Sunshine
5
The sun came for a visit and we soaked in as much as we possibly could
School is in
Ezra’s 1st day of school was Monday!
What an exciting time it has been for him leading up to this point. He’s a very social child…loves meeting new people and playing with new friends…he just loves people! So going to school is the creme de la creme for our little guy. He adores school and we feel very fortunate that he gets to attend the Montessori Binnestad..in the US Montessori schools are private and very expensive. So off goes the fantastic Mr E with his new fantastic Mr Fox rugzak(backpack) :-)
{even the dark mornings can’t deter his happiness with going to schoooooooooool}
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oh and just a fun pic from NYE..E preparing for fireworks with his very beloved cousins Bram, Pim and Freek:-)
Birthday/Christmas
Gigi visits! Ezra’s birthday! Christmas! December has come and gone in a flash..
E had an awesome Birthday party with friends and family…the next day we hopped the train to Amsterdam for the Nemo science Museum….super fun weekend… he loved every minute:)
~we love you Ezra Chala Willems!~
~Papa reading E’s favorite..Pete the Cat~
~enclosed in a huge bubble at Nemo..cool~
~Celebrating his bday on his last week at Peuterspeelzaal..we’ll miss Juffrouw Farade and Carina 
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~lovin’ his box of goodies from Aunt Sharon, Uncle Stuart and Isla Kate..superhero starter kit..awesome!~
For Christmas Eve we had erwtensoep and pannenkoeken(pea soup and pancakes)..very Dutch:)
~mom was digging her pannenkoek..sort of between a crepe and american pancake~
~and gigi gets a chocolate letter..also very Dutch~
~we celebrate Sinterklaas & Santa Clause..have to keep both our traditions alive…..only with a gift or two though..Sint brought a blue bike w/pedals(!) and Santa a sled:)~
We took an awesome drive to the Belgian Ardennes…. found snow(!) aaanndd a La Chouffe tasting(oh yeah:))..
Can you see E went very quickly from smily happy to crying?..His own Papa smacked him with a snowball! Ooohhh Papa;)
And our last little adventure was an awesome 2 hour hike near the Belgian village of Teuven…then a great lunch at a super charming cafe…Moeder de Gans(Mother the Goose:)
Good Times:)
Wishing you all a joy filled 2012!
A secret…
I have a secret…and am itching to share it…the plans are in action…. the excitement level is super high…
I promise to share soon but for now..here’s a hint:-)
~made by my surprisingly crafty hubs for my birthday~
Happy Sinterklaas!
It’s been so sweet to plan and make Christmas crafts, bake cookies, and start the holiday season with Ezra.
ornaments! paper snowflakes! advent calendar!
He very much loves this time as most kids do but also because he and Mama have a bday in this month..makes it extra special for all of us:) I love love loved making him the advent calendar..super easy and he’s very excited to look each day to see what special “thing” we will do…make cookies, or hike and collect nuts in the forest, or watch a christmas movie with popcorn…my friend K really saved the day with such a fab idea:)
Growing up we always put our tree up on my Bday and although not the norm in the Netherlands, we had to have it up before Sinterklass visited today;))
Our house is now all decorated with woodland creatures, fake snow…Ezra LOVES and talks about snow nonstop:), we’ve been playing Christmas music, reading Christmas books..we’re getting in the spirit over here:)
Happy Sinterklaas and Merry Chistmas to you and yours..hope it’s a beautiful time :-)
Ezra climbs in his chair every day sometimes several times to listen to Gigi read “Twas the Night Before Christmas”…at the end she says, “Merry Christmas Ezra, I love you, Gigi” and he says..”Oh Mama, our Gigi is sooo sweet:)”
Lately
Highlights of the last 2 weeks……
A nice Friday afternoon/evening with Gabby, Shana and Mo in the city mainly to see Mo at Judo class. Ezra is so excited to start both swim lessons and Judo at the beginning of the year(you must be 4). He loved seeing the big kids practicing and also spending time with his buddy Mo..they sooo love each other.
A day in the city with Papa eating lunch at our favorite cafe..Ipanema..it’s in the Bonnafanten Museum and everything is homemade! We viewed E’s artwork in the museum..several months ago we checked out Cultural Day Maastricht..every year all over the city there are different art performances/exhibits/etc to open the new cultural season..well E painted on a big canvas in the park that is now in the museum;-)
A hike at one of our new favorite spots along the edge of the forest and overlooking the city of Teuven, Belgium.
A Saturday evening stroll around our city taking in the Christmas lights/vibe AND a yummy pizza..Maastricht really is such a beautiful city!
Oh and I must not forget that Sinterklaas has also visited a couple of times…E put a carrot and a cookie in his clogs for Sint and his horse…then the next morning he received a little gift..paper planes… little cars..nothing big..that’s reserved for December 5th:-)))
Great times we’ve had but this Sunday was super! We stayed in all day from the cold and rain making ornaments and baking Speculaas cookies…very traditional Dutch for the holidays and oh so good. Ezra had the best time rolling out the dough..pressing into the form, scraping the dough, BUT the best part for him was banging the wood form to get the cookie out:)…15 minutes later and we were happy campers:)))
Finally
With time to reflect on our trip back to the US sooo many wonderful memories have given me reason to smile big at any given moment…we may not have all the pics to show for it but the memories are there forever
Ezra playing nonstop with Mom and Grandma, Grandma reading to Ezra, Mom and Ezra playing football(soccer!),Ezra playing at Sunset Beach and loving every minute of the salty, warm air and water, fun times with Aunt Lisa, Unlce Anthony, Mom, Blythe, and Grandma around a bonfire, a good ol’ southern dinner at Grandma Heath’s, dancing in the kitchen with Tammy, Ben and Uncle Juju renewing their chess game after 1.5 years!, walking in downtown Asheville, the most amazing independently owned bookstore on the planet..Malaprops, the organic saturday markets, the urban asheville art trail with Sharon and Stuart, isla kate + ezra=true love forever, a super fun night out with S&S sans kiddies, sitting with the best of friends..having great drinks and eating fantastic food..truly priceless, white duck taco shop!, halloween with the Luckinbills, Neomonde lebanese deli…a tradition for mom & I, dinner and sharing and happy times at Petra and Patric’s(moonshine!), our last meal at one of my top 5 restaurants of all time…Waraji. What an amazing trip we had and I’m sure I’ve left off something that will give me an “oh no” moment later..it was just that packed with goodness:))
sweet stuff
This is the sweetest, most heart warming sight to me:)
Disclaimer: I’ve been working on the pics to post and am just sick over the fact that many were lost while transferring to our computer..my hubs(that I do love dearly 99% of the time)somehow deleted {cough}alot of them..we have Asheville but many moments with Mom and Grandma are gone. I really do love him most of the time 
How to even begin…Ch 1
Our trip to the US and our other “home” was amazing..busy, very very busy but amazing none the less. I’m clueless as to where to start because there is sooooo much to talk about but here goes the extremely condensed version…
ezra and gigi and grandma spending many days together….priceless
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Asheville (!)…. (!)
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Sunset Beach
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family and the dearest best of friends
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food..and not just food…good F’in food(yes, the F word is necessary…just THAT good)
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suuuuuuuuuuuuunnn….. lots and lots of it
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bubble baths at every house we visited
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bonfires
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moonshine!
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more than enough L-O-V-E to last us through the winter
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After such a wonderful trip…. I must say…it is very nice to be back home…. back in our house that we love….. back with friends/ family/neighbors we love…. and back in the country that has become truly a home.
{{One thousand and 1 pics to follow }}
And so it begins..
An 8 year struggle
the grief.sadness.questioning.
Why?
Oh but such pure Love & Joy
Ezra!
Grow our family
Difficulties..the Why..some can relate
Why? Why?
You beloveds that have held true, authentic, compassion and empathy..WE LOVE YOU!
Time heals
We have choices
We choose
A brother?
A sister?
Ezra is overjoyed!
Follow us on the journey back to Ethiopia…
