Life Lately

Summing up ordinary life in the past couple months:

Kids went to the bus museum.

Lux News announces the victory of Emmanuel Macron as France's next president.

Birdie looks fly as she heads outside to rollarskate.

Tryna escape on a date and Sienna runs into the elevator to thwart us.

Just dropping kids off at the bus stop after lunch.

We went camping one weekend in June.

It was threatening to rain, so what else can you do but wear your slicker just in case.

 Lux Mother's Day was in June and the kids painted a mat and made a cement candle holder at school for me. Awwww.

 Thanks, kids! Just like last year, Adam was gone to Seattle this week.

 All of my freaking friends left recently and I am mad about it. This was a going away party we had for the Andrews and the MacKays.

 We went to the Polish festival with our Polish buddies.

 The face painter was not good. The balloon artist was excellent!

Karolina's mom filled up their splash pool and put it on the balcony for hours of fun.

 June 23 is National Lux Day, so we headed downtown to catch some of the festivities.

 Noah was feeling sick by the end, so he's not too happy here.

 Right before the Andrews left, we had them over for raclette! Yum and fun!

 I recently finished my third semester of French. These were my two BFFs in the class, Lea and Maria.

Here's our whole class on the last day. I got powned by some bunny ears. Thanks a lot, girl whose name I don't know.

Drove a couple hours north one Sunday to Liege Belgium to catch the end of stage 2 of the Tour de France.

 Adam walked one hour to get us food. Remember how I said I missed fast food a couple posts ago? It's hard to find on a regular day but nearly impossible on a Sunday. And the organization of this race chute was not good on top of it. Crusty baguette that cuts your mouth, butter, ham, and cheese. Not the worst thing I ever ate, but not worth an hour of foraging.

 Lots of walking and waiting, that's the life of a Tour de France chaser. Noah was not having it.

As a little July 4th celebration, we invited the MacKays over the Saturday before and hiked around our forest and ate lunch together. It was a rainy day, otherwise we would have picnicked outside.

 We sent the kids on a bug-finding mission. They found lots of giant slugs.

 Adam was Steve Irwin-ing all over that frog he picked up. His enthusiasm spread to all of us.

Amazon's yearly family party was a hit. Sienna was quite literally taken by the clowns on stilts.

 A bouncy castle with a backdrop of fortress walls. Luxembourg is just the coolest.

 Kids playing the fishy game while Adam watches and I enjoy the view of that lovely bridge.

 Bowling and a bowling spectator.

 There was free paint and giant paper for painting. The kids loooooved that.

The day before Mandy left, she presented me with my very own candy poster! I had given candy posters as going away presents for several of my friends here, and she returned the gift! So cute! 

 Aaaand now we're up to date. This was last Saturday when Adam and I took a stroll after dinner around Lux City. The views in this place never disappoint.

Lux School: Over

It's the end of an era for us. My kids finished two years of local Luxembourgish school. When I sit and think about it, it's amazing what they did. They are my heros. We threw them into a completely foreign world, and they had to sink or swim. There were plenty of sinking moments. It doesn't feel like a 100% success. But they swam really hard, and I'm proud of them. Let us pray their future therapists don't have to unravel too much from these past two years.

Speaking of therapists, Sienna's teachers asked us to meet with one several times over the past year. She continued to not be very verbal and it was hard to assess if she wasn't able to keep up completely because of the language barrier or if there was something else going on. She did several rounds of testing and they found that it was still the language barrier. She is doing well otherwise. Her teachers recommended she be held back a year because she would not be able to keep up with the following year's cirriculum. That's when Adam and I decided to search out a different school. If we had to stay here forever, it might make sense to stress that she learn everything in the local school. But that's not our situation, and it was a good time to wake up to the fact that we are returning to America and it will be important for our kids to get up to speed with English. 

Next year my kids are headed to a brand new English international school that's run by the Lux government. They will still both have a little Luxembourgish on the side and Sienna will ditch German completely but have some French. Going back to English-only subjects will be its own adjustment. Noah's only formal schooling has all been in Luxembourgish, so I think he'll have a harder adjustment period. I am thinking Sienna will flourish. Fingers crossed!

The end of this year brought some fun performances, field trips, and sleepovers.

The kids both performed in a Trommelzauber (drum magic). So did the entire school and the auditorium was filled with the noise to prove it.

Sienna did some kind of pirate-inspired trumpet performance. 

This year they had colorful, plastic instruments! I've never seen anything like them. Brass instruments gone kid-friendly! I like it.

Sienna spent three days with her classmates at a farm she referred to as Kolonie. She rode on a donkey, in a horse-drawn carriage, made a beeswax candle, hammered her initial into a horseshoe, ate Nutella toast for breakfast and Weinerschnitzel for dinner. She loved every minute of it!

 Noah had a one-night sleepover at his school. He was freaking out with excitement. Spaghetti for dinner and toast with chocolate sprinkles for breakfast!

 His face says it all: he was in heaven.

Here he is with his teachers at the class party. Joffer Paola and Joffer Marine will always hold a special place in our hearts.

 Sienna fell sick the last two days of school and stayed home but was able to rally at the last minute to go get a picture with her teacher, Joffer Claudine. She has been a very patient teacher and we will remember her fondly.

 The Three Musketeers! Just sprouting like weeds!