Guus Bosman

What a wonderful day. Nora was bouncing off the walls from excitement yesterday and this morning and finally, at 11.00 am, we left for the Embassy.

We were welcomed by four Pieten -- Nora immediately wanted to hug me and hid herself in my shoulders. But a minute later, after discussing the prospect of pepernoten, she gracefully accepted a handful of the Dutch cookies and we went inside.

The ceremony was the same as last year, and as always very well organized. Sinterklaas arrived, spoke a few words with the Ambassador and then made his way to the reception room. Nora went on stage with Sinterklaas all by herself and she had a long chat with the Goedheiligman. It's great to see how she isn't shy. She received a nice gift: a tractor and a Dutch book.

I took the day off on Wednesday and it was great. I wanted to cook some new dishes for Thanksgiving and that was fun. Nora helped me measuring and scooping. For the boys I cooked beets, they really liked that but I had to laundry their clothes afterwards.

I also tried to make gravy but that didn't really work out. I was suspicious of the turkey meat I used so I threw it out and decided to get a ready made container from Whole Foods.

Around 2.00 pm I got them all ready and we went for a walk. We met Sasha at the Metro station and went to the store together, then the playground at Clarendon Commons and then back home. Late in the evening Jonathan and the kids arrived but we were still asleep. A good thing, because at 6.30 am Nora was ready for a new day.

Sometimes we call Adrian бузанчо -- baby with cute cheeks. Nora misunderstood that word and now calls him близанчо, a cute name.

The weather was great today so we went for another long walk in the afternoon. We drove to Court House where we parked and from there we went down the hill to Rosslyn. We had coffee at the Starbucks in the new Target and then continued over the bridge to Georgetown.