Atticus Antics of January (18 Months Old)

Yes, Atticus is growing up! We know we can't keep him small forever, but it really does go by very fast. Here is the latest update on our Little Man.

Atticus started nursery this month at church and is having a hard time making the transition; we know it will come with time. 

At home he is getting into everything. He is a climber. He loves to help. He loves food; especially porridge, green beans and hummus (but not together). He refuses to eat with small utensils and requests one of our utensils if we have forgotten. He loves to make us laugh and practice silly faces.

He shares everything.

At the end of a busy day he will bring a book to us and request us to sit on the floor wherever we are and read together. His favorite book right now is a book about Jesus. He loves cuddles.

We have been going to swimming lessons; he could spend all morning on the slide. He enjoys seeing all his friends at music class each week.

He is beginning to understand the idea of prayer and when we sit down for a meal he is the first one to have his arms folded to say a blessing on the food.

He is a constant joy in our life.

So blessed to have him.

pretending to drink from one of his stacking cups in a wonderful chair some friends gave us

relaxing...

his handsome smile

his comb that he added to our wash load...

trying to vacuum. Maybe next time he will remember to grab the rest of the vacuum.

he decided that the canned food would be better if kept in his Duplo box

when we left him he was sitting in his chair; when we came back a minute later, he was on the table...

Mommy told him to get ready for a bath so he ran and put shampoo in his hair and excitedly showed Mommy how well he had done.

Instead of getting his own water bottle, he got Evia's and helped her sip some water.

trying to feed Evia a grape...he missed.

We're Expanding...

....from one child to TWO!

We will be welcoming our new addition in May and are very excited to have another child running around the house. Although Atticus doesn't quite understand, we are sure that he is going to be an awesome older brother. He came to the 20 week ultrasound and watched in awe as he saw his little sibling for the first time. What a wonderful blessing.

Love,

-The Clog Crew

10 week ultrasound

20 week ultrasound

Cute little foot

Our little one.

22 week bump

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve in the Netherlands is quite a fun evening. Plenty of fireworks and lots of Olibollen; an event that we were very much anticipating.

Last year, we sat and enjoyed watching the fireworks. This year, we had Leah and Jan over and the boys set off some of their own fireworks. Before fireworks started, we enjoyed dinner, games and some Oliebollen. Atticus enjoyed playing with his friend, Evia, and they even rounded out the evening with jumping on our bed. 

There were some people who started setting off fireworks early in the day, but we waited until midnight before we sent the boys out into the cold. Thankfully Jason was wearing gloves so when he held onto one of the fireworks a little too long it was only his glove that got burned.

It was fun to see all the different firework displays and Atticus woke up to join in the fun. We all called it a night around 2:30am. Sleep felt good.

All in all; a wonderful evening with great company and great food. 

Love,

-The Clog Crew

Atticus showing Evia some of his new toys from Christmas

Pretty excited about being in the big bed...

Jason getting our non-alcoholic bubbly ready for midnight.

Jan excited about setting off the fireworks.

One of the fireworks about to take off

Atticus all tuckered out after watching the fireworks.

Out for a walk the morning after and we couldn't believe the mess that everyone left behind! (sidenote:::the boys made sure to clean up their firework remains.)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Yes, our Christmas post is a little bit late - but better late than never!

Christmas time truly is wonderful. 

Christmas Eve was filled with plenty of fun as we all opened up our Christmas Pajamas; Atticus even got two pairs. We also opened up a family game to play together, put chocolates on the tree (and ate some), talked to some family, finished our advent calendar and watched 'The Nativity'. It was a lovely evening. And we even managed to snap a family photo before heading to bed.

Christmas Eve family photo

Front view of our gingerbread house

 

 

Gingerbread house - side view

Our Advent Calendar; fully decorated

Atticus putting a chocolate decoration on the tree

On Christmas morning we were pleasantly surprised with how quickly Atticus got excited. We read Luke 2 together as a family then sat down to a breakfast of fresh fruit and Chinois - very tasty! Then it was time for a few presents. Atticus was even able to open a few presents with Grandma and Grandpa over skype, including a beautiful quilt that Grandma made, which he loves. Presents took most of the morning since Atticus would open one at a time, then go and play with it before he wanted to open another. He was so eager to share his toys with us. We played some games together and got things ready for dinner.

For Christmas dinner we made perogies. We invited another family over for dinner, so they arrived early to learn how to make perogies. It's always fun seeing people try perogies for the first time (and they loved them)! Dinner was a huge success; we ate A LOT, played some games and then ate some more. It was lovely being able to share Christmas dinner with others.

Once things were tidied up, we were able to talk to some more family before calling it a night. Christmas was not quite over for us though....

In the Netherlands, they celebrate the first and second day of Christmas (the 25th and 26th). So, on the 26th, we had a lovely Christmas meeting at church that the Dutch congregation had organized. The talks focused on Christ and ways that Christmas can help remind us to draw closer to him every day. It was followed by socializing and a few Dutch Christmas treats. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with some friends and start making new ones.

One of the best parts about this Christmas was that Jason's office was closed for the week following Christmas so we had him all to ourselves! We spent our time playing games, enjoying the snow, swimming and just trying to relax. It was simple and it was wonderful.

Of course, we missed our friends and family in Canada, but we are grateful for the technology available that we can still see/talk to them.

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season!

Love,
-The Clog Crew