Happy Birthday Kaylin!!

Kaylin turnes 2 years old today! I can not believe how fast the past 2 years have gone. It is hard to believe that she isn't a baby any more and is now a little girl. I guess the saying time flies when you are having fun is true!

She is so entertaining. Everyday she says or does something new that makes us laugh. It is fun because now we can do little projects with her and take her to the zoo and park and know that she is really enjoying herself. She says so much now and definently lets us know when she is unhappy and gets very determined if she wants something or if something isn't how she thinks it should be. One of my favorite things to do with her now is sing songs. She loves it and her little voice is so cute. It is so sweet when she sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We truley are so lucky!

Before we moved we bought her a kitchen set and some food with the hopes that it would be here in time for her birthday, but that unfortunantly is not the case. So, we picked up the Little People Fun Park and had it set up for her when she woke up along with a bunch of balloons. Once we get into the house her kitchen set will have to be Birthday Part 2....she deserves it with all that has gone on for her in the past 5 months!

She spent the morning playing with the fun park and balloons and talking with her Papas and Grandmas (Manas). She ate lunch and napped and then we made some party hats, talked with Auntie Lauren and Uncle Sean, had pizza and cake! She had been waiting for that cake since we picked it up.

Halloween Party

This morning we went to a Halloween Party at the Melkhause in the Vondelpark. We had such a good time! Two of the women in the group borrowed us costumes. Kaylin is a duck and Shane is a pumpkin.

Here is what we were able to do:

10:00 party starts
10:30 until 12:30 face painting
10:30 until 12:00 pumpkin painting, cookie/cupcake decorating and necklace making
12:00 until 12:30 story time
12:30 parade of costume, costume contest and group picture.
13:00 party ends, please collect your goodie bags.

This week we were also given two chairs, a floor mat and a exersauser/bouncer for Shane to borrow until our stuff is delivered. Everyone has been so helpful. It really helps to have people around who have been through all of this before!! He is loving all of the new toys!

Funny

I keep forgetting to post this so now the story gets its own space...some of you my know that I enjoy taking extremely hot showers. Apparently I have the water so hot that the steam triggered the fire alarm! Yep, that is right my shower set the fire alarm off! It is an alarm that calls the apartment manager to let him know that an alarm has been triggered. So, about 20 min after my shower we get a knock on the door from the manager making sure everything is okay! OOPS! :)

Matt's First Day

Matt started work today and said he had a good but boring day getting his computer set up with all of the files he needs. He is expected into work between 8-9 AM which is really nice and then today he got home around 6:15. I keep asking if there is anything else that went on to add to the blog, but he insists that is about it!

Kaylin, Shane and I went to our first playgroup. I missed our stop and had a little bit of trouble finding the apartment, but overall it was pretty smooth. I had Kaylin walk down the stairs and I put Shane in the carrier and then took the stroller up the stairs to the sidewalk. I had to do a little pursuing to get Kaylin into the stroller, but once she was in she was fine. There were about 15 kids there and Kaylin had a good time playing with them. It seems like a good group and I look forward to getting to know everyone better.

5 Months Already!

Shane is 5 months old today. He can sit by himself for a few seconds and today he started straitening his back and getting a bit more steady. He loves to touch our faces especially when eating or falling asleep. Last week he definitely found his voice and seems to love to hear himself talk. Tickle him on his sides and you'll get some good belly laughs! Overall just a sweet cuddly boy!

Last few days

On Wednesday Matt went into work to get his phone, to print some paperwork and to time how long it would take him to get there. The tram takes about 20 minutes and then he has walk another 15-20 to get to the office. He said it is a really nice office. PwC has the whole building rather than 2 floors that he was used to in Milwaukee.

That night we went over to Matt's collegue Aaron and his wife Sara's apartment for dinner. They have an 11 month old son and have been here for about a year. Sara is also apart of AWCA and will be hosting the Mom and Tots group on Monday. We had a great time and are looking forward to spending time with them on Monday.

On Thursday I went to Amstelveen to have lunch with some of the women in the American Women's Club of Amsterdam, AWCA. It was really nice and I met about 10 of the women all with various experiences to share. Some have only been here a short time and others starting to get ready to leave. After lunch we went to the grocery store and they showed me some of the things they found useful...what butter is best, differences in cheese, good crackers, coffee and laundry detergent etc. It was very helpful! I took the tram and got off a little early so I wandered around a bit and then asked for directions!

Friday we walked around and went to one of the main shopping streets in Amsterdam. Lots of fun! I really was looking for Hema which is the closest thing to Target. Much smaller, but has some kids stuff and other general items.

Saturday we went to the largest market in the Netherlands, some say the largest in Europe. There are over 350 venders. Fresh vegetables, fruit, fish, cheese, clothes, linnens you name it and it is probobly there. It was a lot of fun, but VERY busy. It averages 20,000 visitors a day and could double on the weekends. I believe it. We'll try again during the week. After that we planned on going to the Heineken Tour, but it was under construction and will open again in early November, so we'll try again then.

Today, we went on a search for a craft store because I can't find the crochet needle that I need. Unfortunantly the store was not open, so I hope to go back tomorrow or Tuesday.

We also go to the grocery store about every other day.

Tomorrow is our first playgroup and Matt's first day of work. It kind of feels like the vacation is over and now we are going to settle into everyday life.

Shane found his feet the other day so he has been hanging onto them quite a bit!

Zaanse Schans

Yesterday we took our first trip out of Amsterdam. We went to Zaanse Schans which is a recreated 17-18th century village. It has 6 working windmills, a clog factory, and a cheese factory among many other buildings. We took the tram to the Central Station and then took the train 20 min to Zaandam. This was Kaylin and Shane's first train ride. Shane slept and Kaylin really was excited. The look on her face when the train first started to go was adorable. It was like she couldn't even believe what was going on. To get to the village we also had to take a ferry. It was free and came every 10 minutes.

Zaanse Schans is a great little village and once there I remember that it was a place we went when I was here for school. It reminds me a bit of Old World Wisconsin but smaller. I remembered it by the big yellow wooden shoe. We walked around a little bit had a lunch of pancakes with meat and cheese. Sounds strange, but it was really good. (The pancake is similar to a crepe.) We then walked through the cheese house and the house where wooden shoes were being made. The cheese was FANTASTIC!!! With Kaylin having a bit of a shoe fetish, she enjoyed looking at all of the wooden ones. We wouldn't let her put any on because we knew we would never get them off of her. I am still tempted to buy each of the kids a pair. They are VERY cute! Kaylin fell asleep in the stroller and slept until we were almost home on the tram.

The people here have been extremelly friendly and we have had quite a bit of help with the stroller and directions.

The kids were great and aside from a whole bottle of chocolate milk spilling into the stroller (BOOOO) it was a great day!