Tana's 3rd birthday!

Tana enjoyed her train car cake for her birthday. The girls decorated the chocolate cars and Mommy made strawberry later.

We celebrated Tana's 3rd birthday at our new home in Sittard, Netherlands. After the first week of school and all the unpacking we've been doing, we decided to hang out at home. Dan spent a few hours in the afternoon putting together the girls' new swing. It took us a long time to find one to buy in the area and we finally found it at an unlikely place called Heuts, an auto store, after looking through an ad we got in the mail.

We used frosting as glue to stick the candy on the train cars.

Loralynn and I decorated our covered patio while Tana took a nap. We ordered home delivery pizza and doners for dinner and shortly after, our friends Diane and Frank came over. The girls were utterly delighted to have their company. They got a tour of our messy house, and then we went outside to eat cake and open presents.

It was a simple celebration, and Tana loved it. We had made her train cake the day before. The girls loved decorating the chocolate train cars with candy and then after they went to bed I made a second strawberry train set and frosted them. It was a total of 17 train cars (I left the second engine car off)!

Tana opened her presents and was delighted about each one: a giant dog floor puzzle and water paint

Good thing it rained on Tana's birthday.

coloring book, a mermaid Barbie, and Barbie car, kids' owl umbrella, and a princess block puzzle with six different scenes. We gave Loralynn 10 euro to buy Tana a gift a few days before, and she bought two Dutch board books (useful for us as parents to learn Dutch as well!), a wooden alphabet puzzle, and a rolling butterfly toy. She helped Daddy wrap them that night. She kept the gifts a secret almost until the end! When Tana went to open Loralynn's gifts at her celebration, Loralynn exploded with excited and told everything that was in the wrapping before Tana could get it torn open. I think Loralynn was more excited than Tana! It was so sweet and cute to watch.

Later with Oma and Opa Wilson on Skype, the girls opened a Dora memory and Candy Land game. They wanted to play right away. Tana's attention span for Candy Land isn't there yet, but she really enjoyed the memory (and is really good at it for just barely turning 3 years old! They also put the dog floor puzzle together before bedtime and played with the Barbies. The $3 umbrella we bought at WalMart this summer has been fought over a lot already and now Loralynn has decided she wants an umbrella for her birthday. It's very suitable for our weather here in the Netherlands, so why not? It was sunny the first week of August but since then the weather has been in the low 60s and rainy. Nonetheless, the birthday party was so fun.

Nutmeg, our daschund also celebrated her 8th birthday on the same day as Tana. I'm not making this up. Montana truly was born on the day that Nutmeg turned 5 years old. Tana said she loves sharing her birthday with Nutmeg. The sweet doggie got a "doggie cake" with candles and a new fluffy pillow. She was a happy dog.

Check out the video of the happy birthday song for Tana and then for Nutmeg:

More photos of the party:

Tana sports the Wilson family birthday hat. One size fits all.

Tana and the giant dog floor puzzle from Frank and Diane.

Nutmeg on her new soft birthday pillow.

Friends Diane and Frank.

Our little family at Tana's 3rd birthday party.

Daddy and Tana happily under her new umbrella.

Vacation Bible School in Brunssum, Netherlands

Loralynn attended Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the first time this year. It was a fabulous introduction to our new community here in the Netherlands. At first glance, it seemed that the excitement of it all was overwhelming for Loralynn, but I know she really did enjoy the week-long event. She spent three hours there each morning and was so excited to show us the coloring that she did and the toy that she got each day. "Weird Animals" was the theme and the VBS week taught the kids that God loves them even if they are different. I loved the music CD that she brought home, and we listened to it each morning and evening (and more after VBS was over!). Loralynn started singing along to the songs at home on Friday after the week of activities was complete. She talked to me a few times about giving money so that kids in India could have clean water (a charity VBS collected for at the end of the week). We pulled out her money pouch, and she picked out a small amount of coins.

On Sunday at chapel, Loralynn saw three adults that she had gotten to know at VBS and rushed me over to meet them. She had told me earlier that she liked the grown-ups better than the kids. In any case, I was floored that Loralynn's usual shyness in large groups of people was overcome during the greeting time at chapel so that she took me meet these three ladies whose company she really enjoyed at VBS. I am so thankful for all the people that made this VBS week so wonderful for Loralynn and indirectly for our family!

Our last days in the U.S.

Standing next to a real shuttle that had been to outer space was quite exhilarating!

It's hard to think that it might be two more years before we can visit America again. We had such a splendid summer traveling around and visiting family. Our last two days in the U.S. we spent close to the airport of our departure (LAX).

These are the stats of the space shuttle we saw!

Monday morning we met up with my college roommates and their families. The dads took the five kids to Kidspace Children's Museum while Sara, Evangelia, and myself went to tea with baby Cooper. It was such a relaxed time with no distractions-- almost like we were having our Friday tea at our apartment in college. The only one missing was Jen.

Agapi and Gabriela Zoe speed on a bike at Kidspace.

We all returned to Nate and Sara's Culver City condo in the late afternoon. The guys brought the kids back and then left again to get dinner. It was fun to just be together even in the chaos of kids. The little girls spent a majority of their time dressing up as princesses and role-playing in the bedroom and then playing with baby Cooper.

The next day we met and took the metro to the California Science Center. There was a little bit of everything there. The most unique display was the special exhibit of the space shuttle "Endeavor." It flew it's last mission to space in 2011. In 2012 the enormous shuttle was attached to an airplane and flown to Los Angeles. Then it traveled with pomp and circumstance through the streets of LA to be displayed at the science center.

For dinner Tuesday, we all ate at a make-your-own-pizza restaurant and then had to split up and go our separate ways. My girls absolutely loved hanging out with Gabriela Zoe, Ariel Agape, and Molly. They were so sad to say goodbye. I was, too. Sometimes I miss having close girl roommates. The wonderful thing, though, is that this last winter Jen got us started on calling each other every Tuesday to pray. We don't often have all four of us each week, but it has been a precious time even when only two or three of us can make it.

Left to right: Molly J., Agapi L., Loralynn W., Montana W., and Gabriela Zoe L.

Sandra, Evangelia, Sara, and Jen is missing

Strolling around the California Science Center

Kidspace Children's Museum was a fun place for the five girls and their daddies. 

Molly J. had a great selection of dress up clothes.

Montana and Loralynn enjoyed their free metro ride.

Mother and daughter smile for the camera