An ode to my house

I fell in love with this house the first time I saw it, but man has this house given us a lot of work!!!! We were always fixing, cleaning or worrying about something. It was love at first sight, but unfortunately not a long term match. We are not home improvers, handy or suited to have a big yard because honestly, we don't know what we're doing. And we'd rather be lazy :-). So no more old charming houses for us, only new or rent. Lesson learned.

Despite all that the thought of leaving it forever makes me a little sad :-(. So many memories; parties in the basement, Gizmo sliding on the wooden floors, dinners, rocking Max to sleep, hearing 'momma momma!' coming from his room, seeing him take his first steps from the chair to the couch, yard full of weeds, leaves and snow, ice picks the size of my leg, all of us on a couch that is now way to small, friends, auwies, red wall, pink wall, white walls, visitors, talks, singing 'twinkle twinkle little star' for the millionth time. lying on a rug in the yard watching Max giggle as the wind makes the leaves move, and welcoming Michael home from deployments are just some of them.

Will never forget those either.

Here's a picture of our NEW house.

Happy holidays!

I love this picture, Maxwell, a hat and snow..

Naked!

This morning Maxwell did not want any clothes on. It is very warm in the house, so I said to myself why not? Then he ran around the house singing NAKED NAKED with a big smile on his face :-).

He loves to snuggle with his blankets, the rugs, even the tiny bathroom rug, and clean and dirty laundry when he's naked. When we ask him what he's doing, he says: gggggggg, wieeeeeeeh, which means sleeping :-).

It's that time,

time to go. After more than 5 years we are leaving North Dakota. It was a long wait, but despite all my complaining I would not want to have missed any of it. This is why:

In Minot we bought our first house, first car, I got my my first real job after college and ended up with a job teaching as an online instructor for the university. In Minot I was granted conditional residency, then permanent residency and eventually US citizenship. In Minot we found Gizmo, befriended people, each person very different and learned, now being pretty much the last ones standing, how precious all types of friendships are. In Minot Michael got promoted to Captain, became an Aircraft commander, then instructor, completed his Masters degree, started his Phd in Education and found more piece in Iraq. In Minot we lost friends, experienced hardship, saw the devastation a flood can have on a town and learned to live separated from each other for longer periods of time. 

Most importantly though, in Minot we met Maxwell. There, we found out I was pregnant, learned Max was a healthy growing baby boy and I experienced what it was like to be pregnant, enjoying every day. Minot is were Max is born. There, we watched him grow into a now almost three year old amazing, smart, active, cuddly, very strong willed little boy. We also found out what worries really are. A worry about a child is so much more overwhelming than any worry before ever was. Minot is were Max went to school for the very first time, and where we started letting him go just a little bit, trusting others to teach him as well.

Living in Minot has taught me more about how to appreciate and enjoy the intensity of my life. By living somewhere so completely different than what I knew before, by having to adapt and think outside of my own box, by experiencing loneliness, by meeting and befriending people with very different ideas and lifestyles than mine, and most of all by becoming a mother, I have learned what truly matters, cannot wait to pursue this further.

When I wrote this I had three events of which I hoped they would still happen before we left.

1) Max will talk more and more and eventually catches up.

2) I will become a US citizen.

3) We will sell our house.

I have completed one, let's hope for the other two as well.

We came here just us two and are leaving with three. I hope to come back one day to show Max where he was born. But for now, bye North Dakota, the wait is over and we end our time here gratefully. 

Don't worry :-), I did not completely live in the middle nowhere all these years.This is Minot:

A new American

Last week I had my US citizenship ceremony together with 195 other 'new Americans' and our friends and family's. We had songs, speeches, the actual oath and even a welcome video message from president Obama. It was a real celebration! A few pictures:

Joseph, a fellow Minotion and I waiting (not my best angle),

 taking the oath (The Dutch are def. taller than the rest of the world)

 and a now all American family (sort of :-)

Great experience!

Thanks Jen

But above all it's the best time ever!

Ack

 When we ask him, what's your name he says Ack (which is better than Kots or Ma-kots, true), but still not correct. Mike therefore suggested we go back to city hall and change his name to Ack James Lopez, that way he gets it right :-)

So handsome!

 A penny for his thoughts

As you can see he did not like the camera to much, pictures still came out great though!

1st day at the toddler program

 Need a raincoat and boots,

 diapers, whipes and clean clothes,

 notebooks

 and the rest.

 Mommy and daddy are going with you (we wish).

 Ready? A picture before we go.

 Is this your excited face?

Besides crying when mommy and daddy left (we will keep it a secret who did the crying), the teacher told us you did great. So happy! 

And back home. Just one day, but you already seem bigger to us, love you buddy!

Warning: lots of pictures

I never thought this website's biggest fan would be Maxwell himself. Time for some updates!

We flew to Holland because summers in Holland are the best! 

(Just like winters in Florida :-)

 Max was so excited to see everybody that he just kept going and going until he finally crashed...in the yard...on the grass.

 Did I tell you Maxwell likes water? :-)

 A LOT

Een dagje naar de Efteling!

Ik ben wel blij dat het niet zo warm was, jullie ook? :-)

 Not only did I go to Holland, I went to Bruges and Edinburgh as well!

And some last minute summer fun in Holland, with Michael this time.

Maxwell took this picture! 

50 ways to say good bye, but none of them are fun..

Once again it was great to visit!