Hello! Snowing here again -so pretty! Julia's party went really well on Sunday. We had 10 girls (including Julia) and I think they all had a wonderful time. Julia seems fairly quiet and reserved, but I think that seems normal as she is still 'making friends' and learning to feel comfortable. She definitly isn't her normal silly self like around her friends from home - but that will come I am sure. We decorated gingerbread houses, played games, ate cake and did crafts. I kept them super busy and Eric is a huge birthday party gamer! Luckily we had an extra set of hands too! Our friend Anthony brought his daughter Olivia and he stayed. I think the poor sap thought he would just have a glass of wine with Eric and "hang out" - nope - we had him working like a party planner! hee hee
The wine was good though - I recommend this approach to other Mothers. A nice glass of red wine while throwing a party, very nice.
So glad that the kids had a nice weekend with friends. They still yearn for their friends back home (both cried at least once over the last few days missing their buddies) -- but I keep hoping they start to connect here too. Slowly but surely.
Busy week as we get ready for a 3 week break. I am falling a bit behind in German and hope to use the break to catch up a bit before my final weeks of class in january. I have to pass the test to go on to German 2 - yikes!
Evan's birthday is tomorrow and he would like to bring in brownies - so those are all made and ready to go. They are having lots of hot chocolate this week as there is a stove in his room where they can make it... that is fun!
Eric ended up taking next week off, so that is great. We will go skiing a couple of days and get ready for the nice Christmas weekend. We need to make some specific Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans so we can keep busy and make some new memories, instead of being sad to not have family and friends around. I need to figure that out in the next few days. Each year I do this: get through the birthdays and then on Dec 16th I begin thinking about Christmas. Not such a good thing!
Hey Jenn! Tell Evan happy birthday, I'll try to call but if i don't I want him to know we are thinking about him, and hope he has a great time being "double digits".
ReplyDeleteHey there! Hope the Christmas plans are coming along nicely. I'm sure you will come up with something fun.
ReplyDeleteAn encouragement to you...my nephew missed home very much while living in Germany, but now that he is back in the states he is missing his friends from Stuttgart. Maybe that isn't encouraging, as he how feels his heart is in two places, but it does show that, over time, connections will be made. Keep offering the kids opportunities to be around new friends as you have and the connections will come. You're a good mom, Jenn.
Love and Merry Christmas to you all,
Elizabeth