Back to December

Dec 2023: Forever catching up on the blog. . .  I was going through it and saw I never blogged Christmas and that is an essential and favorite time of the year for the family. So back to December! This month is so magical. I hate the cold and the dark that the winter here brings, but having the holidays and little kids just warm the soul. 

 It is funny to think our kids will have memories of Sinterklaas who comes for two weeks leaving little things in the shoes and then at December 5th drops a bag of goodies by the door. It really has been exciting for everyone to wake up and see what is in their shoes and just starts the day off and gets you in the holiday mood! We did lots of festive things this December, including a Christmas market in Gent,  and had a great Christmas with the kids! One happy memory and new tradition we started was seeing the lights of Amsterdam together (but in the morning). We woke up early-ish and biked under all the city lights. It is dark for a few hours in the morning, and Amsterdam is dead quite (without the noise and party scene of night) . . . so we all bundled up and biked the city and got hot chocolate at a bakery. It was really pretty and really fun.  I love seeing a city wake up and the lights are so pretty strung over the canal homes. It was a great Christmas and Santa spoiled us, even knew to fill up Luke's stalking with hot sauces. The boys got a really cool new track and remote car and Lucy got a stroller for her doll she still is obsessed with. 

Chadderdons + Grandma Time!

March 1-4, 2024: We arrived back to Amsterdam the same day my Grandma, Curtis, Courtney, and Drake arrived. They have been traveling the past 6 weeks around Europe and closed the trip with some time at our house in Amsterdam. It was fun to see them when the trip started and fun to hear all the adventures at the end. I especially loved I got a few more days with my Grandma, she is the best!! I wish I took more pictures of these days and makes me sad I don't have one with the whole crew but we had a good time. They explored the city during the day,  and we would all play card games and chat and eat in the evening.

 One of the highlights was doing an art class with my grandma one evening. It ended up just being me and her in the class and was so fun, she is a much better artist than me and watercolor is the hardest medium. It was fun though,  I took her in my bakfiets bike which still makes me laugh and smile thinking about the memory of riding through Amsterdam with my grandma on the bike chatting about life. It was the best having her around, she is so sweet and thoughtful and she even babysat all the kids so me and Riley could go out to eat. I wish she could stay for weeks and explore Europe more with her. It was such a precious time and was the perfect thing to see all of them to get over jet lag fast. 

Also, something really cool she game me her spiral Book of Mormon she made! It was a labor of love. It has became one of my most beloved things just thinking of the process and time she put into it. She cut each page out and sanded them to make smooth and put spiral on it herself with journaling pages intermixed. It really is so cool and she wrote a note inside to me. I just love it and her and these days together. 

Thats a wrap! Bye California!

Feb 28, 2024: The final day of the trip before we flew out. We filled up the last day with lots of good cousin time. We played at Kenzie's house most the day and went to the beach. We went to Target together after the kids were in bed, which is what I really wanted and just walked the isles and get the see how much america goods I could carry on board. It was a great day and the kids ask all the time, even a month later when they can go back. Id love to repeat this whole trip with Riley next year. Happy days. 

latenight selfies

I also took some family pics of Hartley crew which turned out super nice I thought. Here are just a few of my people are so so grateful they hosted me and the kids for a week and some.  

They are the best :)