8 and 4

Today is Hannah's 8th birthday.
It also happens to be the 4 year anniversary of the day we boarded a plane, crossed the Atlantic and began our life in Luxembourg.

Today, my little girl has lived exactly half of her life in America and half in Europe.  In the expat world, we call that a "third culture kid."

We started her birthday weekend with brunch at one of our new favorite places.

Superman joined us, too.

Next we headed to Germany for an afternoon of sugar and overstimulation in the form of lights, sirens and indoor, inflatable climbing structures.

Oh, and friends.  So many good friends.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and Hannah blew out the flame on the "8" candle, but not before pausing to make a wish.  Her friends then erupted into a verse that went like this:

"What's your boyfriend's first name?  What's your boyfriend's first name?  What's your boyfriend's first naaaaaaaammmmeee?  What's your boyfriend's first name?"

"I don't have a boyfriend!" she shouted and nine little girls collapsed into a fit of giggles.
It may have been my favorite part of the entire day.

Our guests and their parents ate cupcakes from Kathy's Cupcakery.  If you're in Luxembourg and haven't tried Kathy's Saturday brunch or cupcakes, well, you are sorely missing out.

We celebrated big over the weekend because on Monday, Shawn left for the US for the next two weeks.  His travel schedule has been so heavy lately; two weeks in Luxembourg, two weeks in the US, two weeks in Luxembourg.  This transatlantic back and forth started in September and will continue, as far as we know, until Christmas.

Last night we drove to the service station at the Lux/Germany border to get Dunkin' Donuts to take to Hannah's class today.
Because AMERICA.
And since we won't all be together as a family on the day of her actual birthday, she requested a special dinner at El Campanero in the centre ville, which is exactly what I picked for my birthday dinner just a few weeks ago.

Like mother, like daughter.
What can I say? Mexican food is our love language.

Photo Credit: Biz Brent Photography

Happy, happy birthday to our sweet, giggly, smart and adventurous girl.
You are so precious to us.
Here's to many, many more.

Baby, You’re A Firework!

Our 4th of July was a little bit more low key than I would’ve liked, thanks to some salmonella poisoning that took Shawn down for no less than a week.  He and I spent all day Thursday at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, but that’s another story for another day.

I decided that I would still take the kids to the 4th of July party hosted by the American Women’s Club of Luxembourg, and when I told Hannah that we were going, she told me she didn’t want to go.

”Why? We had fun last year and it’s America’s birthday.  We should celebrate!”

She narrowed her eyes, “Because I’m British.”

Ok. 
Right. 
Clearly all of my efforts at teaching my kids about heritage, American traditions and instilling a sense of patriotism have been very effective.

Oh, well.
Happy Birthday anyways, America!

7: Celebrating Hannah

Today our sweet, imaginative, funny, all-American girl turns 7.

We celebrated last week by spending the afternoon at Jardin des Papillons, (The Butterfly Garden) per Hannah’s request.

It was nothing fancy, really.
Just some homemade cupcakes…

…a few friends and some sparkly antennae headbands.

The kids got a tour of the indoor garden with René, who taught them about the life cycle of a butterfly.

We saw some really beautiful things.

It was hot and humid in there, just like a tropical oasis.
But these kids didn’t seem to mind.

Finn was there, too, and he loved the butterflies.
(But not as much as the cupcakes.)

All the schools are on the half term holiday this week, so today we had lunch at Hannah’s favorite restaurant in Luxembourg: Vapiano’s.  She ordered her favorite: Caesar salad and a piece of chocolate cake.  Although I have no idea why she loves the cake so much.  It’s the kind that’s made with 85% cocoa and isn’t sweet at all.  But she loves it.

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl. 
She makes us laugh and she makes us so proud.

*****

I should also mention that today officially marks three years that we’ve been living in Luxembourg.  And even after three years, my French is embarrassing and I still have moments in which I’m overwhelmed with homesickness.
But I love it here.
And I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

The First Day of School. And Grandparents!

Monday was Hannah’s first day of school.  She’s in Year 2, which is the equivalent of first grade in the US.

Finley was happy to help her carry her new lunch box.

These pictures remind me of how badly our grass (and Finn’s hair) need cut.

Shawn took the morning off work to go with us, just as he does every year.

Now that they’re safely on their way home, I can mention that Shawn’s parent have been here with us for the last three weeks and also got to come to school for the first day.

This morning, on the third day of school, they walked Hannah to her classroom and said their goodbyes in the hallway.  Then I drove them back to our house, picked up their luggage and headed to the airport.

After school, Hannah wanted all the details of their flights.  I told her that they flew from Luxembourg to Amsterdam, were currently on their way to Atlanta and would then catch the last flight to Akron.

“Oh, that sounds simple,” she said.
I reminded her what a long day of travel it is.

”Well, they won’t be hauling kids around, so it should be really easy for them.”

I couldn’t agree more.

The Last Day of School

I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but school’s here are on a different schedule than in the US, so today’s Hannah’s last day of Year 1, which is the US equiv of Kindergarten.
I have to say, I’m a little sad.  She’s loved school this year – her teachers, her friends and her classwork.  I’ve loved getting to know all the other parents.

We received Hannah’s final report in the post this week and she did so well. 
She’s grown and learned and we couldn’t be more proud of her. 

Last week there was a paper airplane challenge at school to benefit The Make A Wish Foundation of Luxembourg so the night before she and Shawn got to work.

”You can help me with this, I presume?” she asked when he came home from work.
”Well, I’m an engineer so I think we can build a pretty good paper airplane,” he winked at her.

Shawn was in charge of design and Hannah got busy making it look nice.

”Make sure it’s symmetrical, Daddy,” she reminded him.

(I have no idea where this vocabulary is coming from.  I’m certain we don’t use the words presume or symmetrical in our house often.)

The next afternoon, she burst through the school gate with a certificate in hand.

I texted Shawn with the good news.
Me: Hannah’s airplane won!
Shawn: Yesssssss.  You see, it pays to have an engineer for a dad.
Me: There were three categories.  Guess which she won?
Shawn: Best design?
Me: BEST DECORATED

Cue the laughter.

Anyway, school’s out at noon today and Shawn will be home from work early.  We’re starting our summer break off properly with a long weekend trip to the beach with friends.

 

Totally unrelated to school (or paper airplanes) my friend Merrin has just released a CD of children's folksongs called Bluebird.  My kids and I have been listening to it on repeat and we love it!  It’s delightful and Merrin’s voice is like a nightingale.

You can click here to preview or purchase the album on itunes, or if you’re in Luxembourg, you can purchase a CD at Chapter1 on 42 rue Astrid, L-1143.

 

 

”

Strawberries and Shenanigans

This year Shawn and Hannah planted a little strawberry patch in our garden. 
(In case you think that we have a garden in the American definition of a garden, now is a good time to tell you that Europeans call their backyards gardens, and a backyard is a cement slab/patio at the back of the house.)
To clarify: Shawn and Hannah planted a little strawberry patch in an area of grass located at the back of our house.

Anyway, their plants recently bore their first fruits.

On the day we bought the plants at Hornbach, which is like the European version of Home Depot (they have an orange sign and everything), a woman approached Shawn and asked him a question (in French) about the strawberries.
He politely explained that he doesn’t speak French well enough to help her so would she mind if he spoke English? 
The woman rolled her eyes, gave and exasperated sigh and walked away.

The French have a phrase for expressing anger: J’en ai plein les bottes, which literally translates to I have full boots and basically means I’ve had enough.

Apparently this lady’s boots were really full because she tracked down a manager, brought him to the strawberry plant table, pointed her finger at Shawn, and complained loudly about his poor French.

Now, I don’t know if it was the shirt he was wearing or the way he was meticulously sorting through the plants with a certain horticulture expertise, but it became apparent that this woman thought THAT SHAWN WAS AN ACTUAL EMPLOYEE OF THE STORE.

The manager stared at Shawn, then back at the woman and explained that there was nothing he could do about this man’s ability to speak French because he does not, in fact, work here.

I don’t know how we get ourselves into these kind of situations.

*****

You may be wondering why Finley is not wearing pants in this picture.

Here’s what happened:
We were walking to school to pick up Hannah when a bird flew overhead and pooped directly on Finn’s jeans. It took a minute for me to register what had happened and later that day when I texted Shawn to tell him about it he replied with some nonsense about it being good luck.  Well, maybe for Finn it was, but it certainly wasn’t for me, as I was the one who had to clean it up.  And I was in a big hurry to pick up Hannah, get the kids back to the car and get to my doctor appointment. 

Then I realized that I didn’t have a change of clothes for Finn because OF COURSE I DIDN’T. 

So we headed to my doctor’s office and the receptionist showed us into the little room to wait.  Hannah plopped down onto one of the chairs and discovered that if she sat down with enough gusto, the leather chair made a tooting sound.  This reduced her to a heap of giggles because when you’re six, there’s not much funnier than toot noises.   Then Finn started laughing because when you’re a boy, toot noises are funny, no matter what age you are.  And I started laughing because the whole thing was just so ridiculous.

So, to recap our day:  a bird pooped on Finn, my doctor walked in to find all three of us laughing at toot noises and Finn was sitting in his stroller without pants. 

I bet I’m his favorite patient.

(And I think Shawn may be Hornbach’s favorite customer.)   

Way Back in February We Went Skiing

After my little break, I’m finally getting caught up on things on the old blog.
Let’s go back to February, shall we?
It was the half term school break in Europe, which is also known as QUICK! EVERYONE GET TO THE MOUNTAINS FOR SKIING.
Shawn had been in the US for work and returned to Luxembourg on a Sunday, just as we were saying goodbye to my sister who was going back to Los Angeles.

On Monday afternoon, we loaded up the car and headed to a precious little chalet in Les Gets (pronounced LAY ZSHAY) in the French Alps.

(He LOVES his car top carrier.)

Finley spent the entire week trying to figure out how to get outside to the snow.

And Hannah and Shawn spent nearly all of their time on the slopes.  
Hannah took lessons with a French ski instructor named Marco, and every time she said his name she pronounced it with a French accent.

Now, I know that the title of this post leads one to believe that we, as in all of us went skiing, but the truth is that only Shawn and Hannah skied.  You see, in the days prior to leaving I was feeling a cold coming on and by the time we arrived at Les Gets, I had a full case of tonsillitis.  We’re talking sore throat, fever, and tonsils the size of golf balls.  It was delightful.

Since I wasn’t out on the slopes, I only have a few pictures of this trip, and I think this has to be my favorite:

 

I’ll be doing some more catching up when we return from this weekend’s adventure.
We’re heading to Germany (with three other families) to Phantasialand, which is a theme/amusement park.  My friend sent me a text this afternoon saying that she’d been looking on the park’s website and read that The Black Mamba rollercoaster has restrictions for “guests with particularly large thighs.”

I have no idea what the Germans consider “particularly large thighs.”
So I guess I should bring some Spanx.

And don’t worry, Shawn’s already packing up the car top carrier.

In The News

Last Friday was “Christmas Jumper” day at Hannah’s school.
(A jumper is British for a sweater.)

The local newspaper showed up to cover the story and I would’ve missed it had it not been for a comment on the Instagram photo I posted of her in her Christmas jumper.

And there she is on the bottom left.

 

“Hey Mom.  Can you believe that I’ve been on the telly and in the newspaper in Luxembourg?  People in America are gonna fall to pieces when they hear about this.”

Now We Are Six

When I was one, I had just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was hardly me.
When I was four, I was not much more.
When I was five, I was just alive.
But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever;
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.
                                 A.A. Milne

Last week Hannah turned 6. 
We were in America so we celebrated at her favorite restaurant – Mexican, of course.
We also had a little party with family.

At six, Hannah loves princesses, dressing up, playing with make-up, dance classes, school, reading books, practicing her writing, horses, singing silly songs, words that rhyme, play dates with friends, Caesar salad, tomato soup and taking care of her baby brother.

She’s lost three teeth and is rockin’ Year 1 (US equivalent of Kindergarten).  According to her teacher, “Hannah always does the right thing.”  We couldn’t be more proud of her.

In the last two years, she’s traveled between Europe and the US 15 times.  I think.  I’ve lost count.
She’s an amazing traveler and I can always count on her to be my little helper.

Some recent Hannah quotes:

”Mom, what’s the French word for palindrome?”

“Take a look around you.  All these people are cranky and jet lagged.”

Happy 6th birthday, Twinks!
You are loved more than you’ll ever know.

Trick or Treat

Halloween isn’t a big deal in Europe.
But The American Women’s Club of Luxembourg hosts a trick or treating event and this year we were able to make it.  (Last year we were cruising the Mediterranean.)
I was surprised at the number of costumes I saw in the stores, and even more surprised that most of them were adult sizes, with not much for kids.

But that’s okay – we had no intention of buying costumes anyways.

To me, there’s just something special about making Halloween costumes for my kids.

Hannah said she wanted to be a cupcake, and from there we thought the obvious choice for Finley was to be a baker.

Her costume was really simple to make.  I used one of her dresses as a pattern for the “wrapper” and sewed some suspenders to hold it up.  I also added a pink ribbon along the bottom for dimension.  For the icing, I used a large round piece of thick felt, cut a hole for her head and draped, gathered and stitched the organza material in place. 

For the top, she’s wearing a knit hat with organza stitched on. 
Let me tell you about this organza material.
I bought the lighter pink material at a fabric store in town and then realized that I hadn’t bought enough.  Hannah has pink curtains hanging in her room and they are waaaay too long – pooling onto the floor.  I’ve been meaning to hem them for almost two years now, so I wacked the bottom off to use for the costume.

And all I could think about when I was stitching the pieces together was the line from The Sound Of Music when Captain von Trapp yells at Maria, “Do you mean to tell me that my children have been roaming about Salzburg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes?”

Finley’s costume was even easier to put together.
I found this adult sized chef hat and altered it to fit a baby.

I used some t-shirt material to make an apron, grabbed some measuring spoons from the kitchen and called it good.

My children have been roaming about Luxembourg dressed up in nothing but some old drapes.

Mmm-Hmmm.  And having a marvelous time!

Last Week and the Kindness of Strangers

I’m tired of funerals.
And I’m tired of sitting in the front row at funerals.

My grandma’s funeral was really lovely, however. 
A truly special tribute to who she was and how well she lived her life and how much she loved the Lord. 
We made it to the US in time to be there for the calling hours and the memorial service.

I think I mentioned that I was flying alone with both kids?
Well, I did it.  We did it.
And it was no trouble at all.
Tiring, but no trouble.
Shawn drove us two and a half hours to Frankfurt and we flew from there to Philadelphia, had a four hour layover and then flew to Akron.


Getting through security in Frankfurt was a bit tricky, what with the car seat, stroller and hand luggage, but there was a retired American couple from Alabama (read: Southern folks with grandkids AND manners) behind us in line and they were more than happy to help with all the gear.
When we got settled into our seats, I flagged the flight attendant down and told her that I was probably going to be a tad on the high maintenance side because I was traveling alone with two kids, on my way to my grandma’s funeral and that I tend to have a wee bit of anxiety when flying. 

It turns out that we weren’t all that high maintenance.  Finley napped on and off, Hannah colored, played with her horses, watched a few movies and I spent the entire time making sure everyone was fed and comfortable.

With one dirty diaper, one spilled drink and one wardrobe change thanks to some baby spit-up, before we knew it, nine hours had passed and we were landing in Philadelphia.  I’m totally kidding when I say “before we knew it” because in reality being on a plane for NINE HOURS alone with a baby and a child is kind of like being trapped in the place where TIME STANDS STILL. 

We sailed easily through customs, immigration and security and still had two hours left until our connection so we found a play area, got some snacks and hung out there until it was time to take the shuttle to the next terminal.  We were the only passengers on the shuttle and the driver got out to help me lift the stroller and bags on.  He did the same thing when we arrived.  

There was a stranger at every step of this trip who was there to help me out. 
Truly an answer to prayers. 

When we arrived at our next gate, a woman about my age approached me and said, “I’m going to help you.  I see you’re alone with two kids and I’m a mom and I know this can be hard.”
She was a lawyer, a mom of a 9 month old and wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

She helped me get the stroller and hand luggage gate checked, and got both kids situated in our seats.  I told her that we’d just flown from Europe and had a four hour layover.  She stared at me for a second and then asked someone to switch with her, giving up her exit row seat, so that she could sit in the same row as us.

We had not one bit of turbulence, no delays and no lost luggage.   In the two years we’ve been traveling back and forth, this is probably a first.  My mom and in-laws met us at the airport and as soon as we got to my mom’s house, we put Finley in the pack-n-play and the three of us slept the sleep of angels.

The next morning my sister came into town from Los Angeles.

We took flowers to my dad’s grave.

And cake pops.  Of course cake pops.

We spent the rest of the week visiting with family and friends.
Hannah got to play with her cousins, go trick or treating and to the zoo.
The timing for all of this couldn’t have been better because she was off school for the half term break.

Anyway, we’re home now and unpacking.
It’s cold, raining and dreary today in Luxembourg and Shawn just built a fire in the fireplace.
He also made chocolate chip pancakes, bacon and omelets, per our usual Saturday morning breakfast ritual.

I’ll be back soon with posts on Hannah’s 6th birthday, Finley’s 7 month update and Halloween.  Until then, if anyone needs me I’ll be over here fighting with the jet lag.