He's Back!!!

Sinterklass is back in town! He arrived this morning by steamboat from Spain, bringing back his band of helpers known as Black Peters. The kids are so excited. They both got dressed up as little Black Peters to wave watch Sinterklaas enter the harbor.

Don't they look cute all dressed up!

Shortly before leaving they got their black face paint.

Opa Bas and Oma Wilma joined in the fun.

So excited for Sinterklaas!

Evie got to chat up a real Black Pete!

Those are more Black Peters on surfboards.

Felix Pete

There he is on his steamboat!

Our Pretty Evie Pete

Black Peters in the parade.

Every Pete has his own unique costume.

Hello, Sinterklaas!

The kids have gone to Opa and Oma's house for the night. They have set their shoes out in the hopes that Sint and Pete will make a visit in the night. Exciting!

Mobro Felix

No, Felix is not about to sneeze in this photo. He just wants to join in the Movember fun, too, which is why he keeps doing this and saying "Felix ook een snor! Felix ook een snor!!" (Felix has a mustache, too!).

Papa Cuddle

This evening Papa was treated to some extra cuddles. Unfortunately there was a little conflict as both Evie and Felix wanted to sit on Papa's lap, but Felix didn't want to share "his Papa." At one point they did manage to simultaneously give him a kiss on each cheek, but the camera was too late for that!

The look on Evie's face is priceless here as Felix attempts to push her away.

Bowling with Oma

Today Oma Oma treated the whole family to an evening of bowling and indonesian food. More than thirty family members were able to join in the fun. Photographs are unfortunately not so easy to make in the disco bowling environment, so don't mind that.

Tom bowling

Evie bowling

Oma only took one turn, but it was a strike! GO OMA!!!!

It's quite the handy contraption to help the kids.

My little family of bowlers.

Martijn & Aunty

Felix was way too thirsty to pause to smile for the camera.

Whenever he got the chance, Felix ran off to be with Opa Bas.

A House of Their Own

For the past week Evie has been talking about making a house for her two favorite stuffed animals - Dixie the Dog and Tweet Tweet the bird (you may know him as Tweety Bird). Today she was able to make her wish come true. Tom had the afternoon off so he picked up Evie from school and went straight to the grocery store for a discarded banana box. Evie's friend Mirre joined in the fun, too! Tom then constructed two identical houses to have the girls paint. They did a good job, and now Dixie and Tweet Tweet finally have a place of their own.

Mama Cuddle

This evening Mama was treated to some extra sweet cuddles from Felix and Evie.

Smooooch!

I'm so lucky!!!

Movember

Starting today, Tom is taking part in an annual month-long fundraiser called Movember. Movember = Mustache + November. The goal is to let one's mustache grow during the month while raising awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer. Tom is collecting to support the Dutch Cancer Institute and Hospital. If you would like to sponsor Tom in his efforts, you can do so by following this link or by clicking on the big yellow ad here to the right. We will also be adding daily photos to the Movember page, so be sure to check out his progress.

Halloween Cookies

To help celebrate Halloween in the classroom, Evie brought some homemade sugar cookies to school today. There were ghosts, bats, and jack-o-lanterns! They were pretty delicious, and kids enjoyed their treat! Unfortunately, there are no pictures from school.

Halloween Party

This year there was a kids Halloween party at the Grote Markt in the city center. It was set up as a kids disco with a live dj, pancake stand, face paint table, and coloring pages. All the kids were dressed up in their finest halloween attire. The party was lots of fun. The highlight, of course, was the screaming contest. About a hundred kids were up on the stage screaming their heads off while all the parents couldn't help but laugh, laugh, laugh!!!! I'm proud to say, our kids didn't win.

Felix was showing off his dance moves quite a bit.

Pancakes!

Dancing together onstage.

SCREAM!!!!!

Trick-or-Treat!!!

Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was held on a Saturday this year, to make it easier for everyone involved. Felix had a skeleton suit and Evie was a black cat.

Felix looked the scariest when we wore the skeleton mask.

It wasn't very cold out, so the kids were able to just wear an extra layer under their costumes.

"TRICK-or-TREAT!!!"

Halfway through Mama and Papa traded places handing out the candy/walking with the kids. This was the perfect opportunity for Felix to sample some of his candy.

This is the bird that landed on the electrical wires!

Meow... our sweet kitty.

Hello Kitty Museum

Today we took a visit to the Siebold Huis in Leiden, a museum about Japan. They currently have an exhibition that we simply could not miss - Hello Kitty, Hello Holland! Being the Fall break, Hello Kitty was there herself for a great photo op.

Felix shakes Hello Kitty's hand.

He pretty much thought the point of this piece was to play peek-a-boo behind Hello Kitty. That works, too.

There was a difficult scavenger hunt and some craft activities for the kids.

And lots of Hello Kitty things. Our favorite was the guitar.

Felix enjoyed the magnetic Hello Kitty dress-up wall.

Dutch Hello Kitty