Farewell Netherlands!

It seems as if, upon every move, I've written some final thoughts. Today is our last day in the Netherlands, and we are officially de registered, cars sold, and homeless. Ok, not really. We are at a Hilton, where we enjoyed a free breakfast, and Mia ate her weight in pineapple and melon.  But we are in limbo between countries. We still have our house here in the Netherlands, but of course it is all boxed up and being loaded into a big truck, for the move to Belgium. We will spend a few nights in a hotel in Belgium until our home there is set up and liveable.  We had a relaxing Christmas at home, and were even able to squeeze in a nice trip to London. 

Great great Aunt Joyce and Mallory outside of London! How cute are they?

So let me rewind a week or so, as it has been quite the whirlwind. 

Back up to the girls' last day at school.  I spent the morning in Mia's class, looking for train track Jack and with the help of the glorious imagination of Mia's preschool teacher, boarded the Polar express and searched for cheeky gingerbread kids that escaped from the oven.  Spoiler alert: we found the gingerbread kids, and ate them. 

We went from being trees in a frozen forest, to parts of the icy igloo, all so we could help train track Jack (Mia's teacher dressed in overalls with a southern accent) find the escaped gingerbread kids! Mia leaned over to me and filled me in that train track Jack, was really Her teacher, Mr. Matthew. Nothing gets past this girl!  After my imagination filled morning, I ran home to make popcorn and a fruit tray for the first grade exsnackaganza and crafty afternoon. I helped Mallory and all of her first grade friends assemble and create a large paper snowman. It was lovely being able to be in her classroom, and field questions about Mallory's move. Multiple parents asked me how I was doing, and really, I was about two seconds away from losing all of my marbles. My eyes filled with tears on multiple occasions. It was a mixture of happiness and sadness.  According to the movie "Inside out" the two go hand in hand.  I was so happy that my girls were so loved and an integral part of their class, and that they were going to be missed, but also sad, that we have to leave this loving and nurturing environment. 

I picked the girls up from school, every day that week, in hopes of seeing friends and saying goodbye, but Friday rolled around and the girls spent so much time saying goodbye to their teachers and friends in their class, that by the time we finished, everyone was gone, well into their Holiday break. And we were off onto our own little trip as well. 

Mallory looking through her goodbye book with friends on the last day of school. 

We jetted off to London, that evening. Spent Saturday in Notting Hill, decorating cookies at Biscuiteers, stumbling upon the Notting Hill Bookshop ( Where the famous movie featuring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts was filmed) strolling through Portobello Market and letting our senses be bombarded with heavenly smells of street food, sounds of street perfomers, and sights of some of the best people watching. We took the girls back to our perfectly located apartment we rented through Airbnb and let them nap, and then it was off to the Theater for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! An early Christmas  present for the girls. 

Sunday we visited Princess Diana memorial playground and then went to visit my English family in Broxbourne. What a blessing to be able to connect with them twice in one year. Considering it had been between 15 and 20 years since I saw some of them, pretty cool.  It was also nice for the girls and Josh to meet them. 

Check out these cookies!

Monday and Tuesday were filled with visits to Hyde Park's WinterWonderland, museums, and a bit of unproductive shopping for me. We had a great trip, but of course traveling with kids, it isn't all smiles and laughter. The girls were coming off a long week at school and I presume dealing with emotions they didn't know they had, so we had some serious meltdowns, and moments I'd rather not remember.  But it was definitely one of those moments where you look at your spouse and think, "what are we doing wrong?" 

We came back, had a nice Christmas, where the big hit was their dolls. They're obsessed with brushing their hair and fighting over each others outfits. We had to take down all of our Christmas decorations on Sunday, because the movers came and finished on Monday.

 I nearly couldn't keep myself composed at the song choices of the middle aged men packing my house up. The play list consisted of "let's talk about sex, baby" "push it" " girl you look good, won't you back that a$$ up" 

"girl your booty is so round, let me lick you up and down" amongst many other 90s rump shaker booty songs! But it wasn't just that the song was playing. These Dutch men were shamelessly singing every word. So glad, my kids were out of the house for this throwback in musical time! I would have been fielding lots of questions about booty, sex, and heaven knows what else! 

Santa came, and mommy and daddy, nana, pappy, Grammie charmaine, Grammie Rose and Papa!

We were blessed to catch up with a few families in the last few days, and the girls squeezed in a few play dates as well.  Thanks to Jessica and Jeni for keeping the girls and letting them squeeze in some last minute friend time and keeping them from boredom, just siting around a house full of boxes. 

After the boxes were removed! Empty :(

Tonight we are in Belgium, and on the way down I  read of two men being arrested outside of Brussels for terrorist activity. Now, don't let this be the only thing you grab onto from this post. I have no fear. Life must go on. I'm more afraid of our things not fitting into the house tomorrow! But really,  my two scents on the matter, be vigilant always, but don't let it stop life. When it's my time to go, I'll go, and I'll be ready for the good Lord to take me. So I won't live my life in fear that some cotton headed ninny muggins is out there lurking in the shadows or planning some unthinkable terror act. No, the show must go on. And it will. Load in tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading! 

Until next time,

L. 

Update and latest ramblings.

10/15/2015
So here we are, over a year into our Netherlands adventure and 2 months from our Belgian adventure.
I am usually so wrapped up in the differences in culture and language that I can't help but write about it and inform ALL my readers, but it just hasn't happened. I've been terribly incredibly busy and just now, yes literally just now having some time to myself and I'm bored. Yes, I should be doing laundry or picking up the breakfast dishes, but I'm not. I've been going nonstop since June with traveling, and company and now, both kids are in school and here I sit ready to blab about my most fascinating life.

Recap of the Netherlands.
This is so that I can look back and remember what it was like to live here.
We live in a town called Wassenaar, which is situated between Amsterdam and The Hague. It is a quaint town with most everything you could need. A butcher, a baker, a fish guy, flower guys on every corner, my guilty pleasure store, HEMA, where I just like to see what new costume jewelry they have or look at their cheap, but nicely displayed makeup, and where I've bought brand new tights for Mia that she refuses to wear. We live a stones throw from the school, but my girls take the bus and  thank goodness, because I'd be showing up at school in my polar bear fleece pajama pants and think nothing of it as I dropped the girls off at school. Bikes are everywhere. Bike paths are immaculate and well marked and have their own stop lights! You have to watch out for steaming piles on the bike paths though.  Horses are often found on the bike paths. Accompanied by riders of course, or just being led. The trees have this whimsical look to them, something I can't capture without an appropriate camera lens, and on a foggy morning, it seems you've walked into the enchanted forest of Narnia. The animals are happy and quiet, aside from the black crows outside my window clucking a chatter of nonsense in the morning. Dogs are oddly all well behaved. Walking without leashes, sniffing, but not barking at each other. They are welcomed in almost ALL restaurants despite their smell or their size. One time I literally thought a large bear cub was at the next table, because the huge brown Tibetan mastiff was literally the size of a human.
The beach is a bike ride away, one I have traveled many times. A beautiful  wide beach that fills to max on a sunny and warm day, a combination that rarely happens  at the same time. The water is frigid, to my American bones, but children and the Dutch don't seem to mind it. I prefer my ocean water to be clear and slightly refreshing. I'm a bit spoiled. I did live in Sicily, after all. On a nice evening the beach restaurants are crowded for sunset watching, and with good company and a beverage of choice, it really doesn't get much better than that.

12/4/15
I realized it has been an entire year since I last blogged. Woops. But looking back at my Intention blog and getting some great feedback, I was reminded I should continue to write, so I pulled up this draft to continue. We are now 12 days away from the movers coming for their first round of packing. CRAP. 12 days. Even though I've done quite a bit of weeding and sorting to move into a slightly smaller home, it still feels like I haven't made any headway.
We did find a house in Belgium! Hooray! After looking at 17 homes, we picked the house that was closest to school. I think it will suit us just fine. The girls are excited, because it comes with a swing set and a yard. Not a huge yard, but one bigger than we have now, where they can actually run full speed.
The whole house hunting process was exhausting. After awhile the houses all look the same, and you really start to nit pick. There were deal breakers in some houses, like no tub, or only a combo microwave/oven. I'm claiming ignorance. I don't know much about them, but with the amount of cooking and baking I do, forget about it. I do have a laundry room, which is exciting, and a large kitchen, and an induction cooktop. This prompted us to buy new pots and pans after nearly 10 years with our current set. Even Josh had been talking about getting new ones, so you know it was really time. Mia will move into a big girl bed, out of the toddler bed, and she gets a whole new comforter set to mark the occasion. How is it my kids are in big girl beds? I know what you're thinking! Time for Libby to have another baby! Let's just put the brakes on that for now shall we?

Despite the excitement I feel in setting up a new home, (I'm nearly a pro) it is very much overshadowed by the fact that I actually have to leave the Netherlands. Not that Belgium is bad or I don't want to go to Belgium, I just really don't want to go anywhere. We have had such an easy transition here. The school is amazing, my friends and the girls friends are top notch, and life is good. It is hard to leave all that for the unknown of what is to come. But as with every move, I trust that God has it all under control, preparing some pretty cool people to be my new friends, and preparing a perfect place for the girls in their new school. Realizing Mia will be in her 3rd school in a year and a half time span, kind of makes my mouth drop and my heart hurt. But it will make her more adaptable, right? I'm praying so. Praying hard for this move from top to bottom. I'm putting on a brave face, when deep down inside, I'm dying to stay. I really am lucky to say that I've left pieces of my heart in so many wonderful places.

I've neglected to send out a Christmas card for the past two years I believe, and one year opted for an Easter card instead. But, by golly, I got it done this year! Finished it last night, updated everyone's address, because it had been so long. We rarely get Christmas cards in the mail anymore, and I don't blame people, our address changes so often, it is hard to keep up. But we do appreciate the birthday cards, and every other piece of mail, because we know it takes a bit of extra effort to get them to us.

I hope to write another blog this month...lots to write about, my upcoming show, Goodbyes, Trip to London, and Christmas.
Until next time,
L

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