fall color

i love the vibrant reds of the maple trees in the fall!

here are some pictures of the last few days of "fall color" here in hilversum. for several days last week - the forest had what looked like a yellow glow to it. last weekend we had a lot of rain and wind - so the leaves are pretty much gone from the trees now. winter has settled in for the next few months. i am hoping that the "costal climate" proves to be much milder (and significantly less snow!) than the chicago winters we are used to!

the last picture did not come out very good... but i was trying to show that the leaves were up almost to the top of the tire on my bike! that's a lot of leaves!!!

halloween in holland

technically the Dutch do not celebrate Halloween like we do in America... but at the International School that the boys attend - they dressed up in costumes and "paraded" to the Upper School. Thankfully we were able to use last year's Halloween costumes again!

little forest men

on monday, i helped in jayden's classroom at school. we made some little forest men. i was lucky enough to have jillian and helen helping me too :)

beez

graham decided that he wanted bee cupcakes for his birthday.... i'm so thankful that ross helped me finish the cupcakes tonight!! graham will be taking most of the cupcakes to his class tomorrow. he is so excited for his birthday to finally be here .. i guess with 3 other siblings .... birthday celebrations happen often around here :)

i think he's going to LOVE them!!! i can't believe my baby boy will be 7 tomorrow!

AMSTERDAM half-marathon

the finish - near the olympic stadium in amsterdam

the best kind of hug!

ever wonder what people do while they wait around for someone to finish a race? :)

getting hugs and a "go mommy" shout just before the start of the Amsterdam half-marathon

according to graham - i finished in 1st place (he even told his teacher at school today). i actually finished in 1 hour 48 minutes ... placed 427 in the women's category and placed 3532/10436. i was very happy with my time.... i really wanted to finish in about 2 hours....i'll be honest - my dream goal was to finish in 1 hour 45 minutes. i came really close to that goal.

i am so thankful for my ipod during the race.... not only for the music but the fact that my nike+ kept track of the miles for me. the course was marked in kilometers.... but i'm so used to tracking my pace in miles.... that i really would have been in trouble for my pace if my nike+ did not keep track of me in miles... somehow - i was a bit off at the end though... i thought i had 1 mile to go when i looked up and saw the sign "1Km to finish" ... fortunately it was a nice surprise! i was closer to the finish than i thought!

i had so much fun - i registered for the Berlin (september) 2011 FULL MARATHON this morning!

my sweet jilly

learning to drink from a sippy cup

my sweet jilly turned 8 months old on saturday! she's pretty much sitting up on her own now. no teeth yet! she loves to play with her sister's toys and the occasional car or train that she finds of the boys laying around the house. who needs baby toys when you have older siblings :)

shredded

these cloth diaper pads have been used by 4 children.... and are literally in shreds. i had to order a few more for jillian since i'm afraid she will be in diapers for at least another year.

i would have to say that i have definitely gotten my money's worth out of these things!!!