10 things

In order to condense some of my blogging, here are 10 things I have done lately (in no particular order)....

10. Cologne, Germany. 2 weekends ago we took the kids for our first trip to Germany. Cologne is home to the largest cathedral in Germany and it was AMAZING. However, I have to say that Cologne was the first European city that I have been un-impressed with. Apparently it was almost completely destroyed in World War II (except for the cathedral) and it has been re-built to hold as much charm as any cement building circa 1960. The crazy radicals protesting and mass German politie probably didn't help the image much either....

9. Genk, Belgium. After Bray's soccer game Saturday we went to the greatest park on earth. We set out to see an open-air museum full of Flemish period costumes, cheese making, lace making, etc., about an hour from our house, but ended up finding the park next door to the museum first, and never left. It had loads of totally dangerous, extremely fun play equipment. Ryan and I commented that you would NEVER see a playground like this in the States, as someone would be worried about getting sued. There was a 3 story slide that scared the bejeebies out of Landon, but it didn't stop him from doing it 2 dozen more times. The boys also rode go-karts and we played miniature golf.

8. Had the missionaries over for dinner. I love LOVE the missionaries in our ward. They are so anxious and excited to do missionary work and for me, they embody everything a missionary should be. We also had a Chinese woman who is investigating the church over too, and after it became apparent that Landon was quite wild and we had apologized for his lack of obedience she said (in a super cute Chinese accent), "Oh no, it is good for child to be monkey in China. It mean they have smart brain. The children who just sit there we say 'Oh, they not very smart.' But monkey children have very smart brain. I want monkey children."

7. Cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. I am trying REALLY hard to get everything pulled together and organized. With all of the weekend ventures we do, and the evenings I spend planning for said ventures, I'm not nearly as productive in the house as I used to be. I'm still waiting for the day when I can sit at the computer with every household chore done and have guilt-free computer time. I'm thinking it might be quite a number of years before that ever happens again.

6. Day-trip to France. This fabulous trip actually happened today with a good friend that I have met here. Her son is in Brayden's class at school and as soon as we dropped the kids off we ran to the car and headed out with Charlotte in tow. We went to this incredible tapestry warehouse in a small French town with floor to ceiling tapestry in every different shape, size, and color you can imagine. I think I had perma-grin the entire time as I have been dying to buy some tapestry for my family room since we arrived in Belgium and, along with entrance to little league, this tapestry warehouse was another dream fulfilled. We grabbed some yummy crab sandwiches on large crusty baguettes on our way out and made it back for school pick-up. Days like today make me unbelievably happy to be here.

5. Bedtime cuddles. The boys are always wanting me to lay down and cuddle with them at bedtime. I endulged the other night with Brayden, and was reminded of not only what a sweet boy he is, but what a short time I have until he thinks cuddling with mom sounds "like totally embarrassing."

4. FINALLY found a crock-pot. It only took me looking in about 20 stores over the last 2 months, but I found one. Those of you familiar with my cooking style know that in the winter months I almost always use my crock-pot. I love that I can throw a load of ingredients in the crock-pot in the morning and by dinnertime I have a well-cooked roast or simmering pot of soup, among other things.

3. Listened to Brayden speak his first French words. Brayden is very shy about telling me anything he knows in French. I heard the boys speaking a little french after school when they were playing (and by "little" I mean basically teaching each other little words they knew). Tonight when I told Brayden to get his pjs on he told me, "No anglais, je parle francais." In my best French accent I told him to go and we ended up having a very funny conversation in french about what languages Brayden speaks. He told me, "Je parle anglais au francais." When I asked Landon (in french) if he spoke English or French he said no, but said yes to Chinese.

2. Been completely missing Dancing With The Stars!

1. Planning for my trip to Paris this weekend. Ryan and I are going to Paris, WITHOUT the kids this weekend and I am just about dying with excitement. We are doing a babysitting trade with some good friends so that each couple can get away for a weekend. 2 days without the kids is one thing, but in Paris?! Ooh lala.

Brayden's first soccer game

As most of you know, I am a big sports fan. I grew up playing sports (I even remember playing "500" - you know, the football game - when I was 7 and 8 with the neighborhood boys) and still love playing sports when the opportunity presents itself. When I was dating, my dad used to joke that I needed to marry someone with athletic genes so we could "breed" athletes. Seconds after finding out that I was pregnant with Brayden it wasn't "Oh my gosh I'm pregnant!" It was, "T-minus 6 years until little league baby." Well, 6 years has passed and I officially have a child in organized sports. It's basically my dream come true. I set goals for both Brayden and I before the game. My goal for Brayden: no crying. My goal for me: Remember these kids are 4-6 years old and no demonstrative sideline over-praising or coaching. Brayden is extremely competitive and has a very hard time losing, and so we talked a lot about being a good sport and just having fun. When game time came, I have to say he did AWESOME. Seriously, I was so proud. No crying, no whining, just hustle, hustle, good attitude, and more hustle. He even scored 2 goals and helped his team to victory. At the end of the game, I was the one who wanted to break down and cry - cry tears of happiness and joy for my little budding athlete. I would like to think that I met my goal as well in maintaining a low profile, despite some excitement over Brayden scoring. I can't wait to do this again next week, and every week for the next 9 weeks. Ryan caught some of the magic with his camera, and the action shots really tell it all:

 

 

 

Summer wrap-up

Wednesday nights are basketball for Ryan, so I have the house and a box of chocolates all nice and quiet to myself. I thought this would be the perfect time to catch-up on my obvious lack of blogging. The days are passing by in the form of weeks around here and I can't believe we have already been here 2 months! We only have 22 months left and it just doesn't seem like enough time to do everything I want to do while we are here... I am feeling compelled to dedicate this post to any stay-at-home mom with kids in school who I may have previously judged as having "an easy life." Since my kids started school, I think my days have only gotten busier. I still haven't figured out how to get up early enough to get ready for the day, make breakfast, make beds, dress children, throw a load of laundry in, and do breakfast dishes before we head out the door in the morning. If I don't do the morning chores before school, I find myself wasting my morning after dropping them at school getting the house in order, which just doesn't sit very well with me. Who wants to be cleaning up when there is so much fun to be had?! So, if any of you wise and experienced moms have any advice for me, please share!! We are settling in more and more everyday and we have finally set up our home computer which is soooo great. Not only do I have my nice, big screen back, but I can finally import all of my pictures from the summer (316 on my camera, 765 on Ryans). When I imported the pictures from my camera I realized that I never posted about our trip to Ghent a couple of weeks ago. We went with our friends The Millers and had a fabulous time as always. Ghent was another really cute, Belgian town with tons of charm. When you (meaning you and you and you...) come visit me, I will make sure to include it on our Belgian tour. Most of the best pictures from Ghent are on Ryan's camera (which I have yet to import and sort through) but here are a couple from my camera and also some other pictures from the summer that I discovered on my camera. Consider this my (sniff, sniff) summer wrap-up.......HELLO FALL!

 

Decoratrice d'interieur

There are 2 things about me that usually get big gasps out of people around here:

1. I only speak English
2. I am a stay-at-home mom

For whatever reason, the second one brings more than it's fair share of shock and awe as far as I'm concerned. It seems as though every Belgian woman has a profession, and my seeming lack of profession feels like I am confessing that I had a lobotomy and only have 5% of my brain left. It seems to me that having a profession here is just as important as having a name, or 10 fingers, or 2 legs. Every time I am asked to fill out a form (for commune registration, class registration, etc.) under the spot where it has my name is the line reading Profession. When I registered for my French class, I put "homemaker" for my profession and I guess I flunked the profession portion of the form because I proceeded to have a conversation like this:

Them: "What does "homemaker" mean?

Me: "Well, I stay home and take care of my children."

Them: "Oh, oh, ok....but what is your profession?"

Me: "I am a homemaker....I take care of children, cook meals, clean house..." at this point I was feeling extremely lame..

Them: "Ah yes, you cannot work here in Belgium. Ok, what did you do in the United States?"

Me: "Same thing."

Them: "You take care of children there too? incredulous look.

Me: "Yes, that's what I do."

Them: "Ok, what did you do BEFORE you had children?"

And on and on went the conversation until I finally labeled an acceptable profession. It was serious insanity all for the sake of a professional label. So tonight at my french class when we started talking about professions and labeling people with their professions, I knew what I WAS NOT. Before the teacher got to me I sat there and thought, "What is my profession today?" "Doctor? No, I didn't deal with blood today..." "Lawyer? No, I didn't really mediate much with the boys at school..." And then it came to me: Interior decorator! I have been spending most of my free time in search of fine secondhand furniture for our house and dreaming of it at night... I think that's qualification enough. So, when the teacher got to me, I said loud and proud: Interior Decorator! I think I chose well as the teacher seemed impressed enough with my (in her words) "ability to make all interiors beautiful." I played the part all night as we practiced in class..."Quelle est ta profession?" "Je suis decoratrice d-interieurs!" Now, as long as no one from my class starts asking for decorating tips, my professional secret will stay safe and sound.

Linguistics

One thing that I am constantly fascinated by here is how many languages people speak. In Belgium, there are 2 official languages: French and Dutch. The country is pretty equally divided, with northern Belgium (call the Flanders region) speaking Dutch, and the southern areas (Wallonia region) speaking French. There is also a small German speaking community in eastern Wallonia that adds to the linguistic diversity of Belgium. The Brussels-Capitol region is within Flanders (Dutch area), and is offically bilingual, but is predominantly French speaking. The European Union and NATO are also headquartered in Brussels so that also brings many other foreigners (and languages) into the city.

The first 2 people I met here were colleagues of Ryans, both of whom speak 5 languages fluently. Initially, I thought they were such an anomalie, but as I have met many more people, I am finding that I am the anomalie -the one who only speaks one language. At 10 years old, Belgian children begin learning their non-mother tongue national language (so French kids learn Dutch, and visa versa). As children hit high school many learn German (and they actually LEARN it, not like high school languages in the States - or I am the only one who didn't get anything out of my required 2 years of language in high school?) Native Belgians aren't the only people speaking many different languages either. I have met quite a few international families who speak 2, 3, and 4 languages in their homes. I am most fascinated by these families and their small children who speak all of the languages fluently as well. I am not only fascinated, but wildly envious.

When I first found out that we were coming here, I decided immediately that I wanted our whole family to learn French. I thought of it as the perfect opportunity to become fluent in another language, which is something I have always wanted to do. I knew it would come easy for the kids with them being immersed in school, and with Ryan's portugese base to work from, he's already light-years ahead of me. But me? Well, you've already heard some of my adventures in french (or rather spanish) and time is flying by here so quickly. Although I have picked up a couple of key phrases, I am not even close to functional, much less fluent, so I decided it was time to take some action. With Ryan's help I found some classes at the local community college and registered last week for the semester. It's 6 credits of french classes and I figure if I do 4 semesters of french (2 years worth) I will be in the super-advanced french class by the time I am done and fluency will be mine! Or that is the hope.

Classes start tomorrow night and I am really excited, not only to go to school, but to actually use my brain for an intellectual pursuit, assuming it still functions in that capacity....

Sending my boys into the great unknown

Today was Brayden and Landon's first day of school here in Belgium. I can't believe we have entered the school years at my house. Really, it's unbelievable to me, and almost seems like it was a one time thing and tomorrow I'll have my little boys with me all day again. After all, I need something to complain about...Charlotte is just too easy. School here in Belgium starts at 2 1/2 years old and kids go from 8:30a - 3:30p. For Brayden, it was a no brainer as he would be in kindergarten in the States, but I have struggled a bit with Landon going to school ALL DAY. The school is very structured and they even have naptime or "sieste" for Landon's grade every afternoon. It kind of makes me think of Kindergarten Cop where everyone (including The Governator) drinks their milk and takes a nap. I've thought that the structure would be great for Landon, but I just still have had a hard time thinking that he is going to be gone all day. I have the option of picking him up at noon if I so desire, but Landon wants to go to school all day so for now we are playing it by ear. Despite all of my anxieties (including new school, no friends, lack of communication ability, etc.), the boys did great today. They seemed to be fearless and embraced school. Brayden told me that his teacher even spoke a little English to him and that seemed very cool. When I dropped Landon off in his classroom, he was the most calm I have ever seen him in my life. It was probably due in part to the fact that some other kid in his class was bawling his eyes out and screaming at the top of his lungs. Landon looked at me and said, "Is that kid crying because he doesn't want to go to school?" Not wanting him to think anyone wouldn't want to be at school I said, "No, I think he bonked his head." They both made it to the bathroom today, ate their lunch, Landon napped, Brayden made friends, they are excited to go again tomorrow - overall I would call it a success. So for now I am going to make the most of my time with Charlotte and see this school-years thing as a little gift. Charlotte obviously views it as such as she played with every single one of the boys' toys today while they were gone. I was a little worried that she wouldn't put Brayden's transformers (one of her very favorite toys) away before we went to get the boys from school, but she seemed to understand the rules - play while you can, when you can - and didn't touch them again the rest of the day. When Brayden rushed home and picked up his transformers, I think I even caught a little wink from Charlotte as to say, "It's our little secret mom" and as far as I'm concerned there are many more of those to come. Now for the goods...the quintessential "first day of school" picture that will follow them the rest of their lives: