From Bagels to Bikes: My Morning

Hello y'all! Today I woke up from a very exciting night of sleep to a family which was all but dying from starvation.

Then I remembered:

• Today was Saturday-
• My dad was home
• he had promised to:
• Take us to a delicious pancake restaurant/bakery
• Take us to the market
• Take us to get bikes

 Last night I was dying for something to do, and here it was. So, I got out of bed, quickly got ready, and in no time, we were ready to do our tasks. 

We went outside into the bitter cold only to find that the pancake place was closed, however, we found a substitute quickly. It was a queer little shop that went on and on in height, but in width and length, was quite small. It's name was " Bagels and Beans," and it was a bagel and coffee shop. 

Although I don't think I'll ever get used to some things the Dutch do, mainly not drinking a lot and eating VERY, VERY slowly, it was a memorable experience.

After our delectable meal/snack, we went to a market, which had every thing from baked goods to eggs to a butcher shop to cloth to shoes, plus lots more? Everything was a feast for my eyes, especially the wheels of cheese, which were bigger than I had ever imagined. While the children and my mom looked around, my dad went somewhere, but they didn't bother to tell me where. To Finish off the market trip, we got huge stroop waffels, a delicious treat which is essentially two thin waffles with caramel in between. Yum!

Our last stop this morning was the bike store. It was full of interesting odds and ends, but best of all were the bikes. They were in every color imaginable, but of all of them, the green, blue, and silver bikes stood out to me.

First, a nice man helped Ella. Ella is rather tall for her age, and so finally we found a used bike that fit her perfectly. She didn't love the colors, but her willingness to have it made my dad more inclined to get her a beautiful gazelle, new, bike that was purple: her favorite color. Altogether, she loved it.

Next was Sadie, (we skipped Abe entirely because he can't ride a bike yet) and it seemed like we tried half of the bikes in the store before we found one for her! However, Sadie's taste and eye for quality led her to the perfect bike: another brand new bike, but because it was an older model, we got it at a discount.

My mother's choice was interesting. Her's was a black bike- sturdy and comfortable: the kind of bike known as a grandma bike to the Dutch. But she didn't mind. She loved the style, and so she was set.

Because my dad is uncommonly tall, his bike was more difficult, however, he didn't have any preference at all, other than it would work. Altogether, everyone's bikes worked out perfectly.

But what about me? You may ask. Thank you for your concern. I was the last child to need a bike, and none of the green, silver, or blue bikes fit me. Although I didn't get one of my first choices, as long as the color wasn't fluorescent, I would be okay.
On the bright side, I didn't get a fluorescent color, but on the downside, I got a navy blue bike that had um..... a nude greek god on it.

"Sparta" and "Apollo" were encircling the male, and so I'm guessing that those were the brand names. Because I am going to get a sticky to cover the dude up, I"m satisfied. It has been fun shopping today.

Melkpad: 1st Floor

Hello! Because my mom was sick yesterday, our house fell into disarray and it was impossible to take pictures. However, now my mom is better and our household is up and running. We spent the morning cleaning, and now our house looks and feels a lot better.

Because I am not particularly skilled at explaining floor plans, and because Melkpad's floor plan is slightly more complicated, I drew a diagram of the first floor's floor plan and have decided to include it within the slideshow.

 Do YOU want to see the slideshow I made? Click  this now!

Sadie and I FAIL as Babysitters

Hello! This week has been rather complicated with and without blogging. For one, thing, we have a rather smart Mac computer that is rather new, and we also have a rather not quite so smart mac laptop which is rather old. So, as you might've guessed, because the internet here is slower, the old mac laptop doesn't get more that ten minutes a day of wi-fi, while the Mac computer gets 24-7 of wi-fi. As you may have guessed, this creates issues when one, (mainly me) is trying to transfer documents.

Trust me, I've tried everything to get a certain blogpost from the laptop! I didn't realize just how much wi-fi was apart of my daily computer usage though! Some of my attempts included:

• Trying to transfer info through the skype comment box
• Searching our whole house for those document mover things
• Trying to transfer the documents through an iphone. 

See, nothing works these days! This kept me from posting a lovely short story that Ella, Abe, and Sadie wrote about a game we played. :~( However, there comes a time, I'm afraid, like today,when there are more important things than blogging. My mother is sick from a bug that Abe passed to me and I passed to her. Now Sadie and I are in charge.

Oh Dear.

Well to start, we decided that homeschooling was the first priority. Because every one was grumpy and unfocused, that failed entirely.

You think so far it got crazy? You have no idea! In fact, we even... excuse me, something's burning.

(kidding)

Melkpad 49: Outside

We're here!  We flew through the night on Monday and arrived in Amsterdam Tuesday morning.  Because we slept most of the flight, it went by really quickly.  For me, at least, the only bad part about the flight was the food.  Our dad picked us up from the airport and in no time, we were at our new home!

Melkpad, our house, was built in 1930, and is filled with stained glass, and lovely Dutch beams. The best feature of the house, from my perspective, is my room.  For the first time in my life, I have my own room!  Sadie and I have rooms on the third floor and they are both filled with natural light from the windows.

However glorious the inside is, the garden and outside of the house are equally as special.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll make a step-by-step tour of the first floor, but, because our air shipment arrived minutes after we did yesterday, our house is filled with half-emptied boxes.  So, today I'll start the house tour from the outside.

Check out my slideshow of the Outside of Melkpad here!

This is It!!!!!!!

Four hours- four hours until we leave for the airport and go to Holland. Our very exiting dream has turned into reality, and to face it is a mother, and four grumpy children. (we really shouldn’t have stayed up late last night)

I   really don’t have much time to write today, because there simply isn’t enough time to be thorough, so the basics will have to do.

Barnabas will not be with us for about two weeks, and then our dear Aunt will go with him to the N.L. So that takes some stress away, but I don’t believe we all knew how much stuff, really, we had. Now, as I am finding how many odds and ends I actually consider essential to my existence, I am considering hiding my head in shame.

Well bye for now! I guess my name will have to be changed to Mia’s Escapades because the next update will be from Europe!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Today, most of the women in my family worked long and prepared a feast. Some of the courses were:

• Stuffed crown pork roast
• glazed ham
• fruit salad
• spinach salad w/ strawberries
• jell-O eggs
• sugar cookies
• carrot cake cupcakes 
• mud pie
• stuffing
• multi-colored bread
• Au Gratin casserole 

I really enjoyed my Easter, I hope that you enjoyed yours too! 

Packing for our Air Shipment: Clothes

One shipment, our sea shipment, is completed, but we still have a smaller shipment- an air shipment- to send. We have been living in what I thought was the bare minimum, but now, I am going to have about four outfits to wear for three weeks.

Now, we are in the process of packing for this air shipment, and to begin this long and irksome voyage, we started by organizing and sorting pants. Because Mom had to help Ella, Abe, Sadie and I, she took a while to get to help us, and because the organizing took like two seconds, I was bored and so I went to the bathroom, and discovered two things.

1.       The cough medicine, which Ella and Abe insist upon taking, tastes (or at least smells) delicious! My mom said I looked at it like I was in heaven, but I pointed out that heaven didn’t come in a cough medicine bottle.

2.       After I found the cough medicine, I noted how many nail-clippers we have collected! We had so many that I was able to make a flower out of them!

Quickly, however, my mom called me over and urged me to stop fooling around. So, we spent the next hour sorting pants, shirts, workout clothes, and sweaters… but although we had done so much, there was so much left to do! As a result of this, we spent some of our morning packing also.

my blogging center

Three Thoughts of Today

1. Update: 17 days till move


2.  Easter is coming so soon! Tomorrow, we are going to our grandparents' house, so we will see all our cousins! On a biblical note, I am thrilled that we are able to celebrate our savior's resurrection- the thing which enabled us to have eternal life. But, on a very different note, I am really hoping the Easter bunny will bring me a pair of simple, small, silver hoop earrings, or just a pair of earrings.

3. As I went outside, forgetting the fact that I was nearly dying from the results of the high pollen rates, I took photo after photo of a certain pooch. I can't believed how much Barnabas has changed! At first he looked like a cute little puppy, and his chubby-ness was considered "puppy fat." Then, as he grew into a handsome adult, it could not be avoided that he was getting...fat. Then, we played with him out side everyday, and we also started taking him on daily walks, feeding him less food, and generally encouraging him to do more than sleep and eat.

Now, he looks muscular, and less like a sluggard. Even though Barnabas is no longer my puppy, he still will always be my faithful, caring friend.

How NOT to Spend Your Typical School Night

If you are wondering what to do on your typical school night, I have some advice. As you can tell by the title, I learned this by experience.

Firstly, do not substitute cleaning the entire house for playing Outdoor Hiding House. If your mom tries to bribe you by suggesting Sonic for dinner instead of cold leftovers, don’t give into temptation. However, if you do give into temptation, don’t enjoy your calorie filled cheeseburger, apples and caramel sauce, and soda.

Secondly, do not, under any circumstances, go into an outlet mall at seven o’clock. Especially don’t go in it if you have any cranky children. I assure you that it will be a nightmare if it is a cold night and you go into the mall, but if you do go into the mall, I still have a list of things you should not do. Do not go into a series of shops making boring returns, I am positive your children will protest. And also don’t go shopping at multiple mysterious grown-up shops, for those will make your children crabs.

Finally, do not be tempted to appease your tired, grumpy children with overpriced cookies. For you run the risk of one of those delectable cookies breaking into pieces and falling to the ground leaving two of your children in tears. 

Not that we would ever spend our evenings in this way- I was just thinking of ways I could help my friends.

-M.S

Evil Morning

Perhaps, if you are a long time follower, you will recognize this post. I wrote it when I was quite young and got a bad burn. I still have the scar, but it honestly wasn't too awful, except that it got all swollen and infected. (see "downfalls")

Today I got a burn that isn't half as bad, but it uncomfortably happens to be on my right pointer finger. Naturally I write with that hand and naturally it is in the place where the pencil rubs.

You may be wondering why the title is "Evil Morning"but the title is only so because the last evil post was "Evil Evening." As you may have guessed, I got it when I was cooking, and it was a very foolish mistake.

It all started when I made cream of wheat. Because most of our cooking supplies are in the middle of the Atlantic, all we have is a very large pot, and a very small one. I wanted to boil the water/milk mixture before nightfall, so I searched for a lid and found the perfect substitute: a bowl! I was giving myself a million pats on the back. I was just thinking to myself how terribly clever I was when I went to the computer to check on all the blogs I follow. Fifteen minutes later, I leapt out of my chair and checked to see if the milk had scalded. I had turned the stove a little to high, and as a result, the metal bowl burned my finger. I yelped, grabbed an oven mitt, and in no time I was rinsing my finger under cold water.

Now, I'm quite all right, but I still hate that evil metal bowl (even if it was serving a purpose for which it was not made:)!

Out Door Hiding House

Ever since we first moved here seven years ago, we have made a a game called OdHH, (outdoor hiding house.) OdHH is where we pretend that we are orphans living in the wilderness. When we were little, Sadie and I played by ourselves, but Ella, who was a toddler at the time, started wanting to play. Soon, our neighbor, Ellie Dog, joined in, and by that time we started making beds out of the soft pine needles that fell from our pine tree.

As we grew up our inventions became more and more ingenious. We started carrying water from the hose to our "kitchen" and we hung a strand of yarn from one branch of a lilac bush to another, for we played in the "fence" that the border of tall lilac bushes acted as, was. On the yarn, we hung a bucket, in which we placed water, leaves, mushrooms, grass and the occasional berry that we found.

We started trying to make all sorts of new things: ink (from some purple berries), a garden, a bathroom, (we seriously dug a pit and tried to go in it) and much more. Just recently, we added Eleanor's cousin, Tay Cat, into the game and she is playing the part of a british snobby rich kid, who finds us and gives us food.

Now that we have gotten older, we have started to make new inventions. For example, we made a stove, which would work if mom would let us use it. Next, we put the hose up in the lilac bushes, and directed it into a bowl, and finally we also have started "harvesting" chive plants, which we have in plenty.

Today we played a wonderful game of it, and yesterday, when we also played it, we had Kitty, Hanna, along with our other stuffed animals. We had a blast playing it and I can only hope that we can play it in the Netherlands.

As you can see, Sadie built herself a bed of pine needles. This is the quintessential bed of OdHH.

This pole is what began OdHH. This pole marks the spot where we always play. Without it, we would not of found it as young children.

This is our stove. (We are PRETENDING to cook food, Mom)

We are rinsing our chives in hose water.

The hose system in our kitchen.

"Drying Herbs"

I love playing outside and pretending to cook in a VERY old fashioned oven, but nonetheless, as I make tacos as my mom is out working, I can't help but be thankful for all the modern appliances that make cooking and baking much simpler. You should try cooking the old way sometime, it helps you count your blessings!

1st Day Back To School Report

Status: 21 days till move


Mood: Sick and Sleepy


Plans for After School: Sleep, Sleep, Sleep!


Notes: 
            Dear Readers,
My addled mind is unable to think this morning, much less blog. I am still thinking in CA time, and so it is 5:00 AM right now. After I sleep for an hour, I'm not sure what my plans are. I've been hoping to go to Hobby Lobby to buy earring backs for some earrings I"m making. The earrings are to be made of rocks from the top of a mountain I climbed. 


The Sleepy-head recedes.


-Mia Susan

Animal Photo Shoot

Whenever we get new clothes, we like to do "photo shoots." Today, we went a little out of our minds and we decided to blog about it: we decided to pierce our stuffed animals' ears.

Yes, I know, you might think of us as bullies to stuffed animals, but Sadie and I just got our ears pierced, and I was sickened by Sadie pinning buttons into her stuffed animal's ears for earrings. So we pierced decided to pierce our stuffed animals' ears. To do this, we put pins in them, then we put our new earrings in them. To show off the new fashion statement in the stuffed animal world, we went outside and started the modeling.

First, to give some class to our photos, we draped some of our stuffed animals in linen napkins, and, with our dear neighbors stuffed animals as well, we took some photos.

And, to end our fun day, we made video of us through our stuffed animals in the air.