Neurosurgeon check up

Isaac had another check up with the neurosurgeon at Texas Children's yesterday. The doctor said his head looks good, is growing like it should...the back is wider than the front (which is good), and although it is a little lumpy he said some form that way, so it's no big deal. He is very proud of how good Isaac's head looks and said they don't all turn out this great. Our next check up will not be until a year from now, yay!
Praise God for healing my baby boy through the work of this awesome surgeon!

New Flowerbed

Carl has spent the last couple of weekends making a new flowerbed by the back patio. It looks amazing, and I think it really adds to the patio. I am so proud of the work he did, I know it was not an easy or fun job, but I think it was well worth it!

Thanks for your hard work Carl!

Dewberry Farm

Isaac feeding apples to Hudson. Hudson was obviously really excited, and Isaac loved it, too!

The big mound of dirt! The older kids and the dads had a blast on this...who knew a mound of dirt could be so fun?

The group!

A little pumpkin for my little guy.

Our attempt at a family shot.

Isaac and Hudson playing on the tractor.

Saturday afternoon we went out to Dewberry Farm with some friends to celebrate fall! It was such a great time; that place is incredible. The kids played on riding toys, such as the tractor, a playground, sandbox, there were goats, ponies, pumpkins, hayrides, train rides, a zip line, and so much more! We didn't do it all because Isaac is still a little young, but we still had a wonderful time and will definitely go back again next year!

Dallas

Isaac enjoyed the hotel...this is a picture of him drinking his milk in the chair as he watched TV.

Carl had to take a trip to Dallas for work, so Isaac and I took advantage of the opportunity to go with him. I love living in Houston, but I sure do miss Dallas and my friends up there. This trip Isaac and I spent all afternoon on Thursday and all morning on Friday with my good friend Staci. It was some much needed time together! We used to work together everyday, shared an office even, so I really miss my time with her. It was great to catch up, visit with her son (who is awesome!), and share Isaac with her. She hasn't gotten to see Isaac much, so I think she enjoyed getting to know him some more. Thursday evening Carl, Isaac, and I drove out to Fort Worth to visit our friends Dave and Lani, they had their first baby about 6 weeks ago! His name is Dylan and he is precious! It was so great to spend some time visiting with them, catching up on life these days, and seeing them as parents! This is such an exciting time in their lives, and we were just there ourselves so it's fun to share in this time with them.

I know we made Carl's trip a little more difficult, but I am so thankful he let us tag along!

It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post, so I decided I better update with some kind of news...surely we have something fun going on over here.
We have really been enjoying this fall weather, it's gorgeous! Isaac LOVES to be outside, and asks all day long to go out, so the cooler temperatures are very welcomed by me! His favorite thing to do outside is to drive his cars; he has 3 cars and a tricycle! He spends a little time with each one every day. He also really enjoys swinging, either on his baby swing or on his brand new (well to us at least) swing set. One of our sweet neighbors gave Isaac their old swing set, and he can't get enough of it! It has three different types of swings on it, so he makes sure to use them all every time he's out there. His entire face lights up as he swings, so cute!
Saturday night I had a girls night out with some friends, so Carl and Isaac got to spend the evening together. Carl decided to use it as the perfect opportunity to introduce him to the world of muscle cars. They went out to a car show with some friends, including one of his girlfriends, Samantha. Isaac rode around in his stroller making his car sound all night. Carl said Isaac was so happy, and constantly pointed at and talked about the cars. He stayed out until almost 9:00, without a bit of grumpyness...he must have truly enjoyed it! The whole way home he talked to Carl and his friend that went along; I think he was telling them all about the cars he saw and the fun he had!
Today Isaac had a playdate with his girlfriend Taylor, they are adorable together! We went to out to lunch today, and Isaac watched her the entire time, copying everything she did. Then back at home they both rode his bike together; Isaac thought that was great, but Taylor wasn't too happy about him riding with her. Taylor is precious and I love listening to her talk. She has a great vocabulary and it is so different than Isaac's, funny how two kids the same age can have such a different base of sounds. She says "uh-oh" when anything is out of place, and picks up all the trash and brings it to her mom. She loves our dogs, whenever she sees them she says, "Hi cat!" (She doesn't have dogs so she thinks they are cats like her pet.) Tex is always making her giggle...it is so sweet to see her enjoying them so much. When they were leaving today I told Isaac to say good bye and give Taylor a kiss. He walked right over and kissed her on the cheek without any hesitation! I told you she is his girlfriend. :)

Barcelona Star

Isaac is a star in Barcelona! While in Barcelona Carl and I bought Isaac a uniform for the Barcelona soccer team. Our friends showed us pictures of kids in the newspaper wearing the uniforms and told us we needed to get a picture of him in his uniform in Holland so they could enter him into the contest to get in the paper. Well, of course I got a picture for them...even one with windmills in the back, true Holland (it is the picture above)! They entered the picture online and the very next day Isaac was in the paper! Sergi couldn't believe it, as he flipped through the sports page and saw Isaac's picture!

We are so excited, what a random and fun thing for our little guy! You can still vote on his picture on the newspaper website, he's falling behind, so if you get a chance and want to vote (as much as you want, no limit), we'd appreciate it! We're not really sure what we're voting for since he's already been in the paper, but let's vote anyway! :)

http://objetivo.sport.es/detalle.php?id=5958

Home Sweet Home

Waiting to board the plane in Houston!

Ready for take off!

Walking around in Scherepenzeel, Holland.

Mmmm....lunch.

The beginning of Isaac's love of biking.

Amsterdam

We toured the old Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam.

Kasteel de Haar

The three of us at the castle.

Barcelona, Spain!

The 1992 Olympic Stadium

me and Susan

Sitges, Spain

This is where we went to the beach, it was a beautiful beach, and a cute city.

Photo courtesy of Sergi: a ferris wheel in front of a beautiful church (both on top of a mountain which overlooks Barcelona). Behind/within this church is a church that was built in Biblical times (started by Paul)...that's so unreal to me!

Back in Holland with the famiy, I think Isaac missed his daddy!

Oom Hans retirement party...congratulations!

Boating through the canals.

Soo Jin, me, and my cousin Inge

Biking through Kinderdijk

Cousins

Carson, Isaac, and Colton

Kinderdijk

Isaac and I made it home on Friday, and are finally getting back into the swing of things. We have both slept well and are pretty much back on Houston time, which is good! We have been so impressed by how well Isaac handled the time change, both going to Europe and coming home. He is napping now, so I wanted to take some time to update y'all on the last week of the trip and of course share some pictures.

Our trip was full of fun touristy things, but also some time visiting family. We spent one day with my Uncle and his cousins, boating through the canals in Holland. It was a completely different boating experience than we are used to, but it was so relaxing and the area was beautiful! I have done that once before, but it was Carl's first time to go through the canals, so he really enoyed it. There were drawbridges, locks, a sailboat race (5-7 year olds racing), and many other unique boats and things to see. It was definitely a day we will not forget!

Last Sunday we invited all of the family to come over and visit, it was a busy but fun day! We had visitors from 11 am until 8 pm! It was so good to catch up with family, and of course to let everyone meet Isaac (many had never met him). I don't get to see my extended family often, so this was a really special day. I met my cousins granddaughter, who could honestly be Isaac's twin! She is precious; it was so neat to see the resemblance between the two kids.

Monday we biked through Kinderdijk, which is beautiful! That is where we took all of the pictures of the windmills. It was a fun, but also low key day.

By Tuesday, Isaac was very clingy to me and was getting tired of the car (everytime we went somewhere we had to drive at least an hour), so we took the rest of the week off of traveling. We stayed at the house, biked a lot, and went to town a few times. Isaac became a huge fan of biking, he even learned how to say bike. Any time he heard someone say the word he would run to the window to look at the bike and then proceed to beg to go out. It was so cute!

The flight home was long! We left the house at 5:45 am, and our plane left Schiphol Airport at 10:10 am. Isaac had so much fun running through the airport with his cousins, but then was strapped into his carseat for 10 hours! As I said, it was a long flight, but overall Isaac was great! He became extremely clingy again, which meant that nobody else was allowed to hold him throughout the flight, so I was left to entertain him the entire time! Oh, how I wished Carl was still with us! Thankfully, he was happy, he enjoyed walking the aisle, and he did sleep almost an hour. I wasn't sure we would ever get to Houston, but now looking back I realize that Isaac was a champ! (He didn't even cry once!)

I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to take this trip, it was an incredible experience. It was so special to be there as an entire family, all 10 of us! I took a ton of pictures so I can tell Isaac all about his first trip to Holland.