Marjan

Nathalie-Ann, 2 years old!

2010-09-28T22:03:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-04-06T13:25:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-06T13:08:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-06T12:34:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-04-05T12:28:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-01-19T10:32:00.001-08:00

With friends Erin and Olivia

Vacation in Florida 12/25 – 01/01

2010-01-04T10:31:00.001-08:00

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Sinterklaasfeest!

2009-12-06T12:19:00.001-08:00

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Wat een feest! Al weken zitten we in de Sinterklaassfeer. Pepernoten bakken, tekeningen maken, verlanglijstjes schrijven, schoen zetten, liedjes zingen en natuurlijk iedere dag Sinterklaasjournaal kijken. Hanna en Marius zitten er helemaal vol van. Gisteren was dan eindelijk de grote dag, 5 december, pakjesdag!!!

‘s Morgens als Marius als eerste in de kamer komt horen we hem luid naar boven gillen: “Er liggen pakjes in de kamer!” Snel rennen we allemaal naar beneden en ja hoor, de Sint en zijn Pieten hebben wat voor de kinderen meegebracht. Voor Hanna staat er een hele grote doos, een hele grote! Meteen wordt het papier er afgerukt, zou het een televisie voor op de kamer zijn, denkt Hanna heel even? De doos wordt opengemaakt en tadaaaah daar komt het poppenhuis te voorschijn. Wat een verrassing. Zo bijzonder om het poppenhuis weer terug te zien; een jaar of 25 geleden kreeg ik dit zelfde poppenhuis met Sinterklaas, vakkundig gemaakt door Pake en Beppe. Een uniek, prachtig poppenhuis.

Marius heeft ook een grote doos en scheurt het papier eraf: Een boederij!! Marius gaat meteen met Heit naar beneden om het ding in elkaar te zetten. Nathalie-Ann krijgt een xylofoon van Sinterklaas. Ze vindt het leuk om er heel hard op te slaan en dat er dan ook nog een mooi geluidje uitkomt. De hele verdere ochtend wordt er druk gespeeld met poppenhuis en boerderij. Nathalie-Ann vindt het ook geweldig en weet zelfs in de boerderij te kruipen, wat Marius nou niet echt heel leuk vindt.

Om één uur stappen we in de auto op weg naar Summit New Jersey, want daar komt Sinterklaas en zijn Pieten vandaag op de Nederlandse school. Onderweg even eten bij Elevation Burger in Montclair, een organic grassfed burgertent, met frietjes die in olijfolie zijn gebakken. Smullen!! Van hier is het nog 20 minuten naar de plaats van bestemming. Als we de auto parkeren zien we al meer kinderen in Pietenpak lopen samen met hun ouders. Ook Marius heeft z’n Pietenpak aan vandaag. Het feest wordt gehouden in een gebouw van een kerk in Summit. In dit gebouw is ook wekelijks de Nederlandse school. De school heeft eigen lokalen hier, het ziet er zo leuk uit. In de feestruimte mogen de kinderen helemaal vooraan gaan zitten op een vloerkleed. En dan komt de Sint binnen. Er wordt druk gezongen en geklapt. De Pieten lopen bij de kinderen langs en delen pepernoten uit. Een aantal Pieten gaat naast de kinderen zitten. Ook naast Marius komt er een Piet zitten, hij is helemaal onder de indruk. Nadat alle klassen kort op het podium zijn geweest, worden de kadootjes uitgedeeld door de juffen. Marius maakt van de gelegenheid gebruik op het podium te klimmen en Sinterklaas een hand te geven. Thuis had hij al gezegd: “Ik ben niet bang en ik ga Sinterklaas een hand geven”. Hanna volgt en geeft de Goedheiligman ook een hand. Dan Nathalie-Ann nog even op het podium die we er bijna niet meer afkrijgen zo leuk vindt ze het. De pakjes vallen in de smaak: “Hoe wist Sinterklaas dat ik dit boek graag wilde?” Tenslotte worden alle families nog op de foto gezet met Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet door een echte fotograaf. Binnenkort zijn de foto’s te downloaden. En krijgen de kinderen ieder nog een chocoladeletter. En om het feest helemaal compleet te maken lag er toen we naar de auto liepen sneeuw! De eerste sneeuw dit jaar en dat met het Sinterklaasfeest. De dag kon niet meer stuk. In de auto wordt nog lang enthousiast nagepraat en ook de volgende dag nog. Marius zei vanochtend nog bij het ontbijt: “Ik wil weer naar het Sinterklaasfeest”. Nog 364 nachtjes en we gaan weer.

Sinterklaas 2009

2009-12-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

Cookie recipies

2009-11-18T08:55:00.001-08:00

Oatmeal Harvest Cookies

15 minutes prep time

makes about 2 dozen cookies

1,5 cup oats

0,5 cup whole wheat pastry flour

0,5 tsp salt

0,25 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp chopped nuts or raisins

1 cup mashed sweet potato

0,25 cup oil plus 2 tbps (I use 0,5 cup butter)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix dry ingredients together.

3. In seperate bowl, mix mashed sweet potato and oil or butter. Add to dry ingredients.

4. Drop by heaping teaspoonsful onto an unoiled cookie sheet.

5. Bake 10-15 minutes.

I found this recipe in taste for life nov. 2009

Breakfast in bed and a good hiding spot

2009-11-18T06:39:00.001-08:00

For a long time Hanna and Marius have been calling: “ontbijt op bed” on Saturday mornings. And this morning it finally happened. René, the cook and waiter, did a fantastic job!

Enjoying pancakes with maple syrup and egg.

What a perfect hiding spot. We could here Nathalie-Ann from upstairs, but when we came in the basement she was quiet. I looked everywhere, even in the laundry room and in the bath room, but no sign of our baby. I quickly checked upstairs again, no Nathalie-Ann. Then I heard her peep again and went in the basement once more, starting to get a little nervous. Finally Marius found her underneath the baby bed. I had even moved the thing when I had checked the place before but did not realize she was underneath.

Nathalie-Ann and Avery’s dedication in church, nov 15th

2009-11-18T06:31:00.001-08:00

Sunday was a special day. We dedicated Nathalie-Ann to the Lord. As parents we made a promise to raise her in God’s way and with God’s help. Pastor Sterling prayed for Nathalie-Ann and for us as parents and for Hanna and Marius as brother and sister.

Also Pastor Sterling and Jenna’s daughter Avery was dedicated. It was a beautiful and precious moment. The scripture that the Pastor gave us was: Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Crossroads church is an important place for us here. We feel blessed that we are a part of this wonderful church.

http://www.crossroadsli.org/

Fall colors and costumes

2009-10-30T18:04:00.001-07:00

It is the most colorful time time of the year. The leaves are so beautiful. It is so much fun to be outside and watch the fall colors. Walking back from school we find the most colorful leaves, then at home we dry them and Hanna and Marius make beautiful pictures with them.

Last weekend we went to a farm in Stamford Connecticut, called Heckscher Farm at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center. A lovely place, with lots of farm animals (chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, horses and cows), trails to walk in the woods, a nature playground and an otter pond. They also had a hay maze, hay ride and pumpkin patch. It was so nice to spend all day outside in such a wonderful place, we all had great time. The kids loved the animals, Nathalie-Ann especially loved one duck and actually at one point grabbed his beak. Hanna and Marius had a blast in the playground, playing pirates and big bird in the big nests.

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Tomorrow is Halloween day. Last weekend Hanna and Marius already had their first party, today Hanna had a parade at school and tomorrow we’ll have a fall festival at the church. Marius is a proud fireman this year and Hanna was really creative with her witch costume.

Hanna and Marius at Olivia’s not so scary Halloween party.

Finding pumpkins in the back yard.

Cinderella (with dark hair) and Tigger.

Hanna and her friend Ellie.

Marius just learned to ride his two wheeler and by now he is really good at it. People we meet on the road or at school say that they are really impressed, which makes Marius really proud of him self, to the point that he will now tell total stranger we meet that he can ride his bike or he will just point to his bike and say “two wheels”, so that those people will also compliment him. It is really fun to watch. Today after watching the parade at Hanna’s school we went biking to the Massapequa preserve. Marius really wanted to go there, because he had not been there yet on his bike. Also here the trees were beautiful. And Marius did really well biking all the way to the woods and back to Hanna’s school to pick her up and back to our house.

A Summer Day in October.

2009-10-22T17:47:00.001-07:00

A Bright Sun and a Blue Sky, with 20 Celsius. A perfect day for the beach. Marius, Nathalie-Ann and I spend a couple of hours at Robert Moses State Park today. It was lovely. We found lots of shells and beautiful stones. There were a lot of jelly fish on the beach so we had to be careful where we walked.

Yes! Marius can ride his two wheeler

2009-10-21T18:34:00.001-07:00

He has been practicing for a few days now and yesterday, Oct. 20th, he did it. All by himself he rode his two wheeler, without falling. Now that he can do it, he loves it. He rides on the grass, tries screeching breaks and rides as fast as he can. What a freedom. This afternoon, he biked all the way to Hanna’s school and back.

Nathalie-Ann loves to be outside.

Hanna is a big helper.

Today I thought about: listening to God’s voice and I found this verse in the Bible.

Job 37:5 (New International Version)

⁵ God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.

Vacation at the Finger Lakes

2009-10-14T10:59:00.001-07:00

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Finally we are going to see our friends from London Ontario. It has been more then a year since we have seen each other. Both our families lived in Seattle for a while and that is where we met.

We are going to spend the weekend in a cottage at lake Keuka.

Here are some photo’s; more text is coming up…..

Some pictures

2009-10-07T08:45:00.001-07:00

Yes, our little girl can walk by herself.

She is such a happy girl.

Marius with his best friend Erin.

A visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

2009-10-07T08:32:00.001-07:00

October 3rd, 2009

It was going to be a cloudy, perhaps rainy day, so we decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I can see now why they write six pages in our tourist guide about it. It is a great museum with a huge collection. And the special attraction was “Het Melkmeisje” van Vermeer. What a beautiful painting! René and I liked the real life history paintings the best. Hanna was really interested in Picasso and Matisse since she had learned about them in school recently. Marius loved the Greek and Roman naked sculptures with sword and all. We had so much fun.

Hanna and Marius studying the map.

The beautiful front of the museum.

Picknick in Central Park.

Nathalie-Ann's First Birthday.

2009-09-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful day yesterday. Our little girl turned one year old! Amazing how the year flew by. Nathalie-Ann really enjoyed her birthday yesterday. Early in the morning Hanna and Marius sang "Happy Birthday" and "Lang zal ze leven" to her. Then she got to open a few presents with the help of her big sister and brother. At the end of the afternoon we had a small party. Our best friends came over to have dinner with us. We had a great time.

For the first time Nathalie-Ann tasted a bite of birthday cake and she loved it. Since we don't use refined sugar anymore, I had to find an alternative recipe. I made a whole wheat vanilla cake sweetened with mashed banana and a little fruit juice concentrate. The topping was cream cheese with jam (also free of refined sugar). For the apple pie I used a little honey.

Just before she went to bed she still had a huge smile on her face and she proudly went on the picture with her "Jip en Janneke" hat on.

A beautiful Saturday in September.

2009-09-26T18:22:00.001-07:00

Apple picking in Stone Ridge

2009-09-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 19th

After a quick breakfast we headed upstate for a day of apple picking at the farm. Our first stop was Hudson, we had a lunch here at a nice and pretty healthy restaurant. The pizza's were awesome, I am gong to try them at home on day. Hanna and Marius loved their pasta with marinara sauce

After our pitstop we tried to find the organic apple farm not far from Hudson, but after asking a few people, trying different directions, we gave up and drove to the farm second on our list. The orchard is located in Stone Ridge It is not an organic one but they practice IPM, which stands for Integrated Pest Management. It says in their bulletin:"Eco Apple farmers use a combination of old agricultural methods and leading-edge technologies to minimize spraying and other enviromentallyy disruptive practices".

It is a beautiful location, hilly, green and foresty.

We got our bags and baskets at the stand and went in the orchard.To our surprise they also still had raspberries. So we went raspberrie picking first. They were so yummie, I bet half of our harvest ended in our tummies
For the apples we had three bags and it did not take us a long time to fill them up.

It was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot just right.

We had brought lots of good food, so after our "labor" we enjoyed a nice picknick under the trees.

The apples are good, I already made applesauce and I am planning on making an apple pie this weekend, especially since it is Nathalie-Ann's birthday coming Monday. Our little girl is gonna be one year old. We are all so much looking forward to her big day.