Winter Wonderland

So, yes, school was cancelled and the kids are thoroughly enjoying a day in the snow. We made a little sledding ramp in our front yard. Nothing too exciting, but it will do on a day when we're stranded since one of our cars is still at our friend's house.

Belgium Myth #3 - It Never Snows in Belgium

Oh Really?????

Then explain to me why it took us an hour to get out of the parking lot at the school on Thursday after the elementary Christmas performance when white stuff was stuck to my car? Then another hour to drive not even a quarter of a mile? Until my daughter in the back seat said those dreaded words, "I have to use the restroom." We'd already been in the car for 2 hours and had not even gone any farther than a half mile during the snowstorm. At this rate we'd be lucky to make it home before midnight.

So, we turned on a street right by school only to knock on a friend's door (you couldn't get hold of anyone by phone as the network was busy) and say unexpectedly, "Can we come in please?" So, we pottied and stayed for dinner. I had been to the grocery before the performance and placed my dairy items in a cooler, so we were able to contribute some chicken and salad to dinner. Around 8:30 we wondered if the kids had school tomorrow, so we tucked the children warmed by borrowed pj's into accommodating beds, waiting to decide if we should head out anytime in the next few hours or camp out there ourselves too.

Around 10:00 the man of the home appeared...it had taken him 2 1/2 hours to drive a normally 15 min. drive, and he still had walked the last leg of the trip. Around 10:40 he ventured back out to see if the road had cleared in any way to retrieve his car, and told us he thought we could make it up the dreaded, treacherous slope. (I desperately wanted my own bed.) If not, we could return to the "Motel 6" as the lights would still be on at their house if we were unable to make it home.

Two groggy children were snuck from their beds to hop in our car headed for home. What would we find? About 15 minutes later, we were in the driveway texting that sweet, hospitable couple telling them we'd made it.

I have the pictures to prove we received about 4 1/2 inches of snow yesterday. So, I think that Belgium myth is marked "BUSTED!"

School Play

Somehow the Pre K and Kindergarten kids mixed fairy tale characters into their Christmas play and it worked! Our little J played Mary, and was thrilled to have the microphone attached to her Red Riding Hood in blue outfit. She had many speaking lines and seemed comfortable on stage. It was also cute to see her and Joseph whisper to each other about how the play was going. (Baby Jesus is the boy in the basket.)

All of the fairy tale characters paid baby Jesus a visit and brought gifts pertaining to their stories. Little Red Riding Hood was one of the first to bring a basket of plastic foods while the kids sang "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

The kids all did a marvelous job bringing fairy tales to Christmas!

Christmastime in Disneyland Paris!

3 days after our cruise, I had just enough time to unpack and then repack for an overnight with K's company in Disneyland Paris! We're not privileged enough to get these fun trips in Indy with his work. The office here holds only about 20 employees, so they had a budget for taking everyone to Disney!

I have always loved Disney World during the holidays and Disneyland did not disappoint, although there are a few things that make it more European. For instance, there are no designated smoking areas...all areas are smokable.

We did wait in line to see Papa Noel. He did speak English too which was a bonus!

The kids both wrote their Christmas letters to him while waiting in line for their turn to chat with him. We even received a post card back from him a few weeks later. Of course it was all in french even though our letters were in English.

Here is his workshop.

What a great weekend! We rode all the rides we could hope to ride and picked up a few shows (half English and half french - pretty clever!). They even pulled out all the stops like only Disney can do. There were live horses manning the sleigh for his show!

Taking One for the Team

When K left for the airport last Sunday, he had clothes filling one suitcase and another suitcase equal in size completely empty ready to bring back the American treasures for Christmas, J's birthday in January (including party stuff ordered from Oriental Trading), crafts for R's school Christmas party, other random grocery items from my list, additional baby items for my new nephew coming to visit in about a week. My family already has diapers, formula, baby food, strollers, car seats, (the list seems endless when you have baby travelers!), etc. to bring. He helped them out by bringing a few items ahead of time.

So, his sacrifice in all of this was leaving ALL his clothes in Indianapolis with my parents. (No, he's not becoming the Naked Barcelona Man.) He's basically coming home to us tomorrow morning with the very clothes on his back and that's IT! What a trooper! He didn't donate them to Goodwill, but my mom is going to wash them and store them for his return on business in January or February. He won't have to pack a single item when he returns. Why didn't we think of this whole concept earlier? I could have been bringing back sooooo much stuff from the states (especially since the exchange rate is stacked against us over here!)...now, we just need to hope and pray he doesn't get stopped in customs. I don't even want to think about what the taxes would be on 2 huge suitcases full of new treasures without any clothes in sight!

Spilling the Beans

In lieu of a Santa Shop, the kids' school holds a Christmas Boutique where families donate unloved items for regifted treasures. The students are charged 1 euro for each gift purchased for their family members. All proceeds go to the parent/teacher organization.

Low on the donation list this year was dad gifts, so an extra note circulated pleading for more dad donations which resulted in about every father receiving a tie this year. (Hope ours isn't reading this or he'll have a hint about his gift.)

Mom volunteers helped students shop and then wrap the gifts while the children watched, elated at their purchases. Chatting with them about their gift selection while wrapping that day was just plain fun! You could see the pride on their faces as they thought of the person that would be receiving the lovingly purchased gifts.

My daughter shopped on Monday and then R on Tuesday. Upon seeing her Monday evening, she immediately told me I would just love her gift. She exclaimed, "Mommy, it's something you love. Do you want to guess? Well, can I just tell you? It starts with a 'p'," all in one breath. So I tried to be a good mom and ward off her temptation to tell me by changing the subject or talking about someone else's gift. (Even though I already knew what it was by process of elimination since I worked there all day Monday.)

We then placed her gifts under the tree, and this did help distract her mind from the excitement until tonight when we ventured out to pick up the gift R bought for her. Apparently it was too large to send home on the bus, so I received a note Tuesday saying I needed to pick it up tonight. While dealing with this, she brought back out the gift for me, placed it on the kitchen table and said, "Mommy, why don't I just tell you what it is and you forget that I told you?!" How can you say 'no' to that comment? What a great idea!
So, this wrapped gift below is...

Some of this type of stuff called polish pottery. Yes, I do love it and have already been to the Netherlands with girlfriends to purchase some decorative serving pieces. Boy, kids don't miss a thing!

So, I probably could have won an Academy Award with my reaction to her spilling the beans, and I'll hopefully win another when I open my forgotten about present.

Note to friends here: I know you're wondering, "Who would be getting rid of polish pottery????" Well, I lucked out because this brand new gift was donated by our PTP because it was a silent auction basket that didn't receive a bid. I'm not quite sure why, but I'll take it!

What I've Been Up To

Does the sign look familiar? We had a Scholastic book fair at the kids' school and it was a blast!!! A little stressful (I helped with the organizing), but it was pure fun. Our goal for the 2 days was to sell books in English to students at school that might be otherwise difficult to obtain since English bookstores aren't in abundance here. We ordered and shipped the books from the U.S. so we aren't able to return any books left unsold. Along with the exchange rate, we had to pay for shipping fees as well. We carefully chose the items and prices for the books because of that. In the end we came out in the black instead of red, so it was a successful event!

It just so happened that the theme this year was "Read Around the World" - how appropriate for us!!!

We also don't have access to those wonderful rolling bookcases in American schools, so we had to improvise and display our books our way!

Helping with this event and another with the American Women's Club has put me a little behind on the blogging side of life, but I'm excited to get some pictures up of our recent trip, Thanksgiving, and many others.

It was all worth the time and effort when a little boy peeked over the counter as he paid for his books and asked, "So, do I get to keep these books forever?"

"YES!!!" he exclaimed as we shook our heads, smiling. We were exhausted at the end of the sale, but thrilled that so many people could enjoy such wonderful books.

Cute comment: One of our friend's daughters exclaimed, "Mommy, I think 'LeBron James' is French because you know 'le' comes before lots of french words," as she displayed to her mom the NBA book she bought at our book fair!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, today is our first Thanksgiving away from ALL our family! We're handling it pretty well by celebrating 2 times this week with our adopted families, but the kids are going to school today with a noon dismissal for all those US families. K and I are driving separately to our friend's house so he can stay late watching football while Mom brings two kids home for bed since we still have school tomorrow. Don't know how much these two toothless turkeys will eat since they can't bite off much. (Wouldn't you know J has to keep up with her older brother by utilizing her tongue all day yesterday wiggling free a loose tooth. She can't let her big brother get too far ahead you know!)

All I Want for Christmas is...

My Two Front Teeth!

Then I could wish you Merry Christmas!!!!

We've been working on these for a few weeks. You can see the permanent ones coming in already as he's been letting these things dangle like a snaggle toothed kid forever.

The Highlight of our Trip!

We just returned today from our eastern Mediterranean cruise to Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and Greece over the week long fall break. Let me just tell you about the best day of our trip! R has been interested in being baptized for a few months, but living in Belgium has presented a different approach than what we would have taken in Indiana. During Vacation Bible School week he claimed he was ready and desired to commit his life to the Lord. We wanted to make sure he understood this commitment and was truly ready, so we contacted our youth minister from back home and asked for his input. Together we completed a small packet explaining to R exactly what being baptized meant. He understood and decided he was ready! Just in time for our Holy Land cruise we just so happened to be taking on October 31st. On the itinerary was stopping by the Jordan River to one of 3 likely sites where Jesus was baptized.

As we hopped in the car for the excursion of the day, our driver discussed the agenda and informed us that some people are still baptized at this location. K and I glanced at each other as I said, "Well, if we have time and it's okay with you, our son would like to do that today." We brought the bathing suits for K and R just in case this could actually happen, and we're so thankful it did! K baptized him on November 4th in the Jordan River and we even have the certificate to prove it!

While J and I were waiting for the guys to change into robes and swimsuits, we noticed the enormous crowd of huge catfish. I told J not to say anything to her brother about those things...she agreed. That might be enough to make him change his mind! (You have to click on the picture to see them even closer!)

This is the area they've made accessible for people to enter the Jordan River.

R smiling while K asked if it was his desire to follow Jesus.

Get ready!

A True International Festival!

Let me just describe the atmosphere for you...acceptance, enjoyment of others, diversity at its finest, kinship, respect, bonding of community...all of these words were our feelings Friday night as we witnessed our first International Festival. Everyone kept telling me, "This day contains my favorite activity of the school year," and now we know why.

About 25 booths representing different countries were set up in one gym so during the day children could walk around, gathering trinkets from each country visited while adding a stamp representing that country to their pretend passport. For example, France gave out small Eiffel Tower key chains and stamped passports with an Eiffel Tower. This was all followed by a parade including about 250 children from about 40 different countries. Each country had a theme song, their country sign, and dressed representing their country. Guiding the American kids was a child dressed as the Statue of Liberty followed by children steering a boat coming across the Atlantic Ocean. For the United States, the children had turned in white t-shirts ahead of time for tie-dying either red or blue. All kids from America wore blue jeans and waved the American flag during the parade. The chosen song was "R.O.C.K. in the USA".

R has his back to us here, but is waving his flag.

The ironic thing is the stereotypes we're taught to stay away from while living in the United States were celebrated by these countries and we all had FUN! People from the Netherlands paraded on bikes with baskets attached full of tulips complete with their native outfits. Students representing Sweden came out with ABBA outfits covered with blue and yellow sequins dancing to "Waterloo". Australians came through with inflatable kangaroos and crocodiles dancing to "We Come From a Land Down Under".

UK kids with their red double decker bus!

I just sat misty-eyed during the parade because I was astonished at how some children were the only ones (high school kids mind you - talk about having guts to get out in front of everyone!) representing their country. They were so proud as they walked across the small stage in the gym and the other school children just cheered them on to let them know we understood what it must have taken for them to parade in front of a huge crowd carrying their country sign and flag all by their lonesome. What dignity and pride!

The finale consisted of Belgium being represented with enormous fries and some guys walking around the gym on stilts.

The parade is done during the school day, and then around 7 the nightly festivities started with a repeat of the parade for all the parents and the booths changed up during the evening hours to contain food and drinks native to the countries. We tried some from all different countries...with our favorites being Namibia (who knew that was even a country in Africa?) and Germany. The kids couldn't get enough of the German sausages. I'm going to have to figure out where to get those things so I can put some pounds on these two little ones!

We left feeling a sense of community and acceptance from our truly international Belgian school!

Double Rainbow

After becoming sick with the vomits Friday night, R was quarantined for a day while the younger sister ventured to a Halloween party complete with pumpkin carving, yummy sugary treats and US party favors. The sweet lady hosting the party had recently been to "the base" where apparently there are 3 American stores. One happens to be a grocery store where people related to the armed forces can purchase American food and various holiday items at American Dollar prices - with American money! (There is actually a bank machine there for people to get cash out because they only accept American dollars.) Anyone with "base access" is quick to become a friend to many here. They are envied because the rest of us pay way too much for things like, oh, let's say, Krispy Kreme doughnuts (for one example), brownie mixes, Skittles (if you can even find these items!), the list goes on and on.

Anyway, all of that is beside the big point of the day. We happened to look outside the window and see the beautifully lit up rainbow which then became two! R couldn't believe his eyes...he'd never seen two rainbows at the same time!

You Might be a Redneck if...

Well, actually, we need to change this to say, "You might have been living abroad without visiting home too long if..." Did I mention I haven't been home since December? "if...you pay 10 Euros for a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts." (I'm completely embarrassed to tell you how many dollars that comes to. $14.00) Can you believe I fell into that pit? I'm guilty! But look at how much enjoyment came from that one box? By the way, the hats were free!

Sidenote: We finished off all 12 in one day!

1st Day of School for J

September 1st was the 1st day of Kindergarten for J. She rode the bus with R, but couldn't understand why I wouldn't drive her to school like I had driven her older brother the day before. Oops!
I would have done it, but didn't get an e-mail to the transportation people in time. I just wasn't thinking, so I had to now think quick and make this sound like something special. I just replied, "Well, R didn't get his first day of school picture waiting for the school bus like you're getting to do." OK - to me that sounded pretty lame, but she bought it and cheesed it up for me. She was happy and even blew me kisses as the bus picked her up and drove off.

Here we go again...another year of coffees with other moms, volunteer meetings, lunches, running with my girlfriends, grocery shopping without disciplining children, and my sacred Wednesday Bible studies that I have grown to cherish. The dog just cherishes these morning walks as the bus comes about 3-4 minutes down the street from our house. As soon as she sees the kids get their shoes on, ready to leave the house, she's barking her head off as if we're going to forget that she loves to accompany the kids to the bus stop.

Baking with J While R's Away

The kids in Kindergarten didn't go to school until September 1st, so I had a whole day of girl time with our fast growing daughter. We made lasagna together for supper after taking the car to the garage for repair from this summer's hit and run incident.

It looks like Kelsey enjoyed our cooking the most. She's tuned in to the fact that I drop much less when I'm cooking alone than with my special helpers. Above, she's just watching the air to make sure nothing falls. Below, she scored!

Disney is at it Again!

At the local supermarket, the Delhaize, there are Disney Pixar cards resembling baseball cards, but with Disney characters from recent movies pictured on each. Every 12 Euros or so you spend at the store, you receive a pack that contains 5 cards in hopes of collecting all 216. Also, if you buy certain items you can receive an extra pack (like with a particular box of chicken nuggets). Then, you can spend 5 Euros more to buy a fancy book to hold all your treasured cards.

I drove home thrilled to pieces one day with my 16 packets for the kids. They love collecting these cards and would be just elated when they stepped off the bus and I informed them I had all the packs waiting for them inside. I was the best mommy in the world today!

I had them eating from the palm of my hand that night..."You would like to open another one of your packs? Ok - then finish reading this story to me, hang up your laundry"...you get the point.

It was a brilliant marketing scheme! I was shopping there exclusively - and buying much more than I needed - like 12 boxes of chicken nuggets, just to get some more cards. This was all happening to the point where I was wondering if I was a little crazy until with my limited french, I read a sign walking into the store one day that claimed on Wednesday, September 2, there would be an exchange of Disney Pixar cards from 3:30-5:30. Wow! The kids would love this and it would be such a great way to mix in with the locals. Anticipating the event, the kids of course wanted to try to fill up their books.

Here they are on a bench outside where we did exchange with some people. We had duplicates of various cards, as did other people.

Now, this is the long table set up outside the store with all the die hards (notice how many adults without children are sitting here trying to complete their collections - why do they have to do that? Don't they realize, this is just for the kids?). I was amazed at how seriously some of these people were taking this.

To further my unease I curiously came home and googled Disney Pixar cards on ebay and found some cards were selling for 12 Euros each!

The marketing scheme is over now and my kids each have about 20 cards left to complete their books. I was just going to let them be done until I learned the best kept secret yesterday. You can go on the Delhaize website and order any remaining cards you need for just 20 cents each. We did just that today and within 2 weeks (via mail) we'll hopefully have our much loved books complete!