Netherlands – Groningen Rain

30 November 2021

Happy Birthday Twins

I am so so SO thankful you’re turning four because we have NOT done much for your birthday – unlike your older brother’s birthday back in October – it’s just been a LOT.

First of all, there’s Thanksgiving – which will always be at some point at the end of November, just before your birthday.

And then we’ve got Sinterklaas – which will always be 05 December.

Now that we live back in the States, we’ll probably always celebrate Thanksgiving and hopefully always observe Sinterklaas and it means your birthdays are, well, inconvenient.

Not to say that YOU’RE inconvenient – I absolutely love getting up anytime between three and five when you’ve decided you’ve had enough sleep and I totally do not mind changing your diapers because it’s just easier for you to use a diaper than a toilet.

This year, cause of moving across the pond and Thanksgiving and Sinterklaas and receiving our stuff and a plethora of other brilliant and logical excuses, I have completely dropped the ball on your birthday.

Mostly.

I ordered quite a few presents and threw them into a closet somewhere around here – they just need to be wrapped. And we know that you each want your own mini birthday cake because you told us so when we saw them at the local grocery story. And I know balloons will need to be acquired because you went nuts over First Minion’s balloons for his birthday.

While, yes, today is technically your birthday, we’ll celebrate this Saturday.

Cause Sunday is Sinterklaas.

And, yeah, I really do hope this doesn’t cause irreparable damage to your little developing psychologies and you forgive us all the chaos of this year.

Including this.

27 November 2021

Our STUFF Is HERE! (Almost!)

We officially sold our Dutch house back in mid-July but our stuff was removed from our house the first week of August but our flight to America was 07 August but our American house closing was 29 August but we moved into it a week later but all our stuff has been making its way across the pond, to an American pond, going through customs, sitting in storage, and waiting for transport scheduling.

And today it arrives.

Theoretically.

This afternoon between five and eight local time and I kind of don’t believe it.

That it’s taken this long.

That it’s finally here.

That we’re going to have our bed and our table and our Swedish chairs and our Swedish chest and our tapestries and our china and ALL OUR STUFF.

TONIGHT!

15 August 202116 August 2021

Vegetables? As a Closing? What?

[Dutch Lock Down Day Five Hundred Thirteen]

If you read “yesterday’s” post all the way to the end you may have noticed that I closed it with “Vegetables”.

It’s a Dutch Thing.

Sort of.

More of a Rain Thing.

But first the news:

The normal sign off at the end of an email or letter is ‘groeten’ which means ‘greetings’.

14 August 202116 August 2021

Groningen Emigration and De-Registration

[Dutch Lock Down Day Five Hundred Twelve]

I’m still not ready to talk about Zoe but I’m ready to talk about other things.

Like how we just emigrated from the Netherlands and deregistered.

But first the news:

We were totally supposed to do this on the day we left [MWAHAHAHAHA] or up to five days beforehand, but we misread the site and thought we had up to five days AFTER the move to report – and, well, here we are.

15 June 202116 June 2021

Moving Back to the States: Shit Just Got Real

[Dutch Lock Down Day Four Hundred Fifty Two]

We are officially under contract!

Many contracts, actually.

Our house here in Groningen is officially under contract to be bought and can I just take a minute to – SQUEEE!! ! – cause we did not even go on the MARKET.

We told our friends. Who told their friends. Who bought our house.

We did not even stage the house.

Which, for me, is a bit sad, but also saves time, money, and mental health, so I’m ultimately oke with it.

And then ALSO we’re officially under contract to buy a house in Detroit and can I also just take a minute to SQUEEE!! ! because IT ALSO NEVER WANT ON THE MARKET.

Do you see a pattern?

Ultimately, though, in case it wasn’t clear already, this means we’re for realsies really moving to Detroit Michigan in the United States of America and I think my brain is taking a minute to mourn what I’m about to lose.