Weekend

No pictures this time.
My dad turned 68 so we went to diner with my parents, their best friends and our family. We chose a child friendly place, where they have an indoor playground, so the kids had a great time and we could enjoy our diner peacefully.
Friends of our had their second daughter Fleur, we still have to visit her, but we will do so this coming week, when the family had their chance to visit their new family addition.
And I am still working on my blue and white quilt. Things are going well and I will post a picture soon of my progress.
So we had a busy weekend which we spent with family.

Cupcake swap #1 arrived

The first cupcake swap parcel arrived yesterday. It is from Catherine of Mollycupcakes.

She made me some wonderfully handpainted pegs and kitchen utensils, and a lovely little frame.

Also a little egg cosy and some cards. Thank you very much Catherine> Since she told me that my parcel also arrived, I will show you what I sent her.

This was my first attempt to make a tea cozy and I think it worked out well. I also crocheted some cupcakes, a pair of cupcake earrings, some napkins, a cupcake box and a dutch kids magazine and finally a handcarved cupcake stamp. I hope catherines likes the goodies I sent her.

Snow!!! + update

Update: This is most snow we have had in years, in a couple of hours there is about 10 cm of snow. So Nic and I couldn´t resist making a snow man. This is us, just two hours ago with our snowman. I can´t remember when the last time was we were able to make a snowman in our backyard. Great....

It started snowing yesterday, but it wouldn´t stay because the ground was too warm. When we droven back from the Sinterklaas party in Holland, yjere was no snow, but once we crossed the border into belgium the snow started. Just before our exit we saw a carcrash on the passover of the highway.

But when we left the highway for home, there must have been a big car crash on our passover because it was closed for traffic, and there were ambulances, fire rigs, etc, so it must have been quite bad. We were the third car behind the crash and after five minutes we realized that this would tke some time and we turned around and found another way were we had to cross another passover which we did very carefully.

ANd now it started snowing for real. We will see what the situation is tomorrow morning. For these parts, it is very early for snow, and some winters we don't even get any snow, so this is great for the kids.

Sinterklaas at Haffmans

Sinterklaas arrived two Saturdays ago and he paid a visit to DH work yesterday. Our kids loved it (as did all the kids) and I want to give my appreciation to the employees that made this event possible.
They split up all the kids into groups and one group at a time they talked to Sinterklaas, the other groups did games to get their 'Pietendiploma' sort of diploma to show that you can walk on a roof, do funny danses, now how to put presents down the chimney, etc.

In the aboven picture Peter is playing a game to show that you can walk on a roof with a heavy bag with goodies.

Here Sinterklaas shows Nic's 'wish list'. He cut out pictures of toys and glued them on a piece of paper. So now Sinterklaas knows what to get hime when it is his birthday.

When all the kids finished talking to Sinterklaas they got their presents form the Zwarte Pieten. Nic and Peter both got Playmobil and Ruben a soft toy. An afternoon well spent.

Martha

Look what arrived today!!! The Holiday edition of Martha Stewart, wow, a friend on mine sent it over from the States, thanks sooooooooooooo much Bonnie, it is wonderful. You couldn´t have made my weekend better.
I can´t wait to sit done with a good cup of coffee and some Speculaas and start looking at all the fun projects.

Week 47

First of all, this arrived back in my mailbox this week. It is my parcel for Sara for the cupcake swap. As you can see, there is no 'to' address and no return address and still they managed to get it back to me. I didn´t manipulate this picture, this is the way it was sent back.
And the most curious thing is, I sent this parcel from The Netherlands....
So I have contacted Sara and will try again, since she says she still lives on the address she gave me... But someone put a sticker on the address and wrote ´return´ ... Strange.

Since Peter is a part of the 'Chicken' class, all classes are represented by an animal, so they can put tags on their schoolbags and stuff. And because they are the youngest in the Chicken class, I made him a small chicken keyring. I think it is cute.

I also started working again, so that is great, as I have never been away. But I knew the feeling, after the forth time... So it is great to be back at work. And now I will endulge myself in watching the X-files movie and crocheting.

Last day

Just saw that I haven´t included Molly´s ornament as I mentioned two entries ago, so here is a pic of it.

Today was a slow day. We had brunch over at my friend An with both our families and a quite afternoon at home. I enjoyed my last day off from work and tomorrow it is back to the rat race. I enjoyed my time with Ruben (he is truely a benjamin since I didn´t stay at home so long with the two other boys...) but it is good to go back to work.

Nordic Bo Peep and Long Lost Sheep Costume GIVEAWAY!!!!

Look at this fabolous costume at Grossgrain called: Nordic Bo Peep and Long Lost Sheep Costume GIVEAWAY!!!! This lady is very talented and she makes lovely costumes. Check her site out.

Wow!

When I picked up the boys from school, Peter´s teacher let me know that Peter received a stamp today. A small apple on his hand, it turned out that Peter had eaten his apple. You must know that we have never managed to have him eat fruits since he was a baby. So this was a big breakthrough. How big they grow...
This arrived in the mail today. I did a needlework exchange, and Molly made me this wonderful ornament and an even nicer biscornu. I think they look great and they both found a nice place in my home. Thank you very much Molly.

Toadstool bun

Nic made this little bread mushroom in school yesterday. They are learning about autumn, so toadstools are part of that.
They made bread dough and baked the bread in a small plantpot. They also put some jam and chocolate dots on there to finish the toadstool. It looks great and tasted very nice. Well done Nic!

First day of school

Today was Peter´s first day of school. But as you can see, no problems there. This pic was taken this morning when we just arrived at school. Alreay playing with the big boys, that is the good thing of having a big brother...
He did fine although I got a bag of laundry this afternoon... still not completely potty trained... Hopefully he makes the ´click´ when he sees all the other chlidren.
He aslo does not eat fruit, and that is compulsory at school, but we never managed to get Peter to eat fruit, unlike his brothers... And the teacher had to ask if it is OK to give him appelesauce. Because that is the one thing he eats, but she thought that it is not allowed to gve to the chlindren... strange but OK, if it is school policy.
We will see how tomorrow goes.

Counting down

The last week of my maternity leave started. Next monday I will start working again, but it feels good. I took care of the boys and now it is time to get back to work. Ruben will be taken well care of by Moeke (our daycare mum). And the other two will go to school. Peter will start school this wednesday... Well I am curious how he will do... Will keep you posted.

Japanese zakka in Belgium

For all of you that like japanese zakka but think it is impossible to find, there is a new site open: http://www.japanesezakka.com/index.html

'Zakka' is a Japanese word for anything cute and fun! This lady imports directly from Japan and ships from Belgium. I think she has great stuff and her shop is worthwhile a visit.

So if you need something fun for thje upcoming holidays, check out her site.

WIP

This weeks WIP is a blue and white quilt. I promised some ladies that I would place a pic of the quilt as it progresses. I think it will become a great quilt, it will be completely hand sewn and I love to do it, because it is nice working with small pieces of fabric, I think. I can do it whenever I want, on the train, in the car, ...

Then I thought I would make my swap partners a bit curious. This is a piece of picture of one of the handmade things I made for the cupcake swap...