Maartje, Eelco, Rick, Kaat & Duuk: October 2011

Kaatje Piraatje

Considering Halloween is on a Monday the whole weekend appears to be Halloween themed. So the costumes are on show on and off al weekend. Mom's Jack Sparrow head is very popular:

And then Rick instructed mom to put on her own hat and let Rick take a picture. I look bad (early morning after a rough night / week, before the morning shower) but the picture is pretty good right?!

And then Oma Marijke read a fairy tale to the Horse & the Pirate via Skype.

Horsie Rick

Last Friday Rick had a Halloween pre-party at school.

I bought Rick a size 4 suit hoping we could get some mileage out of it but he filled it out completely already length wise!

Rick loves his suit and instructed Joshua's mom to take some pictures of him as well and wanted to see the result straight away as well.

Best buddy Roddy, by pure coincidence, was dressed up as a cow.

If you ask Rick waht he does at a party he will tell you he eats cupcakes and of course those were served as well.

Satisfied we left the party and all the super heroes & princesses to go pick up Kaat and start the weekend. Kaat appeared to love horse Rick even more then the normal one.

No Halloween Crisis

Looks like Halloween is pretty much unaffected by the economic crisis and considering Kaat will be neither a princess nor a witch it is unlikely one of the kids in her class has the same costume!

It appears for every 3 kids 1 pet is also being dressed up for Halloween. I am no longer surprised knowing what it is you can all get for pets in this country. Also have to admit that I found in the store what I thought was a very cute new baby costume for Rick at the time (who was 4 months old) only to find out at the register that the costume was for dogs...

Never again

The annual school pictures were taken again about a month ago. Every year I think it should not be possible to get any worse, and isn't there something about the 3rd time!?!? Well whatever it is - it is not working for me!!! My mothers guilt forced me to get at least Kaatje's picture as it is her first one and need to go into her album. Please remind me next year that I really really really do not need to get the school pictures.

Look at the frightened look on my daughters face, look at what they did to Rick's hair and avoid looking at all cost at the horrible background they selected!

It appears super model Rick had just the look for a situation like this -;) 'Lekker eiig' as they would say in Dutch. Well done Rick!

Itch-Itch-Itch

It really is that bad! From the local press:

"Local jurisdictions are ramping up their attacks - from the air and on the ground - against a swarm of mosquitoes that have inundated the Houston area. Mosquito control crews in outlying counties have increased spraying to kill the pesky insects, which over the weekend invaded the area, finally surfacing after a drought-plagued summer. Rain from two weeks ago and warm temperatures created a perfect scenario for mosquito eggs to finally hatch. Now, "black clouds" of mosquitoes are moving across the region. "They're everywhere," said Jim Ryan, director and chief pilot for Brazoria County's mosquito control program. "We knew something might be coming two weeks ago with the rain. We were watching and anticipating. We didn't expect it to be as severe as it is." The county received about 500 calls about mosquitoes on Friday and more than 350 on Monday, Ryan said. One hundred calls is typically considered an outbreak, he said. Officials said September and October are usually the busiest months for mosquito activity, but not this year - until now. They said they haven't seen much activity since last November."

They work their way through clothes and into the car and the house. Rick looks like he has the chickenpox with about 10 bites on his head and red spotted legs. I count 31 bites alone on my legs and Kaat has fortunately only a few which seem to make her angry enough though. I already had to kill a few who had a go at Rick's juicy cheeks - but catching them in the act like that causes another problem as Rick needs to get a little better at his 'gentle touches' - me squashing musquitos somewhat forcefully on his skin does not help! It is also hard to be ladylike at the moment. Am scratching my legs to pieces and Eelco is not home to help with the ones on my shoulders and back -:(

Out for dinner

Both our kids appear to enjoy going out for dinner. Kaat is in the best of moods with many people around and lots to see. The only problem is she refuses half the time to sit down and makes her body as stiff as a plank. So she stands in her high charir.

Rick used to eat the crayons (as he demonstrates below) but these days understands what they are for. Does not tend to make him much more interested though but only because there tend to be plenty of other things that keep him entertained in Restaurants such as pretty Girls, menu's, Big boy cups, plenty of food, straws, cutlery, sports on TV or the music being played and any toys we may have brought.

For Rick we tend to not bring much anymore these days and so 9 out of 10 times we do not have a bib for him. On this occasion Rick himself wanted to install the napkin which was to be used as a bib. As a result it is all wrinkled up and for 80% inside his t-shirt but he was very very pleased with himself so who are we to complain.

Kaat also liked Rick's pasta. As is required with her these days the table is cleared all around the arm-span she has to avoid everything landing on the floor.

In the meantime we managed to have a glass and eat our own meals.

-:)

1st proper shoes

Considering the rate at which Kaat is progressing her physical skills it was time to get Kaat some proper shoes. The plan was to go to the shop and have all 4 of us there to take a vote and pick out the best 1st shoes ever. But off course there was a playground nearby in the mall so then we were 3 (lost Rick). The playground had mandatory adult supervision so then we were 2 (lost Eelco). And then it was Saturday 4.30pm-ish so peak mall traffic and the shop was super busy so we we needed to put 1 of us to the task of full time pestering the shop attendant such that we would get the sizes we needed to try on (lost me). So that left 1 (Kaatje) to try on shoes all by herself........

By the looks of it she would have been totally ok with leaving the shop with this not quite matching display pair!

Own Arrangements

'Own arrangements' is a term used in our company's expense policy for when you stay somewhere overnight whilst on a business trip and it is not a hotel (i.e. you made 'your own arrangements'). Well, it looks like Kaat is making her own arrangements these days as well.....when Daddy put her to bed and left her she was on her back, with her head on her normal pillow and under her blanket. A little later when he went to check on her she had made some alternative arrangements for sleeping:

To avoid long term back injuries we decided to move Kaat back into a more natural sleeping pose.....the sausage shaped pillow she has her head on lies at the side of the crib as some kind of bumper.

Musquitoes Rule

Today in Houston the Musquitoes rule - Big Time! It is warm (30 C+), very humid but not quite raining, overcast and dark-ish outside. No matter what time of day they are out there in BIG numbers.

Kaat, Rick & I shared a whole bottle of musquito repellant (yes the 40% + DEET kind) and even then we all came home with about 2 dozen bites each from only a short trip to the playground. Most people are staying inside because of it. Everyone is complaining and nobody knows what to do. Just a short trip to the supermarket leads to a dozen musquitoes in the car. The guys packing bags at check out had them swarming around their ankles - and even Rick who appears normally unaffected by the itching effect was complaining. Such a shame - temperatures are much better now but most outside activities are very much a no-go this weekend!

Standing Tall

In a few days Kaatje will pass the 9 month mark. As you can see she definitely has Dutch genes and is very tall (the PJ's are a size 74 too short). This first picture is a couple of days old and since then another batch of leggings & trousers have become too short. Guess that happens now the girl finally discovered real food!

We lowered her bed at day-care and the playpen as she pulls herself up easily by now - for instance to grab the camera. Judging by the red cheeks all day something is going on in the teething department again as well.

Sometimes Kaat is ok for a while - sitting down and getting on with things.

But she prefers to stand up

More steady by the day - she wants help to walk around or likes to lounge near the couch checking out what Rick is doing and whether he has good snacks to steal.

Domestic Bliss

#2's

Jeppe & Kaat had a night and part of a day together at Oma's without any older siblings. Both appeared to revel in the situation - especially together.

Kaat on Tour (Final)

Of course good use was made of any time Kaat & Eelco spend in NL and the family was happy to have a few hours of Kaat 'Live' - Skype is good - but not that good!

Father & Daughter on a Journey

So Eelco took Kaat to the Netherlands for just a weekend. The two of them appeared to have had a great time together.

All Love, Happiness...

and smiles

socializing at the party (some people thought they saw a ghost and actually asked Eelco if it was really him!)

all wrinkled up from a good long night (Jetlag? What is that?)

My preparations for the trip to avoid fashion faux pas'

spooning for daddy's food

having a blast of a trip

is it me or do they both look as if they are saying 'what happens on tour stays on tour!'?

Oma's Surprise

Oma Joke reached a major milestone last weekend (36 for the 35th time). As a family we where not able to go home around this time of the year due to work obligations etc. However, we decided to send part of the family, as a surprise, just for the weekend. Eelco and Kaat showed up at Oma's doorstep late the night before Oma's big party was due to take place. The question on everyone's mind of course: 'Did she like the surprise?'

a few minutes after arriving, Kaat with her surprise face