Friday

RIP Joop

Today Joop (son #2 hamster) passed away. Our au pair called me and showed me that she passed away, but she didn t dare telling the kids, so I piched her up and showed the kids.
We put her in a nice box on a soft little bed, with some food, so tomorrow DH will bury her with the boys.
RIP Joop.

Paintings

My SIL made me these paintings of our kids. Today we gave them a nice place close to our bedroom, so we will be watching them everyday when we decent the stairs.

If you want to contact her: Marijke de Vreugd.

Austria - Last day

 

Today is our last day here in Austria. As promised, I wouldpost a pic of the hats I made for the whole family. Here they are, roman helmets.

 

And a last pic of the family before they went off this afternoon for a last afternoon of skiing, while I have a rest here on the balcony in the sun. If only we could stay another week... :-).

It has been great fun, so we will hopefully do it again next year.

Austria - day 6

 

Today was the day of the Rennen... Only the girls and son #3 participated, the two eldest boys didnt want to. 

So they went skiing with their dad.

Lotte Bombalina turned out #3 in her group. Well done girl.

 

Son #3 became #4, also very well done.

And this was the sight that we woke up to this morning. At the moment it is snowing, so tomorrow we will have fresh snow.

Austria - Day 5

 

Today we had a day off. The kids didnt have ski lessons, so we slept in. Afterwards we took the smallest ones to the piste as they wanted to ski. So we let them ski alone, they were allowed to take the lift up and then ski down on the slope where we were standing.

 

The older kids went sleding and now they are all off to the swimming pool.

Austria - New Year

Happy New Year to you all. We entered 2014 with a lot of fire works. Son #1 was all excited and he bought some fire works with his dad.

 

 

Austria - Day 4 update

 

So, we had our last diner of the year. The kids as you can see wanted pancakes... very nutrious, but on the last day, everything is fine.

 

And as you can see, we also had our diner. And no, that is not a glass of wine next to my plate, but delicious cherry juice, so I can look the part... again doctors orders...

So, we all wish you a Happy, Healty and Safe 2014!

Austria - Day 4

The last day of the year. Wonderful weather, sun, warm, so great ski fun.

As you can see, everybody is haveing a great time, me aswell, although in the appartement for the most time, resting, but that is OK. The sun and the fresh air are great.

The boys are having a great time skiing, so that is important.

After the lessons ended, the boys took their sledge to the piste and some great time coming down.
So now we are preparing for our last meal of 2013. The kids already ate and as soon as they are off to bed, we are starting our tradional gourmet...

Austria - Day 3

The weather today was fantastic, it was warm and sun was sining, so I took my midday nap (doctors orders) in the sun on our balcony.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family had great fun skiing, as the conditions were perfect.

 

At the moment, everybody is pooped, so the kids are watching Turbo and then they are off to bed...

Austria - Day 2

First day of lessons for the kids. They had a blast even with the weather being very bad. It snowed all night and day today, so I didnt leave the house, as the risk for falling was to big. So almost no pictures were taken as the other adults in the group are not making pictures...

Austria - day 1

Yesterday we drove until Augsburg and today we left for Austria. The Satnav showed grid lock on the highway around Munich, so we decided to drive over the Achenpass. And this is what we saw... At some point we were above the clouds, and since the satnav again said that there was gridd lock towards Zillertal, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant aove the clouds...

All kids at the bar...

And this was the view from the restaurant... Yes, really great and nice food.

Grid lock...

But finally, we reached Koingsleiten. And Lucky for me, I need a lot of rest and am not allowed to carry anything... I went to the appartment and stayed there and the rest of the family had to unpack the car...
Marjo cooked, so I was able to have some rest after the drive. With the nice weather, and a recliner I guess, I will get enough rest.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your families a wonderful Christmas.

Last day in Circus class

Yesterday was the last day of circus classes for son #1. But he likes it so will to try to enroll him again next year. They did a performance with all the kids, and we all were inpressed... Great job.
At the moment I am trying  a go at crocheting a fire fighting helmet.

Thinking of Alexandra

Know that you are always in our thoughts...

Christmas Market in Antwerp

Today I tried to make red velvet cake, my favorite when I was in NYC. The cake was delicious, but not red velvet... So I have to try again. I also didnt have enough frosting... The frosting was nice, but again, it was not the same as I could remember. Anybody a good recipy?

 

This afternoon, we decided to pay a visit to the Christmas market in Antwerp. We parked the car in the old harbour and walked to the Grote Markt.

And as you can see, the sky was gorgeous, there was a nice admosphere and we had some nice treats.

 

Today was a day filled with chores, we installed a new cooking plate in the kitchen, as our old one was broken.
And this afternoon we got our Christmas tree from the garden and decorated it. So, Christmas, we are ready...

Sinterklaas

Traditionally, a friend of the family came to play the "trekzak", he played all the Sinterklaas songs the kids know, so the atmosphere was OK.

Sinterklaas showed up and spent some quality time with all the kids in the family. Thely were all individualy seen by Sinterklaas and they all got a small present and some pepernoten (traditional ginger cookies).

 

And after Sinterklaas left, the Zwarte Pieten left a big bag with presents, so the pater familias, my FIL, presented the presents to all the kids in our family. Great fun, great food, a great night.

Creative

 

So, we have been very creative around the house. Son #3 made this bust of Zwarte Piet (without golden Earring!).

 

And I finished another Happy Hippo from a pattern (Heidi Bears). This one I made with DMC embroidery thread, so it is a small one, but very cute.

Sinterklaas

 

Sinterklaas is back in town, so he visited DH work, son #2 and #3 are still young enough to visit him, son #1 is a little bit old, but he tagged along, because there was a chance he would also get some presents, and he just wanted to make sure...

Luckily, they all got presents,... oof, but son #3 was especially happy with his presents, a guilty consience???

Busy week

It has been a very busy week, with the au pair back to her home to visit her sick mum. All classes, work and stuff keep going, so it has been an extremely busy week, but OK, we managed with the help of our parents.
I had my recreation, when I saw episode 5.04 of White Collar, nice Neal whump, so I enjoyed that episode. We are still in serie 4 here in Belgium, and I saw that they are going to repeat season 2...
I also managed to finish the Happy Hippo from Heidi Bears that I corcheted with DMC cotton. I didnt have eyes to finish the little guy, but a friend helped me out, so I could finish him. I will make some pics.
The pic is son #2, he and his younger brother went to a birthday party with  clown and they mugged the guy I guess:-) because the had an obscener amount of balloons with them when they returned from the party...

Kalmthoutse Heide

Today we had a walk at the Kalmthoutse Heide. As you can see, every tree was climbed and explored, so the boys did three times the distance we did...

And after a campfire meeting, their looks are clear. They were fed up, so we headed back to the car and visited a friend, who lives near the Heide and got us some lunch.