Family Weekend

Happy Boy!

Telling Sinterklaas how old he is, "Twee."

Isaac was so brave! Luke couldn't stop staring at Sinterklaas.

Opening his present...a tanker truck!

He loved his new toy!

Cousins (apparently my boys were too into their new toys to look at the camera)

Playing on the motorcycle

Jumping on the trampoline with all the boys.

This weekend we had a great time, doing family things and just hanging out. I am so thankful for my boys, and I know this time is so precious, so I'm trying to make many memories and cherish everyday.

Yesterday we started the day by going to see Sinterklaas (the Dutch Santa). In the Dutch tradition Sinterklaas comes on December 5, so the Holland club of Houston holds a special event for the children to come see him. I still have my own memories of doing this when I was a little girl, so it means so much to me to take my boys there and let them form their own memories of this tradition. Rudi's family went as well, so it was fun to see all the cousins together. I was a little nervous about how Isaac would do...when I took him to see Santa Claus at the mall he was scared and had to be bribed to sit on his lap. We got there early yesterday, so we had to wait for a while for everything to get going. This worked out great because Isaac was able to play and watch all of the other kids as they visited with Sinterklaas. When he finally called Isaac and Luke up Isaac was fearless! He walked right up, spoke to him (in Dutch!), and accepted a gift from him. Then he even sat in his lap for a picture! Luke came up there with us as well and he smiled at him the entire time we talked to him. I was so proud of my boys! They both received a special gift from him and both boys lit up when they saw them. Luke got a little blankie with a rattle and teether on it; he smiled so big at it! Isaac got a little wooden tanker truck! He loves tanker trucks, so this was the perfect gift to him. He had told Santa Claus that he wanted a new truck for Christmas, so I guess he told Sinterklaas. ;-)

After the celebration we headed over to California Pizza Kitchen to have lunch with the family (Tante Soo Jin drove all the way downtown just to join us for lunch). It was a great to all be together and to eat at a restaurant we never go to. I have to mention that we put Isaac in a diaper before leaving the house because we weren't sure he was ready to wear underwear for such a long adventure...he proved us wrong! He wanted to go potty after lunch at the restaurant, so Aunt Melissa took him, he went on the potty and his diaper was dry! We were amazed!

After lunch we went to a friends' house for a fish fry. There were 7 kids (including ours), so it was a great time! The kids all had a great time running around, jumping on the trampoline, and playing on the toy cars/motorcycles. Isaac loved sitting on that motorcycle and pretending like he was driving. We are so grateful for our sweet friends and for the time we get to share with them. Thanks for having us over Hrobar family!

Today we stayed home all day, just getting things done and playing with the boys. I think Luke needed a quiet day at home...he took a 4 hour nap this morning and then another 1.5 hour nap this afternoon! I made him some new food today, Acorn Squash. He really liked the squash, this was the first food he ate on the first attempt without any dramatic faces. Isaac played hard all day...he just recently started driving his power wheels jeep, and today was a big day for that. He drove it all over the yard, over and over again! This was the first time he's used it so much, and he is already such a great driver...he goes forward, backwards, turns corners, and even maneveurs through trees and other things. As I mentioned before, it was a fabulous weekend full of time with the ones I love!

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