Trunk or Treat

Last night Schinnen, an army base in the Netherlands, had a big Trunk or Treat for Halloween. I was really happy to hear that they were celebrating Halloween in some way because I would have felt awful if I had to crush Adeline's excitement in dressing as Blueberry Muffin (Strawberry Shortcake's friend) this year. Since it is an American holiday, it isn't really celebrated here. We have heard that some towns do celebrate it a little bit, but it is hit or miss. I ordered her costume before we moved and it ended up being more like Norah's size then Adeline's. Luckily she is just a peanut and was able to pull it off even if it was a little short :) Norah was also very excited to wear her costume and she must have known that she looked pretty dang cute in it.






We got on base early and ate some fast food for dinner and then headed with hundreds of other people through the trunk or treat trail. Afterwards the girls were able to do a couple crafts before we went back to our guesthouse. All in all it was a successful night and the girls had a blast.







{Adeline showing off her stash}

Today we went to an indoor pool/waterpark called Aquana. It had 3 pretty big water slides, a lazy river with innertubes, a wave pool, a regular size pool and then a large pirate ship with some more slides, water spouts and a shallow pool area. We met two other families from our ward there and had so much fun. We for sure will be going back!

Other than our two exciting days in a row, we have not been up to anything. Since we are still borrowing our sponsors car, we are trying not to drive too much. It cost us almost 110 Euro to fill it up ($154) and we don't want to have to do that again until we get our own gas ration card where we can pay American prices! Abe bought a car and we should be able to pick it up on Wednesday. Monday I am meeting with my German OB for the first time, visiting Adeline's potential German Kindergarten, and officially signing the lease on our house!

So much better

Last week we decided it would be best to make a guesthouse switch. I kept trying to justify our Guesthouse in my head thinking that I was just a wimp and it wasn't that bad. I was trying to figure out if we could really stay there for 5-6 more weeks. Well, one of the most recommended Guesthouses (Karin's Guesthouse) just happened to get us in on the date that we needed because a family had moved out the night before. Seriously a blessing because they are normally booked out months and months ahead. They said they may have to switch us from a family 2 bedroom house, to two different 1 bedroom apartments and then we would just live in one and sleep in the other. That way we would at least still have a kitchen, washer/dryer, tv, phone, internet, etc. Fine by me. So a couple days before we moved, we told Frans and Sofia that we were going to switch guesthouses. They were pretty upset and I do think a little mad. Since we were the only guests, they were planning on us for income for 30 days (since that's what our useless sponsor told them). We weren't sure if we would be able to leave on good terms with them, but we did. The morning that we left Sofia made us breakfast one last time. Adeline wrote a little note and drew a picture for her and Sofia got kind of emotional about it. She had gotten pretty attached to the girls and Chloe.

After we ate breakfast, talked awhile and said our goodbyes, we were off to our new guesthouse. Luckily the night before we had stopped by our new guesthouse and dropped off the stroller and a couple suitcases. Our sponsor offered to help us move the remainder of our belongings, but ended up going out of town (like I said, useless). So we packed everything in our car (well, our sponsors extra car. That's the only thing he has been useful and we truly are grateful) and BARELY fit everything in. Chloe was jammed underneath the steering wheel by Abe's legs and I had stuff piled on my lap and at my feet.




{Abe made us take a family picture of us in the restaurant. Of course I was in PJs}


Ever since we have been to the new guesthouse, I am SO much happier. Instead of being babysat a little bit (having to buzz in, ask to use their personal phone, etc.) we are now on our own. It is like a little house and we actually have 2 bedrooms, a family room with english TV & a dvd player, washer/dryer, free phone calls, internets and a really nice kitchen. In the back of the guesthouse there is a trampoline, a swing and a little rocking horse for the kids to play on. They even have a bunch of toys in the guesthouse that the girls can play with. I don't feel trapped anymore. When we got here, they even said that the family that was supposed to be moving in the first of November may be pushed back and we can possibly stay in the family house. Seriously a blessing. It has been so nice to actually eat a "normal" lunch here at the guesthouse and make our own dinner. We are sick of going out for lunch and dinner every single day!

{Our new Guesthouse}




{The street of our guesthouse out in the Country}


{on a walk outside our Guesthouse}



We are continuing to get things "checked off the box". We were able to get all our medical stuff figured out, Abe passed his international driving test, we found a house (move in Nov. 28th), and then a bunch of other things that we were required to do. This week I am hoping to also pass my international driving test, sign Adeline up for German "kindergarten" and visit it, get an appointment with my new OB since I will be 28 weeks, and hopefully buy a car for Abe. As soon as we get our own car, things are going to feel so much better. Hopefully my car will be here in 2-3 weeks. Cross your fingers!!

{girls playing in the back of our guesthouse}





The girls have been fighting and whining A LOT, but really have been great sports for all the changes going on. Adeline is so positive about everything and is pretty adventurous. She has always been pretty in charge and bossy to Norah, and Norah is finally holding her own. This has caused a lot of fighting because Norah won't let Adeline be in charge of everything. If Adeline tries to take something away from her she will scream, "I GOT IT FIRST", or "IT'S MINE". I am really sick of both of them screaming that to each other. Aside all the fighting though, they do also play well together and are becoming better friends.

A little bit about the girls right now:

Adeline (4 years, 2 months)
****
-Talks, talks and talks ALL THE TIME and wants to know about EVERYTHING. You have got to know your stuff around her.
-Is ALWAYS listening. She will be completely distracted in the car watching a movie or playing a game and I will quietly say something to Abe and she will repeat everything that I said and want to know what I am talking about.
-still runs everywhere and is really coordinated
-loves to write and always asks us how to spell words that she wants to write. She knows how to write almost all the letters, mostly uppercase
-loves books
-one of the most thoughtful little kids. If she gets something, she ALWAYS wants to make sure Norah or her friend Mary gets something too
-still a little fashionista and cares WAY TO MUCH about what she wears and how it looks. We are still trying to figure out the best way to tackle this one so she doesn't turn out too vain.
-loves singing and dancing
-is very competitive and has an intense personality
-Loves her friend Mary and never stops talking about her
-very adventurous and positive
-very excited to have another baby sister or brother!


Norah (22 months)
****
Everyone always comments how amazing Norah is at talking for her age. She has been talking well for months. A couple months ago out of nowhere she just counted to 10. I had no idea she could do that and must have learned it from Adeline.
-loves singing (abc's, twinkle twinkle, bubble song, time for bed)
-literally says everything and speaks in long sentences.
-very polite and is always saying please and thank you. "can I have one too please?", "can I get down please".... etc. etc.
-starting to be interested on the potty and is asking to go. She finally goes just about every time we put her on. We are going to try and tackle that very soon, but I don't think she is 100% ready... especially with #2
-Loves babies
-Loves dogs and just about every animal
-Loves Adeline
-still very sweet and cuddly
-getting in the naughty stage and has been quite a spit fire. Throwing tantrums, saying mine all the time, wanting everything, has NO volume control, can't sit still. In my opinion this is the hardest age. I feel that after they turn two it starts getting better... we shall see with Norah.
-has an opinion now on what she wears sometimes. She will say, "I don't like it!", "No flowers", "No pink", "too big/small!"
-now says, "I do it myself!" and will almost try to do everything herself first and then will give in and let you help
-Starting to ask, "why?"

Last but not least, we were able to have one last play date with Adeline's bff Mary right before we left for Germany. It was so sad because the 5 days before we left, Mary got pretty sick and we couldn't play with her. It was so sad. The day we were leaving we let them play anyway since they aren't going to see each other forever. This is pretty much the #1 reason why I and Adeline both didn't want to leave Boston. We are going to miss Katy and Mary way too much!!

Adjusting

This past week has been an emotional roller coaster. We barely just got past our jet lag and caught up on our sleep.... maybe :) Coming here, we had a sponsor that was assigned to us and was helping us out. He got our APO box set up, our guesthouse booked and even came and met us at the airport. I was always a little skeptical because I had been doing some research and I had never heard of our "guesthouse" before and was hoping that it would be adequate. All the ones I had read about had multiple bedrooms, a living area, kitchen, phone, washer/dryer, internet, etc. After all, we are staying for an extended period of time. Our sponsor is a single guy, so I was worried he would not understand our "needs" as a family. Abe always told me that we would just switch guesthouses right away if it wasn't what we were hoping it to be. Well, when we showed up we found out that our guesthouse was more like a hotel and was just two rooms and a bathroom. Right off the bat they tried to make us sign a 30 day contract, which we were skeptical about, so we did not do it. They made us sign a 10 day contract but were expecting us to stay the full time (which was at least 30 days). I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sofia who if the wife of the guesthouse and she has been more than kind. She has made us breakfast every morning, which consists of cold cuts, cheese, bread and orange juice. I also love the neighborhood as it is quiet and quaint. We have made it work, but it has been rough. We don't have a phone, reliable internet, no type of kitchen (fridge, microwave, etc.), no laundry facilities, etc. I am sick of eating out and I feel like my kids have just been eating like crap because we don't have very much to offer them. We have been put in a hard situation because it was not our wanting to stay here in the first place, but we feel bad leaving this family that is "planning" on income from us. Tonight Abe ended up talking to the husband and letting him know that we will be leaving on Saturday. I think he is mad, or maybe just more frustrated. I just feel bad for Sofia because we love her so much and I know she will be dissappointed. The last thing I wanted to do was make them mad at us.

The first couple of days last week I walked and walked with the girls to try and find a park. After the 3rd day, we finally found one and the girls were in heaven. We have been to that park a couple of times now and it has been nice to let the girls do something fun. They have been stuck in their car seats a lot driving to and from base, driving out to eat and looking at houses. House hunting was very overwhelming at first because there just wasn't very much available with at least 4 bedrooms. It seemed like all the houses we wanted to look at would get rented out right before we had a chance to do so. I was really frustrated, tired, and overwhelmed that I even cried myself to sleep a couple of nights. On Monday when we were house hunting, the housing office let us know they had a new 5 bedroom listing. We did a walk through of it on Tuesday morning and LOVE IT! It is more out in the country than the rest of the houses we looked at and is pretty big. Only problem is we can't move in until November 28th and will be in a guesthouse/hotel until then. NOT looking forward to it. However, I do think it will be very worth it to wait an extra couple weeks to get something we love.





Abe had to go to an all day briefing on base Wednesday and a girl that I met through one of the GK spouses groups on Facebook came and picked the girls and I up to go to a Wild Animal Park in Gangelt, Germany. It was a lot of walking, looking at the animals, playing at a big park there and then a petting zoo area. It was nice to get out of the little guesthouse and do something for the girls.





This picture is so funny to me because I had the girls stand by this goat so I could get a picture. Right as I was taking the picture, Norah gave it a HUGE hug and completely scared the goat. It did a little buck and took off running (as I was taking the picture). It knocked her to the ground and she wasn't really phased by it. She is such a funny little nut.

Other than that, we have been trying to explore a little bit and get things checked off our to do list. Today we ventured into Sittard, NL where they have a Market that everyone has been raving about. It wasn't as big as I expected, but it had good/cheap produce that I hopefully can come and buy on a weekly basis to save some money. In the town where the market is, there are some pedestrian streets with shopping that were also fun to walk down. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I have been pretty lazy.

First Days

{In the taxi on our way to Logan Airport in Boston}



{all our crap in the airport}



{on the plane to Frankfurt}



Well, we made it here safely. I had held it together pretty well, but pretty much fell apart right as we were on the plane getting ready to leave. The girls did reasonably well on the airplane. Norah is at just about the hardest age to fly with, so that was a challenge. I gave her a little freedom from her car seat at one point to change her diaper and then maybe 20 minutes of sitting on my lap. That was a big mistake! After that, she would NOT get in her car seat without a fight. She would just scream at the top of her lungs and throw a tizzy. The girls fell asleep when we had about 2 hours left on the plane and Abe and I maybe got 30 minutes. We had a layover in Frankfurt which was supposed to be 2.5 hours long and ended up being closer to 3. Adeline slept in the stroller for about an hour at the airport. When it was time to board our flight, we had to take a bus out to our airplane and the girls loved it. They were sitting by each other on the bus giggling and squealing with delight. Keep in mind this was about 2:30am Massachusetts time. The plane ride to Düsseldorf was only like 40 minutes and we were there. I was very relived to see Chloe at baggage claim and that her flying time was over. Poor thing had to be in the little kennel like 12 hours. Outside of baggage claim was our sponsor Ricky & the cab driver. The girls and I went with the cab driver and Abe with Ricky. Between their two cars we were able to fit all our crap.

{on the bus to our 2nd airplane in Frankfurt}



It was about an hour drive to Hongen, Germany where we arrived at our Guesthouse called Hotel Peters. In the rain, we unloaded all our luggage and the sleeping girls into our new temporary house. Frans and Sofia own the guesthouse and are so nice. There is only one guesthouse and across the hall from us is where they live. Downstairs is a restaurant that they own and it seems to be very popular. Sofia is amazing and she cooks all the food.

{Hotel Peters & the front of the restaraunt}



When we arrived the girls woke up from their short naps in the car and were completely wired. Abe and I on the other hand were so tired and wanted to sleep desperately. We both layed down and attempted to fall asleep. Of course we let the girls run around crazy and they were slamming just about every cupboard, door, you name it and were also fighting. After a failed nap, our sponsor came back and met us for dinner. We ate downstairs at the restaurant and I had my first real German meal. I got the Snitzel and it was amazing. The girls were bouncing off the walls and being so naughty. I felt like I was trying to control them the entire dinner. When we got home, the girls were so tired, so we got them ready for bed. They were both in bed by 8:30/9 and we were thinking that it was nice they were tired at a decent time and they would get a good night sleep and get on schedule. We were so wrong. Right when I layed down to go to be after 9:30, Norah started screaming. I let her scream for a long time, then tried to lay her down with me, let her scream for a while, etc. After 3.5 hours of screaming, Adeline also woke up and refused to go back to bed. I was so tired after 26 hours of no sleep that I was sobbing while trying to take care of them. Abe heard me and came to the rescue. He sat on the bed with them and started a movie and let me go back to bed. Apparently they were awake until about 4am and poor Abe had to get up at 7 to go onto base for the day. Originally we were all planning to go down to the restaurant to eat breakfast at 7:30. I had to run down and tell Sophia that it would only be Abe eating because I didn’t dare to wake them. She was wonderful and fed Abe and then set aside breakfast for me and the girls to come and get when we were ready. I went back to bed and woke up to Norah crying at noon. That was about the fastest 5 hours of much needed sleep I have ever had. I got Norah out of the room without waking Adeline up. At about 1:30, Norah and I headed downstairs to get our breakfast to bring back to our room. As I was walking back up with the food, I heard Adeline screaming that she threw up. Adeline was sitting on her bad with liquid on herself and the mattress. Poor thing could barely keep her eyes open. It wasn’t “real” throw up and right away I knew that this is one of her episodes that she has had in the past. I still don’t know what it is, but a handful of times she has woken up extremely late, threw up mucus/water and had to sleep it off for a handful of hours. I layed her back down after giving her a shower and changing her clothes and she slept until about 3:30pm. Meanwhile, Norah and I ate breakfast. She gave us yummy rolls, cold cuts, cheese and Nutella. Norah LOVED the nutella on her bread (“chocolate bread” she calls it). After a couple more hours, Adeline woke up and was back to her normal self. I set up the stroller and we went out for a walk to explore the town we are currently staying in. The girls thought it was pretty neat. We saw cows, horses, ponies, deer, sheep, and goats. Adeline said, “When we get a house, can we can animals for decorations in our yard?”

{eating breakfast with my cute little Norah}


{pictures from our walk yesterday}




For dinner last night, Adeline wanted to go to “Sofia’s restaurant” again because “Sofia makes all the food!” The girls were much better at dinner than the night before. Today Abe had to go back onto base for some briefings and the girls and I ate breakfast and went for another walk. We still have not found any sort of park for the girls to play at. After work, Abe showed up with a car that our sponsor is going to let us use until we find one. We drove around a looked at the very few options we have for housing (if we want a 4 bedroom). We still need to set up appointments to see if we can actually go in them. It has been quite an adventure so far. I love the people that own this guesthouse, but I am so frustrated we don’t have a phone, fridge, microwave, etc. It is making it very difficult!