Our 1 year old

My sweet Lucas,

This day last year I finally got to meet you. 

We had been trying for a little brother or sister for Max for quite a while, and were thrilled when we knew that we were going to be your parents. Besides some back pain, I had a great pregnancy, and before you were even born you had been to 5 different countries! The last couple months of my pregnancy Papa had to go on a deployment which made life a little more challenging for me! Two weeks before he came home you gave us quite a scare. I wasn't feeling you move that often and ended up spending a day in the hospital. Luckily you decided to perk up a bit which gave us all a sigh of relief!

Papa made it home 15 days before your birth and we were able to bring you into this world together. I immediately fell in love the first time I saw you. You were so beautiful and perfect, and I was so thankful to be the mommy to not one, but two little gingers!

Your big brother was also thrilled that you were finally here. He loves you so much and takes good care of you. (Most of the time anyway!) 

The first few months were challenging to say the least. You didn't want to drink much, and most everything you did drink you spit up. Let's just say I did a lot of laundry those days! Aside from not drinking you screamed almost every minute that you weren't sleeping or being held. But alas, you were still my beautiful son that I loved and we just went with your flow!

By 4 months you were starting to get the hang of things. We switched your formula and it was like night and day, you were finally a happy little baby!

As soon as it started getting warm we spent as much time as possible outside. You loved rolling around on the ground and eating grass. In fact, you are now 1 and still love eating grass! 

You've always had a strong character to say the least! 

And I probably have more cross-eyed pictures of you than you would like!

You've always loved the water, and sometimes when you are really upset I just put you in the bathtub to calm you down. It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!

Even though you don't always smile, you are still the sweetest baby in the world

and I will always cherish every moment I have with my rosy-cheeked little cherub! 

Happy first birthday sweet boy! I will love you forever and always! 

xxx

Mommy

Online Housewarming: Master Bedroom/ Bath

This is our master bedroom. I usually have a grey duvet cover on the bed which doesn't make the room look so beige, but it's dirty and you guys are demanding!

Although I'm not crazy about the style, or lack of, in our bedroom, I love having a king-sized bed and our new furniture. Maybe someday I will invest some effort into making it nicer!

The view from the doorway

The door that you see here leads to our back porch/ the pool. Don't ask me what the logic is!

Our bedroom set is from IKEA and I absolutely love it. I ordered our mattress online without even trying it first, but it's definitely one of the better purchases we've ever made! Memory foam is the way to go people!

This is the view from the left side of the bedroom, it leads into the master bath. On the right and left sides of this hallway we have his/her walk-in closets. 

The jacuzzi 

The view from standing on the bathtub 

His/ Her sinks

The shower

And to the left is the w.c.

That's it for today! Any requests for what the next room should be? 

Daar wordt aan de deur geklopt...!

Last night began as any other evening in our quiet little home in Alabama. Papa was reading the newspaper and smoking his pipe, Mama was rocking in her chair knitting a sweater, and the boys were quietly playing a game of chess by the fireplace. Ok, so maybe that's not exactly how it went down, but we were semi-quietly working on a puzzle when we suddenly heard a THUMP THUMP THUMP on the front door followed by loads of pepernoten being thrown inside. 

I think Max was shocked and a bit in disbelief that it was finally pakjesavond! By the time Papa could rejoin us Max went over to the door to check out what just happened. His eyes became as big as sand dollars as he saw the humongous bag of presents that awaited him!

It wasn't long before wrapping paper was flying and faces were smiling! 

Max's first gift was a fishing pole. He's been wanting to go fishing with Papa for weeks now, and hopefully we will get to test it out on our trip to North Carolina next week!

It probably won't be long before he's catching bigger fish than his daddy! Not that that would be a difficult challenge! Just kidding honey, I know you caught a fish bigger than yourself last weekend. It's just too bad you didn't have your camera with you...again!  ;)

This was Lucas's first Sinterklaas, and first present that he's ever gotten to (attempt ) to open. But his theory these days is, "why break it, when you can eat it!"

The biggest present of all this Sinterklaas was a Lego train. Max did his best by writing a letter and personally telling Sint that he really really really reaaaaalllly wanted this. And let me tell you, our kids area most always sweet, but the past two weeks he has been exceptionally sweet to try and secure this train from Sinterklaas!

Lucas enjoyed eating his Duplo from a very special Piet in Holland!

Lucas was more content with eating the wrapping paper!

I tried my best to get him interested in his gifts, but my little rosy-cheeked baby wasn't having it!

After a long search, Mama Piet was finally able to find Christmas pyjamas for our little man!

And another special thanks to a Dutch Piet. Now we will get to hear Sinterklaas music everyday of the year!!

Rob was just a little bit happy when Mrs.Piet presented him with Old Amsterdam (cheese) that his mother-in-law found here locally!

It didn't take long for the train building to began! Luckily we had some extra hands to get it up and running!

My little cherub and his new pyjamas!

CHEESE!

And even though it was a school night, Max was allowed to stay up late playing with his Uncle Zachy and his new train!

Our first Sinterklaas in America was different, but nonetheless a huge success! Nogmaals bedankt aan alle lieve mensen die pepernoten, cadeautjes, chocoladeletters, en munten opgestuurd hebben! Het is erg gewaardeerd!!!

NOD Sinterklaasfeest

Yesterday we celebrated Sinterklaas with the NOD (Nederlands Opleiding Detachement/ Dutch Training Detachment) and had a great time! 3 students played the roles of Sint and 2 zwarte pieten (black Piets). Max thought the whole event was magical, which of course made our day spectacular! It's amazing to see Max's excitement and enthusiasm in Sinterklaas :)


All of the officer's kids had a great time meeting Sint and getting presents. Max received a huge fire truck and Lucas got a toy with balls that we can loose, gears that crank, and noises that will eventually drive us crazy! But despite the insanity and spite that we will soon have from these fabulous toys, the excitement and joy they experienced was worth it!

Lucas ( a little bit cross-eyed) was happy to show off his cracker and hat!

I can't believe my baby is almost one!

This kid eats grass like it's going out of style!

Just a rockin'

There he is! Sinterklaas & his zwarte pieten!

Max got a high-five from a zwarte piet, but it took him a few minutes to warm up to them!

Although he didn't care for the high-five too much, he LOVED getting pepernoten & chocolademuntjes from the pieten!

Lucas with our Commander's wife, Janine

Max was so proud to give his beautiful drawing to Sinterklaas

And Sinterklaas was so happy with it that one of his Pieten gave him candy in return!

Lucas was happy wherever he was, as long as he could find some pepernoten to munch on!

He also loved all of the attention he got!

Max was very excited to open his present from "THE" Sinterklaas! 

A giant fire truck was the perfect gift!

Papa held Lucas while Sint looked his name up in the "good book"

And of course, big brother helped him open his gift!

Max and Matthew (2 weeks apart) had a great time celebrating Sinterklaas's party!

One last picture with the Sint before pakjesavond (compared to Christmas Eve in the US) 

After a great party our exhausted children returned home and slept soundly for the night. Today we were busy with preparing for pakjesavond and doing our fotoshoot that we won a couple of weeks ago. I forgot to do a post about it, but for those of you that don't know; our children were entered in a local photography contest and ended up winning the grand prize; A photoshoot worth $800 and 7 digital prints! We are now very proud parents of the "cutest kids in town!" 

Luckily Sinterklaas was able to find our house tonight to make pakjesavond a huge success! Photos and videos(!!!) to follow. Also, next week I will be resuming our online housewarming party. It's been a bit of a crazy week! 

<3