It's been really cold in the Netherlands the last two weeks and many canals and rivers are frozen.

Harm sent me beautiful pictures of a ice skating trip he made through the city of Haarlem, where we used to live. My uncle skated over the Spaarne river from Haarlem to Spaarndam and took nice shots of windmill De Adriaan at the Hooimarkt.

Unlike most Dutchmen, I do not personally enjoy ice skating. My childhood memories of learning to skate are mainly about very cold hands and clumsy falling. When we lived in Opperdoes there was a small river behind our house, with a view of the farmlands surrounding the village. I vividly remember the bitter cold when trying to tie my wooden skates to my boots.

At the other hand I have very happy memories of our wooden sleigh, and my father pushing Ettie and me through the snow.

Cold winters like these are fairly rare in the Netherlands. There was the hope that the Elfstedentocht skating marathon would be held this year, but it was not to be. Ettie and Gerben sent us cute videos of Jasper's first experience on the ice at the Bonkevaart in Leeuwarden. I hope his early childhood memories about the ice will be happy.

Yesterday we went to a fun Dutch social, or "borrel", in a bar in Ballston.

After work I picked up Sasha, Jeroen and Juan from downtown D.C. and we drove back to Arlington. The monthly meetup was in Frontpage in Ballston. It was a lot of fun and the bitterballen were delicious.

No big plans for this weekend. We've completed almost all the preparations and purchases, so time to relax. Last Saturday I filed our taxes, which was quite a bit of work since we had to file state returns in North Carolina, DC and Virginia. Always a good feeling when that paperwork has been completed.

The crib arrived! It is a present from Opa and Oma, and it is beautiful (thank you!). The crib can also be converted into a toddler bed and even a children's bed, so it will be with us for many years.

I worked from home on Monday to accept the delivery and around 11.30 am they called and brought the big package upstairs. The package shipped from Washington state and was more than 100 lbs.

We put it together on Monday evening and it fits nicely in our bedroom.

Yesterday we went to a Super Bowl party to watch the "big game" with several of Sasha's colleagues. It had been two years since I saw a football game and even though we know the rules fairly well it was fun to hear the expert commentary from folks at the party.

The host supported the New England Patriots, who unfortunately lost in the last few minutes, but it was a fun evening nevertheless. The halftime show with Madonna was marvelously over the top.

On Wednesday Sasha's colleagues threw her a baby shower at work.

We received cute presents including several American classic children books, such as "Big Red Barn" and "Goodnight Moon".

This week we made good progress with the preparations for our new arrival.

Wednesday evening I installed the car seat. It was easy but it's nice to know that it's done.

I stayed home Monday afternoon to receive the delivery of the crib, but it was damaged in shipment so I refused delivery. Hopefully they'll redeliver next week.

We ordered all the other things we need this week, and every day we are receiving new packages. With the exception of clothes and blankets we've ordered almost everything online. It's very helpful to read the reviews on Amazon, especially for things we have never bought before such as these baby items.

In the fall of 2004 Sasha, Steven and I went to the Toneelschuur in Haarlem and saw the movie Girl with a Pearl Earring.

A few days later, while I was waiting for my visa to be processed, we saw the painting in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. It's a gorgeous little painting, and through the movie it became one of Vermeer's best-known works.

Yesterday the news came out that Girl with the Pearl Earring will be shown in three museums in the United States next year, while the Mauritshuis is being renovated. Very exciting news.

Vermeer's masterpiece "Girl With a Pearl Earring" will be on display in three museums in the United States in 2013, along with 34 other masterpieces from the Dutch Royal Picture Gallery, the Mauritshuis.

The traveling exhibition "Girl With a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings From the Mauritshuis,” will start in January 2013 at the De Young museum in San Francisco and then move to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. In October the show will be scaled down to 10 works and presented as “Vermeer, Rembrandt and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis” at the Frick Collection in New York City.

The Dutch Maurits House museum will undergo a renovation starting April 2013 and is sending 35 paintings on a two-year tour to the United States and Japan. The tour, a $28 million fundraiser for the renovation of the museum, will include paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Jacob van Ruisdael.

A repeat visitor to the United States

The highlight of the exhibition is the world-famous "Girl With a Pearl Earring", painted around 1665. The painting became the subject of a best-selling novel in 1999 and in 2003 of a movie starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth.

The painting appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1984 as part of a five-year traveling show during the Mauritshuis’s previous restoration. It was last seen in the United States in 1995 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in a 21-picture exhibition focused solely on Vermeer.

Girl With a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings From the Mauritshuis:

- De Young Museum in San Francisco, January 26 to June 2, 2013
- High Museum of Art in Atlanta, June 22 to September 29, 2013
- the Frick Collection in New York City (10 paintings), October 22, 2013 to January 12, 2014.