The Cheese

We had promised the kids that we'd take them on a fun outing as a reward for how well they both did on their report cards the 2nd trimester. So off we went to Chuck-E-Cheese along with another family we're friends with--who had also made the promise to reward their son's good behaviour with a visit to The Cheese.

We all heart skee-ball :)

Happy Birthday, Alicia (in absentia)!

Alicia (in the photo) couldn't make it to her own 40th birthday party b/c she was sick, but we decided to carry on without her. We had fun in her honour!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Little Alice!

The Scorpions

Asia has done soccer in the fall for four years and this year she decided she'd like to play in the spring too. Go Scorpions!!

The Third Annual Daddy's Easter Bunny Chocolate Treasure Hunt

This was the first year that both kids could read the clues! The orange papers meant they had to do a challenge before getting the next clue...














The kids got to gang up and beat Andy at an arm wrestling match for the next clue.














We found the treasure!! In the coffee roaster (no, it's not a toaster oven, it's Andy's coffee roaster).














Yummy!

Super Cool "Uncle" Kirk

Kirk rode his cute little Vespa all the way to our house (probably about 25 miles from his house). The kids thought it was the coolest thing getting to go for a ride with him!













Hold on tight!!

The Weather

This spring has been pretty crazy so far. One day it's totally raining and hailing...













...the next day it's warm and sunshine-y and a perfect afternoon for playing outside and eating popsicles.



























...and then SNOW! Seriously, we've gotten more snow the last week than we got all winter long. So strange.

Open House

Solid! Andy's new office had an open house, it was fun seeing spouses who we usually only see at the Christmas party and also we got to see some old friends who no longer work there.














The office is beautiful and they managed to get all these cool decorations up in time for the open house. These images are all ads and websites that the company has done (Andy works for a PR agency).



















Jeff used to work there, Asia remembered that he was "The American Idol Guy". It really is kinda cool, he's the one who wrote the winning song that the winner of last year's show sang in the finale. We didn't watch last year, but this year thanks to the writer's strike we've been watching American Idol and she's totally into it so she thought it was really cool getting to see Jeff again :)

The Annual Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

This is our Third Annual Neighborhood-Wide Egg Hunt and it was another success. The kids started by doing some crafts...













...then we made them pose before we'd let them start the hunt.













And off they went!! 20 houses in our neighborhood participated by hiding eggs in their yards, it has become a very fun, much-anticipated tradition for our kids.













Our neighbor's granddaughter obviously wasn't in a hurry to find more eggs :) It was fun watching all of the wild older kids!

Good times at the dentist

The sunglasses at the dentist are oh-so-hip! Well, not really...

Chocolate: part of this nutritious breakfast...

Yes, that's a box of plain old chocolate sprinkles. It's a Dutch thing (if you can actually pronounce hagelslag then you must be part Dutch :).

If you look past the chocolate you'll see it's just something that helps the kids eat a whole slice of whole wheat bread for breakfast! We're not morning people and definitely not early morning eaters so breakfast on school days is always a struggle. I'll do almost whatever it takes to get them to eat--including letting them eat chocolate sprinkles.

Proud to be Dutch :)

My Invalid Mother

My poor mom! She had a ruptured bakers cyst (according to the ultrasound tech) in one of her legs which meant staying off her feet for a few weeks. My dad got a wheelchair so he could take her on walks outside the apartment. I felt sad thinking of my mom all laid up like that so I made a quick surprise 2 day visit to give some emotional support...

CookiesCookiesCookiesCookies....

I'm having dreams (nightmares?) of Trefoils and Samoas and Thin Mints and... AHHH! We survived our second Girl Scout Cookie Season and Asia exceeded her goal :)

Happy Birthday, Kirk!

Our friend Kirk threw himself another fabulous party--this time he was the lead singer in a Rolling Stones cover band that formed just for this occasion! Andy and I were totally groupies. Rock on!!














Seriously, he was incredible!! See for yourself--watch the video clip and enjoy :)


What I want to know is how he's going to top this one next year when he turns the big 3-0...

Safety Day

Today was safety day at Ezra's swimming lesson. They got to float with life jackets on in the cool river part of the pool. There's a current and everything! Such fun.














Safety First!

One more minute of family time...

I got to see Jehan (and the rest of the family) one more time for like two seconds. They were in Vancouver since they left our place last week and I met them at the airport after their visit b/c they'd borrowed booster seats and such from us. One last hug for Auntie C!














Then Jehan took one last picture of his daddy and his auntie. Off they flew back to Atlanta (but not for long! They'll be moving to Nairobi in a few months for Wiebe's new job).

2nd grade field trip

The world's coolest principal hanging out with the 2nd graders while we waited for the school bus to take us on the field trip...



















I thought it was so cute how all you could see were the tops of the kids heads.

The Star Destroyer

A little update for ya: they are still plugging away at this thing! Did I mention it's 1336 pieces?! Yikes.

A ladies luncheon and other things

...with Sally Field! It's a long story, but my friend Kelly (far left) was in charge of getting 30 women for this luncheon and in the end she needed some of us neighborhood girlfriends to help fill the room. We were happy to oblige! Sally is just lovely.














Sally and me. Cool, huh? :)














Then I headed to the Seattle Art Museum to meet Andy and the rest of the family who were there enjoying Family Day. Look! It's the ParentMap booth :)

For anyone who is wondering, this is the main part of my job--I am told by the ParentMap sales reps or marketing team that ParentMap is to have a presence at an event (like Family Day at the Art Museum) and then I'm the one who makes that happen. In this case two of my lovely events staff are working the table. I work at the actual events sometimes, but more often I do all the coordinating and then others work at the event itself. I figure out a craft, make sure we have enough magazines, etc. etc--all the logistics necessary. I totally love my job!!!



















Andy and the kids along with Grampa met up with Andy's sister and family. Eva had fun with Asia and Ezra doing the crafts, getting their faces painted, etc.

Family time--with the other side

Andy's dad--Grampa--arrived a bit before my family left this morning so the family fun continues!














First matter of business: Lego purchase. Last summer Grampa promised Ezra a new Lego set if he took swimming lessons. Then once he started lessons him and Asia decided to save up money and pitch in with Grampa's money to buy one huge Lego set: The Star Destroyer.

I have to say I was very proud of the kids with this project, they were both excited about saving up and even asked several times if they could do extra chores to earn some extra money. They were very proud of the purchase!














Getting to work... 1336 pieces!

Cookie Season!

Here we go... It's Girl Scout cookie season again. No, Asia didn't sell all of these cookies--they are for site sales for our entire troop.

Family: Day Seven--the end

This morning everyone left. The end of the family reunion. Here's me and my "little" brother :)

Family: Day Six

The whole family














Little Stephan and Asia adore each other! They are special birthday buddies as his birthday is just one day before hers :)



















A rare site--Jehan sat through an entire book :) Auntie Theresa has the magic touch.



















These boys were fast friends, can't you just feel the love?














Kevin's old classmate Moin is a Dr and he made a housecall--Kevin needed some stitches taken out of his hand and Theresa kept threatening, er, I mean offering to take them out but instead he chose to trust the Dr. Aww, poor Kevin, looks painful!














This was my sad attempt at taking a picture of the eclipse--just as it was ending. What a cool site it was! Asia has decided that she now has two wishes for when she grows up. 1. she wants to have a dog and 2. she wants to go to the moon.














Did I mention they are buddies?














Good night, Uncle Andy!