KissKus

Au revoir!

Tomorrow morning (apparently before dawn, if Michel has his way) we'll leave for Paris!!
Yes, that's right... PARIS!!

Well, alright, not quite the capital of France itself, but Disneyland Paris.
Although I'm not a great Disney-fan, I'm looking forward to spending two whole days with my husband and children doing something other than working on the house. Besides, this trip is more or less free, since it came with the car... I'm not complaining!

I'm even looking forward to the 5-hour journey. I've always enjoyed being confined to the car with my loved ones... except when the children are whining, needing pee... etc. ;))

So hopefully we'll be able to relax and enjoy it. If the weather is as nice as it was today then I'm sure we will.

Thankfully I'm feeling a little less stressed out already. Wednesday morning at work I didn't make it past the receptionist's desk. I was so tired and sore that when she asked me how I was feeling, I started crying right there and then. She was so kind to me, she phoned someone and said I wasn't able to work anymore and then she sent me home. After a couple of hours in bed I felt not so disappointed in myself anymore, after all I had just one more week to go, so I nearly made it till the end. I do feel that I really need to get a little more rest now; it's not just wise, but a necessity.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend everyone! I'll be back in a couple of days with a full report of our trip!
Bissoux!!

The photos btw are some of the tissueholders I've been making these past weeks... I've got a little factory going on here :)

It's a celebration!

We had something to celebrate last week, because Simon and I decided that we were done with his diapers. We had both been too lazy to quit them before, but all of a sudden it was time. He can't be wearing diapers when he has to go to school (in September, but still...) and I don't want to have to wipe two children's bottoms!

So anyway, we needed cake of course! Simon was allowed to pick out the cake himself and this was his choice:

Doesn't it look lovely? I can tell you that it tasted delicious too!

Simon was very happy to have his best friend over to celebrate the occasion with him.

Being diaper-less is going very well. I just have had to buy a whole lot of underwear for the little accidents that sometimes occur. However, most of these accidents happen when he is on the toilet and when I'm being completely clumsy. I can tell you that it is VERY different to potty train a boy... a LOT more difficult than a girl! All tips are  welcome :)
Because of this he also desperately needs some more trousers, which I intend to make myself (this week?).
Any way, I'm really proud of my little big boy!!

Traditional festivities

I've already talked quite a bit about Sinterklaas on here, but there's even more to tell... I hope you don't mind ;)
Sinterklaas is a very old Dutch tradition that is fortunately still very much alive in Holland... and old traditions are something to cherish, right?!

On Saturday the good man arrived in our hometown and yesterday we celebrated Sinterklaas at my work. In between the children were allowed to set their shoes as I told yesterday. It was one big Sinterklaas celebration!

When Sinterklaas and all his helpers (Zwarte Pieten) arrived in our town on Saturday he was greeted by many excited children (and parents). Everyone was singing and cheering and all the children were hoping for a handful of pepernoten. Amber was lucky enough to get some.

The Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) are Sinterklaas' helpers. They are black because they climb in and out of chimneys at night to put presents in all the children's shoes. They carry with them big bags filled with pepernoten which they scatter around them.

Sinterklaas has a white horse called Amerigo. At night Sinterklaas rides his horse on the roofs of the houses to distribute all the presents... no mean feat for such an old gentleman!

The reason why he hands out all these presents is that he celebrates his birthday on December 5th. That's the day that we call Pakjesavond (presents' evening) in Dutch. This year we'll be celebrating with Michel's family. For the adults we buy a couple of small presents and play a game, for the children we buy some presents for them to unpack. It'll be fun... it always is.

This last photo was taken at my work yesterday... spot the 7 differences with the other photos ;)

Read all about the Sinterklaas traditions here on Wikipedia.

Light a fire

We celebrated Michel's birthday (again) today.
One of the presents he got was a garden stove from my parents.

My Mum had even collected two bags of pieces of wood to start with.
It wasn't long before the first group of men went outside to lit a fire. Soon followed by more men.

The two bags of wood were used up quickly and they started looking around for more things to burn. Branches, leaves, table legs... anything would do.
There was lots of smoke, but they had a ball.
Except this little man...

He thought he wasn't allowed to go outside. But of course he was, as long as he wasn't getting too close to the fire because of his synthetic outfit.
After that he was his usual cheery self again.

Tomorrow: the reason for that outfit.

A success

Yesterday's surprise worked out perfectly.

Michel's sister & boyfriend were already at our house when we came home from the scan, but they'd hid upstairs. She then phoned Michel to congratulate him with his birthday, of course Michel was under the impression she phoned from Australia. However, at the end of their conversation they came walking down the stairs. Michel couldn't believe his eyes! He was so surprised, he truly hadn't noticed any of our secrecy.
We had drinks and dinner at our house, more family came... it was a great birthday!

Today I'm blessed with an impressive headache, so I'm just going to relax a little before going to bed and then hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.

All was well with the scan, by the way. I'll write about that tomorrow!

Surprise birthday boy!

I'm writing this post in advance, because I'm sure that I won't have any time for it tomorrow.
I'll explain why..
It's Michel's 31st birthday today... happy birthday baby!

Michel believes that apart from our ultrasound-appointment nothing exciting is going to happen and secretly he's a little cranky about it. He doesn't know that we've got a big surprise planned for him today :)

This afternoon his sister and her boyfriend fiance will unexpectedly show up on our doorstep. He thinks they won't be arriving until Thursday! We haven't seen them for two years since they live in Australia. He doesn't suspect anything... I can't wait for it :))

It's so difficult to keep my mouth shut about it... just one more night!

All on board

Amber and Simon made this wonderful vehicle the other day.
All Lego-people were invited to go on a tour and as you can see they were all enjoying it very much.

The children have discovered Michel's old Lego and are having a lovely time with it. I'm amazed at what kind of constructions they come up with, even Simon.
Simon builds anything with anything anyway. Today he built a house of cars. And he is able to build bridges for hours with just the pillows of the sofa.

I'm really happy that both our children have the ability to play by themselves and need only few toys in their play. Just some cars, pencils or books and they're amused for hours on end.
I do realise that I sort of forced them to be like that, because I'm simply not a mother that keeps them occupied all day (or even parts of the day).
I'm also sure that the fact that we don't have a television helps to stimulate their fantasy and creativity. At least it gives them more time to do so!

As a child I wasn't very good at playing alone, so I think that's why I appreciate the ability even more in my own children.

Humpf...

While I was at work my family went swimming!

Do you realise what this means though... the weather was good enough to go swimming! Outside! Michel even got sunburnt! Could it possibly be that summer has come at last?!? Let's hope so... we all could do with a bit of sunshine on our faces.

I've had a bit of a blog block these past days, which is mainly due to the fact that I haven't been sewing for a while. We've also been spending some time with my sister who was back from England for a short visit. Amber and Simon we're happy to see her again.

I'm hoping to relax a little more. Even though Amber doesn't have to go to school, we still seem to be running around a lot. Tomorrow I'll just enjoy the lovely weather and perhaps I might even get some sewing done.

Oh, I finally finished Harry Potter! I promise I won't spoil anything, but mail me if you'd like to talk about it ;)

Shiny and new

Well, here it is at last... our new car!!

If you don't know how we came to own this car then read the whole story here.

It is a very nice car, very spacious from the inside and at all levels a big improvement to what we had. However, it was difficult to leave our dear, faithful car behind this morning!! We really believed that it sensed its fate, because on the way to the garage it refused to go!

Anyway, I have to go... I'm taking our new toy for a ride!

Cars

No, this isn't a post about our new car. The one we're still patiently waiting for. The one that should have been here already, since we know it was born on the 28th of June in a car factory in Spain.
No, this is about Simon's cars...

These are the facts:

• He loves each and every one of them
• He has many
• He's given some of them names. Girl's names like Rebecca, Nicole etc.
• Michel's given him all of his cars from when he was young. A couple of months ago even his best friend recognised cars from his youth, which he had traded with Michel

• Simon loves to create houses or tunnels for his cars. For this the cushions of the sofa either need to be a total mess or need to be on the floor (also creating a total mess there)

• While driving his cars through "tunnels", Simon ruined most of the sofa's fabric that's underneath the cushions. That's why we have a piece of wood there.

• I don't care about that... his play is just more important than a good-looking sofa (I'm just such a laidback mother, aren't I?!)
• Simon started producing car noises at a very young age. We never taught him how to; it must have come from 'within'
• I helped Simon build streets and bridges from pieces of his new big bed

• I secretly enjoy building streets and bridges
• Simon loves big cars too (such a cute photo of him and his friend Hannah)

• He points out all the Ford Ka's and Ford Fushions he sees. He calls the latter a Hord Hushion.

Well, I suppose I could go on a bit longer with this list, but I think the point is clear. Simon and his cars are a match made in heaven... they spend many blissful hours together. And I'm really glad he has such a rich imagination and that he finds so much joy in playing!