Twinners

Audrey and Rachel have grandmas who spoil them rotten! When I was in California my mom sent me home with these matching outfits for the girls. Rachel has been so anxious to be able to wear her new outfit and have her sister match her. I figure I better go along with it while she's willing - one day it won't be so cool for her little sister to match. So, finally the weather was cool enough yesterday for me to cave. The high was 64 degrees with lots of rain and wind. The hoods proved very useful as we walked home from the store in the rain last night. I hadn't planned very well because the sun was shining when we headed to the store, so luckily the girls had their hoods. Andy and I got a bit wet, but it's better us than them... We also got to see a rainbow as we walked home from the store - Rachel was so excited! :)

You've Trained Her Well

Those were the words Andy said to me late last night - referring to Rachel. When he told me that, the first thought that popped into my head was, "what did Rachel do that impressed Andy tonight?". I was thinking maybe she went to bed really easy for him, or maybe she did a good job of helping Andy clean up after dinner, or maybe she helped out with Audrey. I didn't know... Andy watched the girls last night while I got a chance to go to Enrichment. Anyhow, here's the conversation Andy had and why he told me I've trained her well:

Rachel: Audrey is very cute.

Andy: You're right and you are very cute as well.

Rachel: Mommy's beautiful.

Andy: Mommy is beautiful and what am I? (I think Andy was hoping for handsome)

Rachel (without skipping a beat): You're lucky!

Andy: Oh, why am I lucky?

Rachel: Because you have 3 girls!

Too funny! I'm sure I've told Rachel before that Andy is lucky, but it's not something we talk about on a daily basis. I love being a mom and that Rachel thinks I'm beautiful. I was thinking about it this morning and decided that when you are a mom, you can guarantee at least a couple people in the world think you're beautiful. Hopefully your husband is one of those! :) But I definitely think children always think their mom's beautiful. I think and have always thought that my mom's beautiful and will always think so as well. Being a mom definitely has some perks! :)

Joy School

Rachel started Joy School today. She was so excited! She has been talking about being able to go to school for quite some time now. As we walk to one of Rachel's favorite parks we walk right past a Dutch school. She loves to see the kids outside playing or hear the school bell ring. At first she would talk about how she would go to that school when she turns 5, but I've told her she's going to go to a different school in Texas. So, whenever we walk by the school we have a conversation about the school in Texas she'll go to. Technically I could put her in Dutch preschool here, but I don't see the point of her learning Dutch since we are headed home at the end of the school year. E&Y won't foot the bill for the International School until Rachel's 4 and I'm not paying thousands of dollars on my own for preschool. So, Joy School is going to be a wonderful alternative. Next school year, in Texas, she can go to a preschool to get ready for the full-day kindergarten she'll have when she's 5. Rachel has two classmates, Ashley and Hannah. They have already had lots of time playing together, so they are quite comfortable with one another. The mothers are going to take turns each week teaching the children. Rachel will have school every Wednesday and Friday for roughly 2 hours. I got to be a fly on the wall today. Miss Lisa, Hannah's mother, was the teacher today, but it was hosted at our house. It was fun to watch Rachel interact with her peers. I'm looking forward to what the year has in store for Rachel! Here she is all excited for her first day:

Rachel's first school art project:

It's Official...

We (well, really Andy, but it's a package deal) have signed our lives away for another 7 months. We were technically supposed to be headed home November 1st, but Andy was asked to extend. So, we are now going to be out here until May 31st. Andy called me early this afternoon right before he signed the letter and sent it off to get my final approval. I told him there's no turning back now since we've booked our flights for a trip to Italy in March. So, we'll have another long winter here in Holland but it will help that we get to go home for Christmas this year. The past two Christmases we've spent here in Holland. We are looking forward to the opportunity to do some more traveling and spend some more time with our friends here. We're sure the next 9 months will fly by and before we know it we'll be headed home, so we need to make the most of the time we have left! :)

Our Alarm Clocks

These two little girls have replaced our alarm clocks. Most mornings we can guarantee one of them will be awake by 7:30, so there is really no need to set an alarm. Every once in awhile Andy has to be into work for an early meeting, so he actually has to set his alarm but that doesn't happen too often. Since we are the kind of parents that let our children be our alarm clocks, the girls and I get to get ready for the day together. Well I'm getting ready Audrey is usually always out in the hallway playing with toys. Rachel chooses each day what she wants to do. Sometimes she stays downstairs to play with her toys and other days she joins Audrey and I upstairs. This morning she was determined for her and Audrey to read books while I got ready. Too bad Audrey was more interested in Rachel's book than the one she had been given. They definitely are cute alarm clocks to wake up to! Although we wish they would understand the concept of sleeping in on the weekends - one day... :)

What to do...

When Daddy's out of town for four days (besides miss him like crazy)...

• Rachel and I made strawberry jam
• I cleaned the house
• I caught up on emails
• We did plenty of shopping
• I planned sharing time
• We had a lazy morning

• We got together with friends
• We attempted to have a picnic dinner at the park until it started raining on us
• I caught up on the blog
• Rachel got a haircut

• We talked to Daddy on the phone
• Rachel checked out her first book at the Dutch library
• We got Rachel ready for Joy School
• Audrey slept for 9 hours straight!
• Rachel and I enjoyed some Vietnamese egg rolls at the Friday Market

Whew, we had a busy four days. Luckily that helped it go by quickly! It probably didn't go by as quickly for Andy - it never does when your sitting in training classes. We are glad he's back home!

Last Beach Day???

I am so dreading our summer coming to an end. It seems like the winters are way too long here and the summers are way too short. It seems like we will be wearing jackets and bundling up any day now. I'm not looking forward to it! So, when Andy suggested for us to take a picnic dinner to the beach on Monday, I jumped at the opportunity. The weather was nice at our place, but as we got closer to the beach we drove into some clouds. We got there by 6 and were able to enjoy the beach for about an hour before it started raining on us. I have probably used the beach umbrella more this summer for rain than sun. Oh well! We made the most of our hour at the beach. Rachel, as always enjoyed herself, and Audrey was quite content to play with her toys. It may be our last trip to the beach this year, we shall see...

It's great to be 8...

...8 months old that is!

Rachel the Photographer

I find random photos on the camera all of the time. Sometimes they can be of the floor, toys, pieces of furniture, etc... Rachel just grabs the camera without me knowing and snaps away. She knows how to turn it off and on, how to take pictures, and how to switch it so she can view the pictures. She's one smart cookie! On Saturday we were just hanging out and Rachel took a picture of everybody - she did pretty good! :)

We certainly love our Rachel and can't stop laughing when she's sporting her goggles:

Playing, Giggling, & Dancing

Andy put things perfectly the other day when he said to Audrey, "Audrey, you'd be the perfect baby if you'd just sleep at night". Audrey is so much fun during the day! She's very easy going. She loves to play, watch Rachel, be on the go, and takes good naps. Now if we could just get her to sleep through the night! :) Here are a few videos of Audrey that I've taken in the past week.

The first one is a perfect illustration of how different each and every child can be, even from the same gene pool. Rachel loved playing with these stacking cups as well, but half the time she wouldn't even let you get them stacked up before she was knocking them down. Audrey, on the other hand, takes her time knocking them down. Sometimes she even tries taking them down one at a time. She has her own unique way!

This second video makes being a parent so much fun. You can do something so simple and yet your child can think it's absolutely hilarious. Audrey reached out to me with a cheerio in her hand, so I opened my mouth for her to put it in. Of course, she didn't give me her cheerio but she thought my open mouth was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

And the last video is of Audrey dancing away. She is such a good baby and entertains herself so well. She's not crawling yet and I'm in no rush for her to crawl. I love that she just sits and plays and stays in one spot. Audrey's a lot more curious than Rachel ever was, so I'm afraid that once she's mobile I'm going to be kept pretty busy. Don't you just love her moves! :)