Day 1564. Wednesday was Saint Nicolas day, and so the kids were eager to open the apartment door to see what Saint Nicolas put into their shoes during the night. And so they were already up at 6:30 am. I went to the door with them and unlocked it. I wished I had recorded their reaction, when they opened the door! Emmy is the most expressive. He picked up the big chocolate St. Nicolas right away, then they all picked up their boots and took them back inside the apartment to look at all that was in them. I gave them a plastic bag each, so they could put all their chocolates inside. They were glad that it wasn't coal, which is what naughty kids get, but they each had a stone instead of a coal, representing that there had also been times when they had not behaved well. They wanted to eat some of the chocolate, but I told them they had to eat breakfast first. While Randy was getting breakfast ready, they all opened their advent calendars.
Randy took Sammy to kindergarten and took the other two downstairs after he got back. I taught from 10 to 11 am, then cooked. They played after lunch, and at 3 pm Randy left with Tammy and Emmy to take them to their exercise class. Sammy and I stayed home, and once they returned, they all went downstairs, while I had a student at 5:30 pm.
Today was not a typical day. Sammy skipped kindergarten, as Grandma was coming on one of her rare visits. That also gave us a chance to sleep in, and suddenly the doorbell already rang, and Grandma was here. The kids welcomed her at the door and immediately saw the Saint Nicholas gifts that she had in her basket. Emmy was trying to get something out. Grandma then distributed her gifts to everyone, and they were all excited. However, there was a little "Krampus" (a devil-like creature that traditionally comes before Saint Nicolas) made of chocolate in each of their bags, and Emmy was scared of it and didn't want to reach into his bag any more. So I took the wrapper off and wrapped it in tinfoil instead.
The kids had breakfast upstairs, then went downstairs with Grandma to play. I joined them there after a few minutes. We enjoyed the rest of our two hours with Grandma. The kids were playing wildly and also enjoyed having Mommy downstairs for a change. Tammy wanted to draw and then blew me away, as it was the first time I had seen her draw people! Randy said she'd done it before, but for me it was a new skill she had acquired. I was so proud of her! The other two wanted to draw as well, but Emmy has to yet be able to draw people.
After Grandma had left, I went upstairs to get some work done. In the afternoon, Sammy did not have physiotherapy this week, but I was teaching 4 hours in a row, from 3 to 7 pm. That's definitely tiring. Then I made dinner, and we went through our evening routine. After they were in bed, I made myself something to eat and sat down to prepare for my 9:30 pm student. Whenever I teach that late (twice a week), there's not enough time after, and so I end up in bed really late.
