Piano Recital

Bailee performed in her first piano recital on Wednesday night. She played two duets with her friend Isobel. She did a fabulous job! I remember the nerves that would come right before it was your turn to go play and the thought of not remembering your notes. I asked her after it was over if she was nervous. She looked at me and said "Why would I of been nervous?". I was so proud of her. Jon said on the way home, "Well, that was 100 times better than her dance recital!" When she was 4 she had a dance recital and didn't move an inch the entire time. In fact, even during the lessons she wouldn't dance. She has come a long way and we couldn't be prouder!!! We love you Bailee!!!! Good job!!! You are a great piano player and make us smile every time we hear you play!

New Specs

Chase's teacher approached me last week and said Chase was having a hard time seeing the board. On Saturday we took him to see an eye doctor. After all the testing the doctor claimed Chase can only see about 30%. WOW! What a shocker! Jon was suspecting Chase needed glasses since he stands so close to the TV but I just thought he liked to be close to stuff. Chase loves his new glasses. All the way home from picking up the glasses Chase was telling us everything he could see that he didn't know was there. He mentioned that bricks have lines, buildings have names and he can actually see the branches in the trees. Now I'm wondering, all the fabulous places we have taken him in Europe, how much has he really seen?!

Call me bias, but I think he is very handsome in his glasses!

SinterKlaas

So, in Holland they celebrate SinterKlaas. SinterKlaas is Santa's cousin who lives in Spain. Instead of elves he has Zwarte Piets (translation: Black Peter's). SinterKlaas comes on December 5th but not while you are sleeping, he comes sometime after dinner and drops your gifts off at your door. SinterKlaas is welcomed in to your town about 15 days before December 5th. This past weekend SinterKlaas arrived in our town and we joined in with the Dutch to welcome him. We really couldn't believe how big of a deal it is. The festivities started with a parade lasting about 30 minutes. The Zwarte Piets came along handing out papernoten (special gingerbread like cookies they make special) and other candy. The Dutch were prepared with the bags but we had no idea. Good thing Talynn was prepared and had her purse with her. By the time the parade was over her purse was over flowing with papernoten. Once SinterKlaas has been welcomed in to your town the children can put their shoes by the fireplace or front door at night. The Zwarte Piets come and leave little goodies in the shoes. The kids have been very excited for SinterKlaas and the Zwarte Piets. They put their shoes out last night and were bouncing off the wall with excitement. The Zwarte Piets came and brought them each a HUGE chocolate letter representing their names. Talynn was so excited but really wanted a necklace and Chase wanted some more go go's but my darling daughter Bailee stole my heart. She was so excited for the chocolate and is hoping the Zwarte Piets bring her all the letters of her name in chocolate!! Who doesn't want that?!!!

I would take a picture of the chocolate letters but we got a new camera and I don't know how to use it yet.

BOO!!

Halloween was VERY different for us this year. Living in a country that doesn't celebrate makes it a little difficult to go door to door trick or treating. Since we go to an International School, Halloween in celebrated a little bit. I volunteered at the end of school year last year to be an American Community Rep. at school. Little did I know how much time this would consume! Well, a friend and myself were put in charge of Halloween. We needed to coordinate homes of families who attended the school who would be willing to open their doors to trick or treaters. Sounds easy right! WRONG!!! Our town (CITY) is pretty large and finding people who live close to each other (walking distance) is harder then you would think. Along the route we also asked for volunteers to park and let us "trunk" or treat. It turned out to be a fabulous night with about 25 stops (not bad for a country that doesn't celebrate!). Bailee didn't think she got enough candy but it was just enough to satisfy the candy graves without left overs to throw away.

Bailee and Talynn were witches while Chase was some Spider something (he had a great mask but wouldn't wear it!).

Bailee was so good to help Talynn and Rachel walk to the door and yell Trick or Treat.

Wicked Witch of the North and East!!!!

Apple Pickin'

There is a cute, HUGE orchard not far from us so we decided to go pick some apples. I couldn't believe how small the trees were. I thought we would be climbing ladders and trees to get apples but they were right at our finger tips.















Chase was having a competition on how many apples he could pick (most ended up being rotten) but he had a great time running around.















Bailee was disgusted thinking there were spiders, worms and who knows what else living in the trees and apples.














Tally wanted to pick only the little "baby"apples.















When we got home we made an apple crisp. I bought an apple peeler, corer, slicer. The kids thought it was the neatest machine they have ever seen. I couldn't help but smile when it was Chase's turn and he just kept saying "wow, awesome"and the giggle that followed. We still have plenty of apples for an apple pie, apple sauce, apple juice and anything else which requires APPLES!

L - M - N - O - P

Last Friday Talynn had a playdate with one of her good friends Rachel. They love playing dress up, putting on lipstick, helping each other in the bathroom (not sure why), watching Sleeping Beauty and just being with each other. I over heard one of their conversations while they were playing. It went like this:

Rachel: Talynn, my name is R - A - C - H - E - L. What's yours?

Talynn: Oh, mine is L - M - N - O - P.

I couldn't stop laughing. Rachel asked Talynn again about her name and she responded the same way. I guess I need to help Talynn learn how to spell her name!

Green Venice of the North

A few weeks ago we went with the Smiths to a small village called Giethoorn. Giethoorn is known as the 'Green Venice of the North'. Is is set along a series of canals which is the primary means of transportation just like Venice. You can't drive a car into town. You either walk, bike or do as the locals and take a boat. So we did as the locals, we rented a boat. It was so much fun. Bailee and Chase loved being the captian. They would take turns steering the boat. At one point we were passing a larger boat. We were on the wrong side of the canal (like being on the wrong side of the road) and the driver of the other boat thought for sure we were from England. We all got a good laugh out of that one. Giethoorn is absolutely beautiful. It looks like something straight out of a storybook.

Since we were in the area we drove to another small village called Staphorst. Staphorst is a strict religious community where you can see the traditional dress and customs of the people. They do not approve of riding bikes on Sundays (remember bikes are the prime source of transportation like a car). They tolerate visitors on weekdays but do not want their picture taken. Jon, being the risk-taker, took a picture of a lady in traditional dress while her back was turned. While driving around Straphorst we came to a Demolition Derby. We were so excited we jumped out of our cars to go take a look. The Derby was almost over but I couldn't believe what I was seeing around me. The locals were all drinking beer and throwing the bottles on the ground and the little kids would come along and pick them up. Also, most of the men were wearing their holland clogs. They reminded us of what you would see at a rodeo with all the men wearing cowboy boots. It was nice to get out in the country and see what life is really like in the Netherlands. Doesn't it make you want to come visit?!