Playmates

One of Kheringtons best friends will be moving back to Bulgaria while we're in Myrtle Beach.  Even though they don't speak the same language, they love playing together.  We've had Lea over a couple times after school (we did a playgroup together before they started school, then they started at the same school on the same day) and they play so well together...yes there are still little fights, but look how cute they are:

We also got most of the other playgroup kiddos together for a last play date/lunch before they move.  It's fun to be around friends we made early on and that live so close.  We don't see most of them very often due to different schools / vacations / kids ages, but it is reassuring to know there are friends near by.

Since today is our last day in town (we fly out tomorrow), we had Lea and her sister Yana over.  We made pizza for lunch and followed it up with peanut butter blossoms.  Kherington and Lea did an awesome job unwrapping the kisses...but I'm pretty sure most of them ended up in their mouths :).

I know Kherington is going to be a sad little girl when we get back and Lea can't come down to play.  It amazes me that we've already lived here 2.5 years and really this is home for the kids.  Kherington is starting to get more attached to people and is much more emotional than she used to be so we'll see how it goes when it is our time to move.  Until then, we love making new friends and learning about different parts of the world.  Oh and I love love love eating/doing potlucks with people from all over the world...I must say I never know what to bring, but I always love to try what everyone else brings.

Vacances Week 2

The first week of vacances we didn't leave the house much.  I guess we did have some new friends over to play and took them grocery shopping (2 adults, 6 kids...so entertaining :).  Anyways, the second week Ryan had a normal work day then training each evening 6pm-midnight (US training hours).  That schedule made for a long week with kids.   I did try to make things a little more fun thought since dad wasn't going to be home to chase them around each evening (I'm pretty sure they think mom is kinda lame most of the time).

We went to Technopolis twice.  Kherington and I built a house on each trip using the mega blocks while Kevin ran wild (I just made sure he was within eye sight).  We also did a lot of marble run building.

We made strawberry cupcakes together.  The kiddos helped with the entire process and it made a huge mess.  Then we ate them 3 different times which made more messes each time.  In the end, Kherington really was only interested in the frosting. I think she might have nibbled on the cake part, but she licked the frosting clean.  Kevin went for it all but had to have a utensil in his hand while he ate with this other hand.

The rest of the days, we played, made messes and ate more food...sometimes without mom knowing.  I'm pretty sure I posted a very similar Cheetos picture of Kherington when she was Kevin's age.

By Saturday I was done with kids BUT Ryan had to go on the youth temple trip so it was just another long day.  We went to the store and I picked up some fresh cherries for myself thinking I could enjoy them without the kids.  Well, Kherington really loved them...so much for that idea:

Kevin and Despicable Me

Kevin's new favorite song:

Vacances Week 1

Here's our first week of Vacances (vacation):

 

We went to the hot air balloon festival...and didn't see one hot air balloon (just a few baskets).  I think I set my expectations too high for this event.  I was envisioning it being like Utah's hot air balloon festival where there are TONS of balloons and you can walk inside them and everything.  Well, they didn't set them off until 8:30 at night and we left the park at 6:30 so we missed them completely.  The kids still had a great time at the playground though.

Kevin is a little climber.  See the car below?  Well, he moved it over to use as a ladder then climbed up and into the water table.  His sister saw how much fun he was having and joined him :).

We've done a couple arts and crafts things.  Kherington currently loves to glue.  I just get out a glue stick or bottle and some torn up paper and she glues it all onto a page.  I also finally broke out the paint.  It has been a long time.  I'm pretty sure this was Kevin's first painting experience.  He ate some.  painted for a couple minutes and was done.  Kherington on the other hand took her time.

The kids eat A LOT.  You wouldn't guess it by looking a them, but they seriously are eating 90% of the time.  Yes, a lot of what they eat is fruits/veggies and I pretty much make everything from scratch so all in they eat healthily.  Oh and LOVE the last picture on this row.  I feel like I post all the happy dandy picture, but lets be honest, life is not like that most of the time.  They fight a majority of the time.  Well, they were screaming at each other in their room, so I just opened the door and snapped a picture.  This time it was over the umbrella that both of them wanted to play with.

Kevin is really good about going down for nap.  I hand him is pacifier and his water and he walks to their bedroom.  Lately he makes dash for Kherington's bed, gets all settled and starts reading.  I think it's more of a game for him because he doesn't get upset when I snatch him and put him in his crib.  Oh, and Kevin loves purses or in the picture below anything that goes around your neck/shoulder.  In this case, he was super upset that I wasn't going to let him take the bag to the park.  I told him we'd have to say home until he took it off and he started throwing a tantrum.

As I posted previously, Kheringotn falls asleep in different places each time. Here are some more good ones:

And here's more of what Kevin is up to while Kherington naps:

Bed Upgrades

I found a set of bunk beds in the classifieds here for 50 Euros so we got them and set them up in the kids room.  We were able to fit out mattresses we had in storage into the frame...they're a little shorter and wider than ideal, but it works.  Kherington was dead set on sleeping on the top bunk.  I was a little concerned that Kevin would be able to climb the ladder, but we ended up having to teach Kherington how to so hopefully that means Kevin has a little while tile he's tall enough.  Kevin is still in his crib.  We just moved it so it's on the other side of the room.  Oh and please notice how dark the room is because I finally got a black-out shade and put it up.  I should have done that a long time ago.

As I said, Kevin is still in his crib.  He has yet to climb out of it, but he knows how to climb in.  Take a look:

The plan is to keep him in the crib until we get back from Myrtle Beach.  Then we'll probably take the side off the crib.  Once he's adjusted to that we can move him to the bunk bed and put the crib away (making more room to play in their tiny room).

Grocery Shopping Adventures

Ryan has humored me and my ingredient finding a lot lately.  We drove over to Aachen, Germany one weekend just so I could check-out the grocery stores there.  I had read a blog that talked a lot about liking to cook with whole spelt flour instead of normal whole wheat flour (Beligum's whole wheat flour is really grainy) and she happens to live in Germany (and said you could get it for pretty cheap there).  We went to 4 different stores: Kaufland, Real, Metro, and Aldi.  It's shocking how much more baking supplies they have in Germany.  I picked up the whole spelt flour at Kaufland along with 20 bags of almonds (way way cheaper than Belgium), unsweetened coconut and some other random items (found canned black beans in chili sauce which I'm excited to try).  Next was Real.  For what I normally buy, Real was a tiny bit more expensive than Kaufland but still a lot less than Belgium.  Metro is the Makro of Germany (bulk store) and we picked up some super cheap sour gummies and pepperoni there.  Then Aldi I got more almonds, mandarin oranges and a couple other items.

Then the next weekend I wanted to get some Coconut Oil and I'd heard it was pretty inexpensive at the Asian store downtown.  They were sold out, but I did get some egg roll wrappers (and made some delicious/easy egg rolls the next week).  We took the bus there and back which the kids loved.  I think this was one of the first times Kevin actually got to sit by himself...well, when his sister didn't steal his seat.