Pumpkin Contest

I know I'm running late with this post, I'm just happy to finally find the time to write one!!!

 

One of the first memories I have of my relationship with my husband was carving pumpkins together in his parents back yard.  And since that time (many years ago), we have decided to share this fun time together with our daughter.  Her school was having a pumpkin carving contest and we happened to have a free weekend afternoon so we headed out to the farms and bought a few decent sized pumpkins.  In years passed we didn't take it so serious, but this year we wanted her to have something worth entering.  So of course my husband and 5 yr old picked out the biggest pumpkin they could find.  But see, we forgot just how hard it is to carve a thick pumpkin without the proper tools.  (Hey... Halloween only comes around once a year, it's easy to forget.)

 

We started with the medium sized pumpkin to practice.  And like I said, this year we weren't joking around so we even printed out templates to help with the design.  But after the hard work & time my husband put in just to get this pumpkin carved we realized the large pumpkin was going to be quite a challenge.  (The medium pumpkin turned out well, and looked quite scary at night!  But due to the strangely warm weather it rotted fast.)

 

 

Due to the amount of work, we decided we weren't going to carve the other small & medium pumpkin, we were running out of time & patience.  So instead of tracing around a template to cut, I just drew the template onto the pumpkins and let my daughter color them in.  (By the time she was finished coloring you couldn't see the template anymore, but she had fun.)

 

 

Now it was time to carve the large pumpkin, the one we actually wanted to enter in the school contest.  But we were tired, it was almost dinner, and none of the templates I could find seemed simple yet prize worthy.  Then my husband came up with the great idea to carve the school initials into the pumpkin, brilliant!  (It was the only one like it in the contest, we were quite proud!)

Did we win the contest?  Unfortunately no... but hey, the pumpkin hamburger deserved it.  Did we have fun?  Yes!  Did my husband come up with an idea for next year?  Yes, but that's our secret!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Kids Library Books

Now that my daughter visits the school library with her class I have little say in what she brings home, all I can hope for is that she is happy with her choice.  Sometimes I wonder how she ends up with the books she brings home... was it purely based on the cover picture... did the mom helping out that day ask her about her interests... are they only allowed to choose from a limited selection?  (Keep in mind she is 5yrs old.)

She's allowed to bring home 3 books every week, and with enthusiasm we read one per night, then revert back to our home collection for the other 4 night time stories a week.  Unfortunately, often, the books don't send the message I hoped.  I'm not looking for profound child philosophy, but more so a nice simple way to explain life to my child.  I noticed this last year at her Dutch school, and thought maybe the problem was my Dutch language skills, that I was picking the wrong books.  But I'm seeing the same problem at her new English speaking school.

 

Let me give you an example.  (I only chose these because she recently checked them out.)
The Trouble with Dogs - the book starts out great, the family has a naughty dog and they want to do something about it.  They hire someone to come in and teach the dog standard commands, and he is fairly successful.  The family then thinks these rules have sucked the fun out of the dog and decide to quit with the lessons.  Now what exactly is this teaching my child?  To give up?  That animals don't need to be trained?  That's not how things work in our house.

 

Eat Your Peas - ah, finally book to help my daughter realize how important it is to eat her vegetables.  Oh, not quite.  After multiple tantrums and endless unneeded promises/rewards from the parent the child turns the table and suggests that the mom eats her brussels sprouts.  How did it end?  Neither one ate their vegetables!  What is this teaching my child?  Bribes are an option?  Back talk is o.k.?  That if you flip out long enough mom will give up?

I'm not putting down the authors, I find writing children's book to be quite difficult.  It has to be simple, light hearted, and yet still send a good message, and hopefully a laugh along the way.  I'm more so just wondering why they ended the way they did.  I feel in life, if you don't like it, don't subject yourself to it.  (This goes way beyond books.)  But see, like I said, I don't have a choice in the books she happily brings home.  At least they opened up a good conversation, about how things work different in every home, and how things work in our home.

It wasn't just these books.... last year I remember checking out a book to help her get through nightmares.  What happens?  The tough kid gets scared, the book is full of scary drawings, and inevitably just upset her more.  There was also the book about feeling left out and making friends, in the end it offered no real solution a child could relate to.  I checked out a book about bullying, and again there was no real message by the end of the book.  It makes me wish I could write my own children's books, but like I mentioned, it's harder than you think.

Maybe I'm wishing she brought home fables... maybe I should pre-screen the books better... or maybe authors should think about the end result.  Again, I'm not bashing anyone, just raising awareness.  Any of you run into these issues?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Nature Helps

My head has been swirling lately, and to be honest the creativity has been temporarily sucked out of me.  Why?  My kindergartner (group 1) is having a hard time adjusting to full school days at her new school.  There are a lot of tears and stomach aches, and I don't mean just her.

As my husband took her to school this morning (trying anything to help), I wanted to just stay inside in my pajamas and give into the sadness.  But we all know that's not the answer.  So I turned to nature, it's beautiful, calming, refreshing, and above all it makes my dog happy.  And it's nice to see someone in the house happy. 

We went for a wonderfully long morning walk through farm land here in the middle of Eindhoven.  And I thought I'd share some of the pics I snapped along the way.

And if any of you have any tips on dealing with children & school separation anxiety please leave a comment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Changes, Changes

I promise I'll fill you in on our great summer, but I figured the best thing to do would be getting content on my blog again!  What's going on in my part of the world right now... well, we're on to a new phase.  Changes, changes...

See, for the last couple of years my daughter has attended Dutch schools.  Which re-immersed me into full-on Dutch culture.  As an expat your involvement with your surrounding culture can fluctuate, especially depending on who you associate yourself with.  Obviously if your kid attends a local school, well, you end up spending a lot of time with the locals.  As much as I love the Dutch or feel integrated, there are still moments when you remember you're foreign.  Even though Dutch & Americans look similar there are still underlying differences.  Besides the way I dress or my accent, interests also vary.  Standing at the Dutch school being one of the few foreigners was hard sometimes.  They don't mean to exclude you, which makes you have to work twice as hard at being outgoing and making friends.  They don't mean to stare or not quite understand what you're saying, hey Dutch is a hard language.  Needless to say it happens, and it can play with someones confidence.  All the while as a parent you're trying to keep your head up for your kid, be strong, and not show that you also feel anxious... telling them it's ok if the kids don't want to play or they're not being left out we just have different priorities.  I think both my daughter & I were looking forward to the summer.  A nice break to just be who we are for a while, Americans living in The Netherlands, living a mixed cultured life.

Since our daughter was born we knew we wanted to put her into the international school here.  My husband attended there, and many of his friends also.  The education level seems higher, it's in English, and it exposes the kids to the world we know - a world full of different cultures.  I think my daughter & I both took a breath of relief knowing we could speak English, finally being able to express ourselves as who we are.  (Your true personality doesn't always shine through when you're trying to communicate in a 2nd language, unless you're extremely fluent... often my sarcasm was confusing for the Dutch because they didn't realize I was joking, oops.  And as for my American husband, he's been dealing with this for over 25 yrs, it doesn't phase him at all.)

But then the 1st day of school came, and to be honest, it's a whole new set of challenges.  My daughter said it was hard to talk to the kids in class because they don't speak English.  All I could tell her was that they will learn, and never to forget how she felt at school trying to communicate in Dutch.  The school is beautiful and will offer many new opportunities for all of us, but as I stood there waving her off it truly sunk in that we're starting over again.  Very few faces we recognize, and with such a mix of cultures it was as if we were no longer in Eindhoven, wow there are a lot of foreigners in the area!  So now that we no longer stick out, except in the fact we've lived here so long and speak Dutch, it's now time to find out what international life is all about.  What was important to the kids & parents at her school last year is completely different this year. 

Being day 2 of this new phase, I'm not really sure what it will bring.  All I know is we're going to do our best to mix our Dutch life & our international life.  Not losing old friends, and definitely making new friends.  Being careful not to immerse ourselves so much in this new international life that we forget we're still in The Netherlands, and it's their country, and we need to be sensitive to that.  So much is swirling through my head, I've had trouble sleeping.  Despite all of the major changes throughout my life, I don't actually handle change well.  All I can do is what I've always done... chin up, smile on my face, and sign up for everything to get the best involvement.  Wish us luck!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Helping Out

It's the end of the school year and this means helping the school with odd and end tasks, as well as the usual ones.  Since January I have been working in the school library, once a week another mom & I tidy up the shelves of books and return all of the borrowed books to their places.  Generally this is about 30 minutes of work, which I don't mind.  I like volunteering at the elementary school, I think I would even take a part time job at my kids school if something opened up.  Today was the last morning I was to work in the library, and unfortunately the other mother couldn't help out.  It would have been nice to volunteer one last time together, oh well.  I actually thought there would be less books than usual, but actually it was just the opposite.  At least they left me something to remember the school by.  (My daughter will be going to a different school after the summer.)

Besides the fixed volunteer work, I have always been available to help out in the class when needed.  Cleaning up after sleepovers, checking for lice, helping out with breakfast's, and even going on field trips.  And there was one last request, help clean the toys in the class before the summer.  I wanted to sign up to help clean the classroom itself, but my husband was away and I didn't want to arrange a babysitter on a school night.  So I offered to take double the amount of toys home to clean.  I ended up with 2 trash bags full.  One full of stuffed animals and the other full of costumes.  Glad my husband wasn't home, because it looked like I was running some kind of kids laundry mat for two days!

 

Now that all of the tasks are completed it's starting to sink in, school is almost over, summer is nearing rapidly, and August is going to bring a lot of new experiences our way.  Hopefully I can also get involved at the new school!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

School Sleepover

What do you think is an appropriate age for kids to have a sleepover at school?  Is a sleepover at school even appropriate?  As a parent to a young child these are new questions for me to face.  And to be honest I didn't like that I even had to consider it. 

Two weeks ago the Pre-K & Kindergarten classes at my daughters Dutch elementary school had a sleepover at the school.  I didn't mind all of the activities around it - the bbq dinner, the games outside, the morning calisthenics, or the breakfast in the gym - I just didn't like the idea of my 4 yr old sleeping at the school without us.

Picture it, 5 classrooms, 25-29 kids per room, 2 teachers per room, and the kids range from 4-6 years old.  The teachers had to request permits from the city & fire department, and they were asked to stay awake all night to make sure things went well.  Not one thing about it sat right.  We have no problem with our daughter spending the night away, but this situation just seemed weird.  I felt it was such a strange request, why would this event even be organized?

Our daughter handled the news well when we told her she would be sleeping at home that night and would return to the school early in the morning.  But the comments from the parents and teachers were unneeded, as if we were being fearful and making our kid suffer because of it.  Trust me, the only suffering I saw was the way the kids looked the next morning after the sleepover.  (Just imagine a bunch of small children with hangovers, if you need a visual.)

I have no regrets about picking her up at 8PM that night and returning her at 7:30AM the next morning.  I'm glad we stood our ground and didn't give into peer pressure.  Funnily enough, the majority of the parents picking their kids up at 8PM were foreign like ourselves.  I helped clean up the next day and to be honest I only heard good stories, there were no disasters and things went fairly smooth but still, I just don't agree with it.

What do you think, were we being overprotective or is it just weird to have young kids spend the night at the school with just teachers?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Online Degree

Since I have very little time this week to write a proper post or even mention some of the awesome things we did in Florida, I'm just going to throw one out there!

While on vacation out of no where it hit me.. instead of wasting time in the evenings watching movies or tv, maybe I should start using that time toward something more worth while... like a college degree.  See, I tried community college twice after high school, but it just wasn't for me.  Sitting in the long classes, tons of homework in the evening, come on, I was 18/19 yrs old and I had other things on my mind (plus petty part time jobs).  Then when I met my future husband, we had way more fun missing classes here & there and going on dates to get to know each other.  Before I knew it we were moving overseas, and the thoughts of a small community college were well behind me.

Now here I am over 11 yrs later... an adult.. a wife... a mother... and not many years of mature work experience behind me.  And for the first time realizing if I ever want to get back into the general workforce I might need a degree in my hand just to get through the door.  In my dreams, I am too creative for a desk job, I want to write, I want to create, and for this you don't need a basic degree, just a unique imagination.  But in reality, that doesn't always pay the bills.

When I returned from our vacation I decided to start checking into an online degree.  This suites me better, doing it at my own time & pace, and around the busy schedule of our family in the evenings from my home computer.  Plus I still live in The Netherlands and I am wanting to get an American (possibly UK) college degree.  But to my astonishment these online degrees (even just an associates) is still damn expensive.  Especially for someone who has no idea what they even want to study and thought of it on a whim.  I guess I'm going to have to give this more serious thought... considering I'm still too big of a wuss to try and publish any of my fiction stories.

Any of you have online college degrees?  If so, what was your experience?  Which school did you choose and why?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

The Graduates

A lot of people seem to be afraid of young hairdressers right out of school... I have a different view... I look at them as excited talent with a lot of new ideas and all the latest, trendy, & fresh training under their belt!  Who knows more about make-up  & hair than the teens / 20 yr olds who devote a lot of their spare time to it!  I know I invested a lot more time in that kind of stuff when I was younger.

Being said, I have found a salon in Eindhoven that supplies just this!  The Graduates!  Their entire system is based on upcoming hair dressers that are often rotated between 3 locations (Amsterdam, Utrecht, & Eindhoven).  These women are constantly learning (even though they already have their degrees), which means they always know what's popular in the market!  And the salon itself is hip, just like the people working there!  And an added bonus are the trend boards displayed around the salon.

 

When you walk in you get a personal consult in the "living room".  Then the hair dresser runs your combined ideas by her "coach".  After that she gets started, all the while giving in depth explanations of the products and maneuvers.  And just before she finishes the "coach" pops by to double check her work and add any beneficial commentary / ideas.

I've never been afraid to give a studying hairdresser a chance, remember my post from 2012 about my free hair cut (luckily it went well).  The women at The Graduates are very professional and if I didn't know better I wouldn't have realized they were fresh out of school.

So far I've been there 3 times, the first 2 times Jamie cut my hair, and this past time Marnie.  They both have different techniques and input but I must admit Marnie did a rockin' job and I hope she'll be there when my hair gets too long & out of control again.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with going to a trusted hairdresser with their own salon and a packed client list... but have you ever wondered when they last had time to attend a training or why the books lying around their shop are starting to turn yellow?  If you're in the Eindhoven area please give The Graduates a chance, you'll be impressed.  And we both get discounts if you give me a heads up (I have a promo card)!

Of course I threw in some pics for you... and obviously I'm happy with the result of the hair mask and cut!  Wish I could just recreate it at home, but she did give me some tips to help!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Reformed Smoker

I used to smoke cigarettes... it's been 10 yrs this month since I stopped.  It was one of those things I wanted to try but knew I would hate.  Yeah, that didn't work so well considering I smoked for 8 yrs!

The summer before I started high school I tried cigarettes & beer.  Little did I know at 14yrs old that it was the beginning of a wild ride!

I was one of the "rebellious" kids in high school, maybe I was breaking away from my nerd image, maybe it was the freedom of getting away from conformed religion, maybe it was other stuff I'd rather not mention.  Anyway, it was who I became for a long while. 

I was the teen that took bathroom breaks and came back reeking of smoke.  How did I really believe no one noticed, ha-ha?  Smoking in the school bathroom caused a lot hassles for me, like numerous visits to the office & a big fine!

But those hassles were also pretty funny memories (later).  One time we were all piled up in the handicap stall and of course the cigarette had just been passed to me when one of the teachers (possibly school cop - it was a long time ago) busted us.  There was little I could do, it was obviously in my hand.  So like any other rebel, of course, I blew the smoke in her face and took my punishment.

Or the time the teacher made me wet the cigarette and take it to the office as evidence.  Have you ever smelled a wet cigarette butt, ugh?  For some reason admin wasn't available, I sat there for ages stinking up the office, re-explaining my story to every adult that walked in, and eventually tossed it and returned to class (just can't remember if I actually got detention or not). 

The best was when they busted me for the umpteenth time and were finally sick of it.  They sent me to court and hit me with a fine.  In order to repay the fine my mom found the worst job around, I was forced to work at a fish farm in the weekends vacuuming poop & muck from the tanks.  I made more than enough money to repay the fine but my mom kept the leftover money.  (And despite being rebellious I was also a hard worker and the farm kept me on for a while, I think it was possibly one of my first jobs.)

Times have changed since I was in high school and obviously I have too.  Just wonder what the kids actually get away with these days?  Some things don't change though, I still occasionally walk up on the teens smoking in the woods across from the high school where I walk my dog.  We've even seen them time when the teacher walks by and they slip away for a quick puff, ha-ha!  I guess not everything has changed.

Did any of you smoke cigarettes in high school?  Any of you reformed smokers?  (And yes, I did find a clip from Full House, have to love & hate the 90's!)

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Vocabulary Challenge #5

Here it is again, "100 Words Every High School graduate Should Know".  Last Vocabulary Challenge left us with #40 - Incontrovertible : impossible to deny or disprove.

Are you up for the next ten?

41) Inculcate
42) Infrastructure
43) Interpolate
44) Irony
45) Jejune
46) Kinetic
47) Kowtow
48) Laissez faire
49) Lexicon
50) Loquacious

Again, with some of the words I could narrow down the meaning but don't think I could just throw them in a sentence without actually looking up the definition.  I love using this challenge as a reminder that we should always keep learning, refreshing, & stimulating our minds.

How did you do with this round of vocabulary words?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Vocabulary Challenge #4

It's the beginning of the month and that means another round of Vocabulary Challenge, thanks to Vocabulary.com!  Last round left off with GAMETE, let's see the next 10 words...

31) Gauche
32) Gerrymander
33) Hegemony
34) Hemoglobin
35) Homogeneous
36) Hubris
37) Hypotenuse
38) Impeach
39) Incognito
40) Incontrovertible

Gerrymander, hypotenuse... are you sure we really learned this in high school, ha-ha?
 

How did you do?  I give myself a C+

Vicious Vitamin

Besides eating healthy and exercising, we all know vitamins are extremely important.  I myself take quite a few, and I have my daughter also taking vitamins (an old post delves more in to the vitamin topic).  When it comes to myself, I'm generally not picky when it comes to the brand, I tend to buy store brand purely because of the price difference.  The last time I was in The States I was sure to hit up Walmart to buy things we can get here, but are just cheaper there.  One of which being Centrum, I was a huge fan of this particular brand when I lived in Florida.  But as I stood at Walmart my frugal side took over and said, why not just buy Walmart brand, I used to use Equate products regularly.  And since the purchase I have regretted buying their multi-vitamin.  (Equate Women's One Daily, to be exact.)  Why, it makes me puke if I don't have a full stomach!  I know taking aspirin or ibuprofen on a empty stomach can make you sick, but also a vitamin?  I had to find out the hard way while on vacation, and sadly enough it took multiple times before I put 2 & 2 together.  I guess I pinned the restless stomach on food in The States and even travel anxiety (was travelling internationally with just my toddler)... turned out to be the vitamin.  Since making the realization I do my best to take my vitamins right after lunch (this is recommended for a lot of vitamins).  But there are still times when I didn't eat enough or remembered the multi-vitamin just a bit too late and it hits me.  I feel the warmth sweep over me and the nausea coming on (similar to low blood sugar) and there is nothing I can do but wait it out.  My husband thinks I'm crazy and said I should just throw the bottle out and buy something that suites me better, but I'm stubborn and want my money's worth.  (I'm shaking my head at my own trait, right now.)  Out of curiosity, do any of you have problems with certain multi-vitamins?

Back to School

It's hard to believe the summer is over and it's time for school again!  I must say we thoroughly enjoyed the past 6 weeks and I was a little sad when it came to an end.  But when I look around the disaster we call home, I know it's time to get back in a routine and focus on things like cleaning.  We had so many adventures this summer and hopefully I'll get around to telling you about a couple.  Now that there is a fixed schedule ahead of us, maybe I can also get around to blogging.  Sure I've done my best to maintain 2 posts + a Wordless Wednesday each week, but I can do better.  I must say the house is quiet though right now, tot at preschool, husband off to work, dog wondering where everyone is... and me, well, I just finished breakfast and I'm about to tackle the laundry and dishes.  Not sure when your (grand)kids, if you have any, get back to school but I hope it goes well.  I was worried my tot would cry today, she generally cries after vacation but she was excited and ready to get back to her friends.  She only has one more month at this school then she goes on to the big elementary.  See in The Netherlands they don't start Pre-K until the day after they turn 4 yrs olds.  It's a little confusing for her, she'll just get used to being back at the Montessori school when it'll be time to move on to the traditional Dutch elementary.  But it is what it is.  At least she'll get to say goodbye to the other tots before her transfer and get the party with her classmates she's talked about since her 3rd b-day!  Oh yeah, and just as the school summer vacation ended so did the nice weather, bummer!!!