FHE - Scripture Stories Reenactment

Monday for FHE we acted out part of the Book of Mormon that we had recently read with the kids. They choose getting the plates from Laban.  Now everyday, multiple times per day, they asked to do it again.  Keeping Laman and Laban straight is a little difficult.  Kherington always asks which guy is the one that chases the other ones away.  Cute kids.

Friends and Crafts

We had Seth and Benjamin over a couple time to play recently and my kids love playing with them.  The first time we did some outside painting.  The 2 year olds lasted all of 5 minutes, but the other two spent awhile and even painted 2 different pages. 

Another time each kid picked out a felt color and we made masks.  Kherington didn't want one, but this picture is one of my favorites.  Kherington and her masked men:

We also made a pinata.  Kherington and Seth were loving it until some kids came running down the trail behind our place wanting to play.  Then the pinata making wasn't as cool and I ended up finishing up the first layer.  Later while the pinata was drying they relaxed with some ice cream cones.

One of my favorite things about having friends over to play is that my kids not only actually play the entire time but also that they sleep so much better.  They both passed out for a short nap after our friends went home.

De Nekker to Ourselves

We have two cars for most of the week so I've been trying to make the most of it by going place outside of my normal walking/busing radius.  I took the kids to the beach and when we got there it was empty.  The whole time we only came across a handful of the kids.  The kids were able to play on all the toys including do the boat where you pull yourself across the water using a rope.  We walked around a little and found a bridge that overlooks Kherington sized fish (no joke).  After the morning at the beach part we played on three separate playgrounds.  The kids had a blast and I got to relax and read lots of my books.

They both had a short nap on the drive home, then played nicely with each other the rest of the day.  It ended up being best complete day I've had with the kids in a long time. No meltdowns, talking back, fighting, etc. Just pure happiness the entire day. They even went to bed quickly.

Work Life

As of August 24th, Ryan is officially a Tax Manager at Deloitte! I have no doubt that Ryan is a hard worker, but we both feel that a lot of it has to do with being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people. With that said, I am super proud of him.

His group is moving locations within the office again and when we took the kid to visit work (a favorite for the kids), we found that his new office already had his name on it so I forced him to smile for a quick picture.  Managers here are in office, but when we're back stateside it's back to the cube. To be honest, I think you lose lot of the social interaction by being in an office so I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

Sunny Summer

I've been trying hard to get out and enjoy every sunny day since I know that this is Belgium and these days will eventually disappear and I won't see the sun again before moving stateside.  We've been to George Henri park a couple times.  It is the closest sand park to our house.  On one of our visits, Kevin had climbed up to the top of the blue part below the slides (in Kherington's picture) and got stuck.  I could hear a kid calling 'mommy, mommy' and it clicked that that was mine because it was in English.  He was content down in the sand for the rest of the visit.

We also went to Technopolis again and the place was empty.  I guess since it was a sunny day all the daycare went to the beach instead because normally it is packed with groups of kids.  The kids had a fun time exploring the entire building.  Kherington even did the space jump thing twice.  The second time she did added in spins while she jumped.

Birthday Celebration

Saturday we celebrated my 29th birthday by driving over to Aachen, Germany to my favorite kebap place.  You might guess from the number of times I've wrote about this that this place is amazing.  For me, it is right up there with Cafe Rio which really says something.  We made a stop at Toys 'R Us to let the kids play on toys and get some wiggles out and picked up some blueberries and sour gummies at Metro before heading to the restaurant.  After eating, we walked down the street to an ice cream shop.  We're always so full after the kebap place we don't normally eat anything else, but we decided we'd give it a go.  The ice cream was a good price (70 cents a scoop), but Kherington had a meltdown which sucked the fun out of it.  Then once we finally sat down on a bench, a bee kept attacking us so we decided to start walking back to the car and it just kept coming with us.  Sad way to end that trip.  On the bright side, I got to have leftover kebap for dinner and again for lunch the next day (Kevin and Kherington's leftovers).

Monday Ryan stayed home a little later than he normally does during his busy time so I could get up and go for a run.  The rest of the day was pretty normal, with the exception that me and both kids took a good afternoon nap.  They even slept longer than I did! We did presents and cake when Ryan got home.  We decided for both Ryan and my birthday's we'd have the kids each choose a candy for us then we'd go on our UK trip.    Kherington got me some snickers and Kevin got me some caramel waffles.  Plus they picked out some birthday plates/cups and a singing candle and Ryan got me some Ben and Jerry's Half Baked ice cream.  Sugar overload.  The kids had a fun time getting everything ready.  Kherington made my cake (funfetti with frosting and sprinkles) with a little help from her daddy.  She was really proud of it.

To top off the evening, we talked to some family and a friend came over with some more treats and conversation for me.  A pretty nice 29th Birthday.  We'll see how the rest of the year treats me.

Sunday Routine

One of my favorite things about Sunday afternoon is that when Ryan comes home, he sets up and watch's a movie with the kids.  It usually ends up like this:

Nap time for Ryan and Kevin while Kherington moves herself closer to watch the movies.  I hope we keep this little tradition as they get older...but I'm guessing Ryan will be the only one napping.