Goodbye 2010

Two much time has gone by since I posted anything on our blog, but I do have some good excuses. Quite a bit has happened in 3 1/2 months since my last post. The biggest 'adventure' of our lives came to an end as we moved back to the US after 22 months of living in the Netherlands. We've moved back to Katy, TX and our new house is absolutely beautiful. We are just about settled now after spending 2 of our first 7 weeks back in the US out of town! The best thing about being back has got to be the weather. The sun shines (most days) and it has been unseasonably warm, even by Houston standards. It seems we've missed a VERY cold winter in Europe and lots of snow. While it it certainly hard to get in the Christmas mood when it is 80 degrees outside, it certainly is better than riding the girls to day care on our bikes on the ice!!

Kaeli and I got to go to the Nutcracker ballet. We had a great time getting dressed up and going to the matinee. It brought back wonderful memories of when my mom used to take me to the Nutcracker in Tulsa.

Avery is our energetic one. I think she gets all that energy by zapping out of me and Bryan. She is absolutely the most adorable, most challenging 2-year old I know. She's stubborn, but gives the best snuggles!

I am looking forward to a year at work where I am not constantly looking over my shoulder. I'm going to keep looking to the future and build upon the successes that I have had over the past 2-3 years. I must admit that it is quite amazing (and a little humbling) to be 'the expert' in a company as big as Shell.

It's time to start the new year off with a clean slate. Bryan has a new job, we are joining a new Sunday School class (we will miss our old friends, but Bryan is going to teach in the new class). The girls are in a new school (and they're loving it). We have a new outlook on our family and on our lives now. Watch out, friends, we are going to be inviting you over often! Goodbye 2010, hello 2011!!!

Kaeli's First Day of F2 and Avery's Puzzles

Here are some adorable pics of the girls.

Kaeli started her 2nd year at the British School of the Netherlands. As you can guess from the picture, she wears a uniform. She is so darn cute! Her lead teacher this year is Irish, so we are hoping that her British accent comes back with a vengeance before we head back to Texas. Bet the real British princesses can't pull off a tiara with their school uniform like Kaeli!

Avery is still in day care and loving it. She moves upstairs to a new class about a month ago and seems to be enjoying the challenges of potty training with the older kids. She has mastered all of the 3+ puzzles in her classroom and at home (see picture). Her Dutch is flawless, so much so that we can't understand most of what she says, and Kaeli has to translate for us! The 2nd pic really captures her personality. We're in trouble!

Some pics of the girls playing together. They are getting much better at it and are becoming very good friends. We are very excited about this as it gives us a minute or two of 'free' time in the evenings. However, we must be careful as they are also beginning to conspire WITH each other. I know you wouldn't believe it from these two 'angelic' faces, but believe me, they are too smart for their own good!

Family Photos 2010

So, we got our family photos taken again this year by a friend from church, Krister Evenhouse (www.efg-design.nl). He is fantastic and always captures us being "us". This year, we went to the Rotterdam Zoo. It was great fun, and the pics turned out great! Below are a few 'teasers' and a link to the entire gallery (http://www.oypo.nl/1F665A8FFF4B1660). The password is 'avery', and there's a button at the top right for you to choose the British flag if you want things to be in English. As you might notice, it took a while for Avery to warm up to the camera. Unlike her big sister who was born to be Miss Photogenic.

We've been practicing on the girls' running form, but they still need some practice.

We even got a picture of me and Bryan. Ahhhh....

Sneak Peek of Vienna

OK, I know, I know. I don't blog near as much as you'd like me to, but I'm doing the best I can. You're lucky I get to blog at all with as busy as life is these days.

Anyway, we are currently in Vienna, Austria. It's our last European vacation before we move back to the US. I'll try to blog more about the trip later, but here's a sneak peek of the fun we had on Day #1:

Posing on the elephants at the Natural History Museum

Playing at the playground across the bridge from a gold statue of Johann Strauss

Me and the girls by the Cathedral and the Cathedral

CenterParcs

If any of you ever get to live in the Netherlands (or anywhere nearby) with little kids, you've got to take a vacation to CenterParcs. We took the girls last week (or maybe the week before, I don't really remember now). It was a blast!! Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of the most fun part, the AquaMundo (or indoor water park) because we were too afraid we'd get our camera wet or stolen! But here are some great pics of the girls and all of the activities. Kaeli got to pretend to be a 'fire girl' and a 'princess'. We went with some of our good friends from Poland (Wojtek is in Kaeli's class at school), so that kept the kids entertained and gave us some adult conversation. I just realized that I did not take a picture of our cottage which had 3 rooms and a full kitchen with a back porch that overlooked a playground and lake. Needless to say, Bryan and I were exhausted by the end of the week. We went Monday - Friday then took it easy on Saturday and Sunday at home. I was so relaxed by Sunday that my blood pressure dropped and I was dizzy for two days. I was back to work on Monday and by Tuesday my blood pressure was back up to 'normal'. Enjoy the pictures! No, there are none of me. Guess I took all of the pictures!