Wednesday Update

It is already Wednesday and I haven’t even blogged this week! How time flies when you are lazy…

Helmut got home from Russia on Sunday afternoon after his flight was delayed for over three hours due to extremely windy and rainy weather in Amsterdam. He was exhausted from the 13+ hours he spent on two substandard aircraft.

Monday morning he went into Dutch immigration and got us all squared away there. Then we took the kids out of school to register with the Wassenaar (the little town we are living in) town hall. Now once all our paperwork gets to the moving company, they can really start getting out stuff processed and out of customs. I am anxious for my stuff to arrive before my Christmas Company, but trying not to get stressed over it.

Monday afternoon Helmut and I took a trip to IKEA to try and solve some of our closet/storage issues. Houses here are built with no closets (much the same as they were in Asia). Our landlord has had two built in the halls of the second and third floor, but this is not enough for a family of five. The kitchen needs a pantry with a tall storage space to store the vacuum, ironing board, etc. I am sick of seeing them lying around the house.
Yesterday was the Sinterklaas Eve celebration day. Helmut left for London a day early (I was none too happy about that!). Sam had a party in her classroom with Sinterklaas as the special guest. All the children had learned tricks to perform on a small wooden see saw for him. It was so cute! The Moms stayed and helped decorate Sinterklaas cookies and had snack. The rest of my day was spent cleaning and picking up kids.

I have discovered a great secret about Wassenaar. The town butcher makes a huge wok full of dinner every night for Moms (like me) who don’t want to or don’t have time to cook. Last night we enjoyed his Dutch Pea Soup. It was so tasty and the kids loved it (probably because I refused to tell them it had peas in it until they had already eaten it). Combine his main dish with some bread from the bakery (which is cheap, delicious and fresh made that day) and you have a ready made meal. Tonight I am looking forward to his Spinach Penne Pasta!

Sinterklaas made his appearance last night. Rather his Piets dropped off a sack full of toys, rang our door bell and then ran away before anyone could catch a glimpse of them. Sam was thrilled and loved every minute of it. The boys seem to be a little too old to embrace a new “belief” but enjoyed the toys all the same.