bead-dazzled

the boys had a soccer game this morning and i decided that it was too cold for the girls to watch the game ..... ok - well i didn't really want to stand out in the cold at the soccer game either :) .... so the girls stayed home and made some beaded necklaces together.

as i was getting out the beads helen said to me "we need some chocolate, mom... you know the kind of chocolate that you eat" .... we compromised with a chocolate milk drink. my sweet helen is for sure 100% GIRL! gotta love her :)

note: jillian did not actually help make the necklaces - she just enjoyed modeling the finished product :)

jayden plays piano

ross has been very diligent in his efforts as a piano teacher .... jayden expressed an interest this fall to play the piano. since we've been in holland - ross has taken over as the piano teacher for both boys now.

jayden is working on a unit in school about expressing feelings and sharing talents so he wanted to share a couple of songs with his class. instead of hauling the piano to school - he will take this video in to share with the class. technology is amazing :)

peek-a-boo... jilly style

jillian has recently learned how to play peek-a-boo on her own.... well except for the fact that she covers her ears instead of her eyes :)

graham's project

one of the things that i love about the international school is the classroom flexibility for the students. i asked graham's teacher if he could do an extra report on his trip to scotland last october. she agreed and also let graham present this poster to the class and discuss his trip. i thought this would give graham some extra practice speaking in front of the class but also give graham a chance to work with ross on a special project. ross and graham gathered all the supplies and planned out the entire project together! i think they did a great job!

that girl can dance!

jillian loves to "dance" when she hears music. it does not matter where we are - but when she hears music - she starts to dance.

Helen's FIRST haircut

before ( i think the view down the side street in this photo is really cool too!)

! i'm pretending this is a barbie car :)

the first cut!

and now for some chocolate!

the final view of the haircut :) well - it was just a tiny trim... so basically no difference :) still my sweet helen who loves to pose for a picture

helen takes a picture of jillian stuffing her face with a cracker....(notice i'm dodging the camera - a 3 mile run at the gym this morning and about 10 miles of biking today plus no shower = a not so pretty mommy today :)

helen had her first haircut today... or should i say a veeeerrrrry tiny trim of the ends :) i didn't let the hairstylist take off much hair at all! helen was really excited to sit in a fancy car chair too! after her haircut - we had about 35 minutes before we had to pick up the boys from school.... so i told her that she could ANY type of special treat that she wanted. i thought for sure she would say that she wanted some ice cream from mcdonalds. but without any hesitation - she shouted "i want some chocolate!" - now that's my girl!! so we found a place with chocolate and enjoyed a special treat together!

MLK

We bought a US History book while we were in the states in December. I am trying to "supplement" their schoolwork with a few items from home. I decided that since yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr Day observed in the states - we would have a short lesson before dinner. We even asked the kids to try and find Alabama on our world map :)

playin' cars

there is no doubt about it - graham loves to play cars... he loves to line them up in VERY long lines... line them up in "parking lot" arrangements..... line them up in squares......you get the idea. he is super excited when he gets a 97 cent matchbox car for christmas, his birthday, easter... pretty much any occasion.

yesterday, jillian walked up to graham's line of cars with one of helen's princess shoes.... graham proceeded to give jillian a "lesson" in how to play with cars. so cute! i LOVE the second picture... she is listening to exactly what he is saying :)

jillian is 11 months old

view of windmills from the car at sunset

not sure why i'm "hiding" behind the column in this picture! this column shows how the water table fluctuates over time

my sweet jilly - 11 months old today

look how long helen's pony tails are in this picture! we crawled down into a "submarine" exhibit to view this video

today, my sweet Jilly is 11 months old! crazy to think that she will be 1 next month!!!

we went to the town of Lelystad and visited a museum with the kids. this museum described how the polders were built in Holland to basically claim land from the ocean. i'm including a google link to information on the town and how the poulders were built. some great history and interesting information in the museum. it was a beautiful, clear day in Holland today so i've also included a cool picture of the windmills that we saw along the way home. sorry the picture was taken from the car :(

info on lelystad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelystad

walking?

i am convinced that a 4th child must be very resourceful in order to survive... well at least my 4th child in our crazy home :) .... jillian decided to use this chair to help her "walk" across the room. she even stopped for a moment to "celebrate" her accomplishment by dancing :)

saying goodbye

day 15 photo
sniff.... sniff.....tonight we said goodbye to our infant car seat. it was another one of those bittersweet moments for me..... another milestone for our family, i guess.

on the bright side my chiropractor (both in hilversum and kenosha) will be happy that i'm not lugging this big ol' thing around anymore :)

announcement: i'm moving my 365 day project to http://www.flickr.com/photos/58369418@N04/to keep it separate from my blog and make it a little easier to follow "the project"

and if this floor doesn't shine....

day 14 photo

.... like the top of the chrysler building..... quote taken directly fon the movie Anne (yes, it's Helen's favorite movie right now)

in an effort to try and clean the dining and living room floor better - i've resorted to the old fashioned scrubbing on my hands and knees. i can't seem to get the floor as clean as i would like it. so i thought i would try some wood floor soap and good ol' fashioned elbow grease :) 1 hour and 4 buckets of water/cleaner later - i hope it's clean!!!

happy 6th birthday, jayden!

all the kids help jayden celebrate his 6th birthday

(day 13 photo)
jayden blows out the candle on his breakfast bar .... our family tradition on birthday mornings :)

the oreo pops all tied up and ready to go to jayden's school!

buzz lightyear cupcakes!

Jayden requested both cupcakes AND a cake for his birthday. (he picked out the candle at Target back in the states!)

ross did a great job decorating the dining room

"diluting" the melted chocolate with white frosting to make the nose on buzz

decorating the cake!

i made oreo pop treats for jayden's class at school... had to come up with something to put them in so the chocolate could set.

only a few "broken" cookies during the preparation process

putting in the popscicle sticks - ready for the white chocolate

i will post the link to the directions for making the pops and the cake here tomorrow!

rain rain go away!

it's been raining pretty much all week here.... but on the bright side - the temperatures have been in the 50's during the day. so i thought it was an appropriate picture for my day 12 photo. (special thanks to graham for taking my photo!)

i've come to the realization that there's no glamour in transporting the children to and from school on a bike in the rain though. but i must admit - it's so much easier than driving the car. i pull right up to the kid's school... and let them out of the bike. jillian and helen don't even get wet!

my garage

photo - day 11

Well, since i cleaned up my garage this past weekend - haha - i thought i would share a photo :) (cleaning consisted of sweeping out the leaves that have fallen off my bike and cleaning up the salt deposits from where the snow slush has melted off my bike earlier in December)

This is actually the foyer to our house in Holland.... not technically a garage. You can see the kitchen area off to the right. There's a really cool straw mat in front of the door that is actually cut into the floor. Catches all the dirt and rain as we come in :) Most houses that I have seen in Holland to not have an actual garage like you would see in the USA. Our house happens to have a large front foyer area and we decided to use it as a place to park our bikes and double jogging stroller/bike trailer. (The boys and Helen park their bikes around back under a covered area.) In the morning when it's cold or snowy - I don't have to clear off my bike :)

I usually load all the kids in the bike before we open the front door and then they are "delivered" right to the front door of their school. Talk about a chauffer door-to-door service :)

laundry helpers

the official day 10 photo

yesterday the girls were helping me with some laundry. when we got the washer loaded - jillian was fascinated by the bubbles and water that were swishing around inside (gotta love a front load washer!). i also thought it was so cute to see helen putting her arm around her sister..... ahhhhh sisterly LOVE.

i have to add that the dress jillian is wearing --- officially the FIRST EVER dress of Matilda Jane Clothing that i purchased (for helen) :)