Jammin'

Guess who just got new guitars?

We are still looking for a teacher, so in the meantime we've been YouTube-ing it and learning just a couple of tunes - so if you'd like to hear a mad-crazy version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," you know who to call

Who knows if this will last, but for now at least, the kids are lovin' their new guitars

Happy Thoughts

Carnival parties for the kids

Sweet notes from my sweet little boy

And this for lunch

Ah...happy thoughts

Brugge and Ghent

Brugge and Ghent are two cities not too far from here that are popular tourist spots. We couldn't decide which one to visit this weekend, so we did both. We browsed the shops, tested the chocolate (ok, that's mostly me), sampled the food (thumbs-up on the Flemish stew), wandered around and looked at the cool old buildings, and watched the boats on the canals. And after, we took a vote on which was better - Jared and the kids voted for Ghent (more activities, less touristy) and I voted for Brugge (sure, it looks almost Disney-like in its charm, but who says that's bad!). But no matter which is the best, we had fun in both cities, and can't wait to check them out again.


At one of the main squares ("markt") in Brugge

There were horse-drawn carriages everywhere - yup, I know, touristy

And yes, in keeping with pretty much everywhere we've eaten in Belgium, plenty of frites to be had - and just so you know, their 'frites' taste just the same as our french fries. Only difference is they offer a ton of sauces to choose from - of course, we always choose good ol' ketchup.

Chocolate shops EVERYWHERE in Brugge

They offer canal boat rides, but we decided to wait for some warmer weather to try that out

But we did have fun walking along the canals and watching the boats go by

Yeah, I totally brought this home

At the Castle of the Counts in Ghent

The kids had fun touring the castle - but not so much the torture chamber

Overlooking Ghent from the castle - and Ellie wants to make sure you notice her awesome new coat

Hey, Jack

And yes, Ellie looks QUITE comfortable on that throne

See you soon, Brugge and Ghent!

Nine Irish Lasses in Dublin

There once were some lasses from Belgium,
Who went on a wee trip to Dublum, (sorry, got to rhyme, this is a limerick, after all)
They ate lots of grub,
And sang at the pub,
And flirted with charming Irishmen-um.

OK, so I'm not going to quit my day job to become a poet. But I DID go on a little trip with 8 other gals to Dublin as kind of a birthday treat for several of the gals with February birthdays. And we DID have lots of fun, and ate lots of food, and met lots of charming Irishmen who winked and called us "luv," and had a great, great time. Now it's back to the real world, I'm afraid - but I will work on getting Jared to develop an Irish accent. It's worth a try!


Our first night in Dublin - I got the seafood chowder, and it was AWESOME. We really lucked out - somehow, every pub we went to managed to come up with seating for 9.

The Brazen Head, officially Ireland's oldest pub (dating back, if you can believe it, to 1198). And I got the beef and Guiness pie. And yes, I'm obsessed with food. Got a problem with that?

And speaking of food, how about fish and chips with a side of seafood chowder? That's what I had at a restaurant in Howt, a little village at the seashore.

Out on the town in an area called Temple Bar - and Anne totally stole that freaky leprechaun's gold

One of the funnest things was a musical pub crawl on our last night - two musicians took us to three different pubs, taught us about Irish music, and of course sang and played for us.

Two of the gals even sang during the pub crawl - Leah sang an Italian aria, and Angie, who managed to collect a half-dozen Irish 'boyfriends' (including these two) sang "Stand By Your Man."

We finished the trip with a traditional Irish breakfast - which, truth be told, I didn't much care for. But I can now say I've had blood pudding.

My favorite sightseeing was Trinity College, where they house the Book of Kells.

Along with lots and lots and LOTS of books. I was in heaven.

At St. Patrick's Cathedral. We also went to evensong at Christ's Church, which was just lovely.

That's my karate kid impression. And no, I won't quit my day job.

Unless I could quit my day job and work at a chocolate shop. Pretty please?

While we were there, they had a charity thing going on where local artists had painted pigs and placed them around town. It took us a couple days to figure this out - before that, we were really confused as to why we kept seeing painted pigs everywhere.

Yeah, we hit this place, too. We like food, did I mention that?

Ha'Penny Bridge

Should I admit that I don't remember the name of this castle?

One of my favorite things in Dublin were all the colorful doors - someone told us the history of this tradition, which I can't remember but think had something to do with thumbing their noses at England or something like that - but either way, awesome

And now for the food - that's coddle, if you didn't know

And my favorite - the beef and Guiness pie

And my not-so-favorite Irish breakfast - I'm glad I tried it, but give me some IHOP pancakes any day over this

But this? The fish and chips and chowder? Would totally do again.

'Til next time, Dublin!

Our 8-Year-Old (a wee bit late)

This is a few days late, but I couldn't forget to acknowledge that our girl Ellie had a birthday. She turned 8 last week, and was very excited to be the birthday girl. And a very good sport, I must say, since her mom kinda dropped the ball in the birthday celebration department. Ellie really wanted to go to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam for her birthday, but that will have to wait until we find a spare Saturday. And she really wanted a sewing machine for her birthday - which she DID get, but we haven't opened since her mother is deathly afraid of sewing machines and is waiting for one of her more crafty friends to teach Ellie how to sew. Then she got baptized the day of her birthday, and it was very lovely, but could have been a train wreck since we had to throw everything together at the last minute because of scheduling conflicts. But surprisingly, Ellie was a great sport throughout, and we all had a fun time celebrating her 8th with her.

So, finally, a week or so late, Happy Birthday to our crazy, creative, crazy, talented, crazy, social, crazy, smart, and did I mention crazy 8-year-old girl. We love you, Jelly Bean!


Our Crazy Girl

The morning of Ellie's birthday and baptism - yes, she was freezing, but refused to wear her coat in the picture.

Jared and Ellie look vampire-ish in their paleness, don't they? - did I mention we don't get much sunlight around here?

And yes, her pretty white dress DOES now bear the evidence of brownies, rice krispie treats, and pretty pink cupcakes

Our Little Cheerleader

The other weekend, to earn money for a cheerleading competition, our high school cheerleaders held a cheer clinic for the younger girls. They taught the girls some cheers, chants, and a cheer dance. Ellie went to the clinic, and had a blast. But the best part was that they got to perform with the cheerleaders at the next high school basketball game. As much as I might have mixed feelings on cheerleaders, Ellie sure seems to have a knack. So I guess we'd better start saving up for those pom-poms!

Winning Isn't Everything (and thank goodness for that)

It was Pinewood Derby again, which in the Sorenson household means lots of object lessons about graceful losing. Because, let's just put it out there, our cars are never fast. Inevitably, Jared is about to head out on travel when it's car-making time, so our process is rushed to say the least. But you know, our kids are actually cool with it - they have fun designing their cars, and spending time with Jared on the cars. And frankly, by the time derby time comes around, they're focusing more on what snacks are available at the derby than whether they're winning. And that's good with me - because although they'll be plenty of opportunity for competitiveness, I'd rather it not be over a bleepin' derby. So bring on those cool-but-painfully-slow* Sorenson cars!

*Jared would probably want me to clarify that we actually did have ONE fast car - but between you and me, I think it was a fluke.


Ellie's Monster High car

It of course has lots of bling to it - who would want to drive a car without jewels!

Getting ready for the race - to avoid pain, we won't show the actual race

The Pinewood Derby was combined with a Cookie Rally, to get ready for girl scout cookie sales - all of the girls made posters, got trained in sales techniques and money management, and got to taste-test all of the cookies

Meanwhile, here is Jack's school bus car

When his friends remarked about his slow school bus, Jack just clarified that it was focusing on safety first since it had small schoolchildren onboard - we're all about safety