I am dreaming of a white Christmas...

And sometimes dreams come true! Whoop-di-doo!
It had been snowing all week but we got a ton of snow on the 24th. The boys still had half day of school that day, and they were not lucky enough that it got canceled. No buses rode that day and most people just stayed home. 8 to 10 inches is no laughingstock for a country that own about two snow plows. LOL.


I came home from bringing the boys to school (because my office was closed, snicker, snicker) and thought: why is it so dark in the living room? Well, because the sky light was covered in snow.


I'd like to say that we had a very peaceful and nice Christmas, but unfortunately there was an awful lot of "it is my turn to open a present!" "Monty won't show me what he's got!" "It's not fair, he got two in a row."
After all that, moments we are going to treasure for years to come i am sure, we took pictures.

The boys, and Leland, got ninja warrior headbands from Grandma and Grandpa, which went well with the bows and arrows they got from us. Stoney is actually happy in this picture, this is just his "i am cool look"



(there has been a lot of "watch out, there is an arrow coming")


The big present they got for Christmas was this fancy-smency loop-di-loop race track. Santa got it second hand from some people at church, but the kids don't need to know that :-) As to be expected with a track like this, cars were crashing left and right. But they had a great time




Inevitable there comes a point on Christmas day that the kids need to blow of steam and get out of the house, and since he had all this snow outside anyway...


We came across strange messages in the snow.

And a gigantic Christmas tree


Monty was being a crouch and insisted on carrying these big chunks of snow everywhere.


Stoney had a lot of fun though. But after several crashes we went home.

winter

Happy birthday to Stoney, no he is not high, he is just into making silly faces lately.







We have an unusual amount of snow for Belgium. The country is running out of salt already, and winter is just starting. We got about 7 inches I guess. The boys went to school by sled the other day. (occasionally even we give up on riding a bicycle). No delayed openings here, let alone school closings, no matter how much snow there falls, school opens as scheduled.



Not in a chatty mood tonight, so i am just posting some winter pictures.

thankfulness

This is the time of year we proclaim the things we are thankful for, so here it goes

Category 1 > the things that most people (including me) list when they mention things to be thankful for:

• My savior Jesus Christ
  
• My children
• My husband
• My family in general
• The relative good health of most of my family
• The (general) happiness of my children
• A warm house to live in
• A job
• Food to eat

Category 2 > other, very random things I thankful for:

• The shipment of our stuff that arrived
• Toilet paper
• Indoor plumming (who wants to visit an outhouse in the winter?)
• Chocolate
• Sturdy, comfortable shoes
• Central heating
• Naps
• The book of Job
• Trees
• Days without back pain
• Bicycle lights
• The power of prayer
• Blue skies
• My children's laughter
• Birds singing at daybreak or sunset
• Days that the kids do not wet their beds

On a completly different note: We got the first snow of the year. In the morning before school, the boys dashed out into the yard to 'experience the snow'. They intended to make a snowman, never mind there was barely enough snow to make snow balls...

Shipment of Stuff

It's finally here. After we have been living in Belgium for over three years a lot of our belongings that were still in the US have finally arrived. (not that the shipment took three years, we didn't get it shipped till a couple of months ago - long story.
So now our house looks like this:




It's a disaster, but for once i do not care and am a happy camper even though everything is out of place. We have our pictures, our books, some kids' toys, The desk chiar that Leland says will be passed down in his 'last will and testament', my grandma's carved trunk, the beautiful dresser my parents bought for us, Leland's swords.... Wait, wait back up. Swords? Yes indeed. Leland collects swords. He doesn't have a ton. Only about seven or eight, but they are cool to have. The boys just think their dad is the coolest ever with his sword collection. But, got to say, had a heck of a time explaining it to the costom's officials in England where the shipment first came into Europe.
One of the swords was actually my grandfather's. He was an officer in the Dutch-East-Indies army, a long, long time ago.
The boys had to pose with his officer's hat and sword.






Now we will have to see how long it will take to sort this all out.

Puke

It was fall break for the boys, and they went to their Oma and Opa's house for a couple of days. And Oma, kind soul that she is, has had to deal with many things in the category "gross" in the past. there has been puking in the car do to car sickness, there have been multiple poopy pants... This time Stoney pulled a new one. (well, a variation of an old theme really) Oma took the kids to the movie theater to watch this cute kids movie of a little girl who is a witch. Well, just when the little witch accidently transformed a cloud into a dragon, Stoney suddenly started puking his guts out. He was covered from head to toe (and got part of Oma too) No one in the theater noticed somehow, and Oma wanted to take Stoney out to clean him up and probably go home, but no. Stoney didn't want to miss any part of the movie and refused to go to the bathrooms to get cleaned up. Oma resorted to get a bundle of paper towels and cleaned up as good as she could in the dark. The plan was to take the bus home from the theater, but since Stoney was covered in puke, she opted to call opa who came to get them by car. Unfortunately Stoney got sick in the car again and threw up again...

After this minor glitch the rest of the stay went well. They spend some time with cousin Thijmen.



They also made bird feeders (that is probably not the right word, what do you call the greasy balls you hang in the tree for birds to eat in winter time? ) with aunt Nicky. I know it looks like an icecream cone - it's not. Stoney does not look like he is enjoying it too much, but at least he didn't throw up again. And he liked the end result.

Monty's mind

So i have this cute six year old who is a real thinker. Also a drama queen at times (and needs anger management at times)
A glimpse.

Monty says:

• "I am actually looking for a really pretty girl to marry"
• "I had a nightmare! I dreamed that i wasn't getting any dessert!"
• "If I wish upon this medallion, it will come true and i wished for a mummie on accident so now a mummie will come to me and i am afraid to go to sleep." (cryingand screaming follows, many hours of not going to sleep and many weeks of him being afraid to up the stairs by himself to use the bathroom)
• "When you die you have to choose HOW you die right? (err...not really) You have to decide if you want to be burned or if you want to be put in a coffin. (ah... talking about buriel - why though?) "Do you want to be burned or be put in a coffin mom? I think i want to be put in a coffin. Being burned is just not good for me."
• "Can i take these comic books with me when I go to heaven?"

There are bound to be more of these. To be continued....

New school year, fall and other random

I have been shamefully neglecting the blog - partially because someone who shall not be named is always hogging the computer- and partially because I have been extremely busy. I still work full-time, am still the RS president and I have started my French classes again. French classes are Monday night, Leland has Bishopric meeting on Tuesday night, and teaches Seminary on Wednesday night, on Saturday night the boys have swimming lessons. And that leaves Thursday night or Friday night to squeeze in any Home teaching or Visiting teaching (or Sunday night I suppose). So anyway, busy life.

School started again for the boys, like Hogwarts it always starts promptly on September first, regardless of the day of the week that date falls. Monty started first grade and so far, so good. He seems to do well in math (that must have skipped a generation) but is not so quick with reading yet. As with many things in life, he needs a little more runway before he is ready to take off.


Stoney is in third grade now (where on earth did time go??? Wasn't he in preschool just yesterday?) Stoney is in a mixed third/fourth grade class. Which seems kind of odd I guess for American standards. It is not uncommon here to combine grades, but i must say that i am a little worried about it. Stoney is so easily distracted, having two grades in one class, meaning two different things going on almost at all times, might not exactly beneficial. But i have asked some other parents of older kids about their experiences with the grade-combined classes and all of them have been very positive. I guess we'll have to see how it goes. After all, we are only five weeks into the school year.



On a completely different note: I got lucky enough that i won tickets to the zoo. I have never won anything in my life! Stoney had been asking to go to the zoo for quite a while, but unlike the Smithsonian in DC most Zoos aren't free or cheap. But then we won the tickets! Yeah!
Although we had some really nice fall weather lately, the day we went to the Zoo was rather damp and chilly, as you can tell by the winter coats and hats.



Stoney and Emu in staring contest. Stoney won.

This Zoo has an unusual amount of stork. They are everywhere. Some stay there year round, other come in the spring to breed and leave again in the fall.




The Zoo has a lot of play equipment in addition to animals. There are the rope bridges - so you can feel like a monkey i guess.




Here, we are pretending to be seagulls I guess?



Not sure what we animal we are supposed to be here..

In the category "unusual roadsigns..."

Last days of summer...

And when i say 'the last days of summer' I mean not just the end of the boys' summer holidays. I literally mean the end of summer. Just to give you a little illustration of the messed up weather here: heat wave in July, cold spell in August and then a few warmer days... Do the math: heat, cold, warming up again... What does nature make of that? Indeed: Spring. And yes, our daffodils have sprouted again! (I don't have a picture, but i promise it is true)

There is just something not right about sitting in your living room in August and thinking: "I am so cold, I wonder if i should turn the heat on?"

For the last full week of vacation the boys went on holiday for a week with my parents. Stoney went pony riding - twice. Once in halfway decent weather, once in the pouring rain. But he loved it anyway.




Here is a funny picture: some of you may know that Monty always had a fascination with ears. Now that he is six, he usually only plays with his own ears when he is tired or sometimes his mommy's. But evidence speaks: he is clearly playing with Stoney's ear here. I would too if i were him, after all Stoney is using his lap as a pillow ;-)


Some random pictures

Arenberg Castle

Jeopardy: Air travel history for $100: "This was the location of the first manned balloon lift-off" "What is Arenberg Castle in Leuven, Belgium."

Depending on the historical source you go by, the first manned balloon trip lifted off near Paris, or sometimes sources will say Brussels. Both wrong, it was actually in Leuven, in the year 1783.
(For those who want to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Arenberg). It lifted off from this very lawn.



The boys are with my parents for a week and we took the opportunity to brush up on our trivial knowledge.

The castle is not really a classical castle. The current state was never intended for defense purposes. I guess there was a different castle orginally, but this one was more of a status symbol then a place of refuge, which you can tell by the size of the windows, they would have been shattered immediatly in an attack.

Never the less, there are some slots in the wall by the front entrance which looks like they could be used for shooting arrow/guns, apparently while drinking a cup of coffee.


Like so many old buildings in the Leuven area, this castle is now part of the university and houses the engineering faculty. This is the inner court.


There is stream right in front of the building, it was probably a moat in some earlier days. The water wheels are still there, but no longer used.