our neck of the woods

Mystery Trip 2012

2012-01-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

Finally had a chance to sit and go through pictures which was much less monumental than I thought; apparently Jodi took a lot of the pictures, so we'll have to wait for her update.

But I'll give a little run-down of what we did, even though Janna already did that and did it well.

We picked them up from Palm Springs airport on Friday night, came back for some sangria and sleep. As Janna mentions, we accompanied many of our plans with a limerick that they had to complete (a la Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!) It was fun to come up with, though some of our rhymes were a bit of a stretch. Check the answers at the bottom if you're stuck. :)

Here was our first:

this rhyme is as short as Sofia
and will serve to reveal an idea
each event that we do
has its own limerick too
now let’s all have some warm spiced __________

Saturday morning after breakfast, we took off heading south.

at eight in the morning we‘ll go
forgetting the blizzards and snow
heading south in the car
we won’t travel too far
we’re off to go see _________

San Diego! (Sorry, I gave you the answer.)

a large naval outpost afloat
its hotel has a guest list to note
you won’t find a car (*which we were wrong about)
on Coronado’s black tar
so to get there we must take a _________

We first went to Coronado and had a great time. We took the ferry and spent a few hours walking.

We enjoyed looking at landscaping, the Coronado Hotel, the Pacific Ocean, and some people watching.

We walked around a couple miles of a paved bike path.

Enjoying the beautiful beach right outside the Coronado Hotel.

I think we could've spent more time there, but we had other plans:

Balboa’s a great place to munch
and eat some red grapes by the bunch
not far from the zoo
it’s a beautiful view
next up is a grand picnic _________

From there we went to Balboa Park for lunch. We walked around some more there, enjoying the scenery and company.

We were tired and ready to be done walking and headed to our hotel from there. We checked in, hung out in our room, relaxed a little, then got ready for dinner at Daisy's Bistro.

we’re beautiful girls at the core
on the outside let’s work a bit more
we’ll get dressed up and cute
and then find a good route
to Daisy’s for dinner for ___________

We got a great deal for four people and got the perfect amount of food. We were so full from great food (despite what the reviews may have said and the basically empty dining room!) and so sore from the 10 miles of walking we did that day that we waddled (literally) back to our hotel which was a long 500 feet from our hotel. Perfect.

We went back to our room to enjoy playing a game and doing some facials (and a LOT of laughs). Right before bed we prepped Joy and Janna for the next day:

inspired by a Biblical tale
make sure you hang on to the rail
it might be quite cold
but we’re sure to behold
the sight of a giant grey _________

After a decent night of sleep, we headed out to go whale watching! It's the peak of the grey whale season and we were fortunate to see the backsides and tails of 3 different whales as they made their way to warmer waters.

one of the highlights was seeing lots of dolphins!

I took a lot of pictures of the whales. But they all look the same:

It was a cool experience and I'm glad we did it. We (I) expected colder weather and it was cool, but not frigid, and the sun made a few appearances during our three-hour tour.

After debarking the boat, we headed to a local taco shop and got some great Mexican food. From there we hopped on the 15 heading back north, stopping at in Temecula...

with reds, whites, and blushes divine
those varietals picked off the vine
we’ll take a few sips
and pay with our chips
it’s time to go sample some ___________

...for a couple of wine tastes and a quick scour through Home Goods.

Once back in Redlands we had a nice meal together (it was Janna's birthday!) and watched a movie that wasn't as good as we hoped but we were exhausted anyway.

Since Monday was a holiday for us California teachers, we had the day to spend together in Redlands. We took a walk around Prospect Park, played more games, hung out and talked, and prepared to go our separate ways (Ben and Jodi left that night, Janna and Joy on Tuesday).

Amazingly enough, this was the first time the four of us had done ANYthing together and I'm SO glad it worked out for us to do.

Answers to the limericks: sangria, San Diego, boat, lunch, four, whale, wine

san diego panorama

2012-01-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

I had a couple minutes to put this together, so before I post about what we did last weekend on our Sisters' Mystery Trip, here's a piecing-together of some pictures I took from the ferry to Coronado Island.

From the picture you can see it wasn't necessarily the most perfect San Diego-esque weather, but it didn't matter with the company we had.

More details to come!

snow!

2012-01-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not the only one who's in this boat, but it's not a boat I enjoy: catching up. I really hoped that blogging wouldn't be about catching up on the events that have happened, but I guess that comes with the busy season we ebb and flow into. And although Holiday Season 2011 is over, End-of-the-Semester and Busy Winter Season 2012 are in full-swing.

But in my mind I can't move on to those new things until I've finished what I haven't shown yet.

I do this for myself more than anyone else. That being said, thanks for coming along with me.

Spontaneous Blizzard 2011

It was a little disappointing to go back to the Midwest and not get much snow at all (more rain, actually), but one of the last days we had there suddenly brought with it a blanket of wet, white snow. It was perfect: perfect for snowmen and snowball fights, and enough to cover the grass for some sledding too. (Strangely enough, at my parents' house just 20 miles away, they got ZERO snow!)

sisters' trip

2012-01-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

For two year now, Jodi and her high school friends have taken a Mystery Trip. A Mystery Trip is where one (or two) people are in charge of planning a trip for the entire group. Each person pitches in the same amount of money which covers everything for their trip: airfare (if necessary), food, lodging, events.

This year, we decided to plan a trip as sisters and Jodi and I are in charge of the planning. This weekend the four of us will be together in an undisclosed location (they only know they're flying to California), doing all sorts of undisclosed things.

Yesterday, Janna and Joy received an email with these attached. So now you know as much as they do.

Wheaton!

2012-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Two days before Christmas we headed to Chicagoland for a quick trip to see my mom's side of the family. Very few of them had ever met Sofia, some of them not even Eva. It was about a 15-hour trip, but nice to be there together.

devouring the pistachios

Grandma and her kids: Steve, Ken, Cindy (my mom), Dave, Beth, and Scott

Besides lots of good food and catching up, there's always a White Elephant gift exchange. This year wasn't as epic as previous ones, but fun nonetheless.

Grandma with a Justin Bieber singing toothbrush. Too bad it would later be stolen from her!

Dave with his amazing prize!

After a few people had left (and kids were in bed!), we played a few (dozen) rounds of BlowBall. Don't know BlowBall? The rules are simple: You may only use your own hot air to blow a ping-pong ball and keep it from coming off the side of the ping-pong table and onto your opponent's side. It was dazzling. Too bad so many pictures were fuzzy!

All set up. Janet's looking ready!

Nick fits right in with the Vander Veen boys.

a few tears were shed

ready for it, Brooks!

Hilarious fun doesn't come more easily than that.
And with that, I guess the lateness of the evening set in. These were the last few pictures of that night:

deep breath!

2012-01-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

Drop your jaws. I'm FINALLY posting.

Our Christmas break in Michigan was probably one of the most relaxing breaks we've had. It was filled with lots of parties and moving around while still being enjoyable and fun.

And of course I have a few pictures to prove it.

First stop: Holiday Inn Express, south of Grand Rapids. It has an indoor water park/slides that our kiddos LOVED. We went there with Nick's parents and Kevin and Jamie and their kids. We stayed one night and had a great time.

Fun tradition! Whether it ends up happening year after year, even just this once was great!

santa monica

2011-12-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

On Friday after Thanksgiving we did something daring and drove out to the coast to hang out in Santa Monica. It's a great city because of the many things to do: shop Third Street Promenade, see the Pacific coast, walk down the pier, people watch, see famous people, eat good food, and people watch some more. (There are some really interesting people in Santa Monica!)

I was nervous that there would be gads of people that we'd have to mill through (being that it was Black Friday), but the Third Street Promenade was surprisingly well-tempered, though it looked like they were preparing a big to-do later in the evening with stages, giant Christmas trees, lots of sound equipment, etc. (We didn't stay long enough to find out what they were up to.)

After milling around Third Street, we headed down to the coast to chase sea gulls and enjoy the sun and the gorgeous (75-degree) weather and play in the sand for a bit before heading to the pier and spending a couple hours there.

Highlights:

The girls chasing seagulls and little waves and not caring about soaking their pant-legs.
Riding the Ferris Wheel and Dad holding on for his life.
Eva and Sofia absolutely loving the Ferris Wheel.
Eating churros and cotton candy.
Watching the many (some of them on the creepy side) entertainers.
Trying on random crazy hats at one particular vendor.
Strolling together, laughing together, enjoying a car-ride together.

We were thankful for sun (and sunglasses).

waiting oh so patiently in line

if only he knew what exactly he'd be feeling once he was out of line and in the bucket of that Ferris Wheel... you might not see such a smile :)

oh joy!

Sofia was always happy to be perched on someone's shoulders

It was just the start of a great time together (and unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the rest of our time together). Thanks Mom and Dad, Evie and Drew, for making the trek out here.

thankfulness

2011-12-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

We were so glad to have Nick's parents and Evie and Drew (Nick's sister and her husband) here for Thanksgiving. It was a really great time and we were so glad to have spent the five days together. (Missed you Kev and J and family... but can't wait to see you in 2 weeks!)

As we sat around the table on Thursday, it wasn't hard to come up with things we're thankful for. Both big things and small things, seemingly shallow things but deeper too, we have so much to praise God for. That was clear as soon as the first person began sharing about things God has brought us through in the past year, ways in which we've grown, challenging but exciting things too.

Sofia and her *sparkling blueberry juice*.

garlic, streamlined

2011-11-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

This is completely random, but I had the pictures and thought I'd post this.

A while back I went to Costco with a friend (thanks Susanne!) and ended up buying a big container of garlic. I use a lot of garlic, I would say, but didn't need the quite amount that that container held. But the price difference between 2 heads of garlic from the grocery store and hundreds of cloves from Costco is so minimal it's ridiculous. So before the expiration date, I minced it all in the food processor, then froze it and broke off chunks (however much I needed) when I needed it.

I ran out of that garlic quite a few months ago but recently had Susanne pick up another container for me. This time I did the same thing, just a little more systematically: this time I froze it in a gallon-sized freezer bag, and then took the entire frozen block of garlic out of the bag (cut it off the frozen block) and cut it into clove- (or so) sized portions. Now, when I need it, I just reach into the ziplock bag and pull one (or more) out.

(I do, by the way, keep heads of garlic in the house on the occasion that a recipe calls for whole cloves. But most of the time, minced garlic can easily replace it!)

bathroom

2011-11-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

I finally took the time to upload a few pictures from my camera. These are of the master bathroom that we've redone. It's been a long process (even though it may look quite simple).

Before: (this picture was taken of the house before it was even ours)

At this point, we saw some water damage on the baseboards and determined the best thing we could do is cut the bottom foot or two of the wall out, bleach and dry out the studs, then patch with new dry wall. We did that and then decided that instead of trying to match the existing texture (which we're not crazy about), we'd cover it up with wainscoting and some trim (thanks again, Jim, for your help!). I painted that before heading to Spain, but never finished on the grey walls. Plus we still had those black boxes and shelves on the wall.

And after:

The medicine cabinet perfectly holds all of our toiletries. I'm so thankful I don't have to gaudily display them on the walls for all to see (not that many ever venture into our bathroom). Now I need to find (aka create!) some art to go about the toilet.

I'm a big fan of grey. Here's why: it's so versatile. It can go with black, brown, navy, white, any color. And grey can be light and super dark. It's all over our house.

I found some towels that go well in it too and so far are perfectly absorbent and quick-drying. Plus they were on sale. No complaints here!

Not that this was a miracle all-intensive remodel, but it's nice to have things done and looking much cleaner and a bit more polished. Now I just have to add an accent color (I'll be making a shower curtain too!) and we'll be REALLY done.

something else

2011-11-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry that I've left a post on a booger unattended for so long.

Our life has taken a bit of a different shift this week and last. Nick is gone for two weeks. We were thankful that he came home during the weekend. (He's in a masters program and for two weeks attends classes in Pasadena, so he ended up staying there instead of commuting every day.)

Meanwhile, the girls and I have survived. We have family coming for Thanksgiving (can't wait!) so I've had a few goals that I was able to reach last week: cleaned out and organized (or purged) ALL of the paperwork in this house, most of which was in the guest room. I also painted the master bathroom, installed new shelves in the shower, and then we put up a new medicine cabinet. (Post on that will be coming!) I also found (and purchased) 2 sets of sheets/bedding. All of that on top of laundry, cooking, picking up, and most importantly, take care of Eva and Sofia.

All of that to say, blogging has not been a priority. Picture taking has taken a back-seat (more like the trunk?), which is unfortunate in some ways. But really, I can't complain about having the time to accomplish all of those things.

boogie

2011-10-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry.

I know that boogers are gross, and I admit it, I had a nasty habit of eating them when I was little. It's gross that I would even take a picture of this. It's grosser that I'm posting it. But I had to.

Keep in mind, this was in succession with dropping dropjes in her cup. What a goof ball.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

apekoppen

2011-10-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

I love almost everything about the rhythm of our life right now except for the amount of picture-taking and blogging I've been doing. I wish that meant I was more on top of my laundry or grading or something, but it doesn't.

I found these goodies out of a bunch of pictures I took last week and hadn't yet posted. I can't decide which one I like better. But I guess I don't have to choose...

Wonder what in the world they were up to? Sofia was dropping her dropjes into her cup and they were getting some serious giggles.

Mexico: Day Two

2011-10-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

Day Two: (Saturday)
On Saturday we were up bright and early after a bit of a rough night of sleep. It was terrible, given the fact that we were all sleeping in sleeping bags (Sofia included) in the upper level of a loft house, losing pacifiers in the night, no electricity for a nightlight, etc. But when the breakfast bell rung at 6am Eva and Sofia were still cashed out and I was anxious to keep it that way. But as soon as it was 6:15am both girls were ready to be out-the-door.

After breakfast we loaded up our van and headed to the little town of Zorrillo. We were in a spot that was nearly inaccessible, so getting all of us and the supplies up the hill was a tough job (most of which had been done for us before we even got there). We got to work right away, painting, applying shingles, building the foundation, putting walls up, roof on, windows in, etc. Of course by "we" I mean Nick. I did a little bit of painting, and a lot of watching and chasing after Eva and Sofia.

Rogelio (boy whose home we built) helping Erin and Katie with the siding

friends and neighbors gathered to watch

this gives a picture of the heave-ho-ing it took to get the house up the hill

Nick and Joe and the man of the house

Saying Sofia got dirty was an understatement. Even filthy doesn't quite describe it. (Thanks, Sarah, for tolerating that!)

Eva helping Sarah with the porch roof

the final piece, coming up the hill

and the final touches... thanks to the Nydam family

Rogelio, so proud of his new space. He began sweeping as soon as he could, and I'm pretty sure he thought the whole thing was for himself!

Mexico: Day One

2011-10-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

Nearly two weekends ago was a whirlwind. We had just celebrated Sofia's birthday (which I have pictures of but probably won't end up posting) and as soon as school was over for me Friday morning, we packed up and headed out.

Our trip was planned around building a small loft house through Hands of Mercy for a family who needed it. It was an incredible blessing to be able to take part in this trip, to take our girls along and experience this together.

Day One (Friday afternoon):
After a few hours of driving (our girls did great, though no naps) we finally arrived in Mexico. We were just in time for some tacos from one of the many taquerías lining the streets of Ensenada.

already on to her chicle for dessert

We were serenaded by this boy as we ate.

That night we settled into our camp, and enjoyed a great sunset.

bunk-mates

2011-10-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've fallen back into the rut of playing catch-up, but today need to fast forward to present-day.

I have been obsessed recently (maybe 2 months) with finding bunk beds for the girls on craigslist and I do believe we've hit the jackpot! On Monday this week I found a listing for a great set and when I inquired I was the first (of many, apparently) to make contact about it. They lived 45 minutes away which isn't super close, but it was worth the drive.

I was a bit picky with the must-haves: great condition, wood, white, twin-over-twin, under $250. And that's what we got... plus some.

Beautiful bunk beds! (and beautiful quilts, right Grandma I?)

complete with storage underneath

the perfect place for all those toy bins!

Plus, it came with this:

providing an amazing amount of storage space for all those toys!

even one whole drawer dedicated to puzzles!

And the best current news: the girls slept really well in them. For Eva, it's only been one night, but Sofia didn't get out (or fall out) last night, and went down for her nap without a hitch. Sweet! Two big girls in this house now, people!

Oh the beautiful memories, joyful laughs and happiness that will (hopefully) come with sharing this room, now sharing their sleeping space.

PS. Can you believe they were only asking $200 for all of this? I still can't.

sweet potatoes or yams?

2011-10-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

I think one of our favorite starches are sweet potatoes, or yams I think technically (though half of stores markets them as sweet potatoes), and every fall we fall back in love with them. Of course we often bake them, then stuff them with healthy things like butter, marshmallows, and brown sugar. Yum.

I recently made a fantastic bunch of sweet potato fries. They were gone quickly, everyone wishing I had made a few more. It's such an easy recipe, perfect to share.

Here's what I did:

2-3 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled, and cut into fries (as thin as desired)
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. curry powder
ground pepper, if desired
1-2 tsp. salt (adjust to taste)
2 Tbs. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 450. Place prepared potatoes in bowl. Drizzle oil over potatoes and stir to coat. Add spices, salt, and sugar and mix until covering potatoes evenly. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray and spread potatoes evenly. Put in oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, then carefully flip fries over to brown the other side. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, checking occasionally (depending on thickness of the fries).

holy bug!

2011-10-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

I found this on our garage door last week, greeting me as I was about to start a load of laundry. It gave me a little bit of a scare when I first saw it move, especially since it had just gotten dark outside and as I turned on the light, there she was. What an awesome insect!

The girls were in awe of it: a bit freaked out when it moved somewhat robotic. Of course, I had to grab my camera.

Fia Fia

2011-10-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

Last week Thursday, our little Sofia turned 2. TWO. We had a busy weekend (in Mexico) so it's a bit belated.

Sofia, you are such a little personality. You are a people person, though like your sister, you take a little bit of time to warm up to new people. You are extremely determined to do what you want and when you don't get your way you make it known.

You love to be right next to your sister most of the time. The two of you play really well together right now, though periodically I hear you let out a scream when you're not getting your way with her. Eva hates it when you say no to her, so you say it all the time. It seems like you're realizing what a little pest you can be and you work it; you repeat things Eva says when you can tell she's bothered by it. But Eva loves being with you and the two of you giggle for what seems like hours of the day.

You love to watch me do anything and everything in the kitchen, pushing a chair over to the counter-top.
You love to play with dirt, with water, with soap and bubbles. For a few months, you've been carting dolls with you wherever you go; tonight you're sleeping with one.

You love to snuggle, sit on laps, get chased and tickled, and wrestle.

You talk a ton: complete sentences, and very clear. You pick up on all sorts of things people around you say and people who hear you are surprised at how well you converse for your age.

Your current obsession: cows. Sinky cows.

Love you Sofia Louise!

our girls

2011-09-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

photo credit: brother in-law Ben

Eva and Sofia bring so much joy into our homes. (Obviously that could go without saying...) The ages they're at right now seem like the Golden Age in terms of the amount they desire to entertain each other, their willingness to help each other, and the amount of time they enjoy being around each other.

I know it's ~~possible~~ likely that there will be an abundance of times that they don't even want to be in the same room as each other. But for now, we're loving how they can't wait to share a bathtub for a bubble-bath, a cozy armchair when they're watching a movie, a stool when they're helping me cook, or taking turns when they both want a turn with the same toy.

Of course there are hundreds of times that we deal with screaming and not taking turns, with defiant I-will-not-share-s and a gamut of ridiculousness. But the amount that they laugh, wrestle for fun, tickle each other, make silly faces, chase each other, sing and dance along side the other and play happily together has been a wonderful surprise; something I didn't expect to find in this quantity so soon.

deep thoughts from Eva

2011-09-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

We were watching football over the weekend (who wasn't?!) and caught a glimpse of this commercial:

Eva happened to be watching and very excitedly exclaimed, "God is a rabbit?!"

And of course we just looked at each other and tried to hold in our laughter, which was impossible.

It was such a cute little innocent question.

made for more than walkin'

2011-09-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts that Eva has already gotten a bit of use out of are a pair of rubber boots. She's worn them at appropriate times (like when our neighbors sprinklers make a nicely-flowing river at the end of our driveway and near the curb), and just because (if we have to head out to the store, for example).

But really, they're perfect for two of Eva's new chores: taking out the compost and watering the garden.

Besides the nasty stench that ~~occasionally~~ ensues, taking out the compost is one of her favorite chores. She happily throws on her boots, grabs the compost bucket, and heads for the pile (which we've recently upgraded to one of these puppies, which so far has been deemed a terrible purchase, as it took over an hour (maybe 2?!) to put together and broke soon after).

Eva's second chore is watering the plants in the garden. She turns on the water, grabs the hose, and sprays away for a few minutes. Our tomato plants love her.

birthday bonanza

2011-09-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

September One. The day we've been waiting for a really long time. Eva couldn't wait to be four. And as soon as she woke up and we cheered, "Happy Birthday!" she asked if she was four-and-a-half. Nope.

What does four mean to Eva? It means school, it means not being in Frogs anymore (her class at church), it means doing chores around the house (not that she wasn't doing any at three, but now will have a chart of things to complete daily... and she's super excited about them), it means being a bigger helper with her sister, and I'm sure many more things if I actually asked her.

On Thursday, the Leonards were able to come for dinner. The night before, when I asked her what she'd like me to make for her dinner, she replied, "Risotto, grilled chicken, and broccoli." So that's what we had!

The food wasn't the important part, though. It was the company we had. We were SO thrilled to hang out with Maddie, tried to be extra careful about not spreading any germs (except for the cute little kiss they gave each other when it was time to leave... oops!), and of course the girls had such a blast being able to be in the same room as each other. Probably Eva's favorite birthday gift!

She loved hearing people sing to her!

Friday night we invited a few people to come hang out at Brookside Park. It was a great low-key time where kids just got to run around, stop to eat a cupcake and drink lemonade, and run around some more. (Sugar and playing around are two of Eva's favorite things.)

pink lemonade cupcakes

They were delicious, if I do say so myself. (I'll post the recipe sometime!)

mmm. chocolate ganache cupcakes

.......

Eva, we are so blessed to call you our daughter.

Your curiosity and creativity are blossoming. You love being goofy and messing around, and at the same you love to ask serious and deep questions.

You still pretend to be a dog (Little Tippy), are always a newborn something-or-other, and love to crawl around on the ground. But you also love playing school, hospital, or house. You love to be cared for or care for others, even when playing pretend.

There are so many people who really care about you and love you, which is something we cherish as your parents. We continue to pray that you keep learning how show God's love to everyone around you, that they can catch a glimpse of who your God is.

end of summer

2011-08-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I hate looking through all my pictures and see how many pictures of our summer I didn't post, at least pictures from the past couple of weeks. I'd feel a bit guilty not documenting them. I'm terrible when it comes to printing pictures (read: I haven't printed them in well over a year), so this is as close to publishing anything as it gets. Having said all that, bear with the randomness.

We ate vegetables from our garden.

We swam, and swam, and swam, and the sun lightened our hair.

We perfected certain feats like blowing bubbles, jumping from the side of the pool, going all the way under the water, swimming without swimmies or a mask.

We learned how to play well (better) together (on the table and chairs built by my dad!).

We went raspberry picking (without a camera) and got some awesome fruit.

We continued to perfect the art of LEGO-building...

... learning how to copy a design without instructions.

We got pranked at 11:30 one night (it was harmless: just boxes taped together in front of the door).

We went out for Jammie Cones (an ice cream run in our pjs).

And enjoyed every last bite.

school!

2011-08-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

I went back to teaching yesterday. As much as I can complain about not having more summer vacation, it's really nice to be back in the classroom. I really enjoy teaching Spanish, and this year is no exception. My students seem great (so far!) and my schedule will work perfectly for us.

More importantly and harder to believe is that TODAY was Eva's first day of Jr. K. (aka Pre-K) I wasn't able to bring her to school since I have to be at work at 7:30am, but according to Nick she was all smiles the whole morning.

When I picked her up I was pleasantly surprised to hear her give a little run-down of her morning:

they got to play on the playground
they had some quiet carpet square time where they read books quietly, couldn't talk unless they had a question and raised their hand
they're snacktime wasn't long enough to finish all of her snack so she took some home
she met a couple new friends but could only remember Audrey's name

I can already hear everyone saying, "I can't believe she's old enough to be in school." You don't have to tell me twice!

animal farm

2011-08-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Some of the best parts of our summer have been outside our home, exploring new things, finding a different pace, meeting new people, spending good time with family.

We got to experience a lot of that in Michigan.

Some of the most fun our girls had was playing with their cousins, from both sides. And I know as they get older that will grow even more.

I think at the beginning of last summer (2010) Eva had a bit of a fear of animals. But this summer, after spending lots of time at Nick's parents' farm, Eva was the first to want to go see more animals, pet them and hold them.

We spent a few hours at the farm, and one of the times I was brave enough head over (the mosquitoes were crazy that night!) and got some pictures to prove it.

The newest addition to the farm, at the time, were some kittens. They're there to keep the mice at bay.

Taylor's also an animal-lover.

Sunshine, the newest little calf

feeding the cows

Over the past few months, Kev and Jamie have been building a house on the same property as the farm, just a hundred-or-so yards away. One of the weekends we were there, they were able to move in! It's a gorgeous house and we're super excited for them. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the inside.

Kev doing some work on their soon-to-be yard.

Cameron and dirt go hand-in-hand. Boy did he love digging around, climbing the sand piles, and getting dirty.

broskis

Ashlyn

cute little friends, Eva and Liv

Nick's dad (Opa) and Sofia

fair days

2011-08-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

The summer is trickling down to the last drop of freedom. Next week school starts for me AND Eva. I can hardly believe I'm able to say that. It's just preschool, and only 2 mornings a week. And boy are we all excited for it to start.

But I was going through pictures from our last few days in Michigan and they deserve an exhibition here.

Our last night in Michigan we went to the Barry County Fair with Nick's parents and Kevin and Jamie and their kids. We had so much fun seeing all sorts of animals, eating some junk food, enjoying a ride or two. It was the perfect place to take our kids for a bit.

Mom with Eva on the complimentary "hay" ride (sans hay) to the fairgrounds

washing this sheep's wool before shearing it

The next afternoon, our niece Taylor was going to have to show a pig. She was getting a quick tutorial from the girl barely visible in the far left.

waiting for elephant ears

Once the carousel got going, taking pictures was a bit more difficult. But on those you could see on their faces how much they loved riding it. Sofia screamed when she had to get off-- a big difference from Eva's daydreaming-in-la-la-land look. Ha!

And they got to ride the REAL ponies, which Eva was especially excited about.

All six of them (Kev and J's four and our two) are so cute together. It really makes me wish we lived closer that they could see each other even more. I love this picture, and love Liv's face.

the ham

2011-08-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Do I need to say more?

swimming

2011-08-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

In the five weeks of my absence these two little girls have nearly mastered some crazy swimming skills. For Sofia, she will do anything with swimmies on: jump from the side, dunk her head under, and swim anywhere there's water. For Eva, she's gotten all the way to the point that she doesn't use swimmies, and is almost to where she can swim without a mask or plugging her nose.

The first bulk of our time was at the fifth annual Ippel cottage (that's my family). It was 4 packed days of swimming, playing games, playing wiffle ball (just the men), eating great food, and playing more games. It was a great time together.

Unfortunately I was pretty sure I didn't pack my camera (left it at Nick's parents) and there were plenty of pictures taken by other people. But I found that I did have it afterall... on the last few hours there (while packing stuff back up).

All that to say I have about 15 pictures total. And most of them were just of a few people.

Little Ms. Goggle-Face had nearly permanent indents from wanting that mask tighter and tighter!

Nick and Sofia out in my parents' kayak

lapse

2011-08-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

It is really difficult to believe that the last time I posted I was in Spain. That time seems so long ago, and at times feels like it was just a dream and that I'd never actually gone.

That being said, it is so good to be back home, and by home, I mean being with Nick and the girls again. Seeing them for the first time in over 5 weeks was priceless, their excitement adorable; Sofia just wanted to cuddle by me for a few minutes and was so lovey. Eva started crying because she was so happy. And had a thousand little things to tell me. I wonder what went through those 5 weeks. I think with Eva she was able to understand time and that as time passed we got closer to seeing each other again. But I'm guessing it was a bit confusing to Sofia.

I met Nick, Eva and Sofia in Michigan where we spent nearly 2 weeks of vacation. It was a really nice transition into full-time at-home motherhood. It was a great time with both of our families.

And now it's just great to be back in our own home together.

They've been fascinated with bunk beds ever since their time at Camp Dunamis, the first week I was away.

la luna

2011-07-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

The other night I was lying awake, trying to fall asleep and I noticed out my window a bright light. Not surprisingly it was the moon. This was my view:

too bad I can only see a little slice of the cathedral from my window...

while I'm gone

2011-07-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

While I'm working hard in Spain, Nick has had quite the amazing help, which makes being so far a way quite a bit easier. For ten days at the beginning of July, Nick's mom was able to be there. Unfortunately it coincided with the time that Nick had to be at church for SERVE, which went reallly well. But we were so appreciative of her willingness to help so the girls could have some kind of normalcy (and get a little spoiled too!).

This week my parents are able to spend some time with Eva and Sofia so Nick can continue to work. We're so grateful to have their help too. And my dad is in the process of building them an awesome table and chairs set.

Yesterday, I got an email from my mom about what they're up to. I can't help but re-share it.

washing windows (a never-ending job with those little hands!)

watching lizards soak up the sun

eating peanut butter roll-ups (a childhood favorite of mine)

...and watching Grandpa build the table and chairs

textures and colors

2011-07-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about being in Europe is the subtle artistry that you can find. This is especially true in older cities or the older part of cities.

Last weekend we had an excursion to Segovia and later to Coca. I ended up taking dozens of pictures of walls. Call me crazy, but this adds a lot to my perception of a place.

dos semanas

2011-07-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

Three weeks to go!

The truth is, I have not done a great job of taking pictures. I don't have any type of program to edit in any way, not even crop them. And being the person I am, I hesitate in even put up pictures that I half-like.

This last week went much faster than the first, thankfully. The first week everything was very new. This last week established former and newer routines, made them much more familiar and natural. Now that we have classes farther away, we tend to leave around 8am and make our way though the narrow and quiet city streets.

I'm planning on bringing my camera to school next week to give an idea of the surroundings. It's pretty impressive.

la universidad

2011-07-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

It's interesting being in a place that holds so much history. The University of Salamanca is incredibly old, meaning many famous Spaniards have had some type of relation to it. It was an official university in the year 1218, just to give you an idea of how old it is. They're getting ready to celebrate 800 years. Wow.

As an example of some of the history here, before leaving for his voyage to the Indies, Christopher Columbus had to have his maps verified by a council of geographers here at the University.

Others:
Miguel de Cervantes (writer of Don Quijote)
Miguel de Unamuno (very famous writer from the late 19th / early 20th century)
Hernan Cortes (conquistador to the Americas)
Antonio de Nebrija (person who wrote the Spanish grammar, in 1492)

Today we had our inauguration as "new" students and then a reception afterward. Wish I had taken my camera; while the food was very simple, basic Spanish pinchos, they were plentiful and delicious.

The chapel inside the University:

The facade of the Universidad de Salamanca is impressive.

In this picture, there's a famous toad hidden among the images that students are supposed to find for some good luck. Can you find it?

This week, our classes are located right around the corner from this ornate building. I'll take pictures of that location soon!

schedule

2011-07-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Thought it would be nice to give an idea of what I'm up to all day. Every day outside of the weekend, that is.

There are about 150 Americans and Canadians, primarily teachers, here like I am. We were split up into groups which form the classes we have. So I have about 40 people in my class, ranging from newly graduated from college to veteran teachers in their sixties.

Our profs never speak in English unless it's a word they're trying to clarify something and think we might not know, but their English is typically harder to understand. I would say throughout the day, I speak in Spanish 85% of the time. It just depends on whom I'm with.

Our first class is Contemporary Literature. We're studying Spanish lit starting in the 20th century and onward. Love the prof. She's very passionate, very very Spanish, and very interesting. Her gestures are very very Spanish, which I love.

Second class is the Evolution of Spanish and is very technical. The prof has a good sense of humor, but he is very particular, very detailed, and a bit verbose if you ask me. Right now we're studying the origins of language in the Iberic peninsula. Interesting stuff, but looking forward to the more practical linguistic parts.

Thirdly is Contemporary History in which we're learning the history behind the literature that we're reading. I've learned some of it before, but since it's 5 weeks covering basically only the 20th century, there are new details to learn. The professor is also our group's tutor, or go-between for the program. She is a good teacher.

After that is our study of Spanish Grammar. This class, so far, feels like the class I have the best grip on in terms of it being review. Right now we're going over all of the past tenses (with new terms: indefinite preterite, preterite perfect, imperfect preterite, and pluscuamperfecto, or the imperfect perfect). It's interesting hearing new ways of explaining and defining the limits of these verbs and will hopefully be something I can take back to the classroom a bit.

Every week the fifth class will be changing. This week it's about using advertising in the classroom. The idea is to take an advertisement (print or video) and make a unit out of it, or integrate it into a unit. The prof is unique, probably in her mid 30s and speaks 80km a minute. We finally got to see some videos in class yesterday and discuss how we could use them in our classes, and it made things much more applicable.

We break for lunch (la comida) which is the primary meal of the day. After that, we have our siesta (which doesn't necessarily mean I nap).

Every afternoon we have another class, typically in the old and original part of town. For now, our classes have been a little bit outside the old city, but starting on Monday they'll all be in the old city. That's about a 10-15 minute walk. So we'll have that every morning, return for the meal, go back to class in the afternoon. Our classes typically get done around 6-7pm. Those classes are all different; one class on Spanish cinema, one on present-day Spanish culture, one where we tour different parts of the city.

Dinner begins at 8:00pm, though eating then is like eating right at 5:00pm in the US; many people eat then, but probably more people being to eat later. That being said, most people here eat dinner between 9:00pm and 9:30pm.

Then it's finishing up homework, skyping with Nick or friends and family, hanging out with people, etc.

The days here are long, packed with lots of things and a routine that very few of us are accustomed to. But it's been a fine change, and after nearly a week of it, I've become a little more used to it.

Weekends will be different. We have nothing scheduled after 2pm on Fridays, nothing on Saturday, and an excursion with our groups on Sundays. Those excursions won't take us much more than a couple hours outside the city.

Whew. I'm tired just reading through that. Thankfully it's the weekend!

26 hours

2011-06-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

I'm in Spain. I can hardly believe I made it through the first day it took to get here. Just the day of travel was one of the most challenging days in my life.

The flights went smoothly, but once we landed in Madrid it was a matter of finding a way to get here, to Salamanca. We opted for the train, but the ticket window didn't open until 9am and our flight came in until 7am, though by the time we waited in the customs line, it was 8am. So we waited. Once we had our tickets, it meant going through an entire airport terminal to get to the Metro which we had to navigate via 2 different routes. The metro took us to the train station (Chamartin) where we took a train to Salamanca.

That would be long and tiring just walking; remember we're both lugging around luggage. By every definition of the word, it was luggage. Jodi didn't have a handle on her biggest suitcase (she also had two), so to call it cumbersome is an understatement.

To make matters worse, we had each gotten little more than two hours of sleep on the flights, both of us feeling really sick even before leaving LAX the previous morning. Stomach issues and nausea, headache and fatigue. Couldn't access water anywhere, unsure of where we were going. You get the idea. We were thankful just to get on the train where we were able to rest a little more.

Around 2:30pm on Sunday (GMT) we arrived in Salamanca.

In 26 hours:
90 minutes to LAX via car
4 hours to Dulles (DC) via plane
8 hours to Madrid via plane
45 minutes to metro station via walking
20 minutes to Chamartin via metro
2.5 hours to Salamanca via train
7 minutes to university campus via taxi

Whew.

One picture for now. It's nothing astoundingly picturesque. It's just the view from my room:

You can (ever so slightly) see the cathedral peeking out from behind the tallest building. It's about a 20-minute walk from here.

emotions

2011-06-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Twenty-one hours from now, I will be aboard a plane headed toward Spain where I'll be for the next five weeks.

I've had many people ask questions as to how I'm feeling about leaving. It's obviously a combination of a huge range of emotions; when I think about going, it's fear, nervousness, excitement, curiosity.

But when I think about leaving, it's jealousy (for all the fun things these three get to do), anticipation (that all will go well without me), and some definite sadness. Five weeks is a really long time.

Of course I will miss other things like friends, the familiarity of Redlands, and my summer off. But I am grateful to be given this opportunity. Thank you Nick, Eva, and Sofia, for letting me do this.

Next time I'll be writing from Spain! And I know those five weeks will fly by.

nail

2011-06-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

In retrospect, I wish I had my camera, though I think posting pictures would've really grossed people out.

Yesterday noon, Nick and I took a ½ mile bike ride to the pool of some people from our church. But the trip ended up taking 30 minutes. Eva was on her bike (with training wheels) and the sidewalk situation in Redlands is ridiculously dumb: no wheelchair ramps, parts with nothing paved, parts with roots pushing the concrete up 8 inches. There were times that Nick was in front, Eva in the middle, and I was in back, but the way the road slopes on the sides was tipping Eva over.

We had gotten about half-way there and Eva and Nick were up on some sidewalk and I was on the road next to them. I went around a huge palm frond that often lines the streets of Redlands. I thought I had cleared it, but as soon as I passed by, I felt a shooting pain in my foot. I looked back, confused as to why it felt like my toe had just been cut off. I couldn't move any further, threw the bike down and took of my shoe.

It's hard to describe the palm fronds that lay along the road here to someone who hasn't seen it. These aren't little green fronds like you see on Palm Sunday. These fronds come from the top of 30 feet-high trees. They're brown and dry, 5 feet long, and at the base where the new fronds are growing in, the fronds are like huge nails or stakes, each getting longer as they grow into the fronds.

When I took off my shoe, I had one of those "nails" that was 1½ inches long all the way through the meat of my fourth toe. It had gone through my shoe and so far through my toe that it was also partly stuck in my baby toe. I was able to pull that part out but yelled over to Nick to rescue me. PLEASE get it out! I yelled. It was so stuck that it took 3 or 4 times for him to yank on it and finally remove it.

You can imagine that I was in complete agony. I was close to fainting and I couldn't move from feeling so weak. Apparently, I was going through shock which sounds dumb, I know. I tried to get back on the bike so we could actually get there, but I'd get as far as 20 feet, and be close to blacking out. I'd have to jump off the bike and sit to put my head between my knees. I'm sure I was such a sight for those passing by! Nick suggested he ride back and get our car and we just drive over but I convinced him I could make it.

20 minutes later, we made it. I felt so nauseated and so exhausted, but eating the food that we had packed and being able to swim and cool off definitely helped out a little.

working hard

2011-06-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Colossians 3:23

Our week in Rehoboth went really well. It's so neat being a part of such a great community. Together, were able to accomplish lots and work in unity.

On Monday Nick was able to float around the different sites and take some pictures:

VBS:
They had a June Camp and a Vacation Bible School simultaneously. Lots of our youth and adults were able to either lead or be a part of that group (including Eva).

Katie and a girl from her group

Mr. Love and his group

Cemetery:
Another group's task was expanding the boundaries of the cemetery.

Sandy was right on point.

Don making spots for the corner posts to go

Water Tank:
Another group's task evolved as the week went on. First it was simply repainting the water tower. Then it was digging out the sand that was encroaching on the fence (see picture below). You'd be amazed at the After picture.

Scott and Joel troubleshooting and gophering

the Water Tank team hard at work

Nick didn't get pictures of every single work site that first day... and I don't have very great ones of all of them (there were many!), but I'll include more later.

It was a week mixed with pure exhaustion and lots of fun, hard work and relaxation, all mixed together. This next week my kids had better sleep until 9am every morning just to make up for it!

trips

2011-06-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the beginning of summer for me. I finished administering my last exam on Tuesday and was able to finish all of the grading including posting the grades for all three classes online yesterday. While it was an enjoyable year, I'm so glad to be done.

Yesterday also marked the beginning of travel for us. This Saturday we leave for a week-long trip to Rehoboth, New Mexico. I cannot wait. My family lived there for a few years when I was little and going back is always something I look forward to. It really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. This trip is with a group of about 100 from our church, ages ranging from a few months old to 90 years old.

Once we return, I have less than a week to prepare for leaving for Spain.

Five weeks in Spain is a long time. And I have to continue to remind myself that I'm not just touring or vacationing, but I will be in classes the whole time. I haven't been in school since college. That will be an interesting transition.

Five weeks away from Nick and the girls is a long time. I know they'll be taken care of really well (both of our parents are coming out to help!) but I think I'll have a hard time transitioning to a life where they're way less dependent on me.

Bring on the packing!

weeds

2011-06-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

We got a good amount of relaxing and work done over Memorial Day weekend. And believe it or not, I enjoyed a bit of weeding. The nice thing about weeding is that you can see your progress quite quickly. Unfortunately, I didn't start until a bit later in the morning so I only got half done before the sun started peeking out over onto that side of the house.

Left of the kitchen door:

And the right side:

giant pile

2011-06-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Last week I was sitting at the computer, creating a graphic for church. Sofia had just woken up from her nap and Eva was done with her quiet time, but I wasn't quite done with the work I needed to complete. So I stayed at the computer for a few extra minutes while the girls played happily together in their room. Eva came to me and announced that she had made a giant mess in her room.
"Well, you know if you make a mess in your room, you're going to have to pick it up, right?"
"Yup. I know Mommy."

Five minutes later, Nick walked in the door, home from work. Eva ran to him and announced the same exciting piece of news. The difference in our reaction was that he actually went to go see what she was referring to.

She and Sofia had dumped every single thing onto the carpet in the middle of their (small) room. Every single Go Fish card, every puzzle piece tossed out of its puzzle-home, every little wooden block, piece of felt food, all 70 books. One heap.

And no, I didn't force her to pick every single thing up on her own. (Nick stayed and helped her... what a man!) But I think the time she had to spend in there putting every stinking thing back where it belongs will deter her from doing it ~~this week~~ ever again.

babe e-book

2011-05-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

It seem like it's been a long time since I've talked about Sofia's personality, and a lot can change in a little one year-old's life. And I have a terrible time writing this down in her baby book (which is in the closet in one of the boxes still unpacked).

18 mo. stats: 24 lb. 2 oz. and 33 inches. No idea what percentile she's in: she's healthy (besides all the recent colds and ear infections).

I know I've talked about how feisty she is; that hasn't changed. She's also very easily humored and on the same hand loves to be the source of laughter. Her laugh is crazily contagious.

She can contentedly sit on our laps and if I'm close to the floor, Sofia will either be in my lap, pulling me up to come see something, or climbing on my back with her little hand gripped around my neck. She is very affectionate.

Sofia is stubborn. She climbed/fell out of her crib a few weeks ago because she was determined that being out was better than in at bedtime. If she sees something that she wants to eat that isn't on her plate, she won't eat anything until she gets to eat that thing. Desserts are now only allowed to be visible until everyone is completely done eating. If we're having salad or eating carrots, I try to hide the ranch dressing until mid-meal or she will yell, "Wanch, wanch, wanch," until she gets it. Eva has/had the same characteristic, though she's grown into it well and learned to be patient and flexible. We're working on it with Sofia.

In our old house, Sofia pooped in the tub 85% of the times she took a bath. We began to bathe her in the sink just so the disposal of any messes was easier and less water wasted. So far (knock on wood!) she hasn't defiled this bathtub, but we have given her baths in the sink on days when the probability seems too high. Ironically, she has never pooped in the sink: not here, nor at our old place.

Sofia talks a ton. It's crazy how much she says. I should've started a list a long time ago, because now I can't even keep track of all that she's able to say. Fifteen of her most-used words or phrases are:

What are you doing? (Why doing?)
Where did it go? (Where go?)
I don't know. (I oh no.)
Can I see it? (I see um.)
Snack. (Sack.)
Where are you? (War you?)
Outside. (I side.)
Water. (Why ya.)
Come, let me show you. (Um show you.) She always grabs a hand and pulls.
Bless you. (Beshu.)
Eva (Ah va)
Sofia (Fia)
Dog (Dahgy)
Ugga Mugga (Mugga Mugga)
I love you. (I yuv you.)

Her favorite things: pacifiers (two or more, please... but only when she's near bedtime or naptime), books, dolls, dirt and worms, water to drink and to spill all over, cheese and fruit, swings, wrestling and chase, playing hide-and-seek.

I caught her reading to herself the other night before bed. Of course she doesn't care if the book is upside-down. Between reading, playing outside, sleeping and eating, her life is complete!

un recette merveilleux

2011-05-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

When Ben and Jodi were here last weekend, I made a recipe that I had tried out on some friends for a French-themed Foodie Night a few weeks prior. We loved it then and loved it again with Ben and Jodi.

It does take a bit of time and some 24-hour-in-advance preparation, but it totally worth the effort, in our opinion.

Coq Au Vin (this is how it's pronounced)
adapted from Alton Brown

10-12 chicken drumsticks (I would recommend removing the skin)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
25-30 pearl onions (skin off, ready to cook)
1-2 tsp. olive oil
6 ounces bacon
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 (750-ml) bottle red wine, preferably French Pinot Noir/Bourgogne
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock or broth

Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat 7-8 qt. enamel-coated dutch oven or other large oven-safe pot and cook bacon until crisp approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan.

Add the mushrooms to the same pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and bacon in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 6 hours.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally. Once the chicken is done, remove it (and I included the carrots) to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf.

Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes. It it hasn't thickened enough, add 1 tablespoon of butter kneaded with 1 tablespoon of flour first. Whisk into the sauce for a few minutes and repeat if necessary.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms and bacon and cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve.

the cut

2011-05-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Over a week ago, Eva was contently playing indoors with her crayons and markers, stickers and paper. And she found her little scissors (which she pronounces zizzers), and got very excited about cutting things up. She was looking around for things to cut and I assured her there was nothing besides paper and empty cardboard boxes from the recycling bin to cut indoors. I suggested she go outside and cut grass or leaves. Her face lit up and she ran outside.

I went outside too, was weeding our ~~garden~~ dirt when she told me I should come look at what she just cut. I went over and found it!

Yes, that is her hair.

The new not-too-shabby-for-being-cut-by-a-three-year-old bangs:

Yes, I think she was quite proud of herself for such an achievement. Hopefully, she has figured out that it will only be such an achievement once.

wish it was wordless

2011-05-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

A small stream of my conscience:

I'd prefer to just post a picture, but Sofia's sleeping in the room where my usb cord for the camera is. She's sick again and it's been a couple of nights with her sleeping in the spare room. I love that I can say that we have a spare room.

I'm sick of kids being sick. It seems like either Eva or Sofia has been sick for months. Maybe because they have been. Ugh. Thankfully it was Sofia's 18 mo. appointment on Monday and she had just re-fired a fever that was raging on Sunday. No ear infection is good news. But she is clearly fighting something again. (She just ended antibiotics on May 1!) Now we're just praying this one doesn't turn into an ear infection or last too long.

The last two days I have purchased 4 plane tickets, only 2 with the same itinerary. The first one I bought was to Spain (more on that later). The process of finding these tickets was a fiasco. I hesitated and waited for way too long (I'm leaving already June 25). On Monday, I saw that the tickets had gone all the way up to $1900, when I had seen them previously at $1400. Boy was I kicking myself. But on Tuesday I checked for the exact same ticket and found it for $1330! Talk about a price difference! The best part (other than the price) is that it's the exact same itinerary as my sister Jodi (also going to Spain, obviously)!

Then today I bought two tickets from here to Grand Rapids and my one-way ticket from GR back here. And the best part of that (besides the price) is that it's the same itinerary as my parents who will be flying from here after their visit.

Confusing? Yes. More explanation soon!

a special day

2011-05-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here's our special message to two great moms: We love you very much (and look forward to seeing you this summer)!

popsicles

2011-05-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

With the heat kicking in full-bore this week (upper-80s into mid-90s), we've been going through our share of cooling mechanisms: mostly ice water, swims in our inflatable pool, and popsicles.

And thank goodness we have a huge mulberry tree. (This might be the only time I'll sing its praises.) Its shade keeps our house cool enough that we've only had to turn the air on for a couple hours yesterday afternoon.

more LEGOs

2011-05-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

This has come up here previously, but our girls love playing with LEGOs. And Eva, my little architectural engineer, is at it all the time, creating all sorts of structures and systems. Parades, stores, cities, farms, roads, etc. While they typically play really well together, Eva has been so happy playing on her own, making different voices for the people (including different accents-- like a British one!), and naturally she gets a bit frustrated when Sofia starts messing with her creations.

This day, Eva's creation was a parade.

Guy (that's his name) happily directs the parade.

the parading people:

and another day... it was this rocket ship:

and the happy little builder:

little dipper

2011-04-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was inside doing some cleaning when Eva came to the door and yelled inside, "Mom, Sofia's in the pool with her clothes on." So, naturally, I grabbed my camera and ran out the door. There were only a couple inches of water but she had managed to basically get soaked up past her belly.

Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Sofia!

Yale

2011-04-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

Last Monday afternoon we got the girls in the car and drove out to Pasadena to see our friend Yale before he leaves for Japan (he left a week ago). We hadn't really spent any time in South Pasadena before. The weather wasn't the best, threatening rain all day. But we never felt a drop and the girls wouldn't think twice about the weather if they are on a playground.

First we met at Gus's BBQ (which has made an appearance in Sunset Magazine in the last couple of years) and had a fantastically filling lunch. And we walked from there to Garfield Park.

The roses around here are in their peak of blooming. There was a simple rose garden at Garfield Park.

Our girls are addicted to swings.

And I don't care about the blurriness of these pictures. I just love the joy expressed here:

Yale is very well-loved by our family, especially by Eva.

Miss you already, Yale. We're keeping our ears open for job opportunities around here to bring you back!

Easter with Evie

2011-04-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

How fun to have family here once again for Easter. This time Nick's sister Evie flew in from Denver. Our time together felt longer than it really was, thankfully; it was only 3 days together.

On Friday once Evie got here we just sat around here and chatted, went on a nice long walk, made nearly 100 cookies to hand out to the middle school kids who walk past our house, and made a nice dinner.

On Saturday, Sofia gently woke Evie up and the three of us (we left Eva and Nick sleeping!) went downtown to the little farmers' market we have here. We picked up a mess of fresh strawberries, grabbed a cup of coffee and then headed home to make waffles for our late-risers (and ourselves).

Evie had a bridal shower to be at (surprising a friend in Orange County) that afternoon, but once she came home we ordered some pizza from Gourmet Pizza and relaxed the rest of the night.

Then came Easter. We had a great service at church and Nick and I were both involved in different aspects so it was a bit of a busy morning.

Sofia and me after church

Evie Lynette and Evalyn

four BLUE eyes... yeah they're not related at all.

Thankfully after church we were able to go to Russ' house and relax with him and Kyle, Ben and Kristen and their kids. It was a really nice time together.

Our food was fantastic.

After lunch came the egg-hunt. Sofia was basically the only kid slow enough to take a moment to pose for a cheesy grin.

And I love how in the next set of pictures, each kid can't legitimately smile because their cheeks are stuffed with candy.

All the kids (minus napping Leah):

the bright side

2011-04-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

At some point over the weekend I came down with something. I lost my voice on Sunday and by that evening my throat was getting sore. Monday we didn't have school so I was looking forward to some R&R. And it really was just that.
But, assuming the worst was done, when I woke up today I could hardly talk, and I got little sleep during the coughing fits at various (many) times during the night. And so today was a sick day. I feel absolutely miserable and while I love the additional time at home, I was exhausted already just waking up.

But there really is something serene that came out of it this morning.

I ran to school to get my sub-plans figured out and on my desk, and when I walked back into our house it was quiet, but I saw that Eva had just come out of her room. She was about to sit down with her beloved (!!) LEGOs. That girl spends a couple hours every day playing with them. But that's a whole other post.

We chatted about how well she slept, how I was going to stay home, what we were going to do today. It was so sweet then, when Sofia (who had slept in our bed from 6am until 7:30am when I came back home) waddled down the hall, still zipped in her SleepSack. And the two of them sat and played together.

And then I found my favorite little morning spot:

And yes, she does need THREE pacifiers (aka Pipes). Really just two, but as many as she can get her little hands on.

Sadly, tomorrow will be another sick day (it seems to be getting worse), but now I know where I'll be sitting for a bit of it.

some teal

2011-04-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

I love color. I know that's been addressed here before, but I thought I'd better re-state that. My favorite colors change often. For a long time it was greens, then oranges, and now blue-greens. I'm realizing that we have a few different spots (some huge) of that color in our home, and I really like it.

greys

2011-04-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Most kindergarten girls are infatuated with girlie things like princesses and dresses and the colors pink and purple. When I was in kindergarten, my favorite color was grey (and I would probably have been considered a tom-boy). Nick insists that I chose grey simply to be different, but I think I legitimately loved the color. And up til a few years ago, I didn't own a single item of clothing that was pink or purple that I had purchased for myself. (That has definitely changed!)

Side note: yes, I know grey can also be spelled gray. I prefer it with an e, but probably only because I like to be different. Right, Nick?

When it was time for us to decide on a color for the bulk of our house (the living areas), I really couldn't imagine painting it any kind of taupe or brown or pastel, though I wanted it to be neutral and light enough to keep it bright in our home. And since I've always loved the color grey and believe it can work with any other color, many of the walls were painted Winter's Gate grey.

And, as you can hopefully tell, we put in some new flooring. In addition all of the trim was re-painted white. My brother (our painter) does such an awesome job. He (with a little bit of my help) spent the first day-and-a-half on all the trim.

I also love how this accent wall turned out. For these two walls (to the right is the dining room, left is the hallway), we painted it a grey called Durability.

So durable, no?

Being that we have some large expanses of floor in the living room and den, I wanted to find some good area(ish) rugs to warm up the space a little:

I got both rugs at World Market!

This one shed so much the first week or so that one would've thought we had a resident golden retriever around here!

delays

2011-04-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

I would be lying if I used the excuse of not having time. I've had it. I just don't have any pictures to show and that, to me, has been a very good reason to not post. But I will post now, without any pictures. I haven't really taken any pictures of our house to show all the rooms and the dramatic changes we've made in some places. That is mostly because I want it to be neat and clean when I take those pictures and that hasn't happened in a while. Or maybe ever in the two+ weeks that we've been here. But I have tremendous goals to get it done and proof that we do live in a different house, and we have been enjoying living in something we've been a part of re-doing.

That's it. Just that I'm still alive and functioning. And hopefully I'll get to posting some type of photo really soon.

so classic

2011-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we headed downtown Redlands to enjoy the Redlands Classic, a professional bike race that's held here each spring. It has become quite a tradition for us, and a fun one at that. We had a college friend who competed here in previous years, so we typically have someone to scream for. (Last year, for a few weeks after the race, Eva was still yelling Go Brad!! to anyone passing by on their bike). Unfortunately for us, this year Brad was touring through Europe with his team.

We had a great time and were able to see the men's crit in its entirety. It's so impressive.

Eva absolutely loved watching them go by... which was about 50 times in 90 minutes.

Hey, it's me (and Eva)!

Sofia and Greg waving at the bikers passing (they were flying by at a little over 30mph)

our usual spot, in front of the library

Sofia, keeping her eye on the action

I had to include this one. Eva took the shot. Sofia's saying "cheese." And she's got a cracker on her lip.

two faces

2011-03-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

Eva and Sofia have been such champs in the whole process of moving. They've been moved around from one home to another (I think 8 in all) along the way. It was awesome for us to have some time to move things around without them getting in the way. A couple nights spent painting or putting up trim. Another afternoon just to pack without a little toddler unpacking everything that I just placed in a box. Yes that happened on multiple occasions.

And so far, they've transitioned to life at our new house without a hitch. Of course they both got ear infections last week (great timing, huh?), but we were able to see the doctor, get some antibiotics right away, and they're almost 100% again.

Eva in her quiet time (which is now in our bedroom)

Little Miss Mischeivous

sweet peas

2011-03-31T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors to the west of us are an older couple (late 60s or upper 70s) and are very friendly. Chiquita (she's Hawaiian) has tended to her garden and chit-chatted with us (and anyone else around) every day since being here. And the other day she gave me permission to cut some of her sweet peas for myself, whenever I wanted. So of course I did.

This is definitely one plant I'm going to have to plant on my own soon. I love how each flower is a different shade of purple and together how it creates such a simple little bouquet.

project #1

2011-03-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Now that it's officially my Spring Break (yay!) I have a few projects that I'd like to tackle.

Here's the first: the master bathroom

When we had the inspection done, mold was found in the bathroom. We found out that it was an isolated event (apparently the toilet overflowed and was never thoroughly dried out) but it affected the bathroom and adjoining closet. We decided 2 weekends ago to rip out the bottom foot of drywall, clean out the inside down to the studs (bleach to kill the mold), then re-patch. We like the look of drywall and the fact that it makes patching a little easier (we didn't have to be too finicky). So this past week, Nick finished the drywall, installed the trim, then the wainscoting (with our friend Jim's help) and the top molding.

And now it's my turn. Sunday I did a quick caulking job. Yesterday I primed the top molding, and did the first coat of paint.

Here's a shot that we took when we had just found out the house was ours. (aka pre-demolition) The mold is stealthily hiding behind that shower curtain.

That rotten mold!

And here's what it looked like yesterday before priming:

girls' room

2011-03-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just a quick snapshot of the painted and unpacked girls' room while I have a chance:

somebody's about to take a nap

listed

2011-03-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe so much time has passed and all that has been accomplished in the last couple of weeks. This list covers the main items we've gotten done:

whole house (minus 2.5 rooms), including trim (!) painted
new laminate flooring in living room and den
new drywall in master bedroom, bathroom and closet
new trim in master bathroom, bathroom and closet
new carpet in bedrooms
blinds up
new dishwasher installed
new microwave installed
wainscoting put up in bathroom
roof patched
house power-washed
lawn mowed and garden weeded
garden transplanted (from our previous home)
every last possession moved
previous house cleaned

The obvious thing is that we had lots of help. Amazing help. I wrote out a list of all the people that were somehow involved (with one of the above tasks)... and it was over 65 people!

We are SO thankful to be a part of this amazing community. We are blessed beyond words!

movin' the move

2011-03-16T14:19:00.001-07:00

As crazy fast as it is, all along our plan has been to move this coming weekend. And this week is proof of it:

My brother flew out to paint for the week (is en route back to Michigan as I type this) and we got so much done. The only thing left is another coat in the kitchen and bath. (And the master bed/bath). I was able to have a few afternoons without kids to help out, and Ben and Jodi came over the weekend too. That was awesome!

On Friday we decided to tear out the laminate that was in there. It was in good condition, but we didn't like it at all and figured now is the best time to re-do it. Nick was intending to get that done on Monday, but there was a mis-communication with our supplier and the laminate wasn't available until today, so we had to push that back. Our dishwasher was supposed to come yesterday, but won't be here until tomorrow. On top of that, I haven't gotten very far in the packing, the master bathroom has to be re-drywalled, etc. The beauty of it is, we have nothing pushing us out of our current house, and we committed to being out by March 31; we have some leeway.

It's so nice to be in this position. We have now moved our moving date to next weekend. And the pressure has definitely lightened.

And now I can get back to the laundry, dishes, actually making meals-- at least for a few more days!

Pictures to come, so stay tuned!

lovin' our birthday girl

2011-03-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Give me (Nick...sneaky guest blogger) a camera and I'll take a picture of myself doing something awesome (yes I think most of what I do fits that category).

Give my wife a camera and she captures the things she loves: people and moments that, though routine are infused with beauty and loaded with life.

Ironically, making my best attempt to post behind her back, I ran into a snag when looking for pictures of her. Out of thousands of pictures, there are 3 of her (and 1 was of her birthmark...anyone know where that is?).

Which is indicative of what kind of women she is with her eyes always on others.

Happy 29th birthday, hon. We love you and celebrate the gift you are to us.

(Please don't change your blog password after this ;) )

keys

2011-03-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

We are officially homeowners and absolutely thrilled to say that!

We have a couple weeks to move, and I had decided that I wouldn't really start packing until we had the keys in hand. We don't have them yet, (we'll get them tomorrow), but I'm now feeling a bit (lot!) overwhelmed by the idea of packing everything, every.thing, into boxes (or into bags to go to the thrift store) and get them moved the entire half-mile to the house.

I wish it was that easy. First there's a bit of work we want done in some spots in the house. And new carpet. Lots of things we want to get done before moving in (new drywall, paint, new appliances, etc) and it's daunting to think about completing it all! I know we'll get it done one way or the other and we have until the end of the month.

Until then, I feel like I will be walking around with 28 to-do lists in my head.

one more?

2011-03-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

We're getting closer and closer to closing (like a few days!) and this is becoming a little more of a reality, which is NUTS. I know, I know-- we're first time home-buyers! Pssh.

As I mentioned last time, one of my favorite thing about this house is the amount of light it lets in.

A peek at the kitchen (from the dining room):

only one

2011-03-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

When Nick's parents were here a week ago, I took only one picture and this was it:

Those two had a blast building a gigantic farm together for a couple hours one morning.

And I know I promised to post pictures of the house... but I'm going to post only one picture of the house. Is that mean?!

view of the living area from the dining room

One of my favorite features are those french doors which open out to the patio and yard. I love the amount of light they let in!

tulips

2011-02-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's one of my favorite flowers, though I know it sounds a bit cliché being the Dutch girl that I am. I love the different colors they come in and the textures they bear. One of the things I love about tulips is that once cut, they continue to grow, making them a little unpredictable in a vase.

My mom in-law bought me a bouquet of tulips on an outing to Trader Joe's over the weekend and when we brought them home they seemed a bit limp. Her trick (she's a true Dutch girl): wrap them tightly in newspaper and place the bunch in a glass of water for a few hours. According to her they would then grow straight, not bent and wilted out of the vase. And they did, beautifully!

Another trick I've learned: to get them to stand up straight in a vase, throw a penny in the water. After a few hours (especially overnight) they'll stand straight up!

wrapped up snuggly

the e-word

2011-02-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

It's been looming for a while now, but I'm happy to say we've put an offer on a house, and it's in escrow already! We're excited about it... really just looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us. If everything worked as planned, we would officially close mid-March.

It's been quite an interesting process, mostly due to the fact that it's a short-sale. We (our awesome realtor) jumped on it as soon as it was on the market 4 weeks ago (or once another buyer never followed through, actually) and we found out earlier this week that the bank has approved our offer!

Nick's parents are here for the weekend so we'll go see it and I'll have a chance to take pictures of it. I'll share more details about the house then!

It's been so funny to hear Eva's take on all that's going down. At first she kept telling us that, "We should really buy that house." When we explained it wasn't that easy she wanted further explanation. Once we explained generally how it worked and that we were waiting to hear from the bank to tell us that we could buy it, she would often ask if the bank had called us yet with an answer. The thing she's most excited about is the hula hoops that were there when we looked at it a month ago.

And she keeps drawing pictures of houses and saying that they're drawings of "the house that the bank is going to tell us we can buy."

complete with a chimney (which isn't accurate to the actual house, sadly)

an idea... a little late

2011-02-18T09:21:00.000-08:00

I planned on giving this out at Christmas, but I think it worked well as a little Valentine's Day gift to our friends. That's what I like to tell my procrastinating self.

I basically followed the directions here, bought little glass bottles and the necessary components, designed my own little label, and voila! Homemade vanilla extract:

celebration

2011-02-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

For Nick's birthday, the two of us went to Farm Artisan Foods for dinner. Oh my, was it delicious! Of course I took pictures of our food and forgot to take pictures of myself or of Nick!

We got a flight of wine: 4 small samples from a selection of 8 different wines. And this appetizer came with it for us to split:

Cheese and spinach tartlette over a beefsteak tomato and fennel puree. We basically licked the plate once we were done.

Then we got another appetizer:

braised short-rib with roasted carrots and brussel sprouts, potato puree and some gravy

My meal:

duck, asparagus, and a walnut and rice pilaf (and beet juice too!)

Nick's meal:

fennel-crusted pork tenderloin, roasted carrots, a cranberry spice cornbread, and a balsamic glaze

And I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the molten lava cake before devouring it. Sorry. Just imagine a perfect little chocolate cake.

Again, Happy 30th to Nick!

cali girls

2011-02-16T21:11:00.001-08:00

You know your child is a true California native when this is what you see:

And yes, I resent it a little because that's the last half of my In-N-Out cheeseburger that she's scarfing down. And Little Miss Fiesty Pants wouldn't let me try to get it back or break off just a small piece for her. Oh, and it was gone 64 seconds later. From now on I guess we'll be ordering her one of her own!

my ( little ) valentine

2011-02-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

For his 30th, Nick's parents sent a photo album with lots of the photos of him from his childhood and we had so much fun looking through them. It was especially fun looking with Eva on our laps, at first quizzing her ability to recognize faces that have aged a couple (dozen) years and later explaining what was happening in each photo.

When it came to recognizing who we were pointing to, Eva had a hard time at first. Many photos, and this one in particular, stumped her: she was certain it was Sofia!

What a cute little guy! (and he's with a friend... no one related)

And he got even better looking with age!

Happy Valentines Day to my LOVE (and little loves) and to our family and friends, whom we also love.

reaping what we've sown

2011-02-08T18:37:00.001-08:00

Every single day and some times three times in one day, Eva asks to check if there are peas to pick. The last few days I've told her not to pick any so we had more to pick for a meal. We ended up with a good couple of handfuls... and they went perfectly with the homemade pot-stickers that I made.

Ignore the apparent fuzziness of these snow peas... I had my ISO set a little high.

extra cheese with that

2011-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

Holy guacamole. This face is 100% California cheese. As soon as I had my camera on her, these were the faces I got:

(Sorry about the lunch still in her mouth... and all over her body.)

And not to rub it in, but it's been in the 70s... hence the shirtless look.

reality check

2011-02-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

You know you live in a house with toddlers when this is what you sweep up off of the floor of one room...

...within a twenty-hour time period.

I have a love-hate relationship with hardwood floors. It's 92% love, 8% hate for this very reason.

the big 3-0

2011-02-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Nick who turns THIRTY today.

Boy do I love the joy in this picture.

There isn't more that I can say other than there's so much to celebrate and love about Nick... and that I'm beyond thankful that he's in my life! I can't imagine there being a better husband or a better father for our girls. Love you, hon!

a little lip

2011-02-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Eva,

When you're a teenager and you have to do a school project, say for your Spanish class, and you are supposed to find those adorable little three year-old pictures to write about, do not be upset with me. It is not my fault that 97% of the time I try to take a picture of you you act like a little puppy and for some strange reason pull your cute little bottom lip in. I'm hoping it's just a stage. But for now, you know I'm here to document it.

Love,

Mom

citrus

2011-02-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

No excuses. No rid-me-of-my-lack-of-blogging-guilt rants. I'm just going to blog more and get back to posting about our very normal life.

For some reason our home has been overflowing with citrus fruits. Eight different varieties to be exact. I had to document it the other day when I was trying to clean off my counter space (all 34 inches of it) and realized 72% of my counter space was covered by citrus. (The other 28% was hidden under dirty dishes.)

Meet the citrus:

Satsuma mandarin orange, Persian lime, Meyer lemon, tangerine, navel orange, white grapefruit, ruby red grapefruit, and pomelo

My absolute favorite is that third little guy from the left: a Meyer Lemon. As soon as we buy a house, that's going to be one of the first things planted. For those that don't know, a Meyer Lemon is a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin or orange. So you can imagine it's a sweeter deeper flavor and color. And it produces one of the most heavenly scents in the world. I've recently added it to risotto (after adding the rice, instead of white wine) and it was amazing!

surprise!

2011-01-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

There's something about planning something that no one knows about, planning something in secret. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but it's like gift-giving: just seeing the reaction is so much fun!

Over the weekend we partook in a few different surprises:

For his Mom and Opa's birthday, Nick flew back (with Sofia!) to Grand Rapids to surprise everyone (except Kev & J who were in on it) for a long weekend! The night before, Nick's uncle from the Netherlands had flown into GR as a surprise. And the day after Nick and Sofia arrived, his sister flew in (surprise for Opa and Oma) for the (you guessed it) surprise party on Saturday. What a fun time they had all weekend long: lots of late nights, dancing, playing games, lots of laughs, meals together, etc. I really wish it had worked better for me and Eva to go too, but I'm really glad that at least Nick could go (and Sofia tag along).

I, in the mean-time, surprised Jodi (Ben was in on it) by coming up early for the weekend. Eva and I drove up on Thursday afternoon, a day early. We had a great time together and it was wonderful being a parent of just one child for a couple days.

But of course it's good to be back together... no surprise there!

hiking, segunda parte

2011-01-23T21:18:00.001-08:00

I hadn't finished posting about the hike we took. And once again, I'm going to let the pictures do most of the speaking... unless they need some explanation.

beautiful Leah

Nick's demonstration on what to do if we see a mountain lion.

You can probably guess what happened next... a cascade of water down Nick's back!

a beautiful mess

2011-01-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

Our girls get better and better at being around each other. They're definitely more comfortable sharing, and definitely more comfortable pushing each other around. Probably due to the fact that Sofia can hold her own. And does. She is one tough cookie.

For Christmas, we bought the girls a new set of Dulpo LEGOs. We knew both girls loved to play with them so we got them to share, and in the weeks since then they have done a great job working together and sharing. Granted they have different approaches to playing with them. Eva wants to build houses that are ultra-symmetrical and have chairs on the roof and a pasture of horses, a pig, a cat and a dog in the front with a nice fence around it. She loves using as many of the bricks as she can.

the start of a masterpiece: a great foundation

I love how the girls watch each other while they're playing.

Sofia, on the other hand, wants to put two bricks together and then take them apart. Then repeat a few times. She sees all the beautiful stacks of bricks that her sister has put together and is dying to take them apart too. But she is easily distracted by all the people we have. Guy, Rex, Charlie, Luigi, Julie, Jodi, Evalyn Claire In't Hout, Bob, Her and the two newest members: Opa and Public. (Yes, Eva named them herself.) Sofia wants to take care of them like they are her own. She smothers them with kisses (which is mostly snot nowadays) and brings them to other places around the house for them to relax. They definitely get a little breather away from all the other LEGO people that they're typically forced to be around.

Sofia also loves dumping containers of sorted toys out. Eva loves things to be tidy and can't easily fall asleep in a messy room (which is a lot like her father!). This is just another fun difference between them, (though I guess it could be that Sofia gets a rush out of hearing the crash of toys hitting our wood floor).

hike

2011-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went on a hike near Wildomar with a small slew (oxymoron?) of people. It was beau.ti.ful out and our girls love to tromp around.

Well, at least Eva got to do the bulk of the tromping...

but Little Miss Blue Eyes had one of the best seats in the house.

trellis

2011-01-17T15:39:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago Nick built us a trellis. It was a little late, being that the peas had already shot high out of the garden. But with a little bit of our guidance they've latched on and started climbing away! We haven't actually had enough for a meal; any time we're outside the girls snack on the few that are ready. But either way, they're making their ways into our mouths so I'm not complaining.

headdress

2011-01-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

There's something about putting things on her head; Sofia will look for anything that she can set atop it to get a laugh. It really is all about the comedy that results, less about the "hat" (be it clothes or toys or pans or an actual hat) itself.

When we're changing her clothes she loves the pull her shirt or dress mostly off so she can have "silly hair." She insists that we go look in the mirror, and then that we parade the look to anyone else around.

Or if I'm doing laundry, she's looking for whatever she can snatch and put on her head, which typically falls around her neck. And it's normally my underwear. Lovely.

a crown that Eva and I made about last spring:

the little bloomers that came with her dress:

and the rest of Christmas

2011-01-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

It's embarrassing that I'm posting this now. It feels like such a long time ago already... I guess it has been two weeks. I'm over feeling guilty though. I've gotta move on!

On the 28th Ben and Jodi drove down to spend the rest of the week with us. That evening we celebrated Christmas with my family. We had drawn names for gifts and so we had to open them together... via Skype.

my parents, siblings (and siblings in-law) and Orsi and Zoli together at my parents' house... and the four of us here (in the bottom corner).

It was chaotic at times trying to hear each other and watch each person open each of his or her gifts. Plus it was super late there (I think we were done around 1am their time!) but we got to feel close together. What a blessing technology can be!

Our kids opened presents the next day also via Skype. You can imagine that was a little more chaotic even though there are only 8 of them. I didn't get any pictures of those, but I'll be showing off one of Eva's gifts soon.

The rest of our time with the Housewards was wonderfully familiar: hanging out, cooking food, playing games, laughing and talking, playing the Wii, eating lots of food.

Eva was mostly helpful during our tedious task of making cheese triangles (brie wrapped in filo)... in eating the filo that is.

I made cinnamon rolls one morning. Their secret ingredient? Cottage cheese in the dough. I'll have to share that recipe sometime. It's one of my favorites.

A cool shot Ben got on a walk he and Nick took with the girls.
And a movie Ben took. Sofia has already mastered the cheesy smile. Go figure. And yes, she's yelling Good Job! at the end there... it's something she does any time one of us is playing the Wii.

Christmas Day

2011-01-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day was wonderfully relaxing. We went to the Slagter's home and enjoyed great food and excellent company. Being there is like being home, so naturally we spent the entire day there.

Nick and Sofia

Ken holding Leah

enjoying the CA sun

our great spread

Kyle and Sofia

Thanks again, Slagters, for the hospitality!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

I am perfectly content not having a specific time or day to partake in our Christmas festivities, but this year the order of events were a little strange, in my opinion. I thought it would be fun to open our gifts as a family on Christmas Eve (evening) and then stockings on Christmas morning (of course), but seeing as stockings are filled with small things (and since he never had them growing up) he insisted that we open them Christmas Eve morning. Fine.

The girls were so fun to watch as they opened each gift with such delight, even in things that I had re-gifted (which they recognized). I put candy that we already had in the cupboards in there; heaven knows we didn't need any more sugar in this house!

Sofia's favorite thing was definitely a pair of clementines.

Later that day we had a nice meal together.

Eva has a thing for plain gorgonzola cheese. She eats it by the spoonful, as you can see.

the only reason I included this picture is for proof of the great lettuce we have in our garden (everything but the red leaves)

our resident pig

After naps and before church, we opened our gifts. The girls' gifts actually came in the mail and via UPS that morning! Talk about a close call!

We gave the girls more Duplo LEGOs and bought this little set. We have fondly named him Opa. (Nick's dad has (or is it had?) pigs on his farm)

Nick and I gave each other a Wii, which we have all been enjoying. Eva's a natural at sword fighting, bowling, and cycling, but her favorite so far is creating new Miis (characters that can then play). I believe she has created 14 new Miis, 9 of which have pigtails and are wearing purple.

Eva's domination in sword fighting

our Christmas tradition

2011-01-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

One of the only traditions that our family has that is probably unique to the rest of the world is our tree decoration. Our first year married, I was intending to string a couple dozen feet of popcorn and cranberries. It was something my family had always done (typically with Mannheim Steamroller playing) and it was a tradition that I enjoyed. So once we had bought our first tree and set it up, I got the popcorn popped, thread and needles ready and began stringing some strands. I was ready to do most of it, but I knew I couldn't do all of it on my own. Well after two or more finger pricks and only a couple pieces of popcorn on the string, Nick said, "Forget this!" I was completely annoyed. We had a bunch of salt-less popcorn, a bag full of cranberries, and I was not about to do it alone.

That's where our tradition was born: out of frustration and impatience. And instead of stringing it, we just threw it at the tree. It landed so nicely on the branches and adds a fun flair so it's been a tradition that has stuck. It was fun for us; you can imagine how fun it is for our girls.

Having Sofia around is like having a resident mouse who scurries around hunting for food. So you can imagine what throwing popcorn on a fully-accessible tree was like for her: a popcorn buffet. But between her and Eva, most of the kernels within reach was consumed after a day or so. And I know it's a choking hazard, but she was good about chewing it up well and it was never remotely an issue.

(most of the popcorn was gone by this point)

eating away

the in-betweens

2011-01-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

Everything is jammed up a bit. I apologize. I'm now getting to Christmas pictures. Finally. It still feels like Christmas around here. Our tree is still up (though I should probably get it on the road soon for pick up), decorations still hung, and I'm still holding on a little bit. To me celebrating Christmas has always lasted over a week. I'm never ready to say Happy New Year until midnight on the thirty-first... no earlier.

And though it is January already a new year has begun, I have a bit to catch up with.

Our time was wonderful. Nick had a few extra days off for Christmas and New Year's Eve and we made the most of it.

My first gift was that the girls started sleeping in until 7:30am every morning like clockwork, from day one.

This was the first time we did not go back to Michigan at all for our break, and though it was sad not being with all of our families, we had a great time spending time together as the four of us at home. I realized that in the 2 weeks we had off, I left Redlands once, and it was to go to Yucaipa (less than 10 miles away).

This post documents all the things between the parties and presents, meals and gatherings. The little things that took place in our time home.

The first part of the break was the deluge here in Southern California. While we were ready to have some sunshine by the end of it, we really enjoyed being stuck inside. And enjoyed occasionally going outside to catch a drop or two.

With umbrella in tow, of course!

We decorated Christmas cookies, gingerbread style.

And Eva wrote her name on the steamed-up windows.
(And it was cleverly written backwards, all by herself!)

We found new creatures.
And baked some more.

family pictures

2010-12-22T07:27:00.000-08:00

dillon, colorado

2010-12-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Day Two:
After leaving Bryce around 11am (we heard "the worst storm in 8 years" was heading that way within a few hours so we got out of dodge) we made good time through the rest of Utah and into Colorado. Our friend Chris lives in Glenwood Springs and we stopped to meet up for dinner (which is synonymous with chaos when it includes two children who have been stuck in a car for hours!). We debated just getting a hotel there and getting to Dillon (about an hour east still) Wednesday instead. But with imminent storms ahead and the threat of Vail Pass being closed (good advice, Ades!) we made it to Dillon in time for the girls to go to bed.

Day Three - Six
When we woke up there had been a good snowfall overnight (a few inches) so we were glad to have gone all the way there. Actually in all of the driving we did, we never drove through any snow, (until we were in Dillon, just to our vacation rental) which looking at satellite pictures of the weather in front of us and behind us is amazing!

Wednesday morning we all descended on the vacation rental which was absolutely perfect for us. Nick's parents and brother Kevin and his family (Jamie and their four kids) had RVed from Michigan, got to Denver that Tuesday night and drove up to Dillon on Wednesday morning, just like us.

We had great weather while we were there. The kids loved playing in the snow, we had plenty of excuse to hibernate inside and relax together. And thankfully the three days we were together felt like a week-- in a good way.

What a great time together!

Ready for some pictures?

Livy out in the snow

Eva (of course!) eating the snow.

a few of the girls with their best sledding buddy, Auntie Evie

Sofia and Mom laughing at Cameron

Dad and Jamie (and the ever-present thumb)

patiently waiting to open the first presents

Evie giving out the gifts

Drew watching the action!

Mom and three of her grand daughters

Kevin getting some help from Taylor in a game of Blockus ;)

Cameron and J

On Thursday morning most of the crew headed out to go sledding. They had a blast... until someone kicked them off the trails (which were meant for cross country skiing). Boo!

our house was on the right... Dillon is a gorgeous place!

the sledding crew

bundled-up Cam

J helping Ashlyn play with one of her Christmas gifts

Kev cutting into the turkey

Mom and Dad and all the kids, about to watch Toy Story 3

And yes, Nick and I were there...

panoramics

2010-12-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

When attempting to capture the pictures of Bryce Canyon, I had a frustrating time not being able to contain all of the scenery in one shot which is nearly impossible with any camera lens. So I began taking a series of shots and then pieced them together to make one large panoramic shot.

Some of them look way more pieced-together than others, but I still like the effect it gives.

Enjoy!

(click on pictures to view them enlarged)

bryce canyon

2010-12-17T14:33:00.000-08:00

We left off with the girls napping peacefully for a while in the car. When they woke up we were exiting the highway to take the back-roads into Bryce National Park. As we continued, we began to notice we were entering canyon country:

the sun was just going down

We had to make one exciting potty break, again under Operation Peeing Outside. This time Eva had to go really bad and we were only 20 minutes from our hotel right outside of Bryce. But she really had to go. Unfortunately the ground was covered in snow... about 8 inches deep. Providentially as we were driving (and the sun had set by this point) we suddenly passed what appeared to be an outhouse near a parking lot, off the road a bit. I made Nick turn around, praying that the thing was indeed an outhouse, and more importantly that it was open. It was!

Of course I didn't have a coat immediately accessible, (terrible California mother I am!) so I snatched Eva out of her car seat, ran out and bolted into the outhouse. Eva freaked out, naturally, upon seeing the enormous white throne: a pit toilet. I hate pit toilets, but I wasn't about to tell Eva why or allow her to look down into it. She was screaming and crying, but finally the poor girl managed to make life a bit more comfortable.

Naturally, Nick felt the need to document the excitement. Don't you love my pleasant face? And doesn't Eva look miserable?!

The famous Ruby's Inn, our accommodations for the night.

Eva was most excited about the clean bathroom with a real toilet. After settling in our room, we headed to the restaurant inside the hotel to eat our dinner. Eva and Nick went swimming (indoor pool of course) after dinner and then we all basically went to bed. We slept well even though we were all in one room. We attempted to barricade Sofia's crib into one corner so we didn't all have to go to sleep at 7:00pm. It wasn't the greatest system, but we got a good night's rest.

The next morning we packed up and headed into the National Park, which was less than a mile from the hotel. It was absolutely freezing cold and we had bundled the girls really well. We had brought stuff to hike if the weather was decent, but with the cold being what it was we didn't get out of the car much. Probably 75 minutes total. We tried to drive around the park, but after a few miles the road was closed due to snow.

Eva loves the snow mostly because she loves to eat it. As much as she can. Sofia just plain hated the cold.

Soon after this picture was taken Sofia fell face-forward, increasing her hatred of the snow.

Bryce Canyon has to be one of the most beautiful spots on this earth. I've been there a few times before, but never in the snow. It was gorgeous. Hopefully the next time we go our girls are older and it's the right temperature to hike!

More scenic photos coming up!

the drive

2010-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Our week over Thanksgiving is going to have to get broken up into a few segments; I have too many pictures and want to document lots of this for memory's sake.

Part One: The Drive

Monday 8am - 4pm

We left in the morning as soon as we were all packed up. We had done most of the packing the night before, so we were on the rode by about 8am. We rented a Hyundai Santa Fe because we were worried about our car traveling a thousand miles each way and even more worried about our sanity after being crammed in our car for those two thousand miles. We're so glad we rented it for a couple reasons: we had so much room (it felt like double the room of our car and it still got decent gas mileage for being a larger car), it had all-wheel drive (we were potentially heading to snow), we didn't have to worry about wear and tear on our own car, and as a bonus, our girls could see more out the windows.

The first day we made good time, didn't hit any traffic through Vegas as we thought might happen, and didn't have to take too many stops. The girls did great. We had borrowed a DVD player which may be the world's greatest invention for travel after wheel and maybe the car itself. If it were up to Eva it would've been non-stop movies. We let them watch a couple hours that first day.

Happy over fruit snacks.

Our view outside started getting more and more beautiful from this point on... about an hour north (northeast) of Las Vegas

Once we were in Arizona we took a nice breather at a recreation area. We thought it might be a good place to stretch our legs for a while. As a bonus, it was situated in a beautiful location. The only downside was that the bathrooms were only accessible after paying an entrance fee to the recreation area. Thus commenced Operation Peeing Outside in the Middle of Nowhere. This was the first of many. (And yes, it was documented, but it won't be here, don't worry.)

Nick and Eva racing up the hill. Eva loves to hike!

You are here: in the middle of nowhere!

lovely family shot (thanks timer!)... and lovely landscape (thanks God!).

My girls have a thing for rocks.

It's awfully close to becoming a real problem.

Once we got back in the car, the girls quickly fell asleep. They definitely weren't the longest naps but it worked out fine. We just popped in another movie and were golden!

Sleeping Beauties:

Next up: our arrival to Bryce Canyon

withdrawls

2010-12-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

I really miss being able to post.

We now have a working computer (thanks to my brother in-law Ben) which is wonderful. But the last I heard, it's going to be a major job getting the information off our old drive. As of Tuesday it was failing every time they would try to get it running, so the tech had to sit there and reboot, quick get any info he could off, it would fail, and he'd have to do that over and over. :( It could be upwards of $500-600 to fix. And that's no guarantee that they can get everything. Apparently a fall of two feet off a couch is really really bad. Just so you know.

Moral of the story: back up your stuff. Unfortunately the last time I had backed stuff up was in January. I had many thousands of pictures not backed up. Hand slapping forehead.

I've been trying to think of how I'm going to catch up with all the blogging I've missed. I have pictures from before Thanksgiving. I have all of our pictures of our trip to Bryce and Colorado. I have all of our family pictures I was going to use for Christmas card. I have random everyday pictures of what we've been up to. But I'm waiting to install all of those for when I can get the old hard drive back. My patience is wearing...

Here are a few of the girls sitting in piles of leaves. Oh, California winters... how I love you!

one with a smile...

...and one not so happy.

over half-way there

2010-12-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

I'm in Visalia. It's a last-minute trip that is two-fold in its purpose: of course it's to see Ben and Jodi, but Ben was willing and able to install a new hard-drive for us. So I'm currently typing from a brand new-ish computer. I'll still have to bring the old hard-drive in to get our data off, but at least I actually have a working computer!

And it gets better. I forgot the install disc #2. I left it on the desk in my haste to drive (alone) with the two girls in tow (Nick's in Mexico). But Ben called the Apple Store in Fresno and they could finish the installation in the store. So we made a trip out of it. And in the end I didn't only get a complete computer, they replaced the surface (surrounding the keys) for free! Bonus.

Hopefully the story will continue to get better and I'll actually be able to upload and post the pictures I've been dying to share. Until then, it's good to feel a little more re-connected with the world.

ouch is right!

2010-11-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

I am currently posting from Nick's phone. Things are not looking too good with our computer. We brought it to the Apple store where they were able to deduce that the hard drive is indeed malfunctioning. Great. This would be a wonderful problem on its own... but I have done a terrible job of keeping my files (AKA thousands and thousands of pictures) backed up.

Looks like it's gonna be a while before getting our computer revived.

stuck

2010-11-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

Last week our laptop was accidentally dropped from the couch to our wood floor. Ouch. It hasn't restarted since. I'm hoping to head to an Apple Store today or tomorrow, but until then I feel stranded without a computer at home.

Hopefully it won't be long until I'll be able to share about our great Thanksgiving week in Colorado!