Last First Day for Jennifer, Maria and Leah

Wednesday was Maria's last first day of school. She is a Senior in high school! It is so hard to believe she is that old. It was also the last first day of elementary school for Leah and Jennifer. In Indiana they would have started middle school this year as 6th graders, but here the middle school starts in 7th grade. I am happy to put off middle school for one more year!

The bus comes right to our front gate. Lucky us! If the girls aren't ready, our driver even waits for a little bit. We like him a lot and were glad to see the familiar face when the bus pulled up.

On Tuesday Maria turned 18 and celebrated with all her friends at a "Back to School/Birthday Brunch" hosted by one of the sweetest kids I have ever met. I know there are pictures out there somewhere...Maria always chooses pumpkin pie over birthday cake. Canned pumpkin is not a staple here in Belgium so I have to hunt a little harder to find it in the store. I paid the equivalent of $4 for one can!!

Above are the cupcakes Maria took to the Birthday Brunch.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday!

Julie - Aug. 22, Maria - Aug. 25, Papa - Aug. 29, Uncle Jim - Sept. 2

I know the video is sideways. I am trying to fix it!!! For now, just turn your head to the right. That isn't too inconvenient, is it?

Twin Rainbows

My budding twin photographers caught twin rainbows tonight right outside of our back door. The first picture was taken by Jennifer without a flash and the second was taken by Leah with a flash. They took 19 other pictures of the rainbow from different views around the house. These pictures were their favorites and showed both rainbows the best. You really had to search for the second one!

Fore!!!! Golf on Saturday

Bob and I played golf yesterday. Bob's swing is so different than it used to be. He stays centered but gets a lot of power without looking like he is putting forth too much effort. (Bill, you would approve!) I spent most of the day in the right hand rough. My game was all over the place, I lost 3 balls and 3 putted practically every hole. The number 7 came up very frequently on my score card which doesn't add up to a very good round of golf. We walked the whole course and had some great exercise, but my game was horrible.

On the up side, the weather was beautiful. So far the Belgium summer has been great without too much rain and lots of sun.

Question: When you play golf in French speaking Belgium, and someone hits a ball very near another player, should you yell "FORE!" or "QUATRE!"?

Hometime

Our travels for the summer are over (except a trip or two to Disney!) and Kaitlin has returned to the US so the girls found themselves to be a little bored. Imagine that, nothing to do in Europe? Actually we have kept extremely busy, but one day the weather was cold and rainy so Jennifer decided to form a cake baking company. She hired her sisters and they started to work on their very first cake. They used a US box mix, obtained from our good friend who gets to shop at the army base, but made their own icing. Jennifer owns a very cool decorating kit and I think they used just about every single tool available.

The result was a yummy cake and a very fun day together.

When I was looking at these pictures I noticed just how much the kids have changed. The picture below shows the difference in height. Maria is peeking over the top of the twins. Look how tall Leah is!!!

Since the first cake in Jenn Designs Cake Factory, 2 more have been made. Now the girls are looking for more excuses to bake a cake!

Even more pics

Mini Europe. This place has a miniature of all the major sites in Europe. We brought Kaitlin here at the end of her trip to see all the places she had been. The girls are standing in front of the bell tower in Brugge and in the very back is the huge Atomium, another landmark in Brussels.

Kaitlin finally got a waffle!

Some final pics of the girls and Kaitlin around Belgium

On the boat ride in Gent

Castle in Gent. The torture chamber was eerie!