Janne 6 years

Today was Janne's actual birthday. Our little girl turned six! Finally, the time was there that she got to unwrap our gifts :-) After that, she and Emma went to Jeugdland, as they did yesterday and as they will do tomorrow and Friday. Same as last year, Janne participates in all the games and Emma joins all the handicrafts activities.
I think she likes what she's seing ...

To give Janne a feeling of being the birthday girl, even though there was no party today, I made her a special t-shirt to wear, saying 'Hurray, it's my birthday today!'. And it worked; many people wished her happy birthday at Jeugdland and some volunteers even sang 'Happy Birthday' :-)

Kids party!

Party kids!

Janne had her birthday party for her friends today and we had fun! For the first time, Pieter and me did it all by ourselves (previous years, Oma and tante Elly helped out) and we can proudly say that we did fine :-) I do admit that I prepared the event pretty thoroughly, which took me the biggest part of the week. I made a script, listing all the activities and games, as well as all the needed materials. In the morning, I put everything in separate boxes, ready to be used when the script called for a certain game. But, kids will be kids and not everything went as planned. We had to improvise a bit, mainly by taking out activities.

Before the party started, we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to fill the whole four hours. Funny, considering that we took out one handy-craft activity and three games and still ran half an hour late. Which, of course, is always better than running out of things to do.

As this also was the last week of school before summer recess, Janne (and the others) were shattered by the time the party was over. But, only happy faces and happy stories in the car on their way home. Therefore, happy mom and dad as well :-)

Happy birthday to Janne!

Water-shooting bottles off the table

Get-dressed-and-eat-potato-chips race

Building the highest Kapla tower

French fries and frankfurters (note the self made colored sand and flowers on the table!)

Celabrating at school

Janne celebrated her birthday at school today and handed out her special birthday mice. The party lasted 45 minutes and Janne loved every second of it!

On the teacher's chair, in the center of attention; only on your birthday

Dancing through the classroom

Birthday mice; easy to make, pretty so see, tasty to eat!

Preparations, invitations

This coming Friday, we will have Janne's kids birthday party. I'm a bit nervous about it, as I still haven't decided whether we're staying home or going out ... Working on two scenario's at the moment :-) I did finish Janne's invitations and am quite happy with the result.
Janne did the drawing and writing, Photoshop did the rest

Shy dog

Maybe I've been taking too many pictures of our self conscious dog?
Please, no! Not another picture!

Whirlwind

Yesterday, this region of the Netherlands was hit by a 'windhoos' (whirlwind) and heavy rains. Here, it lasted a full 10 minutes, but still it did quite some damage to trees and bushes. Further east, the winds were even stronger and did much more damage. Even though it didn't last very long, it was a bit reminiscent of Taiwan :-)

A big branch blocked traffic in our street for half an hour; the fire department was at the scene within 10 minutes after it fell!
This tree fell out of someone's yard and onto a walking path; the owner counted himself happy that the tree didn't fall the other way

Reading

Emma is getting better and better at reading, which means that she is able to enjoy it more and more. She's now reading our Pinkeltje books, written by Dick Laan. I loved reading them when I was a child and when I started reading them to Emma and Janne about two years ago, I also started collecting all 30 of the Pinkeltje books. The girls love this special reading time and enjoy the adventures of Pinkeltje very much. It's funny to see that Emma is now re-reading them by herself. She still doesn't like reading informative books, but at least she is enjoying reading for fun.

We lost ... again

The Netherlands - Spain, 0-1. Like in 1974 and in 1978, we lost the final play of the World Championships Soccer. Major disappointment for the team and for the millions of fans. Maybe extra so, because we didn't exactly play pretty; 9 yellow cards (for foul play) for the orange team were the result. Next chance will be Euro Cup in 2012 :-)

Swim Certificate B

Today, Emma passed her second swimming exam and she received her B certificate! Hip hip hurray and on to the next.
Oma came over and witnessed Emma passing her exam

Afterwards, the girls had fun with Oma in the pool

World Cup final!

For those who missed it; yesterday, Holland beat Uruguay 3-2. The Dutch soccer team will play the final of the World Cup Soccer 2010. Either against Spain or Germany, depending on the outcome of today's match. Last time the Netherlands played in a World Cup Final was in 1978 (and before that in 1974, the days of nr 14 Johan Cruyff). So, party time for the Orange Legion!

Also today; Emma went on a school outing to Klein Zwitserland (Little Switzerland), a big adventure and play park in Tegelen, province of Limburg. According to Emma, definitely a park to keep on the agenda for summer holiday :-)

Tooth Fairy alert!

Yet another newspaper headline; Janne's first tooth came out today. Just last night, I wasn't able to 'pull' it out, but in school today, it came out all by itself! A small step for mankind, a giant leap for Janne :-) Proud to have one out!

Some of the flowers and bushes we planted last summer, are now in full bloom. Pieter is very proud of the lavender-and-rose combination in our front yard. And I have to admit, they do look pretty together.

Some more pool pics

After all the fun we had in the family pool in Velp, we decided to get one too. Emma and Janne already swam in it a couple of times and after the water had had a few days to warm up, even Pieter and me jumped in. Now we're hoping for a lot of nice warm days this summer :-)
With dad ...

... and with mom in the pool

Just out of the water; still a bit cold :-)