School Projects

On our walk home from school and I always ask her what she did that day and I STILL get the same answer each day: "I play inside, I play outside, I sing song, I play with toys."  Now I KNOW she does more than that.  I know they have dance time and on Mondays they have gym, but I don't find out about arts/crafts time until I see different pieces sent home.  So here they are (now they're in the trash...you can't keep everything).

*I especially like that they label them by pasting a little picture of the kid on the project :).

Playgroup Birthday Party

Last year, one of the mom's at playgroup had an awesome idea to have a group birthday party for the kids. We each bring 1 present and 1 dish. How nice is that? This year it was at our place because we were hoping the kids would be able to run around in the backyard and jump on the trampoline, BUT just our luck it was cold weather so indoors it was.

I had a little table with crayons, markers and stickers and we played with the parachute and balloons which a couple of the kids loved. Then we had birthday crowns and the normal everyday toys. So pretty low key (minus the getting the house cleaned and decorated). For presents we put all the presents in the parachute and the kids each got to grab one out it and unwrap. It was kinda funny because a couple of the kids only wanted the one that they brought. After presents we had lunch. We ended up with meatballs, spinach tortellini, chicken and zucchini taquitos, schnitzel, breadsticks and tomatoes. Yummy! It was pretty hard not to keep picking at everything.

To end we sang happy birthday in English and French and had cake. I made two caterpillar cupcake cakes and stuck a bunch of candles in each so the kids could all blow them out. Kherington was a little too excited and kept blowing while we were singing. When it came time to eat the cake, since she had helped me decorate the caterpillar face she was determined that she would get one. She at all the candy off it then asked me to get rid of the "snow/clouds" (aka white frosting).

So...party went well, I got all cleaned up while the kids took a little late afternoon nap (yes...kids as in plural...awesome!). We had the sister missionaries over for dinner (I definitely recommend this paprika chicken stroganoff recipe). Kids went went to bed a little later than normal.

Then, about midnight hit. Kherington started screaming so Ryan went in her room. She does NOT like it when Ryan tries to get her at night. She wants her mom. So I went, had just picked her up and was walking down the hall when she threw up all over me...the upside of this is that we were in the hallway with wood floors instead of on a bed. I rinsed her down in the bath, got cleaned up, she went potty, then threw up on me again. So we repeated. Then I got her to start throwing up in the bowl instead...she would ask me to hold her hair back which was kinda cute. So for the rest of the night we cuddled on the couch and did the throw-up/potty run every 30 minutes or so. Ugh. Not exactly the night sleep I was hoping for but ya know that's how it goes. She finally fell into a deep sleep when I got up to workout at 7 (an hour later than normal, but I decided I'd do the run the next day instead). When she woke up 2.5 hours later, it was as if nothing had happened at night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was just like a 12 hour bug.

We're not in college anymore...

Most of my blog posts are about travels, holiday's, activities or kids. This one is none of the above. Feel free to stop reading (not sure I'll even actually post this or if it will stay forever in the drafts folder).

In the last couple weeks I've talked to two different friends from college. Both of whom I feel like I know really well. I roomed with both at different times and they're both people that I might not talk to frequently, but I know I could easily just hangout after years of not having seen each other.

So, why is this? and more importantly, why is it so hard to find friends like this after the college years? I know there are a few couples that Ryan and I would LOVE to live next to. Life would be awesome! They're people I wouldn't feel bad/awkward dropping in on if I just needed to get out of the house, was having a bad day or just plain felt like it. People I could talk about nothing with for hours and not have any awkward lulls in the conversation. People I could do dinners, games, workouts, crafts, vacations...pretty much you name it...with and have it be a load of fun.

I know I'm in a different situation than most in that we live in a foreign country where we don't speak the national languages and age wise we're younger than most expats. I'm not saying I don't have any friends here because I do. I just really don't feel like I have those good college type friendships where help comes without asking (or expecting anything in return), where there is always someone to talk to (aside from a husband) and where time away from the kids is a given (that would be nice).

So that's my first thoughts. My second is much more basic. We've been here a little over 2 years and I've come to the conclusion that no matter what anyone says, everyone needs a friend. Sure, you might not find the perfect match (like above), but as long as you respect each other, I think any two people can be friends.

St. Patty's Day 2012

Yet another holiday not really celebrated by kids here in Belgium. It's okay, lucky the leprechaun sill managed to find our house all the way over here :).

The day before Kherington and I made some delicious rainbow cupcakes. The colors turned out very vibrant. I've made a goal not to keep too many sweets around (but I still love to bake...not the best combo), so dropped some off at different friends houses. I think this was one of (if not the) first time Kevin had a cupcake...he loved it! Apparently this was prep for his birthday.

Lucky left the kids a fun breakfast (lucky charms...plus he peed in the milk and made it turn green). With breakfast there were sticker pages and paper for the kids AND some sweet sunglasses (he might have reused those from last year). Of course no holiday is complete without balloons! Kevin and Kherington had a fun time having sword fights with the balloons on the stick.

*St. Patrick's day is also Grandma Finley's birthday...Kherington walked around pretty much the whole day singing to her.

iPad Contest

Ryan's work mailed us a picture frame and a note saying to take a picture, post it, and the top 3 pictures with the most likes would win and iPad. I kept the frame out, then I look over to see Ryan taking the recycling and the frame was in the pile. I told him I thought we should do it because I would bet that most people would do exactly what he was going to do, just toss it (a work gathering confirmed my thoughts). So for FHE we walked down to the last stop on the bus route near us where buses are always parked and snapped a picture. I think it is pretty darn cute, but that won't make us win. We need your help.

We need you all to go to facebook and like our picture, then share it and ask your friends to like it too. Ryan's work had a competition like this that ended last week and the winners had between 700 and 1000 likes. Right now we are at 260 so we have a ways to go. I figure it's not just who we know, it's who our friends know and who they know and so on (getting outside our circle).

HELP US PLEASE
To help us out, click here. Login to your facebook and like our picture. Then *and this is key* share the picture and ask your friends to like and share also.

The competition ends April 15th which happens to be right between Kevin and Kherington's birthday's (not to say we would give them the iPad, but I know plenty of kids who love to play different games).

Thanks for your help!

Let the Madness Begin!

Ryan stayed up late Selection Sunday to fill out his nifty excel sheet to send out for his family tournament. Then for FHE we had the kids do their picks. It's always a hard thing to figure out how exactly kids this young can do their own picks. So here's how it went:

Kevin:
Balls, then blocks, then back to balls. Balls: 2 balls, yellow as high, green was low. Each time his grabbed or released it counted as a high or low. Then with the blocks, number blocks was low and alphabet blocks were high same grab/release. Kevin ran out of steam towards the end (hence the switch back to balls). But all in all he was pretty fast. He has Florida picked to win.

Kherington:
Say their name then say the jersey color. We found that when Ryan just told her two names, she always choose whatever team he said last. When we switched to colors (Ryan would say the team's jersey color) she mixed it up more. She was a big fan of Orange. Her chosen champion is Lehigh.

Erin:
I did my picks by choosing the team with the better record, unless it was close and I
(a) owned or thought I owned some type of clothing from a team,
(b) had heard Ryan talk about the team a lot, or
(c) remembered the team's name from previous years and thought they were good back then

The exception to this was BYU. Since they've choked almost every year, I figured why even give them one game. Yeah, I know, I am soooo strategic. Truth be told I know the least about college basketball this year in comparison to any other year (since meeting Ryan). I did initially have Syracuse picked to win, but was told a star player wouldn't be playing so instead I have North Carolina winning it all.

Ryan:
As usual his picks had more thought put in. What teams are doing well? How many upsets are normal for each ranking level? What is the fan base like? He knows way more about college basketball than anyone should (yet somehow always manages to lose the family bracket). This year he has Michigan State as his champion.

Kiddos

We'll start of with a story...I took the kids to the doctor for check-ups by myself. Last time I took them together they both did awesome so I wasn't worried about it at all. They had a late appointment (5pm), so they were already getting toward the cranky side, plus Kherington poked herself in the eye on the very short ride over (that's in addition to having pink eye). They did fine playing in the waiting area. Kevin went first and did great aside from the normal kid squirming. Then it was Kherington. She screamed...like top of her lungs scream...wouldn't stop clinging to me and burrowing her head into my neck. She stood the scale for like a nano second, but long enough to get her weight. She kept swatting at the doctor (who she liked last time) when he tried to measure her head. Checking out the rest of her was NOT going to happen. Well, this all took at least 10 minutes and during this time with both the doctor and me focused on Kherington, Kevin managed to empty one of the doctors desk drawers and unplug his computer. The doctor every so kindly told me that if both kids are having check-ups it is much better to have two people in addition to the doctor (yep..figured that one out). Ugh. I hoping that was the WORST doctors visit we ever have.

On the very bleak bright side, we now know that Kherington weighs a whooping 12.8 kilos (about 28 pounds).

Now for the updates:

Kherington:
1. I wrote about her learning to clean the toilet at school. Well, the other day she came home with an art project. They turned the rag glove they used on the toilet into a cow. Kinda fun...you'll notice the eyes are funky...i'm guess she did that part on her own :).
2. One of Kherington's favorite snacks is 'sticks' (pretzels) with peanut butter. She usually does fine with it. The rule is she has to stay out of reach of her brother. Well, I guess she follow that as she used the peanut butter and sticks to draw on the couch. This is why leather couches are a must with kids...I can't image trying to clean this off a fabric couch.
3. The weather has been SUNNY and mid 50's which is AWESOME. For lunch we've been doing picnic's. On our walk home from school Kherington let's me know what she wants for lunch and lately it's been 'a big carrot and a sandwich'. Pretty easy girl to please :). Oh and it is must that she eats with her laptop (hopefully that's her using her imagination, not her seeing mommy do that).

4. A little while back I hosted an Art Group. Kherington saw the squeeze bottles of our glue/paint squeezes and requested that we do some art. She had so much fun!

5. I think we're officially done with afternoon naps for Kherington. I went to every other day napping, but on the days she naps she stays awake until at least 10pm which is too late for a little girl. Days that she doesn't nap, she crashes during dinner which I've started doing around 5:30. What to do, what to do...

Siblings:
1. Kevin emptied out the plastic plates/bowls cupboard and climbed in (just like Kherington did at his age). Well, when Kherington saw what he was doing, she wanted to do it too (fond memories?). She go very upset when I told her she was too big now.
2. I've been going on lots of walk with Kevin in the mornings and if Kherington's game in the afternoon too. I LOVE the phil & teds stroller for this!
*I would say that for jogging the BOB is better, but to have them both in the stroller without double long or double wide is awesome!

2. I LOVE nice weather. It makes such a huge difference to be able to open the doors and have the kids run wild, but still be home so I can get a some normal daily 'mom' tasks done. On nice days, having a yard doubles the size of the house. I would say that sometimes I do wonder what the neighbors think of my constant 'Kherington be nice to your brother' and 'Kevin that's gross, stop eating _____'.

Kevin, oh Kevin.
1. He is a little dare devil. He likes to run (fast walk) and keel over into pillows when they're on the floor. Anything that is a higher than the floor he tries (and often succeeds) climbing. He is always so proud of himself when he gets to the top. The slide is one of his favorite things to climb. He goes up the back, stands on top and starts clapping his hands. He also has yet to have a bad fall (knock on wood).

2. He workout with me in the mornings with the half kilo purple weights. If I only get my weights our he is not a happy camper.

3. With the nice weather, he loves to wander around outside with some little plastic raquets and hit balls (like croquet). He also like to be doing whatever his sister is doing (computer - check, sippy cup - check).

4. Stats update - he now weighs in a 19 pounds (so just 9 pounds lighter than Kherington) and is 71cm (28in) tall. What a growing boy! He sleeps horribly at night and fights his naps (especially the afternoon nap when Kherington is home and awake).