Saturday, November 04, 2017

Pausing but not finished, I will be back.....Seeking Feedback!

This is a holding blog post. I have been doing this blog for over 10 years now and after several months without a post I will have to admit that I have run out of energy on this. I am not giving up, I will almost certainly come back, not sure exactly when.

It is with with mixed feelings that I do this, only because I frequently find one of our kids read with incredible interest a blog post that I posted several years earlier!

Upon reflection, when I started this blog I was extremely excited about sharing small anecdotes and photos of our brand new family on the internet with friends and family all over the world. In this, this blog was incredibly efficient. That was before Facebook, Twitter or Instagram became ubiquitous. Now as I think about updating "The Blog", in the era of Facebook, Instagarm, Twitter, Snapchat, it seems awfully antiquated.

If you think I'm off-base here or are approaching this in the wrong way, leave a comment and lets see what happens. I appreciate your viewing!



Monday, January 02, 2017

Last day of holidays.......

We are trying to make the most of our last vacation day before the new work year starts tomorrow, the kids are back to school on Thursday. We rounded out a great holiday with friends by visiting Steef and Ginette last night at their new house. It was an incredibly relaxing evening and great to see them back from their trip to The Netherlands.

After we took the decorations down this morning, Lynne has tackled a painting job this afternoon, the girls bathroom, her energy levels are incredible. I seem to be entertaining the kids, so Connor and I took another long walk with Molly on the golf course. In case you were wondering, simply removing Connor from the girls presence essentially guarantees harmony with everyone else.







Sunday, January 01, 2017

Happy New Years!


ISABEL: Happy new years! For the new years of 2017, my family went over to the Webb’s house. There, we met Malu, their cousin, and Mia, their aunt. We had cheese fondue and chocolate fondue. We dipped all sorts of vegetables in the cheese fondue. We also dipped shrimp, meatballs, and bread. For the chocolate fondue, we dipped marshmallows, pretzels, and fruit. After that, we got horns and crowns that said happy New Year. All the kids went outside and ran around blowing them. Anna took a video of everything, so when we went back inside, we watched the video. We also popped firecrackers out side and decorated our crowns with confetti and crumpled paper. If we have any more party’s like this in 2017, it’s going to be a very fun year!









New Years Day Cleaning....

It's a beautiful New Years Day here in West Lafayette. Lynne and I spent a few quality hours together this morning, cleaning out our big closet. The kids had a fantastic time helping us sort through boxes full of clothes and old nick-nacks, some of which Lynne and I have had for over 20 years. It was a mixture of nostalgia and “what on earth do we still have this for?” I pulled out an old deflated rugby ball that literally fell to pieces and Lynne found a hoard of ear rings from her time in Africa.

Connor, Molly and I then had a long long walk/bike ride on our local golf course, clear blue sky and over 40F. Perfect way to start the new year with some exercise!








Lets welcome 2017!!

And so it begins, let's get 2017 going everyone!! Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. We celebrated with Kevin, Kaisa and her sister Mia from Sweden tonight. Thanks you guys, it was a great evening!!






Saturday, December 31, 2016

Happy New Year

PAUL: Happy New Year everyone. Wishing you and your families a healthy, peaceful and happy 2017.  As usual, I’m not really sure where 2016 went, but after reviewing my photos from the year to select those below, it's clear to me now that it was a crazy crazy busy one. Our family seemed to be unusually busy, both on a personal level but also at work.

We’ve had a relaxing holiday, although Lynne has not been feeling well with a persistent sinus infection and now more recently, together with Isabel, a cold. Hopefully she will recover quickly to usher in a healthy new year.

Hope you all have a great night and make solid resolutions, it starts afresh tomorrow. Shown below are a few selected pictures of friends and family from our various travels, trips, activities of the year.

…….and yes, Isabel has shamed me into writing this blog post…:)
























A day with our friends


ISABEL: Yesterday Connor and I had some friends over. Connor had Onyx and I had Maddie. While the Boys played Nerf guns, Maddie and I played and new game I got for Christmas called Zeus On The Lose with daddy. Mommy, Maddie and I made a ginger cake similar to the one we had at Christmas. Then we got Anja to help us build a big eye amusement park. We made a zip line across our room, and hung big eyes from the fan. But then the boys saw us and told daddy. We got in trouble, and we couldn’t play in our room. We decided to build one in the basement. When we got bored of that, we played 5 ingredients, where we choose 5 ingredients and make a “dish” out of them. This time, we made a grape salad with a sliced cheese stick, crushed kale crackers, croutons, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  Anja, Maddie, Daddy, and I all tried it, and all agreed it was discussing. Then, daddy made us mac-and-cheese for lunch. Then, we all watched movies, or rather the girls played Sims, until it was time for Onyx to go home. Then Anja, Maddie, and I pretended to do job interviews with each other. Finally, it was time for a dinner of Christmas leftovers (Yum!). When it was time for daddy to take Connor to swimming, it was also time for Maddie to go home. What a fun day we had with our friends!






Friday, December 30, 2016

Christmas Update


ISABEL: It’s finally Christmas! This year, my family and I had an amazing Christmas with our friends. We had a delicious Christmas lunch with ham, lamb, turkey, gravy, and many more wonderful foods. My siblings played with our friends while the adults talked. Kaisa and Kevin brought delicious sweetish sweets and Lisa and Brad brought Polish Easter bread. Anja and Mommy made ginger bread with Anna, which is actually cake-like bread. We played games such as hide-and-seek, watched the movie Yours, Mine, Ours, and told funny stories. Frida brought over some finger knitting, and made it long enough to stretch across our entire kitchen! Unfortunately, Christmas day soon came to and end, and it was time to say good-by to all of our friends. It had been a fun day, but now it was time for everyone to go to bed.