Mother's Day Recap!

Mother's Day was so incredibly perfect this year. Most years we do the same thing: dinner out, maybe a movie or activity of my choosing and some gift giving. But this year, the activity choosing was out of my hands...let me explain...

The day started off with my friend and I participating in a local race. I won't even try to write the name of it, but we had a blast.

You don't have a race in Holland with out a windmill on the course!

....or some farmland...

My friend ran the 5k so was able to get some photos of me on the course!

This was the first time I'd run 6 miles consecutively in years.

I haven't run since. I need to rectify that. I need some running buddies me thinks.

They had a nice festival after with some delicious food.

A Pina Colada in a coconut!

A real burrito made by a real Mexican and some real BBQ ribs made by a Roy. Life was good this day.

After, we biked home I changed and met up with the kiddo and we went down to meet the hubby/her dad at his work. He was running behind so we grabbed some Starbucks..

White chocolate mocha bliss.

Then this pulls up:

How adorable are they?! That is my hubby and our friend Jim. They rented a boat for the day and surprised me...it was pretty epic!

Iconic bridge.

We had a nice ride around the canals.

Makes ya feel like your in there with me right?!

I must say we took a canal cruise last year right after Jim got here and it was ok, but not having the top on the boat really gave you a good look at the architecture.

Very pinterest worthy wine bottle trees...I bet they drank all that on King's Day.

There were tons of other people on the canal that day. After cruising for a solid 90 minutes I think we pulled over and had dinner at this place called Antonio's..it was really good and the service was amazing as well.

I did have something healthy that day!

Veggie lasagna? Yes, please!

We then got back into the boat and cruised around a bit more as the sunset.

I swear this is a different bridge! haha

This was almost a week after all the VE Day stuff, these were laid out on the 4th. All holocaust memorials were covered in flowers. This is the AIDS Memorial.

Going under on of the many bridges.

I love this city!

It truly was a very memorable day. I was even gifted a great top and a very cute skirt that if Amsterdam ever decides it wants to hold on to the warm weather I could actually wear the outfit sometime.

We hope you had a lovely day celebrating your mother in your life!

How did you celebrate Mother's Day? Does your family have any fun traditions?

What I Ate Wednesday Birthday Recap!!!!!

Some of you may or may not know, but Monday was my birthday! I was a little sad because 1) my hubby had to be gone on my birthday due to a business trip and 2) when we celebrated Sunday he was sick. Like seriously, so, so, so, so, so sick. He had no energy and with a business trip on the horizon I was not going to jeopardize his health so I ran to the store and got some premade goodies and cake. The teenager escorted me hehe See what we ate below.

Here's the recap:

Sunday Celebrations:

Birthday Appetizers:

Birthday Drinky:

My dinner:

My birthday dessert:

Monday Celebrations:
I wanted to start the day off on a good foot so had some coffee with my kiddo and banana pancakes.

Post workout was an apple and pb (unpictured lol)

Lunch was an egg sandwich:

Snack was a coffee and pb honey toast with a little sprinkles (I mean, come on, it is my birthday!) & I once again forgot a picture.

Dinner I wanted to do something super fun because 1) it was my birthday and 2) the hubby was out of town so...if you are a Gilmore Girls Fan, in season 5 I think it is Lorelai and Rory are ready to sit down and they have marshmallows, poptarts, donuts, and candy and are putting in the oven hashbrowns and talk about a pizza stack...well, my kiddo asked if we could do that sometime and I agreed...so, that is just what we did a Gilmore Girls style feast (the likes of which I am sure Lorelai would be proud) and watched Drop Dead Fred:

Who remembers this movie?! The best, right?! Ok, not really oscar material but hilarious for sure!

We started with donuts...

The Entree was a pizza stack and french fries

This was super easy, I just bought a four pack of mini pizzas, cooked them all up, added some extra cheese and stacked them! See below...

Didn't exactly stay stacked but we had fun picking them up and trying to eat the whole thing!

Finally we ended with hot chocolate, cake, and candy.

Needless to say we were tired after this, and slightly sick...we couldn't actually eat all of it...we mostly sampled everything....it was super fun though. The kiddo leaned over several times and said that this was a great idea. I love making memories like that! Also, Drop Dead Fred is one of my all time favorite movies...yeah...don't judge me. :P

Now, I did continue all my workouts this week.
Last Wednesday: Rest Day
Thursday: Cardio Recovery
Friday: Cardio Power and Resistance
Saturday: Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Abs
Sunday: rode my bike in the rain (not by choice, but I'm counting it lol), did 200 squats, 100 jumping jacks and ran in place off and on to stay warm at cheerleading haha
Monday: (my birthday workout) didn't happen...I have nothing but excuses so I won't list them, but it's on for Tuesday.
Tuesday: Plyometric Cardio Circuit, stretching
Today: Pure cardio, bike ride, cardio abs

What is the best way you've ever celebrated your birthday?

PS check out the rest of the party over at Peas and Crayons!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I cannot believe it is already October 31! How is this even possible?!

So, for Halloween I thought I would talk about Halloween here in Holland.

Funny enough The Netherlands doesn't formally celebrate Halloween on October 31st like we do. There is no formal trick or treating, dressing up in costumes, etc. We were able to find some decorations in a craft store. So this is how I decorated my table:

This is the whole table.

I started with a "bloodied" curtain I found at a craft store.

Then I flanked either end with these tomb stones.

Added a couple of candles (that can double for Christmas) and put them under some cereal boxes covered with chrome duck tape to catch drips.

Then I made the adorable orange pumpkin (so easy tutorial to come) and added a couple small white gourdes.

The wine bottle was holding M&M's but, well, with a house full of people those don't last long ;)

Last weekend when our friends were in town visiting we went off to the Keukenhof Haunted Castle. We had an absolute blast. Took us a little over an hour to get out there via transit and about 3.5 hours to get back!

The castle all lit up. The haunted parts weren't actually in here they were all through the grounds.

The scariest one for me. It was super creepy inside lol the actors they had were amazing! The kiddo and her friend went though alone and when they asked which way to go at one point they actually gave them a solid pointed finger for the direction, but when we (the older people asked) they totally screwed with us at first, it was awesome lol

About to go in, we go photo bombed by our friend and the guy just hanging around up there hahaha

Funny thing about this Haunted Castle..not so sure why I was hell bent on going. I do not like scary things. I hate scary movies, I can't even watch the Walking Dead due to nightmares! I am jumpy as all get out, but I think that is partly why I wanted to go. We had such an amazing time. Like one of my friends said, "It is amazing how much you can laugh while being so scared!" 

So this Haunted Castle only goes on for two days a year...they did a bang up job. The whole grounds were completely decorated and looked amazing. 

My only complaint was when they closed the haunted house lines at 10:30, 90 minutes before the place was supposed to close. Not sure the purpose there, I think it is a cultural thing that I will talk about in another post.

On the ride home waiting for the train. It was very chilly and windy so the girl huddled up together under our friends sweater.

So, funny story we didn't actually realize they wouldn't have extra transit going back and forth from the Keukenhof to the train stations so we were at the mercy of the evening bus schedule. Luckily they still had busses running late into the evening but boy was it an adventure figuring it all out!

Something none of us will forget though!

For tonight, one Mama from our school worked really hard to plan out a route of people who were willing to decorate their houses and hand out candy. Which is fantastic, but some of the teenagers decided to head off to Fright Night at a local amusement park. So much fun and makes it more like home for her.

I do know there are some Halloween parties happening at local clubs, but we were too lazy to put together costumes and stuff this year.

I will say it has been interesting not having the usual pomp and circumstance surrounding Halloween. This is the fist year the husband and I aren't really doing anything except for a romantic evening of couch cuddling.

How are you spending your Halloween?

DIY: Christmas Countdown Calendar (Advent Calendar) +free printable!

I don't normally do much posting on the weekend, but this project has been in the works for a few days and with December 1 pending tomorrow I decided to make sure this got up today!

Now that American Thanksgiving is over, the holiday's are officially in full swing for my family! Even up here in Canada they had several "Black Friday" sales, it was fun to get out and pick up some goodies to put under the tree! I had also been working on getting something special prepped for my teenager for the holiday's. 

We always do some sort of advent/countdown calendar. I wanted this year's to be about more than just candy, but I also didn't want to give little trinkets that would just take up space and clutter up our small apartment. So, I came up with some clutter-less activities that allow us to spend time together as a family and give to those around us. Here is how I did it...

Supplies

• Advent Activities printed on Sticker paper
• Something to put the candy/activities in
• 1" punch
• Small Candy

I gathered my advent calendar, the printable I made, my 1" punch, and some Hershey's kisses.

I used these kisses:

They were all my Shopper's had...and they are amazing!

Above is the 1" punch I use. If you don't have one but you craft a lot I highly recommend this one by EK Success. It is compact, it is an "easy punch", and it can be used for a variety of things...namely bottle cap crafts! So, take this punch and turn it upside down like this: 

Centre it over the words and wreath, and punch! I punched all of mine out first... 

....and then stuck it to the bottom of the Hershey's Kiss!

Cute, huh?!

Then I put it behind the appropriate door! 

Now, something to keep in mind when deciding which activities to use is check your calendar. Some of the activities are quite easy and can be done even on a busy day. For example one is read a holiday book, another is have dinner in front of the Christmas Tree, have a red & green themed dinner. Those are things that don't really take any extra effort, but can go a long way in making great memories!

I printed this calendar and as I put the activities in the box, I wrote down what was being done on each day so that way each evening I can look ahead to what activity is on schedule for the next day so if it involves pancakes, waffles, hot cocoa, etc I can make sure those are prepped the night before; or, if it involves going somewhere I can make sure I tell everyone to be on schedule!

Now, how did I come up with the activity ideas? I tried to choose things that were cheap, mostly clutter-less, and ones that could help my teenager think of others. I scoured pinterest, facebook, and and several blogs looking for ideas, but most of them are unique because honestly most of the ideas I found involved a lot of "stuff" or expense. 

Here are the ideas I used and what I am doing for each one:

Hot Cocoa Breakfast with cookies

Cinnamon Ornament

Make an ornament

Design Your own Tree

Make gift for teacher(s)

Holiday Light Displays

Ice Skating-Sundae Bar

See a parade

Reflect on the year

Commemorate the day in video or pics

Look at neighborhood lights

Play Charades

Red & Green Themed Dinner

RAK Day

Have a dance party

Sing Carols

Game night

Make presents for cheer coaches

Snowboarding

Go play in the snow

Roast marshmallows in the fire

Go see a holiday movie in theater

Make goals for next year

Popcorn Garland

Mail Xmas Cards to friends

Xmas Trivia

Popcorn & Movie

Look @ Xmas Lights

Merry Christmas

Tree Lighting & Carol Ships (this is unique to our city, but your city may have a tree lighting)

Donate coats to a charity

Night Before Christmas (movie/book)

Donate a toy to charity

Bake Gingerbread Men

Make Fudge

Make puff pain snowflakes

Candle light dinner

Polar Express (movie/book)

Make mom & dad a present

Pancakes & Cocoa

Open Presents

Dress fancy for dinner

Bake Spritz Cookies

Write to Santa

Visit holiday attraction at a museum

Take a cookie basket to friends (use the cookies you've baked earlier in the countdown)

Do something nice for Mom & Dad

Magic Cookie Bars

Waffles & Cocoa

Living room fort

PJ Party

Christmas Market

Visit Santa

Dinner in front of Xmas Tree

Breakfast in front of Xmas Tree

List what you are thankful for

Craft Day

How the Grinch Stole Xmas

Send hug to out of town family

Look at the holiday window displays

Holiday Book

Xmas Movie

On Friday's and the days my teen is on holiday break I put in two activities because I really wanted us to be doing a lot together. I think this will be so fun.

Some ideas in the event you don't have an advent calendar like I do above....pin socks to a line of string hung on the wall, hang numbered socks on the tree and the let the kids pick them off each day, hang a string or string of lights and use numbered clothespins to pin pieces of paper with the day's activity to it. Think outside the box, have fun with it!

How do you kick off your holiday season???

I would love to see your holiday activities! Leave a link in the comments or some share with us on facebook!