Shipment from the USA!

It took 3 months but we finally got our shipment from the US in September. Our house is finally complete and we love it! Here are some of my favorites that came in that 8'X5' box!

#1- Coco's room!

I purchased all her bedding, rug, changing pad, mobile, etc. in the US and was so excited to see how it turned out. Love it!

#2-Our bikes!

The day before the packers came, my Mom and I went to George's and bought everything we needed to bike with kids in the Netherlands. Travis called and after he had been here for a few weeks he decided two things. First, we can't fit in in the Netherlands if we don't have bikes and second, they are cheaper in the US. So I did it all, with the help of my mom's opinion and Leroy and his big truck, we got them home just in time to get packed away. I LOVE biking! I go at least 3 times a week just for fun and once or twice more for necessity. Even when it rains. The kids and I went out this afternoon for an hour ride and I was soaked when I got back but they were cozy and we were all happy!

Oops! Not sure why this is in the line up! It didn't come in the shipment but we bought a car here. We already had a VW passat wagon leased through the company. Travis really speaks highly of this car and I like it now too after figuring out how to drive a manual. So when we looked for our 2nd car we ended up with a VW golf, same color as the passat. Ugh. The color is not what we were hoping but we like the car!

#3 Our bedding

We changed banks while we were in the US this summer and had to close the credit card attached to the old bank. Since we were overseas, we had accumulated tons of points we never spent! Enough to buy this entire set, plus down comforter, from Pottery Barn! Who knew, Pottery Barn could be FREE! We needed winter weather bedding so this worked out perfect.

#4- Kman's big boy bed!

It took him 3 nights of having both the new and old beds in his room before he was willing to try it out. Now he sleeps like a champ and seems to really like being a big boy...at least in this!

Apple picking

We spent one Saturday morning in September picking apples and came home with 20kg of apples and pears. They were so good and it was such a wonderful day. I love fall!

Travis got the thump test down and we ended up with perfectly crisp apples! Kaelan just wanted to eat them as he picked.

Coco and I got a few but we were assigned to picture taking.

YUMMY!

What did we do with 20KG of apples. Well...we ate them raw because they were so good! I made 2 apple crisps for visitors, apple sauce, apple puree for Coco, and waldorf salad. ANd I'm not even sick of apples...I think Travis is though!

And we got pears too!

We were not familiar with this variety so we only got 10kg but they were as good as or better than Bosc pears.

We ate a lot of these raw, made some pear sauce, puree for Coco but the best was the curry butternut squash and pear soup! Travis is not a soup eater but he got another bowl of this for his late night snack and he even was glad to have it for leftovers the next night. It was so good that I already have 2 more butternut squash waiting for me to buy MORE pears! Recipe below if you are interested.

I'm not sure you understand what I mean when I say everyone has a bike in this country! See how many rode their bikes to apple picking...somewhere far out in the country. So cool!

Funny thing about this event is that they only had it on 3 days in September. Still so much fun.

This man had his 2 sheep dogs demonstrating sheep herding.

We had lunch afterwards at the Pancake house where the orchard is and Kaelan found the playground.

Colette didn't get to play at the playground but she had fun hanging out with Mommy and Daddy doing her cave man face. Kaelan did/does the funny face and Coco does cave man. Pretty cute.

curried butternut squash and pear soup

yummy!

INGREDIENTS:

1 (2 pound) butternut squash 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root

1 tablespoon curry powder 1 teaspoon salt 4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth 2 firm ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1 inch dice 1/2 cup half and half

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.	Cut squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membrane. Place squash halves, cut sides down, on the prepared baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven until very soft, about 45 minutes. Scoop the pulp from the peel, and reserve.
3.	Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, and salt. Cook and stir until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Pour the chicken broth into the pot, and bring to a boil. Stir in the pears and the reserved squash, and simmer until the pears are very soft, about 30 minutes.
4.	Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender. Puree in batches until smooth. Return the soup to the pot, stir in the half and half, and reheat.