Busy, busy, busy...

One thing that we wish we could have while my Mom is still here is some nice weather. We haven't been very fortunate in that aspect. Everyday we wake up to cloudy or semi-cloudy skies, and temperatures under 20 degrees. Oh well, I guess there are still lots of indoor activities we can do.

We have been keeping very busy, as you can probably tell, because I haven't kept up my blog. Every monday and tuesday we have the house full of girls, this week we had 3 girls under 4 years old both monday and tuesday morning. Ilianna loves it when the girls I babysit are here, and she runs to the backdoor to greet them when they arrive in the morning. Here is a picture of her with one of the girls, Helena, 4 years old, who has really become her friend.

Ilianna is really flourishing the last couple of weeks and we are really enjoying watching her develop more. The other morning she asked me if she could watch Bumba, which is her favorite show, and that is the first time she has asked for that. She knows how to ask for her sippy cup, or for Piglet, but this was a real breakthrough! It's funny how a little thing like that can really excite us! It's also been alot easier to get her attention lately, and she's been responding better and she's starting to communicate with us. Yesterday Mom and I picked her up from preschool and when she came out of the classroom into the room where all the parents are waiting, she ran up to me again, which she has been starting to do the last couple of weeks. Only yesterday she also looked around to see if Beppe was also there! I think its going to take a bit of adjusting on all our parts once Beppe leaves again...

Yesterday Mom and I went to Ferwert and it was beautiful weather for taking pictures, so we took some nice pictures in Butenfjild and some other places.

We ended the day yesterday by going out for dinner at the pancake ship or pannenkoekschip in Ljouwert. It was a really nice time and the pancakes were delicious!! Ilianna also thought it was very interesting, and as usual, was no trouble at all!

Today we celebrated her birthday with family and friends and tomorrow, her actual birthday, we are babysitting again, but we will try to celebrate it a little bit as well. It's crazy to think that she is already 3 years old!! I'll add more pictures of her birthday party this week.