First Day of School!!

They're off! It is officially the FIRST day of the 2010-2011 school year. Am I excited? YES!!!! It is always wonderful to have vacation time, but I do enjoy the routine and flow of the more 'organized' days. So here they are before school today!

Krista age 11, is in 6th grade this year and gets to change schools! Instead of going to the local middle school  for "College", she has decided to go to a school that offers English as a primary language of education. She will still have French, but her primary language will be in English. This will be a big change for her! She was SO excited this a.m. before leaving. Not only does she enter the "middle school" which is a big change in itself, but she is also changing her language of operation. Even though she is fluent in English, it is not easy switching education languages. She will also go to school with Toomas this year and return when he finishes work. The drive is about 30 minutes so it isn't easy for me to just swing by the school anymore.

Erik is entering 3rd grade this year. He will have the same teach as Krista had 2 years ago..so the path is layed out for him. Luckily Krista's teacher like her a lot, but he'll have big shoes to fill!

Kaitlyn is startting full day pre-school this year. It is her 2nd year of pre-school...and although she LOVES school, she was in tears this a.m. when we got there. The coat hangers are about 12 inches higher on the big kid classroom. She wanted to stay in the "petit" section (1st year pre-school). She is in a class with 30 children...17 are in kindergarten (age 5) and 13 are in their 2nd year of pre-school (age 4). This year will REALLY help Kaitlyn progress in the French langage!!!

New School Year Kick Off!

So it is offical, the 2009/2010 school year is in full gear! The kids were up at 6:45 (on their own) this a.m. and SO excited to start the day! I put everyone down by 9 last night and Evan went down at 8! We are off to a good start and I'm hoping to keep it that way!

Erik is entering 2nd grade today and Krista will be in 5th grade. This was the LAST "First Day" that she'll have in this school! I can't believe that! It seems like yesterday she was in her first day of Elementary school there!

It was great to see all the parents and kids this morning. We arrived at school before the gate opened and then I stayed until the bell rang and the kids went inside the building. Today they were allowed to socialize and parents were welcomed into the courtyard. The only year where parents are allowed in the school building is for the first year (CP).

I am so happy the kids are so looking forward to starting off a new year! They were both chanting last night "We can't wait for homework!!! We can't wait for homework!".. I had to get the video camera out for that because I'm sure they'll be chanting the opposite in 5 years time (but hopefully not!).

I LOVED my morning with Kaitlyn and Evan today. I'm feeling very happy about the fresh new start! I got a lot done this a.m. since Evan took a nice big morning nap from 9:30 to 11:30. I even had time to make a onetruemedia video!

When I picked the kids up from lunch they were THRILLED! Both had wonderful mornings. Krista just loves her new teacher (this is the 1st year the teacher has been at our school) and Erik has one of Krista's favorite teachers from when she was in 3rd grade. We lucked out big time. SO happy that they are content! We had black bean burritos for lunch (Erik's favorite food in the world) and I just sent them back for the afternoon. Evan is doing his afternoon nap now and I'm just praying that this rhythm will continue!!!!

The Kids in the Yard and Recent Happenings...

Wow, the days are swirling by FAST! The weather has warmed up and spring is in the air. I suppose that is my excuse for not getting a post (or two) up here until today! Things have been hectic since Erik's birthday. I still have to post a recap of his group birthday party, but I'll save that for when I have a bit more time. In a nutshell it was a hit. In all he invited 7 boys (and only boys) so we decided to have it at an indoor play area (to save my sanity.... and my house). It was really great and he (and all the kids) had a blast. I have lots of pictures so stay tuned...

Things have just been so busy lately since the weather has finally taken a turn for the better. I've really been on the go non-stop. Lets see...I've mowed the lawn, high pressure cleaned each and every brick on the terrace, cleaned & brought up the patio furniture, Easter shopping, scrubbed the outdoor electric boxes (which were filthy), caught up on laundry, plus washed all of the winter coats to put in storage, hmmmm and of course all of this while nursing a growing little baby boy and chasing after Kaitlyn who has been running around in the yard in complete heaven!! Speaking of the yard...Kaitlyn got a tick yesterday. Let me tell you it isn't easy removing a tick from a 2 year old. I did manage to get most of the tick out, but there was a small trace remaining. This a.m. Toomas ran over to the local Generalist to have him take a look to see if the head was out. He said the head was removed (yay!), but there was a bit of the leg remaining and gave us a sterile needle if we wanted to try and get it out. Toomas said the doctor started to try to get the rest out, but then quickly gave up when he realized his competition. Kaitlyn is no push-over and if she doesn't want to do something, it isn't happening! He gave us a RX for a Lyme test which I may wait to do because we get SO many ticks around here. I think we probabally topped out at about 20 last season with all of us combined. It is a nightly ordeal around here doing tick checks at tubby time. Ahhh...the joys of nature! One of the downsides of haivng a forest lot, but we do love our view. I hate all of the ticks but it really goes with the terretory (literally).

And speaking of the house...BIG NEWS, our landscaper is in action!! Our entry and driveway will soon be done! I'll have a big entry on that soon...with photos of the process! We've been waiting nearly 2 years for this project so it is very exciting that it is now in motion! HOORAY!

Krista and Evan--A great big sister!

Just a few shots of the eldest and youngest!!! It is really great having a 9 year old around to rock Evan. She loves it too...just as long as he doesn't throw up on her. SHE HATES THAT! She also loves pushing his stroller...a girl's dream come true! And who wouldn't love staring down at that little face all bundled up in his stroller?!.

Photo Collage

CLICK the image!! :)

Big Kids

I took some photos of the big kids with Evan when he was a mere 1 week old. I was looking through them today and he is just so SMALL! I am going to do another shoot with all the kids again soon. It can be a bit tricky with Kaitlyn, but we'll get her in there one way or another!! I just love this picture. He is just so NEW. You can still see all his flaky baby skin. I'll post some more favs soon.

The Littles Are Sick

This week's news is that the 2 little members of the family are sick. Both Kaitlyn and Erik are struggling this week with the stomach flu! It hasn't been a fun week for them---fevers (up to 103.5), thowing up, blow-out diapers for Kaitlyn and lots of trips to the bathroom for Erik. I am glad that at least Toomas, Krista and myself have been spared from this so we can help out to make them feel better! I've sure done a lot of laundry this week. The machine has been going non-stop. Last night at 1 am I changed Kaitlyn's diaper FOUR times in the span of 20 minutes. There should have been a hidden camera in her room--I would lierally finish cleaning her up, get a fresh, clean diaper on her, put her pj's back on, wash my hands and then again ----that SOUND requiring another diaper change! After the 4th diaper both Kaitlyn and I had enough! Fortunately 4 was the lucky number and she managed to sleep afterwards. She hasn't been as plagued by the throwing up as Erik has though....poor little man!

In other news, Toomas went to Paris a few days ago to get the kids their European Union passports! Since Estonia is now a member of the EU they are all entitled to Estonian EU passports! I think it is great that they are passport holders from both USA and Estonia---they will be able to work, live and study without problems in Europe and America! This will be great for when they are older. So, in order to get the passports Toomas had to travel to Paris. The upshot was that he hit the Disney and Gap stores there and got a bunch of new clothes for the kids!! What a GREAT Dad! Here are a few pics from his passport/shopping trip to Paris!

Snowy Days!

We got our first snow this week! You can see Krista and Erik standing in our backyard--although you can't see much of it under all that snow! It sure is pretty to look out from the family room and see the snow, the forest and fields behind. We (like many) have had a wonderfully mild winter so far. Now we are in the thick of winter though--with a good 6-8 inches underfoot. The kids are loving it! Erik had a blast making snow angels and was in and out all day on Wednesday (their day off from school). He went to his baby-gym class on Wednesday morning, but it was cancelled due to weather. He was SO excited to come home and play in the snow--he just couldn't get enough of it! I caught him about a dozen times eating the snow. Krista loved it too and was helping all the neighbors get the snow off their cars. We are lucky to have a wonderfully warm 2 car garage. NO scraping the cars this year. Last year in the rental house we had room in the garage for only one car and it was no fun in the mornings! I am fully appreciating these 2 garages right now. Who knows how long the snow will last. It has been cold for a good part of the week, but I've heard it won't last for long. Anyway it's snowy for now and brrrh is it ever cold out there!

Touring the Kid's Bedrooms...

A few of you have asked me what the INSIDE of our house looks like. I've posted a lot of exterior shots, so here is a quick tour of a few of the rooms :) I guess I'll start with Erik and Krista's rooms. I'll be sure to post a few more rooms in a future post.

Just this past week we had a few finishing touches done to the house. The first floor foyer coat closet was installed (with extra shelf space that goes all the way to the ceiling! Hooray!) and there was a linen closet installed on our floor in front of the master bathroom. All in all, most everything is finished; although now we need to stain the wood doors that were installed (I'll send photos when the job is complete).

Krista is in love with Diddle. A little mouse from Germany. I suppose it is equivalent to Minnie/Mickey Mouse, but a LOT more popular in Europe. There are notepads, pens, lip glosses, makeup, posters, stickers...and a lot more to collect and trade. The girls trade the sheets and try to collect as many pads as they can. Anyway, Krista has a Diddle comforter cover, clock, posters and tons of Diddle decorations as her "theme".

Erik's room is of course dec'd out in the pirate theme! He couldn't be luckier that the film "Pirates of The Carribean" sequel came out because there is plenty of pirate items out on the market. He has flags, numerous pirate ships, a pirate map rug, wooden pirate stick ups as a border, and even pirate garland lights on his walls.

So, enjoy the kids rooms!!!

Miss Krista's Room














Master Erik's Room

The New Car Seat and Funny Story

So HOORAY, we found a carseat! We have a pretty particular situation because I REFUSE to let any of the kids ride in the front seat of my car (the airbag cannot be turned off). Our backseat only has 2 shoulder belts and the seat in the middle is only a lap belt. Krista and Erik of course need the lap and shoulder combo belt because their carseats --which are essentially padded boosters, use the belt from the car (so they need the shoulder part). Kaitlyn is now in the carrier and the base fortunately takes just the lap belt so she is in the middle. Anyway, after trips to 3 baby stores I have learned that you can only find carseats for the ISOFIX system which we don't have, or a lap/shoulder belt combo. They simply no longer sell the carseats that can be attached with just the lap belt (which they DID have only last year). So, after finding that out I was worried that we'd need a new car.BUT THEN, I stumbled upon a WONDERFUL carseat made by BRITAX (very esteemed manufacturer of seats) and it was available ONLY by mail and comes from Belgium! So we got the new seat and it looks FANTASTICLY safe! It is very padded and is designed for installation with EITHER the lapbelt or the lap/shoulder combo! We tried it out in the car and it has a very snug and srong fit. So, until Kaitlyn hits 18 kg we are set (we have a good 3.5 years to go until that happens)!

Oh and a funny story about the positioning of the seats in the car too--- A few months ago we were talking about family order and that Erik has now become the middle child. We really didn't think the kids were listening while we talked about this but they were!!! Anyway, upon hearing that he was the "middle" child, Erik blurted out-- "I'm NOT the middle child! KAITLYN is the middle child".... We explained to him that no, infact he IS the middle child and he said "NO!!! Kaitlyn is in the middle seat in the car!" And here they are....According to Erik's theory- Kaitlyn is INDEED the middle child!

A Family of Identical Twins

Double the Fun!!



















I thought this was funny! This is what we would look like if we were a family of identical twins.

We went to the aquarium last week in Obernai and had a blast. One of the rooms had an enormous tank filled with sharks that was in a room of mirrors. The effect was really amazing. You felt like you were underwater yourself! You also got to see what your kids would look like if they had been identical twins!!!

And finally...Kaitlyn with her twin sister!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

On Grandma's Special Day....


Dear Grandma,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR GRANDMA....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

It sure is hard being so far away from family when it is celebration time, but we are at least grateful we had such a special October visit together!

Here are 2 videos of the kids singing to Grandma..The first was just a warm up...the second is much more lively :) Enjoy!




And with a bit more energy...




Love to Grandma from all of us!!!
Kelly, Toomas, Krista, Erik and Kaitlyn

Who's Who???

Hi all..

I have received a LOT of comments from our friends here in France about how much Kaitlyn looks like Krista...so I decided to dust off the albums from 1999 and take a look back.

I must admit--but you be the judge---that there is a strong family resemblance for sure!! There's no denying these girls are related! I found one from November of 1999 (so both girls are around 5 months of age)....

Here they are:
Same Swing...Different Baby!

Two Bugs In A Rug

= Friends Forever!


Here they are..my two little ladybug bed-bugs! They are certainly going to be great friends one day---well, they

already are if that is possible. You should see Kaitlyn's face light up when Krista walks in the room and starts to talk or sing to her. Just amazing! Or, if Kaitlyn is crying or fussing....plopping her on Krista's lap almost ALWAYS does the trick (lucky for me)!

Okay here are a few more photos of the great friends together...AND stay tuned tomorrow for a sister look-alike contest!