33.

Just a quick post to check in and say hi! How do you do?  

We are across the ocean at "home" spending some much needed time with family and friends that we don't see very often these days! If only we had more time so we could see EVERYONE that we want to.  Guess we will just have to come back for another, longer visit.  :-)  


And today I turn 33.  Wow.  That number just keeps going up, doesn't it?  


In honor of the double 3 year, here are my three favorites: 

my favorite girl in my favorite store.  do you recognize it? 

my two favorite guys.  at the Acapulco, another favorite.
not too long after this photo, J#3 fell asleep.  on the booth.
he must be enjoying his visit.  

part 1 of #3.  my godson, Mitch.
i swear it was just yesterday he was smaller than J#4.
it was yesterday, wasn't it??? 

part 2 of #3.  Ben & Ellen, Mitch's brother & sister.
and our other nephew and niece.  the sweetest kids evah!
hope J#3 & J#4 grow up to be just like them. 

Oh, there are many more favorites, especially highlighted over the last few weeks and I will share more...that you can be sure of.     But probably not until I am back to the Netherlands.  For now, I am enjoying family, friends and food (too much of it, for sure!).

  

House tour: Floor 3

Well, this is where the tour gets REALLY boring.  For the (sort of) exciting parts of the tour visit here and here.   Oops, and then for real excitement we made some changes to the first floor. 


Alright, back to it.  You'll need to take another "efficient" flight of stairs and then you come to the third floor.  I don't think I have ever lived in a house with three floors.   A dorm with three floors, yes.  But not a house.  That is how they build 'em over here though. Easier to fit more homes in when you build up. 


At least it is good for weight loss.  Especially on days with five loads of laundry. 


Like today.  

at the top of this flight you are
rewarded with sunlight (sometimes)

the guest bedroom.  yup, this is where you would sleep. 

Our most recent guest referred to this as the "penthouse".  I like that.  

The other reward for climbing to the peak of our home? 

From what I have heard from each visitor we have had is that you can't hear little baby cries or toddler yells from this room (unless you are supposed to and keep the door open, of course.  thanks again Mom!).  So yes, guests get to sleep in.  

Lucky ducks. 

same room; but this is our "office"

the non-boring part of the 3rd floor?  the view.  

not too shabby, definitely better in the summer. 

this is our patio. 

Yes, the patio is on the third floor.  Needless to say, we haven't used it too often.  Sort of hard to enjoy a nice cool glass of wine or beer (or two) when you have to run up and down two flights of narrow, steep stairs for the next round.  

The other room on the third floor is the laundry room.  Not too exciting.  

Except that everything on the washer and dryer is in Dutch.  Imagine using that when you don't have internet (a.k.a. my crutch, google translate) and have the thickest, most confusing Dutch-English dictionary that has been written.  The only one you could find on like your second (solo) day in the country. 

Yup, sometime when we meet in person, ask me about that shopping trip.  

So that is the house.  Was there anything I missed that you are wondering about?  What do you think--a lot different than a home in the U.S.?  

Five Minute Friday: Grateful

Alright...so I have been on the sidelines for a few weeks.  A friend of mine (who writes a very inspiring and informative blog, I might add) starting participating in "five minute Fridays" on her blog.  She is linking up with The Gypsy Mama, and now I am too.  The theme this week really struck a chord with me, so I decided to jump in.  

The rules? 

1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back to The Gypsy Mama and invite others to join in 

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

START

Grateful.  Gratefulness.  Such an important part of life. 

Without gratefulness, for me, it would be hard to figure out what is really important in life. Daily gratitude helps me to stay positive.  When I forget to focus on the good things on my life, and truly feel grateful for them, my days get long and I get negative. 

It would seem pretty obvious, I think, all things I have to be grateful for.  A wonderful husband.  Two beautiful children.  An awesome family.  The best friends a girl could ask for. 

Then there is having an opportunity of a lifetime.  To be in another country for a few years.  This is a hard one for me.  I am truly grateful for it, but need to take fuller advantage of it.  I find myself wishing and hoping to be somewhere else, when I need to be grateful for the time we have here.  And make sure that my children know that I am grateful for them.  

To me, being grateful is truly living in the moment and appreciating daily life.  Being grateful for the small things.  And the big things.  Even being grateful for some things that might make you mad (or crazy!).  Because without those things in your life, would there be a life?  

So today, I will be grateful for rude people in the grocery store.

STOP

House tour: Floor 2

Friday, Friday.  Oh how I love Fridays!   We had a fun, though hot, week around here.  A great friend of ours from Minnesota came for a visit, and it was fantastic.  Although, poor guy, he goes from one of the hotest days of the year here to the same thing in Minnesota.  


But his visit was the perfect excuse for me to get the rest of the house spic and span.  Which means...house tour time! 


Remember these spirally, steep stairs?  My brother calls them "efficient", and is that ever true.  

These steps take you to the second floor, where our bedroom, J#3's bedroom and the main bathroom reside.   No pictures of the bathroom.  It is pretty basic and utilitarian.  Shower, tub, sink, toilet...you know the drill. 

Although there isn't much exciting about the other rooms either, but here they are just for the curious folks out there: 

our master bedroom 

That bedspread.  I have been wanting to replace that for years.  But then it was time to move here, and I said, "oh, I will just replace it when we move to the Netherlands."  Then we got here, and now it is "let's just replace it when we get to Scotland."  Will the madness ever end? 

The plan was for J#4 to eventually share a room with her brother (you will see evidence of that a little ways below), but we have since decided we would have one heck of a time getting J#3 to sleep through the night with a little sister in the room.  Especially since she still wakes up at least once a night usually.  So in our room she stays...at least for now. 

yes, this is just a wall of wardrobes.
but they were already here when we moved in.
very, very nice bonus in the Netherlands

J#3's room.  LOVE wall clings.
one of the best inventions ever. 

J#3 showing of his "big boy" bed

J#4's part of the room

This is where J#4 would be.  The cling says "It's not easy being a Princess".  We still have her clothes in here, because there is no way the wardrobe and dresser would fit in our room.  

The curtains in here don't match a thing.  But functional, they are.  Some of the best "black-out" curtains I have ever seen.  Key with a two-year-old when it can stay light out for up to 16 hours a day. 


Up next on part #3 of the house tour?  The guest bedroom.  Where you would stay.  :-)