Y3W6 - Balance
This week I have lost my cell phone, my Church bag, and something else that I can't remember right now. After deep reflection I have decided that the issue is balance. With so much on my mind all the time, I can't possibly keep up with all of the mundane things. My girls have recently been giving us the business and telling us that we are mean because we are not doing what they want at every given moment. The WE in this sentence is HUGE because usually when this kind of stuff starts, Greg gets off easy and it is usually mom that is mean. We have had several conversations about what constitutes being mean and how not getting your way does not necessarily make your parents mean. It does make me reflect though, we expect so much from them and don't always consider what they would like to do on a given weekend, trying to capitalize on our time here and seeing as much as we can see.
After spending several days this week finishing school, going to going away parties, going to the pool, then seeing Ice Age 3 in English, we thought we were handling the balance thing quite well. It turns out that they didn't want to go anywhere on Saturday and they ganged up on us trying to sabotage our Saturday in the Netherlands plans. We made a last minute change of plans and went to Burger's Zoo. It was a nice day and I think the girls had a great day. On the way home we stopped at the town we intended to visit, 's-Hertogenbosch, unfortunately most shops were closed but it was still cool to walk around the city. It's all about compromise. I keep telling myself that if they don't learn about compromising now, they won't ever expect to have to compromise with anyone when they are older. Then, I go back and forth in my head thinking they are only kids - this is really the only time in their lives they can make a fuss about what they want.
Obviously, I am confused about the best way to have balance in our lives. Here are some pics from the week...Enjoy!
After spending several days this week finishing school, going to going away parties, going to the pool, then seeing Ice Age 3 in English, we thought we were handling the balance thing quite well. It turns out that they didn't want to go anywhere on Saturday and they ganged up on us trying to sabotage our Saturday in the Netherlands plans. We made a last minute change of plans and went to Burger's Zoo. It was a nice day and I think the girls had a great day. On the way home we stopped at the town we intended to visit, 's-Hertogenbosch, unfortunately most shops were closed but it was still cool to walk around the city. It's all about compromise. I keep telling myself that if they don't learn about compromising now, they won't ever expect to have to compromise with anyone when they are older. Then, I go back and forth in my head thinking they are only kids - this is really the only time in their lives they can make a fuss about what they want.
Obviously, I am confused about the best way to have balance in our lives. Here are some pics from the week...Enjoy!
Oh, I almost forgot. For years we have met my family up north Michigan at our cottage for a long weekend over the Fourth of July. This year, especially, we were missing having that opportunity. In case we had any doubts about whether we were missing the fun up there, they left this message (click on audio file below) for us while we were in the Netherlands.
We didn't really celebrate the Fourth properly yet. Most of the other American families were already on Holiday and we just had to take advantage of the good weather and free weekend to go and see something new. We are planning on a pseudo 4th of July celebration next week.
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