Ya-hoo BENAJAMIN is 2!!

Benjamin has been on this earth for a lovely two years. Isaac has been sick.  So he is staying home from school today.  Hurrray!  I am glad to have him home even if he is a sickie.  He knows how to love Benj.  E went to work and the boys attacked me while I was still in bed. (Yeah, I know, still in bed.)  Benj smoothered, and I mean smoothered me with kisses, and "I luv ou."s  and I wanted to just soak him in.  2 years I have had this little being in my life and I am thankful EVERYDAY!  He likes to make an intense scowl and growl.  I think he thinks it's funny. But if I smile at him and ask him to be nice he eyes light, his face smiles and he prances off happily.  Mmmm I like this little boy a whole heap.

LOVES
nursery-most of the time
sleeping with mom and sticking his hand down my shirt...still
hot dogs
Lucian's like bike (pictured)  It might be Benjamin's favorite thing in the world
chocolate milk (his favorite thing ever)
waffles
Mickey Mouse
tubby-tubby (bath time)
mandarin oranges from a can
apples
grapes, purple and seedless, please
stacking all the canned goods from the cupboard on the floor on top of each other, or on the counter
M&Ms
dogs he sees on walks
swinging
gatorade
Gabby
tic tacs, actually ALL candy

DOESNT LOVE
to walk
to sleep in his own bed
when someone else tries to feed him
when someone wants him to do anything he doesn't want to do
his brother's to take away whatever is in his hand

Quaint with a capital Q

Belgium is Quaint.  Capital Q was totally intentional!  Seriously the quaint factor here is to the moon.  Here, let me paint the picture...or at least try to.  

At the end of the cobble stone path that leads to our home there is a lovely church in the middle of a round-about about 200 meters from our home.  The bells chime every hour, if I am busy I dont notice them but if we are outside and I am just existing I do hear them and they make my heart smile.  And on Sundays I love them because about the time for us to go to our own church they chime like crazy for like 15 minutes.  THAT is quaint and I LOVE it.  There are Canadian geese and swans all over the estate where we live, I was enchanted with the gorgeous swans until my dear neighbor told me the male attacked the baby geese.  The geese are quaint from afar...until one goes for a walk.  There is goose poop everywhere.  Not quaint.  But the little neighbor boy said you get used to it and I suppose you do. 

Most of the homes in the city are town houses or row houses, which doesnt sound anything special.  We lived at 8 Rue Franklin when we lived here 10 years ago.  Eric took me for a drive past the old abode and the memories flooded into my already stuffed thoughts.  It was quaint.  The houses are distinct in design and color; all smashed together they look charming and I am curious about the lives of those living in them. Side note, I also wonder where everyone would run if there was a block fire, morbid eh?  But I worry about non realistic things sometimes, just because. 

E took us to the Stokel Market our first Saturday in Wezembeek-Opem (that is the name of the commune where we live).  I was excited to eat a waffel which a neighbor of mine said are the best in Belgium, and I was very excited to buy fresh produce,  We bought some fresh spaghetti from a charming fellow and decided it really was delish. We will buy it for the adults and box spaghetti for the gents...they dont care as much as E and I. 

Lastly, I am adding an exerpt from and email I sent to my mother. 

"Well I love you.  I love Belgium.  I love that you are eating peaches and apples-two of my top ten favorite foods.  I love watching Benjamin run after his brothers and repeat EVERYTHING they say.  I love watching Eric play tag with the little men.  I love opened windows.  I love red scaloped roofs.  I love commuters on bicycles.  I love railings that stop you from falling on stairs.  I love French.  I love waffels.  I love missionaries.  I love Jesus."  

C'est La Vie Part III (it rhyms)

The Grand Place

{Big}

Every two years The Grand Place is a blooming spectacle, they call it the flower carpet.  Even the little gents recognized it's beauty.

{BIGGER}

The whole thing is like a huge floral mosaic. 

{BIGGEST}

Brussels town hall is the icon of the Grand Place and I have long wanted to enter, but it's actually not just a pretty edifice, it's a working office environment.  BUT, they let nosy tourists into to go to the balcony to view the carpet from a higher vantage point.   It was a-maz-ing.  The building is nearly 600 years old, or at least part of it is.  There is a lot of carved wood,  HUGE fireplaces, and lots of red, which reminds me of my favorite unsinkable Molly Brown.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SETH!!!  Seth turned four on August 8.  That was the first day we (-Eric) saw the house.  We told him he was getting a new house for his birthday.  He ate at Pizza Hunt.  Dont judge, we were tired, we didn't know the area, we were hungry.  He chose a spiderman cake which we ate back at the hotel.  I got permission to light the candles in our room because E was paranoid the smoke alarm would go off.   We are so grateful Seth is in our family!

Benjamin is our little comic, often times without knowing it.  He loves to wear this helmet.

The moving fellows were from Poland and they were AWESOME!!!  E tipped 'em good and I was glad he did.  They totally deserved it.  They set everything up and unpacked in two blinks.

The kitchen...I haven't totally found my rythmn in here yet but I think we'll get there. 

C'est La Vie Part II

I have always loved the beach.  Always.  Eric kept my heart a flutter by taking our family to Da Haan.  We spoke briefly in the car about going to a different beach.  Isaac asked us where we were going and "what's the name of the other beach?"  Eric smuggly replied "Da Chewbacca."  We got lost in the Belgian country side.  It is flat and stretches fooooreeeeeverrrr. Cute little houses with  red tiled roofs dot the land and the cows are muscle-y.  

We are not the only ones who love Da Haan.  It took us a while to find parking.  We found a yummy little shop and got sandwiches and then took then outside...and the boys sat on someones front door step.  (There was lots of mail in the mail box so I don't think we were bugging anyone, at least I hope not.  In any event no one opened up the door to shew us away with a broom).  Baguette sandwiches have become our go to for eating out.  I'll take mine with tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, and gouda please.  Yum!  The Belg love paprika A LOT.  I think it is their spice of preference.  The chips are sorta of like a mellow BBQ.

The beach is like the country, flat and stretches fooooooreeeeeverrrrrrr.  Isaac could go 100 meters out and the water would reach his waist.  No steep drop offs.

For the most part everyone kept their suits on.  Whew.  There were a few naked babes, but naked babes are cute. Benj did have shorts on but they got heavy and sandy, so I whipped 'em off.  Maybe I want to bite his knees.

When we first got there, we noticed everyone stayed up by the board walk to lay out.  A few people walked along the water.  We took our stuff towards the water, and had to move it twice because the tide comes in so quickly.  

I have heard it rains here in Belgium, and I am wondering who is spreading such false rumors.  I know it's only time until it rains on my parade but in the meantime we are soaking up this exceptionally good weather.

C'est La Vie, Part I

For Andrew and Emma, who are my heart's friends (Andrew my bro) and who have asked for details.  Here are the details of our Belgium beginnings is a five part series.

I'm going to work backwards, you know, start with the stuff that is fresh in my mind.  We went to Zolder race track yesterday and as Seth says, "It was awesome ca-blossom!"

Eric's friend is Denis (pronounced Da-knee is English...please dont call him De-nis) Vandensavel.  He is cool on another level.

   Denis drives a lotus race car for fun on the weekends and he is selling his apartment here in Brussels to buy a place in Spain.  Umm....we drive a well beat up Toyota Camry wich we purchased for 1,500 Euro, and we have seen Spain on a map.  Our friendship is totally compatible. 

Waffels ou Goffres in Belgium are YUMMY! I wish America was known for our waffels, you know, instead of McDonald's.  Not only because that is so much cuter but also because then I could get waffels on every other corner in the good ole USA.  I had the best one EVER here at the track...much better than the grand place, the local market, or even the grocery store.  I had hopes for the waffel man who sells them on Thursdays up the lane at market at the church, but Mr Waffel at the race tracks wins. 

 Cool car, and I sorta think Eric is cool for decking the kids and himself in orange.  See the green on the bottom right, Denis and his friend fixed his car by themselves to save money, like lots-so-money.  They wouldn't ever be able to find a perfect matching orange, so they bought some regular ole spray paint.  I love that sort of ingenuity.  Maybe I will make us cool matching shirts with a little greed part on the bottom.

Isaac in the driver's seat as usual.  

 Seth is positively THE cutest person who has ever sat in this seat. 

And the little B-myster.  Did you notice the A+ after Denis' name?  It's not just because he is a fanastic driver, it's his blood type.  Hmmm (gulp).

What you dont see in these pictures is how LOUD it was.  Crickey. 

The orange fans drinking their orange Fantas-we love 'em.

Perhaps the hyphen should say "is".

  

I wonder who was more delighted.  Seth?  or his mama watching him?  Maybe it was a tie.

The people in charge were AWESOME.  They are Dutch speakers and were above kind.  At one point Eric leaned over and whispered, "Can you imagine any where in the U.S. where the staff/people would actually play with your kids?"  Benjamin tried to crawl over the side of this attraction and his face hit the pavement pretty hard.  His toes were all scratched and bloody and he had a goose egg the size of half a golf ball.  He got pretty beat up.  They were wonderful to us, they offered to "bring him to first aide and then [they] would bring him right back."  So nice.  They were kind and walked us over when I said Benjamin and I would prefer to stick together.  So nice. 

This is "real life" Belgium, not what you do if you are a tourist.  Cant wait to go back next year-and I am sure Benjamin will be running to the jumping lot.  Maybe Eric and I will sit back and watch the little gents play while we eat the best waffels ever.  I can hope.

Once upon a time...

There was the cutest little boy named Isaac.  He grew up in one blink and went to school.  His mama didn't cry as much as she thought she would.  And the little boy, Isaac, was very happy in 1st grade. 

Seth is Isaac's biggest fan.

I sometimes want to yell it from the roof tops that I donated half of this handsome little man's genes.  Sheesh, he is handsome.

 Sethy always says, "There she goes, and there she blows."  Isaac just walked in there like it was no problem. I actually followed him in to make sure he made it to were he was going.  He did fine. 

 A few weeks later I joined him for his first field trip.  We went apple and corn picking.

 I was in charge of the "greenies,"  at least that is what I called them. 

 It was a perfectly Belgium'ish day with rain.

 Here are my favorite little gents eating the fruits of our labor...literally.

If you are a boy..

this is a good place to move to.  Outdoor living is very inviting here on the property. Last pic is blurry, but I am adding it cause I like to see my boy in a tree. 

 

 

 

I have a good imagination.  I have imagined this very spot when I read Bridge to Teribethia...er something.