Fun in de snow

Today, we spent a fun day in Megen, with Asia friends Monique, Jeroen and their two girls. The weather was glorious, so we decided to go to nature reserve Herperduin, to have some fun in the snow. And fun it was, even without a real sled. Instead, the girls used big pieces of styrofoam. Which was just as well, because the slope was rather steep and the real sleds were going dangerously fast!
Yippee!

Here I come!

Boelie also joined us in Megen

Three girls on a big snow ball

Interior design

Today, we went to see an interior consultant (if that's the proper translation). We didn't have any more great ideas for completing the interior design of our living room and decided we'd like some help. The shop where we've already bought quite some furniture, offers free personal interior advise. We thought we'd give it a try. So, I took lots of pictures of the 'as is' situation and made a floor-plan. Doing that, new ideas already popped into my head, so immediate result, even before the interview!

The interview took almost three hours, more than one of which we were walking through the store, looking for items we liked ... Well, what does one expect from a free advise, right? All in all, while the lady didn't give us a clear-cut this-is-what-you-have-to-do advise, she did give us some fresh ideas and useful tips. And I guess that's all we really wanted ... We think we can take it from here :-)
The lady does know how to draw a good-looking floor plan ...
Most of what's in the floor-plan, is already existing. The sitting room is 'new' and some items were added to the kid's corner (top left).

New hair and party

Again, we took Emma to the hairdresser for a (small) change of hairdo. She wanted a hairstyle without a fringe. Even though I wasn't sure if that was the way to go for her, I agreed. The result? See for yourself! She and her classmates like it.

Presenting yet another 'do'. Until her fringe has grown long enough, she'll have to wear hair bands like this one.

If we take a pic of one, we also have to take a photo of the other ...

... and of course of both girls!

Emma had a very fun Saturday yesterday. She was invited to a birthday party of two of her classmates. They had invited about fifteen kids and the party took place in the school's gymnasium. Lots of activity, lots of fun. A great idea for a kids birthday party, if one has the courage to oversee more than fifteen eight year olds running around for three hours ...
Party, party, let's go crazy!

Ice skating

It's winter in the Netherlands and again, there's snow and ice. Not on the big lakes and rivers yet, but the smaller lakes are frozen over and ready for ice-skating fun. We were lucky though; we didn't have drive to a lake to go ice-skating. Several neighborhood residents took the initiative to flood a small playground and create a home-made ice skating ring! Just a three minute walk from our house and good for hours of fun, both on Saturday and Sunday. They even made a small fire and put up a party tent with heater for the moms and dads, who were freezing their butts off ...

Still a bit wobbly, but going strong!

Ice-skating with a friend

After one day, Emma has improved her skills on the ice compared to last year and Janne, who skated on both days, is now confidently skating on regular ice-skates. Maybe we'll get to do some more ice-skating next weekend? Keep your fingers crossed for us :-)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our relatives and friends, all over the world!

Another year over, a new one just begun ... It's amazing how fast the first ten years of the new millennium have past! I still remember the computer-programming related concern around the switch from '99' to '00'. And now we're already ten years further. Seven of which we spent in Asia. It's all reduced to a memory now.

Pieter didn't only make Dutch donuts this year, but also Dutch apple donuts; they were delicious and I ate way too many ...

We spent a simple, rather traditional, and fun New Year's Eve at home, with oma. We ate Dutch donuts, played board games, watched the count down on tv, drank champagne, watched the fire works, drank some more champagne and went to bed. We woke Emma and Janne up at quarter to twelve, so we could say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new year together with them. Even though they were tired and half asleep, they enjoyed the special occasion and the fireworks. Maybe next year, we'll let them stay up until midnight. We'll see ...


Champagne in hand, counting down

A bit cold and a bit sleepy; still, enjoying the fireworks

I remember as a child, when we spent New Year's Eve at my sister, with her in-laws. I was always so excited when midnight drew near and also rather emotional when the clock struck twelve en everybody raised their classes, shouting 'happy new year'. Over the years, the excitement has turned into just a little tingle and there're definitely no teary eyes anymore. I wonder what it'll be like, when Emma and Janne are a bit older and more aware of what's going on. I hope we can give them that same special feeling, which I always experienced in connection to New Year's Eve!

I wish everyone good luck in sticking to their new years resolutions. I only have a few, but they are worth sticking to :-)

It was fun having oma there on New Year's Eve!