To live in a country that is 100ft below sea level just when global warming is starting to really kick in is just stupid.

I have baby Raoul laying on my lap, making funny grunts and reflexive smiles (it means he's gassy or he's simply imitating, not that he thinks I'm funny...). Though, he does stare at me alot, which makes me feel special. :p
Yesterday, I played "princess and knights" with the oldest. He asked me to (saying, I save you then we get married!), then said he didn't know how to play, so I just pretended to be singing and picking up flowers and then to be taken away by a dragon...then I pretended to be the dragon, chasing and eating limbs off the knight, which he ended up seeming to enjoy much better. After half an hour I was hoarse from growling and exhausted from chasing him and throwing him on couches. It was fun though. Now he wants to play every day... Egh.
The 1-1/2 yr old wakes up everyday and starts yelling for "Amana!" and then wants me to read him a book right away (which generally consists of me getting two or three words off the page before he flips the page, or the next three pages, and then dropping that book to get another right away...he has a very short attention span).
-Yesterday, I had to turn the car around in a driveway, which was steep, and I couldn't get the car up the hill (tried over 20 times, stalling each time), so I asked some old guys fishing down the road if they could do it for me. They thought I meant there was something wrong with the car, so they were going to push it...Oh the embarassment when I had to explain that, No, it's just me. I suck. Could you please drive it up the hill for me? They smiled at each other and complied. They waved when they saw me later in the day, and I smiled back, desperately hoping they didn't recognize me. I'm sure the did.
- I saw, for the first time since I've been here, a man walking around in wooden shoes.
- Last night, I heard a Dutch version of that song "every step you take...I'll be missing you..." (By the way, does anyone know who sang that version? I could swear it was PuffDaddy, but Dane thinks I'm wrong...).
- I also saw a woman on a bike with a woven basket attached to the front, and a little dog sitting in the basket. Just like Toto.
- Sometimes, when the sun is just beginning to set, this place reminds me a bit of what I first pictured the Shire to look like...
-Yesterday I found out that Jeroen and Ingrid are (nominal) Catholics. Made for the beginning of an interesting conversation, though it was interrupted by one of the kids... I'm kinda not-so-secretly-anymore hoping that we don't talk about religion too much because I am too cynical about all religions, though even more so about non-Christian ones sometimes, I must admit, so I am afraid I will not make a good impression. I'm hoping that my lifestyle and behavior will be enough to make an impression... Right.