Connected

Hello. For months now, we've been borrowing our neighbor's wi-fi, and we've tried hard to stay connected, but especially in the first weeks, it was very difficult. Our old MacBook laptop could barely pick up any signal, and our Mac was slower than usual. Also, we were busy, and we had no home phone. Yes, things were difficult, and although there are still complications and imperfections in our connection with our friends and family, we are so grateful for God's provision.

I know this post is painfully short, but I just had too say it: We're connected!

Happy Birthday to Abe

Happy Birthday Abe!

I remember the day you were born. I remember when Grandma picked me up from preschool, got me ice cream from the ice cream truck, and took us to the hospital so we meet you,  I remember when we took you home, and I remember when you grew up and eventually realized that your sisters' names WEREN'T Miasadie, Ella, and Robin, and realized that you weren't Batman and mom wasn't your sidekick.

Happy Sixth Birthday, and may you long and adventurous life!

My Very Special Weekend With Auntie Em

As I have posted before, we spend a lot of time touring Holland on our weekends.  However, this week we weren't the tourists.  Auntie Em was the tourist , and it was our job to show her the highlights of Dutch life in just a few days. Because we aimed for about two "highlights" a day, as soon as she got out of the airport, we got to work.

So, on Wednesday, as soon as we picked up Barnabas, we took her on a long trip home: the perfect entry to the Netherlands. Then, for our second highlight, we gave her a full house tour, and treated her to gelato. What fun!

Next, on Thursday, the sea shipment came and although it probably wasn't a highlight for her, it was a highlight for us! We were finally reunited with our Catland friends.  Then, as a more real highlight, we took her to our favorite Belgian chocolate store and got her a fancy, delicate, Belgian chocolate!

Who can guess?  On Friday we DIDN'T homeschool, we toured the country, and had a blast at Naarden.  The highlight, (the one that wasn't Naarden itself, but within Naarden), was defiantly and boldly, and definitely, the hot chocolate.

Saturday: Eight mile bike ride, pancake house, Haarlem (Corrie Ten Boom, Cathedral, etc.)

Sunday: Church, Amsterdam trip with my Mom

By now, I'm sure you get the idea. However, today is Monday, and my Aunt just left. I had a wonderful really long weekend, but I'm really going to miss my aunt!  Here is a slideshow to give you a few snapshots of our time together.

Create your own free slideshow

AEAEMPAFTCSS (This Stands for something)

As I promised in the title, AEAEMPAFTCSS stands for something. In fact it stands for:

Auntie
Em
And
Evil
Mr.
Paws
And
Finally
The
Cursed
Sea
Shipment

See? I always keep my promises!

The reason my Aunt Emily and Barnabas, who I call Evil Mr. Paws, got incorporated into this post and the title, is because half of my latest 48 hours was devoted to bring them safely to the Melkpad. Actually, to be precise, they took up the first half of my latest forty-eight but the reason I DIDN'T post it was because I thought it would sound stupid and I thought that it would be to be precise.

Where was I?

Oh yes! We had to take a train, a car, and lot of motion sickness, but we pushed through and I alone was successful in transporting by brethren and dog to the Melkpad, with a little help form my parents.

Then, I, exhausted, slept and slept, until the morning dawned bright and rainy, and then I got up, and single handedly, unpacked the whole truckload of stuff, with a tiny bit of help from Auntie Em, Mom and some nice Dutch movers.

On a random note, Sadie, Ella and Abe got lovely bunk beds, and beds spreads. My bed didn't fit though the tiny Dutch stairs.

Now Mia ain't got no bed:(

More on that later- but hopefully REALLY later.

My Weekend as a Tourist

Hello. One day later, I still feel like I am in danger of falling asleep. You see-we have had a very busy weekend. I've had several attempts at this post, because we really did do a lot of interesting things, but unfortunately, my sleepy brain refuses to write.

But it doesn't refuse to make slideshows!

I know that I won't ever post about this wonderful weekend if I don't hop to it, and I also know that I have to work quickly so that Sadie and Mommy don't steal all the photos-two good reasons why I should push through my drowsiness. Well here goes nothing!



 You can watch the video here.

Our Catland Adventure

The Great Mountain

Told by: (Characters)

“Kitty” (Katherine) Elizabeth Meowie (Mia)           

Hanna Faith Meowie (Sadie)

Sealie Shelton Meowie (Mia)

“Lucky” (Lucille) May Meowie (Sadie)

“Amy” (Anastasia) Sarah Whuffer (Ella)

“Scurvie” (Scurvy) Bones Pirate-dog (Abe)

“Pup” (Pupfield) Crossbone Pirate-dog (Abe)

Note:

As we have settled into Melkpad, we have been playing “Catland” –the game which we often play with all of our stuffed animals. Ella, Abe and Sadie told this story from the view of their stuffed animals. Enjoy!

Part 1: By Amy Whuffer (or Ella, age 8)

We were all knitting and almost bored out of our minds until Pup came in, and then I had it. I ran to my cave, gathered some of my possessions, and ran out to some caves that Pup had found. The reason we lived in the caves was because of the Abe-land soldiers, who had driven us out of our homes. Kitty and the Meowies were already at the caves. At the caves I was next door to the Meowies. However, our hiding spot didn’t stay secret for long. Soon, Scurvie went out and the Abe-land soldiers saw him and so thy shot bullets into the caves. So, that is how we came here. Currently, we are getting bored again.

Part 2: By Scurvie Pirate-dog (or Abe, age 6)

This crazy adventure started when Kitty told us about the mountain. Then we were like “Hey!!!” and then Kitty told us that we could only climb it once in our lives. Then, we started climbing and soon, although everybody else were some slowpokes, we made it to the top. We met the mountain and he gave us whatever we wanted. I wished for a dagger that could change into any thing, Pup, my little brother, wished for a pond of Sprite and candy in our backyard, and Lucky, my best friend, wished to share a room with her older sister, Hanna. Hanna wished for a house for her family. Sealie wished for a Mac laptop so that he could become a blogger like Kitty, who wanted just to have her family (financially) safe. Lastly, we get to Amy. She wanted… I don’t know what! She got a piece of paper that said “yes.” Then we went down to the house that Hanna wished for to celebrate with a cup of milk, but then a terrible surprise happened.

Part 3: By Hanna Meowie (or Sadie, age 11)

Then, a white pillar started coming at me. “Perhaps it is just an airplane’s remnants.” I said to Lucky, trying to assure her and myself at the same time. However, the “airplane’s remnants” was starting to swirl, and it was starting to come closer to us.

Finally, it was Kitty who said, “It’s a tornado.” After that, we ran as fast as possible, trying to go inside. But Lucky fell, and the tornado, which was already gaining on us, gained even more when I stopped to help her.

All of a sudden, something hit me, and the last thing I knew was I was falling down.

All of us woke up around the same time, which was helpful because the pit which we had fallen in was rather small. Eventually, we got out of the pit, and to our surprise, we found that the tornado had apparently done more than make us fall: it had blown us furniture!

           

Conclusion: By Amy Whuffer (or Ella)

And that is how we became neighbors again with the Pirate-dogs and the Meowies. After an adventure like this, you can’t help but be proud of your friends, and I sure am!

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!