Happy you, you, you, Elliott!

I guess the terrible two's are officially here: Sunday was Elliott's 2nd birthday! Elliott got phone calls, gifts, an ice cream party...he's a very lucky boy. We had a little get together with his friends, young and old (sent everyone home on a sugar high). We gave him a little bike which has been a big hit. He always wants to "play bike." It's a loop fiets which is basically a bike without pedals for learning to balance. He was hesitant at first but has gotten the hang of it very quickly. Cameron and Elliott (on the bike) walked all the way to the train station and back!

Elliott had a great time at the party, but Theo was a party pooper. He slept almost the whole party and didn't even get to eat any ice cream. Oh well, there's always next year. We posted more pictures of Elliott on his bike than you probably care to look at, but we wanted you to be able to see the bike from every possible angle.

On a nostalgic note, the passing of another year makes me pause for a moment, thinking about all the things that I didn't know last year: Theo and Nephrotic Syndrome being the two biggest. With that said, I can't imagine life any differently...so "Happy you, you, you," Elliott, looking forward to more surprises in the coming year.

One year in Eindhoven

This is a month of milestones for the Leandrese family: we've been in the Netherlands for a full year, Elliott turns two, and Megan and I have known each other for 10 years! Crazy, fun times. We have a ice cream party planned for Elliott on his birthday, which I'm sure will be sticky, fantastic fun. We've been pretty busy the last month, which explains the lack of posts here on our blog. We've been going on long bike rides on the weekends (our longest was 50km round trip), and Cameron is playing soccer on Sundays for one of the university's teams. Also, we bought a car (1986 Nissan Bluebird) soon after we got out of the hospital and have been using it for short trips on the weekends. So far we've been to Ikea, Brugges (Belgium), Turnhout (Belgium) and Zeeland (Holland); a few more trips and we'll have made our 180 euro investment worthwhile! Grandma Karen and Uncle Harrison are coming for a visit at the end of the month and we're planning to get a lot of use out of the car during their stay.

There are new pictures from August and September online. See how much Theo has grown!