Zoo

The girls had Friday (10/21/2011) off! Yeah! We decided to take advantage of our zoo membership. The girls weren't very excited, as they felt they were to old for going there. I knew they were going to be the ones enjoying it the most, so we went anyway, and opa and oma got to follow along! We went backwards this time, meaning we started with the playground. Jasper enjoyed cimbing the rope-ladder the most, as well as watching the carroussel and train in the background. Espen liked the slide. Ofcourse the girls had a blast, especially on the 4-person seesaw. They especially liked playing the boss, telling the little kids whose turn it was, how long they could stay on adn which seat was for whom, and then they would push the seesaw as hard as the kids would allow them to (thye did ask!). We went to the petting zoo, which they still enjoy as much as the first time I took them (they were probably not even 1 year old). Espen and Jasper liked it too, and got to brush the goats and sheep. We pretty much saw all the animals they had, including a posing Giraf, a baby giraf, a baby gorilla, and a very loudly roaring lion. We were there for more than 4 hours, and nothing but smiles! As a surprise all of them got to ride the train (yeah, the 'all-grown-up' girls were sitting up front enjoying the 5 minute high speed (7 mph) train ride), the caroussel, and climb the rock-climbing wall (Jasper was too little so he got to go on the train again, this time with his opa). We were all tired, but had a blast. Sofia then got to ride again on DJ, the rest of us went to Sam's club for a hard earned ice-cream, and then we were treated to a delicious hibachi dinner at Kobe's by my parents. What an amazing day! I couldn't be happier to have the whole crowd together, and would rather go out 1/2 the time with dinner and a show (the hibachi style cooking show), then go more often and miss that (although not cooking is pretty high up on my wish-list). The kids love the show and are so entertained, they behave perfectly and love the quite healthy food! Thank you so much opa en oma!

Here many pictures of our time at the zoo, as well as of a previous time with just the boys.

Fall Festival

Every year, the school organizes a fall festival as a fund raiser for the school. I took Lilian, Jasper and Espen, while Josh took Sofia to horseback riding. (She was very excited as she got to ride DJ, a bigger horse than usual). Lilian's first and most exciting event was 'crazy hairdo'. She got funky ponytails, wrapped with pipe-cleaners, and some bright spraypaint in her hair. She later twirled up the ponytails, as you can see in the picture. Jasper enjoyed a pony ride, and both jumped and went down slides on the bouncy castle and other fun air-toys. Sofia came later, and joined the hoola-hoop contest with Lilian. They are pretty good at htat and love it, and both were great sports when they dropped the hoola-hoop. Lilian won the girls part of 3rd graders adn up. She was almost called out earlier, as she had the hoola-hoop going around her knees, but the announcer then realized she did that on purpose and said 'oh you're just showing off!". :)

We ended up with a yummy cake from the bake-sale, which almost got smashed by mini-boefje, as I was holding it in front while he was in the baby-bjorn. Sweet Knorrie, he just enjoyed watching it all and bouncing a little on the bouncy houses.

Lilian made the Jump Rope Team! Sofia is on the Cup-stacking Team

She is so excited to have made the Jump rop team. They practice once a week, and she loves it! They learn many tricks with the jumprope and it is all coordinated among the kids, such that they can do performances. Lilian has made several new friends this way, which has been great for her. Sofia unfortunately didn't make it. I was so sad for her, my heart dropped when I read the letter with her. She has always been really good though at taking disappointments, I was proud of her. She is now going to be part of the cupstacking team, where they use teams to build up a little tower made of up-side-down cups (small bucket), which they have to stack relay style. I am so happy for her to have a school activity, where she gets to be part of a team, and collaborate with friends. I think it will be great for her, especially as she does mostly individual activities like tennis and horseback riding.

Boefje's First Day of School

One of the fun things at pre-school: Fire Truck Day!

Boefje has started pre school!!!! We were going to wait until next year, then until January of 2012. When I called First Presbyterian to ask if they even allowed for entries halfway the school year, they told me they had an opening. I wasn't ready to let my sweet and special boy go to school yet, so I said no. However, jasper and Josh both thought it would be a great idea, Jasper was so excited. So we decided to go for it. He LOVES going to school, First Pres does a great job with exciting, sweet, cute, well prepared activities, he has already made several new good friends, he is so happy, and with 2 mornings for 3 hrs, I can just survive. I sure am jealous of his teacher though! He must be the cutest boy there (and everywhere), always happy and smiling big time, galloping with excitement, helpful (and a handful too), I sure wish I could be a fly on the wall again! I miss him when he is there, but get to enjoy my other special boy all by himself, and am extra excited to pick up Jasper again. We usually spend some special playpark time after I pick him up, or we go and visit the girls for lunch at school. Nothing better than to spend time with my children, I love them so much and can't keep up with how fast they grow and especially grow up.

[Here some pics of Jasper on his first day of school.]

Boefje's First Day of School

Book Fair

Thanks to Josh being home on most Fridays, I was able to volunteer in the school library for the book fair. I really enjoy being involved with the girls school, but it is virtually impossible to bring the boys. During the book fair week, scholastic sells really fun books, of which we usually let the girls pick out 1 or 2 books. When I am there, they get to leave the classroom for a while to pick out their books, and I enjoy that special time with them!

I was particularly in luck that day, as I happened to volunteer together with another Dutch lady. And she even had a girl in 3rd grade as well, though not in Sofia or Lilian's class. They knew Olivia, so we recently had their first playdate, which was really fun. Olivia's mom seems really nice and enthused, so I hope to have found a new friend in her.

Airshow

My parents are here again! Yeah. I am so excited to see them again, and to share all our craziness with them. I know sometimes it is probably a little much for them, but I absolutely love being able to give them a taste of our loving, fun, busy, crazy life with our four miracles.

We went to the airshow on Saturday 10/8/2011 with Opa, Sofia, lilian and Jasper. We figured oma could use some special time with her youngest grandchild, who looks exactly like her dad, and Espen wouldn't miss the excitement of the airplanes. We had a wonderful time, visiting and even climbing in some exciting airplanes, and watching the show. The acrobatics were amazing, and the jets were definitely roaringly powerful. Jasper loved it, but folded over his cute ears against the 1000 decibels of the jets.

We stayed until almost the very end, and then took the girls to 2 birthday parties in a row. They had a blast at rockbridge with climbing wall, ball blast fight, huge slide, sumo wrestler outfits, and a trampoline/bungee-rope jumpy thingy. Fun! Immediately after, they were able to do some gymnastics, jump in a foam block pit, some more gymnastics and more fun stuff with their friends, and came home late. What more do you need when you're 8??? Sucha  fun day!

[pictures to come]