'Tis the Season

I have always loved Christmas. It is by far my favorite holiday. If you ask me why, I really can't give you a specific reason, but I really do love Christmas. Except this year, I just am not in the holiday mood. Maybe it's because I didn't have my shopping done (or even started for that matter) before Halloween. Maybe it's because I've been a little distracted with the whole job thing (I have a job btw. It's my current job, so no changes in the near future. Will know more when we get back to NL and I can start talking to my new boss.). It could be because life has just been a little too overwhelming the past year. Bryan and I had a date night last night and brainstormed on how we could use the extra money we are saving to make our lives less stressful. We couldn't think of anything! We could hire a nanny instead of daycare, but while that helps with some things, it brings with it a whole other set of issues, plus we would have to find time to review resumes and interview potential candidates. Just the thought of the whole process stresses me out. We have finally got the girls in daycare/after school care close to home, but I will be moving to offices in Rijswijk (20-30 minute commute vs. 5 minutes now), so we won't be able to take full advantage of that for long. We already order most of our groceries on-line and have them delivered... guess we could do that more. We have a house cleaner who comes every other week. If anyone has other suggestions, we are open to hear them!!

Anyway, now that I know I have a job, maybe I can enjoy the holidays a little more. I must admit, it is a little more stressful this year since we have to fit in both families at one holiday. Deep breath! Merry Christmas!!!

Why bother asking?

If you're going to ask me what to get my kids for Christmas, and I give you a list of several great gifts along with specific instructions on items NOT to get them, please listen to me! Otherwise, just don't ask!

Wal-Mart Trip #2

First item on the to do list today, "Go to Wal-Mart!" OK, so I know it's a little crazy, but I did actually have things that I needed to buy today. Here was my list:

Acteva (yea me, I got a cold sore on my vacation)

Tampons (yea me again)

Pre-paid cell phone (so that our friends and family can actually call us while we're here)

Dress for Kaeli (I forgot to pack one, and she's had two melt downs because of it)

Socks (I've needed longer socks for the colder weather, finally got some)

Shaving Cream for B (told him not to pack anything that I could get at Wal-Mart)

Detangler and toothpaste for K (ditto to above)

Clothes for A (for some reason, Kaeli didn't wear many winter clothes at size 24 months)

Only in America can you find all of these things at one place! I would have had to go to at least 3 or 4 stores in the Hague. God Bless America!! :-)

"Home Sweet Home"... well, almost!

So, we're back in the US. First stop, Wynne, Arkansas, via Memphis International Airport (we will avoid flying into here in the future, immigration and customs was stupid and exhausting!).

But, we are here. I am getting ready to eat Sonic for lunch (yummy!). I will be spending a couple of hours at Wal-Mart this afternoon. Gotta love the good 'ole US of A!!!

11 Years and counting!

Bryan and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this weekend. Yep, that's right, 11 years!! We wanted to go to Paris, but couldn't find an overnight babysitter, so we settled for a nice dinner with my bestest friend from high school and her husband who (finally!) got to come to Europe to visit. They just celebrated their 5th, so it was a nice little celebration. We also went to a Sinterklaas party (more on this in a future post once I have the pictures uploaded, you won't believe it!). So, while it wasn't a romantic weekend in Paris, it was a nice weekend to relax and remember 11 wonderful years of marriage. I love you, Honey!

Can we go see the other aminals?

We caught this clip while we were at the zoo in Spain. Just now getting around to posting it. Bryan's also put together an entire movie of us in Spain. Will try to get it on You Tube soon.

Enjoy!

Avery turns Two!

The first day of fall is the first day of school. I don't care if school starts on August 1st, fall must start on August 1st. The 1st day of a two-year old is the 1st day she gets mad, throws on herself on the floor and bangs her arms and legs on the floor while screaming. So, Avery turned two on November 15, 2009! Yea! Good times.

Back from Houston

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Houston. Left NL Monday morning and was back Friday morning. Bryan had the girls to himself again for 3 nights. He's such a wonderful and rocktastic Daddy! I was able to get him a little help in the evenings, so he wasn't completely on his own, but it was still not easy. Kaeli was a tremendous help and a great big sister. Avery had a very runny nose all week and kept waking up in the middle of the night with a cough.

Most of the 2.5 days that I was in Houston was spent at work in meetings (great meetings that have made me increasingly indispensable). However, I did get to see a few friends. For those of you I didn't see, please don't take it personally, it was a true business trip with no time for fun. I did not fully understand how much I missed "home" until my plane began it's final descent into Houston. It got worse when I saw our friends and their kids. We've missed so much since we left in January. Sure, we've had some fantastic adventures, but what adventures have we missed by being half way around the world?!

Did I mention how wonderful and rocktastic my wonderful and rocktastic husband, "the wonderful and rocktastic" Bryan, really is? In short, he is wonderful and rocktastic. The long version is that he is really, really wonderful and rocktastic.

Obviously, my husband wrote the paragraph above. He really is wonderful, but I can't quite figure out what 'rocktastic' means, so I can't verify whether he is or is not rocktastic.

Well, I'm back in the Netherlands and it is cold and gloomy, but I'm here with my wonderful husband and fabulous little girls. We're getting ready for our next adventure, looking for warm places to visit! Let us know if you have any suggestions!!

Halloween Scrooge

I feel like such a scrooge when it comes to this year's Halloween. I know I have a good excuse (we were flying home from Spain), but we were home by 2pm, which is plenty of time to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating. Yes, they do celebrate Halloween over here. But, alas, we got home, unpacked a little, called all of the grandparents, ate dinner, then went to bed. I could have at least answered the door and given some candy to the lone trick-or-treaters that rang our doorbell, but considering they woke up Avery... I think Bryan did go apologize, but we then turned off all of our lights and shut the doors to those rooms with windows to the front of the house. Bah Humbug!!

Seriously, though, Nana (my mom) made the most adorable costume for Kaeli. The extent of her Halloween was the pictures you see below. She loved it and looked absolutely beautiful. Thanks, Nana!

Spain - yet another White Family Adventure

We went to Spain last week for our very first week-long European family vacation, just the four of us. We went to Malaga, Spain, on the southern coast of the Costa del Sol. The weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny and warm during the day, cool enough in the evening to keep the room cool (very good thing since we had no A/C). The pool was a little chilly, but the girls didn't seem to mind and Bryan sucked it up a few times to get in and swim with Kaeli. The water at the beach was freezing, but we were still able to build sand castles. As you can see in one of the pictures, Avery's not much of a beach lover. In fact, she hated having sand anywhere on her! It was actually quite funny, but very difficult to enjoy the beach when your daughter starts screaming any time she gets sand on her hands or feet, and let's not even talk about the time she got sand on her pacifier! Enjoy the pictures!

Bryan and the girls at the Madrid Airport

Kaeli at the beach

Kaeli reading to Avery and vice versa

Avery with sand on her feet. Bryan laughing.

The only picture we got of the four of us

Kaeli Turns 4 (well, almost)

Kaeli is so very funny. Bryan was coughing alot Friday night, so instead of kicking him downstairs to the couch, I went upstairs to sleep with Kaeli. She woke up VERY early, and as I lay there coaxing her to stay in bed a little longer, we had a very cute conversation.

"Mommy, did you know that this was my last week to be three? I turn four today! Is it time for my birthday party?"

"No, Sweetheart. We've got lots of things to do this morning before your birthday party. Mommy needs to sleep a little more then Avery and Daddy go to gymnastics, you and Mommy have to go buy groceries, then it's nap time..."

"No, Mommy. Not nap, rest! Big girls don't take naps."

"You're right... Then after nap, we'll go pick up your birthday cake."

"Then it's time for my party!"

"Yes, then it's time for your party."

"And then I will be four!"

"Well, actually... Nevermind, yes, and then you will be four."

Technically, Kaeli will be 4 tomorrow, but why argue? It did give me an excuse to tell her to stop something today because "4-year-olds don't act that way". We had a wonderful party yesterday at the Little Gym. We had 3 Dutch friends from her old day care, 1 Polish friend and 2 British friends from her new school, and several American friends from church. The kids had a blast playing and eating Tinker Bell cupcakes, and the parents had fun getting to know each other a little better. And the best part was that I didn't have to clean up and my house was not a mess when we got home. Well, actually, it was a mess because I didn't have time to clean up, but it was not the disaster zone it would have been after a birthday party! Here are some pictures.

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Play Date

Here are some pictures from a couple of weekends ago. We went to the park with Kaeli's best friend from day care, Judith, and her sister, Dianthe. They had a blast (as you can see).

Emotional Roller Coaster

This week has been very bizarre. I was completely stressed out for the past couple of weeks, leading up to two big presentations and three huge meetings on Tuesday & Wednesday of this week. Everything went very well and I was on quite an emotional high. It was topped off yesterday when there was an article in one of the Shell e-News letters that mentioned my work as one of the enablers for helping Shell Chemicals save $28MM. Then, my bubble was busted! Very long story, but let's just summarize it by saying there are people in this company who should've been fired years ago, and now that they've been told there's no place for them in the new Shell, they're trying to make as many lives as miserable as possible before they leave with a nice big lucrative package, and I'm on the list. So, today, I'm feeling better, but still need to decompress. Drinking my wine now!

Tomorrow is Kaeli's birthday party. I'm very relieved I decided not to do this at our home. So, Little Gym - The Hague it is! Hopefully, the cake lady hasn't forgotten us. I haven't had time to call her to confirm. Just need to get some snacks tomorrow and I should be ready. Kaeli helped me put together the goodie bags last Sunday. She was adorable! It was the highlight of my weekend.

Well, hopefully, I will find time to post pictures of the party tomorrow. It certainly won't be the Water Park party we had with Shay & Matthew last year, but it will be good enough. More to come...

Supervising My Kids

I, Bryan, thought it would be a good idea to trust my children. They were playing sweetly together in the dining room, so I thought I would help Celesta clean the kitchen. Normally after dinner, one of us cleans while the other ensures Kaeli and Avery don't kill each other over a crayon (or piece of paper or flower...) On Thursday evening, the girls were playing together sweetly. Kaeli was helping Avery color and was being the most wonderful big sister. Besides, what trouble could they possibly find?

"Uh Oh!!" Kaeli's words, not mine. "Avery is about to make a mess!" In all her help, Kaeli was demonstrating to Avery the appropriate way to make handprints. That's right, handprints with paint! Kaeli had gotten out her watercolors, painted Avery's hands purple, and shown Avery how to make handprints on a piece of paper. The art was beautiful. However, Avery's hands were a mess and Kaeli had not considered this aspect of the operation. Hence her "Uh Oh!" For some reason Celesta blamed me for the purple water puddles in the dining room. Maybe it was for my supervision? So much for trusting my one- and three-year old.

Some random thoughts...

I've had alot on my mind lately. Haven't really had time to write it down, so I'm going to put some of it down now.

Shell

If you hadn't heard, Shell is undergoing a major reorg and over 75% of staff will be reapplying for jobs in the next month or two. We are being told that 20-30% of jobs will be cut! The Executive-level folks have already gone through their round of job cuts and it was right about 30% for them. We're expecting it to be lower on our end of the totem poll, but not much. Bryan does not have to apply for his job, but I must reapply for mine. I'm sure I will have a job, but I have no idea whether we'll get to stay in the Netherlands or have to move back early. I wouldn't mind moving back, but am not looking forward to uprooting the family again so soon. Don't feel like packing/unpacking 5 times in 3 months again either! Oh well, we'll see how things go. Keep us in your prayers as there is a lot of uncertainty these days.

New Schools

The last week has been very crazy. We are moving Avery to a new day care which is closer to our home and my work (though with the reorg, I will most likely have to move to Rijswijk - 20 minutes driving, 40 minutes by public transport). We could only get her in 4 days/week, so the 5th day she is still at her old day care. Kaeli also started the British School last week, sort of. They have this 'induction period' that is excruciatingly painful for 2 full-time working parents. She went for 1-hour two Fridays ago, then last week, she went Tues & Thurs 9-12. This week is 5 days, but only 9-12. Next week, she goes until 12:30 on Mon & Tues, then until 1:30 the rest of the week (I think). So, one of us takes Avery in, another waits around until its time to take Kaeli, then one of us picks Kaeli up and takes her to her current day care for the afternoon, finally, someone goes to pick up one or both girls. It's a nightmare and I've been working nights and weekends just to try to get my 40 hours in. The good news, and the thing that keeps us going, is that the girls love their new schools! We will be glad when we can finally get into a new routine when Kaeli goes full-time starting in October. There's a bus that will pick her up and take her to after-school care, so minimal back-and-forths in any given day. After-school is closer to home (at least 3 days a week), so it will be nice though I must admit I will probably miss my 'commute' on the bike.

Out of Touch

Found out today that one of my good friends from grad school had a baby 5 weeks ago. I didn't even know she was pregnant! She even works for Shell, so it's not like I have an excuse for not keeping in touch... We have internal IM! I also found out that my best friend and maid of honor has to cancel her trip to Europe. I was going to get to see her for the first time in almost 6 years and now I don't know when I'll see her again. This really got me down today and made me miss my friends and family even more than I usually do. I am so out of touch. I've tried to get video chat up and working, but don't have time to sit down and really get it working (guess I could be doing that now, but then you'd complain cause I never update my blog!). So, if you haven't heard from me in a while it's not that I don't think of you, it's just I can't seem to find time to keep in touch. Maybe when I don't have to work nights and weekends...

Avery Talks - but we need translation

This has been a pretty depressing post, so I'll end on a funny note. Avery has been babbling for months now and lately has become quite the communicator. She does more signs every day and can definitely point and grunt to tell you EXACTLY what she wants. She can say, and we can understand, the basics: Mama, Dada, Thank You, Please, but I've been wondering if she's saying more words and we just don't understand her because she is saying them in Dutch.

Well, this past weekend, my fears were confirmed! We went over to a Dutch friends house and Avery was babbling along, then said "Die" and "deze" while pointing out a variety of things. Well, come to find out, she's saying 'this' and 'this one'! Guess we need to practice our Dutch more. I feel pretty bad that we don't even have the vocabulary of our 17-month old!

Oh, and to make things worse, Kaeli is fluent. When we have play dates with her Dutch friends from day care, she'll only speak Dutch. Her friend's mom has to translate for us! We are sooooo sad!! Oh well, we're taking lessons and getting better every week. We'll be able to understand them both soon (I hope).

More adventures

So, these trips actually took place several weeks ago, but better late than never...

Our boat trip in Amsterdam:

Bryan's friend, Frances, keeps a boat in Amsterdam. He likes to toodle around the canals, meet perfect strangers while waiting to go through the loch, etc. He invited the fam to come for a ride. It was supposed to be a couple of hours, which turned into about 5! 5 hours on a boat with a 3 and a 1 year old! The first 2.5 hours were fantastic. The last 2.5 were a struggle, but it was a gorgeous day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as you can see from the pics. Kaeli got to help drive the boat and got attacked by a BIG kissy fish (read: Frances giving her lots of kisses).

My trip to India:

OK, so it's not an Adventure 'Together', but it was an adventure. I had to go to Bangalore, India, for work and left Bryan home with the girls for a week. Luckily, Bryan's Mom ('Grandma') was able to fly over and help him out. Good thing, as Avery got sick the day after I left! I had a very good time. Got lots of sleep. Work was very productive. I didn't get to see much of India, unfortunately, but did enjoy some delicious food, good shopping, and a beautiful hotel! It reminded me alot of Mexico with a gorgeous 5-star hotel next door to a field full of cardboard homes. Traffic was awful! I had a driver all week and I just fastened my seat belt and closed my eyes!! Got home safe and sound. The girls missed me a lot! I think Bryan did too!! Here are some pictures of my hotel.

We found our new DiGiorno!

We've been struggling to find good pizza here in the Netherlands. Sure, there is a Domino's (but you actually have to pay a toll to call them to deliver) and a Pizza Hut (good pizza but no delivery), but we've had to settle for New York Pizza, which happens to have pizza that tastes good, but the crust is a little too chewy and tough.

We've also tried frozen pizzas (very convenient!), but have not been lucky enough to find one that even remotely meets our expectations (even Kaeli won't eat more than 1 piece), until last weekend. Kaeli and I went to a new grocery store by the Little Gym while Bryan and Avery had their Daddy/Daughter time. I thought we'd try another new pizza, especially since it was called "Texas Pepperoni". Got it home, waited until Friday night, family movie night, then baked the two pizzas in the oven. They were delicious! Kaeli ate 3 pieces, Avery had two, and Bryan and I had our fair share. Now, granted, these pizzas are significantly smaller then typical frozen pizzas in the US, but we ate all but one small piece! Almost as good as DiGiorno!

Avery's First Haircut

Wow! Has it really been over a month since my last post? I really can't believe it. Things have been a little hectic, but I'm not exactly sure what I've been doing. Oh yeah, two weekends were spent either in India or recovering from my trip (I'll have to post about that another time).

Anyway, we took Avery for her first haircut this weekend. Kaeli was quite a bit older when she got hers. Below are the pictures. Oh, as you can see, Kaeli got a haircut too! Enjoy!

Noah's Ark (de Ark van Noach)

Before we left for the Netherlands, our small group from church bought us tickets to see Noah's Ark. A man from the Netherlands has built a 1/14th sized replica of the actual ark. After 6.5 months, we finally found the time to go and visit. Here are the pictures. By the way, we had a blast and it was the best going away present we could have ever gotten. Thanks, again!

Frollicking in the Garden

Last Sunday afternoon, I got inspired to take some pictures of the girls. Mainly, it started as an attempt to capture Avery's cuteness and then it turned into me trying to be creative, then into Kaeli showing off for the camera. We got some good video too, but I haven't figured out how to post those yet (or get them off of the video camera). I'll have to get B's help for that!

Kaeli posing and dancing:

Avery being adorable:

Mowing the yard (Bryan is proud that it only takes 15 minutes to mow AND weedeat).

Amsterdam

That's right, 3 posts in one night (and at least one more after this one).

We've been to Amsterdam several times, but finally remembered to take the camera this time. We visited our Shell friends from Houston, Karel, Alison and Eliska Kapoun. They've been here just about a year and live in Amsterdam (so glad we live in Den Haag, not Amsterdam). Three strollers and a pregnant woman (no, not me, Alison). We walked ALL over Amsterdam. Then, came back to their apartment and had a great lunch. Enjoy the pictures!