It feels like things are easier now. The boys are slightly more independent, and need us less frequently for basic stuff like picking up fallen items. They also talk more and more, which is wonderful. They are so cute!

Leo likes the routine we have for going to bed. First brushing of the teeth, slokje water, then potty, the hands, schone toet and then voorlezen.

This afternoon I skipped a step and he corrected me: Ik heb niet water gedrinkt. Ik gaan zelf!

When the boys are discussing something, they are so funny. Here is an excerpt of what they discussed in the car today -- listen to the whole conversation (MP3).

Leo: "Adrian zegt sleepwagen! Kiepwagen is dat!"
Adrian: "Geen kiepwagen."

Nora vraagt heel diplomatiek: "Leo had het een bak erachter?" "Leo: kiepwagen. Ja een bak." Adrian: "ja, het was een bakker".

A little over a week ago I was a little annoyed with Nora in the morning -- she had disappeared downstairs just when I wanted to get her dressed. She showed herself down the stairs with a big smile and said: dat heb ik zelf al gedaan pap! She had dressed herself, and she has been doing that every morning ever since. Which is great because that saves another step in the morning.

She also showed me, proudly, that she can now reach the rope of the light in her closet: papa, kijk! ik kan er nu bij!.

It's quite amazing to hear her speak English also. Last weekend she translated her Dutch book for Judy -- a perfect translation in perfect American English.

Nora turned 6 years old yesterday and she had a great day.

In the morning there were gifts and balloons. Later wee went to the Carousel. First Nora wasn't too excited -- "dat is veel te hoog" but when we explained that this wasn't a scary carousel she was happy. They kids all loved the carousel, though Leo was a clinging into me tightly.

We had lunch together in Paul's which they all loved. When the boys were sleeping the three of us played Черен Петер and Memorie, and later there was a cake with "Nora" in chocolate.

We had a day off today and spent it with the kids. In the morning we went to Scramble, an indoor playground in Alexandria. The kids loved it.

Leo and Adrian turned 3 today. What a milestone! They had a really nice day.

We went to the Clarendon Mardi Grass parade tonight and that was a lot of fun.

Sasha and Adrian walked and Adrian got to peek in a real police car. I had tricked out the bicycle with lights and we joined the WABA group for the parade.

The kids were very happy with the beads that got.

We visited Nora's school today, and Nora showed us her work. This is the third and last time we're attending this event with Nora, a bittersweet thought.

She showed us the English words she can read (all the colors, several other short words) and her exercises with multiplication.

No hot chocolate this year.

Sunday night 3.7 million households were watching Luizenmoeders, a Dutch TV-show. I read about it in Trouw and then Ettie posted on Facebook that she liked it so we decided to give it a try.

The first episode was the best -- fast-paced and witty. But the 2nd and 3rd weren't bad either.

Sasha to Nora to her first ballet in the Kennedy Center.

They saw Whipped Cream by the American Ballet Theatre.

Nora is slowly recovering from the flu. It started Tuesday evening with a sore throat; the next day she skipped her gymnastics and since then she's been in bed all day.

Today she started perking up again. When we were talking with Opa & Oma she joked that Adrian was a unicorn (eenhoorn) when they asked about the fabric sticking out of his bicycle helmet.

I took the boys to Whole Foods twice in a row, which was a lot of fun. Nora was jealous and asked when it was her turn. I explained that being sick is supposed to be boring. Today's trip to the store was through the rain; the boys loved the cover and said our bike is now the Batmobile (they learned about Batman recently).