Eliot's Travels

Today the weather was much better. I was able to bike Eliot to school. Biking is a lot easier, and I don't have to wait for the bus. I wanted to run a few errands once Miles and I dressed and ate breakfast, but he was grumpy and not interested in going out. So instead of pushing the issue, we played with trains. We made a track for Percy to pull some trains. I finished up a couple of projects this morning.

Miles and I left to pick up Eliot around 11:45. It was sunny but cool and a little windy. At school, Eliot made a great picture of Sinterklaas and added some finishing touches on his Piet. Marry was showing me his pictures before we left. They are hanging the children's pictures along the classroom walls. Marry said Eliot is very good at seeing something one time and being able to draw it. Jason's mom reviewed the weekly newsletter with me - pointing out that Sinterklaas is coming to the school on Dec 5. She said Miles and I should stay around because it is always exciting when he arrives. The boys wanted to play at the school yard for a little while. They swang and went on the slide before biking home.

In the afternoon, Miles took a short nap. We printed out some coloring pages from the Sinterklaasjournaal. Eliot worked on coloring arrows to help Sinterklaas find his way. Eliot said he was bored with putting our shoes in the sun room, so he moved it next to the kitchen table. He hung arrows all over the house marking the route from the sliding glass doors to the gift spot, as well as signposting the path from the apartment door downstairs, since we are not sure how he comes into the house.

I cooked tacos for dinner - one of our staple meals here in Holland, while Jim was on a long conference call. We talked with my family in Amarillo via webcam. The boys showed off their projects and toys for their great grandmother, Aunt Daleta, Aunt Julie and Grammy. It was great for my grandmother (who is 96) to see the kids since she doesn't have internet and can't read the blogs unless my parents bring her printouts. Jim and the boys made chocolate chip cookies. Miles ran excitedly around the house saying "daddy's cookies."

Sinterklaasjournaal
The Huispiet is still trying to do a headcount of the Pieten. Computerpiet has entered all of the children's wishlists into the computer and tried to print them out. They threw all the lists away since they are done with them, but somehow Sinkterklaas' book was also in that trash bag ...

posted by Whitney @ 8:54 AM