Week of Dec. 16th, 2012

Sunday was another dreary day and Amber had a playdate after lunch and then they took the her and him to the b'day party and when it ended I picked up the 2 kids.  It was at my friend's house who lives a good 20 plus minutes from school.  It doesn't sound far, but you don't have to go too far and you are out in the fields.  She lives in a little village almost!
Today I made a new recipe from my new cookbook my friends got me for my b'day.  It was a recipe for Chocolate Banana bread.  It turned out pretty good.  I have a coffee tomorrow morning I need to bring it too.
Sean wasn't feeling too well today and so he was kind of mopey.  He is coughing and has a sore throat with a little fever.

Monday morning Sean wasn't any better so I kept him home from school today.  At least his fever was gone.  So after we dropped off the other ones at school I had to drop off this bread at the coffee morning.  It was a coffee morning for the moms in Sean's class.  So we stopped by briefly.  Then I took Sean to the Dr. but she said it is viral and wouldn't give him anything.  I hope it doesn't get worse!  She gave us some over the counter medicines to take so we had to go to the pharmacy to pick those up!  Once the sicknesses start settling in I feel like the pharmacy is a regular errand!
This afternoon I got the 3 layers made for the triple layer chocolate cake I am making for my friend's surprise b'day luncheon my other friend and I are hosting.
Tonight I put it together.  I didn't look too bad.

Tuesday I ran to the toy store which is in another town over and re bought the gift of Jacob's I couldn't find!  It was just a puzzle mat where you can put a puzzle on it and then roll it up and the puzzle stays on the mat.  So I get it wrapped at the store.  When I get home and put it with the other wrapped presents I notice a box that looks just like this one.  I didn't realize that was it since it was already wrapped and put away with the other gifts- ugh!  Now I have 2!
Today my friend and I were throwing a little surprise luncheon for our other friend.  So we invited a few friends and it was at my other girlfriend's house.  We ordered Chinese food and we enjoyed my chocolate cake.  It was funny, b/c the Americans were loving the chocolate cake, but it was very rich.  One of the other ladies was Norwegian and was like whoa this is rich and the Danish woman did pretty good with it.  But here desserts are either fruit based or just kind of dry and not as sweet.  Those American desserts, yummy! 
Jacob had bball practice after school, Sean had a friend over and then the mom picked up Jacob with her daughter at practice and brought Jacob home and picked up her son here.  So that worked out well.  Tonight was Jacob's band concert.  He had to dress up in a white shirt, black pants and a tie!  Oh no I thought I don't know how to tie a tie and Jason was still out of town.  But thankfully he had a tie that was already tied but just had been loosened at the neck.  So we were able to get it back together and I think he looked pretty good!

 
So he plays percussion, so that is the glockenspiel, snare drum and symbols.  I was sitting at the end of a row so I had a great view of Jacob on the stage.  But I have never sat in a row where so many people have had to get up and come back.  I was getting annoyed!
After the concert was the bake sale so the other loaf of chocolate banana bread I made was for this.  Sean helped during and after sell the goods.

Wednesday morning was Amber's concert with the 3 yr. old preschool as well.  They did such a good job!  Jason got back just in time and made it after a song or two so that was great!  Amber just loved it.  She did good with all the singing and hand motions and then those taking French they sung a song in French so she did really well with that too.  Some of them got to come up and hold the microphone and sing a bit into it and she did that as well.  Towards the middle of the concert, one of the little preschoolers started falling asleep and was resting his head on the person sitting next to him.  The teacher ran up to get him before he fell over and he slept the rest of the concert in his arms.  It was too funny!

 

After the concert I had her and her friend over for lunch and a playdate before going back for ballet.

Jacob's RE was cancelled today so when Amber was done I just took those 2 home and dropped them off while Jason worked from home and then went back in a bit to get Sean from his activity.
I enjoyed going through the suitcases Jason brought back and getting the last few Christmas gifts out and getting those ready for Christmas for the kids.  One thing which I had him bring were sprinkles and red hots to decorate cookies with.  There are no red or green sprinkles anywhere!

Thursday I had coffee with a few preschool moms and then went home to get ready to bake 60 cookies for the 3rd grade party tomorrow.  My friend was going to come over and help but her son got sick so I just did it.  They were mostly gingerbread men but I put a few trees and other shapes in there too!  Then I had to bake a treat for Jacob's holiday party tomorrow so I made brownies with M&M's for that.  Today Santa came in to visit Amber's class and handed out the books, the room parents ordered and my mother in law kindly wrapped.  Amber was so excited about it when I picked her up.  She said," The real Santa was the one here"
Jacob had bball practice after school and I guess the fire alarm went off, so of course they had to go out in the rain in their shorts and short sleeve shirts.  Sean had tennis and Jacob's guitar teacher had left town so his lesson was cancelled.  My friend and her kids came over after school and we exchanged Christmas gifts.  She had gotten these cute little travel games for the kids.  Amber never let hers out of her sight the rest of the night, including taking it to bed with her!   The boys liked theirs as well and Sean brought his in his bed to play as well!
Tonight is the last night for the elf so he is bringing a note and a little gift for each of the kids.  I enjoy the elf and the kids like looking for him each morning, but it is difficult to find 30 or so ideas for him each night to get into!

Friday was a busy day!  The kids were excited to see the little gifts Sam had left.
In the morning I dropped off the gingerbread cookies, and extra sprinkles for Sean's class party in the afternoon, then on to drop off the brownies for Jacob's holiday party too.  Then on to Amber's class to drop off the food for her afternoon party.  Once her class started I went in and we gave the teachers their class gift this year.  It was gift cards to amazon.  That is what all the preschool teachers and 3rd grade teachers got this year.
After this I headed out to the place here that is like AAA it is an automotive club.  I had to renew my membership and then buy a sticker for a different country.  Some countries here don't have toll roads, so when you enter them you must have their country sticker on your car.
From here on to the mall/grocery store center to hit the post office, dry cleaners and store.
Then I ran home and dropped off the groceries.  Jason's office started its holiday vacation so the office was closed but he was working all day here at home. 
Then I went to my friend's house to pick something up.  From here I had tennis.  There were only 2 of us there today so we had a good lesson.
Then I ran home to eat and shower and back to school for all the holiday parties.  First was Sean's party.  I helped the kids with decorating the gingerbread cookies.  I brought in the red hots and hardly anyone knew what they were!  Too funny!  Sean loved them!

Then after that I went and helped out with games at Jacob's holiday party.  Jacob also had a pizza party for lunch.  So the kids had a nice day of playing at school today!  Amber got to decorate the gingerbread cookies they had made yesterday and then a party in the afternoon.
Everyone was glad when school was over to come home and relax!
Happy Holidays to all and to all a Good Night!

Week of Dec. 9, 2012

Sunday I taught Sean's RE class and then we had church, but at least this week the heat was working so that was good.  We got more snow today.  Today Jason took everyone else and they went to the Christmas Market in Trier, Germany.  So they got back a bit after lunch but enjoyed it.
While everyone was gone Sean and I had a nice lunch together and then baked some more Christmas cookies.  Sean played in the snow after lunch and made a little fort out of the pile of snow.  We had a nice dinner of ham (I had bought a frozen one from Ikea, too funny) b/c if you remember my ordeal in the spring trying to buy one for Easter and I ended up with a pork roast!  We also had potatoes, corn, poppy seed bread and a Traditional Ice Cream loaf for here.

Monday morning Jason was up supper early and took the 6:05am flight out!  I did story time with a group of kids from Amber's class.  I read How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  It was nice and Jason's mom came in with me.  Then we had some errands at the mall/grocery store.  For lunch we went out to the Italian place not to far from me and that was nice.  We had saved the leftovers for the kids and then of course we forgot them at the restaurant!  After dinner the handyman came over to fix the heaters that weren't working and check the broiler and hopefully everything is all in order now. 

Tuesday morning after school drop off I took Jason's parents back to the airport as they were flying home today.  It was a short stay but we hope they had a nice time!  Then I headed back home and worked out, started cleaning things up and got a lot of Christmas presents wrapped!  After school Jacob had bball, Amber went to one of her boy friend's houses, and Sean had a friend over.  After bball we went back to pick up Jacob and dropped off Sean's friend, we dropped off Jacob at tennis and ran over to pick up Amber.  We stayed there for a bit so then by the time we left it was time to go back and pick up Jacob.  At bedtime Amber was upset that it wasn't her turn to sleep in my bed so she got out her sleeping bag and pillow and fell asleep outside my bedroom door in the hallway on the rug!

Wednesday I had an appt. at the mall so I did a few other errands there.  Then I decided to go out to the import store b/c I really could use some more green sprinkles for Christmas cookies, they don't sell green or red here just a multi color sprinkle year round.  But the import store didn't have any either.  I got some other things there that I needed and things I didn't need as well (:
Amber went to her friend's house for lunch and then back to school for ballet.  The boys had their stuff after school and then we went to the Chiropractor.  The chiropractor is from Canada and his kids love marshmallows so I brought him some we had imported here and gave him those as a little holiday gift, too funny!  Jason was at some business event awhile ago and the pictures from it were printed in a businessy magazine here.  One of Amber's friends saw it and said, "Wow is Amber's dad famous?  Look here is his picture!"  We were cracking up!

Thursday my morning story time had to be postponed do to another activity the class was doing this morning.  I still wasn't feeling well so I cancelled French and got a Dr. appt.  I came out of the office with a list of medicine to take!  Back to the pharmacy!  Hopefully I will feel better as I lost my voice and my throat and ear are in so much pain.  Now it seems anytime that I get sick I lose my voice.  Not good.  I stayed in the rest of the day and finished getting all the christmas presents wrapped.
After school Amber had a friend over, Jacob had bball, Sean had tennis and Jacob guitar.  I just drive around in a circle back and forth getting everyone where they need to be!

Friday I was already starting to feel a little bit better.  Jacob had to be at school early to sell tickets for the movie night tonight for student council, and then I had a review session with his teacher as how he is suppose to be classifying the sentences on these literacy tests he has every other week.  It is dissecting the sentence and marking the adjective, noun, verb, ok not bad, but he needs help with the helping verb, adverb, object, preposition, article adjective.  It was like English class all over!  Then  I dropped off Amber in her room and helped take food up for Sean's grade was doing a poetry cafe.  It was very cute.  We had gotten pastries and coffee/tea for each class and then the kids sat us down at their desk and asked if they could get us anything.  Then they each went up to the front of the room and got to read 3 poems out of their poem book they had done.  Sean had written 2 about Amber, 1 about me and then some other ones as well.  He did a good job with them! 

After this I drove a friend home who had surgery on her shoulder and can't drive, so by the time I got home it was too late to get to tennis.  Today for lunch was my Lunch Club holiday lunch.  We went to this nice restaurant just outside of town.  It looks like a barn house from the road.  Jason and I had eaten here for lunch before and Jason has had work dinners there before in the wine cellar room.  So I booked this room for today.  It was so nice, b/c here a lot of places aren't that big so tables are close together and we tend to get a bit loud sometimes and then people are staring at us!  So we had this whole room to ourselves.  There were 6 of us and then it was just wines all around us.  It was very quaint! 
After school the boys had movie night tonight.  It was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"  so I didn't have to be back at school for the boys until dinner time.  But after school I dropped a friend and her son off at home since it was cold, windy and rainy and Amber ended up staying there for a playdate.  So I had a bit of quite time at home before I had to go back and pick everyone back up. 
As I was closing out of my computer tonight I learned about the school tragedy today in CT.  I was very heartbroken and tearful to hear about this.  This was just horrible and I pray for all those families now and for awhile to come.

Sat. morning the boys had haircuts and then we didn't have much planned the rest of the day!  It was a gloomy day and perfect to be inside.  I had the kids wrap my non breakable Christmas gifts I had bought.  They were excited to put them under the tree and then Amber kept asking me when I was going to open them up!  We finish frosting our christmas tree cookies, one of my favorite recipes.  Sean's girl friend from up the street came over all afternoon until dinner.  After dinner we had movie night and watched the "Swiss Family Robinson"  movie.  Jacob is reading that book and wanted to see the movie.  It is an old movie, but the boys really enjoyed it.  Amber not so much!

Week of Dec. 2, 2012

Sunday morning it was still snowing, but it was melting pretty fast.  The kids were excited to see it!  Also this morning the kids were excited to see that the elfs had brought them a letter back from Santa, the kids had already written to Santa.  The elfs had also brought them each a bag of all sorts of goodies.  Jason had ordered these through work for something they were doing.  They were really neat.  So the elfs were hiding with all of that. 
This morning was my morning to teach RE.  So Sean and I left and went to RE.  Of course we all had to wait outside until the guy got there with the key which wasn't until when class was suppose to be starting.  We went back upstairs to the choir area and they had picnic tables up there for the kids and a bunch of colored pencils and such so that was nice.  But it had been cold with the snow and such and the heat wasn't working in the church so I was freezing.  Class went well.  Then we had mass.  So to be there for 2 hours I was frozen when we left.  For mass I had my coat and mittens on the whole time!
Amber had another b'day party to attend so Jason and Jacob took her to that this morning.  This afternoon we cleaned and got things ready as Jason's parents are coming to visit us tomorrow for a week.  So the kids are looking forward to it!

Monday morning it started really snowing after I dropped the kids off at school.  Before I left I shoveled the driveway b/c here my driveway is so steep that if it gets ice on it I can't get out of the garage up that steep slope.  Most of the time it only flurries here, it normally doesn't accumulate much except today!
Jason's parents were coming in town after lunch, but their flight was delayed about an hour and a half.  So I ended up sitting at the airport for an hour waiting and then they got in.  My friend picked up my kids for me at school and was hanging out there with them while her girls did choir so that worked out great. 
We came home and I made some chili.  The kids all played/shoveled the snow on the sidewalks.

Tuesday morning Jason had to go to Paris for work so his parents went with him for 2 days.  After drop off  5 of us girls got together for a little Christmas Breakfast at the bakery at the mall.  All of our kiddos were together last year in preschool and this year they got split up in different classes so we don't see each other as much.  Our kids had become really good friends last year.  So it was a nice to catch up with everyone!  Then I had my hair appt. and by the time that was done I just had a bit of time at home and then back to school.  Jacob had bball and tennis tonight.  After bball tonight Jacob was so excited because he got chosen to go and play on the travel team for the away game this weekend.  They took 12 out of 24 or so kids.  So I was very proud of him and he was so happy!  So they will leave Friday at lunch and drive about 2 hours to a school in Brussels, Belgium.  They will play 2 games on Friday night.  Then he and one of his team mates will go and stay with a Belgium team players family for the night and then they have 2 more games on Sat. And then come home after that. So a great opportunity for him!

Wednesday morning I spent most of it at school getting the St. Nicholas goodie bags ready for the 3rd graders and the preschoolers, so for Sean and Amber's classes.  Here this is a very popular tradition for tomorrow.  They get a goodie bag that will have a clementine, pieces of chocolate candy, and spectalous biscuits (like gingerbread cookies).   Then I picked up Amber and her friend for lunch, play date and then back for ballet.   Sean didn't have anything after school today so we waited for Jacob to finish with RE.  Tonight we baked our 1st batch of Christmas cookies and I made my pumpkin chocolate chip coffee cake that I didn't get made over Thanksgiving since we were going to be gone.
Jason and his parents returned a day early from Paris.  Jason's stuff for work finished earlier then he expected. 
Tonight the kids put out their shoes to see if St. Nick would stop by here on his way to school!

Thursday- Happy St. Nicholas Day!  The kids were excited to see that St. Nick had left them some goodies.  They each got a chocolate St. Nick, these popular gingerbread like cookies, and a gift. 

 

 

Jason's parents got a chocolate St. Nick as well!  St. Nick even gave the elfs some of the gingerbread cookies and a piece of chocolate and they had a picnic with some friends.

Today I had coffee at school with a friend and then ran home to get Jason's mom and we went to the store.  My cleaning lady is out of town this month so her friend came over today.  She did a nice job, so I was thankful for that.
Jason's parents and I went out to lunch today.  It was more of a traditional Luxembourg place.  The food was good.  I had never been there before.  After lunch we walked through the mall as they had booths set up all down the mall.
After school Jacob had bball practice and I forgot to bring the clothes that Jacob forgot to put out!  Thank goodness he had PE today and had his PE clothes with him.  Then Sean had tennis.  I took Jacob to guitar tonight for the first time in 3 weeks since we had prior commitments the last couple of weeks and the teacher didn't show up- ugh.  I knew I should have emailed him to confirm but I never got to it. 

Friday Jason dropped the kids off at school so I could go to the hospital and get a second opinion about my toes.  It started really snowing hard about 7am, so the roads were a mess, but very pretty.  I got a parking spot in the small garage at the hospital since it was still early and I had to wait to be seen about 20min, and then they called me in to a room to be evaluated.  It was a big room with the curtain separators.  Everyone was in there waiting and then at 9am all the Dr.s walk in.  They must start the morning shift at 9am!  So this Dr. thinks it is a different type of infection and gave me a new medicine to take but told me I needed to see a dermatologist.  She gave me the phone number for the one that works at the hospital and has an office elsewhere as well.  So when I call him the secretary tells me that I can get an appt. in March!  So my girlfriend has one she likes so I call that one and she said that I couldn't get an appt. until June!  Holy cow!  But then she says if it is an emergency I can get you in at 3:15 today! I said you better believe it is an emergency.  I was just at the ER this morning!  I think b/c of the snow she must have had a cancellation, thank goodness!   I had tennis and no one else showed up b/c we had gotten maybe 4 inches or so, so it was me and the instructor playing tennis for an hour.  He almost killed me! 
Jason's mom was busy wrapping yesterday and today for the gifts to celebrate Christmas with them.  Then she also was kind enough to wrap all Amber's classes books I need to bring in from Santa!  That helped me out!
B/c the snow was so bad Jacob's big basketball weekend was canceled.  He was so bummed.  We also got an email from the school that if we wanted to pick the kids up early today we could.  So since I had that appt. in the afternoon I had to pick up the kids early anyway so I picked them up around 2pm.  I dropped them off at home with Grandma and Papa and went to my appt.  It was across town on the cutest little side street.  All remodeled looking row houses then the office building with apts. in it I believe.  Here is a picture of where the street ends and you have to turn onto the main road.

So the dermatologist agreed with the ER Dr. on the medicine but upt the dose so then I had to go back to the pharmacy and cancel the order I had ordered earlier and get the new dosage medicine.  They are going to think I am crazy!
The kids played outside this afternoon for about 2 hours in the backyard in the snow.  They had so much fun.  They made snow angels, and Amber made a tiny snow man.  The boys made a bunch of snow balls and then got a shovel and played snow ball!

We had a nice BBQ dinner once Jason got home and I had a pecan pie from Thanksgiving we didn't eat.  So it was so yummy!  Then after dinner we celebrated Christmas with them.

The kids were so excited!  It was a very nice evening!  All we needed would have been a fireplace!

 

Sat. Sean had a b'day party at laser tag to go to and then after that we picked him up and went to Jason's work party where St. Nicholas was there to see the younger children.   Jacob was too old for it, but Amber and Sean got to go up to St. Nick and they got a big goodie bag and then a toy that we had gotten to pick out from a list.

 

 

It was very nice of them.  After the party we drove downtown and walked around the first Christmas market.  It was very cold out.

 

View from the Ferris wheel.

Amber wanted to go on the Ferris wheel so Sean and Jason did that with her.  By the back of the little Christmas huts was a fire pit.  So we warmed up there for a bit.  Then there was a little train ride Amber did as well.  She was actually on a reindeer that was pulling Santa's sleigh.

You can see a little Christmas market hut in the background.  After this market we walked over to a little cafe and warmed up with some hot chocolate.  Then we hit the second Christmas market.  I found 2 nutcrackers here.  I love those things!  Then after this one we walked over to the fondue place where we were having dinner. 

We sat upstairs where there were about 7 tables and 1 waitress.  It took forever.  We were there for 2 hours and all we had was cheese and the meat fondue!  After that no one wanted to stay any longer, even I was starting to fall asleep.   So we left without even getting the chocolate fondue. 

Week of Nov. 25th, 2012

Sunday we left Brugge late morning and headed back.  On the way back we stopped near Waterloo.  Here is where Napoleon fought.  So after the war here they made a big mound of the ground from the battlefield and they put this big lion statue on top of it.  It is called the Lion Mound.  It is 266 steps up to it.  So we climbed it. 

 

 

It was a windy day so it was very windy up there!  They had a really cute warm and cozy restaurant across the street.  The inside was all brick and a huge open fire place in the room we ate in and the the other end of the room were these big open doors and a big oven and the kitchen.
So we had a nice Thanksgiving weekend!

Monday I read to Amber and a few kids for the book reading club I signed up to do.  So it was 5 kids, some Amber got to pick and we went to this cozy reading corner down the hall and I read the book we had chosen.  It was nice.  Then spent the rest of the day cleaning things up, laundry, getting Christmas stuff out, etc.
I made some banana bread for coffee at a friend's house tomorrow morning.

Tuesday morning after drop off my friend and I went over to our friend's house that had had shoulder surgery a couple weeks ago and she can't drive so she is home all the time.  So we brought some food and she had some things ready and we ate a nice little breakfast together.  She is such an entertainer with the candles and such a pretty table setting.  So that was fun.  Then I ran home for French.  My teacher is going to Marrakesh, Morocco next week for the film festival there.
After school Jacob started basketball practice.  The school team is 4-6 grade and there are about 26 kids that were there.  Amber went home with a friend.  So it was nice to just have Sean.  Then we went back to pick up Jacob and take him to tennis.  Tuesdays are going to be busy for him for a couple of months. 
I made 2 trays of brownies tonight for the American club to sell at the International Bazaar that is coming this weekend.

Wednesday I just wanted to work out and shower and neither happened today!  At school I realized Jacob forgot his drum set for practice so after drop off I ran to the post office then back home for the drums, then back to school.  Ran to the toy store for some b'day presents for this weekend.  Then to the Woman's Club to drop off the brownies and get a few groceries.  Then I had to go back to the Dr. for my toe.  The infection didn't clear up with the cream so now she needs to give me an antibiotic.  So after lunch I went to the pharmacy and then the recycling center to get rid of the old Christmas tree we had.
Amber went home with a friend and then ballet and the boys classes were done or canceled today so we didn't have to wait around at school.

Thursday I dropped off Jacob early at school because he had to be there early to get ready for their musical they were putting on for the school this morning.  Then Jason brought in the other 2 and he was staying in Amber's area and reading a book to a group of kids with Amber this morning.  So that was nice and Amber enjoyed it!  I met my friend out in Germany to do some shopping at the 2 stores there we like.  The one was super crowded and they were out of some things, ugh.  When I got home Jason was at home working and finishing up his lunch. 
Before pickup I ran to the big grocery store b/c it seems to be the only one that carries poster board.  Jacob needs some for a project.   I also had to pick up the things the other store didn't have.  One thing I got Amber but I probably won't give it to her until her b'day was this big meowing cat.  So the whole time I had this thing in the cart it was meowing and I started to doubt myself about buying this.  But of course I ended up getting it for her b/c she will love it.  I had to go directly from here to the school so I hid it in some bags in the trunk and hoped it would hide any meowing that might come out. 
Jacob had bball practice after school so on the way home with the other 2 I turned up the music in hopes they wouldn't hear any stray meows!
Then later we picked up Jacob and drove to tennis and dropped Sean off.  Then Jacob quickly ate and got ready to go back to school as tonight was his musical.  Since it is 4th and 5th grade they didn't want the families to come both nights so they said tonight was for 4th grade families.  So I just dropped off Jacob and then Jason went to the musical tonight.  And I went back and picked up Sean.  So the musical went well and I will go and see it tomorrow evening. 

Friday after drop off I came home and made a Raspberry Trifle for the luncheon I was going to.  Then I had tennis and came home and quickly got ready and off to my friend's house.  There were 5 of us there.  The food was yummy and we all had a good time!  After school Sean had a friend over.  Then Jason came home and stayed with the other 2 while Jacob and I went back to school after dinner for another musical performance.  I loved it.  It was a musical about 1001 Arabian Nights.  It was the 4th and 5th grade musical so there were 176 kids in it.  Some kids had parts and then the rest where in the chorus.  So Jacob had a scene that didn't require any talking and it was a little skit.

But a lot of the costumes I thought were great. 

The genie is painted blue and is hard to see in this picture.  He looked great.

Some of them were made by the moms.  Way above my sewing ability!  Then the painted backgrounds were done by parents as well.  So amazing!  After this performance they had a little party in the cafeteria and we had all brought snacks for them. 

Sat. morning the kids were excited to see their Avent Calanders out and into the chocolate they went! This morning we went to the International Bazaar that comes once a year.  We got their a bit before it opened at 11 and there wasn't much parking left and we had to wait in line to get in the room.  So this is very popular here.  The Bazaar has over 55 booths from different countries around the world that come and sell food or stuff from their country.  It is really neat.  So we had some teriyaki chicken from Japan and then ate lunch at the American booth since it was hot dogs, chili dogs and chili- yum!  And then I think we had pretzels from Germany.  So we didn't try too much food here.  But I bought a few things from some booths.  And I saw about 5 families from school here as well. 
After this Jason took the boys and they went and saw a movie and I took Amber to a b'day party.  Then in the evening we got a sitter and met another couple out and tried a Greek restaurant for dinner.  It was very good and the only Greek restaurant in town I believe!  It was very cold tonight.  We walked to a bar after dinner for a bit and then said goodnight.  It started to snow these huge flakes.  It was really pretty.  We walked back towards the garage we had parked in and it was right by this Brazilian restaurant so we ended up going in and getting my favorite drink and then Jason's favorite chocolate cake dessert.  We had a nice night out!

Thanksgiving week Nov. 2012

Sunday was Sean's first RE class after church.  So just Sean and I went to church this morning.  After church there were about 17 kids that are doing the First Communion this year.  It was kind of a mess.  The Arch Bishop was there giving mass and then after he was at the altar answering questions about the church and such since they made some changes.  So the kids were up in the choir area for class, but I guess they could hear the kids talking, so we then had to move to the entrance area of the church.  The guy started to talk about the book, but it didn't seem like the kids were really paying much attention.  Next month is when I start teaching so this should be interesting!
Tonight Jacob lost his 2nd tooth since the start of school!  He didn't lose any last year and now he has lost 2.  The tooth fairy had a hard time getting it out from under his pillow.  But then he got a 2 Euro coin for it so he was happy in the morning!

Monday for lunch I went out with my friend that is leaving and her neighbor, who happens to have the same landlady as us!  We went to this healthy restaurant.  It only has 3 items to choose from each day and they change every day.  It is a tiny little restaurant.  So we had the soup and main dish combo, so red pepper soup and then a little bit of the main dish.  It was a salad with pineapple, blueberries, veg, and then 3 pcs of chicken medallions with pepper.  It was very good.
After lunch across the street was a cupcake store.  I have never seen one here, but we were in a different part of town that I never go to. So we stopped in and I picked up a couple of cupcakes to share with the kids after dinner. 
The kids are always asking for a dog so I picked up a Reindeer dog for them!

He smells so much better then a real dog!
After school the boys had a lot of homework, and Amber went to the neighbor's house to play.  I got dinner made and then my pumpkin pie squares to take in for the Thanksgiving talk I am giving to Amber's class tomorrow.

Tuesday morning Jacob had to be at school early for the musical practice so Jason took him and dropped him off.  I took the other 2 to school and I stayed and I did a Thanksgiving talk for Amber's class.  Amber borrowed her friend's Indian Halloween costume.

I talked to them about what Thanksgiving was.  Only 2 people in her class had celebrated it, or at least remembered celebrating it!  I read a book about Thanksgiving, we did a dance, I brought in a craft and then I brought in the pumpkin pie squares.  About half the kids tried the treat and they liked it.  My kids were glad there was some left over at dinner!
Then I came home and got some a couple of things wrapped for Christmas.  I bought a ton of rolls this year.  One roll I bought only wrapped 4 things, and they weren't big!
Then Jason and I went out to lunch to this place I wanted to try.  It was Italian and ok.  They didn't have a real big menu, but it was a nice lunch.
After school Sean went home with a friend, we had to drive one of Sean's friend's home as his family has the flu, and Amber had a friend over.  Once we got home her friend only wanted to play at his house so I had to call the mom and she came and picked him up and then Amber ended up going over there.  Jacob had tennis and then I spent awhile driving around picking everyone up!
I got 2 pecan pies made tonight for Thanksgiving, my favorite meal of the year!

Wednesday I ran to the store for a few last minute items and came home and made 2 loaves of poppy seed bread for Thanksgiving, yum how I love this day!  I picked up Amber and her friend at lunch and we had a little cake for her friend's b'day and then off to ballet.

Then we waited for the boys to finish and came home and I finished making my Cranberry Gelatin Salad.  Tonight is the night the Elf comes and visits the kids!  Sean had just said the other day he wondered if Sam the Elf was coming this year.  So I have his note and a little gift for each of them from Sam.
Sam is the Elf on the shelf that comes and visits to watch over the kids and reports back to Santa how the kids are doing.  Also every night when he comes back from the North Pole he sometimes gets into trouble and hides or does something that the kids have to find!  He stays until Christmas Eve when he goes back to Santa.  It is a lot of remembering for me to hide him each night for like 30 some days!  Tonight when I tucked the kids in bed I told them not to let the turkeys bite!  They are all really excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow even thought they still have school!  Then Jason goes upstairs and is in the hallway making turkey noises, too funny!

Happy Thanksgiving!!  So Sam the Elf came last night and it wasn't until right before we left for school that Amber spies him by the Christmas tree. 

So the kids were excited to see him and a gift! Today is not a holiday here so the kids had school and Jason work.  I met with my friend for coffee and then home.  After lunch the electrician came to fix a few things in the house, and I made the last item for dinner tonight, sweet potato casserole.  After school Jacob's best friend that is moving tomorrow came over.

I had him take a family photo of us.  Tonight would have been a busy night since we would have had Jacob Bball practice, Sean tennis and then Jacob guitar.  But since it was Thanksgiving we went over to my friend's house who was nice enough to host it and she invited 3 families.  We had a great time! Here is a picture with all the kids and my friend!

Unfortunately, tonight we had to say goodbye to our good friends here and it was not easy to do.  My friend who had us over and myself gave her a nice Luxembourg picture coffee table book.  We will miss them, but hope to see them over the summer.  They are moving back to the Quad Cities. Jacob was quite sad when we left.

Friday morning we slept in a bit since the kids had off of school, no relation to Thanksgiving.  After breakfast we left for the weekend in Brugge, Belgium.  It is called "The little Venice of the North".  It has canals, but only 12.  It was a 3 hour drive.  We were staying at an hotel apartment in town.  We arrived at 2pm and the room wasn't ready.  Their small parking garage was full and the close parking garage was closed.  So we had to find the next one which was about a 5-10 min. walk from the hotel.  We parked the car and walked around town.  We saw 2 of the old churches, beautiful buildings

and lots of chocolate shops.  Belgium is know for its good chocolate.  I had the map and was leading the way except I went the wrong way, oops.  Just south instead of North, all still part of the city.  So Jason got out his blackberry and we found our way back to the hotel.  Our hotel was pretty close to their big market square.  Here in the square was one of their Christmas markets with an ice skating rink in the middle.  Our room was ready so the lady walked us around the corner from the hotel since we were staying in their apts.  It is basically a building they bought and remodeled into 8 apartments.  I was very impressed with the hotel and the apt.  When you walk in there was a hallway and if you go left the apt. had a great room with a couch, dining table and a murphy bed (bed that folds down from a storage unit).  Then a mini kitchen off this room.  Back to the hallway and if you go right there were 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.  So it was a great set up and plenty of space for us.
We unloaded all our chocolate and things we bought and hung out.  A bit later we headed back to the close square and went to eat at this cute restaurant.  It was right on the square and was all decorated for Christmas.  This is the Belfry tower which we climbed up on Sat.

We got a table right in front of the window to view the square.  It was really neat.  They must eat later here b/c we got a table for 5 of us no reservation around 5pm.  That is pretty good.  By the time we left the place was almost full.  After dinner we took a horse drawn carriage ride around town for 1/2 hour.  We all curled up under a blanket since it was a bit chilly out. 

After the horse ride we walked around the Christmas market in the square.  It was very pretty decorated for Christmas.  Then we came back to the hotel and Amber and I watched Amber's gift from the Elf, Mary Poppins.  Amber had never seen it.

Sat. morning we slept in.  Amber didn't get up until a bit after 9am!  We walked around the corner back to the hotel for the breakfast.  Typical European breakfast, rolls, pastries, lunch meat, jelly, juice, cereal and yogurt, and hard boiled eggs.  If these places could only have pancakes and french toast we would be set!
Today we left our place around 10am and didn't return until about 4:30.  We walked to another square this morning that had a bunch of cute shops right before it.  In this town about every 5th shop is a chocolate shop.  So of course we stopped in another one and picked up some goodies.  I even snuck in a box of Jason's favorite chocolate for Christmas.  They also had the cutest, small christmas store with a tiny upstairs.  I am glad we got there before it was super crowded or you wouldn't be able to move.  We picked up our christmas tree pickle and a few little other things.  I love Nutcrackers and they had some really neat ones. But the smallest one was $45.  I saw this cute one that wasn't that big but it was decorated like a gingerbread man and this one was $150. From here we went on a canal boat tour for 30 min.  As we get on the boats our neighbor friends from Lux got on too- too funny!   The canal ride was nice but it rained the whole day. 

From here we walked to the Gruuthouse Museum.  It is a very neat mansion.  It had huge fireplaces in almost every room.

After this we walked back to Burg Square and saw the city hall.  It is a beautiful building

and when you go upstairs you see the Gothic room.  The whole room is painted and it has a huge fireplace at one end. 

We tried to see the church next store but it was a bit after 12 and it was closed until 2pm.  We had lunch at a cozy little restaurant and had the special of the day.  It was tomato/vegetable soup, 1/2 chicken, and chocolate mousse for about $18.  It was a lot of food and it was good!  Next we walked back to Market Square and up Belfry Tower.  It was 366 small, winding steps up to the top where the bells are. 

They only let 70 people in at a time so we had to wait a little bit.  At the top there are 2 big bells and it happened to be 3pm so it chimes a song and then dings 3 times.  It was a bit loud.
Then after going down all the steps we walked over to the chocolate museum.  It was the history of the cocoa bean.  At the end there was a demo of chocolate making and then a little sample.  Then we went back to the hotel to rest a bit and dry off and unload our stuff.  We had stopped at another christmas market and picked up mittens, sweatshirts for the boys, legging for me, etc.  Funny stuff they sell.  And one chocolate shop we had seen was selling Gingerbread houses so I bought one fully decorated this year instead of the mess that happened last year!

For dinner we walked back over to one of the Christmas markets and just stopped at a booth and got brats.  They were good, but hard to eat in the rain.  Then the kids played a carnival like fishing game and they all won a prize and were very happy.  Jason and I stopped and had a drink at another booth, champagne and their hot wine with Amaretto.  It was ok. We walked around the rest of this square and then got some hot "Belgium Waffles" with hot chocolate on them.  Yummy!  Then we just walked back to the apt, the kids were excited to play with their new toys and we watched a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving that we had downloaded on  the Ipad.  I love those shows!
After the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was a History of the Mayflower with Charlie Brown.  I had never seen this one before.  I should have showed this for my Thanksgiving talk in Amber's class.  It was a really good movie!