Guus Bosman

Saturday afternoon we went to the Dutch Embassy to visit Sinterklaas.

This year the boys have been really into the celebration, they understand it well now.

Nora was calm and collected, and has a conversation with Sinterklaas. Leo and Adrian didn't say a word, Leo was smiling all the time though.

After collecting the gift, Leo whispered: "Ik wil slapen" and so we left back to home.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal with the Zane family and my cousin Eva.

More text later -- here are the pictures.

Eva arrived today! She is joining us for Thanksgiving and she traveled from Chicago today. In the morning she went to the Dutch Embassy, and in the afternoon she came to Arlington. Eva and I picked up Nora from the bus -- Nora loved it. She jumped up and down and pretending to be shy but then they walked home hand-in-hand.

We made a Sinterklaas kijkdoos together and in the evening when Sasha came home we to Pilates the three of us. At night Eva read a story to the kids, and more went they went to bed (though Adrian insisted to be read by me).

It's great to see her, and an excellent start of the holiday.

The cap of a soap bottle got stuck in the drain of the bathtub. We use it for bathing the kids, so it's no big deal if draining is slower, but next week we'll have guests so I wanted to fix it.

I spent 30 minutes trying to get the bottle cap out, no luck. I went downstairs to call a plumber, when I did a quick Google search. Someone recommended to use a shopvac for this situation and sure enough -- that did it! The cap came out in 5 seconds.

It's really wonderful to work with a kid one-on-one, teaching them.

Even on Sunday morning at 6.30 am.

Halloween is a big event in our house... today we went to get Nora's new outfit. The boys received a nice fireman costume from Oma & Opa in the summer, so they're all set.

We went to the Party City store on Columbia Pike. It was busy but not crazily so. Getting there was a bit of an adventure though -- the car didn't start! It seems like there's a problem with the battery. I took my bike to Cherrydale Auto Parts and got a jump start pack, and that did the trick. We didn't need it on our way back from Party City but I'm going to bring it in for service for sure.

Nora choose to be a witch, with a black hat and a broom.

Earlier in the morning it was raining and we went for a walk in Hayes Park, collecting acorns.

We went to see the decorated houses at Jackson Street tonight. It was a lot of excitement for the kids, from the moment we told them at dinner there was a lot of laughter and giggling.

We saw about 12 houses, some were scary even for adults, others were funny. At some point, a man passed by with a dog with a shiny collar. The kids were so excited and yelled "Halloween hond! Halloween hond!" (dog). We saw the old favorite, the "hand washing the window".

Adrian had enough at the end, Leo wanted to see more, but 30 minutes of excitement were plenty.

It was a rainy weekend and the kids loved the fall weather. We went to Hayes Park to pick acorns, it was terrific.

Working with the kids on their Dutch is my happy place -- it is so rewarding to teach them and a great bonding experience. Leo is slowly stopping his naps, and he's kind of ready to start "working" with me.

Nora finished kern 10 today -- two more to go and she'll have completed Veilig Leren Lezen. She used her new Loco Maxi for the first time today.

Leo slept for a full hour, which is relatively short, but when he woke up he was fresh. I took him downstairs and we started working together for the first time. He did 3 Loco's, 3 Bobo worksheets and now he's working on the iPod with the Juf Jannie apps.

Adrian shows no signs of stopping his naps yet (good for him!). He's done several Bobo worksheets too but we haven't really had much time to work together yet. All in due time.

Leo woke up fresh around 4.00 pm and he did his first Loco. We did the first two exercises together.

Later Nora came downstairs and she helped Leo with the third exercise.