iPad update

Here are the last couple of months' iPad photo highlights.

the infirmary

Two cases of strep throat in the Koot home, and counting. Since they all shared a lollipop yesterday I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time before we get the next diagnosis. For now it's Julia (the instigatress) and Lara, who I'm pretty sure became sick from sheer willpower when she noticed Julia got to stay home from school, watch cartoons, and eat ice cream and yogurts all day.

So this is my life right now: warm little cuddly bodies draped on couches/beds/floors all over the place demanding more water, more ice cream, more Spongebob, more medicine, more blankets, and constant coughing and sniffling. Then there's the boys, one of which didn't get home until 11pm last night because of the basketball game, so you can imagine the mood he is in. And finally, because of icy roads and traffic jams all the way to work, Sander is staying home for now.

The part that makes me feel like a bad mom: I'm kind of enjoying this.

Gotta go, Julia is out of ice cream.

new year's eve

Just because we're three weeks into the new year, doesn't mean we can't still share pictures of new year's eve! Our new year's eve was a success because:
1. We shared it with family (oma Marianne and uncle Maarten) and friends (Jean, our sweet neighbor)
2. We played games.
3. We had a surplus of delicious things to eat. My favorite: the cream puffs!
4. We had some fireworks. Mind you, in comparison to the Dutch mayhem we're used to this was pretty lame, but it was still bright sparkly things in the middle of the night, so it put a smile on especially the kids' faces.
5. For the first time in our lives we watched the ball drop in New York City.
6. When we decided to call it a night, it was actually quiet enough outside to sleep!

going rogue with dad

random picture of some origami I did the other day

Last night was a good night. Last night didn't start out as a good night, but rather as a very average night. Like the ones when you were 14 and it was a Thursday night during the school year - not quite Monday night, but definitely no Friday night either. The kids had worn me down with their "I don't wanna eat thiiiiis" and "He's looking at me agaaaiiiin", I had an intense workout in the morning and basically I was just beat. I felt like being in the house was in fact prolonging that feeling and I decided I needed to get out of it to relax. After a quick check of movie times I found that Les Miserables was playing at 7:45pm. It was then 7:00pm - perfect. I called mom to see if she could be persuaded to join me but she was a 7 on the scale of 1-10 of tired, so that was a no-go. Her mind was still working quicker than mine though, and she quickly asked dad if he felt like going with me. "Sure!", was his immediate reply, and a smile appeared on my face.

Off we were, each with a secret can of soda stowed away, and the theater refill bucket for some popcorn. Dad kindly offered to pay for the tickets, and then we were walking into the darkened auditorium... where the movie was already playing. Wait, weren't we on time? Shouldn't these be previews? Did we step into the wrong auditorium?? Dad checked the tickets. Right auditorium... but.. showtime 9:45pm? I know I'm a spacer, but surely I didn't make a mistake THAT big!

Well, I did and I am officially an idiot. There we were, popcorn in hand, with 2 whole hours to spare. So we did what any self-respecting individual would do: we went rogue. We marched right into the next auditorium like it was nobody's business (it helped that there was nobody around) and sat down to pass the time... and whatever you do, never go see 'A Haunted House'. We walked out on that disaster after all of 5 minutes. We moved on to next door and ended up watching most of This is 40 (does a movie about parenting really need to feature THAT much bad language? Talk about dumbing down...) before sitting back down in the first auditorium, this time as the previews began to roll. Can I just make an official declaration right now that my dad is so much fun to hang out with. Add that to the list of 'things my 16-year-old self would never believe she'd be saying as an adult'! I come from a long line of airheads - all on my dad's side - so he understood my mistake, shrugged, and just went with it. Exactly what I needed.

And Les Mis? Amazing. The idea of Russell Crowe singing his way through a movie had me reaaaally hesitant, but it worked. And I was lucky I happened to have a pack of tissues in my bag, because it is officially the biggest tearjerker I have ever seen.

I even got to hear a new Ryan Adams song at the end of This is 40, which sealed the night with an official Mark of Awesome. Thanks dad :)

life lately

I have been busy collecting some favorite images to put on our bedroom wall. Now most of them are up and Sander and I love how much personality it adds to our space.
Being a mom you sure stumble across some interesting scenes...
Converse hi-tops: officially the only shoes that Elliot cannot take off his feet by himself. Totally worth paying a little more than I normally would on toddler shoes!

This week I decided to get a little more adventurous on the cooking front. I have eaten tofu a ton of times before, but never actually cooked with it. Garbanzo beans on the other hand, I had never even heard of. I knew chickpeas.... and the nice lady in the canned goods aisle at the supermarket kindly told me they are in fact one and the same. Learn something new every day. After some rearranging around the house I decided that since we had an extra queen bed, and the girls' room is so large, I may as well let the girls each have their own bed. So I found some of the extra bedding we were given when we moved into this place, found an extra little night stand, and made Lara a cosy little nook where she can keep all her own trinkets and things. The only problem is that now Julia is very jealous of the pinkness of that bedding.. something I suspect will have to be fixed around the time of her 8th Birthday this coming July. 

Sometimes we have a big breakfast and the stacks of pancakes start towering and .. well, we have an inappropriate sense of humor.

on bacon and makeovers

I just feel like I should let the world know really fast that Lipton's herbal Blackberry & Vanilla tea, is amazing. Like, holy cow Batman that is deeeeelicious. There is just one drawback: I'm going to have to step away from my equally delicious (smelling, not tasting) blackberry and vanilla scented handsoap, because my life is confusing enough! I'll accidentally start drinking the soap one day and then mom will think I'm trying to commit suicide again.
Yes, again. 

There was an incident when I was 16 years old where I forgot to put away some bacon that was in my backpack (don't ask me why it was there, I don't remember. But it's bacon, I feel like bacon doesn't need a reason to be anywhere at all.) which had gone bad, and my mother subsequently stumbled upon when cleaning my room. That's normal, right? So anyway, her very first assumption was "Oh my goodness, Karina is trying to kill herself by eating bad bacon." Now, we do refer to my teenage years as 'The Dark Ages', but really mom? Anyway you can see how a possible soap incident might easily be misinterpreted and should thus be avoided at all cost. 

And here is a picture of Lara having fun with the makeup box she got for her Birthday from Oma Marianne. I often sit and look at Lara wondering whose child she is, but this was not one of those moments. Makeoverrrrssss!!!

in with the new!

Happy New Year! Have you made resolutions? I've made resolutions. I've made some extra special resolutions for this extra special year. Why is it special? Because it's the year I am going to make all of these resolutions happen!! Here are my resolutions. 

1. Use the word resolutions as often as I possibly can. Resolutions. 

2. Keep a daily photo journal. Every day for all of 2013 I will print out one photo from my camera using my Polaroid Pogo printer, or on the old fashioned inkjet, stick it in my journal, and write an entry. Sometimes the entry will be inspired by the photo, sometimes the photo will be inspired by the entry, but the have to correlate in some way. 

3. Read 50 books. Last year I read 40.. and I feel like I can totally step it up. P.S. my favorite book read last year was 'Kafka on the Shore' by Haruki Murakami. The Perks of Being a Wallflower ran a close second. 

4. Enter a poetry competition. I've enjoyed writing poetry since I was a teenager and have written scores of them over the years. It so happens that writing poetry is the one thing in life that I am most insecure about, so I want to get over that by putting myself out there. Not to prove to myself whether or not I'm any good, but to not be afraid. Because fear sucks bat turds. Fact. Actually, to prove to myself I am not going to let fear get the better of me any longer, I will today, on this 2nd of January 2013, share with my friends and family, for the first time ever, a poem that I wrote in March of last year. 

Utah, Utah

Today is

I put a spell on you
you get stuck under my nails
I suck you into my lungs
I watch you give up and
make you mine.

Today you

held your steering wheel tight
tried to hide your jelly belly
called me Darlin’ and
never came back in
six different languages.

and my feet never warm up. 

5. None of your business. I have a few more but they're personal! What that mainly means is that I suspect I might fail at them, and I don't want everyone who reads this blog knowing I failed. One fear at a time, people! 

Have you made resolutions? Is it something you find ridiculous to do only at New Year's? Personally, I like them. I have always liked new beginnings and the possibility they bring, even if I am mostly just making myself believe something is going to change. Sometimes that belief is just what you need to be able to make it happen! So I hope you are as optimistic about 2013 as I am. I hope you can see how full of undiscovered beauty it is, if only we can stop staring at the bad stuff. Or even the uninteresting mundane stuff.. Sometimes we just need to stop whining about the weather and (literally) take a hike! I didn't make that up, it was in my fortune cookie.

Other times however, you just have to kick a butt, baby. That I learned from this gem of a video, that I couldn't keep from you because it just made my day. Yay 2013!! Resolutions.