First snow

We had our first snow this year, a bit early, but OK, it is almost december, so nothing strange there.
Traffic was hel this morning, since a lot of people don´t have winter tires and were driving very slow. But for the kids it was big fun, since they took their sledges with them to school and had a great time playing with them.
They are forecasting much more snow on thursday and -14 degrees Celsius? We´ll see.

Happy birthday

My dad turned 70 today. 70... an age I never imagined my dad to be. Grandparents are 70, not your parents, althougth offcourse, they are grandparents... The picture is how I remembered my dad as a kid. He was always in his atelier making things out of wood, staircases, toys, etc..
Yesterday we had a nice lunch with family and friends at the Troubadour in Antwerp for his birthday. Lunch was great and a nice atmosphere, the kids behaved, wonderful day.
So dad, happy birthday and we hope to celebrate lots more.

Today we had a walk with the kids at the Kalmthoutse Heide. OK, it was cold, it was the first real cold day and the walk was a bit long, so we went to friends of ours, to have a nice lunch and some hot coffee.
The boys climbed in every tree they could as you can see. Even the small one...

And yes, I am used as branch carrier... All the ranches they want and don´t want to lift themselves... yes, that is why we have mum.

Tablecloth

I was inspired by the book above and this is a part of the result aka as far as I am at the moment:

I am making a tablecloth that resembles my kids at the breakfast table, so fristy, milk with strawberry flavour, a stuffed animal, etc. So this is the result as far as I got before the needle of my sewing machine broke...

I think it is cool, so I will add some stuff on the tablecloth to resemble more like our breakfast table.

Sinterklaas at DH´ s work

Sinterklaas visited DH´s work, so offcourse were invited. But as you can see, son #3 was not sure what to think of Zwarte Piet being so close to him.

Son #2 was not shy at all and wanted a picture of himself with Sinterklaas, so Sinterklaas gave his full coorporation.

The kids were very happy with their presents, so we has a fun afternoon. Son #3 evently walked out with Sinterklaas, so luckily we saw that he ´escaped´ with the Zwarte Pieten. The older boys were worried that Sinterklaas was taking their little brother back to Spain (that is what happens to nauthy children), so luckily this was not the case and I could get son #3 back in the parking lot.

I have been crafting, I am making a table cloth with some decorations. I will make some pictures and show you all, later this week.

Scrappy Hoop swap

I received my hoop today from Vanessa from Portugal. She made this lovely scene. When we went to pick it up from the postoffice, son #3 didn´t want to let it go, so I hanged it in his room.

Thank you very much Vanessa, I really like your hoop.

And fro the record. I have sent my hoop also to my swap partner, so hopefully, she receives it soon.

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas has finally arrived! We went to meet him in Rijnsburg, so the kids were all anxious as you cna see on the pic.

He didn´t come on his horse Amerigo, but that was better because of the amount of children waiting to meet him. So he came in a carriage. After a short speech, it was time to do some games with the ´zwarte pieten´.

So the shoes can be placed in front of the fireplace tonight, and hopefully everybody has been good.

Finished

This is the hoop I made for the scrappy hoops swap. I hope my swap partner likes it. She didn´t want pinky and girly so I tried to choose colors she will like.
So swap partner, I will mail this out tomorrow when I am in Holland, as mail rates are way cheaper than here in Belgium.

Sint Hubertus

Today we celebrated St. Hubertus in Brasschaat. It is the ´official´ opening of the annual hunting season. Although there is almost no game here, only small animals, like ducks and hare. It is a tradition to christen the dogs and horses. As you can see in the background of the picture, there is a priest that christens the animals. So everybody with a horse or dog comes and a lot of people come to watch the scene and be amused, by the people that have not enough control of their animal. We say two horsemen fall of their horse, because the animal was nervous, so always fun to watch. Some animals are beautifull decorated and some are working animals as you can see on the next picture. This horse is the mascot of the Brasschaat Fire department and she pulls a fire engine from the beginning of 1900. Every year she is there and she is the first horse, so she opens the whole spectacle. I think we have pictures of all our kids as babies on her back.

Am I ready?

So I received my Nigella Christmas cooking book. I received my order for christmas cakes and gingerbread, including a baking mold for a gingerbread house...

So I think we are reading for Christmas. But offcourse here in Belgian and especially the Netherlands, we first celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5th. I think the madness will start in two weeks, when he arrives in Holland and Belgium by boat from Spain. Son #1 already tried to place his shoe in front of the fire place, decorated with a list of toys he wants and a carrot for Amerigo (the horse of Sinterklaas). But helas, no presents, since Sinterklaas is not yet in the country...
So we will have all sorts of treats special to the celebrating of Sinterklaas, before we can start with the christmas stuff.
I heard our children are invited to meet Sinterklaas at the end of November, so I will try to make pics and post them.