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!

Family: Day Five

Happy Auntie C hanging with the nephews (and we found out today that they are going to be big brothers in September!).














The Boer Cousins














Opa pushing two of his grandsons on the swings.














We had fun playing at the park with a bunch of our neighborhood friends then we had a lemonaid party in Opa and Oma's RV. Opa even took us all for a ride around the neighborhood!














That evening we had a mini-school reunion with friends from Nigeria days--some of whom we hadn't seen in 20 years! There were 21 of us at the Rogue Brewery Restaurant in Issaquah. Pictured here: Wiebe (class of '92), Moin, Kevin & Samit (all class of '87), me ('91) and Sara ('92).

Family: Day Four. Also known as The Birthdays Day

Happy 70th Birthday, Opa!!













Our birthday gift was a really great book from the kids. They came up with an elaborate story "The Adventures of Opa, Asia and Ezra" which I turned into a real book thanks to Creative Memories . It was the perfect gift for Opa who is an author of many of his own books.














He cried and laughed all at the same time as he read the story of their adventures. It was full of totally personal touches and inside family jokes.














And then we all (us four, my parents plus my bro Kevin and Theresa) headed back to our house. But first yet another hour-long wait at the border...














Make a wish! The extra-special thing about the day was that my younger brother, Wiebe, and his family came from Atlanta to join the festivities. Not only was it dad's 70th, it was also my nephew Jehan's 5th birthday! It was pretty special that our whole family was together to celebrate both of those milestones.














Look how adorable little Stephan is! He's almost 1 1/2 and the boy always has at least one ball in his hands. He's bound to become some sort of athlete. I know his daddy is hoping the ball fascination will turn him into the first Nigerian/Dutch/American/Canadian/Trinidadian soccer player :)














Let the liming commence!

Family: Day Three

The start of another lovely day in Vancouver (this is the view from my parents' dining room).














I got to reconnect with an old friend at my parents' church that morning. AnneMarie and I went to school together in Nigeria and sang several duets in talent shows and such. We hadn't seen each other since I graduated in '91. She ended up marrying Bernard who went through seminary when my father-in-law was working there. A weird combo of two parts of my life!














That afternoon we began the celebrations for my dad's 70th birthday! A bunch of friends and family gathered at a restaurant in Surrey, BC.














This is my dad with one of his brothers, Tinus, and Chum, a friend from when the family first immigrated to Canada--so my dad has known him since 7th grade.



















Dad, Uncle Tinus and two of their sisters: Aunt Martha and Aunt Karen (she's the oldest of the 10 siblings).














You know who we are :)



















Hi Auntie Karen! I promised you I'd put this picture on my blog :) Check out your beautiful new coat that made it into the photo too!