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...