GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!

Last week we had our first real experience with European Futbol and it was everything we had hoped for!!!!

Coincidentally some friends we have met were also going to the game with some of their friends they had visiting, so we got to take our "old friends" from American to meet our "new friends" (also from America but living here) for dinner before the game and enjoy some dutch cuisine. Then we walked the short journey to the soccer stadium and what does it do? It pours!!!!!!!!  Lucky us, we must be turning Dutch because we have one umbrella for the 8 of us.

We made it to the stadium fairly dry and get our tickets which come with a voucher for PSV merchandise.  We all get shirts so we don't stand out too much at the game and then are off to the match!  We have to wait in this HUGE line to get in and finally it is our turn. Josh goes up and the gate won't open for his ticket.  An employee comes to help us crazy Americans and says you have tickets for the wrong game!  This was last weeks game! WHAT?!?!?! Did we not just buy these tickets for tonight's game?!  I think so!!!!!!  So we're back to will call and luckily it was just a "whoops sorry, we gave you the wrong one." No big deal and we are back to wait in line again :)

Finally we made it in and our tickets also come with vouchers for food or in our case drinks.  A nice big beer with nuts right on top!  The best invention, the peanuts act as a lid so you're not sloshing all around!! GREAT!  Pic stolen from our "new friends"

Our seats were awesome! Only 10 rows up and about midfield!! We felt like we were right in all the action!  The game was amazing and it continued to rain/pour off and on and only had a slight delay due to lightning.  The stands are covered so we were safe!!! PSV won so that was good too!! What a perfect way to end the week with our friends from home!

This was our first time using a babysitter and all were fine!! Not traumatizing for anyone!

Life as we know it, has changed once again!

Well now that being a 1 year old is ancient history we no longer have a tiny little baby to cuddle we now have a 13 month old little man running around.  I tell you what, it seems like Jackson has changed just as much in the last month as he did the first month we had him home from the hospital. 

He is now full on walking!!!! Eeeek! Crawling just isn't good enough for him, although he is much faster at crawling. It wont be long though as those stiff legs get a little more used to walking!  

Jackson loves to use the table as a jungle gym and everything breakable has gone from about 2 feet off the ground to about 4 feet off the ground, and all of our junk is no longer on the edge of the table it is pushed back to the middle!  You have to love those little fingers peeking up over the edge of the table to see if there is anything to grab!!

We have been reading lots of Easter books lately and Jackson has now started to hop like a bunny when he sees one or if we ask him what does a bunny do!!! We are really learning that he has a huge vocabulary!!! Jackson loves to make noises like a cow and vroom around like a car.  These may be the same noise but he uses them for 2 different purposes all together. 

For the time being Jackson is very obedient :) we will see how long that lasts!   If you ask him to go get a ball, or book, etc.  He will repeat with ba or boo and then is off to go get one or 2!  It really is amazing to see how many words he knows!!!


The little stinker has discovered toilet paper and really thinks it is the best toy around!!! Look out!  So far no major messes just little pieces here or there!!!


We really have been having a lot of fun with all of our play dates and Jackson is making lots of new friends (me too!!).  It is fun to start seeing Jackson interact with them now that he is very mobile and not just in awe of all the "big kids". 

The first year really has just flown by and I can already feel the second year going just as fast!   It's hard to believe on the 1st of May we will have lived in the Netherlands for a year.  So much has changed, we finally feel settled and have met some great people.  Just think in less than a year we will already be back to Iowa and remembering all our good and not so good memories of the Netherlands!

Oh no the Chicken Pox

In the Netherlands they choose not to vaccinate against the chicken pox and unfortunately for us we haven't been back in the US since Jackson has been old enough to receive the vaccination.  So guess what we picked up somewhere along the way?! The chicken pox.

I can't really believe it!  I feel so bad for him, he seems pretty miserable and just wants me to hold him but then that doesn't even make him happy.

Of course I had to take him to the doctor and lets just say our opinion of the healthcare system here is that it is a bit lacking.  They don't check temp, or look in his ears, nose, or throat. NOTHING!!! They say oh well it could be chicken pox but we want to see you back in 2 days.

Great!!!! I get to go to the doctor again and wait for 30 minutes with a crying baby while you all decide it is time to go on coffee break!   Today our appointment was for 10:30, we get there a few minutes early like normal people do and I think great, we're the only people here we will get right in.  The patient comes out of the office so we're up, right? Wrong, the receptionist puts up a sign PAUZE or break. Then all of the doctors and receptionists go off for at least 15 minutes, meanwhile the phone is ringing (no answers), patients are arriving (no one there to check them in), Jackson is crying (no one cares).  They clearly knew we were there ontime and waiting since they walked right by us on our way to the coffee room.

Why not make my appointment for 10:45 instead so I don't have to drag my sick child into your office just to wait for you to have coffee?!?!  I bet you can guess that I'm really excited to go back on Friday!!!

I'm 1!!

Hey Everyone it's Jackson again!  I wanted to tell you all about my birthday!! My Grandma Robyn and Grandpa Mark flew all the way here from Iowa to come and celebrate with me for a whole week!! I am having so much fun with them!!

For my birthday we got to go to the Berger Zoo in Arnhem, it was so cool!! I have never seen those kinds of animals except for in my books!!! I really loved looking at the elephants, gorillas and seeing all the fish in the aquarium. I even got to have ice cream which I LOVE!

The next day, we had a birthday party with a few neighbor friends. I was kinda sleepy for the first part but I rallied anyways!! My mom stuck this firey thing in my face and tried to get me to blow on it but all I wanted to do was grab it and put it in my mouth but she wouldn't let me... what's wrong with her?!?!

Then I got to taste some cake with frosting on it... I had one bite of the frosting and did NOT like it at all. It made me shake my head and I think I even gagged a little.  It was way too sweet for me!!!

Then it was time for presents!  I got lots of fun things like puzzles (I carry the pieces around in my mouth), some clothes, and a new Cars car.  I love the car and figured out how to get on and off it all by my self!!!

My other favorites gifts from my mommy and daddy are my new slide and tunnel! They are so much fun and I can almost do the slide all by myself!!

I also got lots of new clothes I think my mom is more excited about them than I am!!

I wish we could have parties like that all the time!!!

Talk to you soon!
Jackson

Look what Jackson did!

I was a little bored one day so I thought what the heck, why not try finger painting. I love things like that and so I'm sure Jackson would love them too!  I was right for about 5 minutes!  I realized he is still very young for this and really loves putting things in his mouth but it was super cute and now he has a framed piece of art work on his dresser made just for him by him!  We even sent a get well card to Great Grandpa W made by Jackson!

Beep.....Beep............Beep

You know that annoying sounds you hear when your smoke detector's battery is getting old? You know that high pitched BEEP every 5 minutes.  Yesterday this was going on all day long. I wait for Josh to get home from work because I of course can't reach the stupid thing and am not going to carry a ladder up those crazy spiral stairs.

So I have forgotten about the BEEP until bath time until I am oh so rudely reminded by BEEP! Josh is immediately on it. It's almost Jackson's bedtime and believe me we do not want to keep him up at night! So he removes the detector and takes it down stairs. A nice temporary relief from the BEEP! 

We sort of forget about it until we're ready for bed. Brushing our teeth when BEEP... what?!?! we haven't heard it for the last hour and a half and now really.  We obviously took down the wrong one.  So Josh is off on the hunt for the other smoke detectors and finds one in the attic.  He takes that down and we're off to bed. 

We just lay down when BEEP...really?!?!  You have got to be kidding me.  This time we're both looking for the stupid thing. We go downstairs and listen, no beep.  We go back to the attic, beep... ok we think we have found it. When he gets it down BEEP but oh no it is not this one!

So we're back on the hunt and searching every room in the house where we have found a blended in smoke detector!! BEEEP.  Ahhh, good it's the one!! Josh takes it down stairs and removes the battery. He sets it next to the other one we have already taken down when BEEP!! It seems we now have 2 bad batteries, so he removes the other battery and now there is silence! :)

Now all I have to worry about is there being a fire in the middle of the night and we have 2 smoke detectors sitting on the kitchen table with the batteries removed! Don't worry everything was ok and we have new batteries ready to go!!

A visit to the farm!

Before a trip to the farm has always meant a trip to my Grandma and Grandpa's farm, but since we're a little far away right now we took Jackson to another little farm.  The weather is turning nice so it was a great way to get out a little bit!

I think our favorite part were the pigs, they were digging in the mud and then were chasing each other around.  It was pretty funny!

They also had cows which you can watch get milked or maybe even help milk every day.

There were tons of chickens where you can reach in and pull out your own eggs.  Josh got a nice surprise when he opened the door to check for an egg and there was a chicken right there.  (I think it scared him, though he wouldn't admit it)

Then after you are all done at the farm you can buy any other their own organic products.  Meats, cheese, eggs etc. We just got the ice cream :)