Sinterklaas

This year we had a great time watching Sinterklaas arrive in Holland on Nov. 12.  Isn't the internet awesome?!?  It worked out great because on that same day we received a package from Oma.  Mailee thought it was fun before we even opened it!!!

Boxes are awesome to climb on!!

Kaiden put on his Piet outfit to help celebrate.

Opening up the package.

All sorts of fun things inside.

Kaiden reading his book.

Kaiden was very excited about all the yummy treats inside.

While Kaiden and Daddy played with the Sinterklaas outfit, Mailee took her turn reading the book.

Putting on the mijter....

...and gloves.

Kaiden loved his Sinterklaas costume!  (I love his face in this picture!)

Mailee enjoyed playing with the staff.

What fun to dress up!

Kaiden was soooo interested in all the goodies from the package.  I think he would have eaten them all right away if we would have let him.  I put some of the pepernoten in a bowl for him to eat while we watched the festivities in Holland.  I love this shot because of the picture on the TV in the background and how Kaiden is so intent on picking his pepernoten.

In between bites he would turn and watch.

Most of the time he was busy digging for more pepernoten.  This kid loves his pepernoten!

The kids put their shoes out to see if Sinterklaas would find us in Houston.

They were very excited!

He found us!!!

Kaiden was excited to see his shoes full the next morning.

Mailee took no time at all testing out her goodies.  She bit the head off of her chocolate Sinterklaas with foil and all.  (Gave me a good chance to practice sweeping things out of her mouth!!)
 Here we let her try a pepernoten.  Turns out she loves them too!

The kids munching on their goodies.

Yum!

Then on Dec. 5 we had a knock at the door.  We found this bag waiting outside our door.

Kaiden checked inside and found some presents!
We are so glad Sinterklaas makes a stop in Houston for us!!

They had a great time opening all of the "pren-sents." (as Kaiden calls them)

They both loved what was inside them too.

Mailee loved playing with her balls.

Kaiden of course had to have some more chocolate.

And when we weren't watching, guess who got a hold of the pepernoten?

Who me?!?
(our first clue was the pepernoten dribbling down her mouth)

Kaiden was sure there were more presents down in that bag. Mailee was just searching for more pepernoten.

This girl was super sleuth at finding those pepernoten!  Can you see the one in her hand?

Kaiden was super sweet and helped Mailee with her presents.  Here he was bringing her another one to open.

Mailee thought the blocks tasted pretty good too.

There's gotta be more presents in there....

Yup, he was right!

Mailee got the hang of opening presents.

Ok, maybe she just liked eating the paper.  ;)

She liked reading the books too.

Amazing how she knows there is chocolate in there!

A wonderful day full of great treats!!!