How to cure a sore tongue

On our last night in Belgium, Alec and Chloe came down asking for medicine. Alec was complaining of a sore thoat so he was given something. Chloe had a sore tongue. Her dad explained that he didn't have anything for sore tongues. She suggested the pharmacy :) Since it was late, the pharmacy wasn't an option...so Sarah said, "I've heard tickling helps cure sore tongues!" Before Sarah could attack, Chloe started tickling her tongue with both hands! It was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen :D

Visiting the "Motherland" (and other nice places!)

Last week Sarah and I had a week off from school for Eid AlKhbir (comparable to Christmas). Our adventure for the week...Belgium and Amsterdam!
We flew into Brussels on Tuesday, spent the afternoon walking around, then headed to Lueven to stay with friends of Sarah's. Wednesday we went out for coffee in Lueven, then headed for Amsterdam. Short detour along the way...Antwerp. After some shopping, waffles, and a few pictures, we were back on the train to Amsterdam. It was crazy how much the Netherlands reminded me of Holland, MI. Although Thursday was overcast and a bit rainy, we had a wonderful day. One of my favorite parts was touring the Anne Frank house. It was really interesting to see the secret bookcase and the rooms where her family had been hiding. We finished up sightseeing and shopping on Friday and headed back to Lueven. Detour #2...Brugge...quaint, medieval city already decorated for Christmas! Relaxing Saturday...saw Sinterclause and Black Pete...served spaghetti at the kids' school...and went to bed. Sunday we journeyed back to Casa, rested and ready to go!

First Dance Performance!

After weeks of practice, hours of shopping for costumes, a few tears, and many words of encouragement: my dance class had their first performance! We performed for the elementary awards assembly as a dress rehearsal for our secondary assembly. I was so proud of my rhythmically challenged students :) I would have never guessed how difficult it would be for them to count and dance to a beat...but they did it! I received so many compliments about their performance. My favorite was from one of the arabic teachers (who teaches PE during my dance class)...he said, "Good job Laura. I guess you really do work when those doors are closed." This experience was a great confidence booster for so many of the girls. They are already asking me about doing a holiday piece!