In het bos

Last Sunday we had some nice weather- FINALLY (though apparently it is supposed to be hot and muggy this coming weekend). So we hopped on the bikes and took Sam and Sarah to the forest to play. They both had such a great time.
This is my bike- my main mode of transportation. I call this the "Family Car"

I love this picture of Sam. He gets such an intent look in his eyes sometimes.

Sarah really enjoyed crawling around- but apparently wood chips look an awful lot like food to a 9 month old. Mmmmm- yummy.

Sam is such a good big brother. He loves his sister.

Of course, what would playtime be without some time on the swing? Sam has no fear- he would probably LOVE to do a 360 around the pole- though its been proven that that is not possible on a regular swing (hooray for Mythbusters, LOL)

Sarah knows she is cute!

I apologize that I have not been better about updating my blog here. Life gets pretty busy, and though I have time to READ things online- writing anything is a whole other ballgame.

Too long without a post

So, Sarah has been crawling now for about 3 weeks- roughly. Because of that, I have not had much time for mucking about with pictures and blogs, so I apologize- for not writing, and also, that this post will be VERY picture heavy. I hope no one minds. We take too many pictures. Seriously.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firstly- Sarah now also pulls herself to standing. It really ticks her off when she can't do it, but her balance is not yet so great, so I am constantly having to snuggle her after she has fallen. Poor baby. She is apparently ahead of the curve with all this stuff- but is developing pretty much on par with her big brother (I just hope she potty trains sooner!) This past Wednesday she had her 7 month check up, she now weighs in at 8.4 kilos and is 69 cm tall. Or 18.5 pounds and 27 inches tall- if metric just isn't your language ;-) (I really only give the metric measurements to you all since they are TAKEN in metric- which makes me feel those are more accurate. I realize most everyone who reads this thinks in pounds and inches/feet)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lots of pics from Koninginnedag (Queens Day). We had a pretty quiet day- the downtown is generally madness, and since we now have TWO little ones, we decided we would just skip it this year, and just went the buurtfeestje (block party) at the park instead. It was a pretty nice day, and Sam had fun running around. Sarah was not really sure what she thought of the swings, but I think she liked it.

The funniest thing was this rope bidge, which Sam was so afraid to cross- so he made us carry him over it:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lastly, just two somewhat random pictures to share. First is one of Sam on a ride at the Kermis (fair). There was a little bumper-car-like ride for little ones, which he REALLY seemed to want to go on- but freaked about when we put him on it. So he rode on this fire truck instead:

And also this picture from the other day. See, Sam has this thing now where he KNOWS he is being cute. And will insist we get the camera and take a picture to imortalize and marvel at his cuteness. Its hilarious. But this picture is funny because Sarah was less than pleased with his attention at this particular moment, but Sam just would NOT let go until we took a picture. The result speaks for itself, I think.

Well- there it all is. What we have been up to lately. In a nutshell, Sarah is getting into everything- she and Sam are either terrorizing me, the cat, or each other, so I am busy keeping them out of trouble- and keeping my sanity (trying to do any yoga lately is a very funny joke). And Edwin is working most of the time. He is currently looking for a new one that is closer to home, since right now he is gone around 11 hours a day (2 of those are strictly travel time). Hope you enjoyed our pictures!

she's crawling!!!

Sarah started to crawl last week! Sam is alternately delighted and irritated by this. He's happy when she plays with him, but gets mad when she tries to play with (well, eat, really) his toys. He has got to work on this sharing thing. What is scary is, Sarah really wants to stand up, so Sam wants to help hold her up so she can "walk". Which means I can't leave them alone, or I come back to see Sam with his arms under Sarah's armpits, delightfully exclaiming "look mommy! Sarah's walking! She's a big girl! I'm a good helper!" Sarah usually either looks totally freaked when this happens or completely delighted. It depends on her mood. My children are so strange.

who is reading??

I am just wondering who reads my blog. Please leave me a comment. I am pretty sure I have changed the settings so that you don't HAVE to have a blog here to comment. (I could be wrong though)

just some pictures to share

I take too many pictures. But here are a few I think are pretty cute (or funny)


Here is Sarah, eating (or rather shredding) some bread

Sam and Sarah having some playtime together on the floor. Sam KNOWS when something he is doing is cute- and tells me I should take a picture. Its funny.

This is too funny to leave out. The crown we got for getting a lottery ticket for the Koninginnedag (Queens Day) Sam usually claims it- but I managed to get a shot of Edwin being goofy with it. Hey- he took picutres of me 6 months pregnant decked out in a whole bunch of orange stuff when I got my dutch nationality. Paybacks suck. hehehe.
And lastly, on Saturday we got Sarah a highchair. We could have just used Sams, but after a few years of Sam abusing it we questioned its structural integrity. Plus, he still uses it (it breaks down into a small table and chair- so does Sarah's). When we put hers together and set her in it, Sam wanted to sit in his too. So now he sits in his chair at the table- which is funny, because up until we got Sarah a chair, he wanted to sit in a regular chair (even though he is not really tall enough) So I guess it was a good call getting Sarah her own. It was on sale, too (which is always good)

changed the language

a friend of mine brought to my attention that the link which allows you to comment was in dutch- and she was afraid to comment because she didn't know what the heck she was agreeing to. So I have fixed it to English for you all- since the majority of my friends and family are all English speakers. Sorry about the confusion, if you were wanting to leave a comment, and had no idea how!!!

This was Sarah's first bite of solid food- we gave her a banana. As you can see, she was less than thrilled. That has changed a bit, though.

here she is with a cookie. She kind of prefers to feed herself. It makes a fun mess.

This is what happens when you leave the room for a second and leave an open jar of babyfood behind. Sam thought he would help out, and this is what I came back to. Sarah thought it was cool.

And here is Sarah, covered in some Carrots. She covered me in it, too. I haven't gotten the stains out, yet- but this taught me (though I should have remembered this from Sam) to make sure I wear an OLD SHIRT when feeding the baby things that will stain. I hope I get the stains out....