Lost Tooth!

Cody lost another tooth yesterday!  It has been loose for awhile and while he was eating his apple it came out.  The tooth fairy left him $2 under his pillow!

Bowling

Yesterday we went bowling with some friends. My high score was 88 :/  We are definitely going to have a rematch when I am not pregnant!  Cody and Brice did great, Cody even had a few strikes! We helped Brice for his first few frames but after that he picked up his ball and threw it down the lane himself. They were so excited, it has been so long since we have been.  We definitely need to go more often, but European bowling is very different. The lanes are small, which can actually be nice, but you reserve your lane by the hour, and as soon as your time is up you are D-O-N-E, no matter where you are in your game. Luckily we finished two games all the way through. There is also a bar and a restaurant behind the lanes. We just ordered drinks since we went after lunch, and they bring them to you when they are ready.

I forgot the camera but I did get these on my phone.....

 

New Knives

Thank you so much Grandmom and Granddad!! 

Cuz You're Gonna

The wall is no longer purple!  The crib is set up, now we just need a dresser for all of his clothes and to put the changing pad on. We know which one we want, just need to go to IKEA and get it.

Today we went to Brice's new school to register him and take a tour. When we went to the second group 1 (kindergarten) classroom he actually wanted to stay and play; they had a race car mat and train tracks so I think that is what sold him on the idea. He starts full time on the 18th with half days on Wednesday and Friday, and about every other Friday off.  He will also be coming home for lunch.

Cody is working hard on his school work, today seems to be a little rough for him to concentrate, but he did just tell my why grasshopper has 2 p's instead of one, because if it just had one the E would make the O say it's name :)  I am so glad he is actually learning and retaining information!! 

I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed with their very different schedules they will be following, plus adding a third one with his own schedule, but if I ever have to ask myself how I can manage, the voice of Mr. Edward Jones pops up in my head and says 'Cuz you're gonna!' and I know I will!!

One Year Later

Today I bought my annual case of Thin Mints from the Girl Scouts!  On the drive home I remebered buying them last year, and what I was doing at the time. I was training for the Rock N Roll Marathon in Madrid. A race we traveled to and I watched from the sidelines because I couldn't run further than 18 miles without my knee going to crap. At that time, I assumed a year later I would be better and training for the Rotterdam Marathon that takes place in April, I NEVER would have thought I would be expecting a baby!!  Even though he was a surprise (just like his brothers) I am so excited for him to get here. I still can't imagine having a baby in the house and starting all over, but I feel like he is completing our family. Brandon and I have always made fun of those families with three kids (sorry Kari!) wondering how they do it and how hard it must be to travel or do anything because most places cater to families of 4, not 5. But now we will be one of those and I can't wait!!  I still want to get back into running. The thought of it does not sound appealing, but the feeling after a long run cannot be compared to anything else; I always felt amazing and had an awesome sense of accomplishment. I want to run Rotterdam in 2014, so if anyone wants to come with I AM recruiting people.

Some pictures!

I figured out a pain staking process of getting photos from my phone, so I guess that is better than nothing. These are from the last couple of weeks. 

 

 

 

Self portrait from Saturday. My new dress from my parents!  Super comfy and really cute.

Brice with all of his Thomas trains

Cody and Brice finally not fighting, just in time to go to bed!

Writing his name all by himself!! I am trying to get him to write his C in one motion, he does it weird right now.

Alex and Brice at Hemelrijk. Photo taken by Nicholas :)

Cody and Brandon went to the store last week but it wasn't open yet, so they killed time in Uden. Brandon wants to go take family photos out here!

Hmmmm

Still not able to post pictures.  This is going to be a Sunday project.  Sorry!

How is it 2013 already!?

So while  I should be doing homework since there are NO kids in the house right now, I wrote a paragraph and became distracted by the internet.  Maybe this is why everything I turn in is at the last minute......This blog post is a little run on and all over the place, but I have a lot of catching up to do!  It is also not letting me post pictures so I will work on that problem tomorrow after I finish my homework.

December was a great month, right up until the end!  We didn't watch as many movies or read as many books as I wanted to but we averaged about one a week, and quite frankly we just did not have the time with every one of us being in school. I have been trying to give the boys more attention and both Brandon and I have been trying to spend more time with them actually doing something. We went to a marriage care weekend at the beginning of the month that was awesome, and we learned that even though our marriage is great, our relationship with our kids needs work. We want them to feel loved and appreciated and we don't think we truly show them that enough. So we have started playing more board games and card games and doing craft projects with them, and Brandon has started letting Cody play Xbox games and Wii with both of the boys.  It might sound small and trivial, but we have come to realize that spending 30 minutes of one on one time with them works wonders, and we are finally becoming the parents we want to be.

3 days before Christmas I was rear ended, no damage to me or the kids I had in the car, and only minor damage to the van, but what great timing.  I went to my midwife and they did an ultrasound, everything looked great, but then I had to go to the hospital and get a more complete checkup.  Luckily we have amazing friends that let the boys stay the night with them!  I was in the hospital for 3 hours before going home and everything there looked perfect too!  I was sore for a couple of days but that went away.  I never want to feel that exhaustion of the adrenaline rush leaving my body again.  I was fine for about an hour but then I completely broke down and I slept like a log. 

Christmas was amazing, our family loves to spoil us, especially the boys. We spent the morning opening presents and then went to Kari's house for dinner and Catchphrase. Cody and Brice were pretty sick over the whole 2 week break, and last week Brandon and I caught it.  I think they are finally getting better but I have been getting worse.  If I follow their timeline I should be good by the end of the week. 

And now it's January.  I can't believe it!  I also can't believe we will have another little boy in less than 2 months.  There are 8 people here that I know of that are pregnant, and we are all due back to back except one or two. I was told I would leave Volkel with a divorce, a baby, or a Polish pottery collection, and I was really hoping for that pottery, but I am so excited we are having a baby instead.  I love the name we picked out, I love that he will actually have his own room and a crib (Brice never did until we moved here) and I absolutely love that he does not have to go to daycare for at least a year and a half. I also can't wait for my baby shower :)  3 of my best friends are planning it and I know it is going to be awesome!! 

Most of the people I know are not making resolutions this year, and I am the same. I have a few goals I need to accomplish but that is about it.  The first one is to graduate college. I have 7 classes left and planned them out to be done in September. It will be 7 years in May that I started working on this degree, and  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I can't just skate through classes anymore either, so wish me luck!  I also just realized I need to update this more so the family without Facebook knows what's going on. I have tried being on there less, so maybe I can just swap them and be on here more!  We will see.  I say all the time that I will and then I don't, but maybe the baby will help me :)  I know there are numerous ways I can work on bettering myself this year, but I will take them as they come. Being a better mom is on the top of the list, and that will always be a work in progress.

I think that is it for now, Cody will home in about 30 minutes so I need to get back to work. I wanted my homework done this morning but I still have an hour before I have to pick up Brice so there is time!  I will definitely work on the picture thing tomorrow.