Teacher gifts finished

 

OK, I just finsihed the teachre gifts for the boys. As tomorrow is the last day of school, there was a bit of last minute stress, but I managed.

I made three tissue box covers. These are the kinds of tissue boxes every kid brings to school in september and then they use them all year long. So I guess the covers can be useful. The bee one is offcourse for son #3 as he is, as said before, in the bee class, the funny grey guy is for son #2 as he has a male teacher and the angry birds is for son#1.

I also want to say that I am very proud of all three boys, because the brought their report cards home today and they all did their best and have passed to the next year. So well done boys, dad and I are very proud of you!

Birthday in classroom

Son #3 celebrated his 5th birthday in his class yesterday. And as you can see, he beamed as a sunshine.
He like the beecake and the presents for his class. i don´t know how it worsin other scholls, but in his school, the birthday boy/girl gives a present to the class instead of small presents for all the kids. So this way, future generations can also enjoy teh presents. we bought a book about the fire department and some cars, as that is what the teacher told us, she could use.

Beehive Cake

Tomorrow son #3 will give his birthday treat to the class as he has his birthday during the summer holiday. And as he is in the Bee class, I made a beehive cake for them. It is a regular vanilla cake as most kids in kindergarden dont like the fancy tastes and chocolate is not allowed in school.
So I think it turned out OK, even if some small parts didnt detach correctly, DH did a great job getting the stuck cake out of the cakepan.
At the moment my WIP are some projects for the school teachers as the last week of school will start tomorrow... So some last minute craft stress.

Weekend

Last weekend was a not so busy weekend. On Friday I received my diploma from the classes that I took to become a Preventieadviseur niveau 2 (Safety officer). So we had a great time at the graduation party and afterwards we had a bite to eat at DK in the Van Wezenbeekstraat in Antwerp (the best Chinese restaurant in Antwerp).
On Saturday we did the usual driving around of children to various sport events, etc. and afterwards we went to have a round of midget golf. The kids always like doing that. OK, I must admit I stayed behind and had something to drink, while I was crocheting...
ANd on sunday we had a birthday party of a cousin of ours that turned 5, so big party.

Annual Schoolparty

Today we had the annual schoolparty where all the kids show a little show and dance and the parents pay for frinks, nice foods and all sorts of games the kids could play.

Son #1 is in the bee class, so they were all little bees... The flower was also present :-)

Son #2 had a balloon dance...

And son#3 did a dance on the tunes of Footloose.

So now we are back home after a nice sunny days (after how many rainy days, this is the first nice day...), we were so lucky, last year we waited 3 hours in the pouring rain...
And the kids have half a chinese factory worth of plastic toys... But it was a nice day.

Jiu Jitsu

Son #1 and 3 had their test for their new belts, son #1 for orange and son #3 for white.

Africa museum

We paid a visit to the Africa Museum this morning. It is a very old museum in Brussels with a lot of very old displays, but it is fun to see what museums looked liked a hunderd years ago. They offcourse also have a modern part, but the old part is the most interesting.

It is located in a very nice park, so I packed lunch and we picknicked there and had a stroll through the park before heading back home.

And boys will be boys...

Snickerdoodles

I was reading some White Collar fan fiction, and it was a story where Peter tries to make Snickerdoodles for his wife. I have never heard of them so I looked them up on the internet as I thought that they were cookies that where made from a Snickers bar. But they are not, they are cinnamon/sugar cookies, so this afternoon I tried to make some. They were a great hit in our household and they are deliscious. So here is the recepy I used in dutch:

- 125 g roomboter
- 150 g suiker
- 1 groot ei
- 2 zakjes vanillesuiker
- 175 g bloem
- 1/2 zakje bakpoeder

Voor het kaneel/suiker mengsel:
- 3 eetlepels suiker
- 3 theelepels kaneel

Dit laatste door elkaar roeren. Het deeg in balletjes draaien en balletjes door het kaneel/suiker mengsel rollen en dan op de bakplaat een beetje plat duwen, niet te plat.
Ongeveer 15 minuten bakken op 180°C.

Smakelijk!

Happypotomus finished

Ok, my happypotomus is finished. I finished it last night, when I was home alone with no kids. I think it is gorgeous, what a nice pattern. I bought it from Heidi Bears, see her website here: link.

The crochet work is not so bad and the assembly requires you to follow the paatren, because this is not something you can do by heart. But the result is stunning.

Weekend

The weather this weekend has been fantastic, so we spent most of the time in the garden. The boys had their weekly routines of sportactivities, parties, etc. And we had some sleep-overs on friday, to adorable girls that spent the night at our place as their babysit was unable at the last moment. So we took them to the market in Antwerp for some breakfast and to do some grocery shopping.
And being a boys mum, I had to get used to the girls. They did everything themselves... my boys will always try to get out of stuff.
They didnt eat anything that was offered to them... My boys will eat the ears of your head if they werent attached. So it was nice to see the differences, and we had a blast at th emarket with the 5 of them.

 

So now I am enjoying a lazy sunday afternoon crocheting and reading...

Crochet

OK, a pic of my WIP. A friend of mine visited today and she was very amused (it is an understatement) about the size of my cotton yarn... I am crocheting hexagons for the happypotomus and I bought this creme yarn for the edge, I thought it was not that bg. It is 2 kg of cotton. I have an address where you can buy them, but the colors are limited, but oce in a while, there are some useful colors and they are cheap. 15 euro for 2 kg cotton...

Flower fields

Yesterday we drove up to Holland to visit our nephew that turned three and we drove past some flower fields that were already (or just...) in bloom. Normally it is sooner, but because of the cold and bad weather, these are the first we saw. Very nice.
In the meantime, I am crocheting on the happypotomus, alredy 10 hexagons done...

Happypotamus

Bought this pattern from Heidi Bears on ravelry. I think it is just too cute. So I can´t wait to make this cutiepie. And I also know who I am making this for, but it is still a surprise...

Yeap, it is friday...

Yes, the weekend is coming, DH is coming home tonight, the kids are gone, and a restaurant is waiting for us somewhere...

Circus camp

 Son #1 went to Circus camp during the Easter holiday and he had a blast, he really likes it (it is the second time he joins the circus camp) and I am always impressed how quick these kids pick up al the tricks.
Ok , I must admit, son#3 isn´t really atletic, but he is only 4, but he was allowed a try on the trapeze as you can see, aided by my dad and his big brother.

Nic really likes the trapeze and he always amazes us with his strength on these contraption... I will not repeat these...

New York is a step closer

A couple of friends and I are planning a trip to the big apple. Last weekend, we had a ladies night, OK, except for my boys, but they were in bed by then, we had some champagne, watched Magic Mike and made plans for our trip to NYC.
So, who has some great ideas for NYC? Restaurants we must visit, some hidden musea, craft stores? Just some need to visit places. I can´t wait to get some great ideas from you guys.

Update on budo stage

The boys went to budo stage a couple of weeks ago and now I received pictures of this event. They were allowed to try different martial art forms, like pentac silat, tai chi, karate, etc. This events are always great fun for them, as they can taste what other martial arts there are.

Google

Google has a Belgian logo today. 150 years ago Architect and painter Henry van de Velde was born in my hometown Antwerp.
The G stands for his Pictural period, the O for his graphic work, the second O for his furniture design, the second G for his conceptual work, the L for the Booktower in Gand and the E to a porthole to another world.

Nantes

Last week DH had an exhibition in Nantes so I took the TGV to Nantes for the weekend. Bought some delicious macarons in Paris on the change from the Thamys to the TGV.
I arrived on Fridaynight and we had a lovely diner with oyster (as we were in Bretgagne, wyou should eat oysters offcourse). The next day we went into town and there was a big fair going so, so we had a lovely time.

 

I didnt know that Petit beurres are from Nantes...

And as you can see, the weather was fantastic... sun, warm, spring... unlike the weather in Belgium. When we drove back on sunday, there was snow...

Happy easter !

This morning, we had Easter breakfast at my PILs house, my BIL and SIL where also there with their son and all the boys went into the garden to look for easter eggs. Son #1 hid them last nigh, he even made a treasure map so he knew where they were, just in case...