The Past Few Weeks

There are so many things I have wanted to blog about as we are about to wrap up our stay in Belgium, but we have been quite busy with different things so I thought I would tell you about a few of them.

You may remember this picture ---->

Colin's big birthday present was a trip back to the US for a long weekend. Craig was asked by Michael to be his sponsor for Communion and we decided to book an extra ticket to surprise Colin and the family.

Craig and Michael

Cousins!!!

One Saturday afternoon, we were invited to a Baptism for our friend's son. The Baptism was held in Carolus Barromeus Church which was designed by Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens was a long time resident of Antwerp. His house is now a museum and a large statue of him stands in the middle of Groenplaats. It was special and beautiful, to say the least. Colin was very interested on what was going on and once invited by the priest, was eager to make his way right up to the front to watch.



One of the side rooms of Carolus Barromeus Church



A couple of weeks ago at school, Chloe's topic was learning all about Mom while also learning about the French artist Niki de Sainte Phalle. The week wrapped up with a small Mother's Day show and painting with mommy. It was nice to be invited into Chloe's classroom and see their normal activities. It was around this time that Chloe realized that she wanted to be an artist when she grows up and she told me that I should start looking for an artist costume for her to wear when she is bigger.



Our future Rubens

Later that evening we had parent / teacher conferences at the school. I have known for quite awhile that Chloe has a close group of friends that she hangs out with. I refer to them as The Gang: Edie, Jan Leon, Brenna and new member Luke. There is also another boy, Jawad, who really wants to be a member of the gang, but seems only allowed to join in occasionally. Her teacher told me that the table they all sit at was named The Power Table by Jan Leon. Pretty dominating for a group of 4 year olds!! Ironically, all of the members of The Power Table, with the exception of Luke, will be moving to America over the summer. I hope they are able to train Luke well enough before the end of the school year to kept the Power Table going next year in Kindergarten 2. Maybe Jawad will have a good shot at obtaining a permanent spot at The Power Table next year.

The following week, Chloe's Teacher, Miss Sarah, got married. She was married in one of the local town halls and was nice enough to invite all of her students and their families. It was our first Belgian wedding and it did not disappoint. The Borgerhout Town Hall was absolutely beautiful. Nicer than most of the churches I have been in in NJ. The ceremony was performed in their wedding hall and the students all had special seats behind Sarah and Pieter. The ceremony itself was relaxed and very casual. Chloe had been talking about Sarah's wedding for a while and was so excited to see her in her dress. She looked absolutely beautiful and it was so adorable to see all of the kids run up to her as she approached the Town Hall for the ceremony.


Edie and Chloe out from of the Town Hall



The Ceremony





More to come...