One week in. How are we doing?

Namaste! We made it 1 week! Ups and downs adjusting to this new normal. Still taking it one day at a time to stay sane. We fell into a decent routine by midweek. Pete and I have always had an easy partnership, which has never been more helpful than now. Maeve not resting at home has been our biggest challenge as it leads to a lot of meltdowns by the afternoon. How do her teachers get her to do it?! The first few days, I felt glued to my phone and overwhelmed by Whatsapps, emails and news stories coming in. It felt really good to take breaks each day.

By midweek we starting getting assignments for Jude from his main teachers (writing, math and reading) and specialty teachers (art ideas, music, Dutch, and gym- to come). Those activities, combined with morning Zoom meetings with each kids classes helped pass the time. We tried to get in a cosmic yoga every day as well. One silver lining is that I will probably be a lot more fit by the end of all of this (my normal days home are super sedentary, not a possibility with little kids at home!). My pilates studio is posting videos and live sessions for members, so I have enjoyed doing that at my leisure as opposed to being tied to their schedule.

I've always loved travel planning and found it therapeutic to book trips. That is really out the window now and the fate of our upcoming trips (Scotland in May, Corfu in June, USA in the summer) hangs in the balance. That has been hard to cope with, but everything has to be put into perspective and those places/people will still be there if/when we are able to travel again. I'm attempting to turn lemons into lemonade and will be rebooking our cancelled April France trip for the week before Christmas to turn out Easter trip into a ski/Christmas market trip instead. We all need things to look forward to!

In the time BCV (I'm coining it), one of my book clubs picked "Maybe You Should Talk to Someone." Such a timely read! By the end of the week, I was feeling at peace with this situation. Or maybe I had just quickly reached the acceptance phase of grief over the loss of our old lives. Then, I just read this in the book: "PEACE. IT DOES NOT MEAN TO BE IN A PLACE WHERE THERE IS NO NOISE, TROUBLE, OR HARD WORK. IT MEANS TO BE IN THE MIDST OF THOSE THINGS AND STILL BE CALM IN YOUR HEART."

Wishing everyone peace, calmness and some joy in their hearts as we start week 2! 

One of Maeve's teachers had a birthday and she wanted to bake her some cookies. Pay no mind to the outfit choices. No one is meant to see us, right?! 

We got a family walk in Wednesday night. There are some lovely fields behind our house that we need to explore more.

One of her morning zoom meetings. The 3 and 4 year olds just make silly faces at each other, it's pretty adorable. 

One of 100s of sent Whatsapps last week

Jude had an assignment to write a "how to" book. He really impressed us with his book about staying safe from the Corona virus. I will keep this for him forever and will try to get it put in the future Corona Virus museum ;)

By the end of the week we had sun, though still cold temps. No matter, this family was in dire need of a field trip. We drove out to the flower fields in search of hyacinths and daffodil fields. It was everything I hoped it would be and really lifted my spirits!

Spotted!  

That smell! I would have sat there all day if it weren't for the kids! 

When I told Jude we were going to look at flowers, he quickly made himself a "sketch pad" and wanted to come with me to do some drawings. Love this little man! 

We drove right past the golden arches and had to give in to the kids' request to stop. Only the drive through was open, so we had our family lunch in the car. 

Then we went on a meandering drive and found some lovely daffodil fields that you could walk around. There were a handful of people there, but everyone was practicing safe social distancing.

 

Our final stop was at Annemieke's self picking farm, a spot that has been on my "must-visit list" for a few years now. When I saw their post on facebook about the demise of the floral industry from the corona virus, I was even more motivated to go and support them. We drove by the world famous Keukenhof gardens where we have made some great memories (2015, 2016, 2019) and the gates were shuttered. My heart hurts for the workers and all of the people who had hoped to visit this year.

Jude enthusiastically picked 20 flowers with me and we are waiting now for them to bloom. Last year, I bought a bunch of bulbs while we were at Keukenhof and took great care in planting them this fall. I cannot wait to watch them bloom. It will bring me a lot of joy while sitting in our house! #buyflowersnottolietpaper

Back at home, I grabbed some chalk and we created art work that I hope will cheer up the neighborhood. It brought a smile to our Indian food delivery guy later that evening at least!

I have a lot of things I am excited about doing from home. Puzzles was one of them and I finished one Saturday night. 

How did I miss that Season 6 of Younger is on Hulu?! So excited! 

I had Pete check a ton of books out for me (and the kids) at ISA before it closed. I have a lot of recorded author talks through the John Adams Institute that I'd like to listen to. I have a free trial of SkillShare and a number of saved talks. I'm most excited to try my hand at water color painting. I plan to take advantage of the 7 day free trial of Broadway HD to watch Broadway shows from home. I will report back about any other fun things to try! 

Pete's Birthday, The Last Day of "Normal"

Last weekend, as the situation turned more serious here in the Netherlands, we lived it up and celebrated Pete's birthday. We hadn't yet been told to social distance, though some were doing so already. So we decided to go out with a bang if a lockdown was impending. Pete went out bowling with some friends Friday night (no germs whatsoever at a bowling alley, right!?) and Jude had a great sleepover at his new friend's. Saturday, Maeve had a friend over for a playdate and Pete and I went out for Korean to celebrate his birthday. Sunday was his actual birthday and we went to brunch in the Oude Dorp, followed by a visit to the early blooming Cherry Blossoms in the Bos, a stop at Annakerk for a beer and snacks, a playdate with Gabriel and Faris and then delivery pizza for dinner. There were not many people out at any of our activities, but we have been much more responsible since. I am grateful to have had these last "normal" days as the future seems so uncertain.

Brunch sillies

It was cold, and there's a pandemic. 

I am also incredibly grateful for two kids who get along (for now...)

Happy birthday, Pete! No one I'd rather self isolate with! 

One other family in the whole place

I hope you wished for something REALLY GOOD!!! 

Life BCV, "Before Corona Virus"

I hadn't posted yet about "normal life" in February. How I wish we could go back to any sense of normalcy, really! This all seems like a lifetime ago...

I finally made it to the Dutch Resistance museum with a big group of ISA moms. Those exhibits of hardship during WWII in the NL are starting to hit home. It was a beautiful day and I had made the 30 minute bike ride in along the Amstel. The city shines when the sun is out!

The following week, I chaperoned the kindergarten trip to the Van Gogh museum. I had been looking forward to this trip since I learned about it a few years ago. I had not considered how difficult it would be to lead 5 boys through the museum on my own. My group was sweet and they really did great until the end (isn't that how we all feel in museums?). I wanted to document the kids sketching for the teachers and no sooner had I lifted my phone to take the picture, one of the boys from my group leaped up and touched his pencil tip to the The Yellow House picture (see below)! My panic only subsided when I realized the picture had a glass pane (the guard was also good natured when he came over to reprimand us).

Their sketches were very entertaining.

I deserved my high tea afterwards with Sheena and another Bowoidn alum, Ramona, who was in town visiting. 

Valentine's Day we went to a French restaurant on Brouwersgracht and went on a nighttime walk through the city.

Garbiel's Lego Birthday party

I am very thankful that Global Village day took place before the school shut down. It is such a special day for the ISA community. This year, Jude took part in the USA performance, the Git Up country line dance.  He was very diligent about learning the moves and practicing at home. Pete and some other teachers joined in as well and Maeve was in the audience cheering them on.

Before I read the teacher email about what amount of facepaint was ok. Jude "didn't want to get me in trouble" so he had me take it all off and put small flags on his cheeks instead. 

I went into school to watch the performance broadcast to the auditorium. Then for the first time, the "parade of nations" left the gym and traveled through the cafeteria, where parents could watch and cheer them on. Yes, I teared up. Afterwards, we had a special lunch in Maeve's preschool class with foods of the world. Such a delicious spread! Pigs in a blanket were a hit, as always.

I don't feel it much, but when the US women's team won the World Cup, I was very proud to be an American. I wanted Maeve to represent that pride. 

Earlier in the morning, the Owls had their own Parade of Nations and the kids got up by country, waving their flags

After the lunch, I headed to the Kindergarten area where I volunteered to help the classes make bald eagle crafts. Of course I wanted to volunteer there so I could spend time with Jude.

This is a bit of a long story, but Joey's beloved Miffy bunny has come to live at our house. She couldn't make the move to Texas and after finding herself homeless and literally in the rain, out on the street, we decided to adopt her. She is larger than life and our kids adore her. Every time I look at her, I think of the Welters, which makes my heart happy.

Thank you, Melissa for coordinating the adoption! 

After February break, the Kindergarten had their infamous art show. What a treat to see what the kids have been working on.

An iceskating rink with paint mixed with salt, a red fence and yellow stars. 

Self portrait 

Not even all of the dishes served at the Indonesian Rice Tafel at Restaurant Blauw for momma's night out. Yum! 

Followed by The Nelly Wilson's gig at Mulligan's Irish Bar downtown. Thank you for friends who joined for the late night session!

The Sunday "before" we tried out a church in Amsterdam. It had been something I'd been wanting to do for some time and when I learned that a number of friends were attending the English Liberty Church in the Vondelkerk, we decided to give it a try. We had been so lazy on the proceeding Sundays, I thought that in addition to helping with my growing anxiety about the state of affairs, that attending church would also get us out of the house and exploring more. The kids loved Sunday school and I was really excited about this being part of our new routine. God had different plans...

Post-church lunch, a tradition that will have to wait.