Week of March 18th

Sunday morning Jason was able to eat a quick fruit slushy and green pancakes with us before taking off to the airport for China.  I actually had no idea he was going again this week until he mentioned yesterday morning.  Too much to kept track of him too!
I love to bake things, so this morning after breakfast Amber and I made some pumpkin bread and then after lunch I took the kids to the indoor play area.  It was so crazy.  We stayed for about 2 hours and then came home and made some Reese's Peanut butter cookies- yummy. 
Today Sean and I did his b'day invitations for his party.
Before bed Jacob and I played a game of checkers and he was trying to convince me that I couldn't double jump him unless I was a King.  Of course the instructions aren't in English so I am going to have to look this up for next time b/c I thought you could jump 2 in a straight line normally.

Monday I drove out the the chiropractor's new office.  He moved all the way to the other side of town from me.  He was over on this side but it was in a house where the bottom of the house was his office and the top his family lived in.  And with 5 kids I think they were running out of room.  So his new place is nice, but longer to get to and only street parking available so harder to park.  From here I went out to Ikea.  It cracks me up that they won't allow these in Luxembourg and it takes me 15 min. to get there.  So everyone drives across the border to Belgium or the other countries that have them too.  I picked up some small items and then some food. 
This morning the dryer was making funny noises and I emailed Jason that I think the dryer was breaking.  The next load that went in the dryer lasted about 2 min. before the dryer died.  So next email- dryer now broken.  Here I had heard that is it so expensive to pay the cost of someone to repair an appliance with the added tax and then the labor on top of the visit and parts, that it is sometimes cheapier just to buy a new one.  Not saying that I wouldn't mind that!  Ours are probably about 6 years old as we bought them from someone moving.    I have never seen a laundry mat here, so we are going to be doing the old fashioned way of drying now.  Hope no one needs any items soon!
I got another package dropped off with me to give to my neighbors.  What will they do if I am not here!

Tuesday I barely made it back from the store before the French teacher got here and I couldn't even get all the stuff I needed done, done.  I told her today that I will not be able to do lessons after this week for a bit due to Jason's parents will be visiting soon and with our activities that my schedule won't allow it (:
Amber's class made chocolate chip cookies today.  Amber had saved me a bite, not sure on purpose or she didn't have enough time to eat it all (:  It was yummy.  They used the toll house chocolate chips from the states too!
The light that is broken in the bathroom was suppose to be repaired today.  They said they would come at 1pm.  So I waited 45 min. and they never showed and then we had to leave for class.  The relocation lady said they must have showed up right after I left and then called her to complain that no one was here- ugh!
Amber had fun at gymnastics but is sad we always have to leave a little bit before the class ends to go back to school to pick up the boys. 
I am still doing wash and trying to air dry things.  But the wet clothes are taking over the laundry room.
Jacob had fun doing his tennis class and then after that, I made him shower of course, he had to be back at school for a French play tonight put on by the 4th grade.  It was nice.  Some of the kids spoke French so well and fast that I couldn't even understand what they were saying.  Jacob said that the kids that had the speaking parts were in the higher up French classes then him.  I said I think they are in a class higher then me!  Jacob was in the chorus and did a nice job singing the songs in French and doing the motions to go with it.

Jacob was in the back row.
Everyone was tired from running around this afternoon so after the play I made popcorn and got the kids ready for bed.

Wednesday morning I tell the boys while they are eating breakfast to remind them that they have RE after school and all of a sudden Sean stands up and goes to his bag and pulls out his RE notebook and remembers he had to research something.  Nothing like googling something at 7 in the morning for homework due that day!
This morning we decided to cancel our coffee this week ):  Althought I have had to stop eating so much bread so it was good for that reason only.  So I ran around to a few stores and checked out prices on the dryers.  We decided to just get a new one instead of paying to get this one repaired. The lower end ones are not that expensive. One store I found a 9kg capacity dryer!  I don't know what I have at home, but that is big for here.  Most are 7kg which is probably what I have now.  So I said I should get the 9kg one and then if the washing machine would just break then I could get a 9kg washing machine!  Ha. 
I also got a car wash today.  First time I have done it here, so about 6 months overdo.  But why wash a car when it rains all the time!  Anyway it was looking pretty dirty so I thought I would try this out.  It is called the American Car Wash.  So you drive up to it and there is a guy there and you tell him which one you want.  They have 5 choices.  I did the middle of the road and it was about $12. Then you pay him and he gets your car wet and takes a brush and rubs soap all over the car with a brush.  Then you go on an automated belt and it pulls your car through the wash.  It is with those soft big brushes that go all over you car.  It was a good thing Amber wasn't with me as she would have been freaking out in the dark car with those brushes all over the car.  Then after you go through the dryer, it did a pretty good job drying it, I pulled over to pull the plastic off my back windsheild wiper that the guy put there.  So now my total car is cleaned!  Now if I could keep the kids out of it then it could stay clean (:
The other thing I have been looking for are peanut free chocolate eggs.  Very hard to find here.  The preschool classes need 3 little eggs/child and 1 big egg per child.  So most all of the eggs here either have nuts in them or say at the bottom may contain traces of nuts.  So I can't do either of those.  Some big eggs I found today were maybe about the size of my hand and to buy 36 of them would have been like $200!  Crazy, so I went down a size for the large egg and they are getting more medium eggs.  But this brand- Kinder eggs where they have a surprise inside was one of the only brands with no nuts.  Either that or they didn't write it on there as traces.  But these eggs are not allowed to be sold in the US due to they don't allow non-nutritive items to be placed in sweets.  Interesting!
Anyway another mom and I have been visiting different stores to try and find peanut free eggs so the kids can have an Easter egg hunt next week.  I said I think we are the ones doing the egg hunt, just looking for them!
I also decided we needed a few flowers outside to look springy.  Here no one really does anything with their houses.  I went to a store that is like Home Depot. Even has orange as it main color.  So this is a big hardware warehouse, right, well the parking spaces are for tiny little cars!  Give me a break, you go to a place like this to buy big items but with the tiny parking spaces and tiny cars I don't know what people do.  The lot lanes are so narrow to try and get down the lanes and in and out of the lot, crazy!
I bought an inexpensive coffee pot today for guests we have coming.  I bought it b/c I saw that the instructions were in English.  I have no idea how to work a coffee pot.  I made it once at my house a few years back and it overfload all over the counter.  It was a mess.  So we will see if I can handle this one.  What I had at home that I love is that K-cup machine, Keurig Coffee maker.  So you can stick one cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate in the machine and it will make that.  So you can do multiple different things on it.  I love it!  Due to the outlet/voltage difference here we couldn't bring many things that plugged in.
This afternoon Amber and I made her Easter Bonnet she needs for school next week.  We had fun with it and it is definately an Amber hat!  We took a plain white hat and glued a bunch of spring things on.

Today I washed some sheets, what a mess to try and air dry sheets!
After we picked up the boys from RE we headed to the Dr. office for Amber, surprise, surprise.  She has now been coughing for 6 weeks.  This is driving me crazy that she can't seem to get better.  I wrote down all the cough syrups that she had been trying at different times of course, and nothing is working.  Plus she was doing that breathing tube with the spray in it.  The Dr. didn't really think anything was wrong but said continue doing the breathing tube and if she is still coughing in 2 more weeks come back and we will do a chest x-ray.  Ugh!  How can coughing for 6 weeks be nothing is wrong?  I want to go home and take her to the dr!!
Today at recess Jacob was playing the goalie in soccer, and got a ball to the face and a bloody nose.  This kid needs a face mask to play goalie!
Tonight Jacob had guitar lessons and there was also a 6th grade science fair going on, so it was crazy at school.
Sean passed out his b'day party invites to his friends today.  He is so excited for his party.

Thursday I went to a butcher's shop in my area that a friend had referred me too.  I am looking for a nice Ham for Easter.  They look very different here.  So this place my friend said the guy spoke English.  I ordered some nice looking shish kabobs to grill out this weekend with beef and chicken and then I ordered a Ham. So his English was ok.  And I am not really sure what I am going to get.  I told him the number of people and he said he will cut off the big end bone and take out the bones.  Then I cook it.  Ok.  This was also an organic butcher so I don't even think I want to know how much this is going to cost.  In the grocery store they sell ham, but they are these big things on a bone hanging and they are smoked maybe so very red inside.  I have no idea what to do with that.  So we will see what I get.  I will pick it up on Sat. before Easter and pray we can figure it out!
Then I went another store for dryers but didn't like anything and then ran home for my last French for a bit!  I think I am regressing, either that or I just can 't concentrate on it.
After Amber and I got back from school the electrician came back to fix the light again.  It is working now, so we will see how long this lasts! 
After the boys were done with school we stayed on the playground for about 1/2 hour with a friend so the kids ran around.  Then one of Sean's friends came over for a playdate.  His mom had some other things with another sibling going on so she couldn't come back and get him until a little bit after 7pm.  So he just had dinner with us then.

Friday morning Amber had come down with a fever during the night and more coughing so she stayed home from school today.  We dropped off the boys and then had to get to the store for a few things and then buy a dryer.  I stopped and got her a little pastry roll to eat and keep her happy in the store. 
So we put our groceries in the car and I drove over to the place where I wanted to buy the dryer.  I got a Whirlpool one and it is 8kg capacity so a little bigger then the previous one we had.   Now it seems that a lot of the things we had bought used we have already had to replace with new.  If only the washing machine would break next!  Anyway so I find a guy in the dryer section and he speaks ok English and so I ask him, ok this dryer is the one I want and I only plug it in right?  Here the dryers are high maintance.  They are electric so all you do is plug them in and then you are responsible for emptying the water container after each load and then at the end of the day you need to empty and rinse out this condenser thing in the bottom of the dryer.
So he tells me yes.
Then he says "You want to take home in your car?"  "What"  I said "You want me to put the floor model in my car?
"You have big car, right?  My colleage put it in for you"
"The floor model?"  I asked
"No, one left in back you go to Depot number 2 and pick up."
Ok I said.
So I buy it and then drive around back looking for Depot number 2.  I don't see it, so I get out and go up to the desk at Depot number 1 and they tell me that number 2 is down the road a bit.  Ok
So I drive down the road and find number 2 and this big dude picks it up off the docks and puts it in my car.  Thank goodness I got the seats folded down, sometimes they stick and I physically can't get them down!
So now I am wondering how am I going to get this out of my car?
I manage to back the car down my steep narrow driveway after 3 tries to line it up so I don't hit the rock wall on the sides.  The dryer wasn't too heavy.  So I kind of drag it out of the car and then the laundry room is the same floor as the garage so I just slid it in there.  Then I pulled the old one out.  And found a spot in the corner for it, cleaned the floor around it, and then that turned into cleaning the whole laundry room.    You know how dusty it gets behind the washers and dryers.  I plug it in and voila I have a dryer now.  I asked if it came with instructions in English and he said yes, but of course it didn't.  The dryer buttons I think are in German and then French.  So I think I have everything working correctly. 
When I go to take the second load out of the dryer,  I open it up a big rock falls out. Are you flipping kidding me?  It left dings all over the inside of the dryer,  I couldn't believe it.  So much for that nice new dryer! 
It is a bigger dryer and once I looked at the inside of it compared to my washer I think my washer must only be like 5 or 6 kg, b/c it is no where near as big as the dryer. 
Unfortunately it doesn't dry the clothes all the way either.   One neat feature it has on it is that 6th sense where depending on how wet the clothes are it will adjust the time of the dryer.  But since they still come out damp it must be missing a sense!
After lunch Amber put herself down for a nap. 
After we picked up the boys we went to a town about 10 min. away to a little strip mall.  Here they have some cheapier stores.  Jacob needs new shoes badly, and Sean wanted some but he has some here that Jacob didn't use much that he can wear.  The shoes at this place were still so expensive. Some of the ones Jacob liked were anywhere from $80-$100.  Ok I don't even spend that much on my shoes.  So we looked for some lower priced ones, not much to choose from.  But he found ones that he liked and we paid only around $40.  So much better.  There was nothing in that price range for Sean, and Amber was mortified we were in a shoe store and she couldn't get any shoes.  I had loaded up for her at home so she doesn't need any.  The boys are so rough with their shoes they just don't hold up as long.  We walked in a few other stores, they have a toy store and then a paper type store and a housey store.  After this I took them to Quick, it is like a McDonalds, that was over there.  Since Jason still wasn't home and it was Friday I wasn't cooking!  This is a big place, 2 stories and has a play area.  So at 5:30pm on a Friday night we were the only ones there besides 4 adults sitting together.  Crazy!  The food isn't as good as McDonalds. But  these are popular here, and there are only I think 3 McD. around town.  At 6pm I think maybe 2-3 families had started to come in.  And not too many people in the drive through either.
After this we came home and got ready for bed and watched a movie and Amber and I played some games. 
I was pooped.  I got everyone, including myself in bed before Jason even got home tonight from his trip.

Sat. morning Amber was up at 6:30am (why early on Sat. of all days) and then Jason got up too.  So by 6:45 she is back in my room, "Mommy, mommy, daddy brought me a panda bear in China and he brought you a qaprise, but I am not going to tell you what it is."   I tell her thanks for letting me know, but I am not getting up.  15 min. later she is back.
"Mommy, Daddy brought you a qaprise back.  It is some chocolates.  When are you getting up to get me some breakfast?" 
"Thanks for not telling me what the qaprise is Amber!"  Ugh now 7:02 and out of bed!  But I must admit Amber's little babyish voice is still so cute!
We sat down to breakfast and Sean is as white as a ghost and says he doesn't feel well so he goes to lay down.  Soon after he gets sick.  It just happened once and soon after his coloring came back and he ate lunch and played outside.  He only ate part of his dinner, though so we will see what happens, but he doesn't have a fever.
Once I got up and felt Amber I knew her fever had gone up.  So I called the Dr. office again!  We saw a new dr. we hadn't ever seen before like the last 5 times we have been there since last month!  And Amber actually coughed while we were in the office, and hallelujah we got an antibotic.  I really hope this helps her.  She is up at night coughing and during the day as well.  2 of her friends last week from school were diagonised with acute bronchitis and pneumonia, so you know she is close to one of those.  And it only took me 6 weeks of her coughing and going into the dr. office to finally get something that hopefully will help her! 
This afternoon Jacob was going to a friend's house to spend the night.  The boy lives close to Germany so it is about 30 min. away.  It was a pretty drive.  And they live in a small subdivision but with houses size wise close to home.  And they had a wonderful back area, with a built in pool, green area for boys to play soccer, swing set and then room for quite a big garden.  And then just fields behind them. So peaceful!
We came home and BBQed the shish kabobs I had gotten from the butcher and they were excellent!

Week of March 11, 2012

Sunday morning Amber slept into 9:30 this morning, crazy girl!  I had heard her get up around 7:30 and I was wondering why I wasn't getting poked and asking for breakfast.  She said she got up and saw Sean and then went back to bed.  Good girl!
We went to Church this morning and then out to lunch.  Today we went to a nice Thai place not too far from us.  Jason and I had both been there, just not together.  I liked my food, but not everyone else really liked theirs.
I started having a stiff neck today so I put Bengay all over it and no one wanted to come near me!
Once home Amber and I made some shamrock cookies.  We ended up not using green frosting, but an Amber color instead, purple!  I had some leftover b'day frosting in the fridge so we used that up instead.

Later in the afternoon, Jason took the boys to see that Journey 2 movie.  They all enjoyed it.

Monday morning at 5am Amber is calling out for me.  My neck is still stiff and takes me a bit longer to get out of bed and I go see what the problem is.  She lost a sock in bed, ugh.  So then she is up sniffeling and coughing for awhile, then she falls back asleep and then I have to get up to start my day! 
After school drop off I went with my friend to Perl, Germany where they have cheapier grocery stores.  It is 30 min. from here and I just don't feel comfortable driving there yet, and of course everything is in German.  But we stopped at 2 stores.  One store I had my cart about 3/4 full and spent about $58, very cheap for here.  The other store carrys toiletries, cleaning and paper products plus toilet paper, klneex and paper towels.  I was very excited to see that they had the Listerine mouth wash for kids like they do it home.  Here they only have one mouthwash that children can use and it is very strong and the boys don't like it.  So we had been bringing it back in our suitcase, and now I don't have to carry that heavy liquid!
Amber had her 2 friends over for lunch and a playdate today.  It was a beautiful afternoon and I was even able to open the windows.  We are dying for spring over here, and some sun shine!
After the boy's school, Sean had a friend over and we walked to the park by us and played a bit.  Since it was such a nice day a lot of people were there.

Tuesday, for some reason Amber didn't want to stay in her class today and I tried to say goodbye to her this morning and she just grabbed on to me and started crying.  She calmed down and then I went to leave and it started again, so then the teacher ended up taking her and then she calmed down and started with class.  Crazy girl!
 Now that the weather has gotten warmer, we are up to the high 50's whoa hoo, the construction has kicked in full gear.  The roads are constantly being blocked with trucks and they were so narrow for 2 cars to get down in the first place and now we have to somehow get around a truck too!  There is a lot of construction going on.  Mostly building new buildings, but sometimes remodeling and also building new roads.

Wednesday I did coffee at the mall with friends.  Then when I came home I asked if the maid would be able to clean out my car.  Oh my gosh it looks great.  When we first bought the car I paid a ton and got a crappy cleaning job done on it.  She did a great job.  Guess now I will need to figure out how to get the outside of it washed!
A couple weeks ago a light in our bathroom went out.  So I got a new bulb, those horrible narrow little halogen bulbs, but it still didn't work.  So I let the relocation lady know and then we had to wait for the owner to hire an electrician.  So today he came.  When he finished with it the light worked, then tonight I go to turn on the light and puff goes the light- ugh!  I will have to have Jason see if maybe this is just the bulb this time or the light really has problems.  I also have to tell the relo lady that his ladder or tool box took some divets out of her bathroom tile.

Thursday grabbed a quick coffee with a friend at school and then I went and tried out a small organic grocery store by me.  Things were very expensive and I only bought a few things.  But one of the things they had was frozen corn.  I haven't been able to find this anywhere.  So I bought one.  I would have bought more but my tiny ice boxes are full!
My French teacher cancelled this morning and called ahead to let me know.  Since it was another beautiful day in the low 60's I decided to walk downtown into the city center.  It took me about a half an hour walking in my workout clothes, so not just strolling.  I poked my head into a bakery on the way that people have gotten things at but it is close to the city and no parking so I have never gone.  I passed the pirate park since that is right before the city center.  Once downtown I didn't have much time to walk around since now I knew how long it was going to take me to get back and I had to shower and go back to school for Amber.  I also don't know my way around down there very well.  Once you pass the big bus hub it turns into cobblestone no car streets and I was afraid if I started walking around down there I might not be able to find my way out!  So I bought a Luxembourg postcard for my wall and saw a Laura Ashley store and went in there and then headed back home.  On the way back home I stopped in a salon to buy a hair product.  This is one of the only places I have seen Redkin hair products for sale, so they had the one spray mousse that I liked.  So I got it after paying double the price for it at home.  But at least that is one less thing I have to try and shove in my suitcase when we come back home to bring back here!
Today Amber's teacher passed out a note that said they will have an Easter Bonnet parade in 2 weeks and all the preschoolers need to make an Easter Bonnet.  Poor Amber this is not going to be pretty.  They don't have Michaels and craft stores here, nor hardly any Easter decorations that I could use things to put on the hat.
When we went back to pick up the boys we also picked up a friend of Amber's to come over for a playdate and Jacob had a friend over as well. 
Now that the weather is nice here, they say that the springs here are actually nicer then the summers, the kids are eyeing the trampoline.  We had so much wind last fall and into November/December that it bent 3 of our poles that holds the net up.  After the last wind storm I thought the trampoline was finished since I looked out at it and it was on its side, some poles had blown off and others were bent underneath the trampoline which was on its side and the net was all twisted up.  Luckily the only things we need to replace are the poles.  I won't let them jump on it until we have the netting back up.  Jason found the website to order more poles, but it is only in German.  So he needs to have someone help him with this.  It isn't looking good for getting it anytime soon!

Friday the kids didn't have school.  But we did have to go to school since it was like an open house where you go to each child's classroom and they have their portfolio to show you and other things in their room and then you go to their other classes, French, Art, Music, Library and Gym.  So we got their at 9 and we were rushing to get out at 11:30.  Jason was in Portugual and Poland this week so he couldn't make it.  I asked him to pick me up some of this Polish Pottery people talk about here as being so great.  He told me that they don't have that pottery in his part of Poland, nice!
So it kind of was way too many things to get done in the time limit with 3 kids classes to visit.  The session started at 8:30 and you had to be out by 11:30 and then the other half of the school would come in the afternoon.  In Amber's room we painted together, drew a picture, and reviewed her portfolio, and then had to visit her other classes.  Then I put Amber in the babysitting area and unfortunatley she was there an hour and half while we just did the boys classes.    The boys did a wonderful job of preparing their portfolios and getting everything ready and explaning things to me, but even after spending all that time there I still felt like we were rushing through this.  Hopefully next year Jason will be here and we can just split this up.
So after the open house we found a Subway I thought I remember seeing around town, then ran to the mall/grocery store to grab a hat and see if I could find some craft items to make Amber her Easter Bonnet she needs to do for school.  Then we went to the Park to meet friends.  So this park I had been to once in the fall.  Today I got a little lost, but then figured it out.  It is on the edge of one side of town in a forest area.  So the park is surrounded by a forest for 1/2 of it.  You just park on this tiny side road that goes to it.  Otherwise across the street is a parking lot.  Here there are a ton of hiking trails to do as well.  The park is all dirt or dust I should say.  So this morning I made Amber put on brown pants and she was so upset she couldn't wear a dress.  Thank goodness she didn't b/c she was so dirty from running around, digging in the sand and such.  We met up with 6 other moms and their kids and had a picnic there and let the kids roam.  It was great b/c it is a big area and no one else was really around b/c all other schools had school today.  The older boys played in the forest and built a teepee.  It looked neat.  We sat at this huge wooden table that was long enough for all of us and even some kids coming back to take a nibble of their lunch every once in awhile.  We spent the rest of the afternoon there.  Then we came home and had to put Amber in the tub to clean her up from the park and her little accident, had dinner and once Jason got home we made our green Shamrock Shakes for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow.  I would always take the kids to get them at McDonalds at home, but I don't think they carry those here.

Sat. morning started out so nice and sunny.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  No celebrations here except maybe a few bars tonight. So we ate breakfast and then went downtown to the city center and tried out this place called The Chocolate House.  It is this old, old building that used to be a Nobleman's house and it is directly across the pedistrian cobblestone street from the Palace.  So you can see the guard walking back and forth in front of the Palace.  This chocolate place is know for their hot chocolate.  So you go and pick out which type of chocolate you would like.  They have about 20 different flavors.  They in are in package with a wooden spoon and then a big chunk of chocolate stuck to the spoon.  They bring you hot milk and you put your spoon with the chocolate in it and stir it up.  It was so so good!  They also sell chocolates, and cakes there as well. 
From here we went to the Farmer's Market and got our fruit, some bread, some sausages and Jacob loves those rotarrise chickens so we got one of those and some potatoes and the kids each picked out a flower plant.
Then Jason dropped us off at the pirate park and ran the food home.  Now the weather started changing and the sun went away and it was getting a little chilly.  So we stayed for awhile while the kids played and then we came home and the boys fired up the fire pit/grill and cooked the sausages we bought and then roasted some marshmellows (import since they don't sell those here).  We also ate some of the fruit we bought and made garlic bread with the bread we had just bought.  So nice lunch. 
This evening was our friend's going away dinner, so we tried out a new sitter since the regulars weren't available and went out.  It was 5 couples and then 2 extra guys.  We started out at a hotel bar that is on the top floor and has a great view looking out and over the city.  We had drinks here, which I had one and somehow managed to break the glass, as I stood up and put my coat on it hit the glass and knocked it off the table, yikes!  From here we went to a nice restaurant, but very slow service.  We got there at 8:45 and left at 11:45.  After we were done eating we were waiting for the bill to come and all of a sudden everyone starts getting up to leave.  So we are asking well where is the bill, did someone already pay?  Come to find out the guy, who we bought his car, was one of the extra guys there and he flew in from the west coast just for this weekend and picked up the bill.  That was very nice, considering the bill had to be about $800 and he was good friends with that group, but besides buying his car we didn't know him at all.  They left this group of friends, and we bought his car and joined that group of friends.  Kind of funny. 
Most of us then headed home, but a few went on to some other bars,  since most of the guys at the table were flying out Sunday morning.

Week of March 4th, 2012

Sunday I was awoken at 8am by Amber poking me asking for me to get up and fix her breakfast- geesh what is it with her and breakfast!  I told her she could go get the cereal out of the box, but she didn't like that idea. She got herself to the point she was yelling and screaming at us both in bed.  Needless to say she was in time out by a little past 8 this morning!  After I got up she had a bowl of cereal while I made pancakes, then some fruit, and a fruit slushy for breakfast.
Jacob had some homework to finish today and then I wanted to try a new pizza place for dinner, but got outvoted and we ended up at Pizza Hut.

Monday I got my hair cut after I dropped the kids off at school and then ran to the mall where I can get everything done.   The cleaners had Jacob's and my coats and they were all sewed up and they turned out fine.   I then needed a ton of things at the grocery store.
Today it was snowing huge flakes- crazy! 
After school today Amber was very crabby so I asked her if she wanted to take a little nap, and she ran upstairs and got all cozy in bed and fell asleep.  Why wasn't it this easy to put her down for naps when she was 2!  Of course then she doesn't go to bed at night, oh well at least she was in a better mood after her nap.  She was still so pooped out when we had to leave that I carried her from her bed to the car.  Before we went to school I ran to the pharmacy to pick up some more cough medicine for Amber.  Here you can't buy any type of cold medicine or any pills of any kind in the stores.  Everything has to be bought at the pharmacy.  So it is normally a busy place, and today I had to wait inside about 10 min. before it was my turn.  No drive thrus here.
When we picked up Sean from ball skills today he was so sweaty.  He said they had played dodge ball today and he was the king of it, ha!
Tonight both boys left their homework bags at school!  Here they have these little like satchels for each grade they have a different color and in there you keep your math notebook, spelling notebook and calander that you write everything down on and do your homework in those notebooks.  I couldn't believe they both left it.  Sean says his is in his desk.  I had Jacob go back to look for his when we picked up Sean from ball skills and he couldn't find it anywhere- nice!  Hopefully someone just picked his up by accident.  But here all Jacob's homework is posted online so I just printed everything off for him.

Tuesday morning we had solved Jacob's missing satchel problem.  I said goodbye to the boys in the morning as they went out to the playground to wait for the bell and Amber and I went downstairs to the preschool area.  There are 2 sets of cubby lockers along the walls where all the kids put their backpacks and snacks.  On top of one is just a bunch of stuff.  Out of the corner of my eye I see a cranberry satchel, which is the color that 4th grade has this year.  I think to myself well I highly doubt this would be Jacob's but I should look anyway, and low and behold it is his!  I am thinking how in the world did it ever end up down here b/c he is never down here.  So I go upstairs and give it to him on the playground and he is chating to another friend.  Between the 2 of them they realize that the other Jacob in his class, he is from Sweden and his name his actually pronounced Yacob but spelled Jacob, goes to after school day care down there and must have taken Jacob's by accident and then when he realized it wasn't his he just put it on the shelf.  I couldn't believe that we found it. In a school this big you never know if you will see things again.  Jacob was very relieved.
Today the lower school participated in the World Math Day competitions where they compete against students their own age around the world to see who can solve the math problem first.  It is a neat idea.  So the boys did that today for part of the day.  And then the preschool did special math games today.  So the room parents had to get some snack trays together for the preschoolers for a treat today.   So after dropping Amber off I went and help cut the fruit and vegetables and put the trays together for them. 
The kids had a busy afternoon today.  Amber had her gymnastics class, then when we went back to school to get Jacob, b/c Sean went home with a friend after school.  Amber went home with a new friend today that is in her class, but this girl stays in preschool all day.  So we met them after school and Amber went home with them.  So it was nice and quite after school today for Jacob to start on his homework, with his homework satchel!  Then I feed him a quick dinner and took him to his first tennis lesson.  It is indoor at this tennis club by us.  They have 5 indoor courts and they are on kind of like a carpet turf.  The club has alot of construction going on around it and so outside of it is so so muddy. The whole parking lane is just mud.   The mud is so deep on one side I won't even back up into it afraid I won't get out of it.  So he wore his shoe boots and then just was suppose to bring his school indoor tennis shoes.  So once we pull up in the parking lot he realizes he forgot his shoes at home- ugh!! 
So each court was having lessons with one instructor and then 4 students.  I was very impressed.  They were mostly playing a tennis match instead of standing there taking turns hitting the ball.  The instructor said she would test Jacob out today to see if he could continue in this class with the 3 other boys his age since they have been playing all year.  Jacob did very well for himself considering he hasn't played since last summer, but before this it was normally spring - fall he would play.  So he was a little bit rusty but you can tell he knows what he is doing.
While he was at the class I ran and picked up Amber at her friend's house, thankfully they don't live too far from us.  I got there and they both had ballerina outfits on and were dancing around!  So then we went back and Jacob was finishing up.  The instructor was talking in German, French and English to talk with the kids.  Maybe this will help Jacob's french and he can learn some German words along the way.  He will have to start taking German on top of French in 6th grade.
So the instructor said he did fine, and will be able to stay in this class.  Jacob enjoyed it and I was very pleased with the class.  Tennis is a good sport to play since he can't play baseball here so this is another good hand/ eye sport to substitute in the meantime.  He has always been a good hitter in baseball and the baseball coach said that the tennis definately contributed to that.
After tennis we had to drive across town and pick up Sean at his friend's house, which lead Amber to fall asleep in the car so another late night for her!

Wednesday was the day for the girls coffee at the mall and today Amber went home with a girlfriend after school so I didn't have to go back and pick her up. So one of the girls and I stayed until noon!  It was great!  Then we walked over and did some grocery shopping at the store there.  It is amazing how much time I have when I don't have to go to school in the middle of the day and pick up Amber!  Then I just swung by and picked her up on the way to pick up the boys from RE class.  So I got a lot of things done then at home today.

Thursday morning all three kids were fighting over the door to the garage before 8am!  Amber went into the garage and left the door open so Sean was trying to close the door and Jacob was inside not actually putting his coat on just trying to get around and complaining he was too cold with the door open.  So I go downstairs and see Amber is pulling the door open, why I don't know, Sean is pulling the door closed, and Jacob is standing there complaining he is cold.  Are you guys kidding me!!!
After I dropped them off at school with good riddance, I went to the one grocery super store that does framing.  I have looked in stores for frames for pictures I have bought here or in Europe and I don't understand why they sell pictures that their sizes don't match any of the frames that are out in the stores.  I checked out like at least 5 places, the only ones I know, and couldn't find anything.  So I ended up bringing them to the framing section of the store.  The frames themselves weren't too bad, but they charge more then the price of the frame for doing the work, crazy!  These are pictures I have bought at places we have visited to have something to hang on the walls here, but I am annoyed that I have to pay this much just to frame a picture!

Yeah it is Friday!  Had preschool coffee this morning, then went home and got things ready for our Friday playdate at our house.  Amber went home with her friend today after school, so I went and had lunch with a girlfriend!  It was so nice!  We walked from her house down to a nice place along the river.  The inside is very elegant and neat with all the stone and brick in the walls.  We even had a glass of Champagne for lunch, very common here for even people working to have wine or a drink at lunch.
After the boys got out of school we had playgroup at our house.  One family couldn't make it at the last minute because of strep throat.   Instead of our champagne this time I made some Sangria and it was so yummy!  One of the other things I made were some green rice krispie treats for an early St. Patrick's day.  The kids had a fun time playing and eating!

Saturday Jason and all the kids had haircut appts.  so Amber went first and then I walked her to the park around the corner.  She had fun playing and then one of her friends from school came to the park so they got to play together.  After Jason and the boys finished they walked over and were there for about 5 minutes and all 3 kids went on that circular thing that you run around and push it and then hop on and it spins around.  She had been playing on it fine before, but then the boys pushed it super fast and she went flying out of the one side that is open.  Thank goodness she had her coat and hat on and the area around it is made up of those padded surface squares.  And the round circular thing is actually built into the ground so it is level with those soft tiles.  So then we came home.
For lunch today 2 friends and I went downtown to the City Center and had a great lunch at a Chinese place across from the Palace and then walked around down there and did a little shopping and then we met up with another friend.  It was fun to walk around down there since we hardly ever go except to the farmer's market.  By now it was raining and none of us brought our umbrellas, I guess we still aren't true Luxembourgers since we don't carry our umbrellas with us at all times and it does rain a lot here.   We ended up going to this cafe that has a covered outdoor seating that faces an open square and had dessert, coffee, etc.  So we sat outside in the covered area for a bit while it rained.  The outside seating was full soon after we sat down.  Very popular even though it was a little chilly.    It was so fun and I ended up being gone all afternoon.  We had never done this before but we will definately have to do it again!
Once at home, got everything ready and we had a nice BBQ chicken dinner.

Week of Feb. 26th, 2012

Sunday I was still blowing my nose and sneezing so much.  I just moved from room to room with my klneex box.  I hope no one else gets this!
Jason and the boys rode their bikes to the park halfway between here and school.  It was just a lovely day out.  When he got back he and Amber walked to the park down the street for a bit.
Since Jason was going out of town tomorrow we decided to have Amber's b'day celebration for dinner.  She was so excited.  I had put up a few decorations and she kept asking when are we putting up the rest!  We grilled out pork chops, had green beans, potatoes, and garlic bread.  She got to eat on our happy b'day plate and she ate all her food.  Then we had some cupcakes. 

As soon as dinner was over she is like, where are my presents now!  Geesh!  So she got to open her presents and had a good evening.

For her party at school tomorrow we made 7 layer rainbow cupcakes and frosted them.

Sorry I can't seem to get the picture turned around!

Tonight I finished putting out all her pink decorations and balloons.

Monday was my little baby's big day!  I had her breakfast tray all ready and was debating if I really wanted her to eat this in bed since she never has yet.

And all of a sudden she was standing in the kitchen. So she got to eat her breakfast off the tray at the table! Perfect.

Although it seems to be a little too early for her as she couldn't open her eyes for any of the pictures!
She is so excited to get dressed in a pretty outfit and go to school.

 I get her dressed and she goes downstairs and gets on her shoes and coat like 15 min. before we even need to leave.
I had coffee with a friend in the school cafe after dropoff, and then came home and sliced the apples to take into school and put the Strawberry Shortcake picks in the cupcakes.
At 10am I go back to school with all of Amber's goodies and we celebrate her b'day with her friends.

This is Amber's great teacher!

Today Jason left to go to Brazil.  I told him he is one week late, that Carnival party was last week!  So he hasn't been to Brazil since we moved home from there 6 1/2 years ago!  Crazy. When we moved home we had 3 of us speaking Portuguese and one holding a Brazilian Passport!  Sunday he was trying to listen to some portugues on the Ipad and then I found him asleep.  I guess he didn't find it that interesting.  I can relate since I want to take a nap after I am finished with my French class.  It is so draining. 
I asked him to bring me some of those yummy cheese balls that you put on the grill and cook.  At least it is summer there and is like 80 degrees.  I could do that right now!
Today was about the 3rd day the weather has been warmer, so I am officially putting away my heavy winter coat and I am not taking it back out and that is final!
Tonight for clean up time Amber got special Happy Birthday music from You Tube with all sorts of different characters singing it!

Tuesday the drizzle of rain and the fog have set back in now that the temp. rose a bit.  After my French class I ran back over to the tennis club in my area.  I went there last month and asked if I could get the boys in lessons and they said they were full.  It is a year program Sept. - July so I left my name to be added to the email lists.   So now since I have never gotten any emails from them I went back over and this time she actually had me fill out some paperwork and they would check for spots.  The boys would play tennis in the spring, summer and fall at home.

Wednesday we had moved our Thursday coffee to today.  So I ran and picked up a few groceries and then went to meet them since it is all in the mall. I was in a hurry and forgot to buy milk, how that is possible not sure!   I tried to see if Jacob's coat had been sewed.  She couldn't find it so said it must not be ready yet.  Ok that makes me feel good.
Amber's 2 friends came home with us for lunch and a playdate so they had fun.
I got an email today from the tennis club saying they have a spot for Jacob once a week in the evening!  I was so excited!  He can start next week and it goes until July.  So I was going to have Sean to basketball for the spring session at school and see if he could do both classes on Tues. and Thurs., but now that Jacob got in I will double check about Sean at tennis too.

Thursday.  So I have mentioned before how I love my new alarm clock, but now the real birds are back and I am getting woken up by them at around 5:30 thinking it is my alarm and I need to get up!
Today after I picked Amber up we went to a friend's house for lunch and had a good time.  Then after that we picked up the boys and that little girl's house we were at she came back to our house.  Amber told me today that she doesn't like our house here as much as the one we lived in before, but she does wish her house was next to her girlfriend!  Today when they were playing I heard Amber say " Come on girlfriend!"  Too funny!
Tonight I got Sean's birthday party all booked and we talked about it and planned what he wanted.  He wants an Indiana Jones theme.  So I thought no problem, I will just go online and order it where I order all my b'day supplies.  Well I guess they have gotten rid of most of the Indiana Jones stuff and there isn't much left.  I found goody bags with a few cool things I could put in so ordered those.  Then I found one place that had a bunch of different Indiana figures and items that are cake toppers so ordered that and we will just have to create a scence.  I saw pictures of beautiful cakes people had made or bought.  At times like these I wish I could just go to the grocery store or a cake baker and order a cute normal cake!
After I had brought in those rainbow cupcakes to school I had some moms ask me about them.  They had never seen anything like this and how did I do this.  One mom was telling me that it is always the American moms that have all these neat cake and party things they get from the US.  You got it!!
So I had told her about Wilton stuff so she looked it up and found someplace that delivers here.

Friday morning we had a nice group for our preschool coffee, so that was good.
When the boys school finished Jacob's grade had a movie night at school so he was excited.  They stayed at school and went to the Auditorium and watched a movie with snacks.  After the movie he went home with a friend and had a sleep over.  He had a fun night!
So the rest of us were getting together for our Friday playdate at a friend's house.  So I told my friend I would just pick up her 2 kids from school and we would then all be over since she doesn't live that close to the school.  So we are almost to her house and one of her kids starts throwing up in my car.  Poor thing.  We tried to hand her the only little bag I had in the car, but it didn't work so well.  She ended up with it mostly on herself, but all over the car seat and seat belt.  Thank goodness it didn't end up on the carpet at all.  So we got to her house and her mom got her and got her all cleaned up and I went to work on cleaning up the car.  So all the kids played for a bit and then we went home as she did end up coming down with the flu or something.  Poor thing ):

Sat. Amber had gotten a kink in her neck yesterday after school, so had been walking around with her neck tilted but was ok.  Well this morning she was screaming about her neck.  My chiropractor was moving his office today so couldn't see her.  So I made an appt. at the dr. office- seriously I feel like we are there every week now- ugh!
So Sean went over to where Jacob had spent the night and played with the kids while we went back to the dr.  He gave us some ibuprofen and anti-inflammatory syrup.  I had some bengay to put on her and then we got a little hot pack that you heat up and place on her neck.  I haven't seen any heating pads here where you plug in like at home.  So she spent the morning on the couch and then my friend dropped the boys off around lunch, so they had a nice morning!
Jason got home from Brazil in the afternoon and then in the evening we had plans so we got everyone packed up and went to a friend's house.  Amber's neck was doing much better.  We had plans to go to a South Africian Wine tasting event with another couple, but they couldn't get a sitter, so we decided to share our sitter.  So all the kids went to their house since it was by the event and the sitter came over.  They live about 20-30 min. from us.  All the kids had so much fun.  We had brought their sleeping bags and everyone was told to go lay down later in the evening, but of course the boys were still all talking so weren't asleep when we got back to their house around 11pm.
The Wine Tasting event was very nice.  It was a woman who imports the wine from south Africa with her parents, so it was at her parents house about 10 min. from the friend's house we went with.  There were 12 people there and they had it on the 3rd floor of their house.  There was a big dining table all set nice with little munchies and then she went through a Champagne, 4 white wines, 7 or so red wines, and a dessert wine.  The rest of the people were all speaking German and the lady doing it would go between speaking German and English.  It was our friend's neighbors that had set it up.  The rest of the group was a bit older then us and kind of a quite group.  So the 4 of us were a bit louder (:  We bought some wine about 12 bottles.  They store it all in their garage!  Our friends bought a ton of wine that filled our truck! 
We had a good time.  Then we went back to their house and picked up the kids, Amber sound asleep, and the sitter and dropped the sitter off and got everyone back to bed!
Unfortunatley tonight we found out that Jason's grandpa had passed away.  He was almost 90 years old.  He was a very good man, but he had been ill for awhile and was on hospice.  We hope he is now resting peaceful in the company of his friends.  His wife said she is going to bury him with his billfold (:  I said this is how we will have to bury Jason too.  We can only pray that we get to live to 90 as well.
Rest in peace Grandpa.