Quick photo catchup

I realize that we have fallen wayyyy behind in our blog, so this entry is going to be heavy in pictures and captions so that we can get to current events. The beginning theme is -- Wow!! It's really cold over here! Enjoy.

We came home to freezing temperatures. Everything was beginning to freeze over. It turned out to be the coldest winter in 15 years! All the locals were so very excited because they were able to skate on all the canals and rivers. Me (warm weather loving Carlye) not so very happy. Our timing is impeccable!




Our pond all frozen over




Leo and Alex walking on the ice. Not quite ready to break out the ice skate for them.










Sledding on the ice. It's starting to warm up here and the ice is starting to melt.






This is the view as I bike Alex to school. Looks cold huh?








Getting ready to head to school




Playing in the snow











Learning to make snow balls







Alex found boys playing with a frozen soccer ball. After this discovery he didn't want to play with anything else. Such a boy!






Alex was finally able to steal the ball away from the big boys.







Noah and his mommy












Being so cold we have to find ways to amuse ourselves inside. This was a good 30 minutes.








Cooking potatoes with block essence. Alex's specialty.










Nadja came over to play and fell asleep.












Time to wake up with a nice wet willy.










Luckily she forgave Alex.












Another 30 minutes down.









"I'm an owl! Whoo Whoo."












Swim time - yes it is indoors.

waking up from a nap

learning to use the potty like daddy

More cooking. Alex wants to help cook almost every night.

I got this move from my mommy.

just looking darn cute. Finally Alex's hair is starting to grow out.

Nadja turns 2. Fire and paper blowy things are a dangerous combination.

The boys helped blow out Nadja's birthday candle.

I had had enough of the cold so we had a girls weekend in Spain. Oh the sunshine, how I had missed it.

Seville at night

Royal palace in Seville

Gardens in the palace.

Left to right: Adriana, MC, Carlye

When Ryan saw the charge on the credit card for this dinner, he thought it was the charge for the hotel. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm worth every penny! So yummy.

MC, Ryan and Collin all have birthdays within a few days of each other. We had one leaning cake to celebrate them all. Pretty disappointed with MC's effort in blowing out her candles. :)

The kids couldn't wait to try the cake.

Ryan cuddling with Nadja. She loves him!! and Leo eating vla. (vla is kinda sorta like pudding)

Alex let Noah play with his precious car computer only if he would also be an arm rest.

Going away party for MC and Collin.

We are going to miss them!

Just looking cute

Having a snack with Jack

Alex just woke up from a nap and is a bit concerned with a bite on his leg. "Kijk an ouch"


Alex found an ink pad while mom was distracted with laundry. Surprisingly he doesn't really like to be messy and is a bit perturbed. Speaking a little more Dutch.

That's it for now. Hopefully we will stay more current, but don't count on it.

Christmas

Merry Christmas from us! (even if it is a bit late)

It's Christmas time!! After picking up Aunt Carrie, Uncle Chris and baby William we trekked on down to San Antonio. Alex got a little car sick on the way..... nothing says it's Christmas time like a little curdled milk spewed all over the place. Funny - come to think of it, Alex has only gotten car sick when we are going to see cousin Madelyn. Hmmmm.. Coincidence??

As you can see we do Christmas a little differently in SA.

Alex had to get into the action too.

"Plane" fun

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I think baby William looks like me!





Tickle Tickle Tickle

Whoopsie.... we'll say Willie's laughing.

Almost got it figured out..... I am a super genius, you know.

Nobody wanted to be the first to break into the gingerbread house so Alex took charge. That's good sugar just waiting to be eaten!

Testing out all the new gadgets.

There was a little down time too. Don't laugh all the COOL kids are doing it like this. Did you notice I finally got my hair cut - just compare it to the ones in the birthday pics - dad has my back he knows all that hair causes us Glowacki boys to get warm.






Then it was off to Houston for round 2 of Christmas festivities. The car ride to H-town went much smoother. More sleeping - less spewing.













Since we missed the main event we came up with some new Christmas traditions. We all went to the zoo. Good quality time with Pa and his lovely wife that has yet to be properly named. (We'll call her Grandma Kris for blog purposes.)




Alex and Pa


















Christmas time may be Alex's favorite time of year just because of all the balls that appear everywhere!







Of course we saw all of the Glowacki clan. Here is Auntie Ann, Uncle Shawn, and best buddy Jaxson. Jaxson got some really nifty toys for Christmas and Alex tried to steal them. Unfortunately for Alex, Jaxson was fully aware of the attempted thievery and put a stop to it.












There were soooo many toys to play with, but a favorite had to be the Mr. Potato Head man glasses.




All too soon we had to head back to The Netherlands. There was a nice surprise awaiting us on our arrival. But more on that in the next entry. Merry Christmas!!!

Birthday and new baby cousin!!!!

Guess who turned two! That's right it's me!!




December is always an exciting month, but throw in a birthday, plane rides, family you haven't seen in months and a brand new baby cousin and it just gets a lotta crazy. Alex turned 2 on December 8th and we celebrated with a small birthday party with our favorite new friends and lots and lots and lots of balloons. Ryan will claim that he blew all the balloons up himself, but I did a good 3 of them.

You may ask yourself, "What makes up a good party for a two year old?" Well let me tell you.....



There should be lots of screaming and funny faces.







Blowy outy noise maker thing-a-ma-jigs.








Good friends







Good women (you gotta love a girl that knows how to appreciate food)






Music, lots of music. (our neighbors really LOVED this part)






Of course cake with a bit of fire.

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He looks rather pleased with himself, doesn't he?

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Presents - lots and lots of presents. Here is Alex working away in some of his new birthday gear.

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Oh and did I mention the balloons?? (Ryan wanted me to make sure no one forgot all of the balloons HE blew up)

Yup - it sure is fun turning 2.









Then it was off back across the ocean for a whirlwind tour of Texas. Starting in Houston, Pa and Grandma (name yet to be finalized) picked us up from the airport. We spent a couple of days there to re acclimate and it was off to Dallas to visit GrandDad and my new baby cousin. Carlye failed to get a bunch of pictures - blaming jet lag of course - but did capture these keepers.





Meet baby William Hauser Haden. Or little Willie as we like to call him.










Alex liked to check on and pet the "BeeBee" (translation: baby)





Christmas time is almost here. But we will save all of that for the next blog entry. Until then --

One last look at Alex enjoying all the balloons that Ryan blew up. He'd plowed into the pile a couple of times before I was able to get the camera so some of the enthusiasm has worn off, but it is still pretty cute.

Busy Busy Busy

The past month has been super busy. We have discovered so many new places, said goodbye to dear Madelyn, and watched rain turn to snow. There is a lot to catch up on so lets get going.

Alex was a pirate for Halloween. The Dutch don't really celebrate Halloween over here. Our neighborhood is one of the few exceptions and they have a mini carnival and trick or treating. All the kids are dressed as scarey things such as spiders, vampires and witches... oh and pirates. No doctors or clowns here, unless you want to get looks for not dressing appropriately. We went over to our New Zealand friend's house for dinner and by the time we were about to head out for the carnival and trick or treating --- it was super cold and raining. Shocking I know. So we decided to stay all nice and toasty inside and hold off on the kids learning the wonders of large bags full of candy until next year. Nadja (Alex's lady) was a witch and Leo was a spooky spider.











There is a really cool petting zoo close by. They have some of the most ginormous rabbits I have ever seen, goats, ducks, donkeys, pigs....etc. You can buy food and go in and feed all of the animals. We just love going there - Leo and Alex were sharing in their excitment as we drove over there.



This pic should be good for blackmail a few years down the road.





Alex made friends with an especially hungry goat.




Cute - isn't he?






There is also a HUGE building filled with trampolines, climby things, balls, balls and more balls. I know, it's like Alex's dreams have come true! We went on one of the few sunny days we have had lately and no one was there. Literally - no one. It was just us and the guy behind the counter. I guess everyone was out enjoying the pretty day.... either that or we missed the news
report telling everyone about the slime in the ice machine.
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Taking my lady for a drive. Nevermind the creepy elf in the background.




Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Couldn't wait for Mom and Leo to slide with me.










One of our last adventures with Madelyn before she left us... :( ..... we went to the minature museum. Many of the most famous sites in Holland have been consolidated right here in minature form. If you only have 24 hours in Holland - you can come here and see all that Holland has to offer. Personally I believe that someone's hobby has gotten wayyyyyy out of control - but it was fun. Oh - and in case you are wondering after viewing the next few pictures - No, you are NOT supposed to touch the minatures.




Listen super close - you can hear him say "WOW"!!




Hmmmm... I think this car may look better...










here, on the roof of the church. It's asthetically pleasing and solves Holland's parking crisis all in one! Pure genius.






Windmills - windmills - windmills. It is always about the windmills with Madelyn. Ooooo I need to touch the windmill.

Chilling with Madelyn on one of our last nights together.

It has already started to get really chilly. A few days before Thanksgiving it snowed. We were all tucked inside fighting colds. But it looked so cold outside... I'm not sure we are up for all of this jsut yet. Alex stood by the window pointing and saying "wain" (translation - rain) and "brrrr cold". The snow only stuck around for a day or so. We felt bad for the ducks out on the pond so we took them some extra food. Alex will start school in January. I can't wait to have to bike him to school in all this mess.



Crazy person walking in the snow.

Nothing much to report in the way of Thanksgiving. Funny the Dutch don't really celebrate the American tradition of giving thanks for the blessings of life and remembering the indians that saved the colonists from starvation. We had chicken and snowpeas and potatoes. The following weekend we did go to some friends house for turkey and dressing. It was wonderful but still had nothing on home.

The Dutch are in full swing of preparing for Sinterklaas to make his appearance. Sinterklaas and his helpers Zwart Piet (black Piet) come to the Netherlands via boat from Spain. They go to schools and shopping centers and hand out candy. Small toys are left in children's shoes laid by the fireplace. It starts in November and the big day is December 5th. They also celebrate Christmas on the 25th.

Here is Alex getting ready to go meet Sinterklaas and his Zwart Piets.

Pretty excited for the big meet and greet.








Not too sure about the Zwart Piet









Making some crafts with my friend Eleanora. She was brave and got some black paint for her face.





It's hard to believe the end of the year is here. Alex is about to turn 2. We are going to have a little party with a few of our friends we have met. Check back soon for some pics.