Daddy has been in North America for about a week now and it is time for an update. Frunty prides himself on being the man of the house now and tries to boss Pit around, a bit too much at times. Both seem to end up in my bed at around midnight although last night, Pit made it in at about 6 am. The other night, Frunty not at all. We all miss Daddy and snuggling together helps so I give extra snuggles.

It snowed yesterday enough to make tobogganing at the park possible. On the way, and out of the blue, Frunty told me he was really glad that I didn't go to work because then I could be with him and Pit. Talk about a touching moment. He thought of this himself. His little brain and heart came up with it. I am grateful that my dream job is one I get to do and that Daddy supports it too. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am very fortunate to have this time with my kids because it is a once-in-a-lifetime, dream job. I would not do any other job.

I don't know if I have written before about how Pit loves to touch my neck. I don't mind except when I am trying to sleep!! So this morning I told him how much I enjoyed snuggling with him and he said, "and I only used one of my fingers to touch your neck, right?" and he showed me how he only poked me ever so gently. It was really funny.

The kids are delightful and Frunty asked if we could go for dinner tonight. I think the Indian resto will have something we can eat. We are still on our almost vegan diet...by almost I mean that sometimes we have honey and I occasionally wear my leather boots. We have better nights as Frunty does not scratch as much. Pit's eczema is quite mild. We'll stay on the diet as we are used to it now and because it does seem to be healthier. With that in mind, off to the kitchen I go!

Updates on the kids: they are growing like weeds! They are taller but still slim. Healthy foods and exercise galore.

Frunty came up with putting his Presqu'ile rocks on the radiator to warm them up in order to do hot stone therapy. The other night at dinner, I complained of a back ache so he took me to my bed, got me a blanket and put a hot rock on my lower back. What a sweetie! All his own idea. This morning, Frunty brought a hot rock to Pit and put it under his blanket to warm him up. Pit is staying home today from school as he was throwing up this morning.

Pit came with me to the market yesterday morning. I was trying to be quiet and leave the house early when all of a sudden, Pit was beside me wanting to go. He got dressed on his own, as usual, in about two seconds and off we went to get a ton of veggies and fruits too! It was fun. The Gare du Midi is a wonderful market with great produce and I hope to take Gramma there.

That snowy week we had was great fun. Now it is back to rain and grey skies. I don't actually mind this and since we have so many lovely candle holders made by the kids, it is cozy lighting them.

Time for a second breakfast!

We are experiencing a winter wonderland here in Brussels with the temperature at about -8 degrees Celsius. It snowed two days ago and didn't stop. When I woke up in the morning and looked out the window, I could hardly believe my eyes since the snow stayed on the ground and then some! Luckily Daddy could stay and work from home since the roads were not safe. The day before, they had mentioned something about snow on the radio but we didn't know where or when. Boy, were the kids excited!

Afterschool and "etudes" Frunty stayed in our backyard til dinner time, about an hour and a half playing and raking and sweeping the snow. By himself, in his snowsuit. He really loves the snow. Pit had had enough cold just getting by metro/bus to the Little Gym and back and wanted to stay inside with his hot tea (Rooibush Vanilla) and he ended up helping me make Mushroom Farcie. (spelling?)

Yesterday Pit was really adorable, telling me about his teacher Mme Claire. He pronounces the "r" the same way that Frunty did, he reminds me of Frunty who also had Mme Claire. Anyway, Pit was telling me that his teacher got some snow and put it on the radiator and that the next day they would all see what happened to the snow. I asked him what he thought would happen and he said, "I don't know!" It was just so sweet how he said it. Gosh, I find it really hard not to kiss these two all the time!

And I am so proud of Frunty getting right back into school as it is hard getting up early again, still dark out and now snowy but he rallies and gets out the door. The other thing is that Frunty is eating better and better and more things than before and I am so proud of him. His eczema is flaring up for the moment but so is mine. It may be the very cold weather, dry indoor heating and for Frunty, the change in routine. I think we are keeping the diet in check. Gramma sent some articles saying that eczema has nothing to do with diet. But regardless, it has been good for us to increase our veggies and reduce our sugar.

Our tree is still up as it still looks beautiful. With some white lights and some coloured, it is a really cheery tree and my favourite so far!

On Sunday night we returned from our ten-day-dream Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finland. Visiting Lapland's Arctic Circle was an idea I first came up with over ten years ago when we were living in Amsterdam. To be able to take our kids with us all these years later was really, honestly, a dream come true. From Brussels to Helsinki to Rovaniemi, we moved up into the north of Finland where there was only about two hours of daylight each day. Covered with snow and light flurries while we visited, we enjoyed all the area had to offer.

The highlight was meeting the "real" Santa in his village with our new friends we met up there from Nantes, France, the Havarts. The kids all had a great time. For our individual family, I think we all agreed that the husky ride through the snow-covered trees and hills, was really amazing. We fell in love with a white husky in particular who reminded us of Mowgli.

Of course, the reindeer ride was cute although a bit too short, and the Christmas Eve mystical walk with the elves to Santa's command center in Kovatunturi was fun but the huskies were awesome...maybe because we are all dog lovers.

We also enjoyed our Santa Sport Hotel with the big spa/pool area, different saunas and indoor play zone. A great choice of hotels away from the city center in the forest. Daddy and I took turns cross country skiing but our main, snowy activity was tobogganing with the kids. We even hiked through the forest and made a fire to warm up. On Christmas night, we rented a Havuuka with our French friends and had a gourmet dinner prepared by Fred. The trip was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am so happy and grateful we went for it!

Today our friends, K and E and baby, F, came over for lunch. They are visiting from Twickenham for the weekend. We had such a nice lunch (I made Indian) and then a lovely walk in Woluwe park. Baby F is adorable. After we said good bye, I went over to our Norwegian friend's house to join our two boys (whom I had left just before the walk so they could play a bit before baking) and some others to make Christmas cookies. One of our friends, Annebeth, made a gluten-free/egg-free/milk-free gingerbread dough and the cookies were excellent. I was so grateful that she made them. I brought some allergy-free speculoos with me and they got devoured by all the kids but it was nice our kids could make some cookies that they could eat too.

We are trying our best to eliminate the foods as I mentioned but at the school's Christmas market last night, it was next to impossible to say "no" to hot dogs/cookies etc. I felt like I broke down a bit but it isn't like a peanut allergy which can be fatally serious. Today we are back on track though and that is what counts. It is cold here but not snowing...clear blue skies but who knows, it may still snow again before and after Christmas. We'll have to get down the Grande Place for the market.

Time for a nice, hot cup of tea...we keep our house a little cool so the heat doesn't make our skin dry. Plus I am tired from all the festivities lately and also, coming home late from the comedy show last night! It's a fun time of year...just gotta pace ourselves. Tomorrow, packing for Finland and 4 pm Christmas fete at our British/Indian friends' home where we will stay a short time so we can keep our routine with the kids in tact. Good night all!

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.