What a trooper!

Andy often feels bad that I don't have 24/7 access to a vehicle. He is constantly offering for me to have the car. Most days though I really don't need the car. However, today I needed the car so Andy left it home for me. He decided to ride his bike to the tram station this morning, instead of walking like he usually does. So, with his computer bag and all he was off. Rachel was quite concerned that she didn't get to go on the bike ride with her daddy. But luckily we could convince her that she couldn't because there was no seat for her. We're starting to feel more like the Dutch every day... :)

Quotables

Rachel talks up a storm. She talks the most on bike rides. She just chats and chats and chats. Recently she has surprised us with some of the things she's said and when she's said them. Rachel definitely keeps us laughing. So, here are a few of her famous one-liners:

• I do good job.
• I did it!
• I'm cute. (as she's looking in the mirror)
• It's okay.
• Don't wake up 'til sun comes up.
• Be right back.
• I'm busy right now.
• Check my email. (sitting at the computer)
• What's that? (again and again and again)
• Just a minute.
• One more - that's it! (shaking her pointer finger)
• Go store and buy some more. (usually referring to yogurt, ice cream, or more recently chocolate milk)

Friday Cutie

My dad really didn't like the mug shot of Rachel, so I figured I better post a better picture. So, Dad, here's your cute Rachel! Thanks Aunt Cristy for the cute outfit. :)

First Market Purchase

The shopping center that Rachel and I walk to several times a week has a huge outdoor market every Friday. You can find pretty much anything there - fresh fruit, fish, bread, clothes, purses, fabric, and so on. So, after living here for almost 8 months we finally made our first purchase. We bought some fruit - raspberries and plums. The raspberries have already been made into freezer jam. Yummy! It's not exactly cost effective. I spent 16 euros on raspberries and made one batch of jam. When you've grown up on homemade jam though, there really isn't another option. :) I wasn't planning on buying the plums, but the man gave Rachel and I each one to try. They were too delicious to pass up. I got 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) for 3 euros, so not bad. Plus, they're just like eating candy! :) I bought a bag of M&M's for the movies tonight, but maybe I'll just take 10 of these tiny, delicious plums instead. :) I think I'll be purchasing fruit at the outdoor market on Fridays more often. I was impressed by what I bought today!

Legal Beagles

We are officially legal beagles here in the Netherlands. We finally went yesterday and picked up our driver's licenses. We received our residency cards a few months back and then were able to apply for our driver's licenses. It cracks me up how they literally take a mug shot of you for your residency cards and driver's licenses. You can't smile and they have to be able to see your ears. Why? I don't know - maybe ears are our defining feature. Andy and Rachel have residency cards that don't expire until November 2009. For some reason though, mine is only good for a year. We asked our relocation assistant why that is and she said it's because I'm the non-working spouse. Basically they want to make sure we're still married in a year. In order for me to register here we had to fill out a bunch of forms because Andy and I had been married less than 10 years. It cracks me up! I guess marriages here aren't truly solid until after 10 years. Another strange thing - on the back of each of our residency cards it lists our place of birth and birthdate. Andy's and Rachel's are correct, but mine says "Onbekend USA". Onbekend means strange. I guess Bountiful, UT is a strange place to be born! :) One more thing, I received a driver's license class that allows me to drive and pull a trailer. Andy wasn't so privileged. Why? We don't know. We are glad to have everything taken care of for now. We won't have to visit town hall again until after the baby is born. Very nice! I took a picture of Rachel's residency card and then cropped it so you could see how funny our pictures look. We took our pictures way back in December when we were still living in the hotel. Rachel's is the cutest out of the three of us! :)

Baby News

We had the much anticipated ultrasound yesterday afternoon. Everything looked great! The technician spent a good 30 minutes with us and we went through pretty much every body part. The baby looks great and everything is functioning and formed as it should be. What a blessing! All looks well! However, we weren't able to get a really good view to find out if it's a boy or girl. The technician said 80% girl, but she didn't commit it to paper. So, we'll have to see if we can get another ultrasound in the future. I guess the baby had found a comfy spot and wasn't willing to move for us. The technician had me laughing, coughing, jumping up and down, etc... But unfortunately the baby was content. We are definitely happy that all looks well though. Rachel wasn't that impressed so Andy had fun trying to keep her happy for the 30 minutes of the ultrasound. :)

Mary Ellen's Visit

Today I had my first official visit from a friend. I taught school with Mary Ellen for three years in Texas and she is out visiting her daughter in Europe. She took a day trip to Amsterdam and we met up. It was so much fun to visit with Mary Ellen and spend the afternoon with her. It was so nice of her to give up time with her family to see me. It was fun to catch up with her and to just hang out with a friend. I have a lot of good memories of working with Mary Ellen. Thanks Mary Ellen for making the effort to come see me! :)

Rachel's First Haircut

Last night Rachel got her first haircut by yours truly. I think Andy was more nervous about me cutting Rachel's hair than I was. I've been cutting Andy's hair ever since we moved out to Holland, so I figured I could manage Rachel's as well. I guess Andy was just worried about me ruining his beautiful girl's hair, but I think I did an okay job. :) Rachel was actually pretty good about the whole thing. I pretty much just tried to even things out. Rachel still has some shorter hair in the front that needs to grow out, but eventually it will all catch up.
Here are a few pictures of Rachel sporting her new haircut this morning:

Trying to be like the Dutch...

My friend Ruthie loaned me her bike for the summer. Rachel absolutely loves it! Below is a picture of our first bike ride together. Rachel wasn't too sure at first when Ruthie took her for a ride, but once Ruthie got going she realized how fun it was. Ruthie has her bike pretty well stocked. It has a seat in the front and in the rear. The bike also has 2 compartments to put stuff in (groceries, diaper bag, etc..). And there is a device on the back of the bike to attach a stroller, so once you get where you're going you still have the option of a stroller. It's been fun to put the bike to use the past couple of weeks. I have to say though, I am definitely not as brave as the Dutch. They have no fear riding their bikes and I'm a bit more timid, especially when we come to an intersection.

One of these days I'll have to do a post of all the unique bikes we've seen. Sometimes people will have a wheelbarrow-like thing attached to the front of their bike and you can often see 2 kids sitting up in the wheelbarrow. I don't know exactly what it's called. Just the other day I saw a woman with a toddler in a seat behind her and then she was wearing a baby carrier with a newborn in it. Crazy! I would totally freak out and never do something like that. But her argument would probably be that it's more dangerous to stick a baby in a car than ride her bike like that. Who knows what the statistics are, but I guess it's whatever you're used to that you are comfortable with. Our neighbor has a normal bike, but some type of motor attached to it, so it's a motorbike. It's quite odd! I guess just like we get creative with our cars, they get creative with their bikes!

Rachel's so glad when Daddy comes home...

Rachel is one happy girl when her daddy comes home. She loves to watch for him at the window. I can still remember when she was about 15 months old she figured out that as soon as she would hear our noisy garage, that meant Daddy was home. She would get so excited and she still does! It's so much fun to watch. We are definitely enjoying Andy's more reasonable hours over here in Holland. He still misses dinner every now and then, but not as frequently as he did in Houston. It seemed like it was a rarity for him to be home for dinner when we lived in Houston. It has always been something that has bothered me, because I remember my dad always being home for dinner growing up. We ate breakfast and dinner together pretty much every day and I'm so thankful for that. I'm hoping one of these days that we'll be able to achieve that with Andy - it seems like something that is more and more difficult to achieve in today's world. Here's a video of Rachel getting excited when her daddy is on his way home: