Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Halloween Preview


Maisy and Joel attended the American Women's Club of Amsterdam's Halloween party this past Saturday. Sophie and I stayed home in bed, we were sick.

Like all three year olds, Maisy is in love with the Disney princesses. She hasn't watched many of the Disney movies because the evil witches scare her, but she has seen Cinderella. So there wasn't much discussion on what she wanted to be for Halloween...Cinderalla was really the only option.

The AWCA also organizes a trick or treating event on Halloween. The participants donate candy for the Dutch hosts to pass out to the kids. We will be taking the girls door to door in a neighborhood in the *old south* of Amsterdam on Friday night. We have a map of the participating houses. Maisy is very excited for Friday! Sophie will dress up as tinker bell. Check back next week for more photos.



Saturday, October 18, 2008

Peuterspeelzaal - Het Speelhol

Maisy enrolled in Dutch pre-school in September. She has been there for exactly one month now and she loves it. Her teacher - Wanda - is absolutely wonderful. The children love and respect her and I am so grateful to have found this treasure of a school quietly tucked out of site across the street from the British Embassy. (the only drawback is that the school actually has a bomb threat plan incase the Embassy receives a bomb threat!)

Maisy is the only non Dutch speaking student. There are a few students that are bilingual, but the classroom is conducted in Dutch and her friends all speak to her in Dutch. Wanda takes a moment before conducting each lesson to briefly explain to Maisy what they are about to discuss or do...and then the rest is spoken in Dutch. Wanda also writes a brief description of the daily themes and sends Maisy home with Dutch books to look at before they read them in class. We go over the lessons and books before each class so she has some familiarity with the lessons.

Maisy is thriving in school. The language barrier doesn't bother her a bit. She sings along with her friends during circle time, and occasionally drops a Dutch word on mom while at home. Wanda thinks that by Christmas she should be regularly using Dutch words in the classroom. I am so excited!!

In addition to the wonderful Dutch that she is learning, the school itself is fantastic. The school it two levels. The first level is the *recess* play area and the second level is the classroom. The children are dropped off between 1:30 and 2:00pm five days a week. Parents are invited to stay and play during the drop-off time. For us, this means that Sophie can play with the kids for a half an hour which she LOVES. The recess play area has a giant indoor sandbox that the kids love. I have been forced to let go of my sandbox hang-ups since moving to Holland - they love their sand here. The sandbox also has a water table and the kids are encouraged to play and get wet! The kids can also play with doll houses, cars, chalkboards, etc. At 2:30 Wanda sings the clean up song "Dames en heren, appels en peren, wij gaan lekker opruimen!" and all the children snap into action and clean up the toys. When the toys are clean all the kids line up and the ones who are wet get to change into *school* clothes. I quickly learned that dressing Maisy up to go to school was a futile effort because she always comes home in second hand mismatched outfits. At 2:30 the class goes outside to play (weather provided) for another 30 minutes. In the courtyard they have an outdoor sandbox (surprise...surprise), bikes, a slide, a playhouse, etc. At 3:00 pm the children head upstairs for a snack, stories, songs, art and more freeplay. The parents are asked to arrive at 4:30pm to help clean up the downstairs playroom. Cleaning up the sandbox is always a messy task, but Sophie loves the second chance to play so we try our best to arrive early. At 4:45 the kids all march down the stairs and run to greet their parents. The excitement of this ritual never seems to fade. Maisy jumps in my arms, gives me hugs, gives Sophie hugs and we spend the next 15 minutes playing together with the other children, siblings and parents.

Yesterday was the fall party before the October vacation. The children were all assigned to collect leaves and chestnuts and bring large pots and wooden spoons to school. They dressed up as gnomes and celebrated the end of fall. Wanda cleared out the classroom, covered the floor in leaves and chestnuts, pulled the shades and dimly lit the room. When the parents arrived for pick-up we were invited upstairs to taste gnome soup. Maisy's face had a huge smile on it and her teacher reported that she was so excited about the soup making project. Wanda said, "she was so happy today, she didn't stop smiling!" Sophie and I sat down next to Maisy and she shared her soup of leaves, water and chestnuts with us. Sophie didn't understand that it was pretent soup and she heartly sipped the muck water off the spoon and popped the chestnuts in her mouth when Maisy offered them to her. I finally intervened.

I will be sure to post photos when I get them. I haven't had a camera - thus my lack of posts this fall - and must rely on friends and others to share their photos of Maisy and our adventures with me. Papa John is coming to visit in a few weeks and will bring us a new camera so the posts should resume in November with more regularity.

A Magical Moment

On our way home from an outing one afternoon, we stopped alongside an art sculpture. The girls had a blast and grandpa Dave took some wonderful photos. Enjoy!





Sophie escaped in the middle of a diaper change!


A Weekend Trip To Paris

We took a weekend trip to Paris in September while Joel's parents were visiting. We had great weather and were able to see most of the main attractions in the city. Paris is truly a beautiful city. We spent one afternoon simply wandering the streets and enjoying the architecture, flowers and french ambiance.
Joel's parents treated us to two dinners alone while they babysat the girls in the hotel. It was fabulous...and then we returned home to our hotel room and only one bed to share between the four of us. Needless-to-say, we didn't get much sleep. Next time we are going to splurge and upgrade to a hotel room with TWO beds.
The train ride to Paris took about four and a half hours. The girls enjoyed looking out the windows at all the farms and animals we passed. We kept them busy with books and they even took a nap. Traveling with a grandma made the ride almost easy for mommy!




The girls enjoyed the parks in Paris!






We visited Notre Dame, but opted not to wait in the long line to go inside.
It was a few blocks long. We appreciated its beauty from the outside.






We visited the Louvre, but didn't go inside with the kids.
We will have to return without them someday!








Sophie made a friend in the Tivoli gardens near the Louvre Musuem.







Maisy and Sophie enjoyed riding the carousel near the eifle tower.