african hair and the holiday season

Pregnancy is certainly taking a toll on the blogging! I'm now 10 weeks along and I've been quite nauseous and very very tired. I wonder if still having to take care of 3 kids has anything to do with that? Ha. Oh to be a first-time mommy again and be able to sleep when the baby sleeps, or just lounge around when desired/needed.

But.. that is ALL of the complaining I'm planning on doing because honestly, I have the best kids. They're so well-behaved, ready to help and above all, entertaining! For instance, I was picking them up from school when while we were stopped at a traffic light, a girl on a bike passed in front of us. Her hair was neon pink and the girls could. not. look. away. They thought it was just the most amazing thing they had ever seen, and soon enough Lara said: 'MOM! HER HAIR IS SO COOL! SHE MUST BE FROM AFRICA!'. I asked her why Africa and she replied that everybody in Africa has pink hair. I asked her if maybe I should do my hair bright pink sometime. She had to give that one some thought... understandably so. Finally she made up her mind and said: 'No you shouldn't change your hair to pink because then I would have to call you a different name. Then I would have to call you Anirishiku.'. Well. We can't have that! So I'm sorry people, my hair is staying the way it is because I quite enjoy being called Mama.

It's an exciting time here. The days are getting shorter and it's so cosy in the mornings and early evenings. I put up a string of Christmas lights in the living room and I secretely explode with glee everytime I see all the little twinkly lights. I am SO in the mood for the holidays! I've been feeling very nostalgic because this time of year was always my mother's time to really shine. She is the queen of cosy, and has (in my book) yet to be beaten at creating the most festive, warm, special feeling during the gloomiest weather. Not a day goes by that I don't quietly wish for a split second that I can travel back in time to where I would come home from school to find the house transformed into a Winter Wonderland with my mother in the kitchen humming along to Bing Crosby and Mahalia Jackson and making fudge. But I try not to get ahead of myself because there is an order to things and boy do I need order during these months because we have stuff going ON.

Firstly: Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten are arriving tomorrow on his steamboat and we'll be there on the dock to welcome him and hopefully get a few handfuls of the yummies the Zwarte Pieten are handing out.

Then starting next Monday we will have builders coming over eaaaaaarly every morning to add that floor onto our house. It also means I have to completely clear out my pantry and the girls built in closet (which holds all of their clothes) because they will be demolished to make room for the stairs needed to actually be able to get to the added floor. Not a clue where to put it all, so we're bracing ourselves for a slightly messy holiday season.

Next up on the agenda: Sander's yearly Thanksgiving turkey dinner for the missionaries (and us of course). He's planning a rehearsal cooking session this weekend, I'm excited.

Then after that we have Pakjesavond, the night of Sinterklaas' birthday, the night on which he goes around leaving huge bags of presents on people's doorsteps. That evening will be followed by my mother-in-law's birthday, and a few days after that we'll be taking off for a few days. We're being treated to 4 days and 3 nights of Disneyland in Paris! Big THANK YOU to that same mother-in-law :)

Then it will be time to celebrate Lara's 6th birthday on the 17th... and then we can exhale and really get into the Christmas mood and enjoy two weeks of no school, and lots of baking no doubt and of course ringing in the New Year. The quiet will be over soon though, because our contractor expects to finish shortly after New Years, and that means we will be painting, moving furniture around, decorating, laying floors, etc etc. Hopefully we'll be done-ish by the time my mother arrives from Utah on January 13th!

Whew. All this while being pregnant.... it's going to be a challenge! But they are all fun things, things that will improve and enrich our lives so again, no complaints from me. Quite the contrary: My cup truly runneth over.