This is so gross

The toilets here totally gross me out. There's no water in the bowl! You poop on this platform and it sits there, smell and all! It's so disgusting. Then when you flush, it clears it. Apparently the Dutch LOVE this concept because they can "see" what they've done. Me, I find it repulsive. I dont even wanna poop! I just keep flushing and flushing. GROSS :oX. Alexa, on the other hand, thinks it's great too. Toddlers and their poo (rolling eyes).

Been a long few days

Geez, time seems to fly here. I cant believe it's been so long since I posted last. It's cold again. It was getting progressively warmer, and yesterday it was 70 degrees. Today it's back in the 50s and my rings keep falling off my fingers are so cold. It's actual beautiful outside. I can see the sun!! I think I've seen it 3 times since I've been here. We went to the salon this morning to get Alexa's hair trimmed and we walked around window shopping and drooling at the chocolatiers. YUM. We made it back and everyone is napping (I'm headed that way). We got al of our air freight yesterday....the baby walker, potty seats, high chair, and clothes and hangers. Now we have nowhere to put it all..lol. Meh, oh well. We still have suitcases sitting around too. We test drove a BMW yesterday. The double stroller barely fits in the trunk (have to take the tray off), so we will probably continue shopping, which leads me to this...

I cant freaking BELIEVE the carseat laws here!! Kids only have to be in a carseat until they are 3. No rear facing/forward facing, nothing. ANDDDD....They can sit in the front seat in a car seat! How insane is that?! Of course, Dylan will be 1 next month, and we put him in rear facing anyway, but I'm sorry. Alexa will be in a car seat until she's 65 pounds (or can drive....lol). She seems to be doing better now that we got her toys and potty seat. ( Thank GOD I put that in air freight. She has been using the potty to excuse herself from dinner.....and I have to put her on the potty! )

So yeah, not a whole lot going on still. Still havent started looking for houses yet, but we are car shopping :)

Wow, what a week!

And it's only Monday. We had to fill out a move in inventory on the house. We had to count every fork, every knife, every plate, every cup. It was ridiculous. We also had to make note of every stain, every chip in the floor, EVERYTHING. This place sounds deplorable if you read our list....lol. So we had to do that, and also a valued inventory for our air freight and sea freight items. That's what we stayed up doing last night. Chris wakes up and goes to work this morning, and someone stole the GPS and his case for his sunglasses (they werent in there...lol) out of the car. I had to pee very badly and ran up to the apartment and forgot to lock it. My bad. Then he calls about the apartment. The dishwasher is missing ALL of the wheels (wait, I think there's one out of 8), the washing machine/dryer is making a "off balance" sound, and the carpets are horribly stained. We arent used to living like this!!!!! Chris called the management company to gripe and complain and they told him there's nothing they can do and we just arent used to these dirty european slums...lol. Chris said fix everything or else, so they are. I mean, this place is kinda dangerous. Some of the window latches are broken, and the kids could fall out of the windows! So poor Chris had a helluva day. Alexa is driving me INSANE. She better hope a Dutch daycare has a space open before boarding school does!!! She is just being EVIL. She's freaking HILARIOUS at the same time, with the things she says (she calls everything a "silly (g)doose"). She's currently slapping the computer saying "That's Daddy's computer, get off! Get off! That's Daddy's and that's Yours (pointing across to mine.) " She is soooooooo whiny and just a brat. I'm sorry, but to put it bluntly, she's being a BRAT. She wants blue play doh, I take it out and she screams she wants pink. She's being downright testy, defiant, and dangerous!!!!! We need to get her into school...NOW. That's ll be my job for the week.

Write that on my to-do list.

Blah

Rain Friday, Rain Saturday (with 40mph winds), Dry Sunday, Rain Monday.


UGH, does it EVER stop raining? I venutred out today to the grocery store. It's in Rijswijk, so it was a good 30 mins by bus (because there are so many stops). Chris actually works in Rijswijk. I head out the door, and had just missed the bus, so I walked to Centraal. It's about 2-3 miles. Got to Centraal and hopped on the tram to In de Bogaard....again. Went into Albert Heijn looking for cough drops, baby vitamins, and a few other things (milk and cokes), and came ot with my bag weighing over 50lbs (AT LEAST). Yeah, can you imagine my little 100lb body carry a 50lb bag?! I'm sure my legs were shaking. My shoulder is quite bruised, but I made it back alive. That was my first trip out by myself, and I did it! YAY. I also did it when school was getting out, so it was CRAZY!

Dylan ended up getting a snotty nose last week. Then Susie got it, then Alexa, and now my throat is sore today. The kids seem ok. Just a minor cold (not swine flu....lol). I had to grab some meds for everyone at the grocery store. I got back and everyone's asleep. Alexa clearly doesnt feel well, so I gave her some medicine, and she's standing beside me singing her ABCs now...lol. Oh, she can kinda write her name too. Of course, it's a letter here and there, not in a line, but it's a start. She still makes her As upside down, but they are perfect upside down A's.

Off to make spaghetti.

Took the weekend off

Nothing exciting has really happened, so I decided not to bore you with details. Friday Chris went to work, so we sat around, until we decided to go grocery shopping. What a NIGHTMARE that was. I thought the grocery store was alot bigger than it really was. It was an Albert Heijn on the corner, and there's a huge AH in Rijswijk, so I figured they were all the same. Boy was I wrong!!! There were MAYBE 6 aisles. Then, with a double stroller, people were giving me some seriously dirty looks. Alexa wouldnt keep her hands in the stroller, it was WAY too big for the store, there were too many people in there, and it was just a nightmare. Then Chris came home with flowers for me. That was nice, but I was still stressed from grocery shopping. Made a pizza for dinner, and drank...and drank...lol. We all chatted about where we should live and where Alexa should go to school. Then Alexa decided to get up at midnight and stay up until 2. I'm having a hard time getting her to bed. Saturday we drove around Voorburg with Alexa. Then we went to the mall (In de Bogaard) looking for a single stroller (and didnt find one), but Alexa did get a new "soccer ball" and I got some laundry baskets. Then we came home and I cooked tacos. YUM. Chris said it was the best meal he's had so far....lol. I'll eat/make tacos anyday, so that's fine with me. Alexa and Dylan both made it to bed by 10 last night, and didnt make a peep! She came in and crawled in bed with us about 9, and we all got up about 1015. Then we decided to go to Amsterdam to the Hard Rock Cafe to have lunch, so we packed up the car and headed up to Amsterdam (30 min drive). We passed the airport, so Alexa was facinated by the airplanes again. Driving here is insane and I just keep my eyes closd the whole time. It's scary. When he have to drive on the cobblestone streets, Alexa yells "Are you shaking me?" from the back. After heading in from Amsterdam, we decided to go through Wassenaar again. We looked at the houses again, and I think we've narrowed it to Wassenaar or Rijswijk. We'll have to see when Chris gets his housing exemption. When we were driving through Wassenaar, Alexa was kicking the back of Chris' seat. I was sitting in between her and Dylan. Finally I grabbed her legs and told her to stop and she started screaming and didnt stop, so I just ignored her. Then she says "Chris will ask me to stop if he wants me to." Susie and I started laughing, of course, but it wasnt supposed to be funny. She needs to listen to me!!!! We are trying to train her to hold our hands and stay with us while we are out, so we dont have to always use the strollers, but it's been quite unsuccessful. She runs as hard and fast as she can away from us, like it's a game, laughing and screaming the whole time. Real funny Lex. So now we are home and I am going to try to catch up on laundry (which will never happen). Our washer is a dryer too, so it has to wash and dry the same load before you can take it out. It takes all day to do 1 load and the washer only holds 5 lbs of wet clothes, so that's like 2 pairs of jeans and 2 shirts. Anything more comes out wrinkled to hell, therefore, I am now admitting, I will never catch up on laundry unless we sit around the house for a week in the same PJs all day....lol.

Homesick Already?

Well, we've been here for 4 days, and I'm not in love with it yet. Sure, this is a GREAT opportunity for all of us in every way, but, I dunno. We are in temporary housing until Chris files for an exemption so we can START looking for a house, so I guess just knowing that makes it feel more like I'm living in a hotel than an apartment. For starters, the amenities here SUCK. The freezer consists of 3 drawers about 4 inches deep. No shelves, nothing. Just drawers. Alexa keeps opening the freezer saying "There's nothing in it" because you have to open the drawers to see in them...lol. The kids had 'American Pancakes" for breakfast (think the pankcakes from a McGriddle ). They were yummy, but not something I could eat for breakfast. Too Sweet. I want some Pillsbury Frozen Grands biscuits with Morello Cherry Preserves. YUM. They dont have much by way of frozen foods here, though. I certainly havent seen Pillsbury. There is a bakery and a cheese shop around the corner, though. I really only like cheddar, Parmesan, and Feta cheese. They certainly arent named that though. Seems like they are just named "Young" or "Old" like 48+. I cant find a Ritz type cracker. I found a "Creme" cracker, but I havent opened it yet. I guess I just need more time to get used to all of this. I miss my Cheez Its though......and Cheetos :(.

Yay For IKEA!

We just got back from IKEA. We got Dylan one of those cheap high chairs (since his isnt here and he has nothing to eat in), 2 dressers, a bunch of towels, Alexa a kitty cat pillow, blanket for me, and rigged a bumper pad for Dylan, among the other miscellaneous kitchen items I cant live without (heh). We had dinner there too. Alexa had chicken nuggets and Chris had Swedish meatballs and some kind of sandwich with mayo, boiled egg, and some kind of shrimp looking creature. I had a few french fries and watched them eat their mystery food....lol. I also grabbed a jar of fruit baby food for Alexa, knowing she'd eat that (because Dylan wil still eat some applesauce, so if he eats it, she has to too. Dylan stayed home with MiMi). The trip to IKEA was a nightmare. It was rush hour through Centrum, and there's construction the GPS didnt know out, so we had to make some serious circles to get outta downtown, but we made it there safely (well, as safely as we could with Chris driving a standard.) Today we drove around Wassennaar. That's where The American School of The Hague is and pretty much where all of the Ambassadors live. Gorgeous houses. Very green. Many green parks and paths and walkways. The walkways go up to the beach spelled "Scheveningen" Pronouced, from what I could understand "Sk(hock it)-ay-vee-in-gen." They have many little shops in the town, and cute little second hand shops for kids clothing. I found a hair salon too....abunch. Kinda excited about that. We sat in on Alexa's preschool class today....without her. I'm not ready to show her off in public yet. IKEA was a nightmare with her. All in all I had a great day. Might feet are sore, and we were at IKEA for like 3 hours, but my feet are ok, so mental note, those shoes are ok to wear for short periods of time. Nothing exciting going on here. Chris is putting the dressers together, then he's going to work. So yeah. that's it. BORING.