So he seemed mad and was talking in French, but I just said "Sorry it wasn't mine"  but I doubt he understood me.
Amber cooked an Apple Crumb in class today for their weekly cooking lesson.  It was very good and they gave out a recipe with it as well.  Which will be good for the box of apples I now have in the kitchen.  Amber's teacher is a man from Sweden and he dresses up and does the Swedish chef imatation.  They sent home a picture of him with a big white chef's hat on and a fake long black mustache- too funny!
The boys had their ball skills class after school today so that gave me some more time at home to get some things done and do things with Amber as well.
Tonight we met a friend out for dinner at Quick- it is basically like McDonalds.  And it had an indoor climby thing for the kids.  Jason even met us out there as well.  It was nice and the kids all had fun running around.  Jason got home first and saw another big brown spider, yuck, along the side of the garage.  These things are making me scared to go downstairs.  So I first found one in the laundry room a few weeks ago, and then I was thinking fine if they can just stay in the basement I can maybe deal with this.  But then a week later one not as big scared me in the boys bathroom behind the door- yuck.  And now the garage- yuck, yuck, yuck.  Go away spiders!!!  I am afraid to leave the windows open for what may crawl in.

Tuesday morning Jason left for work before we did, usually he leaves after us.  So when I came down to the basement to go to the garage I saw he left the door from the house to the garage open.   Great, I was thinking after he found that big spider in the garage last night.  Why don't we just invite them in for some tea?  Ugh. 
After dropoff was a coffee get together at a cafe down the street for the parents of Sean's class put on by the room moms.  It was nice to meet other moms.  About 11 people came. 
Today Amber said she had music and it was her turn to hold onto Bob.  I asked her who was Bob. She told me that when it is your turn to hold Bob, a bear stuffed animal,  you also get to wear a crown, and turn off the lights after class.  Then she said, "but when we have to shake the sillies out I have to put Bob down"  Ok too funny.  I asked her how she shakes the sillies out and she stood up and shook her booty! 
Today at school both boys took nasty falls at recess.  Sean ended up in the nurses office again, and scraped up his knee and elbow pretty bad.  Jacob got some scrapes but not as bad.
About 10 min. after school ended Jacob had a guitar lesson.  At home he had been taking electric guitar lessons for 1 1/2 years.  So I had been having difficulty finding someone, but his guy comes to the school and gives lessons.  So it is for 1/2 hour and we will do once a week and see how it goes.  It is a private lesson and today we had a good time slot but normally I think we will have to go back after dinner and do it.   So we will see how this goes.

Wednesday, more French for me and then after I picked Amber up I had a room mom meeting with the teacher and other preschool teacher and her room parents.  Here the preschoolers will have 4 field trips and we are responsible for providing snacks for the trips and help with getting chaperones.  The school has a big International Luncheon for the kids to experience different foods and cultures so we help with this as well.  The school has children from all over the world so it is a very International School.
After the boys school they had RE class and then I took all 3 to get their hair cut with the same lady who did mine.  Amber is sitting on a stool in this picture.

Then we came home and made some homemade applesauce and it was so yummy!  And for dinner we had my birthday dinner a day early- delicious meatballs.  Since we are going out of town this weekend I didn't want to fix a big meal on Thursday and then have it sit all weekend.  We all love this dish so I know we will eat it all up before then.

Thursday was my birthday.  I am thirty something.  The kids were very excited to give me my presents this morning, my steamer I had bought a bit ago, and this huge package of Twix bars.  Oh my it has like 24 packages of Twix bars and is this long container.  It looks like a paddle! 
After I dropped off 2 of the kids off at school, I had to take Sean back to the chiropractor to finish up with his sore neck.  Of couse since it was my birthday we did first stop in the cafeteria and get a little sweet treat to go! He was feeling better, but it took until around Tues. for him to stop walking with his head to one side.  So he is all straigtened out for now.
I had French again today and my teacher brought over little chocolate petite cakes for us to have with my lesson, so that was very sweet of her.  Amber had her gymnastics class this afternoon and we made sure we left home early enought to get a parking spot where I could get out of, not like last week.  We got there about 15 min. early and granted the parking lot isn't very big, but only 5 spots left.  So all was good when we left class. 
For dinner we had our left over meatballs and then the kids helped me make some yummy chocolate birthday cupcakes.  Sprinkles, Sprinkles everywhere!

Jason came home from work with a big box that his secretary had shipped him from the states.  I think it only took 2 days to ship, crazy fast.  It had all our mail, and some items from our parents and some items I had ordered.  It was like Christmas.  The kids were digging into everything.  So that was a nice surprise.


Friday the kids did not have school so Jason took the day off and we went to Cologne, Germany for the weekend.