Happy St. Nicholas!

St. Nicholas came early this morning to our home and found a hot chocolate, some speculoos cookies, a carrot and some hay for his donkey and left behind a present. Frunty woke up so early but has to wait for his brother to wake up so they can open it together. So Frunty is watching Wall-E beside me as I type. I had hoped to sleep in this morning but alas, it is just too exciting around here! And to top it off, my friend's dog is staying with us and started licking my cheek and my hand which was hanging off the bed.

I did have a super nice snuggle with Frunty as I tried to get him to fall back asleep. This afternoon we are off to the club where St. Nicholas will arrive with Zwarte Piet and tomorrow, he'll come to the Little Gym. Mind you, we already met him at Colruyt a few weeks ago when he gave the kids a big bag full of candy, an Advent Calendar, a Winnie-the-Pooh mug and piggy bank, puppet etc.

Tonight our friends are coming over with their little boy, Leander. We invited them about a year ago and something kept happening to postpone our dinner together.

Day 3: Vegan attempt: well, last night I went to the Lounge 81 for Anna's baby shower/dinner and although I managed to get a vegetarian pasta, it was not gluten-free and was full of cream. Imagine carrying around your own tupperware and asking it to be heated up? I am not going to go that far! Obviously, avoiding the "restricted" items as much as possible is reasonable and hopefully will show results. Absolute restriction will be next to impossible especially when we travel up to Finland at Christmas.

Day 1: We are vegans.

Okay, this is really different but I am game for anything...no pun intended. There won't be any game or any other meats for quite some time. Our md wants us to be very strict for the next six weeks and I love the challenge. For breakfast, lunch and dinner, I had LENTILS.

The kids are absolute peaches and don't like meat anyway. Well, they like Daddy's sugo and sometimes sausages. Frunty was hilarious. I asked him to eat some lentils at lunch and he made the funniest face and said, "I will try!" It was so funny, you had to be here. Pit didn't eat lentils but he eats enough of everything else and I know it is balanced...based on hours and days and weeks of research...

Anyway, I have been wanting to be a vegetarian for a short while now so I am glad the doctor told us to do so...however, omitting eggs as well is hard. I need to get to the Asian food store this weekend and buy boat loads of other types of "pulses" otherwise, how are we going to make it!?

The kids didn't even notice the can of white beans I pureed in with the spinach pesto!

Gotta go, need time to think about what I can serve tomorrow. Probably vegetarian sushi.

Let's get one thing straight. I'll try anything once...well, almost anything.

Last night we returned from a weekend at Paris Disney. Daddy said that before leaving for Finland, we'll think of the next time we'll go to Disney as we have a pass valid for one year and it is coming up. We will not renew as far as I know so want to make the most of our time there.

It is so much fun on the one hand. On the other, the crowds this weekend were absolutely unbelievable and we could hardly walk down mainstreet when the park closed at 8pm. Because of Fast Passes, we were able to enjoy Buzz Lightyear and the Studios were not as crowded for some reason so we got to see the Stitch show. Stitch noticed our boys wearing the marshan hats and asked them their names. At the end of the show, as Stitch flew out into the galaxy, he yelled, "Good bye F and D!" The kids were thrilled.

One of the highlights was our hotel which had a kitchenette and was very close to the park and by the shopping center. We never make time to go shopping really, just whip into the pharmacy for products and grabbed a coat for Pit at GoSports as his (from Travis) had a broken zipper.

The main highlights though were meeting Santa in his village at night, posting Christmas letters to the north pole and seeing Mickey's Christmas Wonderland show. Daddy might disagree. He might say the main highlights were his burgers and his texas bbq which he loved so much that he stopped to take a picture of the restaurant!

For my part (that is very French) I do love Thunder Mountain Rollercoaster! Just scarey enough to make me say "yipee" but not make me sick to my stomach! Frunty tried it this time but found it too scarey so he would disagree with me. I am so proud of him for trying it though because we almost ruined him with rollercoasters for life by taking him on the ultra-scarey "Crush's Rollercoaster" from the movie, Nemo, a few visits back.

Pit was such a good sport, waiting for us while we did "baby switch" for Thunder Mountain so he could two times at the Cars Rally, two times on Aladdin's Flying Carpet and his first choice, the Stitch Show. Anyway, I am just way too tired to keep writing. It was a lot of walking as these parks are huge. Gotta get to bed now!

Cheerio! And happy first day of Christmas!

Frunty was almost losing his voice last night. He didn't look well in the morning but because he has missed some school due to his eczema, we thought it would be a good idea for him to go. But by last night, I knew that in the morning, I just wanted him to sleep in and take it easy. Pit had the day off anyway as his teacher had a pedagogique day so we turned off our alarms and woke up at 9:30 am. It was nice to lounge in our jammies.

We did some Kumon homework, the method we are using with both kids to help them along with their English and then some playtime and I enjoyed playing charades with them very much. Pit was funny because he kind of gave it away but then did the action as well so we knew what it was but who cares, it was fun.

In the afternoon, we took Pit to the Little Gym. Frunty did a bit more Kumon and drew a picture of Leroy and Stitch. We had a tv lunch with Daddy today which was nice. Pit did well in the Little Gym. I saw him kiss the calf of Amina and hug Pierre's legs. He is lucky to get his two favourite teachers each week!

After we dropped by Gudrun's for a tea while Frunty stayed home with Daddy and played Brain Academy on Wii. He is quite great at it. I think I'll play tonight when Daddy has time. Frunty will go to school tomorrow. It is only a half day so that is manageable. His second tooth is almost ready to fall out on the bottom, front right. The tooth beside it fell out on Saturday! It was great! He was so excited!

Shortly after I took Pit to class today, the school phoned me and I had to pick him up. He had thrown up. He did spit up a bit at breakfast but still seemed to want to go to school. When I got him home, he had a really nice bath and now he is is all warm and cozy and watching the new Dragon Hunter movie as I write beside him. He seems ok, eating his banana. We have the circus this afternoon and perhaps if he rests til then, we can still go. Caroline will bring Frunty home from school so luckily I don't have to take Pit out at noon.

Today Frunty had a day off from school: un jour pedagogique, a professional development day for the teachers. So Pit stayed home from school too although we didn't stay home. We went to the club for a swim during which we played our usual games: Kung Fu Panda or Chicken, Tickle Monster and touche touche and stretching eachother by the ankles! This is funny and feels good on the back.

After swimming, we had a picnic lunch at the club and then, off to the Little Gym. Pit was a bit sleepy for his class but still seemed to enjoy most of it. Frunty and I did English homework. To keep him up to speed with his Canadian counterparts, we are using the Kumon Method with Frunty. Just because he can speak English, doesn't obviously mean that his writing and reading will progress without effort. I find that he is quick to count in French or say letters of the alphabet in French, but needs to practise them in English more. The Kumon Method is fun and he enjoyed doing quite a few pages. Frunty likes when I put an "E" at the top of the page. The first time, he said, "thank you".

Now both boys are sleeping. Frunty went to sleep without scratching. Last night, he didn't wake up during the night scratching...the first good night in about three weeks. We have stopped the fish oils, as of yesterday morning. Is that a coincidence? I don't know. My brain hurts from trying so hard to help him. Let's just hope that this is the beginning of better sleeps for all of us and to reduced itching for Frunts.

Dr. Who time...but I think I'll read beside Daddy as he watches. Not my bag, baby. Tomorrow afternoon, we are off to the Robin Hood Circus with Perdie and Leo. Normally we go to the club on Wednesdays but since we did so today, I really want to take the kids to the circus. Should be great fun! I am so lucky to be a mom, look at all the awesome things I get to do with my mighty mouses. Speaking of mighty mouses...we just booked for a Christmas adventure weekend at Disney, the last weekend of November to kick off the holiday season with good cheer!

Can't wait!

We had a really nice lunch today so I want to write about it. The kids have been coming home for lunch for a few weeks now and there are a few tricky parts like getting Frunty back to school although he eventually complies. Also, they are pretty excited to play and so sitting at the table is hard. So today I got them to make Japanese rice balls and Frunty remembered we had to dip them in soya sauce before frying them. Yes, I know...no soya but last night I phoned the doctor and he suggested easing up a bit with the elimination diet.

The truth is, since we started this whole diet, Frunty's eczema has never been worse. I think we have thought too much about it...although the doctor claims that Frunty's body is reacting to no longer receiving the foods that were bothering him. Who knows!? It is very annoying. Eczema is a pretty hard skin disease to wrap one's head around. I really don't want to see Frunty suffer like I did as a child. Even though I still have eczema and sometimes, pretty bad flare ups, I don't let it stop me from swimming. Frunty wanted to quit swimming. So I have talked to him about that we are back in the pool, loving our Kung Fu Panda or Chicken fights!

So after we made the rice balls and ate them, we played with toilet paper rolls that the kids had made into binoculars/camera and a hammer. We jumped on the raft (bed) to avoid the sharks. I decided I could load the dishwasher later. Time now to pick Frunty up to take to karate. Pit is watching a bit of The Lion King. The first time he has had tv this week. I fast forward all the scarey parts so it is quite a short movie for the kids.

Tomorrow night we have the comedy show with friends followed by, if we aren't too tired, a costume party at another friend's. Never a dull moment. Last night I took my girlfriend for a sauna experience at the club. Boy, did she love it. Me too. A couple of saunas a week...ah, living the good life!

Gotta go. Hope whoever still reads my blog gets a chance to pamper him or herself from time to time too!