Sweet Six Sunday!

one. We celebrated Liz's birthday this week with a great group of ladies and some delicious coffee! Birthdays abroad can be tough - traditions are different and we are away from friends and family - so I love that our expat community comes together to make birthdays special here. We got Liz an assortment of smaller Polish pottery bowls - similar to those that she was admiring at Robin's last week.  Super fun to pick out! Happy birthday, Liz!!!

two. We were at the Little Gym three times this week - Beckett's free trial class, another class for B to try out (Cracker Jacks - more focused on team sports) and Reese's first official class! Such a fun place! Both kids love their classes, we enjoy the free lattes, and we are happy that the kids have a place to burn energy! 

Cheering on her brother!

"I a ballerina!"

three. Liz and I ventured out to Ikea on Wednesday morning and found these beauties!!! Our friend, Tiffany's daughter, is having a tennis party today and when I sent her a pic of our find, she asked us to buy 16 of them! We had A LOT of stares and snickers as we pushed this cart through Ikea! Those silly Americans!

four. After sending Beckett off on a field trip with ABC Montessori on Thursday morning, Reese and I headed off to the American Clinic again to get an ultrasound of her abdomen - to follow up on her belly aches.  Reese was very brave and thought it was funny when I told her that the technician was using her magic wand to see what she ate that morning, and then I listed off a bunch of items to see what she ate - a shoe, toys, her dolly, a basketball and various foods.  :)  Thankfully everything looked great and we were sent on our way after only five minutes.  Woohoo!

five. On Friday morning we hosted a playdate with three other moms and kiddos.  It is so nice to connect with other moms and have some adult interaction during the day! Beckett is the lone boy, hanging out with four girls, age three and under. Ha! The moms ate chili and the kiddos ate macaroni and cheese using the below cheese mix! It is just like the mac and cheese packets you get in the US. This will be a must buy this summer when we are back in the States as we cannot get mac and cheese here. Thanks Kristy for bringing it!

six. Andy had a work event that started at 11am on Saturday, so it was the kiddos and I for most of Saturday.  After naps, we did a Valentine's Day art project and watched the movie Trolls.  The up side of Andy being gone - I got all of the snuggles during the movie! Reese even sat in my lap for the first half of the movie! :) When Andy is around, they are ALL about Andy, so I enjoyed the extra love!

Here are some fun pics of the kids to leave you with for the week!

Picture from school - we love that they still have some time together during the day!

Clearly Reese did not get the joke!

Oh my goodness! 

Beckett's artwork that we now have displayed in our bedroom!

Sweet Six Sunday!

A little bit of everything this past week!

one. Cleansing
I started the week off by hitting the reset button.  My body was begging me for a nutritional cleanse - I was a little bloated, woke puffy in the morning and just feeling blah - so Sunday and Monday I cleansed.  If you have never cleansed before, you MUST give it a try! I filled my body with aloe vera, bilberry, blueberry, ashwagandha, raspberry, fennel, Siberian ginseng, peppermint leaf, turmeric and more, PLUS had chocolates! It gives my body the ability to flush out toxins, reduce the bloat and sugar cravings, and clears up my mind fog! Yes please!

two. The Best, Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies
The best way to not eat a lot of cookies, or the batter, is to make the cookies on your last night of cleansing! I saw this recipe on a blog that I follow - House of Smiths - and since we received chocolate chips when Gayle and Steve were in town, we were all set! No, they do not sell Nestle chocolate chips here in Poland.  

The cookies were a BIG hit! Give them a try!

http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/2017/01/the-best-softest-chocolate-chip-and.html

three. Valentine's Day Project
Valentine's Day in Poland is quite different than it is in the US.  No red and pink aisles of fun heart decorations or rows of Valentine's cards for your sweeties.  I have actually not seen a single heart or Valentine Day decoration here - not even at Ikea.  SO, I had to get creative when I wanted to add some heart decor to our already existing collection - and these button hearts were perfect!

I collected random buttons that I had and some jewelry wire!

I then laid out the buttons into two hearts!

Then I wired these together - a lot harder than I thought they would be.
I recommend using larger buttons as the wire would break when I tried to wire little buttons.
Add a little baker's twine or ribbon to it and voila! 

four. American Clinic of Warsaw
We had our first pediatric appointment this week at the American Clinic in Warsaw.  Reese has been complaining of a bellyache for the last couple of months, so we thought we would get it checked out.  She usually only brings it up when she is in trouble, or isn't getting her way, or when she wants her nuk, so we don't know how much truth there is to it, but just in case, we thought we should have it looked at.  "My belly really hurts!"

We first tried to go to the clinic on Thursday morning.  When we took a tour of the clinic a couple months ago, we were told that there was a pediatrician on staff every day, so we didn't make an appt.  When we showed up, we were told that they were between pediatric doctors and the new doctor's first day was Friday, so we returned at 8:30am on Friday morning.

After reviewing food allergies and discussing her diet and bowel movements, we were told to boil our milk before Reese drinks it (not going to happen) and to eliminate sweets (we will definitely reduce, but most likely not eliminate completely).  We also scheduled a urine test and abdominal scan this coming Thursday.  Please send prayers that they find nothing, and that it truly is just a phrase that Reese says when she is upset and isn't getting her way! 

Exam room

Our pediatrician - I have NO idea what her name is.

Cute little kid play area

Front desk

five. Pokeno
Thursday night was another fun Pokeno night at Robin's! We had a smaller group - only 8 of us - so it was a lot less rushed to get through all the rounds and we had more time for chatting! :) Lots of laughs - just what this girl needed! And I walked away with two new lotions! 

six. Ice Skating with our Polish friends
On Saturday morning, we met up with our Polish friends for some ice skating and lunch! It was the kids' first time ice skating!!! And as you can see from the pics below, the kids were not thrilled with the ice skating and I was only able to get a few pics - I actually didn't even get one with Beckett on skates! Both of the kids refused to use the penguin helpers and only wanted to skate with Andy.  Beckett wanted to just go out there and skate - "I just want to do it myself and be able to skate!" Well bud, it doesn't work like that for most kiddos.  This led to a lot of frustration and dramatic, intentional falls to the ice.  I think we were out there for maybe 5 to 10 minutes.  

We then headed to lunch for some coloring, piano playing, dancing on the stage and adult conversation! 

Heading to the rink through the park!

She literally just stood up and was already whining. 

Coloring at lunch with Vicky! So much happier!

Michal playing the piano with Beckett

We are now wrapping up the weekend working on taxes - that are due tomorrow! We are almost done! Wish us luck!

Sweet Six Sunday!

With our visitors gone, we resumed normal activities this week!

one. Dinner out at Vilanova on Tuesday night
Most of our weeks are wide open these days, which is such a shift for us from our life in the US.  After realizing that we didn't have any plans Monday-Friay at night, we planned a dinner out at a cute little Italian restaurant that we found, when Andy's parents where here - Vilanova.  It not only has delicious food, but has a fun kid area that keeps our kiddos busy and gives us some time to have an adult conversation.  

Soup-eating, "freeze-gun" shouting little girl!

Cheers!

two. Book swap and Ikea

Wednesday morning had us out the door early so that I could go to the American School of Warsaw (ASW) book swap.  Students and staff can bring in a new/used book and receive a ticket to get another book.  If you didn't have any tickets, the cost of the books/movies/magazines/games was 5pln = $1.25.  What a steal! I met my friend, Tiffany, at the montessori after drop off and found some great new books for the kids.  We can never have too many books!

First ones at school, which means the teachers were both downstairs and
I got my first goodbye kisses out the window!

I then headed to Ikea, which is about a 35 minute drive from our house, on a two lane road the entire way.  Andy HATES going to Ikea and it is too hard to shop with the two kids with me, so I took one for the team and ventured out.  My main purchase was a table for the kids' dollhouse.  It used to sit on the floor, behind the playroom door and the kids just didn't love playing with it on the floor as it got knocked around.  I got this large coffee table for $30 and raised it up.  I am happy to report that they have been playing with it every day since. 

three. Pirate's life for us!
We have been living the pirate's life all week long! Pirate costumes, pirate ship and even pirate money! While making dinner this week, the kids requested a pirate ship.  Yes, they wanted a pirate ship stat! When they didn't like my quick solution of laundry baskets, daddy arrived home and saved the night! Within 15 mins, we had a pirate ship with skull and crossbones sail, a cannon and even a rope that connected the treasure chest to the back of the ship (so that their enemies wouldn't find their treasure).  Love their creativity! We then ventured to Tesco the next day to get pirate costumes (in stores now for Carnival) and made some pirate money! 

The "rope" connecting the treasure box to the ship!

Laminated and ready to be cut!

Our cute little pirates!

four. Curry Goodness
A couple weeks ago, we had a DELICIOUS curry lunch at a playdate and I have been dreaming about it ever since.  After getting the recipe and collecting all the ingredients (sure is a lot of spices), I made it this week and it was a family pleaser! 

Recipe found here:

http://www.cookingandme.com/2015/12/butter-chicken-masala-recipe-indian.html

Changes I made - I doubled the recipe as I used 2lbs of chicken, 5 medium potatoes and two sliced carrots.  I also made the garam masala from ingredients that I already had in the house, and used peanut butter instead of cashew paste.  

We were so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a pic until
dinner was over and it was ready to go in the fridge for leftovers!

five. The Little Gym
We signed up for a free introductory class at a cute gym here called The Little Gym.  They not only have a great area where the classes are held, but also a fun sitting and play area for parents and siblings.  Reese's first class was on Saturday and Beckett's will be on the 7th.  It amazes me that these instructors conduct the class in both Polish and in English, without losing the attention of the little ones.

Big brother cheering her on with his toolbox and purse!

We weren't supposed to take pics while they were in class, but I snuck a couple!

six. Day date and dinner at the Blackburn's
Saturday we had our lovely babysitter, Justyna, come at 1pm so that we could have a date day before heading over to our friends' house for dinner.  We started off at the gym and then did some shopping! We got a couple pairs of boots, a new purse and new Wayfarers! Then we headed over to Robin and Blaine's for a delicious dinner and a fun game of Cards Against Humanity! 

Wayfarers on, baby!

It was another great week in Poland!