POD-64: School Visit

Today was the open house day at the school Morgan is going to be starting after Easter. She had a great time playing in the classroom and meeting the other kids and her teachers. Its hard to believe this time is already here.

POD-63: Cafe in Antwerpen

As typical in Belgium it can be beautiful blue skies one minute and dark looming clouds carrying torrential downpours the next. That is what we experienced tonight when we went for a bite in Antwerp. I didn't have the big camera today, but I thought this was a cute little place worth taking a picture anyhow.

POD-62: Bird Nesting

Had a great day taking Morgan to the zoo and it was just the two of us. I'll do a post on her blog from the trip, but here are a few of a bird we saw that had laid a few eggs.

POD-61: Random Shots

Today was the first beautiful Saturday since the spring weather started. Our list of things we couldn't wait to do has gotten so long we tried to make too many plans and ended up running errands and just enjoying the day at home. Somehow though, all of my pictures were inside today and none that spectacular. So, naturally, I'll share them all.


Getting near the end of "soup season," but we like it too much to let it go too quickly.


What goes better with soup than "wine?"


Limburgse Vlaai. I tend to be a sucker for kids in the neighborhood selling just about anything. I bought this from a group of them a few weeks ago even though I had no idea what it was and they brought it over today. Its a sort of pie that is a little different from the ones we usually try in town and was quite tasty. Presumably originating from the province of Limburg which is east of us bordering the Netherlands and Germany.




Can you tell Morgan picked out our plates? I got the bunny.


While I was out and in Vosselaar today I had to run in a grocery store for some Paus beer. Its the town right next to us and they have a brewery with their own beer you can only find there.

POD-60: Flowers

And here they are...the first flowers for our garden.

POD-59: Missing Photo

Okay, so no photo of the day for today, but... if I'd had the camera with me the cows I took a picture of a few weeks ago had me laughing out loud on my bike ride home today. Last weekend we started seeing a few cows popping up in pastures here and there, but these poor cows are still stuck in their barn. Anyhow today one of the cows had his head sticking completely out of his little window with his tongue out trying to catch a bit of spring fever. Any day and they'll be free.

Also of note, the grass has suddenly come alive and has turned a vibrant green, the weekdays have been gorgeous, and we went and picked up a few spring flowers to plant in the backyard. No time to get them in the ground and photographed like I also would have liked, but went to go visit with the Hall's tonight for the first time in ages.

POD-58: Forgotten Flowers

I almost forgot we had these in the garden, I was pleasantly surprised to see them popping up in the yard.


Acting like Americans...had to throw something on that grill with as nice as the weather has been. Maybe if it is finally nice weather on the weekend we can finally have our spring cookout.

In het nieuws

Got busted by the paparazzi leaving work on Friday. Karin and I were laughing at the guy across the street taking pictures and he got us.

There is all kinds of drama here about the upcoming layoffs, but luckily for all parties involved it should be coming to an end soon.

POD-57: Playground

Out at the Westmalle Cafe with the Hall's getting some fresh air and much needed energy out.

POD-56: Spring Saturday

Things to be happy about today...

Waking up to the birds chirping and enjoying a delicious cup of coffee alone in the peace and quiet shortly followed by cute little footsteps and a warm little snuggle buddy while we watched the end of Cinderella.

Our new friends Kristina and Adrian are very excited about the new baby girl they are adopting this summer and are able to use some of Morgan's old baby things.

Despite many trips to the toilet and many tears we have made it 3 days in a row with no accidents. Morgan got to go with me to pick out a new toy and we came home with some sweet Legos. And some fresh sidewalk chalk and bubbles since its spring and all.

We saw the first pasture of cows out grazing today (horray spring).

Despite the rainy forecast for this weekend it has been a pretty nice day and after all our errands and such we were able to have the windows open most of the day and get out in the backyard and play a little bit before it got too dark. This was the only somewhat interesting shot I got for the day. We're hoping tomorrow will hold out for a nice bike ride.



Oh and one more thing...3 weeks until our next visitors arrive :-D

POD-55: O-H-I-O

Just some snapshots today. Morgan wanted to wear her Buckeye shirt to bed tonight and since the game is on at 2:30am she might as well cheer in her sleep. She and daddy have been working hard on their "round on the ends, hi in the middle" song so Ohio has been on her mind.



These are our quick attempt at a night time O-H-I-O, but the series didn't quite come out like I was expecting. We have time to work on that later.









And the background for our Belgian friends who don't already know... Ohio State is where Scott and I went to college. The O-H-I-O thing is a cheer (think YMCA if Morgan's demo isn't quite clear). Our team, the Buckeyes, is playing the the Men's Basketball tournament tonight (which of course we will win). Should be all you need to know:)

POD-54: Crazy About Spring

I'm not quite sure what it is about spring that makes me a little nutty after being cooped up too long in the house so you might be seeing more of these posts coming. This winter has been especially rough on me. I'm not sure what exactly, but probably is a combination of being away from home after visiting for Christmas, the extra bit of darkness here a bit further north, not being able to run for most of January and February, the constant flux of colds passing through the house, frustrations living in a foreign country, and a frustrating start to the year at work. Probably could go on, but I couldn't be more excited to start seeing the bulbs popping up, getting back on my bike, and enjoying the nice warmer temperatures. Yeah, even the warm rain is a bit welcoming because at least it is March and life is getting better. It would be nice though if we could have a bit of this sunshine on a Saturday, would that be too much to ask?

POD-53: Bike Ride!

Today was the first beautiful and warm spring day of the year so I picked up Morgan after work on my bike. It is a bit of a long ride for everyday, but felt great to get some fresh air. Morgan loved it...we saw two canal boats and she was chattering the whole way home. I heard something about Sabrina taking her hat, kisses from Sam, and needing a band-aid. The rest I couldn't really make out, but we had a very nice ride together.

POD-52: Easter Eggs

Yummy fresh chocolate eggs. Unfortunately there weren't as many left for quite the colorful picture I was thinking so I might need to fill up the cup and try again:) As many times as necessary.

POD-51: Toes

This is what my life has become lately. I think I spent nearly all Saturday morning in the bathroom with Morgan while she sits on the toilet. Our favorite thing to do while we wait for action is painting toes. This (in case you can't tell) is orange on top of pink on top of purple. And as I have been instructed tomorrow we go back to purple.

POD-50: Walk

I've been in a bit of a photo slump, but it has been a good week otherwise. Here is one to get me started again. Just a quick shot from a walk with Scott and Morgan while the rain stopped for a few minutes this afternoon. Temperatures are supposed to be warming up this week and we are seeing more and more signs of spring. Horray!

POD-49: Go-Gos

The grocery store gives out these little plastic guys at the checkout which we started collecting for Ryan. Then he showed Morgan what they were, and well...sorry bud, we're collecting our own now. The big kids have battles on the school yard and the little ones stuff them in their pockets:)

POD-48: Hike

It was a pretty morning so we went out for a hike, but it is still a bit too early for much life in the woods. We saw lots of birds and a few airplanes though.




Checking the bird book.

Table Grill

Couldn't help but post again after having a fun dinner at home. Scott and I have had this out twice now with friends and had to splurge on our own. Basically a little grill table where you put the meat on top (as if you even need it) then melt cheese and veggies under the heat and serve over potatoes. It is amazing how filling just the cheese and veggies are...we think its going to be a light dinner and before you know it your stuffed.




Melting cheese and veggies go under here.


Morgan drinking her "wine" just like mommy and daddy.


Morgan tried to take a picture of Scott and chopped off his head so I helped her out.

POD-47: Pancakes

We've gotten a bit out of our Saturday morning habit of making these delicious pancakes. It had been so long since we made them I added way to much flour and they weren't up to par, but it was nice to have them back in our morning.

POD-46: Stompers

POD-45: Knife and Fork

Morgan has been asking for a knife with her dinner for the past several nights and we finally gave it and let her give it a try. It didn't take us too long to realize she has been using one at the daycare and has learned to eat Belgian style...knife in one hand to help scoop on the fork.

POD-44: Lizard Shadow

POD-43: Evidence

It doesn't rain every day in Belgium.

phew