Together

Rick & Kaat by now play actually quite a lot together. Rick often comes up with the games or stories and instructs Kaat to join in, but sometimes, usually when it is mischievous, Rick will join Kaat in something she started.

they steel each others food of their plates and they sometimes compete for our attention

but they also worry if the other one is crying and yesterday I found Rick trying to get Kaat after she work from her nap. Rick also holds Kaatjes hand in the car sometimes and tells us how she is doing in the back seat. Kaat is generous with smiles and has some big ones to give away - but nobody can compete with the smiles Rick gets from her! Unfortunately his name is too had yet to say for her so she mainly mentions her own a lot.

they giggle loads, can be somewhat rough with each other but for us it is just lovely to see them being so close.

Twinkle twinkle

Water rats

Our kids are pool junkies, water rats or just really really into water, water play & pools. With the weather heating up quickly here now the pool has been up a couple of weeks and it is well used. Rick being bigger again this year and having 2 summers of some kind of swim lessons under his belt is very confident and comfortable in our little pool.

He runs around, dives up & under like a Dolphin and helps dad clean the pool identifying every species of bug they catch. 

But if Eelco asks who wants to go into the pool there is someone who is even quicker then Rick to put up her hand and race out there....because we had a lot of rain lately the pool is somewhat too full for her. She refuses to use any of the floating devices we have for her and just wants to run around in the water like Rick.

The result is that Kaat goes under more then once

but she refuses to give up and bounces back quickly to try again.

 the laughter & giggles coming out of Kaatje whilst in the pool are plenty make all 3 of us happy.

Of course Rick wants to be thrown around in the water like that too after a while so then we try to distract Kaat with a tub of her own.

White Gravy

I have a few pet peeves when it comes to food here and one of those is White Gravy. White Gravy is a Bechamel type sauce that mainly is served in the southern US. Sometime sit is referred to as sawmill gravy or country gravy. The main dish it gets served with is chicken fried steak (the texas beef variation to a schitzel - being a steak fried in a typical crispy batter normally used here for chicken tenders). The other thing this is often served with is with biscuit (warm morning toast) in which case the gravy is often mixed with the drippings of cooked pork or some liver or other meat bits. I don't eat either dish hoping I can stay away from the horrible white gravy which usually blankets everything, is very fat and despite being often laced with black pepper it has little to no taste.

However if you venture out into Texas and try some of the places that claim to cook authentic home style cooked meals, or the way grandma used to cook,...well unfortunately then you sometimes end up with white gravy on the dishes you where looking forward to eating - such as these skin on garlic mash potatoes:

ehw!

Thumbling (kleinduimpje)

The All American Way (1)

We are soon going on a somewhat typical American Holiday - a cruise! Not only that, we will be undertaking such in typical American style with not just the 4 of us but extended family - Eelco's parents in this case.

So far our reference frame is Disney World in Orlando and Pearl Harbor in Hawai'i when it comes to 'all American' family destinations but it appears that the thing to do is to travel proudly recognizable as a family....

So ehm, Sjoerd & Joke, shall I place an order? -;)

Somehow I am considered enough of an American mom to receive marketing material from companies like this. Sorry Rick & Kaat - not quite ready to embrace this part or your American culture. Next time I will scan the pages with the all American 4th of July outfits!

(O)Marijke Moederdag 3/3

(O)Marijke Moederdag 2/3

(O)Marijke Moederdag 1/3

Milestones

Today was a day of milestones. Because of some miscommunication between Eelco and myself the subject of Rick's Potty training is now high on the list with Rick's teachers. It was not quite intended that way - but as we got started talking about it now anyway we left a bag of pull ups, 6 pairs of spare trousers and Rick with underwear worn over his diaper at school this morning.

And low and behold - Rick did - for the first time in his life - actually deposit a #1 in the potty at school (previous attempts showed more acting skills then actual interest in potty training). We have no evidence, no picture, no nothing other then the word of his teacher. But as she is more straight forward about these things then almost any Dutch person we know - it must be true! He also promptly had an accident a little while after and was not interested to tell us about any other times today that 'he had to go' but still - Major milestone!

The other Milestone today did result in actual evidence. Kaat made some artwork. And she actually made it herself. It was not her teachers who moved her body parts in place such that it would generate some kind of sticky or colorful piece of paper - no she did it. As expected they did have some trouble preventing (Smeer)Kaat from applying paint all over herself, the floor and then rolling around in it. But apparently she had loads of fun and the result looks happy (and in suitable Pecten colors -;)

very proud parents today but no new tricks to report for either of us I am afraid!

Ricky the Boy

I was trying to shoot some nice pictures of Rick at Oma Marijke's request. The result is a lovely series which I think shows well what we start to notice....Rick is a real boy these days. Apart from the diapers (he really just does not care!) most of the baby / infant things in Rick are gone.

 Watching

 engaging

 telling us what it's like

 Singing loud

 and singing lots

 and fantasizing the most amazing stories together

PS as he went to see Shaun at the barbershop again Friday he does not quite look like this anymore.

Father & Daughter (or No Doubt part III)

Opa Kees & Elena - the random collection

Herewith the last random collection of pictures I wanted to share of Opa Kees & Elena's brief but action packed visit last weekend. Of course the visit started with presents. With Opa Kees' Alligator obsession that is of course exactly what he got. Rick had pre-tested the present and was somewhat jealous it was now Opa Kees'

Instead of 'Opa voor haar karretje spannen' did she get him to push her around.

BBQ Lunch at the Festival 

Opa Kees getting used to our daily food negotiations. Rick & Kaat both want all of everything.

 Happy Kaat clearly in charge of the table.

 New Books & a new reader

 The International Festival downtown on a very hot Sunday

Chocolate Rick worn out 

Me looking pretty good when the red eyes and black bags underneath are hidden by sunglasses

 Kaat remained in party mode throughout and refused to sleep when things where still happening.

 Hanging out on the swing with Elena

and BBQ in the back yard

 Cheers!

 and despite all that BBQ already we still also went to a real BBQ place to find some ribs