Nathalie-Ann, 2 years old!

Today was our little princess’s birthday. Can’t believe she is already 2 years old. Seems like only a short while ago that she was born on Long Island, NY and now we live in San Diego CA and our girl is not a baby anymore. This morning when she woke up, I said: Happy Birthday! And she said: Preschool? Luckily not yet. I can still enjoy time alone with her, when Hanna and Marius are at school. Time already flies by. But even though it does fly by, I enjoy every bit of it. I totally love being Hanna, Marius and Nathalie-Ann’s mom. They are the greatest gift from God!

   

Van alles en nog wat

Ik heb net weer wat foto’s van de camera gehaald, dus tijd om ze op de weblog te zetten, zodat jullie ook mee kunnen genieten. Het gaat hartstikke goed hier. Door de week zijn we druk met werk, school en leven van alle dag. Maar stiekum kijken we op maandag allemaal al weer uit naar het weekend. De weekenden zijn altijd geweldig, we hebben al een paar weekenden vrienden op bezoek gehad; het is zo fijn om elkaar weer te kunnen zien. Elke zaterdagochtend maakt René een overheerlijk ontbijt klaar; pancakes, eggs and bacon…mmmmm. Twee dagen dat we niet in een vast ritme zitten en lekker veel tijd voor elkaar en voor leuke dingen hebben (en soms ook wel moet-dingen). Zondags naar de kerk gaan, doen we ook allemaal graag. Hanna en Marius gaan dan naar Kids Church en Nathalie-Ann naar de oppas, waar ze het nog niet helemaal naar de zin heeft, maar meenemen in de kerk kan ook niet want ze is aardig luid. Laatst riep ze in één keer onder het gebed: één, tee, hoppetee (betekent optillen). Snel en met een rood hoofd heb ik haar alsnog naar de oppas gebracht.

Marius heeft zondag z’n eerste melktand verloren. Na een week niet wiebelen (want dan zou er misschien bloed komen) is de tand er zaterdagnacht uit gevallen. Bij het wakker worden miste hij z’n tand en na even zoeken lag ‘ie op het bed.Wat weer een mijlpaal. Hij wordt zo groot! Nathalie-Ann ontdekte de klompjes in huis en trok ze aan. Tot mijn verbazing kon ze er best goed op lopen. Ons klein Hollands/Fries meisje. De familie Wijnbelt was afgelopen zaterdag bij ons, het was supergezellig, weer als vanouds. Na het eten zijn we lekker naar het strand geweest. Een leuke mogelijkheid om foto’s van elkaars gezin te maken. Leuk voor de komende kerstkaart, misschien een idee om ze nu alvast te versturen, zijn we in ieder geval mooi op tijd….Het is vandaag donderdag dus al weer bijna weekend. Yes!!! Echt plannen hebben we nog niet, maar misschien dat we zondag richting Torrance gaan om onze oude stek weer te zien en dan kunnen we de Good Shepherd bezoeken.      

The real 8th birthday!

Our sweet girl Hanna, turned 8 years old, March 12th. We had a fun afternoon at the beach with a picknick. The food was good but crispy with sand, mmmmhhhh (it was a bit windy). Hieperdepiep Hoera!

 

Hanna’s new school

 

New place, new school. Hanna’s new school is Curie Elementary. It is a 20 minute walk, or most of the time 5 minute drive from home. It always takes some time to get used to another school. Curie is a good school, but right now it is just not like Eastlake and the new teacher is just not like Mrs Upton (Hanna loved Mrs. Upton). But, Hanna has already made some friends and even had a couple of play dates and the school has fun things like Multicultural Fair, Gardening, Jog a thon and a field trip to San Diego Zoo!  The first week they had pajama day; Hanna insisted on wearing her favorite nightgown, which almost falls apart, because my grandmother (Hanna’s great grandmother) made it for me when I was 8 years old. What a special nightgown and such strong handcraft! It so reminds me of me, when it was my favorite nightgown, when I was 8, a long time ago.

Moving from Massapequa Park, NY to San Diego, CA

Today is the 6th of April. It has been almost 7 weeks now since our move to the West. One day we were loading the truck in the snow and the next day we were swimming in the outdoor pool at our hotel. So many exciting things have happened in the past weeks, it feels like we have already been here a long time. We really like San Diego. We have found a nice house in a nice neighborhood. The kids love our backyard which goes up in a hill; they are doing lots of hiking. There are so many fun things to do around here. We went to the beach a couple of times, went to the zoo (where they have panda’s), lots of good restaurants (makes it hard to maintain our healthy lifestyle…), mountains are nearby; we still have a lot to explore. We have visited a couple of churches but have not decided yet on which one to join. I am sure God will lead us to the place He wants us to be. We feel at home here and we are happy to be close to our Torrance and Orange friends.  

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Hanna’s early 8th birthday party and goodbye party with school friends in Massapequa Park.

Although it was not Hanna’s birthday yet. We decided to have her party on February 4th, because we were going to move 2 weeks later. The girls had so much fun playing, singing, dancing and painting the picture frame. Nathalie-Ann decided she wanted to dress up like a princess, she looked so cute. The painting project looked so much fun to her. So when mommy had turned her back to the table for a few moments she climbed on the table and dipped her hand in the blue paint. She was not very happy with having that blue wet stuff on her hands though. Luckily I had the camera ready. Also Marius loved the party, even though there were only girls. He did a great job on the painting project. Hanna misses her friends from Massapequa Park, especially Ellie. But the new school is not that bad and she has already made some new friends.

  

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Marius his 5th birthday!

  With friends Erin and Olivia