Funny things kids say

All is well here on the sunny island. My little sister Iris and her partner Remon came over from Holland, Andy went to Belize to check on the Dome (it's running great, so we can continue to hang out in Aruba), Lucas and Aidan are enjoying their schools and I love singing in a band. So yes, we're a happy bunch.

We also celebrated carnaval here which-by the way-was great fun. I'll post some pics in the coming days.

Anyway, I believe it's time again to write down some classic 'Lucas comments'. Like the other day when we were bickering and he said:

'My brain thinks you're stupid...but I think you're beautiful'
Now how could I respond to that? It did make me laugh though.

And when he talked about how he misses Belize, he said:
'You know mum, I love Belize like a brother'

Talking about his brother...the other day he got very confused when he saw Aidan outside and a second later he noticed that Aidan was inside. He was convinced that we suddenly had 2 Aidans and looked for number two for ages.

And finally, we were talking about how Andy and I used to be on television. Lucas said that he wanted to be on TV too. When I asked him what he wanted to do on TV he answered:
'Oh nothing, I just want to go in there and have a look around'.

Oh, the innocence of childhood.

Our 5-year-old and God

Lucas has started to have a bit of a spiritual life all of his own. He talks to God quite a lot these days and it's so sweet to listen to. He asked God the other day why people have 10 fingers and then continued to ask him to please, please, please give him 17 fingers. When he opened his eyes and I asked him what he was planning to do with his 17 fingers, he went quiet for a moment, closed his eyes again and said: "No please God just give me 10 fingers, just 10, that's all I want. Not 17 fingers. Please God, do not give me 17 fingers!"

And the other day there was a TV show on about religion when Lucas walked into the room. He said: "Is that show about God mommy?" I told him that it was. He then looked at the theologist talking on the screen and said: "You know mommy, God made that man". I said that that was right. He then continued: "And you know what else? God even made himself and that's a very tricky thing to do".

Andy and I may not be part of any kind of organized religion, but I do find it important that my children develop their own spirituality. Oh, and whenever Lucas asks God to help him not wee the bed at night, he doesn't wee the bed. So his prayers are being answered ; )

The way kids minds work

My four-year-old boy Lucas keeps cracking me up with the things he says lately, like: "Mum, I can run really fast. As fast as a coconut falls from the tree. And even faster than diarrhea comes out. That fast."

And yesterday he was rather tired and moody. When I asked him what we could do to make him happy again, he looked down at the floor, shook his head and said: "I don't know mummy, I think my happy is stuck".

Anyway, I've decided to write down all these funny comment, as I know that it's impossible to remember them all. And I can't wait till Aidan adds to the list too. Moments like these make all the hard work that we parents do worthwhile. Don't you think?

Our family 'on tour'

Oops, I just realized that I never told you yet how the principle of Lucas' school reacted to us asking for yet more time off school for Lucas....well, he was totally cool about it. His mantra turns out to be 'travel is a different kind of learning and no less valuable than time in the class room'. So obviously this is my kind of principle.

We've been in Aruba since the 16th of May and the kids have only just started to get settled in. I guess we've under-estimated the effect that all this traveling would have on them (2 weeks in the UK, one over-night in Houston, four days back in Belize, one over-night in Miami and then on to Aruba)

The effects of all this upheaval were mainly visible in sleeping problems, being moody (Lucas acted like he entered early puberty...I've never met such a moody 4-year-old!) & fear of new children, something my kids normally never suffer from. We had hoped to enrol the kids into a playgroup for the 3 weeks that we were here, but after 3 failed attempts and some rather hysterical scenes, we gave up.

So now our days are filled with:

• Watching rented childrens DVD's in the morning, whilst mum drinks coffee and slowly wakes up (we don't really have rental places back home, so to rent a DVD is a luxury for us)
• Dad taking Lucas to the driving range to practice their golf swings
• Shopping (big supermarkets are extremely exciting to those of us who have lived in Belizean jungle for the last few years)
• Spending time on one of the many beautiful beaches in Aruba
• Hanging out with my mum, sister and their partners
• Exercising at the local gym (I'm in heaven! Some real time for myself)

My two boys being nice to each other. I wich they were always like this. Lucas has been fighting a lot with his little brother, even though yesterday he told me how much he loves little Aidan: "Mum, I love him so much! I love him like fire! I love him like the night time when there are really hard winds, that much. I love him like a hundred thousand!"

A few hours later he tried to drown him in the sea....



One of the many fun nights in Aruba. Here Lucas tries his hand at 'spijkers slaan', where you have to try and knock a nail into some wood in as few hits as possible.


My sister Miriam and her husband Laurenz outside 'the Plaza' bar in Aruba during the pole sitting competitions (strange Dutch tradition where people sit on a pole for days on end & start halucinating after many sleepless night)That's all for now. The baby just woke up again... For more pictures of our Aruba adventure, check out my sisters blog.

Belize to England

Yes, there obviously has been a lack of blogging on my behalf recently, but this is because we suddenly and quite expectantly have flown off to England earlier in the week. Andy's nan passed away and his mum is due for triple surgery next week, so we decided that we needed to be with the family.

Right now we're in his nan's old house, getting everything ready for the funeral & in a few days we'll head up to Norfolk to be nearer his mum & dad's house.

The kids have been amazing through this whole upheaval. They were as good as gold on the flight over, which is always a worry, as you never know how your children will behave when they are forced to sit down and share a confined space with tons of other people for such a long time. Lucas was actually trying to figure out which cloud was heaven & was expecting to see his great-grandmother fly by when we were up the air.

Anyway, I'm going to keep it short. Just wanted to let you all know where we were.

Enjoy your family and friends! They are precious!

How a 4-year-old can make your heart melt

Lucas often surprises me with the things he says. This morning he was being rather moody for a while in the car, when suddenly he turned to me and said:

'You are like my sunshine, mum. Because you are always so nice to me.'

I definitely didn't see that one coming. It put the biggest smile ever on my face! You've got to love 4-year-olds; they drive you crazy and make you fall in love with them from one second to the next.