Now both kids can go for a ride. He seemed to really like it...not a peep out of him the whole time.
13 years ago
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas Day
Here are Kaylin and Shane opening their presents on Christmas Day. We had a nice time relaxing and talking with family. We hope everyone had a great day!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas
We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas Eve with out all of the celebrations. Although we are happy not to have to deal with the cold and snow that all of you in Wisconsin are dealing with!!
Here the Christmas season is not too different than back in the states. There definitely is not as much commercialism and hardly any decorating outside except for the main streets. The season starts with the arrival of Sinterklaas and his helpers Zwarte Piets (Black Peters.) The Zwarte Piets are dresses in 16th century Spanish attire to symbolize the dominance Spain had over the Netherlands during that time.
He arrives by boat from Spain in mid-November and they celebrate his birthday on the 6th. He looks different than the Santa we are familiar with. He wears dark red robes and a hat similar to a bishop's and he rides a white horse.
Traditionally kids left their shoes filled with hey, carrots and sugar for his horse and he then replaced it with treats and gifts for the kids. That was replaced with the stocking that most of us are familiar with now. A popular treat at this time is a chocolate letter based on the first letter of the family's last name.
The Christmas trees and decorations are put up after Sinterklaas comes on the 6th. We actually saw 3 cars with Christmas trees in them today, so it seems that some families don't put up a tree until Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day is spent with family and the 26th is called 2nd Christmas day and spent relaxing and possibly going to a show or out to dinner.
We miss you all and hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas!!
It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas Eve with out all of the celebrations. Although we are happy not to have to deal with the cold and snow that all of you in Wisconsin are dealing with!!
Here the Christmas season is not too different than back in the states. There definitely is not as much commercialism and hardly any decorating outside except for the main streets. The season starts with the arrival of Sinterklaas and his helpers Zwarte Piets (Black Peters.) The Zwarte Piets are dresses in 16th century Spanish attire to symbolize the dominance Spain had over the Netherlands during that time.
He arrives by boat from Spain in mid-November and they celebrate his birthday on the 6th. He looks different than the Santa we are familiar with. He wears dark red robes and a hat similar to a bishop's and he rides a white horse.
Traditionally kids left their shoes filled with hey, carrots and sugar for his horse and he then replaced it with treats and gifts for the kids. That was replaced with the stocking that most of us are familiar with now. A popular treat at this time is a chocolate letter based on the first letter of the family's last name.
The Christmas trees and decorations are put up after Sinterklaas comes on the 6th. We actually saw 3 cars with Christmas trees in them today, so it seems that some families don't put up a tree until Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day is spent with family and the 26th is called 2nd Christmas day and spent relaxing and possibly going to a show or out to dinner.
We miss you all and hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas!!
Shane is crawling
Yesterday Shane began to crawl forward. After a few frustrating weeks of the backward crawl he is now very happy to be able to get to what ever toy he wants! (Not that he has to go far because there are toys everywhere. So much for toys only being downstairs!!) Promptly after going forward he made his way to the coffee table and now pulls himself up on the bottom shelf. Couldn't we have had a few days of crawling before he started pulling himself up?! Apparently not! Ready or not we have two very mobile children!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Bakfiets
My bike was delivered a week or so ago and so far so good. We have to get a seat put in for Shane, but Kaylin loves it! There is also a rain cover that I can put on it so the kids don't get wet. 
7 months old
Shane William is now 7 months old! He crawles, not forward but backward! He is getting so close it going forward and gets SO frustrated. Today he almost pushed himself up from his hands and knees to a sitting position. New foods have been peas and pears. Most of the past two days he has been sticking out his tongue and looking extra cute!
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