helen's dutch preschool party pictures

helen passes out her party favors to her friends at school - bubbles!

ooops! - notice a few pieces of fruit on the floor.

helen passes out her fruit treats to her friends (her preschool requires "healthy" birthday treats - to promote healthy eating - which i think is great!)

each child celebrates their birthday with this "cake" and candles at the school. along with special songs and rituals. they also get to help decorate a special birthday crown.

up-close picture of the party favors that i stayed up waaaaaay too late making one night!


**** a special thanks to grandma for the special 3 shirt that helen is wearing!****

helen's dutch birthday

a video from helen's party at her preschool... singing happy birthday in dutch.

action shots!

soccer

helen makes a new friend at the soccer game

PSV Bayern Munich is their team name...

the boys had their first soccer game on saturday

the princess is 3!

jillian is a princess in training :)

our princess at a castle

it is tradition in our house to have a breakfast bar with a candle in it on the morning of your birthday

dining room all decorated for the party

we celebrated helen's 3rd birthday on saturday. she requested a princess theme and spaghetti for dinner :) we took the princess to a castle on her birthday and then celebrated as a family at home.

now that's fresh!

you know your food is fresh from the garden when there is dirt on it! (these carrots did not come from our garden though - they actually came from the grocery store).

dancin' in the rain

helen dancing in the rain

2-year old fashion statement

the past couple weeks have been really rainy here.....and i'm not that dedicated to riding my bike in the rain so we've been taking the van out a lot... which means added stress of trying to find a place to park and running to our destination without getting soaked (try doing that several times with 4 kids!). it seems like when it rains here.... IT RAINS.... so hard that sometimes you can't see across the street. not too much wind thankfully - so umbrellas are very useful. the kids each have their own umbrella and jillian and i carry a big umbrella. it can be sunny one minute and pouring rain the next... and sometimes with very little warning that the heavens are going to open up.

you might not think that the rain can put a damper on your spirit - but it really does. it's amazing what just a little sunshine can do for the spirit.

the other day - helen had a great idea - she wanted to dance in the rain. leave it to my little helen to make a gloomy day - bright. she got the umbrella from her teacher at school (something that went unclaimed for over a year in the lost and found) and i finally found her a rain coat after months of searching here. oh and the lovely rainboots - came from ms. trisha :) helen loves these rain boots and wears them with all different kinds of outfits... shorts, skirts, ruffle pants, and even jeans.

along with the recent rain - the temperature have changed from humid and warm to crisp and cool (45 degrees in the morning - cool). helen loves these sandals and has decided that socks with the sandals are her unique fashion statement this week.