The Birthday Boy!

Saturday we celebrated our one year old's first year of life

There were balloons

And of course lots of presents!

It's Dutch tradition to decorate the birthday boy's chair,

And while I was at it I decided to decorate the whole living room!

Opa and Lucas had lots of fun playing

And Lucas had lots of fun eating wrapping paper unwrapping his gifts

What could it be?! Horray! It's a 3 in 1 zebra from MiMi and Opa! (Coincidentally the same one that Mommy bought for him for Christmas!)

Why play with presents when there are bows to play with?!

Shake shake shake, shakin' his groove thang!

Can you guess what we had for dinner? Apparently he likes his mashed, not shaken or stirred!

He's a carrot top! Get it?! haha :)

My beautifully messy boy and his big innocent eyes!

Lucas's cake made by moi!

These candles were too cute to pass up!

Happy birthday to you! 

Mommy had to help blow out the candles!

Testing it out...

And the guest of honor gives approval!

Sinterklaas video!

Here's a play by play of how crazy fun our Sinterklaas evening was.

Just a few disclaimers before you watch:
1. This video is mostly in Dutch
2. It's 19 minutes, and was not edited because we thought our family in Holland would enjoy the whole "show"
3. Filmography is not my thing, so excuse the moments where I forgot that I was videoing and not taking pictures!

And last but not least, I will give you Americanos a background on what happens in the beginning of the movie. On pakjesavond (presents evening) a "zwarte piet" will knock on your door and throw cookies and candy inside and leave a bag full of presents by the door. I guess the Dutch thought it was more practical to drive around leaving presents at the door instead of making reindeer fly and having Santa get covered in soot from the chimney!

Finally... the feature presentation for your viewing pleasure!


Sinterklaas 2010 from Whitney Geenen on Vimeo.

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!!!