Field Day

Sofia and Lilian had Field Day (sport dag) on May 16th (our 13th wedding anniversary!), and promised to have a fun day. Well they sure did, even though a lot of it was inside due to rain. I went to watch Sofia in the cupstacking race, both girlks in the hula-hoop contest, and another race. The 3rd graders and up did a demonstration of what the jump-rope team does, and it was so impressive and fun. Sofia and Lilian both want to try out next year, and it would be wonderful if they could both make it.

Lilian with friends Katie  and Tavia

Sofia with friends Tiana and (I believe) Taylor??

Sofia and Mini-Boefje-Espen

4 Best friends: Sofia, Emma, Lilian And Jasper

The girls both had beautiful report cards too, we were very roud of them, and of the progress they have both made, each in a different way. My beautiful girls growing up fast.

Easter party

So, I guess this is totally out of order, maybe I'll be able to fix that someday when I figure out how to do that.
My family had a tradition at Easter to have a brunch with lots of eggs, pastries, homemade breads, and other wonderful foods. We try to keep this tradition going, and as it didn't work out with the Jewkes family this year, we invited some friends. Martha and her crew were able to come over, as well as Sandra Marsh, and Erin Corbridge. We had some delicious foods, including some hot italian sausage/bread/egg/salsa casserole, mom's french toast casserole, yummy ham and cheese sandwiches, orange 'cinnamon' rolls, etc. After that we made some crafts with the kids: bunny-plates, 3D easter-egg cards, and we died and decorated some eggs. The girls had hidden the eggs (we must have had like 200) for the easter egg hunt, which lasted like 15 seconds! :) So did the eating of all the candy, amn those kids are amazingly good at opening and devouring candy! We had a lot of fun playing all on the play-set for a while, and were definitely encouraged to kleep this tradition, so fun!

Renaissance Festival

We went to the Renaissance festival again this year, as last year's was such a blast! Unfortunately Josh couldn't come as he was helping with relief effosrt for the people that had been affected by the tornadoes.
So we drove over, having everything and everyone packed into the car, including snacks, drinks, stroller, baby bjorn, diapers etc......... But.... ofcourse mom forgot something: Jasper's shoes. So as a 'brilliant' solution, I just put an old pair of Lilian's socks on him, so he could walk around in the grass and dirt and gravel... socks that were way too big, with flowers, and holes in them so his toes were sticking through... very charming. I was glad I didn't run into anyone I knew!!! Bad mommy! Jasper fortunately could care less and had a blast, as did the rest of us: jousting, acrobats, learning to juggle, silly comedy/tricks, a turkey leg and 1/2 yard long hotdog on a stick and even macaroni and cheese on a stick. As a very special treat, Sofia was her very spontaneous self, and she got to do some Irish/Scottish dance with the performers there. She was a little shy, but they were very nice and let her dance with them for a while during the performance. She did great, and I was extremely proud of her for daring to do that, I would have been scared to death. She got a great round of applause and felt really good about it all. She should! Way to go Fietje! We all really enjoyed it once again and we stayed from start to end.

Photos will come soon

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a special treat for me. After a little difficult time with Sofia yesterday at the feis, I realized there were some things I didn't understand about her, and I really wanted to understand her better, so I can be a better mom to her. We spent an hour talking which was a little difficult for me, as she wasn't very enthused ( I had envisioned skipping hand in hand to the playgorund nearby, but instead she kept wanting to go back and turned her back on me), but fortunately she did talk and helped me understand her better and get closer to and more appreciative of her. She explained to me that it was indeed a little hard for her to see Lilian enjoy the feis and all of our attention was going to her, adn that she had to stay there all day supporting Lilian. I explained that I was sorry that I didn't realize this timely, and that it would help for her to tell me. It is not bad to feel some jealousy, as long as you don't act on it (and she has been terrrific about all the things that Lilian has been able to do without her, even though she must have felt some of this jealousy quite a few times). She also explained that sometimes she just wants to be on her own, while other times she would like some extra attention. I encouraged her to tell me these feelings when they come up, as I don't always (often not) understand when she needs what, and that I often misread her and do just the opposite of what she needs. She promised to try to tell me more clearly, and also asked me to not 'treat her like a baby' in the morning (admittedly I do just that, helping them wash their hair, and dry off, holding their towels up so they can be wrapped up warmly right out of the bath-tub. For me just an act of special time before sending them off to school, and a way of explicitly showing them love by service). She suggested to get her an alarm clock so she could get herself and Lilian up and bathed, get herself breakfast, etc. So I promised I would give her the chance to 'prove' herself, adn set my clock 40 minutes later than hers, so we could still get to school in time if she didn't get herself up in time. She sure proved herself 100x over,what an independent special girl she is!
Well, did she make a difference in all of our lives:
1st: they have been to school way on time since then!
2nd: way less contention or yelling in the morning to hurry, hurry, hurry, as they are done before I get up
3rd: wyaa less hectic time for me, as I don't have to 'baby' them in the morning, I just have to make lunch
4th: and she gave me the gift I have most craved for in the last 8 years: the gift of sleep!!! 40 extra minutesd each morning makes a big difference! What a wonderful treat, and how amazing to see my girls grow up so much each day!
Thank you Sofia, I love you!

Peach State Feis

Lilian and Sofia were going to participate in the Peach State Feis (Irish dance Competition), however, Sofia couldn't quite make it with her leg still healing (although the cast/boot is gone, yea!). We went on Friday night May 6th, to the Westin hotel, where she danced the next day. She (and Sofia too) got a little bun-wig, which is the first kind of wig you get for these competitions. She competed in 5 dances: reel, light jig, slip jig, single jig and treble jig, all advanced beginner. The first 4 were soft-shoe dances, the last dance was a hard shoe dance, the first time for her. It was  an exciting day, where we watched, had a way too high-calorie breakfast at Waffle-house, (YUM) swam in way too cold water, and then waited way too long for the awards for the high-level dancers from the morning session. Lilian really danced her little heart out, it was obvious that she did her very best, and that she had a good time, and that is all we are asking for! She looked so grown up to me, with her little wig, and her school jumper on. We were very proud of her, for trying so hard, and we were very proud of Sofia for supporting her all the way, all weekend long. I ma sure it was very hard for her, for all the attention going to Lilian for something she would have lovedf to be able to do as well, were it not for her leg. She was a little difficult , but looking back I realized this was difficult for her, and considering that, she was extremely strong and mature about it all. Sorry Fietje, for not understanding how hard that was for you. All together, I thought it was so very very fun to be able to do this a a complete family, to see these amazing dancers, to see my little girls growing up so fast and feeling so proud of them, for Josh to be with us the whole time and supporting Lilian in this, and just to be together like that, I love it. The bonus in this all was that Lilian won 1st place in her Light jig! Yeah!

Silly 'Kip' (Chicken)

Espen got a cute duck costume for Halloween, and Boefje (Jasper) really wanted to try it on. SO ofcourse I let him, as he is very good at wrapping me around his finger :) (as are all the other kids). Boefje thought it was a chicken, and as chicken is 'kip' in Dutch, he constantly called himself a 'kip', which was really cute. The outfit had a typical chicken/duck bum too, which was really exaggerate when he walked around in it. I have never seen a cuter 'kip' before. Anyway, silly Lily then didn't want to be left behind and she too tried it on. Qute tight, but definitely funny! Lilian is always up for a laugh, and doesn't mind making herself look silly for that reason. We had a really fun time mtaking pictures of these cute 'kippen'.

Twin Love

The girls are absolutely crazy about eachother, but they sure make a great pair for quarrels too: Sofia likes to tease, and Lilian gets easily upset. Sometimes they sound just like a maried couple: LiliN: "their [some neighbor's] dog got hit by a car".  Sofia:" When did you hear that?" Lilian: "Oh sometime last year." Sofia: "And you are telling me now???" I thought that was really funny. Anyway, despite their many arguments and quarrels and 'trying-to-get-the-other-in-troubles, they love to be together as witnessed by this photo!