Easter Morning

The Easter Bunny, who Katie informed us is a white bunny with long ears...not brown, left the kids fantastic Easter baskets (as usual). In addition, he hid about two dozen plastic eggs filled with treats. Here are some highlights...

Katie loved her princesses

Andrew loved the chocolate

The kids in their PJs and fleeces waiting to hunt eggs

Our three kids ready to pounce

Katie "posing"

Andrew found chocolate

Katie in her Easter dress ready for church

Family photo

Easter Egg Dying

My parents arrive safe and sound...and jet lagged....on March 26th. The kids have been enjoying the extra attention from both Grandma and Pop.

As most of you know, my standard answer for the infamous question "Do you like Holland?" is usually "yes, parts of it I love, parts of it are well, different." Well, we encountered another "different."

Every year, we dye Easter eggs, as most families traditionally do. I bought two boxes of egg dye, one Paas and one Dudley at Target when we were back a few weeks ago. I wasnt sure if they had egg dye here. Well, it turns out they do. But, they also only have BROWN eggs in this country. I figured the kids wouldnt notice the difference and crossed my fingers that the dye took color on the eggs. It did. But, it was, yet again...Different.

Pink dye+ brown egg = pea green egg.
Blue dye + brown egg = pea green egg.
Green dye + brown egg = dark pea green egg.
Yellow dye + brown egg = sort of orange egg.

You see the pattern....

It was fun and messy. We had a lot of laughs and will remember this Easter for years and years to come!

Grandma demonstrating her technique

Andrew about to lick the dipper. Followed by "yummy!"

Katie making the perfect egg

Ned trying to make a red egg

(I think it turned out...yep, you guessed it. Pea Green)

Andrew concentrating

The "best" eggs.
Lots of earth tones!

Discovery

Katie and I found a caterpillar out in our neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Her name is Kate the caterpillar and it has much provided so much entertainment for both Katie and Andrew. We googled what caterpillars eat and drink. Leaves, fruit and water. We made a habitat and have watched and watched and watched her for the last 24 hours.... Andrew, for some unknown reason, keeps calling her a ladybug and Katie, of course, keeps correcting him. Katie loves to hold her and giggles when she tickles her. She asked if Kate could sleep in her bed but we said she would be more comfortable in her bucket of leaves, sticks, water, grass, grapes and kale.


All I keep thinking about that commercial that aired a few months ago (I think)...I have no idea what the commercial is advertising, but it is about boys day out where they find a frog and the toddler's eyes are practically popping out and he is giggling with pure excitement. Maybe it was for MasterCard..."somethings in life are priceless"...

Andrew put his arm around Katie for the picture.
That is priceless :)

Kate the caterpillar

Katie insists that Kate will turn into a beautiful butterfly. Pretty much, any minute it could happen. She has told just about everyone that we are taking Kate back to Holland with us too...

Next we may have a lesson in life...what happens to a caterpillar when taken out of her natural habitat...

Jet Lag

3am watching TV

We arrived safe and sound Saturday. It was an uneventful smooth flight. No snowstorms, delays, meltdowns or major tantrums.

Now, if we could only get on this time zone. It is a 6 hour time delay and they say it takes one day per hour of time difference. Six days. Today is day four.

Day one, kids up at 3:00am (9am to their bodies)
Day two, kids up at 3:00 am.
Day three, kids up at 3:30am.
Day four, kids up at 5:30am..

Maybe we have turned a corner...

Two tired kids...
They fell asleep at 8pm Tuesday night watching Harold and the Purple Crayon.

On the living room floor

Out cold

Wednesday

Cuddling on the couch watching Wonder Pets

It Curious, Curious George!

We had a Curious George themed birthday party for Andrew. We had 8 children (plus our own two) to our house on Sunday, January 24th, his actual birthday. It was great.

Curious George balloons all over the house! Curious George banner, plates, napkins, hats and so forth. Our little monkey Andrew loves "George-y", as he calls him.

This was my attempt at making banana shaped cookies!

We had the most amazing cake. Birthday cakes are hard to find in the Netherlands. And, if you do find one that resembles a true birthday cake, it will cost you a fortune. A friend of mine has a cake making business out of her home. She loves to be creative and the cakes are super yummy! I asked her if she could do a Curious George cake. She hadn't ever done one, but she was excited about the challenge. It turned out AWESOME! (Thanks, Alison!)

The cake. All edible.
Andrew immediately took George right off the top and ate him. All sugar!



"Happy Birthday to Andrew!"

Katie and I made Andrew's birthday hat.
It is difficult to see, but she wrote his name on the front.
She got a little carried away with the "w"

Present time

Big sister was quite the helper. Luckily Andrew didnt mind.

Pure joy! Laughing at Noelia's daddy.

Our big two year old

Katie sporting Curious George glasses

The card Katie made Andrew.

Cover: That is a birthday cake with two candles, a birthday hat, balloons, number two (I drew it and she colored it in), and a picture of Andrew (loves the knees!) Not sure what the top left is...a bug? Inside (below): That is Katie and a rainbow and she wrote Happy Birthday with me dictating the letters. This is the first time I have seen her draw a body. Usually it is more like the top picture...legs coming out of the head.

Great time for a family picture!

Efteling

Rich, Carolyn and Charlie got us tickets to Efteling Amusement park as a family Christmas gift. What a great gift! (http://www.efteling.com/EN/EN-Home/thepark.html )

We were told by a few dutch natives that Efteling was like Disney World. Like Disney, the park is divided into themes. Called "realms" here. Efteling has: 1) Fairy Realm 2) Adventure Realm 3) Carnival Realm and 4) Alternative Realm. Disney (for those that have not been in a while) has: 1) Adventureland 2) Frontierland 3) Tomorrowland 4) Fantasyland. See the similarity? While we notice similarities, for the most part we found it very different.

An obvious difference, no Mickey Mouse. The park fairy realm centers around Grimm's Fairy Tales. The Grimm brothers were from Germany and wrote their stories in the early 1800s. Some stories you may know are Tom Thumb, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel. But, I did not know this but Cinderalla, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are also part of Grimm's Fairy Tales. So, top of the list of " must see" park attractions, was Assepoester (Cinderella) and Sneeuwwitje (Snow White). Katie is still VERY much in a princess phase. We expected to see the princesses walking around waving and smiling at children. I had the camera ready. Well, it wasn't that exactly. Instead, it was a little more, shall we say, grim. The cave like houses of Snow White and Cinderella were dark and focused on the evil part of the fairy tale. ie the wicked queen. Katie was, well, scared. We left this "realm" ready for bigger and better things....Rides!

We covered the entire park and did almost a dozen rides. 99.9% of which the whole family was able to enjoy together. It had a lot of "for the smallest guest" and "whole family" attractions which was just perfect for us.

Favs...

My favorite ride was Carnaval Festival. It reminded me a lot of Its A Small world. But, instead of countries throughout the world, it was how countries celebrate Carnival. Carnival is a dutch holiday that is sort of like Mardi Gras, but it lasts three days in mid February. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival

Katie's favorite wasn't really a ride. It was Kinder Winter Wonderland. This was an indoor winter playground. It had a sledding slope with real snow and several bouncey houses with slides and so forth. She loves to bounce!

Andrew's favorite was the Volk van Laaf monorail. This was a short monorail about 30 feet off the ground that went through cottages, by windmills, and over water. Andrew will jump off any give couch, but is not a dare devil when it comes to rides. He wants to go on rides, but then once he is on them he is scared. This ride was just his speed and it gave all of us a nice view of the park.

Neds did one ride by himself. Which makes up for the .1%. He did the Bobbaan which was a bobsled roller coaster. Labeled "thrill seeker" on the park map. Katie, Andrew and I waited at the bottom and got chocolate covered waffled. Fair trade for me. (I dont like roller coasters)

We also went on two carousels, one of which was the fastest carousel Ned and I had ever been on! We did the steam train (which Andrew fell asleep on), old fashioned cars, fairy dream flight, small pirate ship boat ride, and a few more.

Ned took the day off and Katie played "hookey" from school. The best part of the day was just walking around and spending time together.

Watching the snake charmer make the tulips grow with his music

Tom Thumb

In the distance, where Snow White and Cinderella live.

Cottage we went through on the monorail

Ned and Andrew going through a very short doorway

Carnaval Festival (like It's A Small World at Disney)

Fata Morgana (like Pirates of the Carribean at Disney)

Tired Katie in Kinder Winter Wonderland

It rained and snowed a little while we were there, but it didn't stop the fun!

International Fair

Katie's school has an annual International Fair.

There were dozens of country tables with all kinds of great foods, activities and information about the countries culture. I sampled Saudi Arabian, Pakistani, and Czech food for the first time. All yummy!

Other countries represented included: Iceland, Croatia, Thailand, Japan, Great Britain, Israel, France, Italy, Romania,India, Canada and more! Each table had representatives (parents and/or teachers) from their home country dressed in typical attire and handing out samples of traditional food. It was such a great event to be part of. All these cultures working together to put on an event complete with a parade and performances.

Can't wait for next years fair.

The USA Table

We had Root Beer, Rice Krispie Treats and Snickerdoodle cookies

Just Add Water

Ned had the kids last Saturday for 5 hours while I went to the spa. It was, in a word, heavenly. I went with a few friends. We swam in the pools and hot tubs, had our treatments and then reconvened for lunch. It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.




To fill the time, Ned, the kids and Tucker went on a walk/hike through the fields behind our neighborhood. Ned came home frustrated. The kids came home muddy. Andrew is not a swift walker and he needs to stop at pick up every rock, corn cob, stick and so forth. It does make for a very long and slow walk...

When they got home, Ned filled the sink with water and let the kids play. Smart Daddy. Whenever you have a lull in the day or a cranky kid, just add water. It works every time!

TWO

Andrew turned two years old yesterday. I can hardly believe it. This is a great time for me to reflect on him, his personality, his developments, capabilities...he is amazing!

Andrew is very physical and verbal. Most toddlers excel in one or the other, but for him, both.

He speaks in five and six word sentences, answers questions, asks questions, tells you things that happened early in the day, uses adjectives, correct pronouns and so forth. For example, and much to Katie's dismay, you can ask him why he is crying and he will tell you "Katie hit me on the head" or "Kaitie's buggin' me" (favorite of mine!). He can also sing full songs: Happy Birthday, Zwarte Piet (dutch song), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (and Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar), Baa Baa Black Sheep, and parts of Jingle Bells and O Christmas Tree (he gets stuck on the first verse). It really surprises me when he starts singing while he plays. He started saying "Ouaw wan to" at 18 months. He now clearly tells me "no, mom, I dont want to" when I tell him it is time to turn off the TV or take a nap.

Andrew loves to jump (and can actually jump with air under his toes), run, hop, and especially climb. Not recently, thank god, we have found him on top of the kitchen counter, kitchen table, back of the couch jumping off, moving stools to reach bathroom sinks, etc. I tend to call him my monkey. So much, that now he hangs on the Learning Tower and says, "Mommy, I a monkey, eee eee." He loves to be outside kicking or throwing a ball. He can almost catch a ball if he holds his hands out and I throw it well.

We are working on colors and counting. If you ask Andrew what color something is, 9 out of 10 times, he says "green" very confidently, I might add. Guess that is his favorite color. He loves to count, but usually starts by saying "one, two, buckle my shoe, then says five, six, seven, nine, and yells 10! Also, very confidently.

He loves to read books. At the moment we are reading I see a Monster and Merry Christmas Curious George over and over and over again. It goes in spurts. We will read the same two or three books four or more times an evening for weeks and then he moves on. In recent months he has loved Dig, Dig Digging, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Dolphin Splash. Funny for me to think that at 14 months he would not sit for one simple board book!

His favorite toys are balls, cars and trucks, trains, tractors, and riding toys. He definitely favors "typical" boy toys. But, he likes to play with his doll and Katie's dollhouse pretty often. Andrew shares very well. If a child asks him for a turn he may say no, but a few minutes later he will inevitably give it to the child on his own. On the other hand, if a child just tries to snatch it from him without using his or her 'words', Andrew will put up quite the fight. He is stubborn and determined! He is also an empathetic child. If he sees a baby crying, he asks why and wants to help. If someone is crying because they want a toy, he will find one and take it to them. It is very sweet.

Andrew is a social little person. He can tell you who his friends are and talks about them often. He sees his friends often at Dancing with Mommy class, playgroup and school drop offs. Right now he talks most often about Alex, Katie's 4 year old friend from school. I think Andrew admires Alex. Afterall, he is four!

He loves his big sister Katie very much. She says jump and he says how high. They play either really really well together or really badly. They love to role play. Katie is always the teacher or doctor or mommy and Andrew is the student, patient or baby. They love to chase each other and push each others buttons.

I still can't believe that his 2nd birthday has come and gone. Makes me a little sad, but on the flip side I cant wait to see how he changes and grows this year!

(pictures from his birthday to come!)

Good Ol' Days

There are some friends that you can go for years without seeing and when you do see them, you pick up right where you left off. We had a visit from just that friend.

Our friend Rudy was in the Netherlands for work and had some free time to take the train down to Maastricht. It was great to reminisce about good ol'days in Portland. Pre-child (ren), pre- marriage.

Rudy recently became a parent. Dinner at our house gave him to see the "fun" that is to come in his future! The kids absolutely loved playing with him. Andrew wondered where he was when he woke up the next morning...so cute.

Thanks Rudy for the visit!