Weekend sleepover

Our house guest Flip, cheering for the Dutch soccer team

Last weekend we had our first house guest. It was Flip the Bear, the teddy bear from Emma's class. Emma was as proud as could be when she brought Flip home on Friday, saying that he was going to spend the weekend with us. Flip was going to join all our activities over the weekend and we were supposed to write a story about it in Flip's Sleepover Book. The most used sentence that weekend was 'let's not forget Flip'.

Flip at Albert Hein

By adding mundane things like grocery shopping, going for ice cream and playing at the playground across the street to the list of activities, our weekend ended up sounding pretty busy :-) Emma and Janne were constantly asking me to 'take a picture of me with Flip'.

Flip is cool in the convertible (with the top up ...)

Flip even joined us un Sunday, when we went to the Noord-Oost Polder for a meeting and tour with the Chrysler Le Baron Club Nederland. After a 2 hour drive to the Noord-Oost Polder, a 2 hour tour in the region and another 2 hour drive back home, we had seen pretty much enough of The Red Baron. Next tour a little closer to home, please! Monday morning, the teacher read about Flip's adventures to the class, another proud moment for Emma.

Our most favorite mode of transportation, with Emma, Bas, Janne and Flip

Also school related; I had a meeting with Emma's teacher last week, about her going to group 3 (grade 1) or spending another year in Kindergarten. Because her birthday is before the cut-off date of January 1, she can go to group 3. Usually, the school looks at every child individually though, especially the ones who have their birthday close to that date. We knew this decision was comming and had been giving it a lot of thought. Still, it's difficult, with Emma being so young (she will be six end of December). We ended up going with the teacher's advise and Emma will go to group 3 in the next school year. Part of me is proud that the teacher seems to think she's doing so well and she's really smart. Part of me worries, becauses she'll be the youngest in her group, with 11 out of 22 kids more than 1 year older than her. We'll all (teachers and we) have to keep an eye on her, to see if she is feeling ok in her new environment.

This morning, I had a first appointment with my beautician again! She used to live across the street from us in Geldrop, which was very convenient. Since we both moved, I have to drive 20 minutes to get to her place, but it's still worth it. It was so great to talk to her and have my facial again after 7 years! She said she kept me in her files all that time, because she knew I'd come back :-) Another step taken towards re-integration!