Our little Van Gogh

Luke LOVES to draw and make things. Here are few of his favorites in the past few months. I'm not too sure whats typical for a 3-3.5 year old but I am always impressed by his imagination and the outcome!

The Jungle

Shapes person using a hammer and nails

The Lion- now hanging in a Museum in Amstelveen (just outside of the city)

Soliders and Horses (his are on the left mine are on the right)

His first detailed person (now he does them all day long)

Self Portrait (okay I did this but I love this pics)

His creation- The marble drop

Luke and the Attack of the Giant Fly

The little builder

Silly Faces (at least that what he told me when I found him doing this)

"I a Big Cin-Cess"

Well apparently this princess obsession thing isn't so bad after all- Audrey is POTTY TRAINED! All it took was a pack of princess underwear, hiding the diapers and a few weeks of wiping accidents up off of the floor. She refuses to wear a diaper now and has no problem telling me " I a big cin-cess" when I try to put a diaper on her at night.

We're pretty proud of her too! 

It's preschool time...

One great challenge in living abroad has been finding schooling for the kids. We didn't debate too long before deciding that we wanted the kids to attend Dutch schools. I am pretty sure for Derek it was the "cost" factor and for me it was the "socialization"factor. Either way after just a few months of attending- I am pretty sure we made the "PERFECT" decision for our family. Luke is speaking half english half dutch after just a few short months (with breaks). His teacher is a ROCK STAR (actually she really is). He asked all summer to go back to his "Lekker School" (awesome, good, the Dutch use the word for just about EVERYTHING). If we rode past the vicinity of his school during the 6 week summer break- he freaked out- and begged to go. So without further ado........ here he is- back at his "Lekker School"

He told me he wanted to "springa" Jump! (at least that's what I think he said- and google translate basically confirmed that for me)

Here we are celebrating the first day with "isje". Our ride home from school is through Vondelpark and EVERYDAY he asks for ice cream- so I have been telling him that I can only buy it on the first and last day of school and on other days when it is REALLY sunny (that rarely ever happens- so I save lots of money:) 

Did I mention that I am in a carpool this year? A European Minivan carpool?

I can't wait for Audrey to go to school- for now all I get is an hour on Sunday at church school that she FINALLY went to without tears:)

We are pretty sure we've found the perfect school for our little ones abroad- even if it means having no idea what they are speaking about in their new found Dutch language.