tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58139982008-07-26T23:12:38.810-04:00NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comBlogger1202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-30793736984383299272008-07-26T23:06:00.001-04:002008-07-26T23:12:38.916-04:00

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-64884550058187833722008-07-24T18:08:00.003-04:002008-07-24T18:17:02.938-04:00

A long, long time ago, I used to play the violin. I played in a bunch of orchestras, visited foreign countries, and had a great time at it. Then life happened, and I didn't really play any more. Fast forward many years, and Dawn and Jane decided they want violin lessons. Today, we observed a lesson. Tomorrow, I will talk to the teacher and then we can sign them up. Lessons are taught using

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-91582047215957442072008-07-24T14:25:00.004-04:002008-07-24T14:49:46.112-04:00

After the ceremony, we decided that we were so close to Maine, we really should visit there. None of us ever had been in Maine yet, do this was a fun first thing to do as new Americans. We spent some time just enjoying the ocean, followed by finding a cache at a light house, and swimming in the ocean! It was frigging COLD. As in cold, cold, cold! I found out that one should not float in the

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-42786711108863229102008-07-21T22:21:00.002-04:002008-07-21T22:22:49.460-04:00

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-39144694705263411272008-07-21T21:58:00.002-04:002008-07-21T22:16:45.103-04:00

Erik 'Mama! I accidentally lied on my silly putty!'

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-76637878606343359672008-07-21T20:50:00.005-04:002008-07-21T21:42:29.611-04:00

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. --James Dent "People take pictures of the Summer, just in case someone thought they had missed it, and to prove that it really existed." -- Ray Davies "Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon... the two most beautiful words in the English language." -- Henry James "

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-59756897157166862782008-07-16T10:47:00.007-04:002008-07-16T10:58:12.150-04:00

Copy righted by Jane

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-38303493822577772652008-07-15T10:49:00.006-04:002008-07-15T11:38:41.421-04:00

Guess what I did after my ceremony? Yes, that's right, I went geocaching! Quite a surprise, isn't it? The closest cache was here at the harbour. Could I find it now that I was American? Could I? Would have been the perfect log, wouldn't it? 'Just naturalized, first find as an American, TFTC'. But no! I could NOT find it. So my first geocaching as an American was getting a DNF. Great! I am

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-15387299284707139702008-07-14T18:32:00.003-04:002008-07-14T19:02:30.264-04:00

Names changed to protect the innocent. Michael 'By the way, do you know drills work MUCH better when set to forwards? It took like 5 minutes to drill through the wood backwards!' Me 'Oh, that is an important discovery' Michael 'It only took 15 seconds once I changed the drill to forwards.' Me, wondering about his sanity, but brought up to be nice to people 'Thanks for sharing!' Michael 'Well,

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-29074676464038831792008-07-14T08:24:00.011-04:002008-07-14T11:10:05.710-04:00

The ceremony. The moment it really happened. The date I had been waiting for. Quite impatiently too. The culmination of all the forms, all the money, all the hardships, all the hoop-jumping. The ceremony! We were ordered to report to the Strawberry Banke Museum at 9:30am. I didn't trust us being in time there during the holiday traffic, so we spent the night in a hotel in Portsmouth. The boys

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-85596153439207011892008-07-12T21:06:00.004-04:002008-07-12T21:36:11.536-04:00

My friends took four of my kids to Six Flags. They had a great day! And I had the day off. What an amazing feeling that was!

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-25765906298666737382008-07-10T12:19:00.004-04:002008-07-10T16:05:34.403-04:00

Yes, I know you must be tired of those colours by now, especially since the Dutch flag was red, white, and blue too, so what is the big deal anyway? I am just blown away by how much support I have gotten from my children and my friends during my naturalization saga. It was a way bigger event than I expected it to be because all of you who were there with me. Both in spirit and in person. I love

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-78261771181610573212008-07-09T23:01:00.003-04:002008-07-09T23:26:17.131-04:00

Trrrrring! I am at my friend Susan's house and the phone rings. Susan 'Hi, who is there?... Oh hi Sylvia! ... Yes, your mom is here, do you want to talk to her?' Me 'Hi Sylvia, what can I do for you?' Sylvia 'Tiger just puked!' 'Oh no! That is not good. I am glad you have many able people around you to help you clean up.' 'I want you to clean it up!' 'Well, I am at Susan's house right now, and

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-89798596702459575482008-07-08T13:14:00.003-04:002008-07-08T13:46:07.510-04:00

Jane made her very own garden on our deck. Hard to keep any plants alive in it though because the water drains too well. Still, it looks pretty cool. And I always wanted lots of dirt on my deck ^^

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-26902982668622189342008-07-07T14:37:00.003-04:002008-07-07T15:18:16.100-04:00

Today, I went to city hall and registered to vote. After I did that, I walked over to our post office and got my passport application in. My very own US Passport! Wow! Tara made this paper flag at our local art gallery, I was impressed by the size of it. Now that I am American, it IS all about size, right? Fourteen years ago, I entered this country with just two kids, and a H1B visa; Ten

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-89677916297942180542008-07-06T23:44:00.002-04:002008-07-06T23:54:04.287-04:00

On Thursday, I picked up Tara from her origami class and she had her last lunch with her Dutch mother. We went to an Irish pub of all places, and had red/white/blue chips and a stunning black bean dip for appetizer. Brought the leftovers home for my family and friend to enjoy, and to show off the fact that we had red/white/blue chips ^^. Sylvia sure did love them.

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-15322369799408435982008-07-06T11:54:00.005-04:002008-07-06T13:04:18.801-04:00

Let's backtrack a few weeks, when I found this t-shirt in the thrift store. Hmmmm, I did recognize that the language was Korean, but I have to admit that I had no idea how to read it. Not to mention that I did wonder how this t-shirt would show up in a thrift store in New England, in the middle of nowhere. So I bought it anyway to ask my Korean go teacher about it. He translated it for me,

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-1365581296797131462008-07-05T22:51:00.002-04:002008-07-05T23:05:14.621-04:00

My friend made me this cookie, yes, it is giant! I took it home, made some pictures, collected all the kids, and the cookie was gone within twenty minutes! I had some strawberries and blueberries, unlike most of the kids who preferred just strawberries on their portion. Aren't we lucky that the flag has more stripes than stars! She made me a lovely card too, but I just realized that I

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-6753179151551058342008-07-05T22:16:00.005-04:002008-07-05T23:11:19.689-04:00

Teen Creature: 'Did you go shopping today?' Maternal Creature: 'Yes, I did.' Teen Creature: 'Did you get tortellini?' Maternal Creature, falling back to the ways of mothers everywhere: 'No, I didn't. Was it on the list?', knowing full well that whether it was or not, the absence of tortellini is going to be blamed on her for sure. Also knowing full well that it was indeed not on the list, but

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-34460831388206748442008-07-05T14:10:00.006-04:002008-07-05T14:32:57.637-04:00

From my sister and my friend, red, white and blue flowers! And red, white, and blue food! Which I ended up eating for breakfast on my last full day as a Dutch person. Sharing some with my American daughter, while three of my other American kids had swimming lessons. This was Sylvia's very last breakfast with her Dutch mother. A momentous occasion for sure.

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-26324897789358081732008-07-05T02:43:00.002-04:002008-07-05T02:59:56.614-04:00

Today, I joined 193 other people in Portsmouth to become a new American citizen. My naturalization automatically turned Cees and Tim into American citizens. I gave up my Dutch citizenship, but they are dual citizens now. Very excited and thrilled! We had a great day, including watching fireworks over the ocean in Maine. We even got some ocean swimming in this afternoon, it was awesome. More

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-59617127744097285382008-07-03T14:03:00.001-04:002008-07-03T14:05:34.374-04:00

No time to post, but just wanted to commemorate my last full day as a Dutch person. Tomorrow, after 9:30am, I will turn into an American citizen! Lots of stress today, getting stuff ready, losing my green card, and just general ARGH!!!! stress. The green card was in a safe place where I had not expected it to be till I realized it was not at any of the other places it could be. I was worried for

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-82477198920369340922008-06-30T21:06:00.003-04:002008-06-30T21:29:16.958-04:00

The gerbils are: Sakura and Hinata! Nobody seemed to have guessed it correctly, so I guess we'll keep the new fridge ourselves... And on an unrelated note, today is exactly one hundred years since the Tunguska Event.

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-46830210233161104012008-06-29T22:47:00.004-04:002008-06-29T22:59:58.219-04:00

Tonight, my friend came over with Udder Delight maple walnut ice cream. The interesting thing is that we were out geocaching yesterday and noticed an Udder Delight ice cream stand right where we were caching. We did not stop, but that clearly was a mistake. I think we need to do more caching up there, since this ice cream was sooooooo good! Tonight, only two kids were at home, both of whom

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813998.post-11815534715824930692008-06-29T10:27:00.000-04:002008-06-29T10:28:33.280-04:00

Yesterday, for one reason or another, I ended up without ANY kids at home from 8am till after midnight. Wow! I can't remember when that has ever happened before, at least not since Sylvia has been born. I briefly contemplated celebrating by cleaning or decluttering, but luckily my common sense and sanity kicked in and I decided to do some fun stuff instead. I puttered around the house, played

NannyOgghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05058163876793685461noreply@blogger.com