Lilse Bergen

This morning we we went to the Lilse Bergen. The weather forecast was 32°C, and it was...  Great place, the kids love the playgrounds located in the water.

Nice beaches and even if it was very crowded, it was OK and not too much.

When I am writing this, Marie und Steffen are at the airport waiting for their flight home. I hope you had a great time. I know we and especially the lids had a great time with you guys, thanks.
See you in Berlin.

Cinema

Yesterday Marie und Steffen took the kids to the cinema. The two eldest boys alreday saw despicable me II, so they went to see Monster University and the had a great time. Funny movies, but not much 3D...

 

Summer

 Marie, Steffen and the kids went to the Zilvermeer, a recreational park not far from our home to have a swim and some time in the sun.

They also brought something with them that is a big hype in Berlin, we hadn´t heatd from it, but it is fun: a slackline...

I think it looks like a giant stowline from a truck, but it is sort of a line where you have to balance yourself and do tricks, but it looks easier than it is. But I must admit, it is great fun and puts a smile on your face when your are confronted with your inbalance.

Summer of Antwerp

Yesterday our former au pair Marie and her boyfriend came over to Belgium to spent some time with our family.

So afetr work, we all went to ANtwerp to have a bit to eat and when we arrived in the center we, saw this strange contraption in front of teh Central Station, OK, the boys saw it. So afetr diner, we went over to see what it was and it turned oyt to be an inflatable structure that you can enter. So we did.

It is called Miracoco and it is made by Architects of air.

The colors and light inside the structure are the effects of daylight and of of artificial lighting. It is completely handmade.

 Inside they play music by David Bickley and you are allowed to lay down or sit within the structures.

 Remember, no artificial lithing, It is truely wonderful and amazing.

And this is what it looks like on the outside. So if you are in Antwerp or in teh vicinity this summer, stop by, it is really spectacular and the entrance fee is only €2, so that is OK, you can stay as long as you want, but don´t forget your camera like I did, these are all made with my smartphone.

Beach

Yesterday we spent the afternoon on the beach. Well the kids spent their time on the beach and in the water and we stayed in the beach restaurant. And as you can see, we were not alone. This little bird like the cokkie we got with our coffee.
The weather was great and we had a great time, it almost felt like summer :-)

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday son!

Birthday Boy

Yesterday we celebrated son#3 birthday. It was one of the firt real warm days as you can see... But he had a grat day, as did we, BBQ, cake, sun, what more can we want.

And as you may or may not see, we had a Skylander cake... Son#3 is into skylanders at the moment, so we had the local backery  make a skylander cake.
We all had a lovely day. Today we didnt do much, cleaned up and slept in the garden in the shade...

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...