Milestone Monday

In less than 36 hours we will be at the airport getting ready to begin our journey back home. Are we ready? Absolutely! Are we packed? Absolutely NOT! The process has begun, but the head packer (AKA Daddy) has his employee only Soiree de Noel this evening, therefore, we'll continue the TSE tradition of packing at the last minute! Not to worry, if we forget anything, we can go to any 24 hour Walmart or Target and Voila, problem solved. Amazing how less stressful it is to pack going back to our comfort zone.

We're experiencing some rather monumental moments in the lives of our children so I just wanted to take a moment to share before they get lost in the chaos of travel. This weekend Hannah jumped onto her Care Bears tricycle and started pedaling for the first time. Nathan saw it first and screamed for me. I ran to the garage fully expecting that someone was bleeding by the way I was notified and there she was...big grin pedaling away. "Can I show Daddy? I have to show Daddy". She was proud, but big brother was possibly even more proud. "Mom, can you believe it? She can pedal now!" He is equally impressed when Hannah colors within the lines in one of her coloring books. The first time he saw that was another moment I came running to see who was bleeding or injured. (Large gasp)"Mom, come quick! You won't believe this!" We've come a long way from a few weeks ago when Nathan angrily came up to us holding out some of his art work that Hannah had embellished. "Just look. She scribble scrabbled all over my project!"

Another milestone happened as we drove to church on Sunday morning. Because Sarah is still in her rear facing car seat and she is our 3rd child so we no longer use the elaborate set of mirrors we once had to carefully monitor children 1 and 2, we often depend on children 1 and 2 to let us know what Sarah is up to. Hannah is a pretty good mirror replacement. She often tells me when Sarah can't see because her hat has covered her eyes or when Sarah has thrown something out of her seat and definitely lets me know when Sarah has fallen asleep. On Sunday morning, amidst her usual chatter and as Daddy and I tried to catch up after a week of not seeing each other and very few conversations, Hannah called out, "Sarah just clapped her hands!" We did hear her, but it didn't occur to Daddy that this was a new trick because he had been gone and it really didn't click with me either. Poor third child. She was probably thinking, "Hey people, what do I have to do to get a reaction around here!" Fortunately, the entire family caught the matinee performance that afternoon and she got the appropriate oohs and ahs. She is so proud!

This weekend Nathan participated in his first Christmas pageant. He was a shepherd...and such a cute one. Hannah was supposed to be a sheep, but she backed out at the last minute. She is the youngest in her class and wasn't in the mood to perform on Sunday.

Nathan came running out of the classroom today excitedly claiming that he has a loose tooth. I have tried wiggling the one he swears is wiggling, but it seems to be just as firm as the others. After I said that I wasn't sure, he said, "Mom you can't tell because you have to wiggle it with my tongue. And of course, you can't do that". Well, he has a point... I personally believe that he is just willing it to happen. As he is one of the younger kids in his class, many, many friends are losing teeth on a daily basis and he can't wait! Today we had a conversation about what happens if the tooth comes out in the US. Will he get euros or dollars? Smart kid. If he's really been paying attention to the exchange rates, he'll make sure he gets the European Tooth Fairy.

As Nathan was leaving school today his friend Antoni walked by with his mom and they both waved to each other and said "Goodbye". Nathan was shaking his head and kind of chuckling to himself. I looked back and asked, "What?" He smiled, "That Antoni. He's a funny kid."

Nathan was choosing a video to watch the other evening and decided on The Princess Bride. He said, "I like this movie. It isn't scary. Well, except at the end. No, I can handle it. I mean, I'm five years old!". He had the entire conversation with himself. I just sat quietly by smiling as he talked himself into being brave enough to watch the movie.

The kids are so excited to see everyone. We've had a little trouble conveying to Hannah that she won't see everyone in both families at once. To her Texas is just an arbitrary place where our whole family hangs out. She has no concept of how gigantic it is or the fact that we will spend the same amount of time driving from one grandparent's house to the other as we did driving from Belgium to England. Nathan has one more day of school tomorrow and we are going to watch his Christmas Assembly "straight away" after drop off. He reminded me that they "must be prompt" in the morning. I love that he speaks his teacher's English when he comes home...after I "collect" him from school.

Tomorrow will be a crazy day of packing, cleaning and organizing and hopefully early to bed so that we are able to get up at the crazy hour of 4 AM to catch our flight on Wednesday. We are so excited! It will be difficult to sleep. May we ask for prayers for a smooth and safe flight? So looking forward to being back home after such a long time! Sarah can't wait to meet you all and we can't wait to meet the new kids. Can't wait!

(Pictures of Nathan and his cute little friends dressed up for the Christmas pageant and yes, at the ripe old age of almost 11 months, Sarah has pigtails...Hannah insisted they should match)