apple picking

It is Autum time and the Apples are ripe. One of our friends from church had the idea to take the kids up apple picking this week during October Break. It was so much fun. I of course forgot my camera... So I had to ask Alison to take just one picture for me. Her camera is great. Makes my camera look so low quality. Anyways, I am greatful for this one picture of the girls picking apples.

The girls were very speedy at apple picking. I think due to there training at orange picking at Grandpa Jones's farm. Before we had been there 5 minues Kaitlyns bag was so full she couldn't put any more in it. I dicided it was time to get out of the apple orchards before I had more apples then I could dream of dealing with.. I was already at the point of having so many that I was going to have to come up with things to bake and give away to the neighbors.

The apples were delicious. I have made a very good apple crumble so far. The girls have been eating a bunch of apples each day too.

It was a fun great fall actitivity.

The twisted Sisters

Brian made use of his day at home being sick and hunched over and finished editing our latest movie and I love it! I am so proud to post our newest family show!

Please enjoy our presentation of the "Twisted Sisters"

the Rockers

In prepration for filming our next video we had to prepare the girls hair and makeup. We had so much fun and I must say they make excellent Rockers. Can't wait until Brian finishes editing the movie so we can post it!

The 3rd of October

We went to the 3rd of October celebration in Leiden this year. Watch the paraid and put Kaitlyn in charge of taking pictures. she did an excellent job taking pictures. The them of the parade was the American dream because it was some # anversary from when the pilgrams left Leiden to go to America. It is interesting watching another country sum your country up into a paraid. It actually was very comical.

The rest of the day was a lot of fun enjoy all the rollercoasters and fun carnival stuff to do. Lets not forget the oliebollen! You have to love the Dutch for something and ollibollen is one of those things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol

Our Star-bound Brooke

Brooke came down the stairs and declared she was ready!

Avonsverdagens

It is time for me to do some Blogging again.
Every September our town does a week were every night the town goes out walking together for about 5 kilometers. The girls love going out and walking with there friends and the best part is the Metals that they get at the end!

Mahna Mahna

We already posted this once, but now the video has been edited to its full emotional power. Enjoy Mahna Mahna!

the great tooth brush caper

Our latest attraction. This is loosely based on a number of real incidents. (Very loosely...)

Brian's mom just went home and we had the most enjoyable time with her visiting us. It is always sad to have her leave.

The original plan for her coming was that Brian and I were going to go to Italy to Rome while she was here with the girls. But my toe was infected and their were so many Doctors appointments that we canceled everything. This is the second vacation my toe has messed up.
It was nice being here though and actually getting to visit with her and spend time with her and the girls and it gave me good time to rest.

I went to the doctor on Friday because I was done with my antibiotic and the doctor wanted to check my toe. The first doctor was concerned that my toe was still red and that I still had pain. So she went and got another doctor who looked at it and asked if could bend my toe which I can't. So she felt like we probably needed to do surgery on it again. So she went and got the surgeon who came in and looked at it and said well lets try one more thing. The surgeon said lets put you on Stronger anti-biotic that are for killing off difficult bacteria, for one week and we will see how it looks next Friday. So I said great, as long as I can avoid surgery I am fine.

I went to pick up my anti-biotic, they were the same ones I had had before. I went back to the hospital and pointed out this fact. They said it is the strongest they can give me. They said to go ahead and take them for the week and they will see how it looks next week.

Also had a talk with the kidney Doctor a few weeks ago, he told me I hadn't had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics like the originally thought. They are really confused why my kidneys shut down and are wondering if there is any family history of kidney problems. Anyone have any info... That would be helpful.

Below are the pictures of my toe and it's progression......

This is my toe right after surgery in the hospital in August



This is my Toe at the begining of September just before they put me on Antibiotics....


This picture is my toe today... Antibiotics helped but my toe is still red and infected... I can't wait until it is all better!

Doctors appointments

Brian's mom just went home and we had the most enjoyable time with her visiting us. It is always sad to have her leave.

The orginal plan for her coming was that Brian and I were going to go to Italy to Rome while she was here with the girls. But my toe was infected and their were so many Doctors appointments that we canceled everything. This is the second vacation my toe has messed up.

It was nice being here though and actually getting to visit with her and spend time with her and the girls and it gave me good time to rest.

I went to the doctor on Friday because I was done with my antibiotic and the doctor wanted to check my toe. The first doctor was concerned that my toe was still red and that I still had pain. So she went and got another doctor who looked at it and asked if could bend my toe which I can't. So she felt like we probably needed to do surgery on it again. So she went and got the surgen who came in and looked at it and said well lets try one more thing. The surgen said lets put you on Stronger anti-biotics that are for killing off difficult bacteria, for one week and we will see how it looks next Friday. So I said great, as long as I can advoid surgery I am fine.

I went to pick up my anti-biotics, they were the same ones I had had before. I went back to the hospital and pointed out this fact. They said it is the strongest they can give me. They said to go ahead and take them for the week and they will see how it looks next week.

Also had a talk with the kedney Doctor a few weeks ago, he told me I hadn't had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics like the orginally thought. They are really confussed why my kedneys shut down and are wondering if there is any family history of kindney problems. Anyone have any info... That would be helpful.

The family movie

We have been making a fun fantasy movie for the family. This is the first section. It has only taken 3 months for Brian to do the editing of the first ten minutes of the film!

The Guardians

herbal stuff

I'm looking for Herbal information for things I can do to help the health of my kidneys... Kind of tired of just waiting... I feel like there has to be something I can do besides drink 3 liters of water everyday.

Brooke loves Make-up

Brian has had fun with the children this week. I would have to say he is a great and amazing dad.

Brooke managed to find some lipstick and put it on. She loves make-up so much.

Brian had to laugh at her creation. He said she reminded him of a little joker. I just love how big her eyes are!

Brian's next painting...

This Painting Brian did for Brianna. She told him what colors to use and how she wanted it done. She was very opinionated about it. I think it is beautiful.

Enjoying summer days

The girls and their friends enjoyed a nice day outback in the sun on the trampoline with the waterhose and a small swimpool. It is amazing how long they can stay busy with such a simple activity.

Gmail....

Dear ALL,

I had no idea you could email me through my blog page using my gmail account. I just found so many wonderful messages... I am so sorry I haven't replied.

I'm working on them and now I know to check my Gmail.

XO Shawntel

losing roomrates

Today I got my 4th room mate. This one is an older lady. I am so glad to have a woman in the room with me.

The old guy Mn. Fork that shared a room with me told me today that he had Triple-bypass surgery and other stuff. He got to go home. -- He was a nice man though, he showed me a picture while he was waiting to be released of his family, when he was a kid. Taken in 1938. There were a bunch of children in the picture so I asked who they all were. He said they were all his brothers and sisters. In shock, I asked.. ALL. Then I asked how many Brothers and sisters he had... He said 23. I asked All 1 mother... and he told me know and he said this is my father and his first wife had this many kids she is there. My mom was the 2nd wife and she had 8 kids.. and so forth. I had never met anyone from a polygamist family over here before but I guess they are around.

Gangster guy came by today. He was moved to another floor earlier this week. He was walking and looking well. He was stabbed with a punctured lung and he gets to go home today. I thought it was really nice of him to come by and say good by though. He looked so happy to be getting out of here.

I think it is me and the old lady till Monday. I'm going to race her to see who gets to leave first!
Until then, it is me and my computer, my books and all the wonderful visits from friends. Thank you for everything you do.

Shawntel

Good look at my toe.... Not for those that faint

So I had a really good look at my toe this morning. Again wished I had a camera but I guess I will spare everyone. A lot of the swelling had gone down and what look like 3 wholes in my toe isn't. The pretty much scraped out all the infection and that included all the flesh under my toe nail and there are huge canal like gauges around the toe nail bed. I will NEVER have a big toenail again. I'm so sad. Besides it being totally gross I'm wondering how long it is going to take for my body to replace that much flesh. 1/2 my toe has no skin on it.

That was one nasty bacteria.

On the bright side some tubes were pulled out which makes me happy. Now only an IV in my arm. Which I am really looking forward to it going away.

They say maybe on Monday I can go home.... Monday! I don't want to wait till Monday but that is what they say. I know Brian was hoping for sooner. Being a stay at home DAD full time is getting to where I think he needs a break and needs to make his mind dig deep into work but the girls won't let him do that.

He says "I turn my back on Brooke and all of the sudden 3 things are destroyed."

I am so proud of how hard he is working and what a patient father he is. He takes so much time for his children and he is amazing. I just know that brain of his is so board.

He is tackling laundry today. I wish him luck. The girls have been a good help.

Can't wait to be home but I have to.

In the hospital.

Yep, I've been in the LUMC for almost 5 days now. How did I get here? What happened? How am I doing this post. I will answer that one first.

I made Brian bring me my computer for those times were I was board Dutch TV just isn't entertaining for me. I found out there was a Internet connection. As I slowly have the energy I get on a post a little bit more and write about my fun experience her.

A lot of people ask "Why am I in the hospital".... I say... "I stubbed my toe". Which is the truth. I stubbed my toe on Thursday night on the end of the table. It pulled up my toe nail, it bleed a bit and it immediately swelled and began throbbing. I went to bed with an ice pack rapped around my foot.

On Friday I went to the beach with my friend Erna to meet my friends, Amy, Angie, and Claire. Believe me with my sunburn there was no plan for any type of allowing the sun to see my body, I was just really looking forward to good conversation. Erna and I parked at a different part of the beach then they did and I couldn't find where they were at. My foot hurt so bad after searching I bit I gave up and sat down. I was so glad I didn't walk far away from where we had parked because about 2 hours later I started getting really cold and feeling really sick. I asked Erna if we could go and made the painful short trek back to the car.

By time I got home I lay down on the couch and just shivered. I felt so sick. I decided to try to take a shower to warm up and then I laid down on my bed for a while.

Around 5pm I started thinking about Susan. I promised to pick up Susan from the train station at 6:00 to make it to our ward temple night. Susan doesn't have a car so she rides down to my train station and I take her the rest of the way. I knew if I didn't pick her up know one else could. I didn't want to leave here. I began thinking about how busy this month was and how this really was my only chance to go to the Temple. So I began praying and asked Heavenly Father if I should go, make it so I could go. At 5:30, I got out of bed, got dressed went to the Temple had a nice session. Put my own name on the temple prayer roll (I hope that isn't to selfish of me.) Then I went home. I got lost driving home with my GPS but thank fully it worked its way out of what ever really bad turns I took. I love my GPS.

When I got home, I sat down on the couch and began shivering again. Heavenly Father really does bless you when you need to do his work.

Saturday morning I was throwing up and had a 104 fever. My foot was swollen past my ankle and there was a visible red line going from my toe up my foot. Brian, had to force me out of bed and get me dressed and take me to the weekend doctor. The wait (45 minutes) seemed like an eternity. The doctor saw me when she called me name and said "you are sick". I told her what was going on and she said I either had a blood infection or a bone infection and to go to the hospital.

Off to the hospital we went, the saw me asked 2 questions took my temperature and put me on a bed in a room. Brian left to go feed the girls because they hadn't had lunch yet and he needed to find a sitter for them. The Anger family in our ward had volunteered to take our kids so we could go on a date and we were taking there kids this Friday. Brian went and found there number got the girls cleaned up and feed and then asked if they could take our kids early. They were so sweet and offered to take them over night however visiting hours are only from 2:00-4:00 and 6:00-8:00. They let Brian stay through non-visiting hours to find out what was going on but they sent him home by 8:00 and I was on my own.

The first day they did a lot blood test and x-rays put me on antibiotics and such and finally moved me into my own room. My Room mate was a nice quite old lady. It was a nice room to be in. On Sunday she went home. I had the room all to myself, I didn't have to worry if I will wake up my roommate while I throw up or what ever in the middle of the night. They did more blood work. In fact every day they have done blood work and they haven't told me why until yesterday I'll explain it later. They examined my toe and found that the swelling in my foot had gone down but my toe was one really big blue lollipop looking thing but not so edible. (yuck!) They marked with a pin where the blue was and wanted to see if the antibiotics made it get less the next day. So we waited with lots of pain and flue symptoms I waited until the next day.

Monday morning came and at 8am everyone came to look at my toe (6 different doctors). My toe was now 2 times as blue as before, the infection was winning over the antibiotics. It was decided that they needed to take me into surgery to cut of my toe nail and examine what is making my toe so blue. This was a happy moment for me because maybe the sharp shooting throbbing pain in my toe might come to an end. There was hope.

I was taken into surgery and given a choice do you want local pain killers, do you want to be numbed from the legs down. I looked at the man and said.. "If you are cutting on any part of my body, I will be asleep for it and completely unaware of anything you are doing." Although putting me to sleep wasn't an option it became an option and off to sleep I went. Those were the happiest sleeping hours of my life.

But then I here "Mrs. Ashcroft, Mrs. Ashcroft wake up." I said "No, I don't want to." They said I had to, so I opened my eyes and looked at them hoping it would satisfy them so I could go back to sleep. But NO, that was just enough for me to realize how much pain my toe was it. In fact I started crying.

With painkillers the pain was less I was back in my room and I slept most of the rest of the day. I was in and out enough to realize that in the afternoon the took the bed out of the room. I knew they were going to get some one to bring them up but who? About 4 hours later came a man. Followed by a serious of people. Detectives police asking all sorts of questions. I really wished that my dutch was better. Why did my Dutch have to be so bad. If I'm going to be stuck with a MAN room mate, at least it is an interesting one.

Tuesday morning I woke up and all the doctors wanted to see my toe so it was un-bandaged. O man was it so gross. (Let me just say now that I asked Brian to bring me my camera many times but he forgot. This was one thing I wanted a picture of) My toe was missing more then its toe nail some flesh was gone and they had drilled 3 wholes down to the bone (yes I can see my toe bone). I am so glad I was asleep. I guess there was all sorts of infection in there they had to get out. Good thing is, I don't need pain killers now and although my toe hurts it really is healing well.

After all doctors clear away, my room mate and I get to talk. I asked what happened to him and he seems to have been jumped just before he got home and stabbed in the back and punctured his lung..... "over nothin" he said. He later in the day calls his friend Peter. My best translation of his dutch was "you were my life long friend, why did you do this to me." Peter hung up on him and he declared "f--- You" a few times more then I wanted to here. Police came in later with a photo and he said "yea that is Peter "sack him". I guess he had the wrong friend.

The rest of my stay is doing pretty boring since the surgery each day I'm feeling a lot better. My kidney's reacted to the medicine so they are switching things around trying to find a medicine that will fight the infection and not kill my kidneys.

My roommate got moved to a different floor today it is lonely being in a room all by yourself all day long. He was a chatty one too. Not always to me. He chatted on the phone a lot to his sister, his friends, his lawyers, the detectives. I kept trying to make my Brain work to translate the dutch but really honestly only the f---- you's were coming through loud and clear. Still miss all the noise.

It has taken me all day to right this post so I still get tired here and there but I am so happy Brian brought me my computer and the hospital has a wireless Internet for patient. It has made my life so much more pleasant. It gave me a project to do today. Hopefully I will be out as soon as my kidneys are normal again.

Thank you to everyone who is helping to take care of my children while Brian still has to run to work here and there. You don't know how wonderful you are.

Last If anyone has read this all the way through I need help on one thing. I need a XXL night shirt big and comfortable one to where while here in the hospital. They say I can have my own night shirt which would be great because they want me to get up and star walking but their hospital gone in front is a mini skirt and in back there isn't enough fabric to cover the bum. So women from the Netherlands. Where do I send Brian to get a nice big comfortable nightshirt?

white or red

I got to go to the Beach today with my little girls and some friends from church. It was a lot of fun and my girls thought it was wonderful. One friend of mine Amy laughed at me for having SPF 60 sunblock. She wanted something with a little less protection. I however need something with the most protection possible because I am truly a white person with no protection to my skin. Apparently my application of SPF 60 wasn't enough and when I could fill my skin itching I made my girls help me put on more but it was too late I had already burned.

One may argue that perhaps my SPF may have expired and gotten to old but my 3 little girls are all sunburn free and o.k. Except Brooke, I forgot to sunblock one little part of her back which has a sunburn on it, which tells me the sunblock work well on the the rest of her back. I am indeed a white person or maybe a red person. But anyway about it I think I need SPF 120 in order to stay out in the sun from 10 am till 2:30 with out harm to my skin.

I am so avoiding going to bed tonight.

Maro Kart

You know it seems like all my post are about Brooke but that child spends so much time in the corner I feel like I have to post all the little good times otherwise I will forget they ever exsisted. Kaitlyn and Brianna are truely my Angles and Brooke is my little devil but I love her all the same. (She will grow out of it right!)

Brooke watches as Kaitlyn and Brianna race each other on Mario Kart on the Wii. Finally she got the wheal and got the chance to try to race on the game. She was so excited that she was racing the car. It was really a cute moment. It had to be posted.

Paint left out

So Brian forgot to put the paint away and Brooke found it. When I found Brooke she was covered in it. We cleaned her up but her hands look like they are just going to be blue for a while. (You don't want to know what she did to her cloths or to the desk. Neither are recoverable).

Kaitlyn and Brianna's Painting

Kaitlyn and Brianna finished their abstract paintings that the did with Brian. They turned out fairly cool. I have never been a fan of abstract but I really like what Brian had the girls do. I am mostly amazed that my girls did these 100% by themselves.

Kaitlyn's Last day of school

On the Last day of school (Yes it was only 3 weeks ago for us) Kaitlyn had me come in and take pictures of her class. It was a really sad day for Kaitlyn as she is really good friends with her class mates and wont be in class with them next year.

We found out this year that Kaitlyn has severe dyslexia. When she started reading in Kindergarten in Arizona I knew something wasn't right when she couldn't read the word "ax" even

though she knew very well what the

letter "a" and "x" said. I tried talking to teachers about it then but since it is my first child and not knowing what it is like to have a child learn to read I was pretty unsure of myself.

All I knew was I struggled horribly in reading growing up. In fact in college I would stay up all night long trying to read 1 chapter in my accounting book. I didn't know why reading was so hard for me then but after I got married and I learned more about reading disorders I wondered if it was dyslexia. Sometimes I wondered how I ever graduated with my accounting degree.

I knew if any of my children had it I wanted to get what help I could for my child. I have continued to watch both Brianna and Kaitlyn closely. They are very different children when it comes to learning to read. Brianna so easily grabs the concepts and reads so quickly where Kaitlyn struggles at remembering the sounds the letters are suppose to make.

I talked to Kaitlyn's Teacher about it last year but they said they thought Kaitlyn just needed to learn the new language and she would be fine. That is where there was another difference. Brianna was completely fluent in Dutch and Kaitlyn was still struggling to learn.

This year Kaitlyn's teacher came to me and said, "We think there is something wrong and would like to test Kaitlyn for dyslexia" and asked if it was o.k. Can you imagine my answer.... YES test her. The test came back that she has "severe dyslexia" and had lots of suggestions of what was needed for her education. One of them being that she needed to repeat this grade and relearn her reading skills differently since she was so far behind in her reading.

Kaitlyn is incredibly sad not to be going to the next grade with her friend. I am hoping we made the right decision for her to help her improve, gain confidence.

My last struggle is dyslexia makes it very difficult to processes language and her we have my little girl in a foreign country and in school in a different language. Sometimes my heart just breaks thinking about how hard it has to be for her. I love this opportunity to live abroad and to have my children learn a new language. I just didn't expect it to be so hard on my oldest.

MILK MILK MILK

Brooke is not the best eater in the world but boy does she like to drink her milk. We decided that she needs more nutrition in her life then the many cups of soy milk will bring to her (Brooke has an intolerance to normal milk). So we have in a way taken away her milk. Meaning each time she ask for a cup of milk we say "no, but if you are hungry we can have such in such..." Brooke gets fairly mad at us when we say this but we are having a little bit more luck on having her eat things (not much but a little).

Brooke Obviously not happy with this arrangement has decided to go to other means to get what she wants. I think the picture describes it all!

Brian's Picture

So Brian has gotten into painting a lot lately and teaching the girls what he knows about painting. Which I am always amazed at since he has never taken an Art class in his life. I would really like to sign him up for a class I'm wondering if we can have a side income. I am willing to hang his painting on my wall.

So I thought I would just share his latest creation, which he is proud of. The original plan was to call it "Carmen" but now Brian calls it "Rock Lobster" (You cannot see the head from about 4 steps away). Anyway about it, It was a Ballerina he had painted for Kaitlyn using her favorite color... Orange. The head and hair are in white so it is hard to see in the photo but looks really cool.

The Efteling

We have had a very enjoyable summer full of fun family time. Brian got to go to Italy for a work Conference which I was very jealous of. But the girls and I enjoyed the first week of summer together going to the Library and excitedly finding they had added a children's English section to it. I can not tell you how I was jumping for joy at that. No more rummaging through other moving expat stuff trying to find used English books to read to my children for cheap. I can now get a few of them from the Library.

We have had many visits to the park and hanging out with friends going to the pool and the beach. I really do enjoy the unstructured life of the summer.

So on Monday we had a nice sunny day and so we spontaneously decided we were going to take the girls to the Efteling.

http://www.efteling.nl/

We hadn't been yet and I must say, I am such a fan. I really enjoyed it as far as an amusement park for kids go. The girls really enjoyed it. The lines were max 25 min wait on the big roller coasters and everything else was 5-10 minute wait.

The girls all have their own personalities. Kaitlyn is so much like me. AFRAID of everything! Every roller coaster we came to we did our best to talk her into riding it (although I'm not afraid of roller coasters there were a lot off other things when I was younger that I was scared of). Mostly with Kaitlyn unless she was sure she was safe, we would ride the ride and she would wait for us to get off. It was just to scary for her.

Brianna wanted to ride the ride but was a little scared but really wanted to try but wasn't sure... In the end Brianna would ride the ride and then come off deciding it was the best thing ever!

Brooke never questioned. She wanted to ride every ride and it was the best. After her first ride which was called the bobsledded she told me very excitedly on the ride "Momma - I'm Flying". She actually gets really upset when she dresses up and puts on her fairy wings and then gets on the trampoline and is unable to fly. It really makes her so mad. She loved the roller coaster rides because she finally felt like she was flying.

Brooke was very mad on the Python where she was to small to ride it that she didn't get to go on it. Kaitlyn said there was no way she was going to ride and Brianna was in indecision. We decided that after watching it that although Brianna just hit the height requirement it would be best not to have her on there. She was still small. So I went first and then Brian went. Brooke was really mad that I didn't let her go with Brian so I took her out to watch the roller coaster do it's two upside down turns and then it's 3 twist. Brooke watched it go around so fast as we stood under it and proclaimed "WOW! Momma I'm too small now but when I'm big I can go on that."

At the end of the day the girls thanked us for the best day of their lives. I knew it had been a success. Hopefully summer continues to be full of fun.

Here are some pictures.

Ashcroft Art

Brian and Kaitlyn have been doing some painting on Saturdays. It is an activity they both love to do. This is some of their most recent painting. The top is Kaitlyn's painting. On the top right is her sun and the back ground is her sunset and then the main image she says is a flower. I think it is a pretty cool picture to have been created by an 8 year old.

This is Brian's picture. It is on a 2ft by 3 ft canvas. It is his first time using oil paints. I am always amazed by what he can come up with to paint. I love his paintings. I want to get a frame for it and hang it on the wall. Sometimes I wish I had one once of his artistic talent. But I am lacking in this area so I just admire what my husband can accomplish.

Brooke's Gym class

Brooke loves her gym class and being able to play and climb and run. Monday was the last day of gym for the year. So I thought I would take some fun pictures!

As I am posting this blog my children run in the house yelling because in the back yard Brooke has managed to climb up the back fence and is standing on the top of the Shed! I tried to get Brianna to get the camera and take a picture while I tried to get Brooke down using my 3 step little latter. Which was not working very well. I ended up having Kaitlyn climb up the fence grab Brooke, bring her to me and then I drug her off the shed screaming because she didn't want off.

Brianna was unsuccessful in finding the camera before I got Brooke down off the shed. However when I came back and looked at these pictures from gym class, I began to wonder if it was a good idea to put her in class that makes her stronger and allows her to climb on things like this. But at the same time at lease she was strong enough to do it and didn't fall that long ways in the process.

This child of mine is so wonderful but gives me gray hair daily!!!!

Surprise!

Brian's Birthday was truly as surprise for him.

Brooke's birthday was on the 13th of June and I have been trying for 2 weeks to put a birthday party together for her. Then I though why not combine it with Brian's birthday and just do a fun party with everyone. I knew Brian was under so much stress he didn't know what month it was and so I just told him we were doing a birthday party for Brooke on Saturday (the 4th of July). He said o.k. Still not know what day Saturday was.

Saturday came and we prepared everything for the party. I was having real guilt trips as Brian was out cleaning the yard on his birthday. But he didn't know it was his birthday.

As our guest arrived, some of them were Brooke's friends and their families however some of them were Brian co-workers and his friends. He was confused and then we told him, Happy Birthday! It is your Birthday today.

My poor over worked husband.

We had a really enjoyable time at our party talking with friends. I find that, Honestly, being with friends is the most enjoyable place I can be. I think we would invite friends over for parties at our house every weekend, if I could handle the stress of all of it.

After the party we had the girls light some sparklers that we saved from new years. I wanted to do it during the party because we had a lot of sparklers but I forgot all about them! The girls loved it we even tried to teach them, My country 'tis of thee! Kaitlyn remembers the big fireworks from the states and ask why we cant set off our other left over fireworks from New Years. We had to explain what illegal meant.

All and all it was a good day. Hopefully a good surprise birthday for Brian!

Because of my forgetfulness I only managed to take 2 pictures during the party. 1 of Brooke opening her first gift and then I put the camera down somewhere where I couldn't find it and so there was no more pictures for the rest of the party. After the party when things were all cleaned up I found it and was able to take a picture with fireworks.

Kaitlyns A Dipolma

Kaitlyn has been in swim lessons all year and she has earned her "A Diploma". It is an exciting thing for the Dutch for their kids to get their "A Diploma" because it means your child is finally allowed to swim freely in what ever pool they want to at the public pools with out having to have their parents right their next to them.


We felt like Kaitlyn could swim well enough for that when we entered this country as she has had swim lessons since she was 2 years old.

However because she didn't have an "A diploma" she had to be in what ever pool we were in. So if we were in the little pool with Brooke she couldn't run off with a friend to play in the recreational pool with the water slide. Kind of a bummer.

So we put her in swim lessons so that She could have this magical "A diploma". I expected it to happen kind of quickly because Kaitlyn is such a strong swimmer already and has no problem swimming. However they didn't seem to see it that way. Apparently she has to be able to do more then just swim, float and puller her self out of the pool to get the diploma. She had to be able to learn all the swim strokes and learn to dive (which she has been a little afraid of) and a few other task like swimming threw a tunnel under the water. They also have to learn how to swim with their cloths and shoes on(I guess that is in case the fall into one of the many canals of water everywhere with their cloths on, they have some practice getting out.)

With so much for Kaitlyn to learn it took all year. However, with a big WAHOO! Kaitlyn now has her A diploma and can run off and swim with all of her friends freely while I deal with Brooke in the kiddy pool.

Poor Brianna is still stuck with me in the kiddy pool but she is in swim lessons now and hopefully sometime next year she will be free from my side!


Below is a picture of Kaitlyn kind of scared to do her finally test she has on her t-shirt, shorts and shoes, ready to jump in and show all that she has learned. To the left you see a few boys in full rain clothing. They are swimming for their C diploma. The higher the diploma the more clothing you have to be able to swim with. I was really impressed with these boys in rain jackets and pants. The were swimming well.

new post in order

I'm behind on posting somethings but I also want the stuff I post to be in order. So I posted it in where it should be and I am putting links here for anyone curious about the new post.

http://shawntelashcroft.blogspot.com/2009/06/easter-2009.html

http://shawntelashcroft.blogspot.com/2009/05/since-kaitlyn-was-going-to-be-turning-8.html

http://shawntelashcroft.blogspot.com/2009/04/pictures-by-lake.html

Easter 2009

summer time

June, July and August are the time for being out of school exploring the world, playing in the water until your waterlogged and your fingers wrinkel. It is a time for eating watermelon and having BBQ with friends.

However today is June 19th and my kids are still in school and will be until July 10th. I find that I have had enough of school. I want summer break. I don't want my alarm clock to go off at 7 in the morning. I want flexiable bed times. I want to go explore the world with my children. I want to go to the beaches and play and just be free of some of the stress.

Seeing as I am having such a hard time with this I have decided to make a countdown counter so that I know how many more days I have to survive before I get my 6 weeks of summer break.



Vacation Countdowns

Family Photo's 2009