Happy Birthday Mommy!

My birthday was May 7th. Thank you for all the cards and well wishes!

We had American style pizza from a place called New York pizza followed by cake with candles and presents.

Katie insisted on getting me a soccer ball, specifically a white one with black dots. The condition was that I had to share it with her and Andrew. Ned bought me a soccer ball and "we" have enjoyed it.

A Mall!

Things are different here to say the least. You saw the oven...

Anyway, all the stores that I have seen until a few days ago have been downtown in a city setting. Think cobblestone, lots of tall buildings and people bustling about. This setting is not conducive to shopping with children. I need containment and a kiddie ride to pop a euro into need be.

Well, I found it. My concierge, Alexandra, I should call her, told me about a mall in Maastricht. I was skeptical because she is Dutch and her idea of "mall" may be different than mine. I was pleasantly surprised and quite excited when me and the kids pulled into a parking garage (sort of) and were greeted by a mall...really a mall.

Two stories, department stores, bath and bedding stores, sneaker shops (called "Do it"...as in Nike), supermarket, houseware stores, clothing and shoe stores. I was in my glory. I WILL go back there sans kids soon.

First Adventure

Monday I got a rental car. A manual rental car. All cars are manual here. I haven't drive manual since my Mazda Protege days and I left those behind in 2000. It has been a while, but like Ned predicted it came back to me. Like riding a bike :)

So, me and the kids took our first adventure drive. We went to Belgium. Just a 20 minute drive from Maastricht, but it took us 30. Not bad, I say. We missed a turn or two but made it safe and sound to our playdate with some new friends.

Since then, I have missed many a turns and now Katie says "Mommy, you are always going the wrong way." It is nice that my three year old had such confidence in me!

Just Another Day

Last night we made an "american" meal... tacos a favorite with both Katie and Andrew (and Ned and I too!). I went to two supermarkets to get black beans and even asked. They looked at me like I had two heads! Oh well. I bought kidney beans and Katie and Andrew liked them just as much.

Like usual, Andrew was covered in beans and taco seasoning from ear to ear. He thought it was pretty funny.

Katie, well, she is still three. FULL of sass...lots and lots. I tired to take a picture of her and this is what I got.

Queens Day

The Queen’s official birthday (Koninginnedag) is a national holiday, which is celebrated by street parties, flea markets, concerts and much more. http://www.queensdaymaastricht.nl/

Everyone wears orange, the national color of Netherlands. Orange symbolizes national and royal pride and relates to the Dutch royal family name, The Nassau Family, House of Orange.

Andrew was the only Galka sporting orange. We will have to be better prepared for next April 30th.

Breakfast of Champions

Here is one example of the cuisine in the Netherlands.

Breakfast: Sprinkles on buttered toast.

Not your average sprinkles or jimmies (as some people call them...I am one of them), but flavored ones. For the moment, we have pink and purple (Katie's new favorite colors) which are strawberry and, of course, chocolate at our house.

Step one: Make toast
Step two: Butter toast
Step three: Pour on lots of sprinkles in flavor of your choice
Step four: Enjoy!

Dutch Oven

Nope not the Dutch Oven you are thinking...

I am talking about the oven in my house. Can you say small! Good thing I am not Julia Childs or anything because I would have a very tough time whipping up a fantastic meal in this kitchen. Forget Thankgiving or Christmas dinner at our house. A turkey would NEVER fit in here!

This tiny oven serves as both a microwave and oven with just the hitting of one little button. Yep it is both. Trust me, I had to read the directions a couple times. Thankfully they were in english!

I took a picture of an average size sippy cup to give you and idea of exactly how small we are talking about.

Wouldn't be Holland without a Windmill

Andrew

No time for text...

Just a great picture of Andrew and his beautiful blue eyes.

The Eagle has Landed

It has been one week since we landed in the Amsterdam airport. We then drove 3 hours to our new home in Maastricht. The flight was uneventful and both kids slept a good amount. The 6 hours or so after landing were a little hairy, but over. Thank God. More to come on that one later.

We just got our internet connection and cable set up today. This must be what an addict feels like... Withdrawl.

The week has flown by. We are keeping busy and the kids have already adjusted to the time zone. Ned started work Monday and the kids, my mom and I have been out exploring Maastricht daily. We have been finding all the good playgrounds and figuring out which grocery store has what. Every day is an adventure!

More to come when we settle in a little more.

Just wanted everyone to know we are here safe and sound and adjusting.

Happy Easter!

Look at their hands!

Andrew dunked the eggs and they proceeded to squish them in his hands!

Horsing Around with Daddy

Here are some photos of Daddy and the kids just having plain ol' good fun.

Our babysitter started, what is now known in our house as, "Dance Party" where we crank up Party Favorites on the Comcast music chanel and dance like we just don't care. We try all kinds of new moves! Andrew and Katie LOVE it! Thanks for starting this Krystin!

The chair and half was "our stage" during this particular dance party. This are the after pictures. (I did a video clip but it was too dark)

Good times!

Katie's "smile"

Still has his baby blue eyes

No Turning Back Now

Sorry I have not posted in a while but things have been busy around here. The moving company came yesterday.

You would think that since we have movers (and packers) that there really wasn't much for us to do...I wish.

Everything we wanted to take needed to be separated into 1) Air Freight (12-14 days), 2) Sea Freight(30-40 days) and 3) what we were taking with us on the plane. And, what to leave behind since we aren't selling our house. It was a very daunting task for me. With two small children, there really wasn't much I could set aside. And, how do you decide what you can do without for 12 days versus 40 days? And to complicate it more, we could only take 1,200 lbs by air and a 40 foot container by sea. I could not get my head around what 1,2oo lbs really means.... Needless to say, we did a lot of shifting freight at the last minute and did not get to take everything we wanted by air. Hey, as long as it all gets to Holland in once piece, I won't complain.


All in all it went smoothly.

Boxes bound for Holland

The loaded truck

Oh Boy Oh Boy

To all my friends who have three year old boys or older and listened to be tell them how "active" Katie was and how she got into "everything"...

Thank you for listening to me. I now know that I was wrong. So wrong.

Katie was active and a curious toddler. But, oh my god! The things Andrew thinks to do, Katie never in a million years would have. You may assume that he is doing these "things" because he is watching his older sister. Nope. Not the case. He thinks of everything ALL on his own. Here are a few examples:

Climbing INTO the entertainment center

Climbing ON TO the train table

Eating leaves from the ficus tree

Pushing stools over to the counter and trying to reach things

Throwing toys through the gate and down the stairs to see if they reach the floor

Climbing into the tub, head first.

Putting his face in Tucker's raised water dish and DRINKING the water

Jumping off toys over and over until he masters it without falling down!

Climbing into Tucker's raised water dish (knees in one bowl, face in the other)

And, his latest...Getting into the bread drawer and biting and tearing THROUGH the plastic english muffin and bread bags to bite into the food.

And, he is only 14 months old!

Another step away from Babyhood

Today Andrew had his first haircut. He was 14 months yesterday. His blond wisps were really growing over his ears so it was time. Of course Katie wanted to get in on the picture taking as well so here are her before and after pictures as well.

Katie before...

Katie during...

Katie after.

Andrew before...

Andrew during...

Andrew after.

Pretty Butterfly

Katie and I are working on creating a dress up bin. My gender neutral girl is suddenly turning into a girlie girl. She announced last week that pink is her favorite color. It used to be green, then orange, then white.

Andrew likes to do anything and everything Katie does. Here, he is holding the wings behind his shoulders.

A butterfly in Eagles PJ's!

Walking her brother?

Ahhh Katie. Picture says it all. She decided to "walk" her brother. Andrew, of course, thought it was great. Anything Katie does is golden to him. I couldnt resist taking a picture to document the moment.

Taco Night

Who knew... Andrew loves tacos. Well the shell, black beans and beef. Whenever he eats something he likes he makes this little moaning sound. It is funny! The taco definitely warranted a moan!!!!

Outside

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. It was 60 degrees. We played outside for a good two hours or more with the kids on the swingset, walking and riding bikes. Here is Andrew on his first push bike.

Family Album

View Project at Shutterfly

Dance it Out

The kids both love the Jungle Book. It has great music and there aren't many "scary" parts, if any, that Katie wants me to fast forward. Enchanted, a movie I actually enjoy to watch with her (Patrick Dempsey), on the other hands, is TOO scary. For those of you who have seen it, the Susan Sarandon character is kind of moody.

Katie calls it Jungle Movie because, well, it is a movie not a book. I see the logic.

Here are the kids dancing to Bear Necessities. Any time music plays, Andrew dances. Even if it is a commercial.

The imagination of a three year old

Don't give Andrew the keys!

Why is it that children learn to go backwards before they go forward?

Blessed

Last Sunday, Valentine's Day, my mommy friends threw a surprise going away party for our family. I was completely surprised. I thought it was a three year old birthday party.

Once the shock wore off, I was so touched.

I met these wonderful women when Katie was just a few weeks old. We have watched our beautiful children grow from babies to toddlers and now preschoolers. We have watched them learn to crawl then walk, and babble then talk together. We have watched several of them go through the transition of only child to big sister/big brother. We have watched the children laugh together and certainly cry together... We have commiserated with each other through the terrible twos and cheered each other on as each child is conquering a new feat.

For all of you who have friends like this, you know they are irreplaceable. It has been a beautiful experience for me and the last three years would not have been the same without each one of them.

Thank you for the wonderful send off. I will miss all of you.

(This isn't even the WHOLE group. One mommy is missing and 3 children)

Hugs

Just a cute picture of Katie and Andrew.

Have a great week!

All Done

We started teaching Andrew sign language about a month ago. Today he did his first sign, "All Done." It sort of looks like praise the Lord, but I will take it.

We started sign language with Katie when she was 10 months old and she did her first sign, "baby" when she was 13 months old (coincidently, the same age as Andrew now). Katie was a little later than some in talking so signing really helped with her frustration to communicate with us. (Her first word, "Tuck" was at 15 months old). Some of Katie's other first signs included: eat, more, all done, and milk. Hopefully Andrew will learn those and more in the near future to eliminate some of the screaming we have been experiencing lately (end of video).

Darn pants!

Katie was watching Barney yesterday morning. Andrew was bugging her. To deter him from bugging her, I built a barricade. Or, so I thought.

Next time I know, pants is the answer to stopping Andrew.

I think he is saying "up" in the first video. What a monkey!

Happy Valentine's Day... a little late

Valentine's Day sure has changed since kids. We didn't even discuss going out to dinner. Instead, we ordered a planned out Valentine's meal for two from a local market.

We started with shrimp cocktail and an assortment of cheeses from Holland, France and England. Then, we had bacon wrapped fillet with baked potatoes and green beans. Ned cooked and prepared the fillet perfectly.... yum. For dessert, fresh cannoli.

Sure, we didn't eat until 9:30pm, but the candlelight dinner with no one whining or climbing on me was perfect. And, I got to eat in my sweats!...so romantic, I know.

Andrew sporting his Snoopy Valentine's shirt
from cousin Charlie. Thanks!

Katie had flowers delivered from Grandma and Pop.

She also got a single rose from her sweetheart, Daddy.

You can't see it, but Katie's shirt says "Hug Me".
I asked her to smile, this is what I got.
She said she was posing. To be three...

Picaso

I think it was about the same age that I painted with Katie for the first time. Andrew was able to hold the brush and mark the paper all by himself. He wanted to dip the paintbrush himself but I did that for him. Whenever he does something new, he watches Katie intently and then does it himself . He really enjoyed his first painting experience. So did I.

We ended when he decided to try his creativity on his face! He had a bath immediately after.

No smock for Andrew, just stripped down to his onesie

Wanting to dip the brush

Grandma and Katie supervising

Snow

NH winter = snow. Lots and lots of snow. When accumulations are abound we don't get 1-2 inches. No, we get 6-10 inches...each time. And, it doesn't melt. Nope. Not until March if we are luckyl. Literally.

Katie isn't a snow bunny by any means. She says it is too cold. I tend to agree with her. Andrew hasn't experienced the snow (until today). Mainly because Katie isn't interested. That is what happens with second children...they tag along.

Today I convinced Katie to venture out into the snow and "paint." I read in a magazine recently to put food coloring in bottles and "paint" the snow. It was a hit and Katie didn't have to go beyond our back deck.

Andrew, however, immediately went off the deck and was determined to walk in the snow. It was tough, but he managed to get pretty far into the yard...with many falls.

Katie painting" the snow with food coloring

Andrew walking through the snow...on a mission

Just for fun... Katie March 2008. Age 2yrs 3 months.
Andrew is wearing the same snowsuit and hat in the picture above. Age 1 yr.