jitterbug

helen and graham dancing at the jitterbug party

check out those dance moves!

the kids made some special snacks for the party

graham's class has been studying a unit on the 1950's. they ended the unit with a jitterbug party!

Oude Kirk, Niewe Kirk, and a Koninklijk Paleis

quick shot inside the royal palace

niewe kirk (we didn't go inside this one... too close to closing time!)

view of the palace near Dam square

quick shot of the outside of oude kirk

the organ pipes

cool suns on the ceiling

stairway to heaven?

i love going inside the old churches in Europe!!

interesting that the graves are underneath the church

we happened to catch the organ playing at the oude kirk.

the big three-five!

jillian enjoys some of my birthday cake!

yes - it's a SMURF cake!!

this could be considered a bike parking garage :)

Dam Square in Amsterdam

i celebrated my 35th birthday on sunday, april 3rd. we spent the afternoon in amsterdam and stopped at my favorite restaurant, La Place, for dinner on the way home. ross even found a smurf cake to celebrate!

spring projects

spring is arriving here in Holland! i bought some little easter egg ornaments at a local garden center and the kids helped me gather some sticks to put in a vase so i could hang the eggs. (i will post a picture of the final project soon!)

a few saturday's ago - the boys helped me plant some pansies in pots. they carefully selected the different color flowers for each pot.

graham date

this photo is not part of our date .... but it's a photo in the museumplein in amsterdam near the van gogh museum

my handsome graham after his haircut!

we biked in to town for our date and saw these cows in the forrest near our house! graham wanted me to take a picture of them.

a few saturday's ago - graham and i had an afternoon date. i took him to get his haircut and then for some ice cream. we enjoyed our time together!

bounty - plenty

the last roll of paper towel from "home"

the "new" paper towel is a little smaller :)

this is my last papertowel roll from "home". not sure how i ended up with a 1 year supply of

paper towels from home .....

the dance project!

i signed helen up for a little dance class late last fall.... at the time i had no idea it would lead to a professional performance of Swan Lake! on april 10th -helen will take the stage (along with about 200 other dancers) to perform Swan Lake. the 3 year old classes will be either flowers or lady bugs in a small portion of the overall performance. i volunteered to make 16 lady bug costumes and here they are!!

the first photo is a quick shot of helen's class trying on their costumes last saturday and getting ready to take a picture for the performance program. helen's group will be dancing flowers :)

i will be helping back stage next sunday!!! can't wait to see how my little flower does on stage!!