17 years!

Yesterday, B and I celebrated our 17th anniversary... 17 years, seems almost like yesterday that I was 24 and getting married.

In 17 years, we have done so much that a lot of it is blurry. Most amazingly - we have 2 boys. I think that's the best part to come out of our marriage - being parents. B is a good dad, gets down on the ground and in the dirt with them. It's my favorite part of the weekend, watching the 3 of them act like boys playing football, basketball or video games.

We have moved 8 times, lived in 3 different countries and 3 different states. We have gotten to travel more than I ever imagined. I have been able to be a witness to B's career skyrocket. I have a partner that I actually talk to... about anything. We laugh over silly things and still get a kick out of small things.

We have survived job changes, moves, health scares, family issues and our children ;-)

Happy Anniversary honey! I love you.

Day by Day

So sorry for not posting for a while... I have been in a "place".

Not necessarily a bad place, more of a complacent place. I think the move has finally caught up with me. I have cut down exercising to about 4 days a week only for about an hour a day - crazy, I know. Funny thing is, although I jiggle a little more in certain places, my body is much happier for it.

We took an amazing trip to Paris and fit almost everything you could think of in 4 days. I think my favorite part of the whole trip was the Louvre. I was awed. To think that I was in the same room as the paintings that were actually touched and created by names such as David, Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, De la Croix, the list goes on and on. I was most excited to see the pyramid in the entrance, the Mona Lisa and the Coronation of Napoleon. I could have stared at David's Coronation for hours.

The Louvre in itself was amazing. The building, the history.

The kids soaked it all in. Wasn't really sure how a 13 and 10 year old were going to handle an all day excursion at the museum. To my delight, they were as interested as B and I were.

S fell at school and suffered a mild concussion - with his allergies, skin and other issues, we feel like he has become a bit of a full time project :-( Poor kid.

We are now in the throes of end of the year school preparations, including a surprise fun filled day in S's class this Wednesday. I won't spoil the fun... will post with pictures later.

The best part of the next few weeks is a visit by C - I cannot wait!!! We have a few excursions planned... but mostly, I am thrilled to see my friend. To have a little piece of home right here with me.

Much love!!!

My Heart

I want to tell you about someone that I admire... My oldest child.

From the minute this child was born, he was a fighter. Born at only 4lbs 3oz., he fought his way through prematurity like a champ. He was a smart baby and toddler. Learning his alphabet before he was 2 and learning to read at the age of 4. I can't say that I take any credit... He is just smart like that. Observant to say the least. He remembers the most minute details. Even as a small child, he was and still is a perfectionist about certain things.

As he has gotten older and as more of his personality is revealed, I have discovered this caring, knowledge hungry child that couldn't hurt a fly. Ask anyone - they immediately love him once they meet him. He is kind and helpful. He loves current events. He loves to read - a trait that I am immensely proud of. He does not give up - he has the strongest sense of loyalty and commitment. He will never let you down. He is always ready for a hug or a snuggle, but only if asked. He is creative - and very good with his hands. He likes to take things apart to see "how they work". He loves technology and is really great at grasping the latest and greatest technological advances. He is a best friend.

He is my heart.

MC Escher

Yesterday, the family went on an outing in Den Haag. We walked out to the Escher in Het Paleis museum. For those of you art and mathematics fanatics, V and I are huge Escher fans. We were so excited to see his original drawings, wood cuttings, etc... The museum is housed in one of the Netherlands Queens winter homes. So as well as being able to soak in Escher, we were able to get some history about the building as well.

We were able to see Waterfalls, Metamorphosis, Relativity, and Drawing Hands, to name a few. He was a genius before his time. He is Dutch by birth. What I didn't know was that as a young adult, he travelled through Italy, hence the inspiration for most of his landscape lithographs.

As we were about to leave the museum, we decided to peruse the gift shop and a book in particular caught my eye. It was a book about homes and architecture in Den Haag. I flipped through and looked at the index... AND...

Our house was in it! We were all so surprised! Pretty incredible - just made me feel all the more special about where we live...

Have a great day!

Feathered Friends

I was sitting on our back window sill looking out at the flowers popping up in the garden this evening. I called out to S in the next room when I realized there were 2 ducks in the pond. We watched them for few minutes in silence. Still in total awe and not thinking, I said "I wonder how they got in there?"

S looks at me with a completely straight face and says "DUH, they can fly! How come they didn't teach you that in school???"

Ask a stupid question...

More pictures

After the last post - I walked out to the store and took along my camera...

Enjoy!

Click here to see the pictures :-)

S

Settled and happy :-)

Okay Ruth - this is for you :-)

Sorry about not blogging for a while... We have been a little busy!

We had visitors in the form of my parents, brother and his girlfriend a few weeks back. It was SO lovely to have everyone here - even if for a short time. We still had our rental furniture - but we managed wonderfully. Of course, the day after my parents left - we got our container!!! WooHoo!

Our things came and it's always like Christmas... I was able to unpack and put away 90% of the things before B even got home from work. We were up and running and fully functional the next day. I missed my bed!

We have started to think about travel and have planned a trip to Paris the first week of April. I have a HUGE list of places that we would like to visit while we are here including Italy and the Amalfi coast, Turkey, London, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Germany (during Xmastime) and the list goes on...

Last weekend we discovered some walking trails that start just about 1/3 of a mile from our home. I haven't walked the whole thing, but I have heard that you can walk them all the way to the Sea which is about 3 miles from our place. I have been to walk along the beach, but haven't stayed too long as the wind is a little more than I can handle. Now that it is getting warmer and sunnier, I will go back and do that again.

Still going to the gym - not as much as I am used to, but I walk everywhere, so I don't worry about it too much.

I have met some wonderful women who have introduced me to the wonderful world of Sligro and the open markets. Sligro is a Costco or Sam's type of place that sells items in bulk. No more going to the store for laundry detergent once a week! I find it is not as inexpensive as Costco, but still as effective. Most things here are super expensive - you just learn to appreciate how cheap things are in the States.

I went to the open market with a neighbor of mine and I was in Heaven! The freshest fruits, vegetables, olive bars, fish and meat stalls, clothing (not my style), etc... all in one place! I had to buy a shopping trolley just to bring home all the things I bought. The prices are great and I can assure you that I will be going every week :-)

B is as busy as ever and has a month of craziness starting today which includes 2 trips to Houston, a trip to 3 cities in Asia, Poland, Italy and then our trip to Paris. Whew!

S is playing flag football and is really enjoying it so far - as long as the weather is decent. It's pretty darn painful to catch a football in the cold without gloves. He is enjoying school and picking up Dutch pretty easily. He has a birthday party this weekend at a place that has go-karts, lasertag, bungee soccer, and so on - he is so excited! He has a slumber party the next weekend. He's a busy little guy!

V is doing great with school and basketball. He is looking forward to traveling and has a list all his own of where he wants to go. He is getting older - it's getting harder and harder to get him to hang out with us, so I end up trying to come up with things we can all do together to lure him out of his cave.

In other news - we will be back in Houston in July - we are all looking forward to the slightly (eh hem) warmer weather. This southern belle needs a little more heat!

Til next time!

S