Blake's Birthday Party!

Max has become a little socialite since moving here, and I swear he gets invited to more parties and events than we do! So 2 weeks ago we headed over Max's classmate, Blake's, house for his birthday party. Luckily, they are our neighbours so we didn't have to travel far!

Blake had lots of fun toys to play with

Max loved the "Car Slide"

Yippeee!

Blake is also a Thomas the Train lover, and although Max was a little...ahem... heavy for this motorized train, he still had a great time sitting on it and hoping it would work!

The birthday boy had more fun pulling Lucas around than playing with his toys. We definitely didn't have to worry about entertaining him that evening!

Little L taking a 'water break' from all of the attention he was getting

Anole lizards are very popular around here, and the kids love to catch them. (And then return them to the wild of course!)

Lucas didn't quite get the concept of sliding, but he loved trying to go up it!

Bridger enjoyed playing t-ball

And Max's "girlfriends" had lots of fun going down the slide. I tried to get a picture of Max on the slide, but he spent most of his time trying to get that train to work! ;-)

Liza looked like a dandelion from all of the static!

And all of the children except for one enjoyed eating pizza. Our child likes to be different and wanted BROCCOLI instead of pizza. *Sigh* Only Max.... 

After the festivities, and a long day at the park. Our children slept like angels, and life was good. 

Sunshine Day!

I think we'll go for a walk outside now

The October sun is calling my name

I hear ya now

I just can't stay inside all day

I've got to get out

Get me some of those rays

Everybody's Smilin'

Sunshine Day

Everybody's Laughin'

Sunshine Day

Everybody seems so happy today

It's a SUNSHINE DAY!

Pumpkin Patch!

When I was a little girl I loved to go to the pumpkin patch. I remember going on hayrides, eating caramel apples, drinking hot cider, and of course-- picking out the most beautiful pumpkin. Since they don't really celebrate Halloween in Holland, I was very excited to take our kids to the pumpkin patch this year and carry on the tradition.

Do you see me?

Me and the most beautiful pumpkin!

Me and my daddy

With pumpkins and caramel apples dancing in my head, off we went this Sunday to enjoy our perfect day at the pumpkin patch. With our fresh-out-of-the-shower children and camera in tow, we headed out to Dothan to Aplin Farms. We were going to do all of the things I did as a child and our whole family was going to have a great day.


After driving 45 minutes with two very whiny children in the backseat, trying to explain to my very confused husband where were going and why, and trying to keep my composure for our first family pumpkin patch adventure, we made it.


Even though Lucas was screaming and Max was jumping up and down because he had to pee, I was still very determined to make this day perfect.

First we checked out the animals

Max's favorite was by far the donkey

And he definitely didn't care for the POOOOOP from the cows!

He also got to practice "milking a cow"

And Papa gave him a helping hand

We saw some creative hay bales

Max got to go on a train ride with Pappie

While Lucas hung out with Mama

Lucas blended in with the pumpkins with his orange hair and not-so-clean face

And I attempted and failed to take took a perfect picture of our perfect day of our boys and their perfect pumpkin.

Slacking...

I'm a bad blogger, I know. We've just been a busy with, well... life lately. It seems to take up quite a bit of our time these days! Just like tonight, when I should really be studying instead of blogging. But I thought I would take a minute to share a picture story of what we've been up to the past 2 weeks.

Max has gotten to be quite a race demon on his bike

\

We try to do something special with the kids every day. After dinner walks (though rare because it is dark by 19.00!) are a big hit with Max!

Max also thought it was wonderful to have a magic stick, just like Harry Potter. This makes me glad that we don't spend a lot of money on our kid's toys!

Lucas loves getting fresh air too, but he doesn't care for the gnats in his face!

Speaking of Lucas, he has 2 teeth now! I can't believe my little baby is almost 10 months! Before I know it I'll be posting about his 1st birthday!

Max is still excelling at school. His English is phenomenal, and while his Dutch is suffering a bit, we are paying extra attention to it at home. He has developed a passion (as far as a 3 year old can have passion...) for cooking. He would rather watch the FoodTV channel than cartoons, and is helping Mama in the kitchen as often as he can. He is also writing his name very well by himself, though it usually comes out "aMx" instead of "Max". Minor detail, right?!

A couple of weeks ago he received a Helping Hand Award-- His third award at school this year! His teacher, Mrs. Amy, has been absolutely fabulous with him. Unfortunately he will have to say goodbye to her in 3 weeks when she moves to her new home in SC. 

We've also been enjoying our last swimming days lately. Today Max got in the water, but at 27 degrees (80F) it's a bit too cold for me to hop in!!

Max tried to get rid of his tan lines, but it didn't work!

He loves playing catch with the Velcro ball set that our neighbours in Holland got the kids before we left. 

There is nothing better than seeing our kids smile!

And when it's too chilly to go swimming, we find enough crazy things in the house to do. This day Max wanted to be a witch, so he put his toboggan on, grabbed a broom, and went flying around the house going "HEE HEEE HEEE Ik ben een HEKS! (I am a witch!)"

That's just how we roll sometimes. 

We also took a quick trip to Atlanta, GA to pick up our second car and stop by IKEA to buy out their entire inventory a few things. 

Saturday Lucas discovered our automated sprinkler system. Again, I'm glad we don't spend much money on our kid's toys. These sprinklers guaranteed at least 30 minutes of entertainment for both kids, until Lucas decided to take a close up look and got sprayed in the face as it came towards him. Then the fun was over pretty quickly!  

Boefje!

Yesterday I took the kids to the park while Rob studied. I thought Lucas would love the swing, but it was very painful to squeeze this semi-smile out of him. He was much more interested in sleeping, and the other parents in the park must have thought I was "special" with the noises I was making to get him to smile!

Max, on the other hand, loved being at the park. He is learning very quickly how to swing on his own, but let's be serious... nothing is better than being pushed!

With all of that being said, I will leave you with these two very special pictures of our wonderful children!