American Cemetary above Omaha Beach

My coolest moment of our recent trip to Paris and the Normandy region of France is pictured above. By chance, we arrived at the American Cemetary above Omaha Beach just before it opened and wandered over to check out the group of people preparing to raise the flags. A man asked if there were any other Veterans in the crowd, and James immeadiately grabbed the backpack from me and said ,"Go." So I walked up to the front and got a surprised look when I said I was ex-Air Force :) (Still love that.)

I had the honor of saluting while a WWII Veteran raised the colors for the day (that's me in the green jacket on the right). Incidentally, it was the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, which made it extra cool. I teared up walking through the crosses and Jewish stars on the graves just after the ceremony... pondering the loss and senselessness of war. A moving morning to be sure.

Typical Week continued...

So, I forgot to mention that in between all the items that you can quantify, I fielded numerous requests for milk, had to explain 20+ times why Anna could not watch her 'show' all day, comforted Sam whenever he would tumble from his seated playing position (often, since Anna has started to push him over, sat and played trains on the rug, read and wrote a couple text messages, etc... You get the point right? Not much accomplished, but a lot going on.

For the rest of the week, I won't repeat the play-by-play of the Monday description, just mention the highlights of things that were different.

Tuesday
10am Sing Along at the American Women's Clubhouse. Now I usually try to a) get Sam a nap before we leave and b) try to leave at 9:30 for the 25 minute walk to the clubhouse... but neither of these things happened. I try to leave early, since I'm in charge of the singing (a completely crazy concept, since I would have voted myself least likely to lead any singing anywhere-- but no one else volunteered to lead it when the previous leader moved, and Anna loved it so much I decided to give it a shot.) Sorry for the aside, anyway we actually left at 9:46 and arrived with a cranky Sam at about 10:10, so much for punctuality. We sing about 10-15 songs depending on the attention spans of the kiddos, and it's been fun to watch Anna and her friends develop from not singing to now singing and doing handmotions... only when the mood strikes them of course.
At 11:30, after some playtime, mommy socializing, and Sam's bottle we head home for lunch. Anna usually walks the last half of the trip, and probably would walk more, but I'm usually too hungry for her slow paced, look at everything type of walk all the way home :)

Wednesday
9:30am Women's Bible Study. Now, the very special thing about this the babysitting! Yeah, 2 hours to concentrate on something other than the kiddos (see Monday if you need a reference on what I'm talking about). To get to the study we have to drive through our favorite Bambesch Forest, and it's been such a treat to see the forest go through all the seasons. The study is generally good and thought provoking, and attended by women of various nationalities.
4pm Brownie Time. Anna and I baked some healthy brownies from the Sneaky Chef recipe book. I try to bake with her at least once a week, and she loves to eat all the ingredients as they go in the bowl: flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, etc.

Thursday
10:30am Little Gym Class. This is a highlight of Anna's week. She loves her teacher Sylvan, swinging on the bar, and the bubbles at the end. Also, she's now developing an interesting habit of wanting to use specific toilets when she's out and about... the miniature kiddies sized ones in the WC's here rate pretty high up there. We usually talk the bus to class, but last week I decided to walk there and back, and it only took about 25 minutes... not bad. Since the Little Gym is right next to the market, Delhaize, we generally pick up some milk, etc on the way home. The tiny shopping carts for kids have made grocery shopping a favorite acitity for Anna (see Project 365 for photo).

8pm Book Club. I almost forgot about this one! Evening activities are so rare for me. It was nice to slip away after tucking Sam in bed and go hang out with the ladies for a night (well, it was my kind of night, it ended at 10:30, so none of my precious sleep was missed). We discussed the book for only 10 minutes, but rather talked about life, moving, travel, and other grown-up topics. The hostess, Katy, even made a delectable strawberry tart that I ate happily while sipping my wine.

Friday
9:30am Playgroup. It was our turn to host, so I decided the park would be a fun place to meet up with Anna's and my friends. The weather was cool and almost rained the whole morning, but didn't-- typical Luxembourg. The kids enjoyed the swings and throwing the sidewalk chalk we brought off of the small hill in the park; and at least there weren't any other kids for them to hit :)

That's it. My typical week. I fit in miscellaneous grown-up time (reading, finances, trip planning, blogging, etc) during the afternoon naps, if I'm feeling guilty or well rested. Now the kids are sleeping, so I'm off to pack for Paris!

By the way... none of this should be viewed as whining or a desperate plea for sympathy-- just read it as the simple truth of the small stuff of life. And the bigger the truth is: I like my life. I love my kids & hubby. I love living in Luxembourg. I feel very blessed by God and content to be me, here & now.

Typical Week (Monday)

Hey All,

Just wanted to give you a little insight into my slow paced world of mommyness here in Lux. (I also want to record it for me to peruse later, when life gets more hectic.)

Here was last week's M-F schedule:

Monday:
7am wake-up. Both kids have wet their beds... change them and sheets, feed Sam his bottle, and start laundry (3 floors down in the laundry room).
8am erin showers, hurray!... while kids play in living room
9am Sam's morning nap begins. Change him, turn on his white noise maker, and sing the Doxology to him with Anna's help, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above yee heveanly hosts; Praise Father, Son & Holy Ghost. Amen." Don't know how this became a part of his sleep routine, but I find it comforting, even if he doesn't. Lay him in his crib and give him his binkie and he's lights out.
9:15am Anna & Erin breakfast. We ate some of our smuggled American cereal bought from the USAF base in germany. I had Oatmeal Squares and Anna discovered she loves Life cereal... she had 4 bowls.
9:45am Laundry... one dryer cycle never dries the clothes fully, so another trip in the elevator to empty our condensation dryer's vat of water and run it for another 30 minutes.
10am Go to the park. Anna insists upon pushing Sam's stroller 'all by herself' the 4 blocks to the park... sometimes her 2 yr old streaks of independance are quite nice :)
11am Sam bottle #2 at the park. Did I mention we were the only one's there? Perfect little park for Anna with swings, slides, sandbox and even some big kid equipment to climb and make mommy nervous.
Noon Lunchtime. Anna eats Life cereal again... only 3 bowls this time and one prune (don't ask). Sam eats his mixed vegatables (carrots, peas & potatoes)... they don't sell single types of veggie babyfood like in the states, so Sam gets to mix it up! Erin scrounges some food after the little ones have eaten, deli meat, banana and yogurt (full fat, organic strawberry to be specific).
12:45pm Naptime (A Favorite of mine). Repeat Sam's sleep ritual from the morning with an extra large diaper. Anna throws a fit at the idea of having to use the toilet before bed, sits on the toilet and refuses to pee... I finally give in, put her diaper on her and hide her under her 'hiding sheet' in her bed and off to sleep she goes.
1:30pm After dishes and another round of laundry, I colapse in a pile on my bed.
2:45pm Woken up by Sam's screams... he's hungry, so it's onto bottle #3.
3pm Anna wakes up. She chooses her 'show' for the afternoon. It's 'Bob the Tomato' or Veggietales, God Made you Special. She's particularly into the David & Goliath story portrayed by a little asparagus & giant pickle. I do laundry, email & web banking while she's otherwise occupied.
5pm Jumpa Jumpa time. We put Sam in the Johnny Jump Up, and watch him laugh while Anna swings and bounces him.
5:30pm Anna goes #2 on toilet. After 3 months of potty training with little success in this area, I break into a silly song and dance then give her chocolate (Not really bribery is it?)
6pm Dinner. Sam eats a lot of applesauce. Anna snacks on not much at all.
6:30pm Skype time with Mingy & Grandpa Joe. We chat for about 45 minutes about the kids and their upcoming trip to visit us in Paris & Normandy.
7:30 Bottle #4 for Sam and then bedtime at 8. He sleeps in a monster cloth diaper (Fuzzi Bunz size large with 4 hemp inserts & 1 microfiber one, for the cloth diapering mama's out there) to make sure that his bed is dry in the morning.
8pm Cook Dinner for the grown-ups. James is home to play with Anna.
8:20 Eat quickly, drink some wine.
8:30 Anna Bedtime routine starts. Toilet, Brush teeth, 'Night-night' the toys, Read a book (David & Goliath from her children's Bible) then prayer time with Daddy, Hugs & Sleep.
9:15pm Wash bottles & dishes. Sweep miscellaneous food from under the table to my dust pile in the kitchen. Then, one last trip down to the laundry room.
9:40pm Watch an episode of Gilmore Girls with James.
10:30pm Time for bed.

*Note: I was a bit more wordy than intended... the rest of the week will come soon!

Prague Rhymes with...

Well, a bit late, but aren't all my posts??? We made the 7-8 hour drive to Prague over Easter weekend during James' mom's visit. We had a fantastic trip, though the drive days were not that much fun, even though the kids behaved fantastically (Sam cried for only 4 minutes total on the return journey)-- it helps to have Grandma (Munga) the magical entertainer and book reader imprisoned in the back seat with the kiddos.

On the way there, Munga thought of the fun rhyming game for the word 'Prague', and it's really quite amazing how many things rhyme with Prague-- dog, frog, fog, smog, log, etc. Anna still remembers it 4 weeks later, and we played it throughout out wandering in the city.

We stayed at the Dům u velké boty (House at the Big Boot) in their family rooms on the top floor. We were not disappointed. All of their 50+ reviews on tripadvisor.com were stellar, and it was a great place to stay. Anna & Munga slept in one room and James, Sam & I in the other. All the rooms are decorated in antiques, the breakfast was delicious, the hosts were very friendly and child friendly as well. All in all, a good base for exploring the city.

Highlights:
-The hill above Prague gave a beautiful vista for seeing the city, and the trees had just produced their white blooms. It was breathtaking (both beautiful and hard to push the stroller up).
-The castle was amazing.
-It was cheap! Well, cheaper than Luxembourg, so we enjoyed eating dinner for less than 25-30 Euro a person (or $35-40).

As you will see by our photos, we also broke in our baby-backpack for Sam... man, is he heavy!

We head to Paris and the Normandy coast for just over a week this Saturday. Highlights will hopefully be: our 10th wedding anniversay dinner (babysitting courtesy of my parents who are jouining us in Paris), hitting all our favorite museums, croissants, Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, Omaha Beach, etc. We will also be scouting out where my great grandfather fought in WWI... so that will be a unique experience. Just wanted to give you a preview of activities in case I remain a slacker and the post-trip report lags behind a bit :)