Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas was a success!

We started our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve in Zoetermeer. Here we see Aunty, Opa, and Evie playing at the piano.

On Christmas morning Evie was busy being a little elf - making sure everybody got their presents.
Her favorite toy was the drum. Evie treated us to a concert.
And Oma Wilma played back up on the tombourine.
Back in The Hague we found that Santa had also visited us there! Evie's favorite was her new baby doll and stroller.
She also loves her new books (pictured here, The Lorax)
And various other presents, including a little dog.
That evening we went to Martijn and Danielle's for a delicious dinner where everybody has their own little pan to cook their food in.
The next day (known as Second Christmas Day here in Holland) we headed up to Zeijen to see Els, Erno, and Bincky the Dog. Evie and Bincky were fast friends.
And of course, Evie got another present - a talking Ernie that teaches you how to tie shoes, open zippers, velcro, etc.
During dinner, Evie decided she'd much rather sit in Bincky's crate than eat.
And she closed the door herself!
She did decide to join us for dessert...
Evie wanted to sleep in Bincky's bed that evening, but we wouldn't let her.
The next morning, before we headed home, we went for a walk and Evie was able to walk the dog!!

We hope your Christmas was as fun and warm as ours!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Grandma Nan is in the House

We were all excited for Grandma Nan.

And it wasn't so exciting after all.

But Evie got to have some cuddle time.

Evie got a great new tricycle from Grandma for Christmas.

Then we were all excited for Kay-Kay to come.

But she wasn't much fun either.

And Evie got some more cuddle time.

But, of course, it's been a lot more fun than it looks. We're just not that good at taking pictures at the right moments. :-)
Here is Evie with TWO aunties!!!

And Evie with TWO grandmothers!!!


Evie found her other cool babies and put them on all by herself.


And we'll end this report with a picture of Evie with Opa. Awww.


Monday, December 10, 2007

Maddie and Evie

Last week Evie had a playdate with her little friend Maddie. We first met Maddie's parents when we did a birthing class together. Maddie and Evie are only a few days apart in age.
Above is a picture of Maddie and Evie together when they were seven weeks old. And here we have pictures of the two now, at almost 18 months.



As you can see, they were really sweet together giving kisses and hugs. There was only a little bit of struggle over sharing toys. That comes with the age, I guess.

This week are very excited to welcome Grandma Nan to the Netherlands. She will be arriving Thursday and will be staying for almost a week. Aunt Kay is also coming Saturday and will be staying until after the new years. It is going to be a very fun week and month!!!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Pakjesavond

Last night was Sinterklaas Pakjesavond - Presents Evening of Sinterklaas. We were very lucky as a very friendly Zwarte Piet dropped by, and apparently the children were very good this year because they got many, many presents.

Zwarte Piet

Unloading his sack full of presents

The loot!

Passing presents to Mila and Finn

And Evie got some presents too!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Beginning of December

This is cool Evie. The necklace she got from Sinterklaas last week in her shoe and she loves it. The sunglasses she calls her, "cool babies"

Saturday our little friend Finn spent the night. Before bed he got to play some nintendo with Evie and Tom (evie's controller isn't plugged in, poor thing).

We were trying to get some good shots for the Christmas card, but no luck. Notice Tom's big gloves on her hands.

Liz, and her colleague Pauline at the Christmas dinner for work.

During the dinner all of the employees added a little bit to a blank canvas. This is the end result. Unfortunately, it will not be hanging in our house, another colleague got it...

Tonight we are celebrating Sinterklaas with a party at Ulrike's house. There is rumor that a Zwarte Piet will be dropping by. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

New Baby, New Windows, New Friend

Here are some shots of Evie at the petting zoo. She loves seeing the animals and saying, "moooo!" She's getting pretty good at knowing what all the animals are and what they say. Brilliant kid, of course.



We are very excited with the birth of Janna last week. Janna is little sister to Mila and daughter to Terhi and Dimitri. She is sure to be a good friend to Evie. Sunday we went to see her for the first time.


Monday we had our front windows and window frames replaced. They are now more energy efficient with insolation glass and we hear a lot less of what is happening on the street. It was very weird to all of a sudden have a big opening in the house.

Evie wore her hard hat for protection.

The old windows.

The new windows, without the glass.


Tuesday, Evie's new friend Kaylee came over to play. She is actually born on the same day as Evie. They get along really well and enjoyed playing with all the bears under the table, the magna doodle, and the top. Like Evie, Kaylee's mama is American and her father is Dutch.


Here Evie shows off her topping talents.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving.
This was the spread.

Evie and Finn

Evie looooves corn on the cob. She left not one kernel behind.

Finn the ham.
Ulrike reads a story.

"Auto! Auto! Truck!"

All in all, it was a success!!!