Happy 4th Birthday, Ennio!

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! It's such a joy to see your smile every day! Can't wait to see you grow even more! I love you!

Ennio's Birthday treat in the classroom

For Ennio's birthday treat in the classroom, I made waffles with Belgian pearl sugar (an attempt at making the delicious Liège sugar waffles I know from home...). They look OK on the photo, but I didn't like the way they tasted... too much flour and not buttery enough :-( Maybe I didn't use the right flour? If anyone can help me out here???
Fortunately, the kids didn't seem to mind too much. I brought in extra strawberries, whipped cream and lemonade... to cover the dry taste of the waffles :-) And I think it worked :-)

Captain Ennio!

Here's a supercute video that Opa Gerhard aka Opa Jumbo made for Ennio's 4th birthday!

Pool party!

After spending Saturday at Sven and Edine's for Fiona's First Birthday (no photos - too busy talking :-)), we had an awesome Sunday afternoon celebrating Nahla's 6th Birthday at Gerrish Swim Club in Pasadena. Nahla is one of Lily's preschool friends. They had not seen each other in a long time, as Nahla does not go to the same Elementary School as Lily. It was so great to see her and lots of other old preschool friends again! I enjoyed catching up with some of the parents. One very good thing that came out of this, is that we discussed summer camps and now Lily will be spending at least one week at a camp with some of her old friends! Hooray!  We are all very excited!!!

Nahla and Lily

Koken met Lily!

We hebben een heel leuk kinderkookboek (met afwasbare pagina's - super!) dat ik ooit gekregen heb van een vriendelijke Belg hier wiens kinderen te groot geworden waren voor de "kinder"-gerechtjes (waar werken op het consulaat al niet goed voor is ;-)). 't Is dus al oud, maar ik vind het fantastisch. Doordat het volledig geplasticificeerd is, ziet het er nog als nieuw uit en de receptjes zijn super easy te maken! Vandaag wou Lily de bananenmilshake eens proberen. Dat kwam goed uit, want er lagen nog een aantal bananen in de fruitschaal die er redelijk bruin begonnen uit te zien en die anders toch door niemand zouden worden opgegeten. Ze deed alles zelf (ik moest wel de verschillende stappen van de bereidingswijze voorlezen) en de uiteindelijke milkshake was heel geslaagd! We hebben gesmuld :-)
 

Lily's eyes

Last week, Lily's school nurse did a basic examination of the students' eyes. After Lily took the test, the nurse recommended that she'd have a vision screening by a specialist. We were referred to the Central Eye Clinic. I made an appointment and Marcus was able to take her this morning. I was a bit wary, because lately, Lily's been telling us that she would like to have glasses... so she would be able to read her rainbow words... I had to explain to her that glasses don't suddenly make you an expert reader, but that you need them to SEE better. She has this idea that glasses will do the magic trick and let her read anything!!!

So, this morning I asked her to do her best and tell the doctor what she could see, and not lie, otherwise I would be very disappointed! I think she got the message (at least, I hope so). To my surprise, she was diagnosed with farsightedness. This means she sees well from a distance, but close objects do not come into proper focus.

Farsightedness occurs if your eyeball is too short or the cornea has too little curvature, so light entering your eye is not focused correctly. Common signs of farsightedness include difficulty in concentrating and maintaining a clear focus on near objects, eye strain, fatigue and/or headaches after close work, aching or burning eyes, irritability or nervousness after sustained concentration.
Common vision screenings, often done in schools, are generally ineffective in detecting farsightedness. A comprehensive optometric examination will include testing for farsightedness. In mild cases of farsightedness, your eyes may be able to compensate without corrective lenses. In other cases, your optometrist can prescribe eyeglasses or contact lenses to optically correct farsightedness by altering the way the light enters your eyes. (from the American Optometric Association)

The results of Lily's testing:
Distance Vision:
Without glasses: 20/25 right and left eye

Near Vision:
Without glasses
Right: 20/50
Left: 20/25

With glasses
Right: 20/25
Left: 20/20
Both eyes: 20/20

She got a prescription for corrective lenses and will have to wear her glasses in the classroom and when working with a computer.
Marcus already had her pick a pair on-site. I must admit I didn't expect this and I would have liked to shop for a cute pair of glasses for Lily!!! But it is already done, and now I will have to wait 2 weeks before I will even get to see them! (the frames + lenses are ordered, and we get to pick them up in 2 weeks)

Lily did complain of tired and burning eyes lately, so I hope this will help, and who knows... maybe it WILL turn her into a better reader ;-)

Selfies by Lily!

1. Een kusje van Lily
2. Kijk naar mijn losse tand (nummer 9)
3. Mijn prinsessen-diadeem!

Happy Earth Day!

Blue skies!

It's fairly time-efficient to put photos on the blog (straight from my phone to the blog with the Blogger-app), so here you go!

I also saved time this weekend by not having to go grocery shopping with two kids in tow, but by ordering on-line and having all my groceries delivered straight to my door by the Instacart personal shoppers! Hooray for convenience! If anyone has any other useful tips on how I could better organize my life and have MORE TIME, please let me know!!!

Saturday: Ennio at Dutch School. He's not attending class yet, but is always playing at the playground while Lily is in school.

Sunday: After ballet class, Lily was making chalk drawings on the ground. Her hands got full of pink chalk dust and she started blowing pixie dust kisses to me. So cute!

Reading!

Een update is hier long long overdue, maar het ontbreekt mij echt aan de tijd om eens rustig neer te zitten en alles - gebeurtenissen, gedachten, gevoelens - van mij af te schrijven. Mijn vrije dagen worden volledig opgeslorpt door meetings en workshops voor Ennio, en daarnaast blijven de dagdagelijkse taken en onze wekelijkse activiteiten ook verder lopen (huiswerk, Nederlandse les, ballet voor Lily,...) Helaas wonen er bij ons geen kaboutertjes die de was en plas voor ons doen :-) Ik heb dan ook het gevoel dat er geen seconde tijd overblijft op een dag. Wie weet volgende week woensdag? (voorlopig staat enkel Ennio's IEP meeting (Individualized Education Program) op de agenda!) We will see!

Ondertussen enkele foto's van vorig weekend. Het is hier heerlijk weer en Marcus nam de tijd om voor te lezen uit onze grote voorraad boeken! Ennio houdt enorm van boeken en naar de bibliotheek gaan is een feest voor hem! (in tegenstelling tot Lily die niet echt een boekenwurm is...) Hij ziet er misschien maar middelmatig geïnteresseerd uit op de foto's maar schijn bedriegt. Hij was alle boeken op tafel zelf komen brengen en luisterde aandachtig toe (alhoewel we wel niet het boek van begin tot eind kunnen voorlezen, zo lang kan hij niet geconcentreerd blijven).

Paasbrunch... Mmm!

From left to right: Persius, Lily, Karl, Caspian and Ennio

This has become one of our annual traditions: having an Easter Brunch at our house with our best friends Rainer and Kathryn, Lucy (19 already, gasp!!!) and Karl (8yrs), Pamela and Hans, and this year we also invited Athena and Mel, and their children Persius (yes, it is spelled like that and not Perseus) who is 8, Caspian (7 yrs) and Willamina (just turned one).

Marcus played easter bunny and hid 40 eggs in the backyard. The kids had a blast trying to find them. They didn't care much about what was inside (mostly little stuff like gummi bears, laser rings, mini cars, bubble gum,... but also a one dollar and a five dollar bill!!!), for them, it was more about the hunt (although Persius was VERY excited that he found the egg with the 5 dollars!)

The Egg Hunt has started!!!

Lucy and Willamina!

The girls: Willamina, Lucy, me, Athena and Kathryn.

The guys: Rainer, Mel and Marcus

Looking so cool, haha!

Friends! (although I must say, Lily complained there were TOO MANY BOYS at the party!!!)

We also had lots of fun inside!

Athena and Willamina!

More outside fun!

What a great afternoon! See you all again next year (and hopefully sooner :-))