Week of Jan. 22nd, 2012

Sunday we made it to church.  Amber was sad her one friend wasn't there, but she saw another friend who then came and sat with her at the end of mass.   Then we went out to lunch.  At one mall nothing is open but this upper scale cafeteria style restaurant.  So we tried it out for lunch.  It was ok.  It is always hard with 5 of us to do cafeteria style with the trays and all the food it gets a little crazy.
Then Jacob had some school work to do and Jason got ready to head back to the states.  I don't have too big of a list for him this time since we were just there.  But there are some things that got shipped there, so he needs to bring those back.  So it is like christmas when he gets back.  Everyone is into the suitcases to see what goodies are in it!
Today Jason was vacuuming out his car so I told Sean that once Dad was done to vacuum out my car.  When I go down and look at it later, he only vacuumed the trunk?  Did he not think the rest of the car was dirty?  So now I have a nice clean trunk and that is it!
So have I mentioned lately how much I hate my laundry machines?  Today I did a load of light colors which had a lot of cream colored tops in it.  I switched awhile ago to only white laundry detergant since it was starting to color my clothes blue.  And today my tops came out grayish- ugh!!!!!

Monday morning my Aunt passed away from Parkinson's disease.  She was a cute, spunky little lady before the disease took over.  May she now rest in peace.
This morning at the grocery store I was excited to see something that looks like tator tots. We will have to try it out.  And they also had frozen Belgium waffles.  So I got those to try.  The kids enjoyed Eggo waffles once in a while at home, now the only time they can have pancakes/waffles during the week is if there are left overs from the weekend.
This afternoon Amber and I made cookies and fruit kabobs to take to a friend's house for lunch tomorrow. 
Jason made it over to the states ok, but I guess the guy that was sitting next to him was a bit smelly and keep tooting the entire flight!  Jason was not pleased.

Tuesday my French teacher showed up and I told her she needs to call me 45 min. at least before the class starts if she can't make it.   We will see!
Later after I picked Amber up we went to a friend's house for lunch.  The girls had so much fun playing and making necklaces! 

Later I made zucchini bread and a chocolate chip coffee cake for this weekend with our guests.

On Wednesday, my Aunt who passed away earlier in the week, her mother passed away today at 100 years old!  Everyone called her Grams whether you were related or not.   May she rest in peace with her daughter now.
I joined a friend for coffee at school and then off to the store to finish getting the last of the food for this weekend. 
Amber had her little boy friend over for lunch and a little playdate as the boys' RE class was cancelled today so they didn't have their usual lengh of playtime and Amber knew it and was upset!
Then Jacob's guitar teacher moved up his lesson time so that was nice.
I talked to Jason and he was busy packing up the suitcases and weighing them, seeing how much stuff he could fit in!

Thursday I met my friends at mall for coffee and we had a nice time. 
This afternoon was Amber's last Little Gym class for this session.  So the parents got to be in the gymnastics room with them watching and taking pictures.  I told her earlier in the day that they would be giving out medals at the end of the class.  So she kept asking me when was she going to be getting the diamond.  Too funny!

Jason got back in town this afternoon with our guests for the weekend.  They are here for business purposes but since they are friends they are staying with us. He is from the states and she is from Brazil and that is where we met them.   So they had some things to do in the afternoon.  The kids got into Jason's 2 suitcases he brought back and were excited to see things!  My parents had shipped Sean's Alvin build a bear he had made over Christmas to Jason and he brought it back here, so Sean was happy!  And Amber got some foam craft stickers and such- she just loves to do arts and crafts.  Jacob had gotten a book he had wanted and then the kids had some clothes in there that I couldn't fit when we flew back at Christmas time.  And of course our favorite food items we need too!
Amber's friend came over in the afternoon after I picked up Sean.  Then later in the evening we had a nice big dinner with everyone! 

Friday I had coffee at school and then took our friend that is here to the mall.  We walked around, stopped and had coffee at the Oberweis Cafe there.  Then showed her the store and we picked up a few items.  We drove around a bit and showed her the other mall/store and then just pointed out a few other things on our way back.  We went and got Amber at school and went out to a Italian place over by school I hadn't tried yet.  We liked it.  Amber and I shared one of the pizza that are very common here, thin crust and just a bit bigger then a normal size plate.
Jacob had a friend over after school, and we just dropped him off at home when we went out to eat since the restaurant was across town by his house and then I had a sitter for the kids.
We tried this Portuguese restaurant for dinner and it was wonderful.  Jason and I had flaming scampi/prawns.  They had a lot of garlic and butter on them but otherwise they were so good!  The menu only had about 10 things on it, but our friends ordered 2 other things that were good as well.
Then we walked across the street to this area with a lot of bar type restaurants and went to the Brazilian restaurant/bar and had our favorite Brazilian drink!  Then went to a cafe that is across the street from the hotel where we first had to stay and they have these wonderful chocolate little volcano cakes with ice cream.  We were stuffed by the time we came home!

Sat. morning after breakfast we took everyone to Trier, Germany.  It is a cute town about 45 min. from us right on the border.  It is actually Germany's oldest city and former Roman outpost.  This city has over 2000 years of history.  Their famous structure that we saw was the former Roman city gate, the Porta Nigra.  It is called that now with porta meaning door and nigra meaning black because over time the structure has turned black.  This structure is from around the year 180.

After that we took a little tour train around town, then walked around and visited their great church- Trier Cathedral.  We had lunch under ground in this big cellar looking German restaurant.  Everything was very good, but fried.  My potato soup was very yummy, and not fried!
They have a great square area with many, many stores, a really nice flower market and such so we walked around that.
Villeroy and Boch was having a great sale and so I got a life size gingerbread man for christmas decoration!  It was bigger than Amber, but made out of a thin piece of wood.  You should have seen us trying to get that in the car with the 7 of us!  It almost didn't make it home!

For dinner we had a big BBQ at the house.

Week of Jan. 15th, 2012

Sunday Jacob finished up his poster for his book report and started the outline for his oral presentation.  We also took the kids bowling.  It was fun, but a little smoky):  It took us a few minutes to figure out the kids shoe sizes since they are the european shoe sizes here.  Some of the kids shoes had that sizing in their shoes, but not all of them.  I of course already new my size as I have bought shoes here (:
They didn't have that medal ball rolling thing for young children, so Jason and I took turns helping Amber roll her ball down the lane.  She did very well, getting 3rd place out of all of us!  After that we went out to lunch. 
On Sundays since nothing is open but some restaurants and a few other places there is not much traffic on the roads.  So we drove around another part of town that is by the train station so a busy and crowded area during the week.  Lots of buildings and shops in this area too.  But there is the main post office there too so if you get a package via just regular mail you will have to pick it up here since the mailman walk around they don't take any packages with them.  They also don't deliver mail here on Sat.  We were looking for parking garages and could only find one of them.  It was a big area outside the city, and I had no idea there was so much there.
We got Jacob's goodie bags ready for his b'day party on Sat.
We made our gingerbread cookies today since we never got to it before christmas (:

Monday morning we had our PTO meeting to finish up things for the wine tasting this Friday night.  These meetings are once a month and pretty much take up my whole morning since I have to be back around lunch time to pick Amber up.
In gym class Jacob is now starting his gymnastics unit and he said they don't need tennis shoes at all. 
Tuesday I found some cleaning products that my friends had told me about. They are special bottles each for certain things.  One bottle for blood, chocolate, ketchup, etc.  What cracks me up is the name of the cleaning product- Dr. Beckmann.  It cracks me up b/c it is similiar to that guy in Ghostbusters, Dr. Veckman.
In French class one of the words I learned was for horse.  Later in the day I am looking at the menu for this new restaurant we want to try and it has horse on it- not for me!
I had to pull Jacob out of school early today for us to go to the Embassy and get his passport renewed.  It requires paperwork, pictures, form, passports and both Jason and I to be present.  So Jason picks us up at school and we have Amber of course with us.  Well I didn't even think about needing her passport just to get in the Embassy. I didn't say anything and just handed over the 3 passports-oops.
Also I didn't realize that you have to wait outside until it is your turn.  So I had made an appt. so we wouldn't be waiting forever and even with the appt. we had to wait outside until 1/2 hour past our appt. time.  It was about 33 degrees here today, so cold to be standing outside for almost 45 min. since we had gotten there before our appt time, but at least the sun was shining.  Then since it is running so far behind I am getting worried that I will not get back to school in time to pick up Sean and his friend that is coming over after school. Since we haven't even gotten in yet and this could take like 1/2 hour inside.  So I call the friend's mom and ask if she is going to be at school and she says no, but she will go and get the boys for me.  I feel horrible since she lives way across town from school. 
As soon as I get off the phone with her they get us in and we get it done and are back out in no more then 10 min.  I quickly call the mom back and luckily she was just about to leave so I tell her I can still make it now.  All is well.
Jacob tells us that today during recess he was playing soccer and was goaly and got the ball right in the face and his nose starting bleeding.  So he spent a bit in the nurse's office. 
Jason drops us back off at school.  Jacob goes to bball practice and I run and go and get the boys.  They were coming down the stairs just as I walked into their building, phew!  In second grade the children have to stand with their teacher until the teacher sees the child's parent and then they can be dismissed.  So by the time I go back to pick Jacob up from bball practice, I have now been at the school 5 times today!

Wednesday Amber had a girl friend over after school and they had fun dressing up and playing.

The girls helped me make cupcakes for Jacob's class.  Here we are allowed to bring in food for their birthdays so that is nice. 

Tonight Sean was reading to me from his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.  Then he stopped and said "he was going to get his a... kicked"  talking about the boy in the book.  I just looked at him and then we had a little chat.  Jason and I don't really use that word, plenty of other bad words we have instead, so not really sure where he got it from and of course he wasn't really sure where he had heard it either.  Oh dear!

Thursday it came back!  The wind and the rain were back in full force today- ugh!

After school drop off I met 2 friends for coffee at a different mall then we normally go too.  I of course leave early to get back for French, walk in the door and guess who is calling?  My French teacher telling me she can't make it.  I am going to have a little chat with her next week!  She needs to call me earlier then the start time of class to tell me it is cancelled!  This is crazy and incredibly rude!

After Amber's gymnastics we pull in the school parking lot and of course the rain actually starts coming down harder.  So we get soaked going into school.  Then I took one of Amber's friends back here and her mom brought Jacob home after bball practice.

I came across a new saying today that I like-  Cleaning the house while the kids are growing is like shoveling the snow while it is still snowing!  So true, so true!

We frosted Jacob's cupcakes for school tomorrow and put on some sprinkles, and made his yummy chocolate cake for his party on Sat.  Here the cakes are not what we are used to and don't taste as good at least not to us and then of course they are extremely expensive.  So I am going to be making a lot of cakes.  I bought and have ordered some more new cake decorating things.

Friday was the day that Jacob got to bring in his b'day cupcakes.  Good way to end the week of school, right!  He said everyone enjoyed them, so that was good.

Today was a friend's b'day and so she invited some of us over for coffee and cake.  It was very nice.  She had quite a few ladies coming and going all morning.   The house they are renting got painted a lilac color.  I said Amber would love to live in this color house!

After school Sean went to a friend's house and had a sleep over and then I had a sitter come over and Jason and I went to the wine tasting event I was helping put on.  It was a very nice evening.  There were over 60 different wines and champagnes combined to sample.  There was also bread, cheese and appetizers.

We came home and decorated the house and Jacob's door for his b'day!

Sat. was Jacob's day to get breakfast in bed.  I told him I wasn't getting up like at 6am to fix breakfast, but I would get up at 8am.  So I know Jacob is always up before then so I said you can just wake me up if you want and go downstairs and then once I have the pancakes and breakfast ready we can go back to your room and you can have it in bed then.  He said "what's the point then if I already have left my bed!"  So he brought the Ipad in his room and woke up a little before 8am and just layed in bed playing that until we brought in his breakfast. 

He was so excited when we brought in his breakfast, so cute.  I made him a big pancake with choc. chips lined up in the number 10.   You can't see them in the picture.  Then he got fruit, one being choc. covered strawberries, and the a birthday cupcake on top with a candle!  Only my kiddos would actually eat all their breakfast first and then the cupcake last! 

Amber giving Jacob his b'day hug!

After breakfast he opened his presents.  The rest of the morning we spent finishing up preparing the food for his b'day party.

Today was also his b'day party.  He had chosen to have it at Lazer Tag.  He was so excited.  He invited his friends from school. 

 One of Amber's friends was nice enough to have her over for a playdate while we did the party, since she wouldn't have enjoyed it.  You have to be 7 to play and it would have been harder with her there, so instead she had a great time at her friend's house.

We came back from the party, picked up Amber and came home and Jacob enjoyed opening his presents. 

 Then soon after we left as Jacob wanted to try this American Sports Bar/Restaurant and go see a movie.  So we had dinner there and then went and saw Hugo.  It was a good movie.  Amber made it through the first 1 1/2 hours barely, so then we just sat on the exit steps and we finished watching the movie from there- long movie. 

So Jacob had a wonderful day of doing things all for him!  It is so great to just see your child so happy and smiling with excitment throughtout the day!  As Amber put it "This is one of Jacob's best days ever!"

Week of Jan.8th, 2012

Sunday we had a nice relaxing day at home and Jacob worked on his written part of his book report.

Monday Amber wasn't feeling too well so she stayed home from school and Jason dropped off the boys, so that was nice.  Amber felt better pretty quick and was so busy getting into everything all day.  The house was a diaster by the end of the day.
One thing I forgot to mention that we did on New Year's day was have this special cake here.   It is basically like a big round crossaint type flakey cake.  And you can either cut it up into pieces or we each took a piece of the cake and broke it apart.  Then when you look at your cake one piece will have a little Luxembourg token in it.  That person is suppose to have good luck in 2012 and the cake comes with a crown the winner gets to wear.  So that is cute.  And both boys in French class have had this too since school started this year!

Tuesday around 3:30am we are not sure if it was a dog barking or Jacob thinks it was a crow, but I am thinking more dog.  But it was going on for a few minutes enough to wake us all up.  Well of course once Amber is up it is difficult to get her to stay back in her bed so she was up about once an hour from then on- ugh I need naps!! 
Today is the morning is when the garbage comes for pickup.  So last night I handed Jacob a trash bag and said take this and the trash and put it out.  Well I guess he just thought I meant to put the bag in the trash and not actually pull the trash can out to the street.  So when we are leaving this morning in a rush as usual, I see the trash is not out and asked Jacob why.  He said he didn't realize I wanted him to actually take the trash out- ugh.  So I call Jason and ask him to take out the trash, but of course he is going to need to do it soon b/c they will be coming soon.  Then as we are pulling in the school parking lot I realize I didn't take Amber's backpack so I ask her if she took her school bag by the door, she said no.  So now I call Jason back and ask him to drop off the bag to us at school.  I think Jason was sick of us calling him by 8am this morning!
My French teacher came today and told me that I should listen to French while I am sleeping - yeah I am sure Jason wouldn't mind some French language CD going all night!

Wednesday Jason seems to have come down with something and is not feeling well.  In the morning he tried to go back and see about getting the car registered.  He got the paper from the seller that he was missing when he went last month to get this done.  Now something else is wrong with the paperwork.  Geesh how hard is it to register a car here!
After preschool pickup 4 of us went out with the kids to lunch at this good italian place that has a kid's corner for them to play in.  Amber who doesn't nap is always wiped out after any type of lunchin or lunch out and always falls asleep in the car on the way to school to get the boys.
Sean was excited to see that one of his friends has now joined the relgious education class that is afterschool.  When I came to pick them up he ran out with his recorder to show me that he finally passed his white belt test for it in music class.  He has been practicing to get it.

Thursday I met up with a few friends for coffee at the mall.  The last time we met was when we said goodbye to our friend who moved to Norway so I said we have to keep it going!
Today after school there was a very bad accident at the entrance to the school/highway.  It is a horrible interesection with many different lanes coming together and going all directions.  The school entrance is the last stop light before the highway starts and at that light there are 5 lanes I believe going one direction, and the far left lane has a light in which it crosses over and turns right in front of 4 lanes of traffic.  The 4th lane over turns left, the 1st lane turns right, and the 2nd lane goes straight.  It is crazy.  Anyway this little red car just got crushed and when I saw it it was facing the wrong direction.  There was a big truck pulled over and then a station wagon in the grass across the street also facing the wrong direction, so I don't know what happened, but it didn't look good for the driver of the red car.  I pray he is ok.  This is why I will never get a little car, one we don't fit very well in one, but I just don't think they are safe when you have bigger cars driving around and you get hit by one you just don't have a good chance of being ok.

Friday was coffee with another preschool mom, and then I had the rest of the morning and early afternoon to myself as Amber went home with her boy friend from school and had a great time playing at his house!  I got a lot done and then after school we had a family over and then our husbands joined us after work and Jason brought home pizza so everyone was happy!
Jacob's bball team traveled away to Germany for games this weekend but 4th graders can't travel so Jacob and his friends didn't go.

Saturday Amber had a birthday party to go to in the morning and so Jason took the boys and the 3 boys all got a haircut.  I took Amber to the party.  It was in the mall in the climby place where you can leave your kids to play while you go shopping.  It was nice and wasn't crowded with other kids.  Amber had fun.  It was all the kids from her preschool class so while the party was going on we couldn't stay in there so some of us went upstairs and had coffee at the cafe.  It was a nice time. 
After the boys got their haircuts they went out to this restaurant for lunch that has American style food like wings. 
In the afternoon Jacob worked on his poster to go with his book report.  He does a really good job with drawing things, but this took all afternoon!  For a break we went and drove to this place called Drink Shop.  It is part of a big grocery store, and is in the bottom of the 3rd level parking garage and it is way across town so I never go over there.  But it sounded neat so we tried it out.  You drive in and pull up to a desk.  You get out and turn off your car, open your trunck and tell them what you would like.  They have a list there and it is all drinks, larger quantities, laundry soap, and toilet paper.  Then you pay and they load it up in your trunk.  So that is nice b/c it is hard when you are grocery shopping and have a lot of things to get to also try and put these larger items in your cart.
We ended the night with movie night!  

First week of 2012

Monday the kids had their last day of winter break! 

Tuesday I put back on my rain boots, and drove the kids back to school on another dark, rainy morning!  Some of the kids were excited and some were not.  I was glad to meet a friend for coffee and some others and hear how people's vacation was.
Amber had her little boy friend over from school.  A new girl started in their class today since their friend moved to Norway and there is a waiting list to get into the school so she started today.  The kids said she only speaks Spanish.
Homework is back in full swing and the boys are not happy about it! 
Tonight I had review with the boys how to shower and actually wash all of our body!  It seems that both of them are not washing everything they should be!

Wednesday the sun was actually out.  I couldn't believe it and actually had to dig around in my car for my sunglasses, it was great!
After I picked Amber up we drove out to Jason's office and he wanted to drive over to Belgium (close by) since he had heard and thought he found a store called Carrefour close by.  Well we drive there and it is not the big supermarket like Walmart we were expecting but a little present store- nice Jas!  It was just the wrong Carrefour.  Now Amber is hungry and so we search for a McDonalds and end up eating there.  But it was in a mall so we were able to walk around and they had a Claire's Boutique Accessory store there just like at home.  Funny what makes it over!
Today Jacob said his music teacher was out and I guess she did something to her leg skiing over break and so the substitute was Jacob's guitar teacher!  Jacob said he enjoyed the class!

Thursday was a full day of monsoon rains!  And I am not the only crazy person always talking about the weather, it is quite the talk at school as well.  So last night the winds were so bad and the rain.  About 2 am I get a tap on my shoulder and it is Amber too afraid to sleep in her room anymore.  Later in the morning when it is finally light out to see I see that the wind trashed our trampoline.  The base has come apart on one side and the trampoline is on its side.  I have one pole that holds up the net on one side of the yard, another pole under the trampoline and one laying down near the trampoline, lovely!
Today about 10 min. after my French teacher was suppose to be here she calls and tells me something that I don't understand, but that she will see me next week.  Great, thanks for the heads up on that!
To get Amber out of school at pickup today I had to put her rain pants on because otherwise the poor thing would have been soaked.  Some people were saying they had streets flooding out by their houses.
When I went to pick up Jacob at bball practice I had a little boy try to get in our car.  He opened the door and was just staring at Amber not sure what to do.  He thought it was his car and was totally confused. 
Tonight Jacob got asked to do an interview with one of my dietitian friends that was doing an article about how children feel about having a dietitian as a mom!  It is for a couple of family publications in New York. 

Friday was my coffee with a few other preschool moms.   I then ran out to the import store to see about getting Hershey's cocoa to use to bake Jacob's cake and make frosting with for his birthday.  Unfortunately they don't carry it.  But a friend let me take her container that she had brought back from the states, otherwise another friend recommended a Belgium cocoa powder.  So that will be good.
After I picked up the boys we went to a friend's house for a get together.  Another family came as well.  The kids all played well together and the moms enjoyed some champagne!  Can't beat that!  Because we are so close to the wine growing regions, drinking wine and champagne any time is very common over here, so you know we are just trying to blend in- he he!
When I got home I turned the oven on to make chicken nachos and what do I find in the oven- a lobster claw- yuck!  Can you imagine how the oven smelled?  And the claw was turning black.  We boiled them Sat. night and then put them in the oven to keep them warm since we could only do 2 at a time.  The rest of this week we had leftovers and grilled out.  I can't believe we missed/lost a yummy claw!

Sat. we decided to take the kids to this indoor play place in Belgium.  It used to be where everyone went before they opened some in Luxembourg.  It was nice, a bit older, but the kids liked it.  It even had a disco room that Sean and Amber were dancing away in.  It also had a bigger smaller kids area which is nice b/c Amber doesn't like climbing up those big climby things and going down those tall slides.  We even had lunch there.  The best part was this place is in a huge strip mall and Jason and took turns going shopping.  The prices over in Belgium, which is only like 20-30 min. away are so much cheapier then Luxembourg.  So we both were buying things, plus this time of year there are sales everywhere even back here in town.  I was so excited to find those craft foam stickers and sheets that I buy at Michaels at home since Amber is a huge craft person always into this type of stuff.
We left here early afternoon and then had to drive to the mall back in Luxembourg so I could get Jacob's passport picture taken to renew his passport.
Then later in the afternoon both boys had a birthday party to go to.  Sean went to a party at a friend's house and then I took Jacob to his and the parents stayed at this boy's party at his house as well.  The mom had done a whole Harry Potter theme, with wands and sorting kids into houses and lots of cute things for the kids. So it was nice chatting with people there.  After this party I took Jacob and his friend and we went back to our house for a bit and then walked, like that about living close to the city, to dinner and met up with the boy's family and had dinner together.  It was a Japenese restaurant we had never tried before and it was really good and we all liked it!  It is a tiny place and there were 3 other families from school there as well, too funny!  After dinner we all came back here and had dessert and the kids got to play a bit more.  So it was an enjoyable day and evening!

Christmas and New Year's 2011

So this year the day after the kids got out of school we flew back to Chicago.  The  total trip door to door took 18 hours.  It was very long!  But we flew Swiss airlines which was one of the nicest airlines we have ever flown.  The food was good, even got ice cream between meals and then some yummy chocolates.  Each seat had a movie screen and many movie options and TV options and video games even for the kids.  Also the movies you could play and watch whenever so it wasn't on a schedule. 
When we arrived home my parents were waiting with some yummy chili and cornbread.  My parents had even gotten out some christmas decorations for us so it looked all festive!
We celebrated Christmas with my parents the next day

and then Jason flew out to NY for work.  We got to visit with friends, and I got to Target- (:, Costco, and the mall.  Sean and Amber got to do build a bear.  Amber did Hello Kitty and Sean did Alvin.  They loved it!

 
Before Christmas we drove to IN for 3 days and met some of Jason's college friends for lunch and then on to his sister's house where Jason's parents flew to as well and we spent 3 days with them hanging out and celebrating an early Christmas. The kids were so excited to see their cousins! We had a good time.

All the boys went to an IU basketball game which of course they won.  They are doing great this season.  The boys enjoy going down there and of course that would be great if they decide to go to school there,  but no pressure!
Christmas Eve we went to church and then to the kids' (boys) favorite restaurant- Kiku's- where they cook the food in front of you!

Christmas morning.

Then we finished up the week with lots of playdates, sleepovers, visits with friends and families!

We had a wonderful trip home and it was great seeing everyone!
Our time at home flew by and before I knew it I was packing everything I had gotten back into the suitcases- tough job!  The day we were leaving I checked us in online and it said that we were allowed an extra bag due to Jason's flying status now.  So we looked around in the basement but all we could find was an old big purple bag of mine.  Jason was not too excited about having to carry this around!  So we packed up our 6 bags and headed back to the airport.  Once on the plane we just sit down and Jacob, who was fine up until  now, just starts throwing up.  Ok those little bags are not too good for kids, as Jacob couldn't seem to keep it all in there.  At least he had one of those blankets on which kept it from getting all over himself, but it was a mess.  I couldn't believe it.  We got everything cleaned up and  after that I got him to sleep and he slept along with the rest of the kids for the entire flight- thank goodness.  We flew to Copenhagen this time.  This airport was a little different.  There are no seats at the gates.  There are just desks to check in when it is time otherwise the whole terminal area is filled with shops and food places, a crazy amount of stores.  I had never seen anything like this before.  So we find a couple of seats just a long a wall and are waiting and this mom and her daughter are sitting next to Jason when all of a sudden they come running toward me to get to the trash can next to me.  The little girl doesn't make it and gets sick all over the floor right in front of us.  The went to the bathroom but then never cleaned up the mess on the floor or told anyone about it.  Nice to look at that again! 

When we landed back here it was dark and rainy, great it looks the same as before we left I was thinking.  We came back to the house and Santa had come and left the kids their presents here.  They were so excited and couldn't wait to get to the tree.

We had christmas and then a light dinner and off to bed. 
The next day we have to start getting things ready b/c we are hosting a New Year's Eve get together with friends.  So busy day of shopping, baking, cleaning.  And cleaning up from Christmas is always a mess.  So we got it all done and friends arrived at 6pm we did a dinner for the 7 children, and then with the help of one of the guys we cooked lobster and steaks for the adults!  It was a bit messy but a lot of fun!

The city did fireworks at midnight and we went out back and did sparklers and watched the great fireworks display.  The kids all were great and all stayed up past 1am.  The next day my kids slept in so well.  Amber was the last one to get up at 12:20pm in the afternoon! 
So now I have one day to rest and then back to school!
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and may 2012 bring you healthy, happiness and cheers!!!