Stay over

This fall break was stay-over week. Emma stayed over at Janne's and Janne at Emma's, the three of us stayed over at Oma's, the girls stayed over in our room and they stayed over in our guest room. Lots of lugging mattresses around and lots of fun. Simple and very effective way to make it a special week.
We could just fit the two of them into our wardrobe room
In the guestroom

Fall painting

This week is the girls have fall break and I have a week off from work. Excellent time to do some serious organizing and cleaning. Result: multiple boxes filled with clothes, to be taken to Poland and to the second-hand shop, several boxes with household items for the second-hand shop, one run to the recycle area and lots of empty storage space! All ready to be filled again ...
Pieter started a project he wanted to do for a while already; he made a painting together with the girls. It ended up being a very colorful, modern art type painting. Now all we need to do is find the right spot to hang it.

And ... I started running again! Goal is the half marathon next year October in Eindhoven, together with three co-workers at FEI. I'm not sure if I my body can still do it, with my back injury, but I'm going to give it a serious try. Starting real slow and gradually build up the work-out, that's the plan. Will keep you informed :-)

World Champion

Last night, the Dutch team beat Cuba 2-1 and they are now World Champion Baseball 2011! View the last minute of the game on YouTube (commentary in Dutch)

Spring is in the air ...

The last week of September and the first days of October, the weather was exceptional. Temperatures of up to 26 degrees C early October are pretty remarkable. Even Mother Nature was confused, as could be seen on the front page of the local newspaper. It was great though, to be able to go outside in T-shirts and shorts, after a rather dreary summer.
Spring in October

Pieter 65!

Yesterday, Pieter turned 65. I thought this was a milestone to be proud of, so I made sure the whole neighborhood knew. I posted signs on our windows for all to see. Pieter did receive some unexpected birthday cards after that, as well as some surprised comments about his age.
Happy 65th birthday!

FEI Family Day and much more

Saturday was a busy, but great day. It started at 7 am with walking Boelie, followed by Janne's swim class at 9 and grocery shopping at 10. Hairdresser appointed for me at 11.15, lunch at 12.30 and local community bicycle tour start at 2 pm. We didn't finish the tour, but left early to rush to the FEI Family Day, where we arrived around 5.45 pm. When that closed at 7, we drove back home, changed clothes and walked to the neighborhood BBQ. By 10 pm, we were all exhausted, after so much fun packed in one day. But, the weather was glorious and we had a wonderful day. Needless to say, we didn't do much at all today :-) The FEI Family Day was extremely well organized and we felt sorry we could only enjoy the food and activities for just one hour. The girls both had their faces painted and they looked beautiful.

Painter

Besides playing the piano, Pieter also likes to paint. Making paintings, that is. His next project is not an artistic one though, but a very practical one; he started painting the woodwork on the house. Climbing on a 6 meter (almost 20 feet) scaffolding is pretty impressive for a guy suffering from vertigo!
On the scaffolding, not at its highest point yet

Pretty picture of Boelie - August 2011, 2 years old