Dancing the Nights Away

Friday started off with a winter surprise: it snowed and the children got a day off school. While Derrick was at the office, I worked from home. There is always someone around me when I'm home:

 But after an hour, the children were ready to embrace the cold and go out and have fun in the snow.

A little video clip:

The snow melted fairly quickly and by night time, all of it was gone. But the day was not yet over as Elliot and I had our first ever Mother-Son Dance that night. Every year around Valentine's Day, our local town hosts a Mother-Son and a Daddy-Daughter Dance and this year, we were able to participate in both. First up, Elliot and his mommy, all dressed up and ready to dance the night away:

 My boy gave me rose!

 

There was a professional DJ and photographers, snacks and drinks and games. Not only the boys loved it but all the moms seemed to have a great time as well. The music was awesome and so we danced all evening. Look at those dance moves!

And a peck for me. What a memorable and fun night it was:

Saturday evening, it was Amelia's and Derrick's turn to head to their first ever Daddy-Daughter Dance.  Daddy bought his girl some flowers and a corsage:

Same venue, same DJ, all fathers and their girls. Many of our friends from church were there too: 

 Favorite picture of the night:

Of course, there was dancing too:

 Grown men doing the YMCA dance:

The children loved having this special one-on-one time with us and it was so fun. We definitely have to do it next year again.

My Book Review 2019

 In 2019 I have read 16 books and listened to 21 audiobooks. Audiobooks took a bit to get used to but now they are a great way to "read" some books while exercising, cleaning or driving. I seem to especially enjoy biographies, read by the author, as these ranked highest in my list. 

Audiobooks:

1. Eat Cake, Be Brave                  Melissa Radke ★★★★
2. Becoming                                Michelle Obama ★★★★
3. I know why the caged bird sings Maya Angelou ★★★★
4. Whiskey in a Teacup          Reese Witherspoon ★★★★
5. Flat Broke with 2 Goats               Jennifer McGaha ★★★★
6. The Secret Wife                                   Gill Paul ★★★★
7. Angela's Ashes                        Frank McCourt ★★★★
8. Where the Crawdad's Sing            Delia Owens ★★★★
9. Unbroken                            Laura Hillenbrand ★★★★
10. When Live gives you Lululemon Laura Weissberger ★★★☆
11. Haunted                                       James Patterson ★★★☆
12. The Death of Mrs Westaway                Ruth Ware ★★★☆
13. The President is Missing              Bill Clinton ★★★☆
14. The Light we Lost                              Jill Santano ★★★☆
15. Someone knows                         Lisa Scottoline ★★★☆
16. The Almost Sisters                       Joshlyn Jackson ★★★☆
17. Class Mom                                 Laurie Gelman ★★★☆
18. City of Girls                              Elizabeth Gilbert ★★★☆
19. On Turpentine Lane                  Elinor Lipman ★★☆☆
20. A Gentleman in Moscow           Amor Towles ★★☆☆
21. Good Riddance                          Elinor Lipman ★☆☆☆

Books:

1. Muttertag                                  Nele Neuhaus ★★★★
2. The Book of Essie                           Meghan Weir ★★★★ 
3. I am Watching You                         Teresa Driscoll ★★★★
4. The Wild Robot Escapes (Read aloud)    Peter Brown ★★★★
5. You've been Volunteered          Laurie Gelman ★★★★
6. The Last Year of War                 Susan Meissner ★★★★
7. Wenn wir wieder Leben                 Charlotte Roth ★★★☆
8. Why French Kids Eat Everything     Karen Le Billon ★★★☆
9. All the Missing Girls               Megan Miranda ★★★☆
10. Wartime Sisters                          L.C. Loigman ★★★☆
11. Sold on a Monday                   Kristina McMorris ★★★☆
12. Wish (Read aloud)                    Barbara O'Connor ★★★☆
13. A Christmas Star                        Donna Vanliere ★★★☆
14. The Christmas Town                Donna Vanliere ★★★☆
15. The Christmas Journey                Donna Vanliere ★★★☆
16. Those Girls                                 Chevy Stevens ★★★☆

My favorite reads this year were The Book of Essie,  Becoming (I will get a hard copy of the book to re-read), Unbroken, and Where the Crawdad's Sing. If you want a good laugh, definitely read Eat Cake, Be Brave (very honest but funny) and Laurie Gelman's two books Class Mom and You've been Volunteered. A very interesting read was also Why French Kids eat Everything as it brings some perspective to why Americans snack so much and other countries don't. Being raised in Europe myself, I can totally see how the culinary spectrum for children and (let's be honest) most adults in America has taken a detour for the worst. 

Fun Fact: Since I did not grew up in America, I never had to read Maya Angelou in high school. So I listened to it this year and I must say, I probably gained more from it now than I would have if I had read it in high school. A definite must read at any age though. 

Now if you look for last year's book review, please click here. Until next year's book review:

My Goals for 2020

A new year, a new decade and new goals... but first let's look how I fared with my goal setting in 2020.  In 2019, I had 6 personal goals you can read about here but I will also summarize the accomplishments of these goals next. 

1. Living by our word of the year as a family: GRATEFUL. We wanted to teach our children to be more grateful for all they receive and live more intentionally. While we started out strong, it more became my word instead of our word. This year, there was lots to be grateful for and while we are very grateful for everything we have been provided with, we could have been more intentional about it. Especially with the children, as they often act too privileged. 
2. I did go back to being a full-time employee and with that, we had to adjust in our family dynamic. Plus, having a third grader and a kindergartner and being involved in sports made it harder to balance all really well. However, we did settle in to a good routine and figured out what works best for our family.
3. Traveling more as a family: yes, we did. We enjoyed our first ever 2-week family vacation in California this year  and it won't be the last one. I only traveled once abroad this year for business and most likely will not have to travel in 2020 at all. 
4. Working on how I respond to my children when something is not right as this sets the tone of how they will react. THIS IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS. 
5. Read 40 books: I read a total of 37 books in 2019 of which 19 were audio books. I started the year of strong but the more I worked, the less time I had to read. However, we still read some books aloud with the kids that I didn't count. 
6. Run 400 miles in 2019: I decreased the goal to 300 miles during the year as I knew I will not be able to achieve 400 miles. Due to some infection in November, my running slowed down towards the end of the year and I finished 2019 with 287.3 miles...so close. 

Goal seeting may not be for everyone but I like to look at the year ahead and decide what I want to focus on. Also, these goals keep me accountable and give me a way to track my well-being and find time for myself. And with that, here are my goals for 2020:

1. My word of the year: PRIORITIZE. Between being a mom, working full-time and running, I want to make sure that I prioritize and focus on what is important to me and for our family. This means, saying no to other things in order to accomplish what works for us. My priorities for this year are: family, well-being/ running, work (do my best while I'm there but focus on my family when I'm home - not always possible but I will put extra effort toward it). I also want to read more and focus more on the blog. I do enjoy posting on this little space here and it is a great way for memory keeping. While talking about my word of the year yesterday, both children decided on a word for themselves: Elliot right away came up with the word IMPROVE. He wants to improve his ball game as well as his homework efforts. Amelia decided on DILIGENT. This will hopefully help her with her attitude and completing her assignments. 
2. Continue to explore this country as a family. We all love exploring new cities and states and we will be on the road in 2020 to see more of this beautiful country. While we have not planned a big family vacation this year, we do have a few smaller trips in mind we hope to accomplish. Goal is 4 smaller trips and at least 2 new cities. And maybe even a trip to Europe. 
3. Read 40 books (audio books included). There are quite a few books on my book shelve that I plan on reading as well as some audio books I have on hold from the library. My book list keeps on growing with lots of good recommendations. I love to read historical fiction and there is no shortage of that.
4. Run 400 miles. And this year, I'm sure to hit my goal as I'm registered to run my first ever half marathon in April. Currently, we are also considering getting a treadmill, which would make it easier for me to get my runs in while Derrick travels. 
5. Be more adventurous in the kitchen. I like to cook but then time till dinner is always so tight that I often cook the same things. My goal is to make at least 4 meals a month we haven't tried yet and use my cookbooks for inspiration.
6. Catch up on the blog and continue to chronicle our adventures. This also includes working on archiving all the pictures and looking in to how to create an annual book for all the blog posts. 
7. Spend less time on social media. In order to have more time for all my other goals, I will have to step back and waste less time looking at other people's social media feeds. My goal is to only check those feed twice a day...morning and evening. 

2020, I'm ready for you! 

Christmas 2019

Christmas is always a special time of the year and the excitement and magic is still alive in our house. As you can imagine, by Christmas Eve the excitement is thru the roof. This year, due to work and a busy schedule, we baked cookies for the first time this season on Christmas Adam (Christmas Eve..the day before Christmas; Christmas Adam...the day before that😀). We choose a simple recipe, nonetheless, it was fun baking with the kids and they taste delicious. 

Our church always holds its Christmas Eve service in a barn and this is the first year we participated. Since we helped with setting up prior to the first service, we were there early enough to take a couple of family pictures. The property is absolutely beautiful and the the whole scene makes this service a perfect way to remember why we celebrate Christmas. 

The temperature was way to warm for Christmas but this also meant we didn't freeze sitting in a simple barn on hay bales. 

The message from our pastor really hit home: CHRISTMAS IS A TIME YOU DON'T HAVE TO PROVE ANYTHING. How true is that and just the words I needed to hear this year. All I want is right there in my arms and my people don't care about perfection or if there are pretty bows on their gifts,  or if we have a 5-course meal for Christmas dinner. All they want and need is my love and that's what Christmas is about: A child being born in a manger with nothing but love and faith. 

Meanwhile the sun was setting and there was this beautiful sunset as we came out and on our drive home. 

T'was the night before Christmas...

..when all thru the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse:

Christmas morning has arrived:

 The perfect, messy Christmas morning. Lego everywhere:

Despite a fever, Amelia put together her new Lego Friend's house all by herself (cat only watched).

She was so proud of herself:

We all enjoyed this joyous day and I even cuddled up with a good book and a kid by my side. Elliot was outside practicing corn hole toss and hitting some b-balls with Daddy. 

Just a little snippet of our day: 

We hope you all had a merry Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas 2019

As 2019 is winding down, it is time to reflect on what this past year had in store for us. Somehow it seemed that the year flew by even faster than the last one…which I thought would be impossible. The holiday season is upon us and with that the growing excitement for young and old. Even though the children are getting older, the magic is still real and alive and I hope it stays that way for a few more years. We hope you all will enjoy this special time of year and we are sending lots of love your way.

This year held many changes for us in store…good ones but it still took some time and effort to adjust. As of this week, we are now parents to an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old. Elliot finished preschool in late Spring and is enjoying Kindergarten status since August. He is attending the same school as his sister is, which is awesome. Of course, he loves it too. He has a very invested teacher and not one day goes by when he comes home beaming proudly and feeling accomplished. His love for reading and math is only growing and luckily the teacher allows each student to flourish and does not hold them back. Hence, Elliot is one happy Kindergartner.

As for my little girl, she is now in 3^rd grade and so far, has never tired of going to school. She is doing great but because of that, she thinks that she does not need to study during the week and procrastinates on her homework (which drives me crazy). One day, she will thank me for pushing her to be ahead of the game but until then, I sometimes feel I’m dealing with a teenager and not an 8-year-old. Eye rolling is a thing… Anyhow, next to school, Amelia loves animals, drawing, writing stories and Lego. She also finished in the Spring with her ballet/ tap class and performed with the dance academy at their annual recital in May. It was precious to see and she thoroughly enjoyed herself on stage. After dance was over, she decided to try out for Karate and since summer, she has been attending bi-weekly classes at the local Y. She might not be the next Bruce Lee but she is learning some important self-defense skills and also earned her yellow belt a few weeks ago. Our 2 newest family member, Lucy and Linus (guinea pigs that Santa brought last year), are doing well and being “cared” for a lot. According to the scale, they are in excellent health. And our cat, Indy, turned 11 in December and is enjoying life at home as usual.

In the spring, Elliot played flag football with a local team for the first time ever and loved it:  the running, chasing, sweaty and/ or mud covered uniform. The Packers did well and even made it to the Playoffs. It was a delight to see our sports-loving boy flourish and he can’t wait till next year to give flag football another shot. In the meantime, he enjoys playing tennis or baseball in the front yard and his latest obsession is basketball. Since November, he is part of the team the Lightning Bolts in a local league with Daddy as head coach. Both of my boys are enjoying it… one with a whistle around his neck and the other one in is Number 4 jersey. So far, their season is going great and they are undefeated. For the rest of his spare time, Elliot loves watching sports on TV (and chat with Daddy about the results) and building Lego.

As I mentioned, Derrick not only works hard and travels frequently for his job, he also now coaches 7 first graders (Elliot is the youngest in the team) twice a week in Basketball. Next to home improvements and other school activities, he is quite the busy man. For me, I am now officially working full-time for my company and enjoy my new role as Marketing and Sales Coordinator. This role encumbers quite a lot: mainly reports for the board, projects for the management team, global pricing, and being a liaison between departments but also less traveling. While the job and my team are great and my way to work only takes 4 minutes, it is still an adjustment going from part-time to full-time. Luckily, my schedule is flexible enough for me to continue to volunteer once a week at school or be present at school performances or parties. For the kids, it also meant that they now attend after-care at school. Some days, we pick them up early and some days, they are at school until 5:30pm. Finding the right balance is tough and mommy guilt is real but as a family unit, we are doing what works best for us and trying to spend as much time together as we can.

Our biggest family adventure this year was a 2-week vacation in California. This was our first ever long family vacation and we all loved it. We visited Derrick’s brother and wife in San Diego and spend time with them but also visited Legoland, the beach, San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. Then we traveled up to San Francisco, where we stayed with dear friends of ours. There we not only explored the city (Saturday morning at the Farmer’s market is a must do) and Golden Gate Bridge but also drove to Monterey Bay to see the famous Aquarium and check out the Redwoods. The weather was perfect (cool mornings, sunny days and colder nights), especially while the rest of the country endured a heat wave, and we loved being outdoors. Between swimming in the ocean and the pool, hiking, exploring, spending time with friends and family, unwinding from our busy lives, and watching sea lions and seals in their natural habitat, we made the most of our days in California. 

While I had to go back to work, Derrick and the kids then traveled to South Carolina to visit Grandma and Pops. They all enjoyed the visit and even explored an alligator farm and spent a couple of days at the beach. Those lucky kids went from swimming in the Pacific Ocean to swimming in the Atlantic Ocean within a couple of weeks.

My last work trip in February brought me back to Holland for a week but before flying back home, I made sure to stop by in Berlin for a weekend. While it was a quick visit, it always is good for the soul to come home and spend some time with my family. 

We always love when our family and friends come to visit us and this year, not only Derrick’s brother and his entire family visited us but also Oma (aka my mom). Oma’s visit coincided with the kids’ fall break and so we left town and went to explore the Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, where we had a fun (and long) day at Dollywood, attended the Dixie Stampede (a 4-course feast while watching a live show with horses, music and pyrotechnics), rode the SkyLift up to the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America and hiked up a mountain trail to a waterfall. Once back at home, Oma not only had lunch with the children at school and kept the household running but we also went to the Pumpkin Farm and spent my 38^th birthday sightseeing in Nashville and bike riding in a nature preserve. This was also the first time that Oma was able to watch a school performance and Amelia was one proud Cowgirl showing off her dance skills during the 3^rd Grade Hoedown. With Oma here, Derrick took advantage of a work trip that lead him close to the Canadian border to cross over and spent a few days with his long-time friend in Montreal.

2019 kept us busy but we also learned to prioritize and made arrangements so that we can be together as a family most of the times. We are grateful to be healthy and hope that 2020 will continue to bring us much joy, happiness and new adventures.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

P.S.: Sorry for the lengthy letter but I have not been able to update the blogpost in the past 3 months but plan to catch up during the holidays.