Bubbles

Today was Kees' last day of school until the end of August for summer break. His teacher gave all the kids a nice note wishing them a great summer. She also gave them a bottle of bubbles to celebrate summer and get their summer off to a great start! Kees wanted to start blowing them on the ride home on the bike but I convinced him to wait until we got home. He was so excited that he could do it himself!




Kees didn't want to put his birthday hat on for the picture but I got it on his head long enough to snap a photo. One of his friends in class had a birthday today so all the kids made hats.

KEES

Kees Update!

Lastest words:

Kees will say, "I like this." If it is veggies we are talking about then it is, "I not like this one."

Kees hears me call Steve sweetie so the other night he said to Steve, "Goodnight Sweetie!"

Kees was about to bite into an orange and said, "No eat the peel....eat fruit."

Things he enjoys:

Riding the bike

Puzzles. I picked Kees up from his class at church and he was sitting at the table doing puzzles.

Hot Wheels! His Oregon ducks car and green Corvette

Going for a walk to the park

Playing soccer with Papa

Watching Sesame Street and laughing at Cookie Monster

Reading books with Mama before bed

Favorite foods:

Pizza

crackers with peanut butter

bananas (only if he can remove the peel himself)

Kees is really growing up! We are still working on that fun thing called potty training. He wears his underwear at home but not yet at nighttime. So proud of my big 2 year old!

Voldoende!

When we returned from our trip there was a letter in the mail with the results from Steve's Dutch Government exam. The exciting news is that he passed all four parts of the exam! This was such an exciting moment! I remember when Steve and I were just married and going through our things noticing that most of the books Steve had in his library were books on how to learn Dutch. He shared with me that he had even began to study the language at 12 years old! Our first year in the Netherlands we attended Dutch school together (I like to call it boot camp) we would have to learn over 200 new words per week and be ready for the exams on Monday. Grammar was another challenge. At the end of our year of language we took the final exams. Steve got his score back and found out that it was not enough to pass. It was heartbreaking. Instead of giving up, Steve ripped a small piece of paper out from his notebook and wrote his score on it and the date. He looked at me and said, "I'm going to look at this score everyday and let it motivate me to study everyday." In his office is a frame with the score and he has studied everyday since. This week there is a diploma coming in the mail declaring Steve is fluent in Dutch. Steve never gives up at anything he sets out to do. He is an inspiration!

Back!

We are back! We had a great Anniversary/Father's Day trip! Kees enjoyed getting to do some swimming. We ended up getting sick the last few days of our trip so that was rough. At one point all three of us were in bed with cold washcloths on our heads to keep our fevers down. We are all doing better now!

Maastricht, Netherlands

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Marley

These are the stairs in our house leading to the third floor. Yes...they are almost like a ladder! Marley likes to hang out from the top and watch what is going on below.

Stock Up!

This is what a grocery stock up trip looks like for me. I like to call it my two passenger SUV. I think it would be fun to get a 'soccer mom' bumper sticker for the back. There is only so much you can bring home on a bike but not having to go to the store for 3 days is really stocking up! My sweet husband watches Kees for me when I have to go for a big trip. I need all the space I can get including Kees' seat! Kees came running outside when I got home and began to unload the groceries and helped me carry them in the house.

Enjoying his reward for helping mommy!

Pool!