'dam square (in amsterdam)

we met one of ross' fraternity brothers from college in amsterdam last saturday for dinner. in the background of the pictures you can see a grim reaper (there were several people dressed up in costumes around the square)..... can you guess who in our family wanted their picture taken next to the grim reaper????

HELEN!

poetry slam

.... i think that's what it's called when you go to a poetry reading.....

graham's class has been doing a unit on family at school. on monday, the parents were invited to the classroom where the kids recited a poem about families and showed a picture of their family.

6 people in graham's family .... now that's a big family!

gettin' pretty

the boys had a playdate after school with some friends - so it was just the girls home one afternoon. we decided to "get pretty".... even jillian had her toes painted!

look-a-like

graham is doing a family tree project for school.... my mom dug up this photo of her when she was a little girl..... i think i know another little girl that closely resembles her :)

gathering the fall harvest

well, maybe not gathering food for the fall harvest... but at least gathering items from our yard one sunny afternoon last week. i love the vibrant colors of fall! the forest trees have a definite orange tint to them right now. i can hear the leaves crunching and blowing around as we bike to and from school lately. the mornings are crisp and cool - but the afternoons are refreshingly warm.

dancing queen

helen started taking a 3-year old dance class on saturday mornings a few weeks ago. she loves it!!
unfortunately they do not allow pictures to be taken during the class - so i snapped this shot just before she went into class. the instruction is spoken completely in dutch (although the teacher does speak english commands if helen needs them).

psssssssst!

pretty cool mushroom!

running in the field

don't 'cha hate it when your dress gets caught in your tights :)

"pssssssssst! pop!" ..... followed by "Sara!" is NOT the sound you want to hear when you are on a bike about 3 miles from home. and i was just thinking to myself the other day.... i haven't had any "real adventure" stories lately :) well, here's an exciting one!

today we were biking to a forest near our home to meet some friends. the boys were on their bikes, jillian was in her seat on my bike, and ross was riding my mountain bike and pulling helen in the bike trailer. we were about 3 miles away from our house when the mountin bike tire popped! i hear the word "Sara!!"... thinking i made a wrong turn or helen needed something and ross was going to stop for a minute ... i kept peddling.... then waited about 3 minutes... no sign of ross. so i turn around to find ross.... he says "my tire has completely blown!" now what?!? we were supposed to meet some friends so i decided to walk the bike across the street to see if i could safely park (and lock) my broken bike. ironically across the street i spotted a man who had a bucket of water - trying to find a leak in his bike tire. i approached him and said "sprekt u engels?" he replied "nee". i said "hmmmm"..... "ummmmmm".... "hmmmmm"... "ummmmm" "my fiets is kaputt" (ok at this point - i'm pretty sure kaputt is the german word for broken... not sure if it's the same in dutch... but i knew the dutch word for bike was fiets... so i went with that).... he replied in plain english "oh - your bike has a flat tire?" i said yes! (thinking to myself - wait! this guy just told me that he did NOT speak english!!). he said "i can help you fix it" ... i replied "no thanks - i think the tire is completely blown". anyway - so i asked if i could lock my bike up near his house and come back with the car later to get it... he said "no problem!".

luckily i had on my running shoes - so we took off - ross was now pulling the bike trailer and jillian was riding in her seat on the bike. (i hadn't done my long run for the day - so this was going to be perfect!!).... well - about 1 mile down the road - jillian starts fussing... ready for a nap - so i tell ross that i will just carry her and he could ride on to meet our friends... we were not to far from our meeting spot. so they bike ahead and i walk with jillian. not 2 minutes into our walk - jillian lays her head on my shoulder and she is OUT! i have to say in all this chaos, craziness, and what seemed like a terrible afternoon - right at that moment time seemed to freeze and i enjoyed EVERY minute of our walk together. she snuggled up to me and i gave her a big hug with my arms as we walked on a path... i listened to her breath going in and out so peacefully... i watched her eyelashes as they fluttered a bit in her sleep. every once and a while she would let out a little sigh. as i walked down the path on the side of the forest - i noticed the leaves on the ground and the smell of fall that is in the air - although it was unusually warm today - it's the kind of day where you know winter is coming soon... but you soak up every ray of sun and feeling of warmth in the air.

we arrived at our meeting place where i found ross, the other kids, and our friends. we had a nice walk through the forest and open field area. then ross headed home with the kids and jillian and i waited for him to come back in the car to pick us up. jillian and i waited on a bench. as i was feeding jillian - the sun was shining down on us - it was so warm and bright. i closed my eyes for a few minutes and took in every ray of energy (cause i certainly could use some extra energy lately!!).