Father's Day

We were going to start with breakfast in bed, but due to the fact that Andrew was pulling a marathon of early morning wake up calls (around 2 or 4 am) for Mommy for 6 consecutive days straight, Daddy so nicely got up first and let Mommy remain comatosed in bed for another half hour. (Thanks Ned!) Once I was awake, we had bacon, fresh made muffins by the munkins and gifts that the kids were dying to give! Homemade ones and store bought. According to yahoo.com, Dads don't appreciate the homemade gifts from their kids....I think Ned did.

The kids and I made tee shirts with fabric paint earlier in the week
Katie's says: I love Dad
Andrew's says: My Dad is Rad

We also made clay figures.

Andrew made a rock and painted it.
Katie made, well, Daddy.
The clay hardened and then we painted them.

Aardbeien Plukken (Strawberry Picking)

It doesn't feel like summer until you have gone to a U-Pick Farm (or two, or three). Last year we picked strawberries in the Netherlands, blueberries in Belgium and apples in New Hampshire. Fruit from all over the globe!

Today we started our picking adventures at a little farm in Maastricht. The weather was chilly but clear and we had a good time, once again.




Katie, by nature, is a collector. Always has been since about 18 months old. It started with rocks and then moved to acorns. She has a great attention span and just loves to find things, always seeking the more perfect one.

The only way I got her to leave the farm was if I promised to bring her back this week! Guess we are going back in a few days!

Our pretty little four and a half year old

It took Andrew about 10 minutes to get the hang of the picking. Like usual, he was just happy to be playing outside in the grass and dirt. And, he was very impressed by the two tractors in the field. He said, "ooo wook (look), a tractor" over and over...

Once he did get the hang of it, he also found out that one of the perks of picking your own - sampling the crop! They were delicious.

Yum - my

Break a Leg

Katie was in her first musical, The Goblin Next Door. She was a butterfly and did a dance with the other woodland animals of Junior Kindergarten.

It was adorable, but quick. She had been rehearsing for weeks and her favorite part of the dance was shaking her "bum bum" (as she called it) at the tail end of the number (ha ha, get it?).

Andrew was so excited to see Katie on stage. Before the show, he said. "Me see Katie, and me clap."

Katie, the shortest one

To celebrate, we got ice cream downtown.

Ya Know What?

June 10th we will be closer to having a five year old than a four year old. Katie turned four and a half today, June 9th.

So far, four has been pretty good. We hit the "princess phase" with full gusto and I think are starting to come off the high. We dont seem to talk about which princess goes with which prince and who wears what color and so forth as often. Now, she is showing interest (to my dismay) in Barbie and Polly Pockets. I knew it was inevitable, but here we are. More little tiny shoes to find nestled in the carpet!

Katie is still a little on the shy side, but makes friends very easily. She has a boyfriend and talks about marrying him almost daily. His mother and I have even caught them kissing. Which, of course, her suiter very quickly wipes off! She started full time Junior Kindergarten in January and although tired some days, she loves school. She looks forward to seeing her friends each morning.

As of a few days agao, Katie is stuck on the phrase "ya know what?" followed by a silly story about some made up friends or relatives. It is pretty funny. Exhausting, but funny.

Here are two videos I took today of she and I have a conversation. Actually, it is a one sided conversation - all her! This may give you a taste of why I treasure the silence once the kids are in bed :)

Happy Half Birthday, Katie!

Kos, Greek Island