My Elf on the Mantle

The fireplace in our apartment left a lot to be desired.  I think you'll agree.  From the day we moved in, I was brainstorming about what might bring this area to life.  One day we found a discarded front door next to the dumpster, and I dreamed of making it into a mantle for our bare fireplace.  Sweet Richard Carey brought that door up all those stairs and worked hard to bring that dream to life just in the Nick (get it?) of time!

Our discarded front door turned mantle!  Love that elf!!

Trees and Trains

I'm excited to share that we have a real Christmas tree!!  We usually put up an artificial tree, but it stayed behind in RC's parents' garage so we got to pick out a fresh tree.  We didn't go out to any tree farm or anything, but found a florist right in the city with cute, plump little trees right outside.  The florist bagged it up for us, we put it in the bakfiets, and RC used his big muscles to haul it up 5 flights of stairs, bless his heart!! :)  That night we got out our decorations to liven up our family Christmas tree.  The boys didn't want to take a picture with it, but isn't it fitting that the guy who carried it upstairs should have the honor?

The next morning, we attended an event put on by the fabulous Amsterdam Mamas group.  It was a vintage tram ride with Santa Claus.  It was a really beautiful old tram and a fun morning all together.  Both boys had their cute little faces painted.  Fun day!

Sinterklaas

The Dutch celebrate St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas) in a special way.  In the first picture, if you really focus, you can see him entering the city of Amsterdam on a boat from his home in Spain.  Everyone crowds around the Amstel River to catch a glimpse of "Sint" and his ever contraversial Zwarte Pieten.  From the time he enters the Netherlands, this year on November 17, until his feast day on the 6th of December, everyone celebrates.  Sinterklaas has his own news segment each morning, all the stores are decorated with his pictures, and children put their shoes out each night in hopes for treats from Sint's helpers.  We watched him come into town, but we didn't do the every night thing.  Bateman was so interested in this new character.  Luckily I had already purchased him a Sinterklaas costume because he wore it everywhere we went during those few weeks.  We put our shoes at the fireplace on December 5th and were excited to find treats in them the next day.

Just as quickly has he had arrived in November, the very next day every sign of Sinterklaas disappeared from all the homes, schools, and stores, and it was now time to prepare for Christmas.

Baby Greenie- 20 weeks

Bring on the ribbons, curls, and pearls!  

We're having a little Greenie Girl!!

When the grandmothers were here, Greenie scheduled an appointment for us to see her on the ultrasound screen!  So we all crowded into the exam room to see Greenie moving all around.  For a little while, we weren't certain she was going to reveal her gender.  After a little patience, it was announced.  A girl!  I have to admit it's taken me a little while to let it sink in.  I was sure I was carrying a baby boy.  Richard Carey and Bateman have been thinking girl from the beginning.  The week before the ultrasound, Bateman wanted to light a candle at church and say a prayer for his little "stister."  I have another scan today for my official 20 week check-up.  I'll let her know she already has internet fans.  :)  

Omas in Amsterdam

We are so blessed!  During Thanksgiving week, we had TWO grandmothers (omas in Dutch) come to visit us.  We had so much to show them and we also wanted to soak them up as much as we could!  What a fun week we had!

The boys were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Grammie and Granna at a busy airport! 

After a long overnight flight, they made it, and we introduced them to big city living.  Bus ride, suitcases down the sidewalk and all! 

After they got refreshed, we took them to eat Dutch pancakes and to the Royal Palace in Dam Square.
On Monday, the boys wanted to show the omas our new beautiful zoo!

That night we brought them to a wonderful restaurant right across the canal from our house called Moeder's (mothers in Dutch).  The restaurant loves to celebrate mothers!  There are photos of mothers covering every inch of the walls and spills over onto any spare ledge that can be found.  We let the restaurant know that our mothers were visiting so they decorated the omas' chairs and they sang a dutch song for them while presenting them with an icecream fireworks dessert.  Then we left photos of them to be displayed. It was awesome, and now we can see their pictures each time we go to Moeder's!!

The next day we went to the recently fabulously redone Rijksmuseum!  Grammie decided to leash Bateman.  :)  That night the Grands minded the boys for us while Richard Carey and I enjoyed a rare date night!  We did dinner and a movie.  The movie theater was cute!  It fit around 50 people maybe and the screen was the size of some people's large screen tvs.  We had a great night out!

On Wednesday we had tickets to the Sinterklaas concert at the beautifully grand Concert Gebouw.  We didn't know any of the songs, but Bateman was so excited to be there.  The Grands enjoyed it too!!

Bateman got to sit on Sinterklaas' seat after the concert!

That night we took a cruise around the canals while enjoying pizza and ice cream.

Louis even enjoyed a beer! :)

The next day was Thanksgiving so we read Thanksgiving stories, and we even had a thanksgiving puppet show of sorts.  We didn't have a turkey, but we had a tasty chicken!  It was a great feast celebrating ALL we have to be thankful for, including our extra special visitors.

Friday was another Amsterdam exploration day.  We walked by the Westerkerk, west church, on the way to Amsterdam Central Station where we took the ferry across the Ij river.  Richard Carey wanted to show our moms his route to work.  It was cold and it drizzled on and off, so they got a full dose of typical weather.

That night, the boys and grandmothers made a beautiful candy wreath to hang in anticipation of Christmas.

Grammie and Granna had to leave early the next morning, but we have memories, pictures, and our beautiful Christmas wreath to warm our hearts for much longer!

Thanks for a fabulous visit!  We love you Grammie and Granna!

November Catch Up

Greetings from December?!  How does it happen to be December?  Time seems to be passing more steadily which must mean we're finding our groove here.  It certainly feels that we are.  :)

Early in November, we made a little exploration trip on a Saturday afternoon/evening.  We rented a car and drove south, still in the Netherlands, to Eindhoven, birthplace of Philips electrical products.  They were having an artistic lights festival that had several interesting and creative displays using lights.  The boys were giddy just to get in their carseats (go figure) and though we don't have pictures of any of the displays, we did find a fun carousel along the route which the boys thoroughly enjoyed.  It was neat to get out of Amsterdam and see something new!

The next week was Sint Maarten's (St. Martin's) feast day which is celebrated here by children singing Sint Maarten songs, carrying around homemade lanterns, and going door to door in hopes for candy/treats.  There was also a little fire and hot chocolate in our neighborhood park so we mostly enjoyed that since we really didn't know our songs... maybe next year!

We've been able to enjoy ample family time in the evenings since RC has such a short commute.  We are surely loving that!  Here daddy was distributing treats to spoil us.

We've had some pretty crazy weather and some days we've experienced most of the possible weather conditions all in one day!  When we happen to be traversing on bike during inclement weather, the boys stay snug in their "bubble" while I try to cheer myself on in the wet and cold.

Louis comfortably asleep on a lethargic Bateman.  Both oblivious to the downpour that occurred on our journey home.

Mama wet and cold.  The vent holes under my arms allowed all the rain in since my arms were out in front on the handlebars.  Still haven't figured out how to make my own bubble. :)

 De Bijenkorf, a big department store here, has a big event called Turn on the Lights when there's a fun presentation followed by fireworks and the store turning on its Christmas lights.  This year, there were giant floating balloons that were dancing and performing a show before the big reveal.  The boys especially enjoyed the confetti at the end which they called "treasure!"

That's a little catch up. Tot ziens!!