Today we took the kids to an indoor play place that is right next to the bowling alley we went to a couple of weeks ago and that was how we found it. We had lunch there as well and the kids had fun climbing. bouncing on the trampolines, and the boys even played pool. One of Amber's friends from school was there as well, so she enjoyed having a girl to run around and play with.
Once we got home Amber again fell asleep on the couch for a nap. She napped most days this past week as well.
There was something I was reading the other day that talked about why French woman tend to not be heavy. The reason being is that they tend to walk more. More people take the bus, even if you drive there are no parking lots so you find a place on the street and have to walk to your destination. There are no elevators in buildings so you have to walk up the stairs. This is true of here as well. I see people out walking their dogs and their children, even babies all bundled up in this cold, cold weather. And people are thinner here as well. Unfortunetly it doesn't seem to be helping me. Could be I am probably eating too much of the delicious bread here! Oh well.
Today I saw a woman walking her beautiful dalmation dog in her long fur coat. Then a bit later I saw an older man wearing a fur coat out for a walk. I had never seen a man wearing a knee length fur coat before!
Tonight is the super bowl. A few bars were advertising they would be broadcasting it from 11:30pm-6am due to the time change. One of Jason's friends invited him to a friend's house to watch it but Jason thought it might be a little difficult to go to work the next day after being up all night!
Monday morning was the PTO meeting, so that was my morning.
This afternoon while Amber was busy in her craft area, I got everyone's Valentine's gifts put together for next week. Here they celebrate it, so there are some cards out, but I didn't see any Valentine's bags or wrapping paper, so everyones gifts are wrapped really pretty- in left over Meijer/Walmart bags from one of Jason's trips home! I don't think they will mind, especially since they each got a packet of candy from home that Jason had bought. They also do not have children's valentines here like we do at home.
This afternoon my one friend told me they were moving next month to Sweden! They were always planning on moving this summer, but they decided to move it up. They have a little girl Amber's age, and then a boy between my boys. So we will be sorry to see them go. They have lived here for like 10 years. She is from the states and he is from Norway.
Tuesday during my French class the teacher told me that here European's only wash their hair 1 to 2 times a week- yuck! She asked me how often I wash my hair and I said everyday. She made some American comment, and I thought well at least our whole bodies are clean!
Amber's gymnastics class had a few more kids in it today, and this class has mostly English speakers in it, so I was excited for Amber. Her friend from last week was not there, but another girl was there and the 2 of them were playing and hanging together during class. So that is nice b/c otherwise she doesn't seem to enjoy it unless she feels like she has a friend there.
After school Jacob and his friend had bball practice and so his mom and her kids came over for a little playdate while the boys had bball. So that was nice.
When Jacob got home he told me his winter coat got stuck on something today and it ripped all the way down the side and just sliced his coat open! It was getting a little small on him and I have another one ready for him thank goodness especially with this cold weather. But so much for passing it on to Sean!
Tonight it really started snowing again. It has covered the ground, but not sure how much more it will accumulate.
I called Amber's gymnastics place to ask them a question about her b'day party, and when I call anywhere my first sentence in French is always do you speak English. So tonight when I call and say this, Jacob tells me I am not saying it right b/c I am saying it with an American accent. Ah ya, this is how I speak French!
Wednesday I had a coffee at school with some preschool moms and then to work out. I also got Amber's cakes made for her party. We are going to try a triple layer checkered cake. So she picked out pink, purple and yellow. So I got the cakes made, but some of the colors ran together a bit, so we will see how it looks when we cut into it. I froze them and will decorate them later.
We had a last minute luncheon here with one of Amber's other little boy friends, his mom and the baby for lunch and a playdate. So that was nice.
This afternoon a delivery truck came to my neighbors with a box and they weren't home so he dropped off the package at our house. He didn't speak much English, but was pointing to the neighbors house next store. I am really suprised he just dropped it off with me. He definately didn't want to bother coming back. Here people don't really know their neighbors that well. So I took over the package when I saw her in her car later in the evening and I gave it to her. And let me tell you she spoke English perfectly. So now I know that she is not ignoring me b/c she can't speak English, she is just ignoring me!
Today I went online and ordered some winter things that are half off what they have left in stock. Since Sean will now be needing a new winter jacket for next year, thanks to Jacob!
I am finally getting around to reading this good book called Playing with the Enemy. So awhile back I went to this luncheon and the author of this book was the guest speaker, so of course I bought his book and he signed it as well. He said it was going to be made into a movie but I don't know if it ever did. But it is a true story about his father. It is suppose to be an inspirational story about his life and what happened and how he turned it around. I am only half way through it right now. It is not what I normally read, but I am really enjoying it. His dad was a great baseball player and at 15 the Dodgers wanted to sign him. But then WWII came and he was enlisted at an early age to play baseball for the milatary. It talks about different parts of the war, and now we are living close to some of these places. It talks about Normandy Beach ( someplace we want to go, but friends have already been), and Cologne, Germany was the first German city to be captured by the Americans and we went there in the fall. It talks about General George Patton and we saw his grave in the American Milatary Cementary here. It is a sad, but beautiful area of all white cross on the lawn. General Patton didn't die here with his troops but he requested when he died to be laid to rest with the rest of his troops here.
So maybe there is a reason I never got around to reading this book a year ago or so. This month last year was when Jason decided to take this job. What a year!
Thursday was a quick coffee at the mall with a friend and then home for French.
Today during Sean's lunch he turned around right into a teacher carring a tray and got a huge bruise on his forehead. He ended up in the nurse's office for an ice pack!
A friend of mine is doing something cute for her husband's birthday and collecting different beers so I gave her 3 different kinds that we had.
Friday I bought a new alarm clock. The one I have is from someone who moved away and every 10 days or so the buzzer on the alarm goes off instead of the radio. It scares the crap out of both of us and sometimes wakes up the kids. Why in the world anyone would purposely set their alarm to wake up to that boggles me! Jason keeps saying that it is user error, but I keep telling him that there is a certain button for buzzer and I am not turning it on! So I have had enough of that alarm clock, and we will try a new one and see.
Today I also got the re-enrollment forms for school next year already. They increased their prices for next year. Since Amber will stay all day next year- it is called the 1st year of Kindergarten, her prices are almost as much as the boys. So for my 3 kids to go to school next year it will be a little over $50,000, just for tuition! Thank goodness the company pays for this!
We had a busy afternoon then. We brought 2 of Amber's friends home for a playdate and lunch. And one of them, today was her b'day. So I had gotten a little fairy cake and we got to sing to her and have some cake after lunch. Then dropped them off and we picked up the boys and Jacob went to a lazer tag b'day party and so my friend and I each took our 2 younger ones to the indoor climby/play place just down the road. Then after Jacob and his friend finished with the party we met Jason at a kind of American restaurant with them as well for dinner. My friend ordered a salad for dinner. It was called a mountain salad, and it said something about chicken, potatoes and we really weren't sure exactely what kind of salad it was. So she gets it and we are all dying laughing. It is a lettuce salad with a big, cold baked potato in the middle of it with salsa on top of that and then sliced chicken on the lettuce around the potato. Never heard of this one before! Jason was trying to ask for salsa for his dinner and the waitress had no idea what he was talking about, and he was like I should have just pointed to her salad. But the kids all loved their meals most of the boys got bbq chicken wings.
The boys got their report cards today. They are longer and more in depth then the ones at home, but graded the same. Then each extra teacher does there own section, Art, French, Gym, music, not only checking boxes but each writes a paragraph.
Sat. was a busy day getting all the cakes and cupcakes frosted and things ready for Amber's party tomorrow. The handyman came in the morning and saw the 3 layer pink frosted cake and said with his British accent "Wow that cake looks smashing!" So I thought that was nice. Even if the kids didn't like it the handyman thought it looked smashing! I was cracking up and all I could think of was Austin Powers, smashing baby!
Jason took the boys and one of Sean's friend and went to the reptile show that was in town this weekend. They had their picture taken with a big snake around all of their necks- yuck! They saw a 2 headed snake and a 2 headed turtle. Sean's friend then came over and had lunch with us and had a nice playdate with Sean. After lunch we realized that the heat had gone out and there was no hot water, nice. So we called the relocation agent that works for Jason's company and she got a heater person out within about 2 hours. The guy only spoke Luxembourgish, so Jason had no idea what he said was wrong, but he seemed content that is was fixed. Ok. Which was good since we had a sitter coming over in a bit. We had a new girl coming over to babysit. She is from South Africa and is a senior at the kids school and lives pretty close by. Jason and I went out to dinner with another guy that he works with and his wife is one of the girls I have coffee with at the mall. We had a very nice evening. We went to this Luxembourghish restaurant in the downtown area. It was a very neat looking restaurant. There was brick built into the restaurant all over and it was I think 4 floors, but cozy little areas, not just a big floor.
Here is a picture of the brick going into the bottom floor and this is where the wine cellar is as well.
So if you ask if they have more wine then what is on the wine list they will give you a key and you go down here and open this narrow door into their wine cellar which is just built into the stone and everything is all dusty.
So here is a picture of the wine cellar with Jason inside. It was neat.
Unfortunatley this family will be moving back to the states this summer as they were here for 5 years. Another one bites the dust!
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