Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving celebration with Clifton and Karmen yesterday. The turkey and everything else turned out really well! Lots of leftovers. Lots of fun. 

Abigail stayed home from school for much of the week. She was throwing up on Monday, so we had her tested for Covid, but that was negative. She is feeling fine now though! Yesterday a package came from one of my students in China. She painted a beautiful silk cloth for me as a Christmas present. Very sweet!!

The government also started up some stricter lockdown measures while allowing over 5000 people to come in from South Africa. Many countries have denied these flights due to the new variant there. This country isn't even prepared to give out booster shots. Quite the mess here - but they will leave schools open for now. 

Trying out some plant based tuna - it was good!

Opening presents from Sinterklaas.

Fun at Thanksgiving.

Mini-Lockdown

The Dutch are closing things down again. Booster shots aren't ready. Schools still open for now, but we shall see how things go. Looks like we won't be able to see the girls finish up with swimming lessons. That is a bummer! Naomi's beehive building class has also been cancelled. Other than that we aren't really affected much so far. Sure hope our Christmas plans won't get scrapped!

I have been working hard on the novel. Implementing some really helpful, specific feedback. I want it to be wrapped up by this time next year, so hopefully that will work out. Every Monday I meet with my 'editor' and his feedback is great!

It was good to get back to school this week. Not sure if it will stay open though. A lot of people are out with Covid, so it makes things pretty hard to run. 

I wore some flannel in honor of Deer Day.

Abigail prefers art to eating sometimes!

36

 It has been a big week! Two days ago Naomi's grandma turned 101. Yesterday Sinterklaas came to the NL, so there was a parade and the girls got some little treats and presents in their shoes this morning. Today I turn 36, so we are going to the zoo soon. Should be fun!

I am starting to feel better, I was sick at home all week, so tomorrow should be back to school and business as usual. Except that they are starting to lock things down again. Cases are spiking and the booster shots aren't ready to go. We will see what happens this time around. 

Hopefully we can take our trip to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Berlin for Christmas. We were able to get things booked, but who knows what will happen. Sure would be nice to be able to look forward to something like that without all the uncertainty! At least we made sure there were good cancellation policies. 

Yesterday Amélie and I finished up the shelf for her bedroom. Matt had a couple failed giraffes from the 3D printer that we used. Amélie did most of the design and the build herself! Fun to see how much she can do. 

Amélie stayed home from school a couple days this week too, so we took a walk. 

Amélie's new bedside shelf!

Helping with the birthday cake.

Sinterklaas made it!

Drip, Drip, Drip

Picked up a bit of a cold on Friday. Got tested yesterday, and it was negative, but this morning I couldn't smell much. Oddly, it seems to affect the left side of my face (kind of like my left sinus is burning up and the rest of the left side of my face starts to burn too. My left eye leaks and only opens halfway. I have a decent amount of energy, though. All feels very strange. I will do another test today. 

Amélie had her second figure skating lesson yesterday, and Naomi was asked if she wants to be an instructor. Might be fun for everyone! Naomi also started a course on how to make beehives from grass. Hopefully someday we can have our own honey! 

The girls had a study day on Monday, which means there wasn't any school. They got to hang out with Helene for the whole day! Lots of fun. 

Fun with Helene!