Jasper's First Birthday!

Jonkje turned 1 year old on November 13th! I can't believe how fast the time has past. We had a fun time with Jonkje, although he got some shots from the doctor. :(

We celebrated with family from both sides, and lots of cake. Jasper didn't really know what to do, and I must admit, the cake with all the orange frosting did look quite scary! He loved the toys he got, and still plays with them on a daily basis. He is so easily entertained and happy with anything. I do believe his favorite present was Jordan and Amanda's 'soccerball'. Happy, sweet little Jonkje, we love him so much. What a little sunshine!

Horseback Riding

The girls got to go horseback riding as a gift from grandma Becky from last Christmas. It was kind of far away, and we weren't too excited about the willingness of the assistants, but the girls had agreat time anyway. And so did Jasper, as he got to sit on a horse too for a minute. Thank you grandma Becky!

Fun in the Leaves!

I never knew how much fun fall could be until I moved to the US, where in Utah, Chicago and Georgia we have beautiful falls, with amazing color changes of the leaves and just some beautiful weather. But my view of fall improved even more since the kids were born, as it is so fun to see them playing in the leaves and loving it. So, just for them I raked all the leaves together (Josh would later pick them up with the riding lawnmower), so they could play in them. Lilian even said to me: "Mama, thank you for raking the leaves together so we can play in them!"

Savannah and Tybee Island

I went to the STAPP conference this year in Savannah, to get updated on injury prevention related issues and to get reconnected with the automotive world. My parents came along to watch the kids, whom I had taken out of school for 3 days. They had such a good time with opa pizza and oma Lina, swimming in the hotel, playing in the playpark, and going to the beach in Tybee Island-in November! They couldn't have been happier.

I was lucky enough to meet with Johan Ivarsson, and with others that I hadn't seen in a while too. And I was especially lucky to be able to join in the beach fun on wednesday afternoon, before driving home. Jonkje loved the sand, but wasn't so fond of the cold water. the girls however couldn't get enough of jumping in the waves and of running in the sand and water. We all even got to see a dolphin! We all had a marvelous time together, thank you a million times, opa and oma, for making theses days so special for the kids!

Playpark Time!

We often stop at a playpark on the way home from school, especially when we walk home. the girls love the break, they also have a friend across the street from the park (Koen and Connor) that often joins them, and Jasper loves anything that makes him move faster than normal: swinging, sliding, throwing,......

School Lunch with Sofia and lilian

Here, the kids all have 1/2 hr lunchtime at school. They can not go home to have lunch, but as parents you can go and have lunch with them at school. normally the class sits together at their own table, but when someone visits, the kids get to sit with the visitor at a separate table. I usually go 2x/week, which I really enjoy. It is a little mad house, so noisy, and most of the time the girls invite a friend to sit with them, but I love the break from the almost 7 hrs they are at school every day! This is what it looks like!

Jonkje loves Cars!

Jasper loves to be outside, and the first thing he always runs to is my neighbor's toy car. So I decided to take out the girls' toy car, even though it is bright ....pink! :)

He could care less, and loves to climb on it, and pretend to drive it. If that doesn't cut it, he will instead climb on the grassmower and pretend to drive that, and is as happy as can be.

Time with Opa and Oma

Opa Piet and Oma Lina came from Holland for a month, to celebrate Josh', my and Jonkje's birthdays. We had some rainy days and some very pretty sunny days, with lots of fun time inbetween. Opa and Oma went to Destin for almost a week, and then they came along with the kids (whom I took out of school for a few days) to go to Savannah GA, where I attended the STAPP conference. They took the kids swimming, to the beach at Tybe island, and what not. We were able to take the girls horseback riding, using grandma becky's gift certificate from last Christmas.

Here a few random pictures with opa and oma.

Tennis Lessons

Te girls started to take tennis lessons..... from their mom! We started the end of August 2x/week and we are having a great time. The girls are really working hard, and are having a lot of fun with various games (thanks for the tips Ruthie and Crandall), while I am pushing them with 'basis 1' the technique I learned from my tennis coach Silvester (dank je wel!). They both are really excited about being the first one to start, so we either practice catching balls, throwing overhead balls in the right service field, or underhand serving in the correct field, the one with the most successes out of 3 or 5 gets to start with the hopper of balls.

WE now use foam balls, that are a little slower, such that we can actually make pretty good rallies, yesterday up to 14! The girls are really proud of themselves, and so am I, and they don't even want to stop. after about 3 or 4 hoppers of balls, they practice 'kaats-stuit' bouncing the balls to improve their control over the ball, which they love doing! I am so excited, as it would be so awesome if we could play as a family someday. I have this sweet mother-daughter couple on my team, they are such a perfect example to me how much tennis together can contribute to a beautiful mother-daughter relationship. Thanks Nicole and Becky for the wonderful and warm example!

In the mean time, Jasper loves to play around on the tenniscourts, sometimes with balls, sometimes with a racket, or sometimes pushing the hopper around. He is always happy, good little boy. Can't wait for him to start too!