On the phone

Some of you may have already been lucky enough to have talked to Evie on the phone.  You may have wondered just what she looks like when she is chatting away.  Well, here you go: the real deal.  Evie talking on the phone.

Snow

Yesterday The Hague saw its first snowfall of the year. We are pretty sure this is actually the first snow Evie has ever seen. Of course she knows what snow is, but now she was able to catch it on her tongue and make snowballs. Papa taught her the fine art of making and throwing snowballs. Thanks, Tom. It really wasn't a lot of snow, but it was enough for Schiphol (airport) to have delays and for Liz to start singing "Winter Wonderland".

Sinterklaas came! again

Last night Evie, again, set her shoe by the back door and sang some songs in hopes that Sinterklaas would visit again. This morning the video camera was there to see her excitement at finding that he indeed snuck in last night!! She's only speaking Dutch in the video, so we've inserted some subtitles.

Progress with the Potty

Lately we have been making some progress on the potty front. Evie now (sometimes) let's us know she has to go potty. We then run to her potty or the big toilet, where she has her own smaller toilet seat. Here she is pictured playing Yatzhee on the toilet, just like Mama and Papa.

Sushi

This weekend we ate some yummy homemade sushi. It is quickly becoming one of Evie's favorite meals. She enthusiastically says, "who wants sushi? I do! I do!" And she's starting to get creative with the chopsticks. She probably ended up eating a whole roll of sushi - which is a lot for such a little girl!

Sinterklaas came!

This morning we went to the shoes with much excitement, and...
Yes! He came!! and he left presents!!!
Evie sorted out the presents in the shoes.
And hurriedly started opening up the presents.
"Look, Papa, a book! Dank je, Sinterklaasje!"
Once everything was opened, Evie started playing right away!
In this first visit from Sinterklaas Evie received a book, Jungle Book DVD, a Sinterklaas coloring page, and a magnetic fish game. Maybe Tom and Liz need to write to Sinterklaas and ask him not to spoil their little girl!

Welcome, Sinterklaas!!!

It's that time of the year again... Sinterklaas has returned from Spain and is ready to spoil the dutch children for the next three weeks, joined by his crew of Zwarte Pieten. (Click on the links to learn more.) This year was the first year Evie joined the fun in her own Piet costume. Next year she'll wear a costume and paint her face black. In due time. She got to see Sinterklaas' parade and all the Zwarte Pieten. And she got some candy, too. This evening we put our shoe by the door and sang songs. Hopefully Sinterklaass will come tonight and leave a small present in the shoes!

Babymaker 3000

Could this be what the new baby will look like?

According to the Babymaker 3000 provided by Volkswagen, it is. He doesn't look that bad except for maybe his lips. Maybe tonight we'll try it again. :-)

Sint Maarten

Today is a sort of holiday here in Holland called Sint Maarten. Straight from Wikipedia:

St. Martin's Day is November 11, the feast day of Martin of Tours, who started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized as an adult and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me."

Children celebrate by going around the neighborhood with lanterns and ringing on the neighbors doorbell. When the neighbor answers, the children sing a Sint Maarten song, then the neighbor gives the child candy. We don't really celebrate Sint Maarten because it is too similar and soon after Halloween. But that doesn't mean that Evie doesn't learn the songs at the creche. She surprised us Saturday morning at the breakfast table:

We do have candy in the house just in case some children come by, but it's already 8pm and there are no children...

I'm a little teapot

Last night we got some good footage of Evie performing "I'm a little teapot." Her pronunciation isn't quite perfect yet, so the text is included for those of you who are not familiar with the popular nursery rhyme.

ROAR! Evie the lion!

We finally uploaded the pictures from Halloween! Check out how cute Evie was as a lion. The scary pumpkin face is Finn... but Evie couldn't be fooled.
The scary pumpkin face is Finn... but Evie couldn't be fooled.

Obama 2008!!!

As we all should know by know, Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States!  Tom and Liz celebrated election day last night by attending an improv comedy show called "Bye Bye Bush" put on by Boom Chicago Amsterdam.  These guys were hilarious!!! This was part of their show: