what to do when it rains?

It has been pretty nasty weather here in Bayfield, so Lilja has been cooped up in the house for the last three days. So what to do with a three year old that loves the outdoors and running!!??? Enter Daddy, art , a summer pool and a umbrella!!

Hmmm he might have outgrown this house?

Who is having more fun??

Lilja wanted to go swimming "soooo bad" but the fog and the slush is just treatureous.. so here is idea number two.(this little pool is from the summer.) This is one of my Preschool teacher days tricks.. Let's pretend to go swimming!

and after an art session and cutting with scissors Daddy took Lilja to go get the mail, with a umbrella. The umbrella should have kept her dry, but the jumping in the puddles did not help..

how to blow out a candle

skiing

I am so impressed with Lilja. She is really taken to "skiing". and she loves getting in the sled afterwards.

Run Lilja run

One of my dad's favorite photos is one in which lilja is running in th airport. I loves how intent she is and focused. i am always trying to make another one.. dad, is this one close??

Lilja walked and ran from caroline's house to the tree line you see behind her and back.. about a mile and 1/2!!! she just keeps going!! Lamby (behind Milly) and Milly had to come with us today..

cheese

in the sled

the birthday weekend

Aran turned 40 this weekend and we had some great friends come and join us to celebrate. First, Aran's best friend matt and his family came over for a night and spend a wonderful dinner and birthday morning with us. The girls played so well together. However we tried to have them do a sleep over in Lilja's room.. not an ideal situation with a three year old. We'll try in another year :0 Then our friends Kelli and Brad came and joined us for a birthday dinner .. the joke is that we skipped out on one restaurant where there was not a lot of choices for steaks to end up at the best steakhouse in Durango!!we literally ran from the waiter before they could get our order.. The Ore House had great steaks, awesome dessert and amazing drinks. i was the designated driver, but it was fun to see my husband a little tipsy.

We took Matt;s girls to our Children's museum, and they had a blast. Here is Eleanor building pressure so a ball will shoot, yes shoot with some impressive noice up in te air.

Alice and Lilja liked to ticker with all these toys.

OK, then our dinner with kelli and Brad... I swear the camera did not have any drinks :)

The birthday boy,, pretty handsome still for 40!! and yes we sang for him..

Happy Birthday Aran!!

Aran turned 40 today..
Happy birthday Honey! . You are an amazing dad and husband. Lilja and I are so lucky to spend each and every day with you. You keep us in stitches, give us lots of kisses and give the best hugs in the world. We love you so much. Here's to Belgium in March for this important birthday milestone.. Can't wait to see you face during the Tour the Flanders.
Love, Nicole and Lilja

skiing girlie style

Our new "used" sled is fixed and I decided to take Lilja after her nap to Vallecito and try out the sled all by myself while skate skiing . On our way, Lilja wanted to put her "colorful" hat on. When I turned around this is what I saw...

So the sled is attached to my middle. It was not as hard as i thought. I only went for 30 minutes though as the way back is all up hill and I did not know how long it would take us to get back. Lilja first went down the hill "skiing". She is going farther and farther each time. then we get some hotcchocolate and she gets in the sled. Notice lamby and Milly had to come with us .. each time!

When I struggled getting up the hill on our way back, I look to check on Lilja and this is what I find. Mind you she just had a nap.. My amazing back and forth sweeping motions must have put her back to sleep.  The doggie wanted to trade her pinecone with the granola bar in Lilja's hand. That woke her up.. I think we might go skiing more during nap time.. That's the ticket!! skisleeping!!!

big bounce

again snow!!!

more snow.. even if it was just a little.. it is always fun to see everything nice and white again. This weekend it has been really cold -11 degrees!! but today was overcast so we could go outside in the after noon. Lilja was climbing the walls!!

Lilja is throwing snow at Aran, she wanted her "colorful" hat on. Jasmin's mom made that hat.. so cute!!

Lilja loved that she could push down daddy..

and daddy would throw her in the air.. they had a blast today. I did too, but after a snow creaming from Aran I retreated inside..

Big Bounce

Aran had to work, so Lilja and I drove 1 1/2 hours to go to Big Bounce in Farmington.. just the two of us.. I did have to do some shopping at Target :) so that was our first stop, but then it was Lilja time. It was -11 degrees outside so this was the perfect solution!

This was a new one since last time and Lilja was way more into it than last time. She just climbed to the top and slid right down. She is getting more daring!

This was one for the little kids, but she graduated I think to that big one with the slide.. loved this doggy though.

getting momma snowed up!!

outside play

Aran is coordinating a tribal hunt this weekend so Lilja and i had the shovel snow.. we just had enough to shovel, not enough to snowblow..but during the storm there were a couple of minutes of beautiful weather.. so we went outside OFCOURSE!

gymnastics class

We have had a couple of weeks off from gymnastics because of the holidays, but today was the day to start again. Maddie, Lilja's best friend came too this time. I love to see how Lilja took care of her, held her hand and brought her into the class. Lilja even told me: "Momma, I ma taking good care of Maddie".I just love her having such a great friend. And I think having her friend there made Lilja really focus. She paid very good attention, listened and helped Maddie. I was very proud of her.

Holding hands to help eachother balance. Maddie is almost 1 year younger than Lilja, but the same size.

the dentist.. 6 months later

I think I have figured it out. There is someting going on with the Blogger website, but they showed us a round about way to post photos.. Wow, this blogging is a lot of work.. but I know there are lots of people waiting early in the morning for the new blog.. wink, wink...

So it has been 6 months since Lilja's last teeth cleaning and she was due for another one. Apparently she has a lot of minerals in her saliva and which makes plaque faster than normal. So we are keeping on top of the cleaning. Also she got a new toothbrush, an electric one that should help with cleaning those deposts off easier.. she loves her new "Hello Kitty" toothbrush. I am so impressed about Lilja's openess to go to the dentist. It is a dentist specific for kids, so they are all sweet and very child oriented. We are lucky to have them here!. 

Look at that big smile!

They said we have been brushing really good and that Lilja 's teeth are very healthy. She is getting her other molar in.. so good to know as the last one was pretty painful..we'll keep an eye out for her behavior

can't post photos anymore

sorry guys. It seems I can not post photos anymore. not sure why and i am trying to find that out. Bear with me.. we might have to start a new one. love, Nicole

Lilja skiing

Lilja is racing Aran going down the hill. she went pretty fast ! We realized it is better to have her ski first and then put her in the sled. Today she was enjoying skiing and was excited to sit in the sled after the got tired.

our new skiing sled

I can not post photos on the blog right now.. something going on with the company, but can still post videos so bear with me.. we bought a skiing sled this weekend to expand Lilja's horizon a little besides the hill she has been skking on. She suddenly is going so "fast, I think we have a real little skier on our hands. Lilja skied first and then we put her in the sled. She loved it. I added a little sleeping bag inside the sled so she was nice and toasty. 

down hill!!!

Ik ben een spook!!

We (mainly me) were hyped up after skiing.. We always  get some hot chocolate and then a granola bar.. Plus some grrrrrreat music on the way back home. We try  and listen to only  dutch songs in the car. This song is about a ghost... I am a ghost, a ghost...Lilja will listen to this song over, and over and over again.. she is now really picking it up.. so cute to hear her speak dutch.

skate skiing

some of you are asking what skate skiing is. Check out how Aran is using his skis. He is holding Lilja, but if he weren't he would have poles to help him go up the hill. It is kind of like iceskating with big skis. In Holland we always iceskated , I think I love skate skiing because of that.

Our first day of the 2013!

What did we decide to do on our first day of the new year?? ski, ski, ski.! We waited till after nap and so it would be a little warmer... (yes it is freezing right now) and then we went back to the trail again. The last time Lilja as a little tired. This time she was a fire cracker.. we played red light green light and she almost went all the way to the corner and back.. And back is up hill.. she got a little help from Daddy on the way back.  Aran and I decided to take turns so i did a little loop and Aran a big one, so we got some exercises in too. I think 2013 is going to be a very healthy and fun year. I can honestly say skiing with my family is my favorite thing to do!! here's to 2013!!

My two big loves!!

a little help from daddy on the way back.

my birthday song

Happy New Year!

2012 has been a very traveling year.. Distance is so hard especially now that Lilja is developing such amazing relationships with each and everyone of you..but we are lucky that we have the means and the help to be able to travel to see you. Holland was our first trip of the year with lots of memories, the zoo, the beach and Lilja feeding those little goats. . We loved being at the cabin in Wisconsin and really spend some time with Aran's side of the family. It was so sweet to see Lilja and Tae become great buds. Nicole got to travel to Seattle and see her Uncle and his family again this year of a couple of days. The highlight? Crab fishing!! Lilja loved to eat that crab. We also traveld a lot to Denver this year. We got to see Jasmin, Lilja's tummy mommy a couple of time and then met James, Lilja's birthdad for the first time. We loved see them all together and will cherish the vision of Lilja standing next to both of them. She is a lucky girl to have two birthparents who love her so much. This year Nicole's mom ended up coming a couple of times. First by herself in which she completely decorated Lilja's room and then with Opa in the Fall where they got to celebrate Lilja's birthday with all of us. Aran's parents got to buy the x-mas tree with us, go on the Polar Express  and celebrate an early X-mas morning with us. We even got a short visit from Aran's brother Hans, in which they did what they do best... fish!!
And who has been growing up amongst all of this.. Lilja Cabilja! this energetic, fun, empathetic little girl is expanding her imagination, running up a storm, taking gymnastics classes, making best friends,  learning dutch words, and her own little language and is just so smart!! We feel proud to call her our daughter
As we look back at this year, we feel so lucky. Our support system seems to grow with a few surprises here and there. Strangers become family, strangers become friends, friends become better friends and our little family just becomes better of it. Thank you to all of you!! for your love, support, talks, cries and laughs.. We appreciate you and will always love you, here is to 2013!!