Americanized

This past week and especially the weekend was pretty hectic. The mother went to the Netherlands for 6 days, leaving Thursday and coming back this coming Tuesday. That means I really played mom, from waking them up in the morning to putting them to bed at night. The father was here to help at night and on the weekend, but he doesn't get home from work until about 6:30 or 7. So, this weekend I schooled the kids on American culture. We carved pumpkins on Saturday and they were so excited. The father had never seen the inside of a pumpkin before in his entire life. We baked the seeds and made pumpkin soup too. Then the next morning I made what they call American pancakes. They are use to really thin crepe like pancakes and they put powdered sugar on theirs. They ate like 7 each. In the last few days I have done more puzzles, board games, and pretending than I have in a long time.










At nights, after the kids are in bed and stuff, Katie and I go for runs a few nights a week in the countryside close to my house. It is starting to get cold so we have to bundle up, as you can see from the pictures. The last picture is of me posing on big roles of hay that are along the trails. They are fun to jump on.












Over the past week or so Romee has starting calling me something other than mama, which I think the parents were kind of annoyed with the fact she was calling me mama. Anyways, I took this video of her like the second day she started calling me am-bel-ing. She has gotten even better at it since when I took this. She yells my name all around the house, and I like it for now at least. I couldn't figure out how to get the video the right direction, so sorry you have to watch it sideways. We are still working on her saying her own name, but hopefully soon. I've also taught her to say "bless you" whenever someone sneezes. It is the cutest thing, so I often fake sneeze just so I can hear her say it. It's fun teaching kids new words!