Christmas 2009

Ready for Christmas dinner

We had a fantastic Christmas! Christmas Day, we spent with my side of the family, twelve people in total.

We played many board games on Christmas Day

Close supervision when unwrapping a present

Boxing Day, Pieter's children and grandchildren came over for lunch. Again, our house was filled with family; six adults and seven children. Michiel even brought one of their dogs, so Boelie also had a friend to play with.
Comparing loot after candy hunt in the Christmas tree

Boelie and Floem having fun

The day after Christmas, we went to the Spoorwegmuseum (Railroad Museum) in Utrecht. It's a great museum for kids to learn about railroads and other related topics, with lots of interactive exhibits. Another great day! Now, Christmas is over and I still have to do finish some work before the end of the year.

At the Spoorwegmuseum

Utrecht Central Station now has a Starbucks too!

Happy Birthday Emma!

Our oldest daughter turned seven today; time does fly faster every year! We celebrated Emma's birthday at oma's, because oma just returned from South Africa on Sunday.

Emma Cameraface; this is what we saw of her all day, after she got the camera for her birthday

The other birthday present; she'll have to wait for the snow to melt before she can use it

If allowed to choose, where do kids want to go for their birthday dinner? Right; MacDonalds!

Happy and tanned oma, after three weeks in South Africa.

My old elementary school, which is about to be torn down ... I hate to see how they tear down the characteristic buildings in town, to replace them by modern, all-the-same, big buildings. It's hard to imagine that those new buildings will be 'characteristic old buildings' one day ...

Snowmen!

At the end of the day, we made two big snowmen.

Presenting: Snowy

and Frosty

Snow!

Five days until Christmas and we have snow! It snowed all night and most of today, so we have something like 15 cm of snow. In this global warming age, that's a lot for our Low Country. So, out came the ski-pants, hats, mittens and sledge and off we went into the woods. It was so cool to walk in the pure, untrodden snow! Our second winter in Holland and again, we have snow; yippie (I won't cheer anymore when I have to drive to work tomorrow morning, but for now it's fun ... ).
Let's go!

Enjoying the snow

Walking in the snow reminds me of my times in Innsbruck, Austria and in Pitkin, Colorado, when there fell up to 50 cm of snow in a single night ... And how great it felt to go on an early morning walk, everything quiet and white. For now, fifteen centimeters will do :-)
All wrapped up

I was there too

Emma's birthday party

Today, we celebrated Emma's birthday with her friends from school. As usual, she'll have her birthday during Christmas break, so we celebrated early. Instead of staying home with them, like we did last year, we took them to a bowling alley. It was a big hit, also the 'cook-it-yourself' dinner afterwards. Similar to last year, Emma's invitees were a wild bunch, but they had a lot of fun. And that's what counts, isn't it?

This was Emma's 'tree of treats' this year; takes about half an hour to complete and looks great

Blow out your candles and make a wish

Emma had to look for her gifts, while the others were telling her 'warm' or 'cold'. That way, unpacking the gifts is a lot of fun! Here, Emma is very close to finding one of the gifts.

Acting silly after bowling and dinner

Boelie up-date

Another month gone by and Boelie has grown another five centimeter. The vet says she'll grow eight more centimeters or so. That means her nose will be just below dining-table level and her tail will at the perfect height to sweep cups and saucers from the coffee-table.

She seems to be quieting down a little, although she still has her crazy moments. We will start puppy-training with her in January. I'm looking forward to that, both because it'll help us to teach Boelie some manners and because I'm sure she will love the challenge and activity it offers.
Two pretty girls; Boelie at 4 months

Pakjesavond

Yesterday was St Nicolas' Eve and today we celebrated on in Hoogerheide, at my sister's. It was a VERY exciting weekend for the girls, one they had been anticipating for over three weeks.

Last year, the gift-unwrapping 'ceremony' lasted a full 10 minutes or so. Therefore, this year, Sinterklaas added 'het grote uitpakspel' (the big unwrapping game) to the gifts. Emma and Janne had to perform a small task before opening a gift. I wasn't sure if they were going to like it, as it meant that they had to wait longer for their gifts. But ... they loved it! Emma said we should keep the game, so we would be able to use it again next year! Also, it served its purpose; it took almost an hour before all gifts were unwrapped ...
Playing 'het grote uitpakspel'

Studying a new CD

At Tante Elly's today, there was no such game. So, it was a back-to-basics unwrapping, with fast tearing of paper, a lot of excitement and many happy screams. The remainder of the afternoon was used to play with as many of the new games and toys as they (and we) could. Great fun, but enough is enough. Sinterklaas is finally on his way back to Spain ...
Happy girl says 'thanks Sinterklaas!'

Happily hugging the latest K3 CD

Playing the old-fashioned game of geese in Hoogerheide

By the way; did you know that the first time people 'put their shoe' to receive something in it was in the fifteenth century? It was in Utrecht (the Netherlands) that the poor could leave a shoe in church, which was then filled with food. So, a pretty old tradition, isn't it?

Sinterklaas visiting Op Dreef

Today, Sinterklaas and seven (!) of his Zwarte Pieten visited Emma and Janne's school Op Dreef. It was truly the first time ever they RAN to school ...

I was asked to take pictures of Sinterklaas' visit in Janne's group. Besides the fact that I enjoy doing that, it offered me the rather unique opportunity to be there during the Sint's visit. It was great fun. The group had practiced a little play and a dance, which they performed splendidly. Janne even got to hold Sinterklaas' crosier. A huge honor indeed :-).

Both girls were very tired tonight and had no problem going to bed early. Saturday will be 'pakjesavond' (St. Nicolas' Eve) and then all will be over.

Group 2B (Janne) waiting for Sinterklaas to arrive

Group 4A (Emma) waiting as well

Two Zwarte Pieten arriving on a tandem ...

... and Sinterklaas in a motorcycle side-car

Janne somewhat nervously holding Sinterklaas' crosier

Birthday mail

Oma will turn 79 a week from now. But, she won't be home to celebrate. She'll be in South Africa. So, Emma and Janne both made a beautiful drawing, which we sent to South Africa. Hopefully this will make oma feel like we're celebrating a little bit with her.

Happy Birthday oma, from Janne and K3

Wishing oma lots of elephants, lions, monkeys and other wild animals, from Emma

Sinterklaas visiting Voorwaarts

All waiting for Sinterklaas to arrive

Today, Sinterklaas visited Emma's gymnastics club 'Voorwaarts'. All groups had practiced a routine, which they performed for Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten. There was lots of singing, lots of pepernoten (gingerbread nuts) and lots of mischievous acts by the Zwarte Pieten. All in all, the kids had fun!

Zwarte Pieten acting silly

A hand-stand for Sinterklaas

Wish list

With Sinterklaas back in town, it's time to make wish lists. So, I let Emma and Janne cut out pictures of toys from the toy store magazine to make their wish list. Tonight, Janne very proudly showed me that she made an additional wish list, to put in her shoe for Sinterklaas. I think she did a great job and I hope that Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet have brushed up on their Kindergarten-language skills ...

It even took me a few seconds to figure it out:
K3 mamaSé (K3 MamaSé)
K3 spiegolte aan ewant (K3 Spiegeltje aan de wand)
K3 bij de poliesie (K3 Bij de politie)
K3 CD de nieuw (K3 CD de nieuwe)

As I said, I think she did a great job :-)

Over the line - part 2

Yesterday, Janne also received her 'over the line' certificate from her swim instructor. She is ever so proud that she is now also swimming in the deep end of the pool, like her big sister.

Stray dog

A stray dog followed our neighbours' daughter home and I ended up taking care of it. Well, for about an hour or so. That's how long it took me to find a place I could bring it to. I called several animal rescue services, but got answering machine with all of them. Finally, I called the local vet. She said I could bring the dog over and they would take care of her. Fortunately, the dog was chipped, so the owners picked her up ten minutes later.

Looking a bit lost without her master

Actually, she was such a good, obedient dog, that I would have been okay to keep her! Maybe she could have taught Boelie some manners :-)

Art on Sunday

With Pieter watching another VVV Venlo soccer match (they won 5-0), Emma, Janne and me spend half the day on yet another art project. We used stencils for the outlines (thanks Florence!) and our creativity for the colors and decorations and are very proud of the result. Therefore, we'd like to share it with you :-)

What other theme for our art than princesses?

Windmill 't Nupke

Windmill 't Nupke, Geldrop, the Netherlands

What better place to visit with foreign (Belgium) friends than a windmill? In the little town of Geldrop, where we lived in before we moved to Taiwan, one can visit the still (part-time) functional windmill 't Nupke. On Saturday, it's open to the public and the two voluntary millers are there to give a tour and explanation about the mill.
Emma hoisting a 25 kg bag of grain

The inner mechanics of even this rather simple corn-mill are amazing; everything is handcrafted from wood and the huge mill stones weigh 1500 kg each. The miller explained that the Netherlands know the biggest variety of applications of windmills in the world. Not really surprising, is it?

All eyes and ears on the miller

Say cheese! Say what?

Sinterklaas is back in town

It't that time of the year again. On Saturday, Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands, together with a bunch of Zwarte Pieten and with a boat full of gifts. As we wonder how much longer, both Emma and Janne are still firm believers. It's the most exciting time of the year for kids and parents just love to play along. So, we're in for another round of 'schoenzetten' (putting out one's shoe, with hay or a carrot for Americo, Sinterklaas' horse) and singing Sinterklaas songs.
Sinterklaas kapoentje, gooi wat in mijn schoentje ...

Another piano

This past weekend Pieter and his brother drove to France, to their sister.
Ready to leave for France. (I know, I know, a convertible with a tow-bar ... )

They didn't just go there to visit, but to pick up the very first grand piano Pieter ever owned. He bought it when he was only sixteen years old and the last fifteen odd years, it had been staying at his sister's house. Now was the time to go and get it. So, they made the 1400 km (round)trip and brought home Pieter's first Grand. At least, what is left of it ... After standing in a half finished, leaking house for over ten years, the once grand piano didn't look as grand anymore. In fact, most of it had disappeared into the fireplace and Pieter and Gerben only had to bring back the iron frame.
One day, this will be an attractive piece of art! You gotta think big.

Plan is to turn it into a piece of art for our front yard. It's an idea we picked up during a vacation on Curacao, where one of the old mansions had a grand piano frame standing upright in its front yard. Local building laws prevent us from putting it upright, but we'll find an interesting way to put it up. Any ideas anyone?

Boelie again

Boelie is still growing and getting more active every day. She even seems to be shedding her nest hairs already. Apart from an accident every now and then, she's house trained. We're looking forward to start puppy training with her, because she really is a handful. Maybe we didn't know exactly what we were getting into when we bought a (mix) border collie? She learns new commands pretty quickly, but she's very persistent when it comes to her bad habits. The good thing is that everybody we ask says that's common in border collies, we just need patience, patience, patience and then some more patience. Which is sometimes hard, especially when she has her teeth in my new pair of jeans ... But, when she's behaving, she is the cutest and prettiest dog around! And we will learn how to be good doggie masters yet :-)

Me? Bad habbits? You must be talking about another dog!