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.

Keeping Up with Kaelan

First day of pre-school! I must admit that I was a bit nervous for him to start. I was nervous partly because he's attending a local Dutch school where everything will be communicated and taught in Dutch. I didn't want him to become shy or frustrated due to not being able to communicate with the other kids. And, if I'm being totally honest, I was partly sad because I pretty much viewed it as if he were leaving for college!!! My cute little baby boy is growing up too fast!

Kaelan is attending school now two days a week. 2 hours every Monday afternoon and 3 hours every Thursday morning. We've been trying to teach him that the kids may not understand him because they speak a different language and we've even taught him simple words like "dank je wel" (thank you) and "alstublieft" (you're welcome). Well, it seems to have worked because when I picked him up from school after his first day, one of the teachers approached me to compliment me on how polite Kaelan was that day. She said he was constantly telling the teacher's "dank je wel" and "astublieft." Kids are so smart!

On Kaelan's third day of school, the teacher approached me again to share what Kaelan had done that day. Apparently they were teaching the kids words by reading a book with site words in it. It was essentially a book with select images to replace the corresponding word and each time the image would appear in the story, something simple such as a spoon, or dog, they would ask the kids to say it together out loud. According to his teacher, each time an image would appear, Kaelan would shout out the Dutch word and then quickly turn to the children around him with his hand held high saying, "high five!" I'm not sure if Dutch two year olds know what "high five" means but they sure will once Kaelan's done with them. =)

Clearly, Kaelan is pretty excited about this new found language. Just the other afternoon, we decided to head to the village center for lunch and it turned out there was an open market taking place that day and lots of kids activities were available. We stopped to have lunch in a place where we could watch Kaelan play. I noticed that he started to get into a little squabble with another child as they both fought for position on some play blocks. I went over to them and it turns out this little girl was not "listening" to Kaelan's requests and I had to remind him that she may not respond because she doesn't speak any English and either way, he still shouldn't start pushing anyone. To this, Kaelan replied, "you mean she speaks Dutch like me?"

Hah, hah, I guess in his own mind he's practically fluent now that he can say "thank you," "you're welcome" and some simple words like dog and spoon in Dutch! Too cute!

A couple weeks back, we went for a walk together through one of the many forests scattered across the countryside near our house. On our walk, we stumbled across this gnome that had been placed randomly next to one of the paths. Kman thought it was just great so we had to stop for a photo op!

Hair Cut time! Clearly, Kaelan is not a big fan of getting his hair cut but it just had to go!

As many of you know, Travis is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to mowing the lawn. Lines must be straight. He must alternate mowing directions each week. Edges must be trimmed. Well, when young kids are involved, such precision sometimes must go out the window. Kaelan loves mowing the lawn with daddy and as you can see, Travis mowed some squiggly lines all through the lawn for Kaelan to follow. Now, of course, Kaelan asks for it each week when they mow the lawn together. Hah hah, there go the straight lines for the foreseeable future!

One nice thing about living here in Holland is the availability of fresh berries. We still miss our fresh mangos, papaya, etc. from Singapore but as Kaelan has discovered, berries not only taste good, but they fit conveniently on your finger tips too!

Success! 5 fingers, 5 Raspberries!

Kaelan has also discovered the joys of having a back yard. He can get dirty, play with his trucks, swing, and just simply be a boy. He better enjoy it while he can because the rainy season will soon be upon us!

The Adventures of Colette!

I have gotten a little behind on my blogging, easy to do nowadays, so here's what Coco has been up to over the last month or so. More on Kman to come so don't think she is my favorite, although she is my favorite little girl!

She eats!
She had her first "real" food a couple days before she turned 6 months. We wanted to do it while G and G were here to help cheer her on! She has been so eagerly watching us eat for the last month that we knew she was ready. She loved being a big girl! Her first food was avocado but now, 3 weeks later, she has had home made rice ceral and oatmeal cereal, banana, yogurt and her favorite is sweet potato. It was a bit of a novelty at first but now I think she can take it or leave it, except the sweet potatoes of course!

Look at the cheering sqaud!
K was around there too somewhere.
Daddy fed Kaelan his first meal so he had the honors with Colette too.

She sits!
This picture was taken on the first day I felt I could legitimately say she sits, August 15th, a week shy of her 6 month bday. She had been sitting for some days before this but would fall quite regularly but on this occasion, and then after, she sat for about 3 mintues without falling. Now she is a pro but I still get scared and have to put the boppy around her!

Colette Turns 6 months August 23rd!

She is finally sleeping at night! We did some sleep training and it worked right away, as it did with Kman but she still cries EVERY time I put her to bed. My theory is, since she never ( I almost mean this literally) cries during the day, she needs to cry when she winds down to sleep. It's usually on for a few minutes but breaks my heart every time. She really is the sweetest little thing. She loves to cuddle and is happy whatever she is doing but is most content when she is on your lap hanging out. It has been interesting seeing her personality coming through. So far very laid back so we will see if that sticks around!

I was in a hurry to get dinner done before Travis made it home but it was Coco's dinner time too. I gave her this thing (not sure what it is exactly but meant for baby food!) with a banana in it and she loved it! Maybe she is a little too young to be feeding herself but she was sure proud!

Mammy, my mom, is a cowgirl and is starting Coco off young! These are a couple of the outfits she found at the cowboy store. Did you notice the bloomers are real wranglers!

Super Chic!

I couldn't pick my favorite facial expression so I decided to include them all. Kaelan loves to put these flowery head bands on her that Violet gave her.

She loved the Balloon festival!

What a sweet baby girl. God really blessed us with this little one. I often think back to my pregnancy when I wondered how I could possibly love another baby like I do Kaelan. Wow! Coco sure makes that easy. My heart is overflowing when I think about her. She is a special little girl.

The flood!

The day after Leroy and Barb left for the US we had 2 major rain storms come through in one day! This was the result. These pics are from our driveway and balcony!

The best part is that the bikers don't quit! Even in the biggest rain showers I have ever seen they are still out riding like nothing is new. There were bikes going right through the middle of the road, just like the cars, but I didn't get any good pics. This lady was sitting on our drive deciding what to do!

Finally after about tons cars drove through a little black car stalled and didn't move for 45 minutes. This made things interesting as cars had to pass it going both ways and no one dared to stop fearing they may stall too!

They finally closed the road after about 2 hours and the little car got some help.
I love fun weather!

Remember the flood in Singapore Laura and I experienced?

Miss you girl!

This one was a little worse, deeper anyways but the one here stayed around a lot longer.

I have seen some wet weather!

Brabantse Ballon Festeen!

We made it to Brabant's Balloon Festival last weekend. So cool but nothing comapred to what we have seen in the USA. (Check out Kelly's blog for great Photos!) This was different for many reasons. It is done in the evening. The event started at 4 each day and the balloons take off at 6:30-7pm. There are only about 20-25 balloons and there was only one real character balloon, the car below. It was held on the grounds of a beautiful Monastery/Convent only about a 5 minute drive from our house. If our shipment had arrived we would have rode our bikes. But I won't get started on that since it has only been 3 months since I shipped the container and it has been in this country for 1 month! Oops, tangent. And finally, there were all kinds of fun things for Kaelan to do before the balloons took off. A carousel, bouncy houses, a crane ride (yes, a real construction crane. They have this at all the events we have been too!), a huge mound of sand ( 20-30 feet high) with 2 slides and a tunnel through the middle. He was a mess but we all had a great time!

The Nissan

Best part was watching the Nuns peek their heads over the hedge to see the festivities! Only in Europe and I love it!

Brugges, Belgium

We took a 3 day weekend trip to Brugges while Grandpa and Grandma were here. I still have a lot to see in Europe but I'm pretty sure this is one of my favorite European towns! Such a beautiful, medieval city.

The Beffroi
This is the symbol of Brugges

The lake of love