1 year

It was one year ago today that we closed on our house and finally got the keys.  We are so grateful for our little house.  I love it just as much now as the day we moved in and still can't wait to complete projects.  Of course, I thought I'd have all my projects checked off and completed by now, but as we all know, life happens and it doesn't always work out as planned.  Honestly, shy of painting some walls, having a shed built and getting some new light fixtures- not a lot has been done.  We've had two projects drawn up- our laundry room and the girls' room, but just haven't had the time to complete them yet.

Then with Tatum coming, we've shifted gears on to his nursery.  THAT is almost done! Got the rug, still just need a lamp, toy box- I want his daddy to make him one, and to repaint his little book shelf.

This spring and summer I would like to start some landscaping.  We have the general landscaping done- sod, couple plants and trees, but we need to get in there are build some flower beds, garden boxes, etc.

All is cruising along though and it's amazing how fast a year can go by.  Cheers to another year and more projects!

One glimpse....

I'm not a huge fan of showing my ever expanding tummy online at nearly 35 years old and 6 months pregnant on my 4th pregnancy, but I know some of you wanna see it- so here is one belly photo, taken yesterday, at 24 weeks and 3 days.

The Netherlands Date Night

We decided to do an impromptu dat night one day while I was at work.  I just chose a country I knew we hadn't done yet and that we would probably be able to find plenty of stuff for at World Market.  I chose The Netherlands.  I actually chose Holland only because I didn't know Holland wasn't actually a country.  Shoot, now we all know. :)

Netherlands

Country in Europe

Description

Without further ado- here are some cool things you may not have known about The Netherlands:

• There is a secured village in the Netherlands specifically for people with dementia, where they can act out a normal life while being monitored and assisted by caretakers in disguise. 
• The Netherlands closed eight prisons due to lack of criminals. 
• The Netherlands voted “Swaffelen” as their word of the year in 2008. It means to repeatedly smack one’s p*nis against someone or something.
• The IKEA HQ in Delft, Netherlands had to stop offering their €1 breakfast during the weekends because the highways couldn’t handle the traffic it attracted.
• Holland is only a province within the Netherlands, not another name for the country.
• There is an American military cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. On Memorial Day each year, every last grave is “adopted” by a Dutch family that lays flowers over the site.
• Scientists in the Netherlands are developing an ocean cleaning system which uses the ocean’s currents and a barrier to remove plastic waste. A 100 km long system will be deployed in 2020 to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
• In the Netherlands, citizens with disabilities receive public money to pay for sexual services up to 12 times a year.
•  A supermarket chain in the Netherlands has a policy that if all queues have 4 people in them and not all checkout lanes are open yet, then you get your groceries for free.
• For one day in 1940 a section of a hospital in Ottawa, Canada became international territory so a Dutch Princess could be born a full Dutch citizen (a requirement to be a Dutch Princess). Every year the Netherlands sends Canada a gift of tulips to show their gratitude. 
• The crown princess of the Netherlands goes to a public school.
•  In the Netherlands, there is an entire neighborhood with names out of the Tolkien stories.
• The Netherlands is the only country in the world where it is compulsory for everyone to have private health insurance. Premiums are not based on age or health status, but on income & are on average €100 per month.
• The Netherlands built “Smart Highways” which glow in the dark lane markings – symbols that illuminate the road when adverse conditions appear. 
• Netherlands is the 2nd largest exporter of agricultural goods behind the USA, with exports earning $79 billion in 2013. They export two-thirds of the world’s fresh-cut plants, flowers, and flower bulbs.
• One of the longest wars in history, between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, lasted from 1651 to 1986. There were no casualties.
• Netherlands and France share a land border. It’s in the Caribbean on Saint Martin – the smallest inhabited island divided between two countries.
• The Netherlands has a defense system where they can turn the provinces of North and South Holland into an island by flooding any potential crossings into the province.
• Assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands.
• The village of Giethoorn in the Netherlands has no roads. People get around on foot or via one of the village’s many canals.
• An orangutan named Sibu at a zoo in Apeldoorn, Netherlands rejected all attempts made for him to mate with female orangutans. He only exhibited sexual interest in his human female caretakers with a particular penchant for the blonde ones with tattoos
• The Netherlands is the third-largest direct foreign investor in the United States.
• Despite being legal, the rate of Cannabis use by the general population in the Netherlands is lower than the rate in the United States.
• Johanna Westerdijk was the first female professor in the Netherlands. She told her school teacher she would make enough to pay someone to do her chores, was a noted party animal, and started a tradition of dressing geese in costumes and parading them around at university events.
• The largest mountain in the Netherlands is located in the Caribbean.
•  In some countries, in the 70s, including the Netherlands, cassette data storage was so popular that some radio stations would broadcast computer programs that listeners could record onto cassette and then load into their computer.
• In 2009, the UK Government joined the Netherlands and other European nations in encouraging teens to masturbate at least daily. An orgasm was defined as a right in its health pamphlet.
• The Netherlands is constructing special bridges for wildlife in order to connect habitats and keep animals from being hit by cars. 
• There’s a re-migration law/act in the Netherlands that pays qualifying immigrants free flight tickets, all moving expenses and 600 euro per month until the day they die if they move back to their country of origin.
• The Netherlands and the U.K. did not know they were at war with each other for 334 years.
• In 2012 a proposal was made in the Netherlands to create legal, virtual child p*rnography to help satisfy pedophiles’ needs and hopefully make them less likely to act out their fantasies.
• The Netherlands have the highest amount of tornadoes of any European country, followed by the UK.
• The USSR refused to host the 1980 Summer Paralympics after the Moscow Summer Olympics. An official claimed “there are no invalids in the USSR”; the games were held in The Netherlands instead. 
• Shrooms are banned in The Netherlands, but the truffles that come from the same plant and produce the same hallucinogenic effect are fully legal

For dinner we had staampot its a mashed potato and kale dish with sausage.  We also had gouda and sliced apples with a delicious brown bread.  For dessert we had a dutch butter cake.  I loved all the cool things I learned about the Netherlands!!

Some goodies we found from the Netherlands

The licorice wasn't from The Netherlands but apparently they love it over there so we had to add it to our feast.

gouda, apples and sausage

the ingredients for the staampot: kale, leeks, potatoes, onion and sausage

This is the butter cake prior to going into the oven.  I didn't take a picture of it once it was done, but it was very good.

End of 2018, Beginning of 2019 Family Happenings

Happy New Year everyone.  We hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season.  Ours was good, but we are glad its over and are eagerly awaiting next years festivities for an even better Christmas and holiday season.

For Christmas we had a pretty low key event.  The girls spent the holiday in Idaho City with their dad this year so it was just Louis and I.  We did invite my sister and her son Isaiah over for the weekend and did some family Christmas stuff including decorating cookies, looking at Christmas lights and all that jazz.  For Christmas dinner I made us a nice prime rib.  Everyone enjoyed that so it was good times with good food and good people.

For New Years Eve we went over to my BF, Marcie's house.  She just bought a new house in Saguaro Canyon so she wanted to host this year to show her house off.  It's beautiful and I couldn't be more happy for. Also, she is pregnant, just about 2 months or so behind me so that is so awesome!! I've known for about a month now but they finally made it public on Christmas so now I can be publicly stoked to being having a baby at the same time as my BF.  I'll sure we will be having plenty of pool days this summer.  Her neighborhood has a pool, ours doesn't yet.  My mom's does too, so between the two of them I'll sure we have our babies out plenty.

Here is a quick monthly recap of 2018:

January- closed and moved into our house.
February- Girls went to Mexico for two weeks and were in a huge earth quake.  Started volunteering at the Sanctuary.  Started my PT job at the Gap.
March- Zoe's 10th birthday.  Bella's 12th birthday.  Bella took a trip to San Francisco for a Golden State Warriors game.  Zoe took a trip to Portland to pick out her hedgehog, Brillo.
April- My 34th birthday. Picked out Josie, our new Golden Retriever puppy. House got landscaping.
May- Got to bring Josie home. Quit my job at the Gap. Offered job at the Sanctuary. Girls last day of school- Bella's last day of elementary school.
June- Took Zoe on a trip to Lagoon.  Bella went on a trip to Park City for a basketball camp.
July- Girls went to Oregon Coast with nana and papa. Zoe went to horse camp in McCall for a week. Louis went to Singapore for a week for business.
August- Found out I was pregnant! Bella started North Jr High. Zoe's first day of 5th grade.
September- Annual family trip to the pumpkin patch. Cut down to PT at the Sanctuary.
October- Halloween.  Sister and her son moved in with us for 4 weeks. Found out the baby is a boy.
November- Thanksgiving. Girls went to Tahoe for Thanksgiving.
December: Had anatomical US of baby- he looks nice and healthy in there.  Celebrated our first Christmas in the new house.  Gave my 2 weeks notice at the Sanctuary.

We have reached the 22 week mark with Tatum as of tomorrow.  Slowly making our way towards the finish line.  My tummy is getting quite large and the movements are getting to the point now where they are definitely hard enough for others to feel.  Every once in a while you can see the movements too, but that is still pretty rare.  We have his nursery almost complete.  We just need to strip and repaint a bookshelf, get a rug and a lamp and then its all done.  It's super cute in there and once I get the last few things done I will post pictures.

As for big plans for 2019, we don't really have a ton.  With Tatum coming in May, that is pretty much the highlight of the year. Theres talk of us sending the girls to Europe for a month with their dad, but its just in the talking stage now.  Rachel is going to Costa Rica in June I believe- so the girls all have plans. :)  I'm excited for the next few weeks to roll by- get back to some sort of a normal life after the last few months.  Hopefully things will get back to normal and everyone and everything can get back to the way it should be.