Guus Bosman

We went to the Air and Space museum yesterday afternoon. The boys had been to the Udar-Hazy building with Opa & Oma, but never in the main one. We spent an hour and half there.

In the exhibition about GPS there was a life-size cut-out of a fireman. This made a deep impression on Adrian. Later he said "meneer! helm! [gez]ien!"

The boys also liked an early example of a self-driving car, and the statue of the first dog in Antarctica.

Later we went for dinner in the Silver Diner.

We woke up our usual time -- around 7.00 am -- and it took about 15 minutes before all the kids were fully awake and downstairs. Like every day, they are excited to discover what's happening in the living room and watch through the windows to see what's going on outside.

Sasha and I had a nice New Year's breakfast -- after everyone else had their cereal with strawberries. We had the Vienna concert on in the background. Then we Skyped with Middenmeer -- Opa & Oma and Ettie & Gerben and the kids. Opa had a cold, too. Then on to Perushtitsa.

Afterwards we went for a New Year's walk to the playground and back.

Adrian insisted to eat his breakfast by himself, and Leo concurred. That made our morning a little easier though of course it resulted in more cleanup and a change of pants. Adrian was fishing out the raisins from his muesli but he was hungry enough to eat the oats as well.

Nora and I went to a new playground in the morning, Fort Barnard. It's a 15 minute drive from home. Normally we walk to nearby playgrounds but it's nice to see different ones from time to time. This one was recommended as 'worth the drive' on TBD and I agree with that assessment. It's a little small but fun things to play with and a wonderful tower that Nora spent virtually the entire time in.

For lunch we went to the boterhammenrestaurant. There were brief tears when the sandwich bread were baguette slices but that was easily resolved.

At 3.00 pm Ela came over for a play date, and later we all went to Quincy Park together. On the way to there we saw Ginny, who later informed Baka so Mia arrived shortly later, and in the playground we met Rado and Maria and the kids.

Back home I cooked a chicken broccoli stir-fry.

Christmas morning was around the dining room table this year, because that is where our new tree is. The warmth and coziness was still the same, it was a wonderful celebration.

Nora received a large present: a large cardboard house to draw on. The boys were very pleased with their "bus", a camper that from Rado & Maria.

I used my kitchen aid stand mixer to make fresh bread for lunch. We had a 15 lbs turkey for dinner, with sauerkraut the Bulgarian way.

Christmas was much more relaxed than last year. We scaled down a few things and were pretty diligent about preparing everything ahead of time. The boys are also easier to manage then a year ago.

We had a wonderful and relaxing budni vecher celebration yesterday. Three families together, and a whole bunch of kids.

The Zane family arrived around 5.00 pm, Rado and Maria half an hour later. We started with a glass of wine and home-roasted peanuts, while the kids ran around and had a blast. We made the table together and warmed our dishes, and had a lovely meal.

Busy day today. Brought Nora to her school -- last day of the year, then Sasha to work. From there to Heidelberg to buy German bread.

Then I went to the Optimist Christmas tree sale on Glebe but they weren't open yet so then I went to Home Depot. But first I stopped at Target to have my morning coffee, and there I bought a few small things. Then on to Home Depot where I took a bunch of greens for a project with Nora tomorrow. Checked out Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts for some more gear for said project. Finally I went home, wrapped some presents and then at noon I picked up Nora from school.

Then Nora and I had lunch with Rien at her work at FSI She's a Dutch language teacher and we spoke with her students for 90 minutes, great practice for them and fun for us. Nora enjoyed seeing the school. Afterwards we went to the "blauwe speeltuin" -- Rocky Run Park. A great day.

For our year overviews I calculated our diaper usage over the past two years.

We've gone from an average of 400 diapers per month to 280 diapers per month.

We've done virtually all our purchases online so getting the data was easy.

People are often surprised at how different Leo and Adrian are. Yes, they are twins, but they're fraternal twins so genetically are as different as regular siblings.

This morning I gave them each a sandwich with cheese. Leo finished all his bread first, Adrian all his cheese.

The other day Adrian fell on his front tooth, and it got partially pushed back in. I brought him to the dentist yesterday to have it checked out.

The dentist wasn't worried about it and said the tooth should come back down by itself in a couple of weeks.

I took Adrian by bicycle, which he was excited about. "Helm!" he said several times. We used the new windscreen for the bike, which was good because it was cold.

Yesterday was pakjesavond and we had a wonderful time.

It was a little tricky doing all the logistics with 3 little kids crawling around but it worked out. After the boys ate (kale with bacon), and after Sasha and Nora came back downstairs after trying Nora's new gymnatics outfit, there was a loud noise on the door. And look! There was a sack and a box -- just like Nora predicted from previous years. The boys were excited too, they needed an extra hug.

When we brought the presents in, the kids wanted to open them immediately and Leo succeeded in tearing the paper off one of the gifts right away. But no, one gift at the time... wait for everybody to sit down... We all had an excellent time.

Started at 5:30 pm, done in about 45 minutes.

• Nora: basket and bell for her bike, schort & paint, boek Kleine Kapitein, Lego firetruck.

• Leo & Adrian both got two gifts each. A big helicopter, a Playmobil garbage truck and a Playmobil bulldozer. And for the two of them a windshield for the bike.
• Sasha & I got a few gifts too, including very precious Christmas tree decorations. And Christmas lights for one my bicycle.